Song listened to: 'Rise Up' by Andra Day.

As they walked down the Axis towards the Garden, he tried to ignore them, but he was not too good at it just yet and so he saw the looks sent in his direction. There had been many who had been fixed at the hand of their Father from the damage that the mindbreaker had done, and while the memories taken from them so wrongfully had been returned, the new ones gained hadn't been changed. There was many who still knew him as the Mindbreaker's charge, who saw him as someone who could only do bad, and thus they sent disgusted and distrustful looks at him as he walked along the Axis, in public in general, he saw them everywhere but in the few places he was truly at home; with Akeelah playing where ever they were playing in that moment or in the Pavilion with Nisroc and the Powers, who both saw him as more then just the Mindbreaker's charge. It was like it was the title he had, the swatch he wore, with how many people stared at him with distaste in their eyes.

He stepped closer to his friend, and as though she sensed his unease, she stepped closer to his side too. It was grounding when her little fingers curled around his own, a comfort in a sea of hurt, giving him something to hold onto when he himself started letting those thoughts mess with his head. Paul didn't have to look down to know that she was returning glares just as heatedly as they were being sent, he was glad they were friends now, her and Zaveriel and him, because he wasn't alone to deal with the ache of it all now.

They stepped from the warm stone to the soft cool grass in no time, Joshua giving them his soft warm greeting as he always did, hugging them close and giving them a fresh ripened piece of fruit once they parted from the embrace.

As he sat munching on his grapes, he turned to look at his friend, "Akeelah, why do they not like me?"

"Cause their idiots. You're awesome. And fun. And nice. They're just idiots who can't let go of something they don't know anything about." She squeezed his hand tightly, the one that was not holding one of her beloved peaches, "Just ignore them. They don't know you like we know you. Their just idiots." She went silent for a moment "And please don't tell Nisroc I said 'idiot' like a billion times too, cause he said if he heard wind of it he'd wash it from my mouth again, and no one wants that."

He laughed and nodded, forgetting about the sour looks at the last comment, "Its nasty! I won't tell him!"

"You're a true friend."

It was sometime later, watching his guardian put his things away after a day of instructing, sitting perched on the edge of the Power's bed, that he asked again "Nis why don't people like me?"

The Power fell still, looking up from the small tunic he had been folding, turning from where he stood before the wardrobe on the opposing wall to meet the eyes of his young charge, the young boys tunic still half folded in his stilled hands.

"Don't like you….?" His hands lowered slightly, "Did something happen today? While you and the little terror played in the garden?"

He didn't seem to believe it when his young charge shook his head, looking down at his knees for a moment, but he didn't move from his place in front of the wardrobe, and allowed him the time he needed to gather his thoughts.

"I act like I don't see them, Nis." When young Paul looked back up at him his eyes were sad, it caused his heart to ache with just how young he could look in a mere look, as though he forced himself to act older then he was to appease everyone else and he was the only one close enough to see it behind closed doors. Well, him, and the Baby Power of course. "I act like I don't, but I do, I always do and I never say anything because I don't want anyone to get into trouble, but it hurts, it hurts a lot." His eyes were shimmering with unshed tears, and the Power quickly set the tunic aside to cross over to his side, holding his hands out in a sign that he was going to pick him up. Paul was not a fledgling, hadn't been for a few eons, but he was still as small as one, perhaps a eon or two out of fledglinghood, and given the experiences he had as one Nisroc had sworn that when he was able he would treat him as the youngling he truly was. Just a young boy trying to find someone to care, and he swore to himself, he swore he would be that person. "Why don't they like me?"

So, he pulled him up from the edge of his bed, fingers hooking under his arms, and pulled him up to hold him closer. The comfort of his solid presence there to stay the sadness any further.

Paul clutched at him, arms curling around his neck, fingers clutching at the back of his bark amber tunic. He guided the little feet around his waist, wrapping the same arm under his bottom, as he curled the left around his back, cradling the back of his head with his left hand.

"The looks?"

"They glare at me, Nis. The look at me like I'm a monster. Like I'm a mindbreaker! But I'm not! I'm not, I swear! Why do they hate me? Why! I didn't even do anything."

"My little warrior." Nisroc sat on the edge of his own bed, pulling the boy away slight, one little leg draping over either side, and he rubbed a tear away with his thumb as he brushed his curls back "They do not know you. And they are fools for not liking someone they do not know."

He cupped his right cheek with the same hand, brushing his thumb over the warm slick skin tenderly "And it is their loss. For I know you, Haniel knows you, Titus, Abraxos, Puriel, Michael knows you. Your two trouble making friends know you." He ducked down to meet the boys gaze when he lost it "You are kind, and have so much heart to give to everyone you meet, you are the farthest thing from being a monster." And he lifted the young ones head with a knuckle curled under his chin when he looked down "And you are my little warrior. And you always will be. You may have lived with that mindbreaker, but you will never become one, never."

Nisroc finally met his gaze and smiled to him, "If they took the time to know you as I know you; the way your eyes brighten when you discover something new, the way your laughter warms the heart when one pays that belly of yours some attention, " wiggled a few fingers into the surface just to prove his point, smiling again when the boy giggled brightly and turned away, "If they took the time to know you they would see what they are missing out on."