I raised my hand, my thumb hooking on my sling in my best folded-arms posture. I gave her a frown to match.

“I don’t know the reasons for the group breaking up, Victoria, and I’m not going to pry, but I get the impression you want to stay together. We need heroes and we need heroes that work together. Really.”

Great. The mom lecture.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, Victoria.”

“I wasn’t,” I said.

“You wanted to. Am I right? Does the group have gravity that pulls you all together?”

“To some extent,” I said.

“Most groups naturally fall apart despite the work they put in to stay together. To some extent, your group wants to stay together despite the work it’s putting in to fall apart. It’s rare to have ties or bonds like that, and that’s something I’ve missed every day for the past four years.”

I nodded.

“I can tell you that the Victoria I had a heated conversation with a few weeks ago wouldn’t have held her own in that crowd just now.”

“It’s not really progress,” I said.

“I’ve noticed it,” she said. “Two steps forward and one step back is infinitely better than standing still. I know you and I think you know deep down what you need to do to truly take off.”

“Speaking of,” I said. I saw her smile change. “I should go. I don’t want everyone to be late for her. The motherly pep talk was… nice.”

“I’ll settle for nice. I’m working with limited information, you know.”

“It was nice,” I said, stressing the was, and I actually meant it. “It’s just hard to find the words for it.”

Hard to articulate, really, when we walked a razor’s edge. She’d toed or tested the waters. I had no idea whether it was inadvertent or not. I didn’t feel like I could have another conversation with her and know it could be this… inoffensive?

“You are strong, brilliant, capable and beautiful, Victoria. You know what you need and want to do. For reasons you haven’t shared with me, or for reasons you have shared that I’ve apparently failed to understand, you’re holding yourself back from that.”

“This is getting out of the territory of the pep talk and into the realm of criticism.”

“Take care of your team, Victoria. Just… take care of yourself too, you deserve it. Work to make sure it carries on being a positive thing, and don’t make the mistakes I did.”

My mom, admitting to mistakes?

“Don’t let this stuff interrupt or override you and what you need to be focusing on. I can tell you, that leads to disaster and regret. Okay? Don’t ignore what you need and want, like this team of yours, and don’t lose sight of what matters, of you. Promise me that?”