Jordan groggily walked into the kitchen and found Andrea getting a box of Fruit Loops from a lower cabinet.
"I didn't see that cereal the other day," Jordan said as she went to the refrigerator.
The old crystal pony put the cereal box on the floor and dug into another cabinet. "I keep it hidden. Líng used to steal it all the time. The twerp never respected food belonging to other people. So, I needed to start hiding it. Can you put your horn to use and put this and the milk on the dining room table?"
Jordan levitated the milk out of the refrigerator and grabbed the cereal box with her magic, then watched as she moved both to the dining room and onto the table.
"Líng isn't here anymore. You don't need to hide your food," Jordan said.
"I'm an old creature of habit," Andrea replied. She pulled a bowl out and set it on the floor. "Can you put this on the table too?"
Jordan rolled her eyes and did so.
"That milk is whole milk, right?" Andrea asked.
"I have a friend who would throw a fit if she found out I had any other type of milk, so yes," Jordan answered.
"Good, I don't want any floating blobs showing up to terrorize me during breakfast," Andrea replied.
Jordan blinked. "The Marshmallow shows up here to harp on you about milk?"
Andrea headed to the dining room. "Yeah, the creep only did it twice, years apart, but after the second time, I decided to swear off skim milk. Sunset had some ongoing business with the Dreamwardens; the Marshmallow was here for her, but it noticed me having breakfast during its visits. I think it preaches harder against the evils of skim milk than Sunset ever preaches about anything."
"Oh? Is the Marshmallow nuts about that, too?" Jordan asked quickly. "My friend must have had a run-in with the Dreamwarden at some point."
"Drop that act filly. You aren't very good at lying. I know you know the real identity of the Marshmallow. You are part of my eldest niece's inner circle. She'd have let you in on the identity of her junior colleague," Andrea said as she climbed into her chair. "I'm not so privileged, nor do I want to be, but I advise you never to give details about your friend or their habits."
Jordan sighed. "You sound like Tempest. Always so on guard."
Andrea started strapping on her spoon. "Speaking of whom–she's out in the yard. She told me to tell you when I saw you to get out there so she can see what state your self-defense technique is in."
Jordan stomped. "What the heck! This is my house! Why does she think she can come unannounced to freeload, then say she needs to judge my technique?!"
Andrea chuckled. "Love that fire! Let's see if you can keep it up face-to-face with her. She doesn't strike me as someone who'd be impressed with your spirit. That one's a no-nonsense hardass. I like her."
Jordan scowled and marched out of the kitchen to the dining room, from the dining room to the foyer, then out the front door.
Outside, she found Crystal's big van that looked like it was part tank plugged into the base of the fountain. She hadn't realized the fountain had charging ports at the bottom until now. The van rarely ever had to be charged this way since this was one of those newer models that had non-reflective solar panels on top. They were supposed to go without charging like this unless their battery had been pushed to near empty. She imagined driving across the country at high speeds could do that. How much power did that monster-size vehicle use? It seemed like it would guzzle a lot of electricity.
"Ouch!" she yelled as something struck her head right near the base of her horn.
"Horrible, just horrible. You should have been able to see that coming."
Jordan rubbed her head and then looked around. She spotted Tempest a short distance away with what looked like a handful of pebbles. Crystal and Blanche were sitting in the grass a little further off, watching. She had no idea where that other guy, Arturo, was.
Tempest tossed another pebble at her, more forcefully this time, but Jordan caught it in midair with her magic and sent it shooting back at Tempest. The woman whipped her free hand forward and grabbed it before it struck her.
"Better, but you should have sent that back at me faster. I shouldn't have been able to catch it like that," Tempest said with a shake of her head.
She narrowed her eyes at the dark-skinned woman. "I'm not doing this. This is my house, and I'm not a little filly getting self-defense lessons."
Tempest wound up a throw and released. Jordan immediately made a shield, but the protection failed almost immediately while Crystal lit up with a soft glow. The stone connected with Jordan's flank, stinging harshly.
"What the hell! Two on one??" Jordan demanded.
