Chapter 72: When You Finally Trust Me

Let You Down; Three Days Grace.

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The only thing he could say he knew for sure was that the house was in Brindleton Bay. Drake wasn’t so sure about moving Ezio out of San Myshuno, given he seemed to love the city so much, but Drake supposed visiting it wasn’t entirely out of the question. And besides, maybe the close proximity to the ocean would be good for him, too. Ezio did also love the ocean, and maybe the change to a slower-paced environment would be good, too. Maybe for all of them, really.

Drake shuffled down the hospital hallway, back towards Ezio’s room. Cassandra didn’t wander far from it anymore, and neither did Drake under most circumstance. He sat down next to her. “How’s everything?” he asked.

She looked up at him, and shrugged. “As well as can be expected,” she said. “Ezio’s still kind of depressed, but he’s trying.”

Maybe that was the best they could expect of him, anyway. Drake sighed, and then held out the house deed. “Kassander dropped this in my lap,” he said. “I don’t know anything about it, except that it’s furnished and paid for in full, and in Brindleton Bay.”

Cassandra raised an eyebrow. “Kassander bought us a house?” she asked.

“Seems that way,” Drake answered. But that was what Kassander did. Drake didn’t know for sure how much money he had, but it was a lot. Strange, because they didn’t live lavishly or anything. The Essairs lived in a modest-looking two-storey home on a humbly-sized plot of land in the middle of nowhere-ahem, he meant, Windenburg.

Same difference.

“I was going to go look at it, and see what needs to be done with it to make it suitable, or if we were going to just rent it out or something,” Drake said. “Want to come with?” If nothing else, maybe going somewhere besides the hospital would be good for them both.

Cassandra tilted her head, and then nodded. “That sounds like fun,” she said. “Or more fun than sitting here is. Caleb’s in there with Ezio right now, so he won’t notice we’re gone.”

Caleb and Ezio seemed to be talking a lot more. It was probably a good thing. Ezio had a way of helping people without meaning to, and no one questioned whether Caleb needed the incidental help. Of course he did. And no one knew Morgyn better than Ezio.

“Maybe we can go and come back without him knowing we left, then,” Drake said.

Cassandra nodded, standing up and holding her hand out. “Yeah that was my thought,” she answered. “Teleporting, I presume?”

“Of course,” Drake answered, taking her hand. The two of them wandered down the hallway, and around a corner, and then disappeared in a burst of smoke. And when they materialised again, Cassandra didn’t let his hand go. They made their way down the street, as Drake followed the map on his phone to the house.

What they found when they got there was not quite what Drake had been expecting. Cassandra seemed less caught off-guard by it, looking up at it appreciatively. The house, or, rather it was a mansion, sat at the end of a street with no other houses on it, backed onto a cliff that overlooked the sea.

Judging by the pathways of sand around it, the mansion’s grounds had direct access to the beach below. The front entryway had a ramp beside the stairs already, so that was at least one less thing to worry about. It was so big, Drake could hardly believe it. This place had to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and Kassander had just handed them the keys like it was nothing.

He was never going to understand that guy.

“Well, looks like the entryway ramps are taken care of at least,” Cassandra said. “Looks big enough for us all, too. Come on, let’s go see the inside.”

Right. There was an inside to see, yeah. Drake followed her up the stairs, and unlocked the door. It took a bit of searching to find the lights, but Drake flicked them on. The entryway had a staircase in it, a little L shaped set of stairs with a lift to one side of it. Drake breathed out, seeing it, and then glanced down the hallway.

“Stair lift,” Cassandra said, “check… I’m going this way.” She turned to the right, and Drake nodded, turning to the left. There was a dining area and what looked like a bar. Caleb would enjoy that, and maybe Morgyn would stop running off to get drunk where no one could keep an eye on the idiot.

Then, there was a bathroom, with hand railings against the walls, and a bedroom. At least there was one bedroom on the ground floor. If Ezio found that easier, that would be a solid enough option.

