It seems odd to be relieved that one of my charges is in prison, but he really is safe and happy, and his incarceration has given me a new kind of freedom. Taralom, who is on track to gain his first wing at the end of this year, will continue to keep an eye on him, which has given me the time to turn my attention to other things. I continue to train with Ruhamah and Ophell, but now I am also able to patrol more often. I find, to my surprise, that I missed it. It has been good to work closely with a charge, but there is also a freedom and exhilaration in seeking out goodness where it lies and defending it.
Only yesterday I discovered on my patrol a young woman on a train as she went home who was in distress. On closer inspection, I saw that she was about to have a seizure, and she knew it and was looking around the half-empty car at masked faces and suspicious eyes. She did not want to be alone, but she felt it unlikely that anyone would help her.
“I will stay with you, little sister,” I said, stooping to join her.
She took a breath and unfolded her scarf to cover the seat next to her. As she lay down and submitted to her body’s helplessness, I held her close, doing what I could to make her feel warm and safe.
Let me tell you, I have rarely seen such courage. When the fit was over, she felt terrible, but still she did what she could to clean herself up, gathered up her things, and calmly got off the train to cross the station and go back to her stop that she had missed. This was not the first time she has done this on her own, and it won’t be the last.
That is, unless Brid or one of her Healer siblings can help her. Thank you, Brid, for checking on her—I know you, too, are busy.
That is the thing—I still find it hard to turn my back on people who clearly need me. But I am learning that there is a time to take a step back and let people go their own way. If I continued to shelter that young woman, she might come to rely on me where she has always relied on herself. If I stay too close to Alex, he will not learn what he can accomplish on his own.
We, sisters and brothers, are for the crisis, the dangerous moments, the thin times. A little bit goes a long way.
That being said, I think I will spend the entire day with Freya tomorrow. It has been too long.