He settled them in their lounge, on a soft, cushioned bench, surrounded by pillows. Akriel settled a blanket around her shoulders, kneeling slightly to look into her eyes, she looked so troubled and it made his heart clench that she felt so unsettled. He squeezed her knees slightly. "I'm going to get us something warm to drink, alright?"

She nods, staring down at her lap in shame, letting something so bad take control of her. That's why she never opened up to people. Why she never got too close. Because with one wrong thing, she could hurt them, and Orion doesn't want to hurt people. She wants to help people. Orion wants to be a healer. Orion wants to heal people.

The Virtue nods, squeezing her knees once more, and stands, heading for the counter and fire place. Their flames are always going, they never burn out, as if their enchanted. He just as to stoke them, setting a pot of water to boil. The flames burn hot, always, and it doesn't take long for the pot to whistle its being done, and he takes it off the rack, pouring some steaming water into a mug.

He returns soon enough, holding the mug out for her, and she reaches up silently to take it. "Some warm passion flower. Zeds the apothecary," he smiles. "But we all know a few tricks of the trade."

Akriel sits between them, a warm weight by her side, a comforting presence. He helps her lift the mug up with a finger under the bottom, guiding it to her lips, and urges her to take a sip. She takes a deep breath, taking a small sip, and lowers the mug.

"It's okay, Rio, you're not in trouble."

"I did something bad. I did something really bad. I'm bad. I'm really bad."

"You are not." He turns her head gently, turning her to face him, and gives her a comforting smile. "You're not bad." He guides her mug back up. "Take another sip." She does as she's told and takes another sip. "Talk to me Rio, tell me what happened."

She nods, taking a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm. And he waits patiently, Akriel's so patient with her, he never pushes and never gets mad and never yells, Akriel's so nice. He's so kind. He's one of the good ones. She looks up at him with wide fearful eyes, and he holds his hand out, she looks down at it. Orion bends slightly, setting the mug between her feet, and places her hand on his. His hands are so big compared to hers. She small, petite, compared to basically everyone she knows. His fingers curl through hers, and she curls hers through his, holding his hand tightly.

"Talk to me, Rio."

Orion nods, taking a deep breath, staring down at their hands. "He was there." She sucks in another breath and slowly lets it go again. "He touched me."

"How did Ion touch you?" Something flared in him at the implication of what that could mean, by Father, if it meant what he hoped it didn't, he'd tear him apart piece by piece. There'd be nothing left for them to put back together. He may be a medic, may be a healer, but he knew how to cause harm just as much as he knew to mend it. "What did he do?"

"He—He held me down." Her fingers tighten around his, the fingers of her free hand curled into a ball, she clenched both into a fist, as best as she could manage. "I—I fought. I didn't—didn't want to do it. So—So he held me down."

"How?" Akriel's so gentle. She likes Akriel. Orion trusts Akriel. "What would he do?"

She licks her lips, inhaling a shaky breath, and let it go softly. "I—I'd be forced on the table. He—He'd bend my arms back. Around—Around the table, around the back, so I couldn't swing. And then—And then—"

The trauma specialist leans forward, for to pick up the mug between her feet, and lifts it up to her lips. "Take a big sip." She does, swallowing it in one gulp, looking up at him as he pulls the mug back, resting it on his left knee. Gzel's beside him, on his other side, playing with her fingers, entertaining herself silently so they could talk. "Okay, what did he hold you down for?"

"So—So they could drill. They—They took my memories. I—I don't remember anything before then. They—They did something." She nods, swallowing again, curling her fingers tighter. He tightens his grip. "When—When I woke up I could do these things. People—People would start acting strange when I looked at them. I—I stared. I couldn't help it. We—We'd lock eyes and they'd start acting strange."

"What happened next?"

"She—She—Naomi. She saw. She—She'd watch. Then—Then she decided to show me everything. She—She'd show me how to do it. How—How to rewrite their memories. She—She'd hold my hand and f—force me to do it.