Drake took a breath in, surprised to find it a little more difficult than usual. He raised a hand, quickly wiping away the tears, before turning around and going back the way Cassandra had. She was in the kitchen, running a hand over the granite counter-tops. There was a breakfast bar in the centre.

“Caleb will like this,” Cassandra said. “Stainless steel, brand new. This is a trash chute, too, I think it routes outside.”

Drake released a breath. Sure, Kassander was a nice person and liked to do things for people, but this seemed like a little much. And they hadn’t even gone upstairs yet. He wasn’t sure if he could handle the upstairs.

Cassandra turned around, and then smiled softly. “Hey,” she said, “this solves our housing problem pretty neatly. I found the listing for it, and it’s got five bedrooms. It should be more than enough space.”

Drake shook his head. “It’s way too much,” he said.

“It’d be rude to refuse, I should think,” Cassandra said. “And the less time we spend on trying to find somewhere to go, the better. The hospital won’t want to keep him forever, and all that.”

No. It was more likely they’d want him out of the hospital as quickly as possible, because hospitals never had the beds for the number of patients they had, Drake knew that. She was right, and this was probably better than they could’ve found on their own.

Drake just didn’t understand how Kassander could just throw away all this money on them like that. It was for Ezio, most likely. That was the only thing that made sense.

* * *

It likely wasn’t surprising, when finally Liberty wasn’t working anymore, and Morgyn insisted on taking up a lot of her time. She didn’t seem to mind it any, though some part of the sage felt like it had to be annoying. But, bless her, if she was annoyed by it, she didn’t let it show.

She sat on the back steps of the hospital, watching Morgyn pace around. Things were a mess right now, and to say the least of it, Morgyn’s nerves were frayed and the pacing was most likely inevitable. Everything felt like it was turning out wrong all at once, and Morgyn wasn’t sure what to do with the feeling.

And of course, instead of thinking about it too much, Morgyn was trying to run from it in the only way the sage knew how.

“I used to have an easier time of this,” Morgyn said. “Would you believe it, when we were kids, Ezio was the wild one, and I was calm.” Too calm. Come to think of it, Morgyn wasn’t sure one could call that calm so much as… oppressed. Maybe there was a very notable difference that made a good deal of impact.

“It’s not hard,” Liberty said. “Ezio calmed down, you started spreading your wings and figuring out who you are. And then got proud of who you are, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But it does have a nice side-effect of ruining your being infallible.”

It would seem so. Morgyn loosed a huff, stopping in the pacing. “I’m never going to get this,” the brunet said. “My emotions are doomed to rule me for the rest of my life and I’m just stuck with it.”

Liberty snorted, leaning back on her hands. “With an attitude like that, you are,” she said. “But it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to let them take over your life. I don’t.”

Morgyn frowned, turning to look over at her. She sure was pretty calm, Morgyn had to admit that. Even… at the bar that one night, Morgyn only kind of remembered it, but the sage did remember how well she’d kept her emotions from taking over in the moment.

How did she really feel under that? And why was it so much easier to wonder that with her, than it was with Caleb? Maybe that meant something. What it meant, Morgyn had no idea. Maybe it was because Morgyn was trying to think about other people for Caleb’s sake already. But then, even before now, Morgyn vaguely remembered asking Liberty how she was a few times and not having to think so hard about it.

Maybe Morgyn was right, and the only thing the sage would ever be able to do is hurt people. Morgyn had been considering going back to magic realm a lot recently, and staying there. If Morgyn hadn’t been here in the first place, Sarnai wouldn’t have ever gotten to Ezio to begin with. Ezio wouldn’t have jumped in front of a lightning bolt to save Morgyn, and he wouldn’t be partially paralysed, on top of everything else he’d lived through.

And walking away from him, it would hurt of course. Of course it would. But this cycle seemed to have no interest in stopping until Morgyn made it.

