The next day Xander's mood was lighter. He smiled, albeit sheepishly, more often. His intense blue eyes seemed to relax a bit more, and he managed to utter more words than what was absolutely necessary.

Maybe being able to draw again, being able to help Airin with her writing, and being able to let Airin roam in his mind to see elegarii the way he would like her to see it, in the most beautiful state – maybe all these had helped him feel better. Maybe.

There was still so much that Airin did not understand. What had happened to Xander in the past? It must have been something so dark, so brutal, so traumatic for him that he lost his ability to draw for some time even though he had such a great talent in drawing.

The darkness of his past that had prevented him from using his gift to let people roam into his mind, to show them the wonder of Halgard, as well as preventing him from using his gift to inspire people like he helped her with her writing. Those were beautiful gifts!

And why did she feel like there was more to Xander than just those gifts? A secret of sort. A burden in his eyes. A load that he could not, or would not, share.

Airin tried to chase away the thought from her mind.

Something special was happening in front of her. For the first time ever, Xander got closer to her young students when school time ended. He kneeled next to Lyanna at the school yard, and Lyanna was busy introducing her friends to him. Each kid chatted with him in a cacophony of questions and laughter and stories. Airin decided to stay away and just watched from inside her classroom which had a direct view to the school yard.

Lyanna looked so happy. She jumped, patted Xander's shoulder, and seemed like she was singing something, followed by a couple other little girls, Tasha and Allie, who also started patting Xander's shoulder. Airin became interested in what game the girls played with Xander, so she went out to the yard and stood a few meters behind Xander.

A wide smile broke on her face when she heard the little voice of the girls commanding Xander to do stuff ...

"I am Princess Allie, now you are my soldier, ok ... you have to bow to me, ok? I am the princess of all countries! All! I can do magic too, and I have a pink horse!" Allie first, she looked at Xander in all seriousness, and Xander lowered himself to the ground, kneeling in front of the little girl.

"Yes, Your Highness Princess Allie. It is an honour to serve in your court," Xander announced as he bowed his head to Allie.

The girls all laughed and each wanted the same treatment, including Lyanna who seemed to have forgotten that she was, actually, a princess.

Airin laughed. The fact that a real royal warrior in all seriousness kneeled for the little girls to act out their childhood fantasy did touch her deeply.

Xander kneeled in front of the girls, and each girl was busy telling him their imagination. Tasha thought at some point last week that she could turn into a unicorn. Then she was busy telling why she thought she could turn into a unicorn.

Another kid came running to join them. Robbie. The boy happily chimed in with his own story of how he thought he could be a dragon. "My dragon will fly high!" that was what Airin heard he was saying.

And Xander just listened. His eyes widened in awe, and when Tasha, Robbie, and Allie had to go because they were picked up by their caretakers, Xander stayed kneeling. Lyanna ran to the swing and started playing there with two boys from class.

"I can say now: You have won the heart of three little princesses. That is quite a feat, Xander," Airin whispered and patted Xander's shoulder.

Xander brought both of his palms to cover his face, shook his head, and said,"Halgard cannot fall to Ares, Airin. Elegarii has to be protected. These children will lose their ability to imagine all the beautiful things if Ares ..." Xander's voice shook, he was unable to continue his thought. "Every day I am here in your universe, I see those orbs ... beautiful light orbs blessing the human beings here with inspiration. These children attract so many of these orbs. They love to come to these young ones ... those pure of heart," Xander continued as Airin lowered herself, kneeling too next to him.

The busy schoolyard started to quiet down. More children got picked up by their parents. Some teachers had also left the school area.

Airin was quiet. Xander's lightness dissipated as the gravity of the matter in Halgard and its impact in this universe sunk within him more and more.

Lyanna finally came running back to them. Her face now looked downcast. "I am tired, Uncle Xander," she sighed and extended her arms to Xander. Xander knew what to do. He stood up and carried his niece.

