Work Text:
She's always been shocked by the alien pace of Moclan aging. Topa has always been beautiful - her entire life she has been beautiful - but there is a different light to it now as her shuttle lands, a different beam with a different shadow. She walks off with clicking heels to meet Kelly in the bay, a bright smile accompanied by a mature frame. It hasn't been that long since her first aid mission - only a year, right? - but she's definitely an adult now, rounded, older.
The wonder still hasn't been broken. Her transition gifted her wonder, and determination, and the torture was not enough to siphon it out -- nothing is enough to take it all away, and that is what Kelly loves most about her, the eternal endurance.
She deserves a kinder life; Kelly wants to give her a kinder life. Kelly wants to be her net, to guide her and shelter her and mold her into something fierce. Something grown, and even stronger, even more determined. But as Topa reaches out for an awkward handshake, and Kelly pulls her in for a hug instead, it becomes increasingly apparent: Topa is already everything Kelly's mind can conjure and more, Topa already has the determination and indomitable fierceness that Kelly wants to instill, and now Kelly is not needed. Not like that, not anymore.
Maybe it can be different now. Not --- not too different, that wouldn't be responsible, that wouldn't be---
But different. Somehow. Different like the opening burst of petals. Different like creation. Different like birth. Different like something warped, slightly off print, sideways-skewed. Different like a suicide net. Different like Topa giving a soft laugh into Kelly's neck before she pulls away.
"I'll have Gordon get your bags," Kelly says, tugging at her arm. "Come on, tell me all about it."
