"Evening works for me," Silas chimed once Arael had responded.

"Good, then let's plan for four o'clock," Anders cheered. "Well. I'm off to get ready for bed but I'll check back here in a few minutes. If I see either of you two here we'll be on worse terms." After a quick spin on his heels he marched out of the hallway and down the stairs.

A moment passed and Silas rinsed his cup in the sink to begin to tidy up. "I don't think anyone is cut out to be a guardian," he said over the water. "We used to have more time to get to know each other and our mortals, but..."

He paused to put the cup in its place before he moved to the boxes of tea. "Even then, it's a tall order to guard someone with your life, isn't it? We paint the role with so many rules but in essence it's about having a heart to protect others. The rest mostly comes with time. And some of it doesn't, and that's okay, too―I can wash that for you when you're done if you'd like." He turned toward Arael.

"I, ah.. I'm sorry if I scared you earlier," he added. "Thanks for keeping me company with tea."


Mars listened intently and gave Lea a pat when the girl mentioned her fear. "Don't worry, they're probably just keeping tabs on our recruits to try and get at us that way," she insisted. She stopped herself from speaking over Lea once the girl began again. She listened intently.

"Aaaahh...." she thought aloud. "Yeah, I won't say a thing to Jason. That's...." she started again before she trailed off at the end. She didn't want to go on about Anders. It was enough to tell the new recruits that certain guardians were more troublesome than others, but not how. The how was a confidential matter that they would learn in time if they kept up on their assignments. Mars assumed Nevra would explain as much to Lea and possibly require that she not tell the world about the light ray.

"I wouldn't have put you two in that area if it were me in charge," Mars admitted. "Nevra might have mixed up the districts but some guardians move around so she probably just didn't realize that it would end up like this. I'll let you approach Nevra about it―just make sure to tell her everything you told me or she'll come after me for the rest, hahah." Even if Nevra didn't explain much at times, Mars was confident that it wouldn't go over too badly as long as Lea told the truth. That woman was the type to always have a plan.

Mars lifted herself out of the couch and turned to face Lea. "It's getting kind of late so I should head back soon. Do you―or Jason―need anything before I go? You're always welcome to come over if you ever feel unsafe here. There's a crowd of us in the House but it's insulated and out of the way. And you'd be with family."