For the most part, since arriving in Paris, James had been lucky; he had been able to find a place to stay for a few nights and had finally gotten to clean up a little. Once he looked more like himself, he felt a bit more at ease about trying to look for his sister.
But that was proving difficult. He couldn't quite remember if she had ever mentioned where she was staying in the city, and he knew better than to go inquire anywhere. With all the German soldiers around, making his own presence known would be a very foolish idea, not that he was much of a threat to any of them, but still.
For some reason, James hadn't expected it to be so hot in Paris. Perhaps it was because after spending so long in the Mediterranean, he had assumed France would have a cooler climate. But now, it was the middle of summer, and the heat was practically unbearable. He had come across the park after leaving the hotel he'd been staying at as discreetly as he had arrived there. What money he had was quickly starting to vanish, so he was going to have to find somewhere else to stay soon.
Not surprisingly, the park was full of people on that sunny day. All of them except for the German soldiers seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was a nice change from the warfare he'd grown accustomed to seeing.
And then--had he imagined it? That hauntingly familiar voice...
James looked ahead, squinting slightly in the bright daylight, and almost stumbled backward. At first he swore it was his imagination, but no...Lucy was definitely standing right there. His grip on his cane tightened and his mouth went dry. Suddenly it was difficult to process any real thoughts about what he was seeing.
"Lucy," he managed finally, shocked, "I--I wasn't expecting to run into you here." He frowned inwardly, but given the circumstances, he couldn't really blame himself for not being able to react properly. After all, they hadn't seen each other in what seemed like a century to him.