Mercy sat with his peers in a row of foldout chairs. Hearing his classmates' dreams proudly announced into the microphone amplified the insignificance of his own plans. Shirly wanted to be an astronaut, to visit the distant lands beyond the vacuum of space. Madison wanted to be a doctor; her parents were helping fund her first couple years of school. Moony would enter moon apprenticeship. When speaking, her body glowed brightly and beautifully.

When it came Mercy's time to stand, he felt his tongue dry up. He scanned the crowd again for Keya, hoping that seeing her would make him feel better. She had been wearing his beret since he gave it to her in the car, when the thought overcame him and he couldn't help but try it out, "Could you hold onto this for me, until I get back?"

She had smiled to him, showing all her little, pointy teeth and making his heart start to beat in his chest the way it hadn’t for a girl in a couple years. "I would! I mean, I will! Thank you." He had only met her that day, but he could say with confidence that if he had gotten the chance, he would have stayed with her for far longer than he had been able to.

Last he saw, she was with Mom when he went to join his classmates in lining up and receiving a rose. Now, she didn't appear to be anywhere. Then again, it was hard to tell when the lights were shining in his face.

Only a year ago, he imagined this day as being one of the happiest of his life. He'd deliver a speech about hope and the future, give out special thanks to his friends and the class good luck on achieving their ambitions. He would have gone to acting school and taken the classes Petrov Amisteade had, at the school he’d had his eyes on since he was a freshman. On this day, his mother and his step-father watch from the crowd, Mom holding his agoraphobic sister in her arms, up in the air, so she'd feel safe and included. He'd wave to her, she'd wave back, and one day be able to get on the stage herself and give the world her dreams while he watched with pride.

Today, he couldn't help but feel like he'd let them down.

The principal looked him in the face and asked, "What have you got planned for the future, Mr. An? As one of our best theater students, we assume there’s big plans ahead of you in the performance arts?"

Mercy took one last look into the crowd to try and find Mom and Keya, but once more, it was useless. "I'm going to take care of my sister and do my best at it."

He shook the principal's hand, accepted his diploma, and returned to his seat without another word or wave.

Early in the morning, just after the sun began to rise, Mercy woke to the end of a rock ballad with a guitar that sang and strong vocals fading out into a radio host’s commentary. Mercy closed his eyes, listening as the Tekoa Shepherd moved an IV pole across the floor downstairs, the wheels rattling on the hardwood. This nurse was a fox-species who visited their house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She came from the Tekoa Shepherd Society, who ran services both in-home and institutional for the elderly and disabled.

Ena, after her last episode left her in the hospital, had undergone a grim change. She was now nearly completely catatonic, for reasons no doctor could say. At first she was vegetative, but she hated veggies, which Mercy thought was the reason how she started to move over the course of a few observation days in the hospital. Now, three months after bringing her home, she could move her hands and hold her head up. She could sit up, but unsteadily. She couldn't talk but made noise that increased in volume depending on the urgency of whatever she wished to communicate. She never walked anymore and had to be either carried or pushed around in a wheelchair.

Having kept in contact with Mr. Kori and Aunt Loucara, he reported through written letter to his extended family all about what happened to his little sister. Hara had initially told everyone to keep it on the down low, but that plan was abandoned as soon as people began to express their condolences and offer assistance with groceries and errands. It was actually one of Mom's girlfriends that had suggested the in-home nurse for Ena.

Hara didn't accept the offer at first but would change his mind when he heard that his father, who had been diagnosed with an incurable cancer, wished to live with his son through the remainder of his short and miserable life.

Again, recently disabled sister, and it wasn't as if there was no way Mr. Sheffield and his millions of dollars, or his wife, couldn't have hired in-home care at their human mansion. It was just the obvious choice that they impose their presence on the lives of the commoners, thus pushing Ena out of the way and into her room, where she spent almost every day watching television or sleeping. Mercy moved into her room to keep her company, Mr. Sheffield taking his. "You won't be needing it if you're with your sister." Said Hara, who had moved Mercy out while he was at school, leaving an unpleasant surprise for him to return to. It was especially unpleasant with how his more personal items were left on the top of a shelf for anyone to see, probably as a kind of passive-aggressive criticism. He didn't want to say it worked, but now that he shared a room with Ena, who stayed there almost all day, he didn't have many opportunities for that particular method of self-care anymore.

He didn't even have a bed, he slept in a futon on the floor.

Ena slept in the bed above him. It was her old bed with a rail attached in case she did for some reason start to move again. Mercy had to order it himself from a specialty store for a steep price. He coated the bars with soft foam so they wouldn't hurt to bump against or be cold to the touch. He felt he did a good job applying it, for not being a DIY kind of person.

Looking up, he noticed Ena's hand was grasping a bar and realized that she was probably awake. Quickly, he forced himself to his feet, searching Ena's face for any reaction after rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Ena's own eyes were filled with the image of static, as they had been since she had been forced into silence. Mercy preferred to call it selective mutism, refusing to believe that her soul had left them like Mom said, or that she had become unaware, like Hara said. Ena had done neither; she was aware, she still had her soul, he saw it in her, and felt it when he reached down to check her pulse.

Hara said that her condition was caused by a user of the manipulatable anatomies, and that her anatomical presence was now so incredibly overwhelming that it appeared she was armed to the teeth in terms of spiritual self-defense. "She could kill every one of us with little effort if she chose. I'm not even sure she has any control over this ultimate manifestation of the inner self, the Akh. We are all living in constant, very real danger."

