Rusalka’s heels crunched upon the wet soil. She peered forward as Rapture stoked the cooking fires. The boy was practiced in this department, he served his role properly and only then did he separate. He walked towards the lake nearby and then began to wash the utensils that they used. She walked up behind him, careful not to alarm him. Yet the boy noticed her regardless, he looked at her with his dead, soulless eyes. She paused in her steps and then stood before him, her armoured dress clinking lightly in the whistling of the wind.

“What do you plan to do from now on?” She asked him. The boy stared at her in silence for a time, then he turned away. He raised his palm, a power started to gather, yet it was snuffed out before it had even birthed so much as a candle’s flame. The boy’s heart seemed to sink deeper still at that moment, almost to an inescapable abyss.

“I had never planned to stay in Venus forever,” he said, “When the time came...I had planned to go to my mom’s people...not just for her, but to discover...who I am...my place in this world.” Rusalka listened on in silence. This, perhaps, was the most Rapture had ever chosen to speak of about that matter. Perhaps because he had lost his power, perhaps because of the bottomless despair that had triggered that loss, he had managed to do a bit of soul searching.

The loss of his powers was but a symptom of his mental state. When a person loses concentration their Ash can dissipate, but only when they’ve given up on life altogether will they truly lose the ability to wield it altogether. The death of his father triggered such a deep wound and the powerlessness of his current state only fuelled that suicidal depression, it was a self-perpetuating problem. “Without strength...there’s nothing I can do...I don’t want to be a burden on you.”

“You’re not a burden,” Rusalka said, stepping forth and embracing the boy from behind. She hugged his shoulders tightly and then closed her eyes. To her, this boy was her junior disciple under the same master, he was like a little brother.

“Don’t lie to me. Those men attacked Venus because of me, and if not then because of my mother.” Those words were heard loud and clear not just by Rusalka, but the masses gathered nearby. Men and women who were until then cleaning, cooking and eating all turned to face the duo with looks of shock. Rusalka ignored them, she continued to hold Rapture close, almost as if she was protecting him from them.

“I cannot deny the truth of your words,” She said, glancing at the masses, making certain that they heard it, “However, I don’t blame you. You did nothing wrong, your mother too. As far as I am concerned my mother, my mentors, and everyone else who was with them, simply helped someone who was in need. Those men, the men who did this horrible thing, they’re the ones I blame. They are the bad guys, even if they think otherwise, they are the monsters, not you, let no one tell you otherwise...not even yourself.” The masses fell into confusion. Few among them knew anything of the matter yet some who were older suddenly had expressions alike to a moment of realisation.

Looks of blame and sometimes sympathy fell upon the boy following Rusalka’s words. Then he tried to talk back, to answer her, but she did not allow it. She turned him to face her and then asked him, and the observing masses, albeit indirectly, a very simple yet powerful question. “If I were to condemn you for what they did...would that not be setting a precedent? Could that one act one day spiral out to create a world where good people are discouraged from doing good things? Could I, with that one action, create a world where if you see a woman laying half dead and desperate on the ground you’d weigh the risks and decide it’s only right to walk away?” The people fell silent.

The men thought back to the lowest points in their lives, when they were injured on the battlefield or suffering in silence. People reached out to them, helped them. For some, that was how they ended up living in Venus to begin with, they were orphans from the neighbouring Silver and Bronze Settlements that had been married into the city by the mothers of their wives. Who among them, if desperate, alone and under threat of pursuit, would want to live in a world where people had justified precedent to leave them and walk away.

The women born to Venus felt the same. They had endured countless years in silence, their curse and all its resulting complications was only the start of the problems they faced. Who among them would want to live in a society that blamed a young boy for the actions of the men who were hunting him down? Who among them was willing to set that precedent?

“I don’t know about you,” Rusalka said as she embraced the boy tightly, “but I for one don’t want to live in such a world.” Rapture raised his hand and pressed it against her. He wanted to struggle free, yet it was half hearted, he didn’t put any strength into it. She pressed his face to her chest, she was taller than him, despite how petite she appeared to those of her own Class, thus it was so that the shoulder she wanted to lend him naturally was a bit too high.

The boy’s struggles ceased, he gripped her arms and hid his face, he was unwilling to be seen by the masses around him. His pride wouldn’t let them see him cry. However there was nothing he could do about it, nothing at all he could do to stop the flood of sobs and tears that forced their way out of him. The masses around them could not but fall back. Those who had come around simply walked away, those who had not could do nothing but scoff in silent contempt as they did the same. The sounds of a young man crying uncontrollably, despite all his efforts to make it stop, echoed in the night, only when he stopped did Rusalka speak to him again. She dragged him to his feet, then turned to face Lucretia’s tent in the distance. “Come on,” She said, “I’m taking you to the princess.” The boy looked up at her, yet soon found that he could not meet her gaze. He turned away from her a moment later.

“Why?” He asked.

“Because my current forces aren’t enough to protect you,” She said to him in plain and simple words. The boy grimaced, he once more felt like leaving to find a ditch to die in, yet this time something, and he didn’t quite know what it was, stopped those thoughts cold. “I’ll tell you one thing, and it’s something very important.” The truth behind her lips was something fathers tell their sons and, in Venus’ case, their daughters, this blatant truth of the world was something she did not choose to utter to him.

“Only the dead are without hope. Life will walk all over you if you let it, you may fall from the greatest heights to the lowest ditches...and it may even happen to you again and again until the day you really do die. However you should always remember, only the dead can never hope for a better future.” The boy raised his head. Her words seemed to have some effect, no matter how minor. She tried to take his hand, yet he took a step away from her to avoid it. She frowned, then put her hands upon her hips. Yet, in the end, all she could do was smile and giggle. She waved her hand and led the way. The boy did not argue, they walked towards the tent wherein resided the Princess of Jupiter, Lucretia.