Svector and Serena stood outside of the abandoned building that they decided to label as their meeting place. It was far enough away that they could contain any incidents that might happen, but not too far that they were completely isolated. It was the least they could do, in order to make sure this meeting went well.

  “How’s Elaina feeling?” Svector asked Serena, as they waited in the abandoned lobby that they were in. Elaina was sitting in the corner, the black substance seeming to have slowed down in its accumulation.

  “She’s fine. The girl is obviously still wracked with guilt but I’ve tried to reassure her that everything is going to be alright,” Serena answered. “What about the dealer girl?”

  “Phoebe? She’s sitting in the room. I don’t think she understands why she is here, so that makes things way more complicated.”

  “Just so we’re clear. Are we hoping that Elaina’s story would make her realize the error of her ways, and try to make her reconsider?”

  “Yeah. That’s the gist.”

  “And what do we do about her living situation? She’s obviously not in a state to be living on her own.”

  “We ask the governor for help. The first step is convincing Phoebe that she is in trouble, then we can help her take the steps out of it.”

  “Alright, alright. I’ll believe you. Things are just pretty complicated though, and even I’m not too sure on how to handle it.”

  “Sometimes I’m not either. My girls were a whole different beast than this, but… who am I if not persistent? I’ve come all this way for those two so far.” Svector looked up wistfully at the ceiling, then to Elaina, as he felt his chest relax.

  Serena laughed a bit, before hitting Svector in the shoulder in a friendly tone. “I’ll agree with you on that. It’s admirable, don’t give it up.”

  “Thanks,” Svector responded, with his own laugh. He decided to finally stand up and walk towards Elaina, kneeling down to the curled up kid. “Hey there. Are you ready to talk to them?”

  Elaina didn’t respond with words, and instead just did a small nod. She was about as ready as she would ever be. So, Svector reached his hand out towards the girl, who took it and began to stand up. Serena also got up, and began following behind the two of them. Then, the trio walked through the door into the meeting room.

  Phoebe was sitting there with a clueless expression on her face. She still didn’t seem to fully comprehend why she was here, much to Svector’s dismay, but it was the best he could do. Elaina’s steps became smaller as she approached the table, before she reluctantly sat down.

  Svector and Serena stood back, to observe what interactions would unfold.

  Nothing.

  The two of them just stared and awkwardly looked around each other for a few minutes, seemingly unable to get out any words to each other. It seemed like they were going to need a little bit of a push. Svector realized that it was going to have to be him.

  With the pull of a chair, Svector also sat down, in between the two of them.

  “Elaina, this is Phoebe. Phoebe, this is Elaina.”

  He introduced them to each other. He had dealt with spats before with his two girls, but as always, this was a different beast.

  “You two have met before, I’m certain, but I don’t think you two really know each other. So, let’s start there.”

  “I know what she wanted. She wanted to get stronger to win, so I offered her some help,” Phoebe said. “I don’t see how that’s my problem.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Elaina seemed to twitch at that response, even if Phoebe said that statement with the innocence of a child.

  “I… I made a bad choice, yeah. Sorry,” Elaina meekly responded. “B-But… I don’t think its fair that you convinced me.”

  “Uh. I didn’t convince you. You convinced yourself.”

  “N-no. I told you what I wanted, and you didn’t tell me about the big dragon stuff! That was completely out of the ordinary!”

  “I told you not to overdrink it. You overdrinked it, didn’t you?”

  “I…”

  Svector rubbed his forehead then he raised his hand, which caused the two of them to stop talking. It seems like Phoebe was having difficulty understanding the trouble Elaina was currently in, but if there was one thing Svector was certain on, is that Elaina wasn’t the only one in trouble.

  “Phoebe. I want you to look at Elaina. She’s in trouble right now, big one,” Svector said. Phoebe followed his instruction, though seemingly a bit confused.

  “As said, what about her?”

  “Your fingerprints are all over her. It’s obvious. Both of you are going to be dragged down together if any of this continues, and considering your situation, that isn’t going to go well.”

  “How?” she asked.

  “You get found out, and you get arrested. It’s not worth escaping from this one because of how the guard in this city is. What I want is in both of your mutual interests.” The two girls seemed to be visibly worried, but Svector tried to remain calm. He got up, and began to explain. “We’re going to plead our case to the governor. From what I can tell, a lot of this city seems to be focused on talent. You both are plenty talented, and I think you’ve shown that already. It might give us an easier case.”

  “So, we have to work together?” Phoebe asked.

  “Yes, exactly,” Svector said. “Because you two have joined yourselves at the hip. This is a sinking ship that I want to get you off of, and I believe you two can.”

  “...will she help me?” Elaina muttered, awkwardly looking away.

  “I have to…” Phoebe sighed. “If you’re going to cause me that much trouble.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad we can agree. How about you two talk to each other more, because you both need to make a pretty good case,” Svector turned away. “I’m going to let you guys breathe for a second. If you need any help, then I’ll just be outside of the door.”

  Svector turned to Serena, who nodded and began to follow him. The two of them stepped outside, closing the door behind them, hoping that the two girls could make something out of their new agreement. Serena stayed just by the door, one eye looking in to make sure everything was going well.

  Svector collapsed onto a chair, breathing heavily. In part, the reason why he stepped out was for his own mental state. He considered asking Serena for some help, but he didn’t feel like his mind was clouded, just stressed.

  “For the record, I think you did great,” Serena said, keeping her eye on the two kids. They seemed to be talking normally, thank goodness.

  “Thanks. I realized how spoiled I was with Adelyn and Rumia, as a guardian. I could’ve had it so much worse,” Svector replied. “Do you have any water?”

  “Yeah,” Serena nodded, reaching into her bag and giving Svector a bottle of glowing water.

  Svector took a chug, a bit too much, spilled a bit of it over his suit. But, he was feeling a bit better. “Well. I think we’ve worked something out. We just need to plead our case to the governor now. I don’t know much about her, but I hope that Custos’ approval, and our appeal to talent can get us something.”

  “Maybe Adelyn’s already a big name here too,” Serena crossed her arms. “That might be a bit of our own favor.”

  “Yeah. I just can’t imagine leaving those two in the dust,” Svector said. “They’re good kids. Or, at least they might not know better.”

  Svector peered into the room alongside Serena. The two girls didn’t necessarily seem to be getting along instantly, but it was a bit more civil than he had expected. At the very least, they were discussing the future.

  “And what if the Governor doesn’t help us?” Serena asked. “That would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”

  “Then…” Svector said. “We’re going to have to take this situation into our own hands.”

  As he said that, Svector felt a pinch on his cheek. Serena seemed to have given Svector a small warning sign. “Svector. Your kids aren’t going to keep waiting forever. There’s got to be a limit.”

  Svector looked back, and frowned. She was right, he couldn’t get too distracted from what he was here for. But, there was no way he could leave this unresolved just because a few things went poorly. “Well, we better make sure this goes well then. If so, we don’t have to think about the potential for failure.”

  Serena sighed. “Let's hope so, then.”

  Svector opened the door, and stepped back into the room alongside Serena. The two of them approached the kid, who seemed to be getting along better than before. For now, they just needed to focus on what could get better, because that was the only way to move forward.