Orion choked softly, her eyes tearing up, and she sniffled lightly. "I—I did something bad. I did s—something really bad. I—I hurt so many p—people. I—I didn't want to. I—I p—promise I didn't."

"Hey, hey, look at me." She looks up, unwillingly of course, but he's so nice when he asks her to. He's not yelling. Akriel's still there. Still holding her hand. Still being so nice. "You're not bad. Okay, I'm going to say it again, you are not bad." He holds the mug up to her lifts again. "Another sip." She takes another sip, this time without prompting, and he lowers the mug back to his knee. "I want you to say it not."

"But—But—"

"No, no, you have to say it."

The little healer licks her lips. "I—I'm not b—bad."

"Good, we're going to keep saying that, what happened?"

Orion looks at her sisters hands, her fingers moving around languidly as she entertained herself with them, creating shapes and such. "I—I hurt G—Gzel."

"What?" Akriel turns to look at his other girl, she looks up at him, nodding to confirm her words. "Yep. She did it. I'm not mad though. She didn't want to."

"She rewrote you?"

Gzel nods. "She was really worked up about it too. Orion was crying really hard, the Mindbreaker yelled at her for it, she kept apologizing." She leans forward to look at her from around his side. "Orion doesn't remember now, and I forgot for a long time, but we were friends before—well before that."

"I'm sorry—I'm so sorry! I didn't—didn't want to!"

Akriel hands her the mug as he turns back around, curling her around to bury her into him, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders to pull her close. Her free hand curls into his tunic, clutching at the fabric as tightly as she can manage, sobbing into his chest.

"It's okay, there you go, it's okay." He strokes his free hand down the back of her head, his thumb over the back of her hand, their fingers still intertwined. "Let it out, now, there you go."

She cries for some time. He can't move, lest he have to pull her away from him, so he merely calls out to his other charge. "Gzel, you don't blame Orion, do you?"

"Nope."

He nods slightly. "Why not?"

"Because she was so upset about it. You should have seen it. She was so broken down about it. I can't be mad at someone who was like that." He knew she shrugged, even without looking at her, Gzel was Gzel. "She didn't want to. I knew that. So, I'm not upset about it."

It took Orion a few minutes to calm down again, her chest heaving once her sobs had come to a stopping point, leaning against his chest as silently as she could muster, listening to his heart beat under her. He fished in his pocket for a rag and pulls her back slightly to wipe her face clean, rubbing away the tracks of her tears, her face red and blotchy, her eyes red and glistening, he rubbed at her nose too, cleaning up the mess. "It's okay. Do you hear me?" He curls the fingers of his free hand around under her ear, rubbing thumb over his cheek bone. "It's okay." She nods weakly, refusing to meet his eyes. "Hey, hey, look at me, can you look at me?" Her eyes flit upwards, scared to look up at him, unsure as to what she might do to him by looking at him. She doesn't want to hurt Akriel. Orion doesn't want to hurt Akriel. But, nothing happens, he smiles at her, his thumb stroking over her cheek again. "It's okay. You're okay. Everything's okay. Do you understand?"

Orion nods shakily.

"What are you?"

"I—I'm not b—bad."

"Good girl." He pulls her forward and presses his lips to her forehead. "Good girl."

He pulls her back against him, curling his fingers around the back of her head, scratching lightly at her scalp. "We're going to take a nap, okay?" The Passion Flower is a sedative, it's to calm the nerves, it'll make her tired. And he doesn't want to leave her alone, not now, not after all that. "Gzel, you too, we're all going to go take a nap."

"Okay, Akriel."

Orion nods quietly, sniffling into his shoulder, and he sets the mug down lightly, turning as he stands, kneeling slightly. He unwinds his fingers from his little girls fingers, and curls an arm under her knees, lifting her from the bench, cradling her close to him as he comes to stand. She curls up, resting her head against his shoulder, sniffling softly. Gzel stands with him, her fingers curling lightly into the sleeve of his tunic, he nods once, turning them in the direction of the hall, of his room, and there they go.