“Now, what do we have here?” a voice intruded into the blissful nothingness of my mind and I felt Galatea prod me a little, to hasten my return to consciousness. Calling my memories fuzzy would be an understatement, I remembered Sophia waking up and talking to her, but afterwards, I did not remember. I noticed that I was sitting at her bedside and that I had taken off my right gauntlet to hold her hand, which felt right. I noticed that I was wearing my helmet again and Galatea supplied the knowledge that she had put the bucket back on when I had been about to nod off, just in case some orderly came in to check on Sophia, which according to her, had happened a few times during the night and in the morning.

But there had been a voice, so I forced my body into movement, looking around. There was a woman standing in the room, next to the door and behind her was someone I recognised.

Putting aside the woman, who had spoken, for a moment, the one I recognised was Bob, or Robert Glint, the Guild attorney that had attended the meeting I had been in. A second look at the woman made me realise that she reminded me of what little I had seen from Isleen, when we had attacked the compound, it might have been a coincidence but I doubted it. The one we had called for Sophia had introduced herself as Isleen and the Isleen I had met had mentioned that her powers were somehow hereditary, so the mental leap was not a large one. Galatea added the files we had procured for Technica the day before, which had an image of the woman, telling me that, indeed, she was Isleen.

Technica must have told Bob to guide Isleen, which meant that Technica trusted him quite a bit. Now that I was more cognizant, I noticed just how much she must trust the hospital, not only letting them work on Powered without their mask but even taking off her helmet. I must have either been more confused than normal or I must have subconsciously taken my clues from her, talking freely and taking off my helmet in an installation not under my control.

But there were people to deal with, so I forced myself to my feet, even as Sophia’s hand slipped my grasp and many parts of my body screamed in protest. I was glad for the electronic parts that moment, they were the only thing not hurting and Galatea added quite a bit of information, telling me about the damage that was still lingering from the overclocking of my naninte-network the day before. And not only that, she even added some other information, mostly telling me that I would need to get some power within the day or bad things would happen.

“Greetings and Welcome on Accord Island. You must be Isleen. And thank you, Mr. Glint, I am sure that Councillor Technica appreciates your help.” I was grateful for the voice-distortion in my helmet, even if Galatea had toned it down a great deal, it kept me from sounding as if I had just woken up after a much needed nap.

“All in a day's’ work. Good to meet you again, Apprentice Metis.” Robert said, his voice smooth and friendly, as one would expect from someone making their living arguing their case.

Isleen looked a little surprised for a moment, but kept quiet when Robert excused himself, citing other work.

“So, you are Metis. I heard about you, you know?” her voice was quiet, calm and neutral, which made me question her statement. She did not sound as if she had any emotional investment in my existence, but the day before she had claimed Sophia, Anath, as her daughter. And Sophia would be the most likely source of knowledge about me, but I would have thought there would be judgement after the foolish actions I had undertaken in regards to Sophia.

“Is that so? Maybe I should get to procure some information on you, to make things even.” I suggested, making an implied threat. If she wanted to use information against me, well, two could play that game.

“Mom?” Sophia asked from the bed in a weak voice. I was glad that my helmet hid my face and the expression on disbelieving surprise on it. For a split-second, I teamed up with Galatea to keep my biological brain from running off tangents and got to the realisation that, most likely, the relationship between the younger Isleen and Sophia’s brother, Felix, had caused them to become closer and Isleen’s parents had stepped up in some way when Sophia needed them. She had been in a bad mental place before we had rescued her brother, so it seemed like a likely scenario.

“Hey Soph. What happened to you, sweetie?” Isleen asked, her voice gentle and friendly.

“Clark, he kidnapped me. Wanted information and revenge. Can I get something to drink?” Sophia asked and Isleen rapidly blinked for a moment, before hiding her surprise. Before she could answer, the door opened and a white-coated woman entered.

“You are awake, Miss Anath? Good, Councillor Technica told us you woke yesterday but suggested we wait until the morning for a second evaluation, as an emergency contact would be with us then.” the doctor told the room, mainly looking at Sophia and Isleen.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to be in the way of the Doctors. I’ll get myself situated and be back in an hour or so.” Isleen was the first to answer, apparently quite happy to let the Doc do her job. I was less willing to leave but Sophia spoke up from the bed, telling me to get myself something to eat and a shower, something Galatea seconded.

I left the room after squeezing Sophia’s hand once more, only to run into Isleen, almost literally.

“Join me for a bit, please.” she ordered me, the please only slightly blunting the order. Part of me wanted to rebel, to reject her, but on the other hand, just the few words between Sophia and her had shown that their connection was not a simple one. I was not certain what my intent, to use an old phrase, for Sophia were, not even in the privacy of my own mind. When Galatea had told me that she had been kidnapped, I had not stopped to think, I had simply acted. Now, in the light of day and with me being a whole day older and wiser, even if it felt like I had aged a few years, I was wondering. The way I had left had been, if I forced myself to admit it, cowardly. I had run away, rather than face what was coming, almost like the mental experiment of Schrödinger’s Cat, if I did not face Sophia, did not find out her intentions and what was on her mind, then we had not broken up, she was not angry at me.

But when she had been kidnapped by Clark the cat had escaped the bag and now it was running wild and I had no idea how to herd it, other than alienating someone close to Sophia would be a bad idea. So, I walked alongside her, waiting for her to speak.

“Clark Greene, hm? I heard quite a bit about you, that young man and Sophia over the last year, not all of it good. But hearing that he kidnapped her, it worries me, for more than one reason. The biggest reason is worry for Sophia, but now, with you here, I wonder. Especially after I read the headlines on my flight here, ‘Heroic Heir assassinated on the steps of his house!’. There were a few more, even more sensationalist, but the essence was quite similar.” Isleen stopped for a moment, looking around for just a second.

“Clark Greene died, in New Brunsburg, only hours between you claim to have rescued Sophia from a kidnapping orchestrated by him.” she paused again, as if wanting to give me a chance to respond, or tie a noose out of her words to hang myself with. I simply waited for her to ask a direct question or continue speaking.

“Hmh, let’s take another tack. What are your intentions for my daughter?” she asked, her voice deriding and accusatory.

I felt anger flare up within me, I wanted the best for Sophia. Even when I had run away, there had been a part of me that had wanted her to be safe, far away from the crusade I had expected to go on. That my crusade had fizzled out as soon as I had some time to think clearly and consider my goals and the ways to reach them was another topic. But her happiness had always been on my mind.

Just as I was about to turn and rip into the woman, angry enough that my hand had clenched into a fist, I saw her smile.

“Good, I see that you still care for Sophia. The two of you will need to talk, without any interference.” she told me with a friendly, almost happy voice. The sudden shift in tone and behaviour caused some emotional whiplash within me, as I wondered just what was going on, when I noticed something in her eyes, a slight twinkle that reminded me of Nisha and understanding dawned upon me.

“You are an empath, are you not?” I asked, carefully controlling my voice.

She just smiled and nodded, “Indeed, I am. A receiving empath, to be precise, I can read your emotions, even through the armour you are wearing.”

“I see. I will have to excuse myself, there are quite a few things I need to take care off.” I told her, my mind still whirling.

“You do that. Just so you know, if you ever want to talk, I would be glad to do so. I’m sure that the Guild has their own psychiatrists but, the offer is there.” she told me, still smiling. I was feeling a little bit of a headache setting in, but that was somehow to be expected.

People could be difficult.