"Raya," Benja said carefully, raising his hands and taking a cautious step toward them. "You need to move away from Namaari."

Namaari stared at him for a second, her breathing picking up as emotions swirled through her. She choked down a sob, biting down hard on her lower lip as the light of their magic continued to rapidly flash around them. Raya's grip on her hand tightened, but she tore herself away and staggered back several steps. She turned and hurried down the hallway away from the group, grinding her teeth as she fought to hold back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She managed to focus enough to direct her steps toward her room, desperately hoping she wouldn't run into anyone before she got there.

"Namaari?" Virana's voice came from behind her.

Namaari's breath caught on the panic that jolted through her chest and she broke out into a run. She reached the stairs leading up to her room and scrambled up them, tripping on the last step. Stumbling into her room, she slammed the door shut and leaned back against it. She held her face in her hands, moving them up to run her fingers through her hair as tears started to fall from her eyes.

A knock at the door made Namaari freeze.

"Namaari." Virana's voice was muffled from the other side of the door, but her tone still made Namaari wince.

Clenching her jaw and breathing heavily through her nose, Namaari quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks. She turned to face the door, letting out one last deep breath before she opened it. Keeping her eyes on the ground, she immediately spun around and walked to the other side of the room, keeping her back to Virana as she entered.

Virana clucked her tongue in annoyance. "Namaari. You're behaving like a child."

Namaari's shoulders tensed, and she squeezed her eyes shut, but didn't turn around.

"Can we talk about this, please?" Virana asked, sighing when Namaari didn't move. "Why won't you look at me?"

"Because—" Namaari stopped, gasping around the lump forming in her throat. "Because I don't want to cry in front of you."

Virana laughed softly, shaking her head. "Why would that be a bad thing for me to see you cry?"

Namaari whipped around to stare at Virana with wide eyes. "Do you really not know?"

Virana huffed and crossed her arms. "There's no need to get this worked up."

Namaari grimaced, dropping her gaze to the floor. "Can you just leave? Please?"

"This is exactly why I didn't tell you about what Bayani was doing," Virana said, the exasperation clear in her voice. "I knew you would react like this."

Namaari tensed, her arms going stiff at her sides as her hands balled into fists. "You just don't get it," she said, shaking her head as she laughed bitterly. "You don't even understand why I'm upset. And you have no idea that it's your fault."

Virana raised an eyebrow, giving her a cold stare. "All you're doing is proving that I was right not to tell you about Bayani."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Namaari snapped. "I'm talking about what started all of this. About what you asked me to do eight years ago, with Raya and the Gem. You told me to get close to her, manipulate her and then betray her, and it destroyed the world. I've thought about what I did every day since it happened." She paused, taking a deep, shuddering breath as tears pricked her eyes again. "Do you ever even think about it? Does it haunt you like it does me? Or do you just not feel anything?"

Virana pressed her lips into a thin line. "If you're going to keep being this unreasonable, I'm just going to leave. I'm not going to stand here while you pointlessly dig up the past."

Namaari made a frustrated noise as Virana moved toward the door. "No," she said, her voice forceful enough that Virana stopped. "No. You don't get to leave. You're going to stay here and listen to how I feel, for once."

Virana's shoulders tensed but she turned back to face Namaari. "If you have something to say, then say it," she said, crossing her arms.

Namaari clenched her jaw, letting out a slow breath before she spoke. "You always taught me that my emotions were a weakness. That I had to ignore them, or I would make bad decisions, be a bad leader. But I've learned that pushing my feelings aside is what makes me weak. That I only make bad decisions when I ignore how I feel. I knew that night that I shouldn't betray Raya, but I didn't listen to how I felt. I trusted that you would guide me to the right decision, not my emotions." She swallowed thickly, refusing to look away from Virana even as tears welled in her eyes and her voice started to break. "Raya and I got along so well that night. She could have been my best friend. But your choice took that from me, along with the rest of my childhood. And when we had the chance to make it right, to work with Raya and Sisudatu to fix everything, you told me to betray them again. Which nearly took away everything we had left. And you don't even care."

"I…had no idea you felt like this," Virana said, her voice quiet.

Namaari scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I know."

"Do you really think I don't care? About what happened? About you?" Virana's face twitched when Namaari nodded. She wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes falling to the floor.

Namaari glared at her mother, her gaze only becoming harder as silence stretched between them. Then Virana's face softened, and Namaari almost did a double take when she saw tears forming in her eyes.

Virana spread her arms wide, gesturing with her hands, but Namaari didn't move. "Namaari," she said. "Come here. Please."

Namaari hesitated, then slowly walked forward. She let Virana pull her into a hug but kept her body rigid and didn't move to return the embrace.

"I'm sorry," Virana whispered, trying to hold Namaari closer as she resisted. "I've only ever done what I thought was best for you and for Fang. But it seems that I made the wrong choices." The hard edge of her voice was gone, replaced by something softer, almost pleading. She sighed when Namaari remained stiff in her arms, pulling back so she could see her face. "I'm sorry I asked you to betray Raya. And that I kept this information about Bayani from you. I was trying to do the right thing. I didn't mean to upset you this much. Or to make you think I didn't care about you."

