Katya examined the neat rows of protective rings in the small chest.

“He made these in three weeks?” Katya asked, astonished.

“Yes, it took him approximately fourteen days to make and fine-tune his Ring-forge. Although from the feeling I got from him, a large number of the finished products did not live up to his standards and were melted back down for reuse in a later batch.” Natasha reported.

“How’s he doing down there?” Katya asked, her words heavy with meaning.

“I don’t know what’s going on because he blocks me out, but he isn’t doing well.” Natasha replied.

“What’s your take on this Sophia?” Katya asked.

“The diagnoses have been the same since you first asked me to assess his state of mind. He has severe PTSD. We’ve known this from the beginning and have done our best to approach topics related to his time away, gently. His powers also seem to exacerbate his condition in erratic ways.” Sophia explained with clinical coldness, causing both Natasha and Katya to frown.

“His relationship with Natasha and myself has likely helped him greatly, not just because of the mental benefits of a physical interaction with a Sentire, but the more mundane interactions we frequently shared also helped to ground him.”

“But because of recent... Discoveries, I’ve felt myself pull back from the friendship and avoid contact. That, coupled with Natasha’s recovery period, has left him alone and isolated for three weeks.”

Natasha stared at the expressionless Sophia in confusion.

“It’s her clan, dear. She’s afraid her instincts will drive her actions. And make her do something that she will come to regret.” Katya explained.

“You have a distinguished background in psychology, even previously helping Natasha a great deal. I’m sure it would be trivial for someone like you to manipulate him and get what you want.” Katya said, looking firmly at Sophia.

“It would be. But it would also burn any relationship I had with him, and possibly with this clan.” Sophia replied, face impassive, as a tear slowly formed in the corner of her eye before rolling down her cheek. It wasn’t a tear of sadness but one of immense inner turmoil, the result of a war being waged between instinct and loyalties.

Katya recognized this. She had broken her own Sentire instinct long ago when she decided to set out on her own. It had taken her decades to recover completely.

“Dismissed.” Katya said firmly.

Sophia turned and left the room immediately, leaving Natasha looking at her feet.

“I love her, Katya. I would give her the world if she desired it or die trying.” Natasha said, still looking down, but with the hard determination of a soldier.

“I know child.” Katya said softly.

“My instincts are grateful to him for saving Sasha, and for everything he’s done since. But the other part of me, the part that belongs to her, it wants her to be happy.” Natasha continued.

“Conflicts are the nature of being. One part wants one thing, the other wants another.” Katya explained, standing up, her eyes following Sophia’s rigid walk to the elevator.

“She will find her way forward, eventually. Until then, she will keep her distance, and we will substitute her with young miss Thompson.” Katya stated.

“Understood, Ma’am.” Natasha replied tightly.

***

After leaving a batch of rings blackened and ruined, I decided to instead work on the runes covering my body. Something which evidently hadn’t gone any better as I woke up groggily with a groan on the cold stone floor.

“Mr. Titanos? Are you alright?” a worried voice hurried towards me with something smelling delicious.

My blurry vision cleared enough for me to recognize the person.

“You’re Clara.” I mumbled in a daze.

She froze and flushed slightly.

I had met her before during the meetings related to auctioning my rings.

Clara looked barely twenty, not just because of her rebirth, but also because of her actual age, which wasn’t much older. She was the youngest Sentire I’d ever met, having undergone her rebirth at a young age. She had a tall and slender build of a runner with an accentuated jawline framing her face very attractively along with the signature Nikoleve high cheekbones.

“Yes, Sophia has been called to other tasks, so the Matriarch has asked me to be the go-between for you and the clan.” She explained.

“I, uh, also brought breakfast.” She finished awkwardly, holding up the two bags.

The sight of the Two large paper bags and disposable tray holding steaming hot drinks caused my stomach to rumble loud enough for it to echo off the walls of the workshop.

I looked back at her as she muffled a laugh, ending it in a snort instead.

“Thank you, Ms. Thompson.” I said, trying to regain some of my dignity.

I stood up and cleared a table for us to sit down and eat. She was nervous at first but it didn’t take long for her to open up and start telling stories of growing up in the Tower.

“I’m serious! All kinds of magazines. It was driving me nuts. Every time I threw them out, new ones just magically appeared on my bed or desk.” She laughed

“I thought I was going insane. I’d wanted to join the company, but every meeting was with some rich or handsome scion, about non-existent oil veins or mergers. They were relentless!” She exclaimed, telling stories about turning eighteen in a building full of Sentires who wanted her to continue the line as soon as possible.

“I finally convinced them to get me an apartment as far away from the Tower as possible. I just needed some space, ya know?” She said, smiling.

“I can imagine,” I said, chuckling at the thought of growing up in a building full of helicopter parents.

“Then again, maybe I should have listened. About the dangers of leaving the Tower.” She muttered somberly.

“I didn’t want to ask. Not knowing the Etiquette of it and all that, but-” I carefully broached the subject.

