It had only been a handful of days, but Jes had grown almost used to the burning pain in her body. The healing potion had helped, as much as it caused a pain all its own, but her injuries still were not healed. She kept a firm hold on herself, trying not to let it show how much pain she was still in. Most of the strange burns had healed to the point she could unbandage them, but she wore the bandages anyway. Something about the purple fractals that danced all over her body made anxiety clench in her stomach. Worse was the still-red eye, she could see through it but everything looked different.

The four of them were seated at the dining table Jes had eaten at for her entire life. The familiarity of the location leant an odd undercurrent to the moment. For as familiar as everything was here in this house, outside of it everything had changed. The world she had known was effectively gone. She wondered, for a moment, if America even existed at all or if even that had changed.

“I think it’s time we talked about the future.” Ma’s voice was soft but firm.

“Past time.” Jes agreed. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches weren’t exactly gourmet fare, but she pushed the plate aside to focus on the discussion.

“Most of the people in town are headed for Des Moines. Some are going off to other places where they have family, but it seems like they’re evacuating.” Rock stopped eating long enough to comment, but the subject didn’t seem to be ruining his appetite.

“Are we going to head for the capitol?” Ma wasn’t eating either, Jes noticed.

Hadrian, on the other hand, ate mechanically. Food was food and you ate when you had the chance, seemed to be his thoughts on the matter. “I will not.”

Jes frowned, the expression pulling at the healing skin of her face. “Why not?”

That question made even Hadrian put his plate aside, taking a drink to clear his mouth of the peanut butter before he answered. “Whether I wish to admit it or not, I had some small part in bringing the Empire here. If I can have any part in pushing them back, it will come from staying here and helping.”

“But what can you do alone?” It was Ma who protested first.

Hadrian shook his head, his red-brown eyes filled with worry, but the expression on his fanged face was sheer determination. “Right now, alone? Very little. But I can make a rallying point for others who would stay, others who would fight. I am certain that some sort of force will eventually arrive. Your people cannot let this invasion stand without some sort of resistance.”

Jes exchanged a look with Rock. Both of them had wondered, privately and together, what was taking the military so long in getting to them. Middle America or not, someone out there had to care what was going on.

Looking between the other three faces, Ma’s eyes, so similar to Jes’, seemed resolved. “I’m not going either.”

“What?” Jes almost shouted it.

Ma shook her head slowly, shoulders sinking for a moment before she squared them. “There’s nothing else for me out there. Your father-” She choked back emotion, shoving it down and away. “Your father isn’t here anymore. It’s just you and I. And this place. This is my place, was our place and I’ll be damned if I’ll let those bastard elves take it from me.”

Hadrian’s head tilted to one side as he regarded Jes’ mother. His expression wore some amusement, but there was also a deep respect in his expression. One green ear twitch as he studied Gwendolyn for a moment in silence. “I would be grateful for your assistance, as well as the use of your land if you would see fit to allow it.”

“Wait a minute, Hadrian.” Jes said, holding up her good hand. “I can’t believe you’re actually considering staying. It’s not just the goddamn elves we have to worry about. What about that blasted storm? It dropped more than just rain on Nevada.”

Rock spoke up at last. “It did. Someone is going to have to deal with that.” He was silent for a moment as everyone looked at him. “That’s always the way it is isn’t it? It’s someone’s responsibility to do something about it. Someone should do something.” He shook his head, his blue eyes flashing with something close to anger. “What if we are that someone?”

“What?” Jes could almost see where his thoughts were going, but knowing what he was thinking and knowing what he was planning were two completely different things.

“I don’t know if it’s all of humanity or if it’s Americans as a whole, or if it’s just the people we know, but whenever something happens we expect someone to fix it. But how many times do we try to fix it ourselves? I know I’m guilty of seeing a problem and just letting it pass by. After all, it doesn’t really affect me and it’s not my responsibility to fix it. Right?”

“Right.” Jes drew the word out, not quite comfortable with what she was agreeing with. “But is it something we even can fix?”

Rock shrugged. “We won’t know until we try. There’s been a lot going on in the world this year, a lot going wrong. A lot of it we have no ability to fix or it’s a problem so far away from us that we can’t even reach the problem to fix it. Fuck, Jes, this year has been an absolute-”

“Shitshow.” She said it with him, a crooked half smile flickering across her features for just a moment. “I understand what you mean, but I don’t know how you think we can help.”

His blond hair looked tousled after he ran the fingers of one hand through it, but his blue eyes still looked angry. “We won’t know until we try. We can fortify this place, maybe. With Hadrian’s help. We can make the farmhouse into some sort of defense so we can hold this land against the Empire. If,” He shook his head again, further tousling his shaggy hair, “When the military comes, they’ll have someplace to gather. We’re close to the Rift, but not too close.”

“What about supplies?” Jes tried to be logical, a voice of reason. “What about medical care?”

“Maybe we can convince some of the people from town to stay. Or we could check out some of the other towns in the area. We have the horses, we’re not stuck in one location.”

Jes could only frown in response to that. More people wouldn’t help the supply situation. Admittedly, with all the canning and preserving Ma did, the Nolan Acreage was fairly stocked for the winter. As to how many people it could support, she couldn’t say.

“Let’s go around, talk to the neighbors, talk to the townies, and find out what supplies we can gather. Farmers aren’t going to be taking all their stock if they head to the city. We could take some of them and get what we can set up. There’s plenty of building materials in town, we could make fences and set up pastures for animals. Stockpile what we can.” Ma sounded almost excited by the prospects. As though having some sort of goal gave her purpose again.

Seeing that, the fire burning in her mother’s amber eyes again, Jes knew she couldn’t put it out. Instead she’d have to nurture it, even if it led to suffering in the end, what was to say they wouldn’t suffer for whatever choices they made.

“Alright. Let’s take stock of our resources and gather what we can.” Jes said.

Hadrian looked from one human face to another, noting the resigned expression on Jes’ face and the burning passion on Gwendolyn’s. Rock’s expression was harder to read, but he too was for staying. The orckin’s ears twitched down before flicking up. “We’re all staying then? I will be glad to have you by my side, whatever may come.” His lower fangs made his smile look predatory, but Jes was growing used to it. “Thank you.” He said.

Jes pulled her plate back in front of her and picked up her sandwich. “Don’t thank us yet, who knows what we’re in for.”