Chapter 16: Dr. Liam

  “When did you come here, Dr. Liam?”

  Edana’s incredulous voice appeared behind me.

  Besides me, only Edana and Soar knew what this place was. For me, it was my safe place where I could hide without anyone pestering me about problems and a place where I could read in peace.

  But for Edana, this was the place where we first met.

  I was quite surprised at first; I designed this maze so that only I knew how to go through it, but Edana figured it out at the bright age of six.

  Before I answered her question, I thanked Soar first, personally.

  Thank you for bringing her here, Soar.

  My pleasure, Dr. Liam.

  “A moment before you left. I needed a break,” I sighed.

  “Anyway, did you want to come talk to me, Edana?”

  I looked at her and motioned her to sit next to me. She slid off Soar and followed, though not as hesitantly as the first time. Soar settled beside her.

  “Not exactly, but now that you’re here, I guess so.”

  She stared at the stone bench, fingering the smooth texture.

  “I just couldn’t believe that Amber and Kyle would push me into something that I didn’t want to do, and to top it off, they want Altair in our team. He is inexperienced and naive and would drag our team down even further. To make it even worse, I messed up. If I just twisted faster, I wouldn’t have to make a fool of myself. I just landed on top of him messily, and I couldn’t land the final blow on him,” she burst resentfully, slamming her fist against the bench.

  I smiled, remembering how Solari used to burst into little fits whenever she was exasperated on a project.

  “I was about to give you back your blades, but I’ll hold onto them for now before my head lands on the bottom of the ocean,” I chuckled.

  Her face reddened in embarrassment. Oh, how different were my two daughters! They were like the two magnetic poles, day and night, warm and cool, and the list went on and on.

  “Hey, Edana, I was just joking. To be honest, there wasn’t anything messy about that test. I thought that it was beautiful and elegant. You were amazing on the platform, with your perfect corkscrews and unpredictable fighting stance that kept everyone guessing. There wasn’t anything wrong,” I said.

  “But I messed up, and I don’t make mistakes when I’m fighting! My skills are dulling, and I am worried that if anything happens, I won’t be able to defend this place well enough. If even Altair can defeat me, how am I supposed to keep away Oceanus’s soldiers?”

  Edana shook her head in dismay.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  To this, I smiled despite the situation. She was still the little girl who would push herself to the limits just because she wasn’t perfect enough. But, little did she know that no one can ever be perfect. She would run herself ragged from trying to do everything perfectly.

  “Edana, I will give you two choices. Do you want to hear a pretty lie, or the hard truth?”

  I looked at her seriously, and she paused, thinking.

  “I want the… truth. I want to hear the truth,” she firmly replied, and my expression turned hard.

  “Then here it is: no human can ever be perfect. Not you, not I, nor anyone else. No matter how hard you try to work for it, you will fail because you are human. Your soul is a human soul. So, don’t strive for perfection in your life, because the moment you do, you set yourself up for a path of failure.”

  “Then what should I strive for if it's not perfection? If I can’t do my work perfectly, then how can I protect you and Amber?”

  “I think that you have confused the words perfection and protection, child. Perfection is a lone task; protection involves others. For how can you protect if you have no one to love and cherish?”

  My voice softened as I saw the confusion in her face.

  “Don’t put everything on your shoulders, Edana. You can’t hold up the world; no one person can. There is only one being that could hold this universe in the palm of His hand, and it is definitely not you. One more piece of advice for you, Edana. Try giving Altair a chance. He might end up surprising us all in the end,” I smiled.

  “It’s hard, Dr. Liam. I think that we’re already perfect.”

  Edana looked down, avoiding my gaze.

  “Maybe nothing in the group seems wrong to you, but Amber knows that you need help. Before you start yelling at me that you’re capable of handling yourself, I personally know that you surely could live without my help. You’ve proven that many times. But, even with Amber and Kyle, you avoid closeness, which is an important factor in friendship. I know that you’re amazing and smart and fast, but you need friends to find a part of your true identity that has been hiding in there all the time. You need someone who is new and blunt to point out things to you that Amber and Kyle dare not tell you.”

  I poked Edana playfully to make my point. She laughed, trying to push my fingers away.

  “Why are Amber and Kyle afraid of me? They’re older than me,” she pointed out.

  “You know that answer way better than me. Everyone knows that you’re so amiable and friendly. Even a rockfish is more gentle than you are!”

  I rolled my eyes at her.

  “Yeah.”

  Her face was patched with blooming blobs of red that spread across her face.

  “Here are your blades, Edana. We can all learn how to sheath our blades and leave ourselves vulnerable sometimes, can’t we? Even I have problems with that, Edana. Just like it’s hard to keep your blade down when you’re in new and uncomfortable situations, it’s hard to not build walls around yourself when you meet someone new. It’s a risk to take, but if you do, you might be able to find yourself a deep and close friend. I hope that we can both learn when to sheath the blades in our minds too,” I smiled, patting her on the head and leaving her to her own thoughts.

  As I swam away, I sighed, watching her partner comfort her as she sat in quiet thought. She was still a girl inside; how could Frederick turn her into a killer? She was gentle and kind and loving - but it was all ruined when he forced her to kill her first victim.

  She even tried to kill you. Even though you couldn’t sense what she was thinking, you knew that she had a killer’s presence. Why did you still continue to raise her when she was supposed to kill you?

  My logical side retorted, but I knew better than to listen to it.

  Yes, she tried to kill me.

  Yes, she had her knife ready to stab me.

  But, I wasn’t any better. I killed more people than she did. And, I was still given a chance to live and to become a new and better person.

  So, if I didn’t give her a chance, then who would?

  I loved her.

  No matter how many people she may have killed in the past, I still love her.

  She will always be Edana to me.

  Now, yesterday, and tomorrow, she will always be the young and bright girl called Edana to me, and that will never change, not even in a thousand years.