“-How’d I die?” she finished for me with a self-deprecating smile.

“It happened less than two years after I moved out. The clan had taken in some unaffiliated Sanguinares who didn’t like how Sicilia was going around torturing and killing people. She didn’t like that. It made it seem like she wasn’t in control.” Clara explained.

“I was the easiest to get to. She even went as far as going herself.” She said with a slight tremble in her voice.

Sophia had told me how traumatic the change was, especially for someone going through it alone. It often caused psychological scars that lasted decades, if not longer.

“I didn’t leave the Tower for almost a year after being reborn. I was terrified this monster would come back. Almost every night, I woke up screaming. It was hell.” She paused and looked up at me, no longer nervous or scared, but grateful and determined.

“Until one day, Katya calls me into her office and showed me a video.” She said, locking eyes with me.

“The night at the mansion.” I guessed, and she nodded.

“I broke down crying in front of her. The monster that had haunted my dreams for a year, the one who took so much from me, so soon. Reduced to a broken, terrified mess. She looked so pitiful and my fear of her evaporated.” She said, sounding grateful.

“I stepped outside the Tower for the first time in months that night. I went to the grocery store to get milk for my cereal.” She said proudly at the mundane and honestly slightly amusing everyday task.

“That’s why I’m grateful to you, you gave me my freedom back.” She said with a bright smile.

I shook my head, smiling.

“No, I just killed something pretending to be a monster. I didn’t give you your freedom back. You took it back yourself. By taking that first and hardest step forward, you killed your own monster.” I said, looking at her in admiration. She’d done something that had taken me almost a decade to accomplish. And took back her life.

She smiled shyly at the compliment.

“So, why were you passed out without a shirt on when I came in?” She asked, changing the subject.

“I was working on the runes on my body.” I replied

“You were tattooing yourself and passed out?” she asked, looking at me like I was an idiot.

I laughed seeing her expression and held my hands up defensively.

“They aren’t normal tattoos. They help me regulate and channel my energy without hurting myself.” I said, laughing and pulling at the collar of my shirt to show her some of them.

She stood up and walked around the table to get a better look.

“What does this one do?” she asked curiously, running her finger over a rune under my collarbone.

“It steadies excess energy and sends it away from my heart in case of backlash. It also has a line running to my lungs.” I explained with a smile.

“What would happen if you didn’t have it and had one of these ‘backlash’?” she asked, concerned.

“Depending on the size, it would paralyze my heart and kill me.” her hand froze.

“Are they all like that?” she asked, shocked, looking at me as if I had just told her I had a terminal illness.

“No, some have other effects, like the one I finished yesterday.” I said, looking up at her.

I held out my hand and a black flame-like smoke rose and spread out into the shape of my Rune Axe before dissipating, revealing the genuine article in my hand.

All in all, it took less than 10 seconds. Clara whistled softly.

“That’s cool. Does it only do Viking axes, or can it do other stuff, as well?” She said, looking a little unimpressed with the axe but very impressed by the ability.

“What could be better than an axe? I’ve never encountered a situation I couldn’t fix with a good axe.” I said, a little peeved by her casual dismissal of my favorite axe.

“Maybe something a little more modern, like a gun.” she said, further insulting the mighty axe.

The black flame rose and covered the axe before it dissipated again, leaving my hand empty.

“Today’s youth.” I sighed, shaking my head in disappointment.

“Yes yes, woe is me.” she giggled, hand still on my chest. She looked down at it, then back up at me, then down at her hand again, before blushing beet red and pulling her hand back.

“Guess the snarky comebacks are a family trait, but the flirty sensuality is something learned from experience.” I thought, smiling.

“Uhm, if there is nothing else, I’ll, uhm, inform the matriarch of your progress.” She sprint-walked towards the elevator, quickly pushing the button and not looking at me.

***

Immediately after stepping off the elevator on the first floor of the Towers old bunker, Katya was bathed in waves of energy crashing all around her along with echoes of metal rhythmically impacting metal.

It didn’t take her long to find the source, as she quickly spotted Aleks standing on a raised concrete platform striking his so-called Ring-Forge.

The Ring-Forge was a four feet tall pillar of silver thinning in the middle and widening at the top and base, sort of like a concave roller. It had a silver bark-like surface covered densely in glowing runes and twelve ring shaped indentations on the top connected by thin lines.

Every strike sent out intense shock waves and made Aleks seem very... Well Titanic.

“Impressive. You look very Titan-like when you work.” Katya called out between strikes to make sure she was heard.

Aleks smiled but didn’t turn as he kept on working.

“You should see me when I really get started. Oceans stir and mountains quake.” Aleks responded jokingly.

Katya smiled as she walked towards a worktable to wait. But on her way, she stopped in front of a very familiar small open chest with neat rows of rings.

“These... Are different?” She stated.

“Good eye, they’re a small project I’m working on.” Aleks responded as Katya’s intuition warned her Aleks was about to tell her something absurd again.

