#herack

It was stuffy inside the van. The air conditioner was running at full blast, but it couldn't quite disperse the heat that had the leather seat sticking to her thighs.

The holoscreen in front of Anenja flickered with static, the loading symbol unmoving. She sighed, wishing for better reception. The desert was barren of many crucial things; shade, water, grubburgers, and good wifi.

If it was anyone's fault, it was her own, she thought bitterly. She had somehow surrounded herself with tech wizards throughout her childhood and left every single one of them behind to travel with Sadane. She didn't regret it, she didn't have it in her to feel homesick over a cage. But still. Maybe it'd be worth it to take the trip back to Elysian, get an Eos worker to… do whatever needed to be done to the van in order to get a clearer signal. Stars, she grew up in a tech manufacturing company, she should know the basics of wifi.

The holoscreen blipped, and suddenly he was face to face with her.

"Hey, kiddo."

"Hello, Herack."

She carefully took him in, noted his normally coiffed hair hanging limp, and wondered how dark his eye bags would be if he took off his mask. She'd only been gone a few weeks, was that all it took to make such a powerful man fall into despair?

Tactfully, she asked, "Are you well?"

He snorted. "Just peachy."

An awkward silence stretched between them, until Herack's eyes began to dart to the side, looking off screen. Probably at Rhoren. Disappointed, Aneja said dejectedly, "If you want to stay in my life, Herack, you have to act like it. We both know we don't do these calls for my benefit."

His features pinched, scowl starting to form, until a bright green sock with purple stars nailed him in the face. Anenja had to hold back a giggle, mentally thanking Rhoren for having her back when it came to her temperamental dancestor. Herack swiped it away, flipping the bird in what she assumed was Rhoren's direction.

Returning his gaze to the camera, Herack ran both hands through his hair, leaning down to hide his face momentarily. After a beat he straightened, his lips quirked in a half smile.

"I'm not used to you being away. To you being able to", he gestured vaguely at her. "You know. Act like an adult."

"You only ever treated me as a child," Anenja replied coolly, her ears pinned back in anger. "But I never truly was. Even if you hadn't shoved me into a meat suit, if I'd been hatched properly, I would have been raised in a war. I wouldn't have had a chance to be a child."

His expression turned solemn, watching her as he might a stranger. Warily.

And maybe she was a stranger to him now. She was growing, she could feel it in her bones, becoming someone she never got to be in the depths of Eos. Someone free, someone with loved ones and friends. Stars, she never loved being alive more than these past few weeks on the road.

Herack quickly changed the subject. Typical.

"You still have money? I can wire more to you, anytime. And what about food? Have you been eating crap? If you need a chef I can spare one from the kitchens, send him out to-"

"Are these calls just another way for you to try to control my life?!" Anenja cried out in exasperation. "All you want to do is find ways to insert yourself back into my life. I left you! I had to get away, do you understand that? You suffocate me, I couldn't breathe in Eos, Herack. I need space."

Herack opened his mouth to say something, then shut it promptly, looking strained.

"Actually… I just miss you."

It wasn't an apology. But she knew it was as close as it got for him. Herack couldn't talk about his feelings for shit, so it was actually a pretty impressive statement, coming from him.

"Part of me misses you too. But I can't come back, not yet."

He nodded, sinking into his chair in defeat.

On the other side of the van, Sadane poked her head through the door, a stick of jerky poking out of the corner of her mouth. She tapped her wrist with a meaningful look and disappeared again.

"We're headed out soon. Is Rhoren there?"

The gold blood ducked into frame, grinning. "Hi An, having fun out there?"

"Oodles of it," she said with a teasing smile. "I found a patch of lumenrose out near the canyon. I pressed one for you."

"I can't wait to see it," he said warmly.

Herack was staring daggers at his matesprit for hogging her attention, so she asked, gently, "You'll take care of Herack, won't you Rhoren? Make sure he's eating well, you know how he is."

For all his talk over her eating habits, he was by far, worse. He thought a can of beans for dinner was an appropriate meal.

Herack's scowl softened as Rhoren gave her a jaunty little salute. The gold blood then dove out of screen, with a panicked, "My pasta-"

She laughed as Herack rolled his eyes, calling out goodbye to him. And then it was just the two of them again.

"Take care, kiddo. I'll see you next week."

"Bye Herack, I-"

She couldn't bring herself to say I love you. She probably wouldn't be able to for a long time. But she did, stars help her she did. Even if he was a shit guardian. Even if it was hard to look him in the face still sometimes.

"I'll see you next week," she parroted with a wry smile.