Tempest did another throw. Jordan started putting up a shield while stepping to the side. As soon as the shield failed, she did another spell, grabbing a massive amount of dirt under the ground beneath Crystal and teleporting it about five feet above the crystal pony's head. The dirt rained heavily down on Crystal as Jordan barely dodged the stone. A second later, the ground beneath Crystal's hooves collapsed in on itself to fill the void left behind, and the crystal pony cried out in shock as she fell into a mini-sinkhole.
"I have to admit, that was a clever way of having a unicorn stifle a crystal pony," Blanche said as she stood up to help Crystal out.
"Yes," Tempest agreed, dropping her remaining stones. "She actually went on the offensive for once. Jordan has a bad habit of staying on defense. Staying on defense can hold out for a while, but it is ultimately just delaying defeat, not preventing it. That's good enough for today. Crystal, are you injured?"
Crystal finished climbing out of the hole with Blanche's aid and spit out some dirt. "Just my pride. I was getting ready to dodge because I expected her to throw something at me instead, and I didn't see that trick coming. First time that filly has gotten the better of me."
"She'd have still lost in an actual fight. She was wide open to Tempest attacking her after pulling that stunt," Blanche said. "But two experienced fighters versus one isn't a fair fight."
"Fair fights are for dojos and boxing rings, not actual combat. In combat, you should do all you can to make it unfairly to your advantage," Tempest said.
"There aren't going to be any more of these sessions," Jordan said with a stomp. "I did my time training with you for years. It was miserable, and I was so tired of getting kicked around by you, Arachne, Charlotte, Moon, Jackie, Robby, or whatever random night pony you threw at me during those sessions. I can defend myself better than most unicorns who have been in the military. I've trained enough!"
She looked down and cried. "I'm tired of losing. I'm tired of being the wimpy nerd. I went out of my way to try to reinvent myself as sexy at the start of the school year. That didn't work out how I wanted, but then I inherited this place. That should have been me winning. Yet here I am, getting kicked around again and being told I'm not good enough!"
Blanche and Crystal looked at one another as Tempest watched Jordan silently. Then Crystal turned to go. Blanche followed behind her.
Tempest walked over to her and sat down. "I'm not very good at comforting others-"
"No shit," Jordan practically spat.
Tempest only paused for a second before continuing. "I know how it feels to think you aren't good enough. As a foal, I ran away from home after my horn was broken. I was angry, and I thought no one cared about me anymore because I was a broken freak. I didn't feel good enough for anyone anymore."
"So now you go out of your way to make others not feel good enough?" Jordan asked with a sneer.
Tempest sighed. "No, that wasn't what I was getting at. I won't give you my long, sordid tale of how I came to be in Princess Luna's employment. For a while, I felt good enough. This powerful pony found value in me. She didn't care that my horn was broken and I had no cutie mark. Then something happened. I screwed up, and Princess Luna decided that the best course of action was assigning me to guard this broken night pony who had been recently raped."
"My sister, Phobia," Jordan muttered. "So she wasn't good enough for you either."
"No! I love her!" Tempest snapped.
Jordan looked up at Tempest, who was trying to contain tears.
Tempest looked down. "I love her and her family, even if I am always apart. I need to make sure she's safe. I need to make sure the family stays safe. I'm not good enough to guard all of you all the time–nobody is!" She lowered her head even more, and tears fell from her face. "I need to make sure you all stay safe, and I can't do it. That's why I push you so hard. None of us are good enough. We are all broken, flawed people that fall short of what we need to be. We can only be the best we can, and I push to make you that. No, you aren't good enough to stay safe; you never will be, but never think you aren't good enough as a person. You are good enough, and that's all we can aspire to be."
Jordan looked at the crying woman, unsure what to say or do—then looked downward again.
"No more training sessions," Jordan whispered. "You've done your best, but now I need to stand on my own four hooves. All of us who you did your best to prepare need to be able to stand on our own. You can guard Phobia. She doesn't know how to fight if someone comes after her. She'd probably be too scared to do anything and freeze up."
Tempest wiped her nose. "She's more formidable than you think, but you may be right. Fine, no more training sessions."
Jordan put her hoof on Tempest's hand, and they sat there, waiting for their tears to dry.
"Hello, Paul. Good to see you," Jack greeted him as he entered the house.
"Morning, Jack," Paul greeted. "All's well?"
