Chapter 33: Comfort

The serious expression on the Lyrin girl's face didn't last for long. In a matter of moments, the new reality of her situation had set in.

Rin sat down at the bar, put her head in her hands and began to weep.

I could understand where she was coming from. From here on out whatever life she had built up for herself had probably come to an end thanks to us.

The moment we stepped into the megabuilding we were probably being tracked by the sniper. The moment Rin showed, the jig was up. The gang member had clearly recognised her somehow, and from there had figured out that she was here to meet us. She was our lead. If he had managed to take her out then we would have had nothing.

The real question that was burning in the back of my mind was simple. Did they know that we were coming to investigate, or did they just track every guard member that entered the building with a sniper? If it was the former of the two, the Guard had a leak. Someone was feeding the clans information about our missions and our movements.

It wasn't something I could afford to think about now.

Now I had to keep my head firmly screwed onto the task at hand. Potential traitors to the guard could be dealt with at a later date if they even actually existed.

"It's going to be okay, Rin," I said, taking a seat next to her.

"Oh and what do you know, human," She sneered. "You think you're so cool, don't you. Smashing up giant robots and getting fast-tracked into the guard. It's sickening."

I flinched back as if I had been physically struck by her verbal onslaught.

"It's going to be okay," she mocked with a sob, "My whole life is over, nothing's ever going to be okay again."

I looked over at Fal and Yr'Arl for some support, but neither of them said a word. I didn't know how I, the social awkward human from another universe, had landed in the unenviable position of comforting an alien I knew nothing about. But here I was.

"Come on now, you don't know that for sure," I tried again.

Rin glared at me, the same red glow rimming her eyes that Fal had gained after finding out that Pax had been captured by Clan Pren.

"I was just shot at by a member of the gang that kidnapped me and used me as a drug mule when I was a kid," She sneered. "I'm going to have to drop everything. I'm going to have to get a new identity all over again. My life, as I have known it for almost a decade is over and it's your fault."

"Rin, please, you're a Lyrin… If you don't help us Fal's mate is going to die. She'll never be able to meld her mind with theirs ever again. Surely you understand the importance of what we're trying to do here, the reason that we had to seek you out in the first place."

Rin blew a long, heavy, breath out of her nose. "Yes, I understand why you've come to wreck my life, to make sure that hers carries on all fine and okay," she snarled. "So let's get this over and done with, so I can get on with whatever I've got to get on with after all of this and hopefully never see any of you three again."

I caught myself a moment before thanking her. I was sure that being thanked for her service was the last thing that Rin wanted from me at that point. I gestured for Fal to come over. She was the most experienced of the three of us, I had no idea how long she had been a Guard member before we had met but going by Rin's story it was at least a decade. She'd know how to deal with the procedure behind interviewing a witness much better than I did, considering I didn't know any of that at all.

I got out off the barstool next to Rin and allowed Fal to sit down, and then walked over to Yr'Arl by our captive gangster so that the two of them could talk in private. Even if Rin didn't look happy to see her old saviour, I imagined they still had a lot of catching up to do between them.

"You did the best that you could, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl said as I leaned against one of the tables. "She has been placed into a terrible situation, one that no one should have to be put into no matter their age. You would never have been able to get through that conversation without her becoming agitated at the very least."

I nodded at that, accepting that he was right while still feeling awful that we had in effect put an end to her life. Sure, I was going to do my damndest to stay alive, but what sort of a life was she going to be able to return to? Maybe if we destroyed Clan Pren in its entirety she'd just be able to go back to normal.

"Say, Yr'Arl, do you mind if I ask you something?" I asked.

"Of course not, Jacob Lyre, you may feel free to ask me anything that you wish. I will attempt to answer your query as best as possible."

"Why do you always call me Jacob Lyre?"

"That is your name, is it not?"

"Well, yeah, but it's like… That's my full name. You don't need to say the whole thing every time, you can either call me Jacob or Lyre, understand?"

Yr'Arl tilted his head to the side as he considered this new piece of information. As if it had been something that hadn't occurred to him in the slightest.

"I do not believe I will be able to do this, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl said, holding up a five-fingered paw before I could interrupt. "On my planet, splitting a name is a great offence. If you were to call me Yr or Arl I would know that you were deeply displeased with me. Do you understand?"

I nodded my affirmative, it was a weird cultural hangup but one I could respect.

As our conversation petered out the bird alien on the floor began to stir. A grim smile passed over my face.

At last.