It worked to scare Mom, who hardly went near her daughter anymore. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but even Mercy sometimes felt nervous around her. He was not a user of the anatomies, and so wasn’t able to see the Akh itself, but he could feel the changes Ena made on her environment when she was upset. She could make the air cold or even change the air pressure itself, making it hard for anyone around her to breathe. The constriction normally settled after he sat with her, read a book aloud, or just talked about how he imagined she was feeling – ignored, unheard, and unseen. The lifting of the choking, invisible cloud and the introduction of a soft warmth, like a hug for the inside, indicated that she agreed.

Right now, he put a stuffed girl dog in her arms. It was a gift from Moony when Ena was released from the hospital. Her hands squeezed it tightly over her chest. "Good morning, Ena. How did you sleep?" He asked, waiting as if for an answer. Taking a soft cloth from a peg on the wall, he wiped away a trail of drool that had gone down her cheek and wet her hair and the sheets. He'd change them later.

He looked into her eyes and tried to put words to the way she looked at him. 'Good morning, brother. I slept well enough, and I had the strangest dream! Would you like to hear about it?'

"I would love to hear about your dreams. How about you tell me while we go to the bathroom?" Mercy pulled down the gate and crouched to look his sister in the face at equal level. His hand squeezed hers. She didn't respond at all. "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" He waited for silence. Her hand remained limp, but she blinked a little, a flutter of the eyelids. "Alright, not so much, but we can try anyway." He reached his arm over her chest to grab her right shoulder, careful and slow. He didn't want to pull her up too fast, she hated anything abrupt. She could cry and her hands would shake with all the internal rage and sadness of someone who is stuck inside their own body, forced to withstand the pressures of an uncomfortable stimuli likely made ten times worse by the condition, and unable to so much as explain what was hurting and how to soothe it.

He lifted her from the bed and stood there for a moment, not moving right away, letting her adjust to being carried. Then, they went out into the hallway.

Ena made a noise when they went past the bedroom door. 'Wait a minute, brother! What's that?' Hung up on the inside was a long, white gown with no wrinkles in it. Mercy hadn't worn it yet, and would only wear it once, so he took great care of it. Ena also found it admirable, and he stopped to let her hold one of the sleeves when she requested by making grabby motions with her hands.

They could hear downstairs the sound of Mr. Sheffield's voice and the radio playing classic rock. He always had the radio on, even during the night. He never tired of mentioning names or bands, especially to Hara, whose dislike of the topic amused Mercy. Hara also took exception to Mr. Sheffield's confusion – he was constantly being mixed up for someone named 'Kerry.' He never made his annoyance clear to his father, however, preferring not to make trouble.

They went into the bathroom. Ignoring the light switch and shutting the door with his foot, Mercy helped his sister onto the toilet, steadying her as she wobbled. To give her some degree of privacy, he became very interested in the tacky seashell wallpaper. Even if it wasn't optimal, it was less invasive than when she had to wear diapers. That was when she first came home from the hospital, and it was a terrible method that Ena hated and made sure everyone knew. Mom and Hara tried to talk down to her, saying that it was the only way things could be, and she just had to put up with being silenced again until Mercy found another way, which was timing when she had to go and bringing her there himself.

Mercy refrained from saying anything when Mr. Sheffield, who was largely incontinent, came to live with them. Hara seemed to understand then. Maybe it was easier to accept the state of a person who was part of a populace who was known for having trouble using the toilet than his young daughter who was suddenly and mysteriously crippled. Hara's deep state of denial could only last so long, but Mercy didn't have the energy or the time to devote to poking such a big and nasty beast, even if he felt it would be worth it for Hara to come to terms with his own assholery.

When Ena was finished, he helped her wipe, wash her hands, washed his, and sat her down in the tub so that he could do his own business. "Moony's coming over this morning. Today's a very special day, for her. For me, too."

Ena hummed, flexing her fingers as she looked up at the tiled walls in the bath. She took a bath last night, tolerating it more than the shower. She hated the shower, perhaps for being noisy and shooting water at her, but what she hated above all was being naked in any setting. Even now she was still very uncomfortable bathing and getting dressed, times when Mercy felt the Akh presence most. It was calmer now than weeks previous, but still present. She used to boil or freeze the water. When getting dressed, she would tear holes in her clothes. She wore mainly dresses now, since they were easier to put on and take off. She wore blankets like an old lady, her favorite having a heavy weight to it.

Mercy fluffed his hair, which needed a wash, and tilted his head from one side to the other. "I'm going to take a shower this morning. We'll get your cards and you can tell me what you want to do while I'm washing up, does that sound alright?"

She made no noise but a slight, affirmative mumble, making grabby hands. Her expression never changed.

He smiled, drying his hands on his pants and reaching to pick her up. "Let's go."

In the bedroom was a box filled with cards. They were hard and didn't bend, so they wouldn't break when Ena squeezed them. Printed on the card faces were categories – rooms in the house, things to eat, activities, and people. He would ask her what she wanted and place each card one-by-one into her hands. The one she held on tight to was the one she chose. This morning, she decided to visit the family in the living room downstairs, watching television and eating whatever someone decided (wild card, which meant she wasn't able to make up her mind).