Jack nodded. "Mostly. Mark's in his room, upset. The Wishing and Caleb took off a day from school yesterday to be here when he arrived, but they needed to go back to school today. Mark didn't understand that Wishing was only going away for a few hours and would be back this afternoon."
"So the two are bonding?" Paul asked, pleased with that part of the news.
Jack held his hand out and tipped it side-to-side. "They're making progress. Mark was spending time with Wishing but still not talking much. Mark wants to make friends with Wishing, but it seems to primarily be to please your daughter. When Wishing went off to school, Mark thought he was going to fail at making friends and disappoint her."
Paul let out a long breath. "Well, baby steps. We knew Mark was going to be a difficult case. He didn't try hiding again, did he?"
"Just in his room. Jill and I have a house policy that rooms are safe spaces we won't invade unless an emergency warrants it. Kids need their safe space."
"That's fine," Paul assured him. "So, how are the other two boys taking to their new foster brother? Are they doing well? Any concerns about them in general?"
Jack sat down on the floor beside the table. Paul joined him.
"Wishing is very happy to have a new playmate, though he is growing concerned that Mark doesn't say much to him. His feelings may get hurt if Mark doesn't start talking to him more. Besides that, his first year of school seems to have started well. He still seems eager to get on the morning bus to school. We haven't had any parent-teacher conferences other than the one during the open house. There's a regular one scheduled; Jill has the date written down somewhere."
"And Caleb?" Paul asked.
Jack shrugged. "Hard to say with him. I think he's been in the system long enough that he doesn't get too attached to foster brothers and sisters. He seems to be warming up to Wishing, but he also knows Jill and I have been discussing adopting Wishing. Perhaps that makes him think Wishing will stick around longer. He seems largely indifferent about Mark. He's not hostile to him or overly friendly. I think he assumes Mark won't be here long. We haven't heard anything bad from any teachers yet, and he's been doing his homework. He kept up a few friendships over the summer, and we'll see how those go with the new school year. I think he is settling into the idea that he might be in foster care for a long time yet. He doesn't want to talk about his actual parents anymore–and gets angry if pressed to talk about them. He's past the stage of thinking he's guilty of something if he's here. Now he's blaming his parents for being screwups."
"Teens will do that, and he's getting closer to that age, even if he's right in this case," Paul said. "His mother just got her one month pin from Alcoholics Anonymous. She was very proud of that. She's looking forward to telling him about it during her next visit."
"And his dad?" Jack asked.
Paul sighed. "That's part of why I needed to visit today. Reggie got arrested last night. He was caught in a Walmart parking lot with three televisions he didn't pay for, along with a large box packed with bottles of Advil and Tylenol that he also didn't pay for. Has nothing to do with Caleb's mother, Reggie and Midge are still separated. They're only seeing each other during their visits with Caleb."
Jack fluttered his lips. "I want to say I'm surprised, but it's par for the course. Caleb is going to take this hard. We'll help him through this. You don't have to break the news to him. I'll sit him down and talk about it."
Paul nodded. "That's fine. If Caleb needs any additional sessions with a counselor, just let me know. I'll see he gets the support he needs. Mind if I try to speak with Mark?"
Jack nodded. "Go ahead, just remember, Mark has to give you permission to enter. Bedrooms are safe spaces."
"Of course," Paul said as he stood up.
He walked out of the room, into the kitchen, and then into the house addition that had three additional bedrooms. He almost knocked on Mark's door, but caught himself before his hand contacted the door, unsure if the sound of someone striking the door would upset the kid.
"Mark?" he called out as he put his hand down. "It's Paul. May I come in?"
He listened for a few seconds before the reply came.
"Yes."
Paul entered the room and found Mark on his bed, gripping Foogie, Jessie's old teddy bear. He'd been a little surprised when she'd parted with it. She'd had that thing since she was a foal. It wasn't her most precious stuffed animal–that would be Bunna, a plush bunny she still slept with. Still, giving Foogie to Mark had been a big gesture.
He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. Mark didn't retreat, but gripped the bear tighter.
"Hi, Mark, just checking in," Paul greeted. "I'll be here a few times this week while you are settling in, to make sure everything is going well."
"Jessie?" Mark asked.