“How?” Morgyn asked. “How do you manage not to let things bother you?” There had to be some secret to it. Or maybe it was something only very old vampires and Asians could do.

Liberty shrugged. “I’ll tell you something I told Caleb,” she said. “Pain is inevitable. But it’s your choices that decide whether you suffer from it or not. Bad things happen, things hurt, that’s life. But if you change your attitude about it, suddenly it’s not so bad. Change the things you can change. Accept the things you can’t. And learn to tell the difference.”

Morgyn sighed. It’d seem that telling the difference part was something the brunet was going to struggle with. That likely wasn’t really surprising. Once Morgyn had gained wings, it became difficult to imagine that there was anywhere those wings couldn’t take the sage.

But there were places like that. Places that were beyond even Morgyn. Things that Morgyn still had no power over. The brunet didn’t like those things, didn’t like knowing those places existed and those things were there.

“I don’t know how,” Morgyn said. “How to stop fighting.”

Liberty shook her head. “Not stop,” she said. “Just change the how, and what. Pick your battles better. Morgyn, you’ve mastered everything except yourself, but when you master yourself, that’s when you’re truly invincible. No one can take that away from you.”

Morgyn was quiet, for a moment, and then the sage looked down at the grass. “I think I’m fighting her,” Morgyn said.

“Aine?” Liberty asked.

“Yeah,” Morgyn answered. “She put a lot of weird ideas into my head, ideas I didn’t realise were weird until more recently. Ezio always said they were, but, I was never good at listening.”

Liberty smiled, standing up and crossing over to stop in front of Morgyn, and take both of the sage’s hands in hers. “You know what she sounds like, I assume,” Liberty said. “Time to block her out, and leave only you. Morgyn, don’t let her turn you into what she is.”

Morgyn smiled. “How do you do this?” the sage asked. “This, where somehow you find just the right words to make me feel like I can do anything.”

“It’s not so hard,” Liberty said. “It helps you’re pretty amazing.”

“I don’t feel amazing,” Morgyn answered softly.

“Greatness probably doesn’t often feel great,” Liberty said. “But think of it this way. Though there are hard days, days where you feel like you’re not good enough or will never figure something out, you’ve made it this far. Two hundred and seventy years is a whole lot of bad days and tough stuff you’ve made it through anyway.”

Morgyn released a breath. “It’d be easier,” the sage said, “to do it Aine’s way. It would be so much easier.”

“Would you be able to live with it, if you did it Aine’s way?” Liberty asked. “Anything worth anything is worth the work and the time.”

Yeah, Morgyn knew that. The sage glanced down at their joined hands. Then, one hand let go of hers, and reached up to brush her hair out of her face. The light shimmered in the green, but sparkled for a moment and then vanished in the darkness of the brown. It was such a dark hue, but strangely magnetic, more so than the green one was. Morgyn didn’t understand it.

Maybe it was something that wasn’t meant to be understood.

Liberty reached up with the hand Morgyn had let go of, taking that hand back in hers, and gently moving it away from her hair. “Don’t do that,” she said. “Next thing you know, you’ll be kissing me like we’re going to die tomorrow.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Morgyn asked.

“Yes it is,” Liberty answered. “I’m trying not to let things get weird.”

“Maybe I want things to get weird,” Morgyn said.

“Maybe I don’t,” Liberty answered. “Morgyn, you and Caleb are on shaky ground right now, and I know this didn’t come out of nowhere, I just don’t want us to rush into something because you’re afraid of being alone.”

That wasn’t-okay that was part of why, but Morgyn was quite sure it wasn’t the only reason why the sage wanted her. It’d been a long time since Morgyn had felt this connected to Caleb and, in thinking of it, it was hard to say Morgyn ever had. Caleb never said the wrong things, it was just… different, with her.

And what did that even mean, anyway? Now Morgyn was starting to wonder what the brunet actually felt for him at all. Because maybe it wasn’t what Morgyn had first thought. Of course, the sage could be wondering for decades and still never have an answer. Morgyn wasn’t good even with the easy emotions.