Namaari gaped at her for a moment, then slowly lifted her arms to wrap them loosely around Virana. She rested her head on Virana's shoulder, gasping as a sob worked its way up her throat. Virana held her tighter as Namaari began to cry, burying her face in Virana's neck and clutching at her dress.

Virana reached up to stroke Namaari's hair, making soft, soothing noises until her sobs died down. Once Namaari's breathing had evened out again, she pulled back from the hug and placed a hand on Namaari's cheek, giving her a sad smile.

Namaari leaned into Virana's touch, swallowing thickly before she was able to speak. "I've done so much to try and process what happened with Raya and Sisudatu and the Dragon Gem. I've worked so, so hard to move past it, but it feels like the world just won't let me. It always comes back to haunt me no matter what I do." Her voice became strained as she fought back another sob, her eyes dropping to the floor. "It's going to follow me for the rest of my life. I'll never really escape from it, no matter how hard I try."

Virana sighed, running her thumb back and forth across Namaari's cheek. "I shouldn't have involved you in my plan to steal the Gem. If I had known how much it would hurt you, I never would have asked you to be a part of it. And I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you said we should work with Raya instead of taking the Gem pieces and Sisudatu by force. I want—" Virana paused, her breath hitching as tears fell from her eyes. "I want you to live a good life without my mistakes chasing you."

Namaari shook her head, moving her hand up to cover Virana's. "I'm not sure I know how to do that."

"I know you can figure it out," Virana said, giving her a fond smile. "You've already come so far. I can tell that you're a different person than you were when you left Fang two months ago. A happier, freer person. You've grown so much in such a short time, and I hope you know how proud I am of all the work you've done to get here."

There were tears shining in Namaari's eyes again, but she matched Virana's smile before pulling her in for another hug. She closed her eyes as she held Virana close, breathing deeply as Virana returned the embrace.

After a few seconds, Virana moved away, her smile dropping into a more serious expression. "I noticed that your magic was flickering when you were with Raya just before this. Do you think it's safe for you to be around her?"

"Yes," Namaari said quickly. "I don't want to be apart from her again."

Virana tilted her head to the side, studying Namaari's face for a moment. "You're quite fond of Raya, aren't you?" She laughed softly when Namaari flushed. "It's good you two are getting along now. I'm glad my decisions didn't ruin your chance at friendship."

"I, uh, I am, too," Namaari said. "Even if being around her can be confusing."

Virna chuckled. "Why is it confusing?"

"She just…being around her makes me so happy," Namaari said, her words coming out in a rush. "But sometimes she makes my heartbeat so fast that I feel like I can't breathe, and I forget how to think clearly around her. And when she smiles, I…" she trailed off, blushing despite Virana's gentle look.

Virana laughed again, shaking her head. "I think you might be in love with her, kitten."

Namaari's jaw dropped, then snapped shut as she flushed to the tips of her ears.

"There's no need to be embarrassed. It's a good thing," Virana said, her soft smile returning. "Have you told her how you feel?"

Naamaari shook her head. "No. Not yet. I don't really know how."

"I think you should. I know she'd be happy to hear it from you. But you don't have to tell her until you're ready, of course."

Namaari bit down on her lower lip, worrying it between her teeth as she looked away. "I'm not sure if I deserve to be with someone like her. Not after everything that's happened. After everything I've done."

Virana moved to take Namaari's face in both of her hands. "Namaari," she said, waiting until Namaari's eyes flicked back to hers before she spoke again. "I raised you to be strong, capable, and kind. You are all of those things and more, and so is Raya. If this is what will make both of you happy, then you deserve it."

"How can you be so sure? And—" Namaari inhaled sharply and winced. "And what if she doesn't feel the same way?"

"You're far too hard on yourself, kitten," Virana said, rubbing her thumb along Namaari's cheek before she pulled her hands away. She reached out to take both of Namaari's hands, squeezing them tightly. "And there's a chance that Raya doesn't feel that way about you, but I have a suspicion that she does. Either way, I know she'll still care about you. And like you said, you should listen to how you feel. Just let that guide you. I don't want this to be another thing that you regret."

Namaari nodded, taking a shaky breath. "You're right." She sniffled and brushed the tears from her face. "I should go find Raya. She seemed upset about what Atitāya told us, too, and there's…something I need to tell her."

"Of course." Virana leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to Namaari's forehead. "I love you. I hope I can show you that, kitten." She straightened up, gently brushing the hair from Namaari's face. "We can talk more later about what's going on with Bayani. But for now, you should go find Raya."

Virana kissed Namaari's forehead one more time before she turned to head out of the room, closing the door behind her. A few seconds passed and a grin slowly broke across Namaari's face as a warm feeling rose in her chest. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, her face shifting to a determined expression as she walked out the door.