"She'll be back, but I'm not sure when," Paul answered. "She's mad at me right now, so she didn't tell me when. She'll come, maybe not today, but she'll come."
"Mad?" Mark asked, looking up.
"Not at you," Paul assured him. "She and I had an argument. Sometimes people that love each other get into arguments. It's okay. We still love one another, and she'll calm down in a day or two."
Mark looked down again.
Paul crouched forward a little to seem a little less large. "How are things going with you? Is everyone being nice to you?"
"Nice," Mark answered.
"No one has hurt you?"
"No hurt."
"Have you been eating?
Mark reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a piece of cereal. He then stuffed it in his mouth and chewed it.
Paul blinked. "I suppose you stashed that away from breakfast, so I'll take that as a yes. And how about Wishing? Are you two becoming friends?"
"Maybe."
Paul gave Mark a long look. "Maybe?"
"Went away."
"He needs to go to school. He'll go to school five days in a row, but only for the mornings and early afternoon, then he'll be home again. Next year, you will need to go school too," Paul explained.
Mark hugged Foogie closer.
"Do you know what school is?" Paul asked. It was best not to assume with Mark.
"No."
This is why it was best not to assume. Mark was sheltered to the extreme.
"School is where people go to learn new things. My daughter was very good at school when she was young. She was the best at school that I have ever seen. Now that she's grown up, she teaches others at a school."
"Jessie likes school?"
Hard to say if Jessie liked school or not. She'd rushed through it so fast.
"Jessie likes learning," Paul answered, deciding that was the most honest answer. "When you go to school, you'll like it. You also make lots of friends at school. Wishing should be learning and making friends while at school. You should ask him about it when he gets home."
"Wishing make other friends?" Mark asked.
Was this jealousy?
"Jessie has other friends. Do you remember Jordan? She was the unicorn that sat with you when you were with your grandma in the hospital. Jordan is Jessie's best friend, and Jessie has more friends, good friends. Wishing can have lots of friends. You can have lots of friends too, like Jessie."
Mark snuggled the bear. "Okay."
Paul looked at the window, thinking of another challenge Mark had.
"You know, if you are going to make friends, you need to be able to go outside. I know you are scared of the outside right now, but let's add that to our things to work on, okay?"
Mark was silent. As the silence continued, Paul accepted that there wouldn't be one.
"Okay," Mark said.
Jessica felt like crap as she made her way to her office. It didn't help that the school was busy. She'd pulled out her one skirt for today. It was still too hot, but today wasn't a day she wanted her legs or her tail on display. She had debated wearing a hat but ultimately decided against it. She was also wearing her lab jacket and a turtleneck sweater, even though it was hot outside.
By the time she reached her office, she was on the verge of another anxiety attack, her heart beating like a snare drum. The first thing she did was sit at her desk, leaning on it for support as she tried to control her breathing and shut the sound around her out, all the sound. So she sat, trying to reassert control.
Something touched her arm, and she jumped out of her seat.
"Whoah!" Adam said as she sprung to her feet. "It's okay. I thought you'd have heard me coming up to you. You didn't respond when I knocked, and you didn't respond when I came in and tried talking to you. What's going on?"
She took a few more deep breaths and sat down. "Sorry, I was blocking all sound out and heard nothing. My nerves are on edge today."
"I see that. You looked like you were in distress when I saw you walk in. That's why I came to check on you," he said, taking a seat across from her. "So what's going on that has you all worked up? Trouble with the dean?"
She shook her head. "No, I'm just in my own headspace and driving my own anxiety."
"Well, do you want to talk about it? Getting it out in the open can feel liberating. I know we haven't known each other long, but I've always admired your work, and it upsets me to see you in this state. I've seen you twice, and both times, it has been with you at the mercy of anxiety. I know you told me sound overwhelms you, but you said things the other day that make me think it's not just sound bothering you."
She considered. Adam was not part of her usual circle of friends and family. She barely knew him. Letting him in was a risk of getting hurt, but she would be a hypocrite if she didn't. She couldn't tell Mark to make friends and how important friends were and then turn around and refuse offers of friendship herself. Robby was right, Mark would see her actions, and those actions spoke louder than words.
