"She had to," Lyra explained. "Her settlement is still recovering from The Reaper's attack. She has paperwork, reconstruction oversight, her own people who need her leadership. But she didn't want to go. I practically had to talk to her for an hour before sha had agreed to rest and also to take care of her own territory, that they needed her more at this moment."
A slight smile crossed Lyra's face. "She made me promise—twice—that we'd contact her the moment you woke up. And she left you a message crystal. It's on the table. Something about wanting to talk to you privately about... what you went through."
Satou nodded slowly, processing this. Seraphine would understand, he realized. She'd faced her own traumas, built walls to protect herself from vulnerability. She'd probably have insights that Lyra and Jessica, for all their love and support, couldn't provide.