He brought her downstairs to the place on the couch she liked. The Tekoa Shepherd came back into the room from the kitchen, carrying with her a cup of Mr. Sheffield's pills. She handed them to her client, who grunted in affirmation, shakily receiving a cup of water. While she supervised him, she looked to the siblings and smiled, "Good morning, Inna. How are you prospering this lovely morning?"

Ena made no noise nor movement, but that didn't seem to bother the nurse.

"Good morning Missus Chaban. She'll prosper once I put this tape in." Mercy said, inserting a well-loved copy of Birdwatching by the Ocean into the VHS player. She loved cartoons, but also particular things, like lighthouses, of which there were many in the tape. "I'll be in the bathroom for a bit, she said she'd eat anything you pick."

Missus Chaban nodded in thought. "The mistress has made a big breakfast of eggs and meats this morning in honor of your surpassing mandatory public education. I can make something easy for her to digest. Just to let you know, I am taking my leave early this morning as per the request of the master. Congratulations on coming of age."

"Thanks." He said, wondering what she could have meant as he went back upstairs to get his school uniform and some towels. They wouldn't be having an after-party, Ena didn't like crowds. She wouldn't be seeing him or Moony accept their diplomas, either. He said that it was fine and he understood. None of it was a lie, it was more like hiding some truth.

Going back downstairs a half hour later, he found that in the short time he was gone, Moony had arrived at their house and was in the middle of explaining the design of her graduation cap to Ena when Mercy walked in. Ena held the cap, staring down at it with a blank, grey and black gaze. "It's abstract, it doesn't have any exact meaning. It's supposed to represent emotion! Feelings, places you feel you've been but never have before!"

Mom came out from the hallway, taking a full laundry basket upstairs. "It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it, Munako."

"I've read a few souls in my career. I want to know how many people can see their own insecurities and recognize them in public. Hey, Mercenary. There's some pop-up sandwiches in the kitchen if you want one."

"Thanks man." He gave her a wave before heading into the kitchen, his stomach pinching. He felt his spirits lifting when he saw the box. It was even the fruity kind that he liked.

On the table was his own graduation cap. He had bought some gel crayons, ones that Ena could easily use just by turning her wrist, and so she contributed to his attire with the addition of some bright squiggles.

Mr. Sheffield and Hara came into the kitchen then, Sheffield grumbling. "Kerry, why do you live in the garbage dump? I give you money, places to live, and you choose here? And who are these ugly strangers you let in your house? Where did I go wrong?" He was pushed to the kitchen table, where he picked up the newspaper and was distracted by the headlines.

Hara ignored this berating, going to the counter and beginning to peel a citrus fruit. For a moment, there was silence, but Mercy knew he couldn't hope that it would last. "I'll be staying home with Ena today, to look after your grandfather."

"Good for you. Have fun getting both the kids to eat their lunch, 'Kerry'." Mercy said, finishing smearing icing on the pastries and plating them, walking to the doorway again.

From the table, Mr. Sheffield laughed mockingly. "What a rude boy. Kerry, who was that? Why do you let him shit on you like that? Did I teach you nothing?"

"No, father." Hara said.

Sometime in the past, Mercy looked up to the man with respect. Before they reunited with the extended family, before Hara was his father, he managed to be a decent step-dad. That was gone, now, and he didn't know how much more he could take of it.

Mercy went back into the living room, sitting down next to Ena on the couch. She sighed, shifting just slightly. Her hands clenched, fingers curling around…something made of blue rubber. "What's that you've got?" He asked, tearing off a piece of sandwich and gathering some drippy icing. "Want some?"

"It's a toy." Said Mom, who was wiping down the counter with a wet washcloth. "It's supposed to feel nice, I suppose." It didn't sound like it had much of a reputation. "And no, she can't. It'll make her fat."

"Does it feel nice?" He asked Ena.

She didn't seem very committed to it either. It fell out of her hands, Moony retrieving it when she noticed. Bored by life, Ena stared out at nothing at all, more interested by the dreams she made up than the toy. She even ignored the sandwich when he held it in front of her face.

"Oh, Mercy – your father said that we should go out for lunch before the ceremony, is there any place you have in mind?"

Moony seemed to brighten up and looked over Ena's shoulder with an idea shining in her eye. "We should go to The Amicable Snowman's! D'you think they still have all the old robots?" She already sounded excited, and Mercy couldn't deny that some of his best childhood memories were made at Snowman's. Because their moms were friends, Moony and Mercy had known each other since they were babies, attending mother-child meetups together, attending playdates every other day, and until this point, they had been in school with each other every year. When they were little, they would celebrate the first day of the new grade at Snowman's by playing arcade games, eating pizza, and watching the animatronic shows.

Mom didn't seem very enthusiastic. "Snowman's? Munako, this is your high school graduation, don't you want to go someplace more formal?"

"You know, maybe we should." He said, winking to Moony where Ena couldn't see it. "Ena's staying home with Hara and grandad, which is a ton more fun that going to a stuffy restaurant with no televisions on the walls, and all they serve is veggies."

"Especially peas." Moony added, instantly understanding what Mercy wanted. "Pea soup, pea pies, there's even peas in the toilet."

Ena did something like a laugh, and neither Moony or Mercy could help but laugh as well, even if the joke wasn't that funny.

