My Grim Reaper Class: I can kill anything.

Night of day 48. Selene's house. Ground floor.

Selene was in the kitchen preparing tea for herself when Liaraen came down.

Approximately two hours had passed since Nathan had fallen asleep. Liaraen had gone up to her own room for an hour to change and refresh herself, and then had come down to the kitchen thinking it would be empty.

It wasn't.

Selene looked up.

"Liaraen."

"Selene."

"Tea?"

"I appreciate it."

Selene prepared a second cup. She placed them on the small kitchen table where they had operated on Nathan hours earlier. The table was already clean, without traces of the medical work.

They sat facing each other.

For approximately a minute, they drank in silence.

Then Selene spoke.

With her usual operational tone.

"Liaraen."

"Yes?"

"Today, during the two hours you were with me downstairs while Nathan slept, you told me what happened in Karak Forest."

"Correct."

"And you told me with quite a bit of detail. More detail than Nathan is going to give himself when he reports tomorrow."

"Nathan tends to omit things that put him in a position of requiring emotional help. I include them because they're going to matter for the decisions you'll have to make about what comes next."

"I know. I noticed."

"Problem?"

"No. On the contrary."

Selene took another sip. Then she set the cup on the table.

"I have a question specifically for you. That wasn't covered in what you reported to me."

"Go ahead."

"How are you?"

Liaraen looked at her.

With her pale green eyes fixed.

For a few seconds.

Then she spoke with simple honesty.

"Exhausted. Guilty about the children. Worried about Nathan. Worried about the immediate future that includes six weeks without income. Processing that I killed two children directly and two indirectly during the fight. Thinking about Yorel and how for two days we had him close and neither of us suspected anything until it was too late. Wondering if other Draken practitioners operate like this in other parts of the continent. And thinking that over the next ten months of guardianship, I'm probably going to have to make decisions similar to this one again."

Selene nodded.

"That's a complete list."

"You asked for honesty."

"I asked for honesty. Correct."

Silence.

Then Selene spoke again.

With a slightly different tone.

"Liaraen."

"Yes?"

"What you're doing with Nathan."

"What about what I'm doing?"

"Taking on a full diplomatic role during his recovery. Filtering his external interactions. Acting as chaperone if Mira comes to visit him. All of that."

Liaraen looked at her without changing her expression.

"How do you know?"

"Nathan asked you this afternoon when you two were talking. I was coming up the stairs with the tray. I heard the last exchanges before entering."

"And?"

"Is it for the guardianship, or is it for another reason?"

Liaraen lowered her gaze to the cup. For approximately five seconds.

Then she looked up again.

"It's both things. The guardianship gives the official framework. The other reason is what defines what I do within the framework."

"What's the other reason?"

Liaraen looked at her for a long moment. Then she spoke, with a low but firm voice.

"Selene. Nathan is the first person in sixteen years who has treated me without aristocratic filters or rank condescension. He rescued me from a box. He escorted me across two kingdoms. He defended me against his own abilities to avoid killing children who didn't choose to be puppets. And today, while he was collapsing, he asked me if I was okay before asking for help for himself. That kind of person is rare. And I'm not going to let other people touch him without me being close by to evaluate who they are and what they want."

Selene listened without interrupting.

When Liaraen finished, Selene nodded once.

"Alright."

"Alright what?"

"Alright, I understand your position. I don't judge it. And I'm going to respect it as long as it doesn't interfere with what I need to happen operationally."

"What could interfere?"

"Mira. Nathan has a professional relationship with her that's useful for maintaining access to guild information. If you filter her to the point where she pulls away, we lose a channel."

Liaraen thought about it.

"I'm not going to push her away. I'm just going to be present when they interact."

"Alright."

"Is that alright?"

"That's alright. Nathan is an adult. If he wants privacy with Mira, he'll ask for it himself. If he doesn't ask, you can be present without me intervening."

"I appreciate it."

Selene drank more tea.

Then, with the casual tone Liaraen had learned to recognize as the one she used when she wanted to introduce information without making it seem important:

"Liaraen."

"Yes?"

"Sella arrives in Greywall in approximately two months according to the last contact I had with Vera."

Liaraen tightened her grip on the cup with her right hand.

"I know."

"Are you going to do the same with her?"

"I'm going to do something different with her."

"What?"

Liaraen drank the last sip of her tea. She set the cup on the table with controlled precision.

Then she looked Selene in the eyes.

"With Sella, I'm going to let things happen and see what Nathan decides. If he chooses her, I accept. If he doesn't choose her, I also accept. I'm not going to filter his interactions with her the way I'm going to filter the ones with Mira."

Selene raised an eyebrow.

"Why the difference?"

"Because Sella knows what she wants and pursues it openly. Mira doesn't know what she wants and acts in ways I'm not going to control without being present. With Sella, the clarity lets me trust that Nathan is going to make informed decisions. With Mira, the ambiguity requires direct observation."

Selene processed that.

Then she nodded once.

"Alright."

"Alright?"

"Alright. It's a mature analysis. More mature than I would expect from a girl of sixteen elven years."

"I'm the second daughter of a major elven house at sixteen. My instruction included interpersonal dynamics analysis from age six. It's not surprising."

"Correct."

Silence.

Selene stood up. She gathered the two empty cups. She carried them to the sink.

While she rinsed them, she spoke over her shoulder.

"Liaraen."

"Yes?"

"Go to sleep. Tomorrow the formal report with Nathan takes the whole morning. After that we have to decide next steps."

"What next steps specifically?"

"Masters for both of you. Funds for the next three months. And a conversation about what the vidhraki information implies for the Veil network across the entire continent."

"Alright."

Liaraen stood up. She walked toward the kitchen door. Before leaving, she stopped.

"Selene."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for asking how I am. No one else has today."

Selene didn't turn. She kept rinsing the cups.

"Nathan asked you this afternoon."

"Nathan asked me about the children. Not about me. It's different."

"Correct. It's different."

"You asked about me."

"You and I are alone in roles that require processing emotional weight without having anyone to pass it to. I understand it because I've been doing it for decades. You're starting. Someone has to ask how you are, because Nathan isn't going to do it with the frequency you're going to need over the coming years."

Liaraen looked at her. For a long second.

"Alright."

"Good night, Liaraen."

"Good night, Selene."

Liaraen left the kitchen.

She climbed the stairs.

She passed in front of Nathan's door. She stopped. She listened. Nathan's breathing was regular. Asleep. Good.

She continued to her own room.

She entered.

She closed the door.

And for the first time since the previous day's fight, she allowed herself to feel the full weight of the last thirty hours without having to contain it in order to function.

She sat on the edge of the bed.

And for approximately ten minutes, with the lights off and the room silent, she cried with the containment of someone who had waited for the appropriate moment and had found it at the end of the day.

Then she lay down.

And she slept.