What if finding each other again isn't enough to erase what separates us?
Soren caught up with the Deer-Man, who was leading the way, and inclined her head slightly.
"Thank you for finding them and protecting them."
He gently shook his head.
"More than anything, they've learned to look out for one another."
Soren looked at Sophie, then Aria, then Neris. She didn't yet know what they had been through together, but something about the way they moved forward suggested that the past few hours had already forged bonds between them.
A cheerful little beep caught her attention. Jazz had come up beside her leg.
Soren crouched down and gently placed a hand on his metallic head.
"You did a good job too."
The robot responded with a series of satisfied beeps.
Aria burst out laughing.
"Great… Even the robot gets compliments."
Soren looked up at her. An amused smile appeared on her face.
"You too."
Aria frowned.
"Excuse me?"
"You managed to stay alive. For you, too… that's quite an improvement."
A moment of silence passed, then Aria burst out laughing.
"Actually… I think I like you."
The group continued walking. Despite the joy of their reunion, no one had forgotten that the Watchers could still find them.
The sun had already risen above the treetops when they reached a stream. Water flowed between the stones in a continuous murmur.
The Deer-Man stopped and surveyed their surroundings. He scanned the trees, then the higher ground, before turning to the others.
"We'll take a short break. Use the time to drink and regain your strength."
Aria dropped her bag at the foot of a tree.
"Finally, some good news."
"Not for too long," the Deer-Man clarified. "We need to keep moving."
Jazz let out an approving beep, then positioned himself near the path, his sensors directed toward the woods.
Neris, meanwhile, had barely taken her eyes off Soren since their reunion. The fear of never seeing her again had faded, but the questions she carried inside her were still there.
Soren approached the stream and knelt to fill a water bottle.
Neris hesitated for a moment, then joined her.
"Did you run into the Watchers?" she asked softly.
Soren continued filling her bottle.
"I spotted them. From far enough away to escape."
"Did they see you?"
"I don't think so. But I didn't stick around to find out."
Neris watched the water flowing between the stones. For several seconds, she searched for the right words. She had imagined their reunion so many times. In some versions, she shouted her anger at Soren. In others, she simply held her in her arms.
But now that Soren was here, none of those imaginary conversations felt right.
"I've thought a lot about our last night at Pulse-9."
Soren slowly set her water bottle on a stone.
"So have I."
Neris looked up at her.
"I was angry with you, you know."
"I know."
"No, I don't think you do."
Soren didn't answer.
"It wasn't just because you pushed me away. You had your reasons. I understood them, at least partly. But you never asked me what I wanted."
She took a deep breath.
"You told me I was Kaïssa's daughter, as if that alone was enough to decide what I could or couldn't experience. And then you started disappearing from my life."
Soren lowered her eyes.
"I thought it was the best thing to do."
"For whom?"
The question hung between them.
"For you," Soren finally answered.
Neris let out a small, humorless laugh.
"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about."
Soren turned toward her.
"Neris…"
"Let me finish, please."
Soren fell silent.
"Maybe I would have been afraid. Maybe I would have refused to follow you. I don't know. But you didn't even give me the chance to choose."
She gestured toward the forest surrounding them.
"And look where we are today. I'm here, being hunted by the Watchers, caught up in something I still barely understand. Everything you wanted to spare me happened anyway."
Soren followed her gaze toward the trees.
"I couldn't have predicted all this."
"I know. But you can't predict everything, Soren. And you can't protect people by always making their decisions for them."
This time, Soren remained silent for a long while.
"You're right," she finally admitted.
Neris looked at her in surprise. She had prepared herself to argue further.
"Do you really mean that?"
"Yes."
Soren ran a hand over her face.
"I've gotten used to keeping things to myself. Weighing what I can say, deciding who I can trust. After a while, you start believing that silence protects everyone."
"But it can hurt people, too."
"I'm beginning to understand that."
Neris felt her anger ease slightly. Not disappear, but simply lose some of its strength.
"Then why do I still feel like there's a wall between us?"
Soren gave her a sad smile.
"Because there are things I still can't tell you."
"Because of the Alliance?"
"Among other things."
"Don't you trust me?"
Soren turned fully toward her.
"It's not about trust. Some people's lives depend on my silence. I can't risk exposing them, not even for you."
Neris lowered her eyes. She wanted to protest, but something in Soren's voice stopped her.
"Have you already lost someone because of all this?"
Soren remained motionless.
"More than anything, I've learned that some promises can come at a very high price."
Her voice had wavered slightly.
Neris then discovered a pain behind her confidence, something she had never managed to sense at Pulse-9.
"You're hurting too…" she whispered.
Soren looked away toward the water.
"Much more than you can imagine."
Silence returned. Neris studied her profile, then decided to ask the question that had been haunting her since their last conversation.
"And that person who's waiting for you?"