Mom huffed, but he could tell she was smiling too by the way her neck scales shimmered. "It's not that bad, kids. Ena knows that the last time she went to a restaurant she cried and we had to go home early. It was embarrassing, and we don't want that on a good day like today." She picked up the laundry basket and brought it upstairs, unaware of the effect her words had on her daughter.

Ena now had the beginnings of tears at the corners of her eyes, and both Mercy and Moony went to fix it in their own ways. "I'll bring you back some pie, cherry pie, not pea pie." Moony offered.

"It's not that we don't like hearing your voice, and it's not about the crying, either. Hara just wants to spend more time with you, that's all." The tears kept coming, and she got the hiccups, groaning painfully. The air around them become deeply cold. Moony didn't feel it, being a moon she naturally got to negative one-hundred-seventy at night, but did her best to assist. She sung a song for stars who couldn't rest at night, a song that echoed in the rings of planets, swirling around for centuries for the moons to hear and give to their children. Sadly, Ena was not a star or a moon, and couldn't hear such frequencies. In the end, Mercy took her up in his arms and hugged her tightly the way he used to and pressed her ear to his heart. For a few minutes, his skin buzzed, and his blood felt congealed in his veins in places. Just before he felt as if he might need to call an ambulance, the feeling ended, and Ena had fallen asleep on his chest, drooling onto his uniform's shirt.

Before they left, Moony had kissed Ena on the cheek one last time. "I'll see you soon, as a new woman. I'll be bigger, stronger, and more mature. I won't be a high schooler anymore, I'll be like those ladies in the magazines, who have everything together. I'll make it good for us, okay?" She didn't get a response, but didn't mind, and kissed her wife again by angling herself just right in the air.

Mercy was briefer, not wanting to wake her up. "I'll see you soon, Ena." After gathering his gown, cap, and sashes, he kissed her on the head and went out the door.

Mercy drove them to a place relatively out of town, close to the edge of the mesa. Because it was the weekend, there was a fair amount of pack animals in the underground pens, and cars kept in storage units. They would have gone to a place with better availability if not for Mom remarking happily at the sign once she recognized it, "Oh, Mercy! This is the place where your father took me for our anniversary! He must have suggested it, didn't he?" Her neck scales shimmered brightly. "I knew he was still romantic, he's been stressed lately with your sister and Father. I'll have to bring him back some human dishes."

Moony nudged Mercy with her arm, bringing him in close. "I've prepared in case they don't have any moon food here." Mercy peered inside her pocket. Resting on top of a suitcase was a microwave meal tray of blubber-filled pasta pouches. "I'll ask them to heat it up, the least they could do in the face of such blatant discrimination. Then, when we go home, I'll hit them with the legal suit. Mom said that working at the theater would be enough, but I want to have some extra in case I don't get any scholarships."

"You could also mention the lack of a wheelchair ramp, if you want to talk accessibility." Mercy said as he went up the stairs. Moony glanced around herself.

"Yeah, that's right. It'd be a good time to have Ena here, wouldn't it?"

The subject was dropped quickly while the waitress brought them to a table in the center of the room. They were given drinks, menus, and time to think of what they wanted to eat. Moony's pleasure could be compared to a balloon being popped when she opened up the menu to find a whole page dedicated to moon food. "Riceballs. Maybe I can still get them for the wheelchair thing. Hara can come over with Ena, Pop-pop's probably sleeping through the afternoon anyway. Hey waitstaffman, do you have those placemats you can color on? And some crayons."

Neither of them noticed that they had been approached until Mercy felt someone tapping on his shoulder. Startled, he turned fast to look into the surprised face of a young avian girl, who stepped back a couple of paces and gripped the hem of her skirt. "I'm sorry!" Was her introduction. She bowed briefly as she explained herself, "I didn't mean to startled you! I just wanted to ask about Ena. You’re her big brother, aren’t you?"

He sat up straighter, looking the girl up and down. She seemed kind of small. He didn’t recognize her, but he couldn’t say that he wasn’t interested in getting to know her. "It's fine, I just didn't notice you there. Are you Ena's friend? She'd love to hear that someone asked about her." He looked up into her face, at the indecisive look she had, and knew he had to say something. "My name’s Mercy, what's yours? Your name. I meant."

The indecision on her face disappeared. "Oh, I know. She talked about you a lot. I saw you sometimes at school, but I never got to meet you." Again, she was wringing her skirt. "I kinda mentioned fighting you a while back. And my name's Keya. Varadkar."

"Oh. You wanted to fight me? What over?"

"Nothing of any importance! It was just a thing me and Ena were doing, it kind of became 'our thing.' Anyway, I just wanted to ask, it's been a while since I saw her, and…" She looked over her shoulder. "I just wanted to know. Yeah." She tugged on a lock of her hair before moving on to a necklace of pearls.

He smiled, starting to think of removing the mask. It felt weird to not have it on in public, even if there were no more consequences to taking it off. It would probably help his appearance, too, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. "Well, thank you for asking, I'll be sure to pass it on to her-"

"Hey, schnozz! If you want to ask about someone's wife, ask the wife! I'm sittin' right here ya know!" Moony grabbed Mercy's head and shoved it down and out of her way. Mercy felt his face heat up, especially when Mom started in on it.

"Girls, come on now! If there's anyone to be asked, I think it should be the mother." Mom huffed, adjusting her face mask. "Miss bin chicken, are you here by yourself? We're celebrating my son's graduation. My daughter might not be doing much nowadays, but it doesn't mean that everyone's slowed down to a coma."