“I don’t know why,” Morgyn said. “And I can’t tell you that isn’t why. But I do know my heart wants you. And maybe it won’t always, but it does now. It’s you that I reach for when I need something to hold onto. But I don’t want to hurt him. And then I think, I will anyway, if I don’t let him go.”

Liberty breathed out softly, glancing down. “You know,” she said, “Caleb suggested a poly. He seems to think I’m in love with you.”

“Are you?” Morgyn asked.

Liberty shook her head, and then reached up and gently rested a hand on Morgyn’s cheek. “It doesn’t matter if I am or not,” she said. “What you need right now isn’t a lover to complicate things even more. You need a friend. That is what I will be.”

* * *

“I’m still not sure how I’m supposed to take this queen business,” Lilith said, over there rummaging around in her closet. She’d taken a strange, sudden interest in what was in her closet recently. Caleb could only imagine it had something to do with a certain clumsy blonde girl…

Caleb flipped the page, idly skimming through a magazine. He didn’t terribly care what was in it, but it was something to do besides mope. Even as they should’ve been closer than they’d ever been, it felt like he and Morgyn had drifted further apart, instead.

And now Morgyn had stopped talking to him about the things that went on in Morgyn’s head. It was obvious there were things still in there, either because Morgyn was just that easy for him to read, or because his empathy thing was helping, and the sage said nothing about it.

Caleb didn’t believe for one second that there wasn’t anything to talk about. Morgyn always had something, it came with the territory of having as many feelings as Morgyn did and zero idea of what to do with them. The sage had just stopped talking.

Caleb kind of wondered if now Morgyn was talking to Liberty. Maybe that was for the best. The vampire had been being Morgyn’s emotion processor for probably way too long anyway. As for Caleb, he’d started talking to Ezio.

And it was strange, but even in his own head, he could admit that Caleb’s relationship with Ezio was, and had always been, what his relationship with Morgyn should have been, and for whatever reason, wasn’t. Maybe it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Maybe it just was what it was. It wasn’t like Ezio needed him or anything. Caleb had no place in his life whatsoever.

It was just nice of him, to make him feel like maybe he did.

“Are you and Morgyn doing okay?” Lilith asked.

Caleb looked up at her, and then shrugged. “Fine enough, why?” he asked.

Lilith released a quiet breath. “Just seems like you two aren’t talking as much anymore,” she answered. “And I know you well enough to know you’re upset about something.”

Tch, yeah. He was upset because once Morgyn was everything he’d ever wanted, and he didn’t know if he’d changed, or Morgyn had. Or maybe nothing had changed at all, and that was the problem. Caleb didn’t want to say anything to Morgyn about it, not right now. Morgyn needed the support, and even if they were just friends, it wasn’t like Caleb wouldn’t be here to support the sage, it was just that…

Maybe it was just that Caleb was still afraid to let go.

“You know,” Caleb said, “I’m starting to think maybe I never really loved Morgyn like that. If maybe it was a different sort of thing, and I decided it was something that it wasn’t, because Morgyn’s my best friend and I could’ve been happy that way. Or at least, convinced myself I was.”

Lilith loosed a breath through her nose. “Why am I always getting the ones like that?” she asked. “Emilia said almost the same thing about Darrel. Look, here’s a question for you. When was the last time you did something because you wanted to do it? Not because you thought it was the least risky thing to do, or because you thought you could live with it, because it’d make someone else happy?”

Caleb huffed and closed the magazine. Come to think of it, he had no idea. And once, it didn’t matter any, because making other people happy made him happy, too. When had that changed?

“It doesn’t make you selfish to want things because you want them,” Lilith said. It was almost like she’d read his mind, but of course she had. This was Lilith, and she was his best friend before he even knew who Morgyn Ember was.

“I never want things because I want them,” Caleb said.