Soren briefly closed her eyes.
"What do you want to know?"
"Whether you love them."
The question seemed to catch her off guard.
"Someone I gave my word to."
"You've already told me that."
"I know."
"But you've never told me what that person means to you."
Soren tightened her fingers slightly around her water bottle.
"I can't give you the answer you want."
Neris felt her heart tighten.
"Then at least tell me one thing. Why did you get close to me earlier, only to pull away right afterward?"
Soren slowly raised her eyes.
"Because I wanted to."
The simplicity of her answer caught Neris off guard.
"And now?"
"I still do."
For a second, Neris thought she was going to move closer.
But Soren remained motionless.
"Then what's stopping you?"
"Everything I still can't explain to you."
Neris looked away. She had waited so long for an honest answer. And now that she was getting one, she didn't know whether to be happy about it or hurt even more.
"Do you realize what you're asking of me?" she whispered.
"I'm not asking you for anything, Neris."
"Exactly. You never ask me for anything. You decide to pull away, you decide to come back, you kiss me… And then you leave me to figure out what I'm supposed to do with all of it."
Soren took her words without looking away.
"You're right."
"Then what do we do?"
Soren hesitated.
"I don't know."
It might have been the first time Neris had heard her admit her uncertainty so simply.
"I don't want you to put your life on hold for me," Soren continued. "I don't know when I'll be able to tell you the whole truth. Or even if I'll ever be able to."
Neris felt another pang of sadness.
"And I don't know if I can keep waiting without understanding."
Soren slowly nodded.
"I won't ask you to."
They remained silent for a moment.
Then Neris spoke again.
"I can't promise I'll understand all your decisions. But I at least want to be able to make my own."
"That's fair."
"Then promise me one thing."
"What?"
"Next time you're afraid for me, talk to me before deciding to disappear."
Soren lowered her eyes.
"I'll try."
Neris wished she'd heard a firmer promise. But she knew Soren well enough to understand that those two words already represented an effort.
She gently placed her hand near Soren's, without trying to touch it.
Soren didn't move.
They remained like that for a few moments, side by side, without trying to move any closer.
The stream continued flowing between the stones, indifferent to the questions they had left unresolved.
A little farther away, Sophie spotted Neris and Soren sitting beside the stream. She couldn't make out their words, but their gestures had changed. They were no longer holding each other as they had during their reunion. Yet neither seemed to want to move away.
Sophie felt a pang of sadness without knowing which of them it belonged to. She looked away, aware that she was witnessing something intimate.
"What did you notice?"
The Deer-Man had approached her.
"I'm not really sure," she replied. "They were so happy to see each other again earlier… And now they seem sad."
"And what do you conclude from that?"
Sophie thought for a moment.
"That I don't know their story. I can't know what they're feeling just by looking at them."
The Deer-Man inclined his head slightly.
"It's important to recognize that."
Sophie smiled at him, then turned her attention back to the stream.
A few steps away, Aria had watched their exchange. Once again, the Deer-Man had approached Sophie to speak to her. She felt that little pang of irritation return, the same one she'd experienced during their walk.
She wished he would ask her questions too. Not necessarily about the forest or its mysteries. She simply wanted to know who was hiding behind that deer mask.
She approached the group and asked in a deliberately casual tone,
"Do you really live here, in this forest?"
Soren turned toward her.
"Some members of the Alliance do, yes. Others, like me, come and go between the city and the forest."
"I get the feeling you're not really going to tell me much more."
"Probably not."
Aria gave a faint smile.
"At least you're honest."
A quiet chuckle answered her. She turned her head, surprised.
It was the Deer-Man.
For a moment, he seemed less inaccessible. Behind his mask and his silences, there was a man capable of finding a simple joke amusing.
Aria caught herself smiling too. She definitely wanted to learn more about him.
Silence returned naturally. No one tried to fill it. Beside the stream, everyone enjoyed these few moments of respite.
Sophie let her fingers trail through the water. She thought back to the city, the drones, the screens, and the fear that never left the streets of Biel.
Here, she had almost managed to forget it.
She looked at the others: Aria, Neris, Soren, Jazz, and the Deer-Man. For the first time since their escape, she no longer felt as though she was heading into the unknown alone.
Then she noticed Soren.
Unlike the others, she hadn't relaxed. Her gaze kept returning to the trees, and her hand remained close to her weapon.
Sophie followed her gaze.
"Do you think they can find us here?"
Soren took a few seconds before answering.
"It's not a question of whether they can."
She stood up and picked up her bag.
"It's a matter of time."
The Guardian Angel: Relationships are at the heart of human existence. Through their profound influence, they shape people's lives and destinies.
But they are not limited to those closest to us. They also connect us to nature, to trees, animals, mountains, stars… and even to the invisible beings of more subtle worlds.
Learning to cultivate these connections with awareness is a true art.