The girl didn't say anything, watching as Moony put Mercy in a headlock until he declared his defeat and she stole his silverware.

When he looked up, Keya was gone. "Huh? Where'd she go?"

"What does it matter?" Mom asked, watching as the waitress brought their food. "Aren't we supposed to be celebrating your graduation?"

"Yes, but-" There, he spotted her, sitting with a group. Next to her was a tall, dark guy with black hair, and across from her was a little elephant and a man in a floating saucer. That man in particular looked familiar, and it only took him a second to put a name to the face and recognize Ena's remedial class teacher.

That made interrupting much easier.

Mercy got up from his seat and made his way over to the group, preparing what he was to say and ignoring how Mom called him back. It was probably hearing this that made Keya turn around and notice him, and the way her expression, previously gloomy, was brightened when she saw him, he knew he made the right choice.

Playfully, he addressed her, sticking his hands in his pockets and leaning over a little like a cool guy on television would do, even trying to mimic their voice, "Hey, you disappeared so quickly! Sorry about my sister, she's a punk. It was nice talking to you, you don’t mind if we keep talking, do you?"

A smile started down the girl's beak, and she nodded hastily. “Yes, please! I would love that!” She turned to the man perched in a hovercraft across the table, searching for his consent. “Robert, can I go?” She asked pleadingly, lacing her fingers as if in prayer. Next to her, the dark boy with the big, orange eyes watched her closely. For a second, he looked up at Mercy, but couldn’t keep eye contact for a second longer before focusing himself on ripping up a napkin and drinking from a tall glass.

This guy wasn’t her boyfriend, was he? Maybe he was, with how uncomfortable he looked with Keya’s excitement. Then again, it wasn’t as if Mercy had made any moves, they had just met each other!

The man in the hovercraft seemed to find the situation strange as well. "Ena’s brother.” He said to himself evaluating the scenario. “Keya, I thought you and Taikai were going to sit together today, he kept bringing it up to me that you wanted to spend Junior Day together." Feeling more shitty for breaking up the group, Mercy looked to the dark boy, who’s eyes widened and he squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.

Briefly, he felt a brushing of warm air, and his heart fluttered. He made contact with those big, orange eyes, and he felt as if his soul were being dissected. The air became cold, his muscles weak, and he felt suddenly very nervous.

“I didn’t meant to interrupt anything.” He spat out suddenly, accidentally interrupting Keya while he was at it.

"Well," She was saying, roughly tugging and yanking on her skirt, clearly upset as well. Her voice was shaky and lispy, too. "I kinda wanta sit with Ena's brother instead."

The teacher didn't seem convinced. "Are you sure, Keya? You look a little flushed, I can bring you home with the boys."

“No, no- I can stay. I want to stay. I don't want to go in the car yet." She started to breathe a little heavier, and Mercy recognized the early warning signs of an anxiety attack. Seeing her glancing here and there, trying to focus but being unable to, it pulled him out of his sudden rash of fear and easily into a big-brother mindset, that came naturally for him with years of experience.

"She came over to ask if she could sit with us, and we said it was okay. She wanted to hear about how Ena was doing. If it would that be alright with you, we can take her home. We know each other, and a friend of my sister's is a friend of mine."

"I have no doubts of your reliability, Mercy An, I'm just a little worried. Keya hasn't been feeling well for a little while, now." He turned to his student, once more checking her temperature and to see how serious she was. He made his decision, albeit with some concern. "I'll allow it for now; Keya dear, if you need me, I'll be here.”

At this, Keya grinned and jumped up from her seat. "Thank you, Robert! Thank you!" She said nothing else, in a hurry to leave. "Your table is over this way, isn't it? I can see your moon sister from here, man is she bright? Did I introduce myself yet? I'm Keya, by the way. So you know." She was practically jumping in excitement when Mercy followed, leading them away from the rest of her class and back to his family.

He did his best to ignore the sharp aching he felt in his back. Maybe a pinched nerve. A little voice in the back of his head said that it was more than that, but he didn’t have time to concentrate too hard on it.

Moony noticed them returning, waving obnoxiously. “Looks like the daring prince has rescued his fair maiden after all! What kinds of evil spirits did you encounter oh brave hero?”

Not even dignifying it with more than a roll of his eyes, Mercy took a seat at the table, pulling out another for Keya. She sat down gingerly, her excitement almost hidden by embarrassment if not for the smile that she couldn’t remove from her face.

"I think the oxygen's getting to you, Moony. I'm a graduate, and she's an underclassman. Besides, I think she has a boyfriend over there." Checking to see her reaction, he was startled and upset to find that Keya had stopped smiling. “Is he your boyfriend?”

She made a noise indicative of feeling extremely upset by the topic. Mercy was fluent in nonverbal communication, thankfully, and so had an idea of what she meant. Whatever the cause, it was a sore spot, and it was best to let it go. “Sorry to prod, I didn’t meant to make you feel bad. Here, do you want some of my anchovies?” He offered one as an apology, and though she didn’t take it right away, she did eventually accept it, gently receiving the little fish and playing with it before eating. “You are very pretty, too. I didn’t mean to imply that you weren’t-”

She winced, looking damn close to crying, and he stopped again.

“Sorry.”

“’s okay.”

Moony, on the other hand, didn’t read silence so good.