“I know,” Lilith said. “And that’s why I think you should, this time. Think about yourself for once. I think it’s long overdue that you do, and it’s okay to need things that Morgyn can’t give you. It’s not your fault, or Morgyn’s. It just is.”

Caleb shrugged. “Sometimes I wonder if maybe Morgyn needs things I can’t give him, either,” he said.

Lilith looked surprised. “What makes you say that?” she asked.

“I don’t know for sure,” Caleb answered. “It just seems like, I say the wrong thing more than I did before. And Morgyn doesn’t seem to tell me everything anymore. Like there are parts of Morgyn I don’t know, but there are parts of me that Morgyn doesn’t know, either.”

“You think you’re not as close as you were?” Lilith asked.

Caleb made a face. “Kind of?” he said. “We don’t seem angry with each other anymore. We just also don’t seem as close as we used to be. I still don’t want to lose Morgyn as a friend, I just don’t feel like Morgyn means the same things to me as before.”

Lilith was quiet a moment, and then shuffled out of the closet to sit down next to him. “Isn’t that upsetting?” she asked. “You’ve been chasing Morgyn for so long, it seems strange to suddenly let go.”

“Yeah,” Caleb said. “I think that’s why I didn’t want to let go. Because I had spent so long chasing Morgyn. Maybe I’d spent so long chasing Morgyn, I never figured out that Morgyn isn’t what I really want.”

Lilith thought about it, for a long moment, and then reached over and took his hand. “What now?” she asked.

Caleb shrugged. “Don’t know,” he said. “I’m the one that asked Morgyn to marry me. Seems kind of rude to change my mind suddenly. I keep hoping Morgyn’s impulsiveness will manage to get him to dive into things with Liberty and it’ll be easier, but so far, it seems like no dice.”

Lilith sighed. “I think you’re going to have to talk it out.”

She was probably right. It didn’t make it any easier.

* * *

“There’s a lot of floor space,” Cassandra said, tapping the phone screen. “Plenty of room for you to manoeuvre around with your leg brace, or in a wheelchair. Mayor will be pleased at how big the backyard is, I think. There’s a pool with a deck, we can have pool parties, and it backs right up to the water. Could go down there whenever we want.”

It was, of course, amazing, Ezio decided, flicking through the pictures they’d come home with. This not so little house on the sea was perfect, and clearly some thought had been put into choosing it. Ezio would be surprised, but Kassander never seemed to dislike him, at least. And maybe in some sense, they were the same. Kassander had given up a lot to save those that mattered the most, just like Ezio had.

Heck, they’d both independently invented vampirism through magic, simply because they didn’t want to lose someone they loved.

“It has a really nice kitchen, too,” Cassandra went on. She almost seemed excited about it, but then, she’d grown up wealthy. It wasn’t too much of a surprise. This place was more along the lines of what she was used to.

Ezio, Morgyn, and Drake, they’d spent most of their lives living in magic realm. They were used to this kind of space, but it wasn’t exclusively their space, either. It’d be strange, to have all that space suddenly, and have it all be theirs. It was strange even now, trying to imagine it.

Their lives could’ve continued onward unchanged and undisturbed, if he’d just… but then, he knew better than most, that even if he’d wanted to, he wouldn’t have been able to just let a lightning bolt hit Morgyn. Protecting Morgyn was what he was made to do, and no one could say he didn’t try to, never mind he did love the dumb ass.

But why should he, anyway? What exactly had Morgyn ever done for him in return? Nothing. Morgyn was just constantly making trouble that Ezio had to go and fix. Maybe Ezio had things he wanted to do with his life. Maybe he had his own problems. How was this fair?

Very little in life was fair. Ezio knew that better than some. And still, just once, he wanted to live because he wanted to live, not because being a part of Morgyn gave him no other choice.

“Ezio?” Cassandra asked. “You’re crying, are you okay?”

