Their folly in all that has transpired was quickly unveiled when they looked upon his face. The hue of his body that reminded them so much of a Caribbean beach where the sand meets the sea now seemed to almost mimic the fading color of distressed coral reefs. This was made even more obvious by the stark contrast of their own blood on his chin, a sacred part of their being that was rarely seen by most, let alone tasted. But the sight of viscous red ichor on his mouth did not unsettle them (quote the opposite, really)—it was has sickly he looked afterward. It had never happened before.

"...Miguel." With a quiet tenderness in their voice, Djahima called out to him. They gave him a moment to register their presence before moving one of their hands into view so that he could see their intentions clearly before they made them, sliding their fingers underneath the hand that was on their thigh. They continued to move with steady purpose as they supported Miguel's weight the moment they got up from their seat, careful to not let him slip from their grasp while giving him the security to know that he could break away at any time.

"Let's get you to lie down, yeah?"

After carefully laying Miguel down on the sofa and disabling part of his uniform to give his upper body some breathing room, they set upon retrieving the leftover beef stew from the fridge. After they began heating up the pot on the stove, their next order of business was to find the broom and dustpan, something they had gotten on their own as they refused to utilize any of the more technologically advanced housecleaning options. Broom and dustpan discovered, their last task was to get Miguel some water in a very nonbreakable cup.

Once they placed the water on the end table beside him and began sweeping the shattered glass into smaller piles, it wasn't lost on them that they could've simply used their "gifts" to rectify the problem in seconds. But what was the point in that? To save time that they were drowning in? As complex as Djahima's relationship was with their reality, they had to remember two things: first, their singular leverage over the physical world didn't come from nothing—it came from everything. And having power over everything can have consequences so pervasive and far-reaching that most would not even know where the problems would begin and end. Second, having total dominance did not mean having total peace. If anything, it was quite the opposite. But most people would find that out far too late.