"Alright, so you’re older by a year, Mr. Headed-to-get-my-clown-doctorate. You're already getting your gen. ed courses in foolery right now, I see." Moony flipped a spoon to rest on her nose.

Mom grabbed the spoon from her and pinched her nose, making Moony flail her arms. "Munako, be a lady and stop shouting in public, it's rude. But I must agree with my daughter-in-law, Miss Bin Chicken - if you're going to court an An, you must be more confident than that. Chin up sweetheart; look him in the eye and give him what a woman should give a man- Miss?"

Keya had given it her best attempt to stay composed, but was ultimately unable to, and started crying where she sat. For a few awkward seconds, she wiped at her red face and hiccupped while the Ans stared at her in shock. "I'm sorry." She said after a minute. "I'll stop, just a minute."

Mercy was the first to react, getting up out of his seat. "No, it's fine. Sometimes it needs to come out. Do you want to go someplace else, or will you be alright here?"

She nodded furiously at his previous suggestion, and she wiped her face with a napkin as he brought her down the isle to where she could cry without being gawked at. Thankfully, the bathroom was empty when they entered, and he allowed the girl to get some toilet paper from a stall to replace the wet napkin. It took her a few minutes to really compose herself, gasping and coughing wetly. Feeling useless, he offered to assist, "Is there anything I can do to help? Do you like hugs?"

The girl violently shook her head. "No. Don’t do that!" She said stiffly, eyeing him suspiciously before wiping her tears, which seemed to be slowing now. "Don't do that, please." It sounded almost desperate, almost like she was at the end of her wits.

He backed off, showing her his palms. "I understand, no touching." He was quiet after that, and leaned against the wall, waiting for the girl to feel comfortable enough to speak to him again.

Patience won in the end, and after she blew her nose and threw the tissue in the garbage, she took a deep breath and checked herself in the mirror. She touched her cheeks and looked disappointed by what she saw – puffy bags under her red-rimmed eyes, her cheeks colored as well. She breathed deeply, frowned, and turned away. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I get like that sometimes, I'm too fuckin' retarded to exist in public. That's why I'm in the remedial class." She laughed a little, as if trying to get him to laugh too. When he didn’t, she stopped the halfhearted attempt at humor, hugging herself and rocking on her heels.

"You don't have to be sorry. My sister was in that class, too. She cries almost every day, and she's the most special person in my life. I love her more than words can say, for who she is, no matter how much she cries, or how much I need to help her. Even if she needs more help now than ever, even if I sometimes feel like I got the short end of the stick, I can't ever stop loving her, and helping her when she needs me. If you need me, too, I can be there."

For a moment, the both of them were unsure of what to say. Mercy was about to ask if he spoke too much before Keya beat him to it, "Um, wow. That's quite a lot for someone you just met. I guess we're both going through a rough time, aren't we?"

He shrugged. "I believe you. I'll make it. Are you okay, though?"

She copied him, looking down at the floor. "Not sure. I never thought this would happen to me." She stood up straighter, forcing herself to recover quickly. "Can we go back out? I don't want anyone walking in on me like this. I'm fine, and I'm going to be fine, no matter what he does to me."

"He?" Mercy asked, but was ignored as Keya moved past him and went to the door. Not wanting to press what as obviously a sore subject, he followed her out and back to the family table, where they continued to eat in relative peace.

"Do you like coloring, kid?" Moony asked after a few minutes had passed, shoving a placemat and crayons in front of the girl. "You seem like you need to do some coloring. Relax a little; when we bite, we don't take off more than we can chew. Mercy here doesn't bite at all, he's got no teeth, that's why he ordered the baby food."

He leaned in towards Keya a little but not enough to make her uncomfortable, pointing at Moony as if she couldn't see. "See that? That's a moon that eats moon cheese, like she was just formed from a pile of cosmic dust yesterday."

"Oi! I'll have you know that moon cheese is for growing big and strong! And guess what I am, little man? I'm bigger and stronger than any other moon in this galaxy. I'm so strong that I'm already married, she loves my guns. I'm so handsome that the school won't let me stay, they said 'Munako, you're too radical for this institution, you must migrate to a bigger, radder institution that can accommodate your bodaciousness!' And this celebration this afternoon is all about me, they're just trying to make it seem a little more fair to the other students by letting them all get papers too-"

"Okay I think you made your point." Mom said, taking a breadstick and shoving it into Moony's 'gesturing spectacularly' hand. "Take this and fill your noise-hole."

"With pleasure, mother dearest." Moony said, refusing to completely shut up. They shared stories about Ena, with special care not to make Keya feel too bad about their situation. For the family, after three months of living with it, it was hard to remember that their situation could seem shocking to others. Keya seemed to be handling it alright, though, relaxing as she was given time to recount her experiences being with Ena in the classroom.

"She talked about you a lot, Mercy. You were very special to her." Keya played with a napkin while she said it, unable to look Mercy in the face. "With how much she said, I sometimes wondered when I could meet this amazing brother of hers, and if he'd even want to talk to a person like me."

Moony waved her fork in the air. "Like, c'mon. You're not that ugly. Like I said earlier, Mercy's got no game with any other girls being a whole one-man circus, and you've got…being purple, which is cool. I mean, I'd take my advice, being married an' all. You guys should totally come to my party tonight. Mercy can pick you up, and if your mom doesn't want you out past nine, we have ways of sneaking you out." Ignoring the way that Mom smacked her with her tail, she pressed on, "It's at Quarry Peak, Mercy's already coming. He's a wino though, so maybe we'd have to get a different designated driver."