Ezio handed her phone back, and then reached up and brushed his tears away. “Yeah,” he said. “Just, a little overwhelmed.” He should’ve stayed dead. Because now he was just an inconvenient burden, and he’d never be anything else.

Drake stood up, settling down next to him. Cassandra turned her phone off, setting it on the floor, and then settled down on the other side of him, and hugged him.

“It’ll be okay,” she said. “I think you’ll like the new house, and maybe it’ll be good for us all, really.”

Ezio didn’t say anything, at first, and then leaned against her and though he tried not to end up a teary mess again, the tears slipped out anyway. “M’sorry,” he said.

“No, Ezio no,” Cassandra said, hugging him a little closer. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry for.”

“Nothing at all,” Drake added, resting against his back and laying his head on Ezio’s shoulder. “We love you, very much, you know that right?”

Yeah, and right now they loved a useless drain. Ezio almost wished, even for a fleeting second, that he’d been too slow, and the lightning bolt had hit Morgyn anyway. That it was Morgyn sitting here, and not him. And then he hated himself for it, and the tears suddenly broke loose before he could shove them back down.

Drake shifted around behind him, holding onto him tighter. Ezio took one of his hands, and leaned against Cassandra. He hated this. He hated how angry he was now, he hated how much that anger hurt, he hated that he’d started to resent Morgyn and yet he knew there was no other outcome to this that made any sense. He was tired of it already, but maybe he’d always been a little angry about it. About how much he’d given up and lost because Morgyn needed him.

Maybe it wasn’t fair of him to feel the way he did, but he felt it all the same. And even if he wished he didn’t, there was no pretending that he didn’t, or shoving it under a rug and acting like everything was exactly as it’d always been, because nothing was the same, and everything had changed.

He wanted to go back to France. Right there at the tail end of it, and go anywhere but to magic realm. Morgyn wouldn’t ever go looking for him, anyway, and he could’ve taken the chance to run away somewhere and never go back. To live whatever life it was he wanted without Morgyn and Morgyn’s shit getting in the way of it.

And he hated himself for that, too.

He didn’t want to put any of that into words. So, he didn’t, just clung to Cassandra and Drake and cried. For everything he’d lost and would never get back. For the Ezio he could’ve been and would never be. For the boy he used to be that had died in France all those years ago. And for the broken, angry mess that he was now.

* * *

Nothing had changed, save perhaps for how empty it felt here, now. The ghosts were still around, Morgyn could sense them, somewhere beyond headquarters, but Morgyn didn’t pay them any mind right away. Later, the sage would set up a little shrine for them as thanks for the help during the fight with Sarnai.

For now, Morgyn glanced around the place, noting the layer of dust over everything, the light filtering weirdly through the glass roof way up there. The candles in the entryway had stopped floating at some point.

Morgyn waved a hand, the magic pulling the candles back up into the air, and lighting them too. Then, the brunet lit the fireplaces, and bustled around fixing the things that were broken during the fight with Sarnai, cleaning what had gone dusty in the absence of life.

Fortunately, it’d seem the vortex hadn’t gone any further than before while Morgyn, Simeon, and L were gone. But of course, Morgyn was the only sage left, now. And now, maybe, was the time Morgyn needed to make the choice between staying in magic realm and trying to handle this alone, at least until the All felt like assigning new sages to replace Simeon and L, and going back to San Myshuno.

If nothing else, for now, taking care of the realm and cleaning up headquarters was the perfect excuse to take a break from everything that was going on. Morgyn could barely stand to be around Ezio right now, either. Ezio needed Morgyn, maybe now more than ever, but Morgyn wasn’t even enough for Caleb. The sage couldn’t imagine being enough for Ezio.

Never mind, it was Morgyn’s fault that Ezio was in this position, directly and indirectly. Ezio had every right to hate Morgyn. Morgyn hated Morgyn, too. For not knowing how to hurt Ezio any less, either.

