Charles swallowed and spoke in a hoarse voice. “It’s not a question of whether it would break you. It’s a matter of it robbing you of your innocence. Silvi, you have been my guiding light, my conscious ever since we met. I helped people because I knew it was what you wanted me to do. Now, imagine what I would do if that ever changed.”

“Are you saying that seeing those things would change me? That I would lose my faith in humanity and people as a whole?” The thought chilled her to the core.

“Yes, I do, because that’s exactly what it’s doing to Kira and me.” He leaned against the wall, suddenly too tired to hold himself up. “As soon as we reach the needed fifty towns, we are both done. We can’t take it anymore.” He finished in a heavy voice. “It’s all too much.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me, tell me how bad it was?” Her heart broke at the thought of them both holding in so much pain without being able to tell her about it.

“Like I said before, we didn’t want you to know how dark humanity can get. Besides, you’re busy helping Myri heal, and that is more important right now.”

“I can do both!” She stomped her foot angrily, a crack bursting out from the step as she broke it.

Before their eyes, it was slowly fixed as the town system automatically used some of the mana it taxed from the residents to repair the damage. It was where the bulk of each town’s UM fund went to. Maintenance and utility fees, no matter their form were never cheap. The materials had been upgraded and even changed, but so had the people using them.

Charles pushed off the wall, feeling thirty years older than his actual age. “Maybe you could have, and I’m sorry for not at least giving you the option to be included. But Silvi, Alli, you have to remember, you’re my conscious, my friend, my companion, and my family first. Not necessarily in that order either, but what you are not is my therapist. I never want to put my burdens on your shoulders. You don’t deserve that, I just want you to be happy.”

Silvi stayed on the repaired step for a few more seconds as he climbed past her, tears pricking at her eyes. She understood why they had done it, but it still hurt to not be there for them when they needed her most. That’s all she wanted to do for her family, is to love them, and be there for them.

Unconditionally.

Her head hung low as she climbed the steps one at a time.

Charles gave her a one-armed hug as they left the stairs behind and walked down a hallway towards a familiar door. It was Sierra’s apartment. Despite her work with the kids, she maintained her own place. She had realized early on that she needed to separate her work life from her personal life where she could. She had a personality that wouldn’t allow for any comprises otherwise and would always be working.

“Sierra says you made Silvi sad,” Kira said, opening the door before Charles could even knock. She took in the girl’s drooping husky ears atop her head and cocked a brow at her fiancé. “I can see that she was right. What did you do?”

“You changed your hairstyle.”

“Don’t change the subject!”

Silvi looked up, taking in the trimmed and slightly curled edges of her hair. It wasn’t a big difference from before, but it was neater and framed her face better than when it was simply long and unruly. She liked it, though she thought the original reverse bob style still suited her best. It was the hairstyle Kira had when they first met.

“It looks good on you.”

“Thank you, Silvi. You’re sweet. Now tell me what this big lug did to make you sad?”

“We just got to talking about some of what you and I have been seeing out there lately, is all. I mentioned that I was glad she hadn’t been coming with us as much and had been able to miss a lot of the things we’ve witnessed.” Charles licked the inside of his suddenly dry mouth and waved to Sierra further inside the apartment.

Silvi had her gaze trained on Kira to see how she reacted to his words.

Kira nodded slowly. “Ah, and I’m guessing she didn’t like not being there to help us out.”

He nodded.

“You both might as well come inside. This isn’t something you should be talking about in the hallway where others could hear.” Sierra offered, coming up behind Kira.

Silvi could hear a couple of doors quietly click shut as the nosy neighbors tried to avoid detection. The inside of the apartment had been packed into a couple of boxes in the corner, with only a few items left out for daily use.

“It looks like you expect to come up to the space station soon,” Charles commented, taking in the boxes. “And judging from what Kira said earlier, I’m guessing that Odin either hasn’t fallen yet, or you still retained some of your powers.”

“No, he fell, but he was nice about it and gave me a few pointers about controlling my abilities before he did so. My ability to tell the future is slightly weaker, but my class helped to offset some of the effects. It’s nice actually, it was too strong for me to control in a lot of ways before. Now that it’s weaker, I can better manage the side effects and the ability itself. Plus, it still works with the bow just fine.” She grinned and pulled out the ‘Bow of Future Flight’, which he had enhanced and linked to her weeks before.

“Are you coming up to the station, then? I thought you were waiting.” Silvi pressed the woman.

“Oh, I am, but unless something happens that I didn’t see, the space should be available within the next day or so. The visions I have for things farther out aren’t as clear as those closer in time. There are too many variables and unpredictable items that could occur the farther out I look.”

“Well, I know mom was planning on expanding the space station within the next day or two, so you are probably safe,” Kira informed her, before looking at Silvi. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I…” She stopped to seriously consider what she wanted. “Not right now. I’m too confused still about other things, and this is just making everything worse. I want to be there to help you both, and I’m not. Even when you come back, you haven’t mentioned anything to me, and that hurts.” Maybe she did want to talk about it after all, as all her feelings abruptly came pouring out.

They listened to Silvi bare her heart to them for the next several minutes without saying a word. This was her time, and it wasn’t for them to ruin it.

The silver-haired girl gradually sank to the floor, her dress pooling out around her legs.

She sniffled and rubbed at her red eyes. “Why do I suddenly feel a little better after just saying all of that?”

Charles sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. “Welcome to human emotions, sweetie. They make absolutely no sense, to anyone. Sometimes just talking is enough to get things off our chest, and afterward, we’ll generally find whatever was bothering us before is now manageable. At least that has usually been the case for me.”

Kira crouch on the other side of Silvi and hugged them both. “And me, for most problems, at least. Some are just too large.”

“Same,” Sierra added, from her place on the couch.

Silvi relished in the feeling of their warm hugs for a few moments before sighing. “Fine, I think I’ve mostly settled a few things within myself now in regard to our discussion from the other day, Charles. And I can understand why you both didn’t want to bring me along or talk to me about what you were seeing and experiencing. All I can say to that is I can’t remain innocent forever. I’ve already seen a lot with both of you, you don’t need to protect me, not from this.”

“Alright, we won’t, at least no more than we would if you were with us.” Kira gave her a quick kiss on the temple and held them both aloft as she stood. “Now, let’s get home. I’m sure we’ve made Myri wait more than long enough. She’s going to want to come along tomorrow night now.”

Charles shook out his legs and released Silvi with a laugh. “Yeah, she probably will. Your poor parents.”

“Meh, they love her.”

Silvi took the rare chance to hug Kira back. The woman was still somewhat leery of others touching her at times. She had gotten tremendously better, especially when it came to those close to her. However, as a rule, it was still better to wait for her to initiate any contact.

The doorway up to the station opened before them as Charles waggled his fingers at Sierra. “Take care, and we’ll see you and all your little charges up there soon enough.”

Silvi waved and hurried through, anxious to see Myri. Kira was right. They had made her wait extra long this time around. She probably wouldn’t be happy about that.

Krystal met them at the door to their small apartment with a finger to her lips. “Shh, she just fell asleep a few minutes ago. She wore herself out worrying that something had happened to you all.”

Silvi ducked under her arm and saw Myriam asleep on the couch. Her cheeks were red from excess rubbing, with a hint of wetness still on them from her tears. She breathed in the girl’s scent and felt a part of herself relax.

This is where she belonged for now, with Myri, where she was needed. A smile ghosted across her lips as a sense of calm settled over her. There were still things she needed to figure out, but she had a family who would help guide her when she needed them.

Just like she would always be there for them. That was the way families worked.