Solid, fortified, all built to last through the end of the world, to sustain itself against an alien stronger than many gods we’d conceived of. There were entire sections, Sveta had said, which were secured by columns of solid matter, poised to drop down like giant mallets, or by water, which would pour down in seemingly endless quantities.

My mom had always felt similar. Prepared, fortified, unassailable, endlessly stubborn and dangerous. If she broke, the impression I’d always had was that she would be right as rain soon after, because she didn’t brook weakness.

My mom needed a hand from me to get started on the stairs, and once she had it, she kept relying on it, leaning heavily on my arm.

“How did your visit go?” I asked.

“It was nice,” Crystal said. “Not perfect. There are some parts of it that felt really alien or weird. It was hard to meet her eyes.”

“Yeah,” I commiserated.

“Did you ever have a conversation with someone who works too much, or leads a really one-dimensional life?” Crystal asked. “I’m thinking specifically of a professor who tutored me in the year I took off from school, and Donatella’s mom—”

“Donatella?” Vista asked.

“My childhood best friend. Homemaker. No hobbies, no work, nothing except her daily routine and having a lot of kids. You know when you meet someone like that, and you try to have a conversation and they drag every conversation back to this really small, comfortable territory for them? My tutor did that with history, my best friend’s mom did it with her kids. There was a boy in my high school who might have been autistic, who did it with Earth Aleph nerdery and video games. But my best friend’s mom was the one that always stuck with me. Whenever I thought about quitting a club or extra class I was taking, I’d think about her and keep going.”

“I’ve had conversations with people like that,” my mother said. “It’s not uncommon.”

“I might be that type,” Vista muttered.

“No, hon,” Crystal said. “Really, you’re fine. I’ve never had a conversation with you that felt that way.”

“Nor I,” I added.

“Because you’re both easy to talk to,” Vista said.

“I don’t think that’s precisely it,” my mom said. “The kind of behavior Crystal describes stems from a place of insecurity, or deep anxiety. While I’m sure you have your worries and anxieties, Vista I think you’re stronger than that. Every time I’ve talked to someone who knew you and your name came up, whether it was Dean talking about paired patrols while having dinner at our house, running into Miss Militia on patrol and catching up with her, or even the staff at the Heroes for Healing charity drive, they came away with a strong impression of you, not a timid or defensive one.”