Ezio, Caleb, even Liberty, they deserved better from Morgyn than this. But the sage didn’t know how to do better. Maybe it would be best, if Morgyn stayed here, the lone sage watching over magic realm, for however long the All deem Morgyn be. At least here, alone, Morgyn couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. That seemed to be the only thing Morgyn could do, now, was hurt people, and the brunet had never wanted to.

Whether Morgyn wanted to or not was moot. The fact of the matter was, Morgyn still was hurting the people that the sage cared the most about. And until Morgyn had dealt with whatever it was that was wrong with the idiot, that Morgyn couldn’t stop, the brunet would stay here.

The All’s presence was quieter, the hum a little softer. Morgyn shuffled around getting the dust off everything, and then went into the green room to check on the plants. The ghosts must’ve taken care of them, because they seemed to be doing alright, by some miracle.

Morgyn turned to move to some other part of the building, passing a mirror on the way. And as the brunet stared at the mirror, Morgyn eventually raised a hand, and ran it through brown waves. The strands turned red. Morgyn’s hand fell away. It looked very right.

As Morgyn watched the shimmer of reddish orange strands in the mirror, the sage became aware of someone else’s presence. No one living, Morgyn didn’t think. The sage still wasn’t accustomed to dealing with the dead-that was Ezio’s thing-but also knew that ignoring a spirit that wanted your attention could be detrimental.

Instead, Morgyn turned around. Her hair was long and wavy black, eyes a dark brown, darkly coloured skin. But she smiled, and somehow it felt familiar, and like home. Morgyn’s head tilted slightly, and almost asked, but as they stared at one another, she began to change.

Her hair shortened, her skin lightened, and then eyes just as green as Morgyn’s stared back at the sage, from a face that looked so much like Morgyn’s own.

Both hands raised to cover Morgyn’s mouth. The woman reached out, almost like she intended to hug the sage, but then withdrew, looking a little saddened.

“Mama, I-“

“No,” she interrupted. “I know you never expected me. But I’ve always been here, Morgyn, watching over you and Ezio. And now you can see me. You figured out who I am very quickly. Ezio hasn’t just yet.”

Morgyn was almost surprised the sage had figured that out before Ezio did, but then, Ezio had a lot to deal with, maybe more than even Morgyn knew. And maybe there was no sense in being upset about it, how different and apart they’d grown over time. It was good, wasn’t it? That Ezio had a life that Morgyn didn’t know?

Then, why did it hurt? Maybe it was just staring at their mother that made the sage’s heart clench the way it did. Morgyn didn’t know what to say. Maybe there was nothing to say at all.

And just like she had, Morgyn’s hands fell and one reached for her. Then, Morgyn remembered, and moved to pull away, but Melanie held her hand out, and for a moment, their hands hovered next to each other’s.

Melanie smiled. “Don’t stay here too long,” she said. “Ezio needs you, now more than ever.”

Morgyn’s eyes narrowed, watching their hands. “I don’t want to hurt him anymore,” Morgyn said. “All I seem to do is cause him more trouble and hurt him.”

“And you think that this won’t hurt him?” Melanie asked. “Ezio is important to you, and you’ll only ever have one Ezio. Take care of the one you have. Even if you mess up sometimes, it’s not like he doesn’t understand.”

Yeah, but he shouldn’t have to understand. Morgyn sighed. “I just need to think,” the sage said.

“Okay,” Melanie answered, pulling her hand away from Morgyn’s and hovering it next to the sage’s cheek instead. “Then think. But go home, when you’re done. You need Ezio. Ezio needs you. That doesn’t change whether you’re 270, 70, or 7.”

Morgyn was quiet a moment, thinking. And then the sage drew a breath in. “Mom, what is he doing?” Morgyn asked. “There’s something he’s gotten into that I don’t understand. Maybe you understand it.”

Melanie shook her head, her hands falling to her sides. “Trying to save you,” she said. “Just like everything else he does. But this time, I think, eventually, he’ll need you to save him.”

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