Another smack almost sent her into the table, and despite how uncertain she seemed before, the girl looked up to Mercy as if to see what he thought.

He didn't exactly have a sales-pitch ready but wasn't opposed to the idea. There were some nice places in the sky they could go to away from the noise of the crowd, in case Keya got uncomfortable. "Would you like to? I don't drink that much, she’s just talking through a horn made of a leaf. It'll all be her family there, grandads and grandmas, cousins, uncles, aunts, you know. I get where that doesn't interest you, and you probably have your own things to do over break."

"Actually," The girl started, speaking quietly and scooting her seat closer to him, "I wouldn't mind going. I could use some time for myself. I'll go, I need to get out. I have someone expecting me, but…he…he can…I'll deal with him later. Yeah, I'll deal with him later. I want to be with you guys."

Mercy smiled, feeling excited. "All the merrier! Do you have anywhere to be this afternoon? We're going to go the ceremony after we get out of lunch, and then we'll spend some down time at home before we go to the afterparty."

She took a little fish from his salad. "I'll be there for graduation, but I have to go home to my mom after."

"That's fine. I can pick you up when you'd like me to. What time would you prefer?"

"What time does it start?"

Moony only spared a glance from where she was discussing something with Mom. "Uh – eight."

Mercy turned back to Keya, passing her another anchovy. "A little before eight, then. Is that okay?"

She grinned, all the previous anxiety gone. "That's okay with me. Say 'hi' to Ena for me, please, and tell her that I enjoyed being in school with her. We have a lot in common, I think, and I want her to know that she's not alone in this. Someday, something will be done about this, but for now, it's good to have those who understand."

Mercy smiled to her in gratitude. "I'll be sure to let her know."

After putting Ena to sleep in a guest pocket at Quarry Peak, Mercy stumbled down the side of the mountain and searched around for a place to be alone. What he found was a cave, tiny but possible for him to fit inside. His kneecaps were up to his chin and it was a little hard to breathe, but it felt better than being under the scrutiny of the moons and stars. Outside, in the bright light of the celestial party, the world span and pitched to where it was hard to walk straight. Tucking into a little ball helped.

In the span of a few hours, everything changed for him. He didn’t even have the time to process what had happened, and wasn’t about to do it drunk.

The easiest to deal with was Grandad’s death. During the graduation ceremony, Mr. Ezra Sheffield, owner of the Sheffield Manor and olive oil company, had passed away sitting in his wheelchair in the living room. He didn’t look to have struggled much. Hara, conversely, had gone absolutely insane with grief and tore apart the place like a scared animal. Mercy didn’t know the details, having walked into the disaster area blindly with the rest of his family. In the middle of toppled lamps, books scattered on the floor and many pieces of broken cups and plates, Hara was laid out over his father’s lap. Gin was spilled out on the carpet, soaking it and filling the air with a strong smell of alcohol.

Mom quickly gathered up Ena, who was sitting on the couch, and brought her upstairs. Mercy went with her. Moony was lucky to not see any of it, having gone home to see her normal, happy family.

By the time nightfall came, Hara, still shitfaced, stumbled up the stairs and announced that Mercy had a week to move out of the house. Mercy wouldn't have cared if that was all it was, he was going to do that anyway, but the real kicker was that Ena was going with him for seemingly no reason at all. He wouldn't explain anything, either, ignoring Mercy as he was chased back downstairs to retreat into father’s lap. "I have ways to arrange it so you two can live comfortably. You said you wanted to go to college, correct? Go. Do whatever you want, waste your life on chasing stars and dreaming of foolish charades. Both of you can live in ignorance. Just do it on your own, leave my house, leave my family, leave me be!" He said nothing coherent after that, falling over Mr. Sheffield and wailing miserably.

Without waiting another moment, Mercy went upstairs and grabbed a duffel bag from the closet. He filled it with Ena’s most important things; food, a couple changes of clothes, toys and objects she liked, and her cards. He took very little of his own things, just the clothes on his back and some toiletries. Then, after putting Ena in a heavy coat for the night, he brought them out to the car where they went to Moony’s. Mom stayed behind to sit with her inconsolable husband and his father's corpse.

Moony was receptive, and furious. She took Ena inside her, resting her on the crescent of her moon to sleep while she floated around to work off some of the anger. Mercy spent the rest of the evening in a place he couldn't remember, lost both in his own head and in the world around him. He could only remember staring out at the long, empty desert and wondering, 'Why, Runas? Why does it have to happen to me and my family? Why is it always me?"

For hours, he asked that question to the skies and received no answer. When it came time and Moony found a place where Ena could sleep, Mercy settled on at least making her feel safe. She looked up into his face, and he kissed her repeatedly until she fell asleep. Then, he went back outside, down the side of the peak, and into the little hole in the wall.

They weren't able to find Keya, again. She disappeared sometime during graduation and hadn't come back. He hadn’t heard from her since. Mercy would have gone to her house, but he couldn't get his legs to move, having started drinking almost the moment that he got to Moony's, and by the time eight came around, he was seeing double of everything.

