I focused my mind to the sound of rain as it fell in sheets on my bus stop shelter. I had been lucky enough to get my umbrella and my other boots before having to evacuate work. I had spent too many years without my magic to remember the consequences of throwing power around. I had basically called on the storm’s power and the uncontrolled power had struck the building in a few dozen places causing widespread fire in the warehouse. I hadn’t heard of any outright deaths but I had caused plenty of injuries. Damn it, this was what I was supposed to be avoiding. The whole reason I spent years without magic had been to learn specifically to not just throw power at my problems.

I was lost in my thoughts when I heard the familiar sound of a motorcycle. I looked up to see Kyra driving up. I stood and waited for her to come under the shelter before I spoke. She was taking off her helmet and gloves when I spoke, “Kyra, I’m glad you’re here,” I didn’t get the chance to finish. Before I could register what she was doing she had reared back and slapped me with everything she had. My vision swam as I fell back into the bench.

It took me a moment before I could blink the stars from my vision and focus on her again. She shouted over me before I got the chance to say anything, “It’s about damn time! Do you remember how long I’ve had to watch you walk around with self imposed BRAIN DAMAGE! Three fucking years!” And it’s not like I can talk to you about it because you’ll either forget again or write off the whole damned thing!” She was furious like I had never seen before. She grabbed to handfuls of my shirt and pulled me to my feet. “For what?! The weight of a guilty conscience?! We all regret things but you just had to run from your mistake, FUCK EVERYONE ELSE, RIGHT?!”

She began to sag a bit most of her rage spent. Undisguised hurt slowly replaced the anger on her face. I stared down at her for a long moment before I pulled her into an embrace. “I’m sorry.” I whispered. I could feel her go rigid at my words, like she didn’t realize I’d know she was right. I had only thought of how I felt and not how it might affect others around me. That had been part of the reason I had stopped practicing magic. The ephemeral nature of magic helped the memories slip away but I haven't changed like I wanted. I had stopped to let my old self fade so I might shed the arrogance that came with have power at my literal fingertips. “I should have considered your feelings but I was blinded by grief. I don’t need to tell you that, you were there.” We stood there a few moments as I let so many lost memories of her come flooding back.

I gently pushed her away and told of the attack and the strange creature that I had burned to a crisp with plasma.

Some of the fire returned to her face as I she listened. “Dammit,” she spat, “I went and found the guy you mentioned, Franklin. I also found three more similar cases entirely unrelated to each other but not a single one was ever attacked, just tormented into insanity.”

I sat heavily on the bench as I tried to figure out what I should do from here. I had been dragged into a fight with some unknown enemy by some being I could find no information on and—” my thoughts came to a screeching halt as I recalled my roommates, surely if I tried to fight they would eventually get drawn in at some point.

“Kyra,” I said as calmly as I could. Panic filled me as I met her gaze. “Do you think there’s any chance my roommates won’t get caught in the middle?”

She seemed to think it over for a moment before she sat down on the bench beside me. She stared off into the street before she spoke, “No I don’t think there’s any possibility that they will come out untouched. If you got attacked at work you would get attacked at home and with a distinct lack of wards protecting your apartment they could just smash right through the walls.”

“That’s what I thought too.” We sat there a moment just trying to figure any way forward.

“I might have something but I don’t know if you’re going to like it.” Kyra looked straight ahead as she plowed through her suggestion, “ Now hear me out, you call Lynda and leverage your services for the protection of your friends.”

I groaned at that before I questioned her. “So if you’re putting her out there you must have some information that she isn’t just gonna hold them hostage or other nonsense, right?”

Clearing her throat she started reciting bits of information she had picked up, “Well to start she is a bit new to town only having been here a few years as opposed to the several decades or longer we see from other factions. She has a pretty reliable people that she tends to protect very jealously. She isn’t known for coercion or back handed tactics when it comes to her own people. She will almost certainly have looked into you and will probably be willing to accommodate your reasonable request.”

“Nothing too bad so far, anything on the other side you want to tell me? I inquired suspiciously.

“Well,” she started hesitantly, “she did kill a group of fae a shortly after establishing her group after one of her people went missing. No one will say much past that. And there's also the fact not a not a whole lot is known about her personally, but rather as the head of her group.”

Well that wasn’t too bad. If she had loyalty between her and her people it wouldn’t be unreasonable to try to rely on her for now. If she was unreasonable she shouldn’t be able to meaningfully keep me from leaving if I really want to. “So why do you really think I should go to her?”

Slowly Kyra closed her eyes and let out the breath she had been holding. Clearly this had the right question to ask. She considered how to answer as I watched her. “Because I think she will be good for you.”

I blinked at that, genuinely confused I stumbled out a question, “What? I don’t, did, What?”

“When was the last time you reached out to anyone but me or your roommates?” She looked at me this time and I conceded the point.

“Alright, I suppose I could ask for some help this one time.” I pulled out my phone and dialed the number she gave me the day before.