"I have always seen myself as human after my humanization process as a kid," she began. "I know I'm a partial, but I don't see myself that way. When people look at me, I imagine all the things they must be thinking. I know they aren't all prejudiced against partials, but there are enough who are that I am paranoid about it. It gets…it gets bad."
"And it's always been this way?" Adam asked.
She shook her head. "It's gotten worse lately. Today, I think I'm suffering a bit of a carryover from yesterday. My older brother was a ward of Phobia Remedy for years, and he inherited some of her views on things. Primarily, he believes that people should face their fears. So, after I had a disagreement with my dad yesterday, Robby decided the easiest way to show my dad was right was to force me to face my fears. He made me take a walk out in the park with him and my nerves got the better of me. Since then, I have been thinking more about it and instead of it helping me, it is making it worse. I'm paying more attention to it, and that's making it stronger."
Adam leaned back in his chair. "I'm not an expert in this, but I think part of your problem is you worry too much about what others think."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "No, duh. I think anybody could realize that."
"Sorry, I deserved to be mocked for saying that," Adam said. "But what if you took control of the narrative they see when they see you?"
Her ear flicked. "What do you mean?"
He leaned forward, elbows on the desk, and cupped his hands together. "You need to make random people see Doctor Jessica Middleton when they see you, and only use the term partial as a secondary term down the list when trying to describe you. Don't hide away, make them see you, make them know who you are, and make it clear you are proud of who you are. Your name should be what people think of synonymously with the term scientist, up there with Newton, Einstein, and Hawking. Every young person who aspires to be a scientist should dream to be you."
She rubbed her arms. "My dad was critical letting the fact I'm a genius and how I imagine people see me be the only things that define me. I'm not sure I should be leaning into my achievements more."
He shook his head. "I'm not saying lean into it so it becomes the only thing that defines you. I'm saying lean into so it defines how strangers see you. You want them to see the good things, and if you aren't so worried about them seeing you negatively, then maybe you can have breathing room to find more out about yourself. Or maybe you can lean into both. Yes, they see the partial lady, but you can define what the context of that is. You can make it a good thing."
A big floating white blob appeared. "I think that's a great idea!"
Both Jessica and Adam jumped, but it was Jessica who recovered first.
"Marshmallow! Will you stop spying on me!" she shouted. Adam just stared.
The blob swirled and made a happy emoji face. "I'm just concerned about my good pal, Jess! I think whatshisname here has a great idea. Own your differences! Be proud!"
"Um, my name is Adam," Adam said. "Do you show up like this often?"
The Marshmallow looked at him. "Depends on how you define the word often. By the way, Yinyu is really roo-"
"Mute!" Jessica cut in, cutting off all sound from the floating blob.
The Marshmallow's mouth worked a little before it realized it couldn't be heard. It then turned pink, then red, then white again. It then changed forms to a written word.
RUDE!
"Can you go away!" Jessica said, fanning her hands as if she could blow the Marshmallow away.
The Marshmallow vanished.
"Hey, just letting you know. I told my hubby and bodyguard I was taking a trip to a far off galaxy over this coming weekend. I said it in the flesh, so it doesn't have to be the truth. I was too busy thinking about my epic song and dance to remember I'm kinda depending on you to get those coordinates. If you make me a liar to them, I'm going to be upset," a voice whispered in her ear.
She paled. An upset Dreamwarden was never a good thing. Rebecca was normally very cheerful, outgoing, and nice, but every Dreamwarden had a dark side.
"What will you do?" Jessica asked nervously.
"What?" Adam asked in confusion.
"Not you!" Jessica said quickly.
Rebecca's voice got more sinister. "I'll come to your apartment, sometime while you are asleep. I'll have Blanche break me in if I have to. You won't realize that I'm in there till it's too late, and theeeeennnnn-"
Jessica held her breath.
"-I'll cry and keep crying until you bake me an I'm sorry cake."
Jessica's ears flattened in annoyance.
"Make it chocolate with vanilla frosting–no!–make it banana frosting, with fresh strawberries, seedless ones. Have it say, I'm sorry, best Dreamwarden. Use comic sans font with the icing. Comic sans doesn't get enough love. Oh! And it needs to be big. Big enough to normally serve a full house full of kids, but it will be just for me."