The walk home was quiet. Lyanna seemed to instinctively feel the heaviness that was now fully occupying Xander. She buried her face in Xander's broad shoulder and in the end just fell asleep.

<<<>>>

That night after Lyanna went to bed, Xander started drawing again.

Airin jaw dropped when she saw how fast Xander could draw. He taped eight sheets of A4 paper together, placed the taped sheets on the floor, and started drawing. He just used a pencil, and the end result was the palace of Halgard. He showed it to Airin. Sitting next to Airin on the floor, he explained the parts of the palace, pointing to the different guard towers, the main gate, the throne room ...

"I love drawing ... I am just so glad I can draw again," Xander exhaled after he finished explaining. His index finger lingered on the paper, mindlessly tracing different pencil strokes.

"I totally believe you," smiled Airin.

Xander turned to look at her and was going to say something when someone knocked hard on her apartment door.

Airin was not expecting anyone at this time, she wondered who it might be as she went to the door.

She opened her door.

It was Dad.

"You did not reply my message," Dad was not screaming. His sentence was to the point, short, and that was how Airin know that he was not just angry, but furious.

The irony of Dad's anger that she had learned in tears-stained ways since childhood: The calmer he sounded, the angrier he was. Like now. His face was red, his lips trembled, and his hair disheveled.

Shock jolts went through Airin. She froze, her stomach knotted, her mind went blank for a moment, and she shivered.

"Ungrateful! How dare you ignore me!" Dad pushed one hand to the door, forced his way in.

"Dad, stop. Please," she begged as tears started streaming down her cheek. She could not find her courage to be assertive, or to stop her tears from falling, or just to stand up straight in front of Dad now.

"Your mom is dead, but our marriage has been dead much longer than that! Stop being so dramatic! May is my bestfriend for years already, she helped me go through every day, to face your Mom every day. But it does not matter now, does it? Your mom is dead now! You still have to help me in bistro after all those college dues I paid for you!" Dad shouted. His sentences flew out along with splashes of his saliva, unfiltered, flying like sharp little knives, stabbing Airin in different spots of her heart and mind.

So that was why he was pissed. He was worried about his bistro help.

There were too many stuff there in Dad's few sentences that should make Airin angry. Raging even. But she could not find her anger now. She froze, except for tears that fell like streams of river down her cheek, flowing to her lips and neck.

"So you just decide to ignore me, and shacking up here with ... who is that? Your newest boyfriend? At least he does look so much better than all those previous ones!" Dad now turned his attention to Xander who by now stood a few steps behind Airin. No, Dad, please do not drag Xander into this, Airin could hear her beg quietly in her mind, even though Xander kept his cool. No, it is not right ... Xander should not be dragged in this. She made a quick decision.

"Dad!" she found her anger. "Stop! That is Xander ... my ... my friend!" she unconsciously took a couple steps back, closer to Xander, away from Dad.

"May stays. I don't care what you think of her. It does not matter. Your mom could never do what she does now in the bistro. Your mom was just too busy with you, and with pitying herself! She had no time for me, for my bistro ..." Dad's trailed off.

"That's not true. You ignored Mom, always. You were mean to her. But now, I don't want to fight with you. Please. Dad, please just ... just go. Let's ... let's calm down and we ... we'll talk later," she was angry, but she did not have the energy now to fight Dad, or even knew what she wanted to say to him.

Dad ran his fingers on his greasy hair, and nodded fast a few times. "You come help me next week at the bistro. Then we talk. You hear?" Dad stepped backward to the door, pointing his index finger to Airin. His commanding gesture, a gesture that was so familiar to Airin. He glanced at Xander, then went out of the door, stomped away.

Airin staggered to close the door, locked it, threw the key on the floor somewhere, then fell on her knees. Her tears fell, and she sobbed like she had never done before.

She was not sure what Xander did other than standing a few steps behind her. The whole thing had passed like one horror documentary in her mind, a worst-case-scenario that had come true. Xander was now right next to her, slowly lowering himself, kneeling next to her.