Valkyrie smiled. “I’ll think carefully before I press him. Can I ask, before we part ways? A fiddly question.”

“Surrre,” Crystal responded, drawing out the sound in a hesitant way.

“Why ‘Crystal’? Your power doesn’t match, as far as I can see.”

“I… I could be a flying shoot-crystals girl, for all you know,” Crystal said, almost defiant now.

“But you aren’t. If it’s an issue, I can leave you alone.”

“No. It’s not an issue. It’s just weird you know. Crystal is my name, Valkyrie. My birth name. It’s not a secret.”

“Of course. Of course. I feel stupid now.”

“Nah,” Crystal said, smiling a bit.

There was a small sort of rescue as Legend dropped out of the sky, spotted Valkyrie, and then flew over.

“Suddenly very intimidated,” Crystal said. “Wow. Hi. I’m going to… walk away.”

“You’ve been doing good work, Laserdream,” Legend said. “Take care of yourself.”

Mute, Crystal nodded, before flying off.

Legend sighed.

“I have one captive. My team has two more,” Valkyrie said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Legend said.

“What doesn’t?”

“The warlord of this area is surrendering. We still need to see how the politics fall down, but they think the army will return to its prior state, and they’ll serve the state, not the challenging party. There’ll be some tidying up to be done, but they will protect the portal.”

“We’re done?” she asked.

There was that faint anxious feeling again. The fear.

“The Wardens? No, the Wardens aren’t done. But we are. They don’t need people who can level armies or subdue errant nation-states. They need attention, resources, time, and a careful eye. We can keep things tidy here with a skeleton crew,” he answered.

“And turn our attention to other things.”

“For this specific moment, Valkyrie?” Legend asked, “There’s nothing. The monsters are quiet or dealt with, the armies are hunkering down for the cold weather, the unrestrained power effects seem to be restrained and quarantined for now. There is only the city, which is seeing its first snow, just days after freezing rain. They’re trying to find their equilibrium, and they’re counting on our help.”

She pressed her lips together.

“I know you don’t want to take a break, Chev told me, but I assure you… there’s a lot of work to be done there. It won’t be a break.”

“I think…” she started. She saw his eyebrows go up. “If things are quiet everywhere else, I may take that vacation I’ve been told about.”

His eyes searched her face, looking for the lie or the catch. “Hard to imagine. It would be healthy if you did.”

I have errands to run, she thought. If there are no monsters to slay, warlords to oust or towers to topple, there are still things that need attention.

“I’ll leave my flock with you,” she said.

⊙

A week.