Jessica rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Adam, never get involved with Dreamwardens if you value your sanity. Marshmallow, go away and stop whispering in my ear. I'll get your damn coordinates."
"Thanks! You're the best!" the Marshmallow said. This time, it was loud enough to be heard by Adam. Jessica was going to assume Rebecca had left for real this time around after getting what she was after.
Adam stared at her. "So…it didn't really answer. Does that happen often?"
"More often than I like," she grumbled. "Hopefully it comes to an end this week. I'm going to calculate their damn coordinates, take a little weekend trip, and be done with doing work for the Dreamwardens forever."
"Coordinates to what? Or can you not tell me?" Adam asked.
She lowered her hand and was about to answer when her phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her purse and looked at the caller ID.
"There's NASA again," she muttered, and put her phone on silent. "The Dreamwardens want the exact current coordinates for what I directed NASA to find, NASA did find, and now NASA is blowing up my phone demanding to know what they are looking at. It's in another galaxy, and the Dreamwardens want the information by the end of the week."
Adam gave her a confused look. "If NASA found it, whatever it is, can't they ask NASA for those coordinates?"
She shook her head. "That's where it was six billion years ago or so. The Dreamwardens want to know where it is now. NASA can figure that out too, but not on the deadline the Dreamwardens want." She looked at him. "Want to collaborate? I could use some help getting this done by Friday. I'm probably going to try to draft some of my students into helping."
"My name gets attached to the paper as well?" he asked.
"I'm not sure there's even going to be a paper, to tell you the truth. How about I promise to bring you photos back from my trip there." she offered.
He looked more confused than ever. "Trip there? You just said that it had been six billion light years away. It is further away now."
She shrugged. "The Dreamwardens apparently have a spacecraft that can do it over the weekend that they've been hiding from everyone. It's going to be powered by Princess Luna, who I assume is going with us. So me, the Marshmallow, Luna, and I don't know who else are going out to whatever this is for a sightseeing tour. Why they want to is a mystery to me, but they've had me searching for this place most of my life."
He stared dumbly at her.
She sighed. "I'm not joking or pulling your leg about this. This is happening. I'll tell the Dreamwardens you helped so next time they start planning an extragalactic trip, they think of you."
"Didn't you say don't get involved with them if I value my sanity?"
"Well, maybe you don't," Jessica replied. She then looked at the stacks of tests she had printed off last week but ultimately hadn't given. "Do you know where I can find a cart? I promised my students a test."
Adam looked at the tests and smiled. "I'll help you carry the tests, in exchange, we have coffee this afternoon, where we discuss further what exactly you need me to do to help you with this project of yours. Say, meet in your office at two, right after my class finishes, and then head to the faculty bar?"
She blinked. "There's a faculty bar?"
He nodded. "Yes, it's one of our perks. I'm surprised you don't know about it. It's something they use as a selling point for why people should teach here. Don't worry, they serve coffee too; along with sandwiches, chips, wings, and salads. They overcharge, but not excessively."
She shook her head. "No, I heard nothing about it."
"It's a private bar open to just the faculty, board members, and certain guests of the university–you know, donors and potential donors," Adam explained. "They don't ID beyond confirming you are one of those, so you're free to drink there if you want. They get a steady flow of business because it is convenient, and the premier place to visit on campus if you want to make a stalled grant happen, hear gossip, make friends, or just not have to worry about running into students."
A place to get away from students might be nice, but she was wary of going into any area with alcohol flowing. People acted on impulse more when drunk, and she didn't trust most peoples' impulses.
"Is it busy?" she asked.
"At two, no," Adam said, shaking his head "It's usually fairly quiet in the early afternoons, aside from a few stray professors reading papers while getting a drink and a light lunch, and it doesn't get busy until early evening."
She could deal with a few stray faculty members as long as it wasn't crowded. It sounded like they would only be there this time of day because they wanted to grade papers without being bothered. That meant they'd be unlikely to bother her. She did need to make more friends on campus, and being seen there could make people think she wasn't the university's stuck-up golden girl who was too good to be around anyone. She also did need Adam's help.
She gave him a small smile. "Okay then. Coffee it is, at two."