“It isn’t my design, so I had to rework it a fair bit, but they’re Daylight Protection Rings.” He finished, an audible smirk in his voice.

Katya brushed her fingers across their etched surfaces, as if mesmerized.

“The Asian clans have something similar, although theirs wear off given a day or two. The council has been trying to get them to hand over their methods for a millennium.” Katya muttered, still slightly stunned.

“Probably an issue with the material’s quality, I’d wager. Also, sharing the production method would reveal a glaring weakness.” Aleks said, putting down his hammer and walking over.

“Weakness?” Katya asked.

“What would happen if someone walked up to you and closed you umbrella during a downpour?” Aleks replied.

“You’re saying someone with the knowledge or means could easily disable this enchantment?”

“Very easily. Hell, half the stuff on those rings are wards against tampering, a quarter is quality of life related, and the last quarter is the actual enchantment. Although I had to make a lot of compromises. They’ll keep away daytime drowsiness and keep you from getting a sunburn, but they’ll also insulate you from other people, hindering your mental abilities and weakening the user physically.”

“They’ve caused me no small amount of frustration. I’ve had to take breaks from the project regularly to not end up just melting the whole batch down in a fit of anger.” Aleks said, glaring at the small chest of rings as if it had personally insulted him.

“You are a very strange man, Mr. Titanos.” Katya said ruefully, with a smile.

“You have no idea.” Aleks responded with a wink.

“Now, not that I’m not happy to see you in person, Katya, but why have you come all the way down here?”

“Ah, yes. Well, I made you a promise and I’m intent on keeping it.” Katya sat down on a worn leather chair, making herself comfortable while looking expectantly at Aleks.

“Promise?” Aleks asked curiously.

“That you wouldn’t have to do this alone, that we would help you.” Katya said sincerely.

Katya gently pushed her senses beyond Aleks’s barriers, her age affording her a subtlety all but the oldest of her kind lacked.

“Fear. Loss. Shame. Anger.” Katya felt the emotions gently touch her connection.

This method had its drawbacks. She wouldn’t be shielded, as even the youngest Sentires were taught to do. She would experience the emotions in their raw form, something which could easily overwhelm the unprepared.

“I’m fine.” Aleks stated flatly.

“Prove it.” Katya said, expression neutral but unwavering.

“Lower your guard. Let me see.” She continued.

“That’s a little excessive, isn’t it?”

“So is lying to someone trying to help you. Do you even know why Sophia and Natasha haven’t come to visit?” Katya asked.

“No, and I don’t need to know. They’ve been nothing but kind and welcoming to me. The least I could do is make their decision to part ways, as easy and painless as possible.”

“Sadness, loneliness, doubt, pain, loss“ Katya pulled back her senses back quickly lest she be overwhelmed by the flood of emotions.

“You don’t think we care about you?” Katya thought in disbelief.

“Aleks, what do you think you are to us?” Katya asked, still shocked.

“Katya, we’ve only known each other for a couple of months. I’m not going to delude myself into thinking I’m anything more than a business partner.” Aleks said, letting out a tired sigh.

Katya stared at Aleks. “Sometimes I truly worry about humanity. We Sentires have it easy because of our gift. Thoughts and emotions can be hidden, but not forever. Eventually, we’ll learn who someone is simply by proximity. But humans, you never truly know someone. There’s always that little doubt, isn’t there?”

“Aleks, we’ve seen you from the start. All of you. After a certain age, many of my kind start to detest humans, condemning them for their unconscious and conscious thoughts. It’s difficult to separate a person from their emotions and innermost desires when they’re constantly broadcast to you. But that hasn’t been a problem for us with you.”

“We didn’t just accept you from the start. Many had doubts about you, but you just kept on proving us wrong. You don’t care about riches or power. And no matter how much you try to hide it, you genuinely care about us to a degree that surprised more than a few of us. You think our clan was grateful because you brought Sasha home? You think that was all there was to it?”

“We’re compelled by instinct, Aleks. We couldn’t let you near an Heir if we didn’t trust you wholeheartedly. You aren’t an outsider to us. Not anymore.”

“We accept you not because of that one night, but because of every night since.”

“I’m not a good man, Katya, and you know it.” Aleks argued quietly.

“You think your dark and violent nature scares us?” Katya asked. Standing up.

“Do you think Sasha was frightened of you the night you saved her from torment and death? Do you think I felt fearful of you after you chased out the foreign invaders occupying the very building above our heads, all the while giving me back my dignity?”

“No Aleks, we know you’re not a saint, but we’ve seen enough of you to know that we have nothing to fear from you.” Katya finished with a smile and stood up facing a slightly stunned Aleks still leaning against a worktable.

“Aleks, one day you will realize that yes, we became yours that night in the shipping yard. But you have slowly become ours ever since.” Katya said and walked towards the elevator.

“We welcome you as one of our own, willingly and knowingly. You need to decide whether or not that’s something you want. Maybe go get some fresh air and clear your head.” Katya finished as the doors closed.