He couldn't remember when he fell asleep. He dreamed long. He had a nightmare, towards the end, where the sun came up over the edge of the world, and a Dangerous Operations Officer had come to get him. "You're Mercy An, correct?" The officer asked.

"I think so." He said, allowing himself to be pulled out of the hole and escorted back up the peak. "My head hurts."

"I'll get you some aspirin, kid. Then, I'm going to have to keep you for questioning. You were familiar with Keya Varadkar, were you?"

Suddenly, the dream became more vivid. He rubbed his eyes, feeling sweat starting on his skin, both from the growing heat of the new day, and the terror that came from hearing the solemnity in the man's deep voice. "I was supposed to meet her last night, to bring her to the party. Where is she, what happened?" He couldn't move, he couldn't get her. He was drunk, was he in trouble?

"Did you see her that evening? Did she talk to you at all?"

"No, I said I didn't see her. What happened? Please, tell me!" He broke free from the officer's grip. "My sister, where's my sister?"

Suddenly, the man split off into two, then four. All of them regarded him with many eyes on their triangular faces. "Enakai An is inside." Said one. "So you had no contact with the victim?" Said two. "I believe he hasn't been told." Said three. "The victim was murdered in her home late last night, the killer is at large. The body was discovered by her schoolteacher, who said that her last contact was one Mercy An."

From there, he was brought inside, where the Dangerous Operations officers continued explaining what had happened, and Mercy gave as much information as he could. Seeing it fit contextually, he also mentioned what happened to Grandad, and one of the officers left to check on Mom and Hara. They finished just after Ena woke up for breakfast. They didn’t bother to question her, which was a relief, as she seemed scared by their big, black uniforms.

After the officers left, he went about the motions of a regular day, feeling cloudy in his head. The hangover ached, and Ena moaned to herself as he set her down on the floor, with no-where else for her to sit. She kept going, groaning something he couldn’t understand, and refused to eat her breakfast, which was a bunch of crackers and a bottle of juice. He set the food down on the floor and pulled her into his lap, rocking them both until she quieted.

If he had been on time, he would have been the one to find her body, so in a way, getting drunk and hiding in a hole had saved him from seeing the horrific sight. She died quickly, the officers said.

His phone rang. Ena’s hands gripped his arm, and he pressed her face into his neck so she could hide from the noise while he answered.

“Merces.”

“Hara.” He moved a little to get more comfortable on the stone floor.

He wasted no time in explaining exactly what he needed to and leaving out no important detail, “I’ve enrolled you in school, and there’s an apartment for you and Enakai to live at. It’s within walking distance. There are plenty of job opportunities. After you arrive, there will be a woman from Mesha to see you about taking care of Enakai. It will be under my name for a year, in that time, I expect you to be able to support the two of you. You will come home and gather what you need before you go.”

Ena leaned against him. Could she hear any of what Hara said? “I’ll be there in a few.”

When the old King Berry had been prisoner in the neighboring enemy territory, it was said that he cried for the first time anyone had seen. As he cried, it started to rain back in his home country. The rain, so strong and fast, caused a flood so terrible that the enemy occupying his royal estate were flushed out, along with the magnificent structure of his home. The King's tears for his people caused the fortress to flood out and saved the nation one last time before he was executed in enemy land, killed by beheading along with his wife, the Queen, and his children.

Mercy didn't have the strength to fight anymore, bringing Ena outside and buckling her into her car seat. She held tight the stuffed dog Moony had given her. Moony stayed close by, unable to keep from crying. She must have held Ena for ten minutes before Mercy had to ruin the moment and pull his sister out from her grasp and put her in the car. “I’ll remember you, please don’t forget me!” Moony begged from outside the window, petting her wife’s hair. “I’ll call every day, and write every seven! I’ll even visit, I’ll even transfer schools! Sucks to what my parents say, I’ll be there with you guys! Mercenary, warm up a seat, because I’ll be right there after you!”

Mercy thanked her, hugging his sister in law before getting into the car and pulling out onto the mainway. He paid all attention to the road until they stopped at the house, where he parked and looked into the rearview mirror at Ena.

From now on, as long as he had her, and she was happy, that was all he needed. Nothing else. His sister was his duty and it would take all of the world to keep him from succeeding.

He didn’t get a chance to get out of the car, Hara coming out of the front door with a large suitcase that he put in the trunk of the car, which was spacious on the inside. “This is most of your things. The apartment will be furnished when you get there. Enakai does not need much more than what’s in that case, which is clothes and necessities.”

“Toys?” Mercy asked, already growing impatient with having to hear the man’s voice.

“Yayoi did that.” He said. “Make something good of yourself.” That was the last he said before going back inside. Mom came out right after him, running to the car and reaching her head inside the open window the wrap around her boy.

“My son, my baby.” She sobbed. “Why must you children leave me so soon? I have no daughter, and now I have no son! Tell me Merces, that you’ll come home to your mother one day, grown up and thriving?”

“I promise, Mom.” He said, hugging her head one last time before she had to pull back. That promise was all he could think about when pulling out onto the street and heading for the tunnel that would take them down off the mesa.

Ena sat in the backseat, staring out at no point in particular. “I promise, for you and me, I’ll be the best person I can.” He said to her image in the mirror.

She said nothing back, watching a place beyond where he could see. He could only hope that wherever she was hiding, it was better than where he was. It would have all her friends, and places to go, and things to do. Where she would be able to say what she felt and have fun.