I didn’t make it to the couch. The room was covered in paintings. They hung on the walls; they were stacked on the floor four and five canvasses deep. One wall held a collection of paintings from several different artists. One was even done by my father. All of the rest were by Liro, and many of them were his more famous works. Folded easels were crowded into one corner of the room. Sketchbooks were strewn on tables and chairs. A set of shelves held brushes and paints. “Dirva, where are we?”

“West Quarter,” he called back from the kitchen. “Ariah, what happened?”

“An artist lives here,” I said.

Dirva came around the corner. He looked slightly embarrassed. “Yes. An artist lives here. Liro lives here.”

My eyes grew wide. “Liro lives here?”

“I mentioned when you first came to live with me that we were friends when I was young. I am staying with him.” He brushed sketchbooks off a couch cushion and told me to sit. He sat next to me and handed me a glass of water. “You are in a state.”

On the Market, a portrait of a nahsiyya boy whore courting Qin men, which is widely considered to be Liro’s first masterpiece, stared at me from across the room. I found it unnerving. I also found it, considering the situation that had driven me to that room, oddly fitting.

“Yes, I am.” I drank some of the water. I wanted so badly to tell him what had happened, but I knew I couldn’t have stood it if he disapproved. I couldn’t see how he wouldn’t disapprove. “I need guidance. I need guidance on shaping. I can’t build walls.”

He knew. He was part shaper, too, after all. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No. No, I’m not hurt.”

“Good.” He sighed and watched me for a long moment. I was still shaky; my hand trembled slightly as I drank the water. “You must show yourself compassion, Ariah. There are allowances made for ones like us.”

“I am not a shaper.”

“You are close to it. Ariah, I know we don’t talk about it, but these things happen to everyone, shaper or not. You have…there is a vulnerability in you, which I sometimes find worrisome. You want direction. I think what you need is confidence. For me, it was easy to build the walls when I decided who I was. A sense of self gave me an anchor.”