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As she sits feeding Mari the protein bar she's been allotted, Moirine glances around their train car. Everyone's eyes seem to be fixed on them. This is the second arm Mari has lost in an act of rebellion. Mari chews despondantly, not because she wants to eat but because she wants to go on fighting. Mari and Moirine exchange a glance over the boiled roaches and each one is surprised by how much disappointment they see.

'Why won't she fight, too?' Mari thinks.

'Why can't she be happy with just me?'

Moirine brushes the hair out of Mari's eyes and tries to smile. "We'll get to the front one day."

"You won't fight for that." And the disdain in Mari's voice is as sharp as the icy wind outside.

Moirine looks down to her bare feet and shakes her head. "I would. If everyone was fighting... If we all might get out of here... I would."

And so it is. The rebellion began.

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"So what's the plan?"

They were curled up in Moirine's bunk, as Mari was still adjusting to this shift in balance and couldn't climb the steps to her own. Moirine spoke into the back of Mari's neck, one hand on her hip and the other combing through her lank hair.

"The Cosimos run interference. Rowan trips the doors between the cars, with Lucia as a back-up should he go down. Rhys leads the van."

Moirine let out a mumbled, "But what do we do?"

"Haven't you heard? We're useless." Mari had grown angrier and more despondent in recent days, but the spark was still there. She wouldn't give up until she fixed all of this or she was dead. Moirine wouldn't give up until Mari was dead. "Try to take one of the guards by surprise. The guns don't have bullets. Make yourself as nonthreatening as possible and grab the fucking gun out of his hands and beat him with it."

"Do you really think I could do that?"

She writhed a moment. It would have been so easy to take Moirine's hand and kiss it if... if she hadn't spoken out. Mari stopped struggling and buried her face in Moirine's pillow. "I know you can," her voice raw with tears. Moirine held her closer and kissed her jaw over and over again.

"I wish I could hold you," Mari said.

"The wish. That's more than enough for me."

And so it is.