There was a brief catching-up. Pleasantries. I chimed in once or twice, then found I didn’t have it in me. I stared out over the water.

“I think—do you mind giving us privacy?” Mrs. Yamada asked.

“Sure. How’s the food here?”

“This? It’s good.”

“Wave when you want me to come back. I’ll be enjoying the view until then.”

Mrs. Yamada leaned against the railing next to me. Her dinner smelled amazing and I still didn’t want to eat anything.

“Sorry to be eating while we talk. I haven’t had a bite to eat since grabbing a protein bar and a pear at five forty-five this morning.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Please eat. Thank you for seeing me.”

“Thank you. Is everyone okay?”

“Intact, yes. Okay? Were they okay when I met them?”

“They were in a place where I felt like they could finish their own journeys. Most of them. I imagine there’s some backsliding here and there, difficulties and things that aren’t okay because of external stresses and internal factors within the group.”

“Some,” I said. “Some figuring things out from moment to moment. Small triumphs.”

“That’s good. More or less what I expected.”

“Rain revealed his situation,” I said.

“I heard,” Mrs. Yamada said. “You wanted to do some thinking.”

“I did,” I said.

“I can’t do that thinking for you. But if you want to talk out loud, I can help you along the way.”

“When it comes to Rain, I think I get it,” I said. “I’m not okay with it, but not in a way that’s going to ruin anything. It sucks to see the big and little things that affect the others. Some issues close to Sveta’s heart.”

“You’re thinking about something else,” she concluded.

“Yeah,” I said. “When Weld showed up at the first session, he said he was sorry he couldn’t sit in.”

“He did.”

“You asked him to counsel the group on their hero idea before you asked me.”

“Before the community center, before your boss called me. Yes.”

“He said no, but he could help in a while.”

“More or less.”

“But you chose me in the end. You could have waited and had him sit in, and he’s… a great guy who everyone respects. You chose me, for reasons besides timing.”

“I’m not much of a schemer.”

“That’s not saying I’m wrong,” I said.

“No it isn’t. But I’m worried if I say yes, then there’s expectations, and there’s disappointment if this doesn’t end up going well. I’m far from superhuman, I make mistakes, and this could be another. What are you thinking this is?”

“You wanted a quality I had, that Weld might not. I was thinking about the team, the traps we could fall into. Is it the paranoia? The fact I can’t quite trust people?”