Amanda was crying, making a pitiful face. Robert almost approached to comfort her. Almost. He mistook some things in these days. His job was not to keep her happy. His job was to keep her safe from external harm. This mess was his fault as much as it was hers.

He did what every bodyguard should.

*

*

Amanda startled and spun around when she heard the tram screeching and stopping. The carriage swung on its cables; a door opened. She stared at it, fully expecting a disaster to happen. She drew a big gulp of air and screamed. Her body froze and guilt washed over her mind like someone had poured a bucket of ice on her brain.

The people in the tram shouted and screamed. All she could think was that it was all her fault. Robert had stopped the tram to catch up with her, to stop her from throwing a tantrum.

She was well aware of her behavior but she couldn't help it. The way he treated her, it was so cold. Her rational mind closed up shop and dove into a passage inbound for another realm, leaving her with only her insecurities and worries.

Stupid.

She was supposed to lead this corporation in the future. Was this the example she wanted people to follow? What would their enemies do if she showed this much weakness in front of them?

Stabilization runes kicked in and the tram stopped swinging. The doors closed and it accelerated away at a snail's pace. Not those snails from the Mollusk Realm but the dumb Earth animals. And with it, Robert. She clenched her jaw. He was supposed to be right next to her! It was his job! But she left him. What would he do? What did he do? Why did the tram stop and opened its door like that? She didn't see anyone come out.

She also didn't see anyone fall down. That was as good of a silver lining as she hoped to get.

Fuck.

How could she fix this mess? Where was Robert. The tram disappeared behind one of the tall support towers. Would she even see him again? Was this the end? Robert was impossible to pin down. With how much time he had in that void of his, he could just walk away and reappear miles away.

She failed as a leader, she let her immature infatuation get the best of her. Robert wasn't even that handsome but his crude mannerisms and earnest take on life were kind of cute. The humbleness when he received praise from all the delvers at the passage facility, the embarrassment as they went shopping, the way he acted during the passage incident...

Then her granny went and fucked it all. Yes, it wasn't Amanda's fault. Titania pushed Robert too far. And... what did she ask about him masturbating to her? Of all the questions she asked, that was the one that enraged him the most.

She failed as a woman. Was she lacking in charm so much that a man found the mere idea of fantasizing about her abhorrent?

Damn.

She wished she had the power to just walk into another dimension, chill for two days, and then come back with a clear head. Who was she kidding, though? She would go crazy if she had to spend days, weeks, or months in absolute solitude. No wonder Robert wanted to devour the whole library. He needed ways to pass the time.

Amanda felt like an idiot, staring at the vacant tram cables. Robert was gone. Possibly forever. And maybe it was for the best. He didn't want this job but the offer was too good. Her father tricked him into signing the contract. She placed them both in danger with that cursed book. People died because of the passage opening, not to mention the massive damage to the city. If they were in a more populated area... she shuddered at the thought.

She wanted to cry but the tears didn't come.

No. Crying was what children did. She needed to do better than that. After what her granny did to him, Robert had the right to be mad at her. He even attempted to resign, didn't him? And as usual, her family threw money at the problem to make it go away. But only because they couldn't throw a killer after the problem to make it go away.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Apologies accepted," Robert said from behind her.

Amanda screeched and jumped away from the voice.

*

*

Robert almost had to use his talent to keep himself from laughing. Amanda's reaction was just too funny. She spun around and almost lost her balance. Amanda stared at him in the way she'd look at a ghost. Her breath caught mid-inhale and turned into a crackling groan. She clamped her mouth shut and glared.

"Robert?"

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"Yes, Amanda?"

His reply irritated her. "It's Amanda again now?"

He sighed. "The carriage had other employees. We were already drawing too much attention. I decided to use formal language to stop them from getting the wrong idea."

She closed her eyes and chewed on her lips. Robert heard faint babbling coming from her. Amanda sat on a nearby bench. Robert followed her took a seat with some distance between them.

"I'm sorr—"

"You already said that. I accepted your apology. I will not blame you for your family's actions. Unless you plotted to manipulate and murder me with them. Did you?"

"Heck, no!" She protested.

"Then it is settled."

It wasn't the outcome he wanted, nor the one he hoped for. He wanted his freedom back but he doubted the Samson would keep giving him stuff, much less let him go. He hoped they treated him like people but that was not how the world worked. He wasn't sure if the world ever worked like that before the rifts. The history books were faulty and often contradictory on the way the world before the rifts and passages worked.

But today's world was one ruled by power. Might validated actions. He could go to a hundred people telling them how Titania Samson wronged him, and a hundred people would run away, not willing to get tangled up with the mess. When he thought about the things that happened under that light, it wasn't so bad. He still thought it was awful but it could be worse. Way, way worse. Or he was making up excuses.

"Were you really going to resign?"

"Yes."

"Changed your mind?"

"Yes."

"You can't do that again."

"Why not?"

"It strains the relationship between the company and you."

"And what about the tricks and the murder attempts?" He asked. Bitterness seeped into his voice."

"I won't let it happen again. You have my word."

Robert wasn't in the mood to believe that but what other choices he had?

"Why did everyone remained silent when we went to visit Mrs. Samson?"

"Can't tell." She replied. "It's classified."

"Very well."

Robert had a guess. It must have something to do with Titania's abilities. She needed the target to talk to her or it didn’t work if several people were talking recently. Powers came in all sorts of quirky ways.

The next tram arrived. They boarded it and went up, and up.

*

*

The Samson corporation saved most of the space expansion they could afford to the top floors. Though the arcology was pyramidal in shape from the outside, it was larger at the top than the bottom from the inside. The floor they arrived in had at least sixty feet of clearance; A light blue ceiling covered the entire area, white panels and diffuse lighting made it seem they were outside on a lightly cloudy day. A soft breeze carried fresh air and the scents of nature.

The tram station opened to a large circular square. Children squealed and giggled in a playground, while the adults watched and talked in nearby benches. Trees and well-manicured bushes framed the postcard playground and shielded the children from the artificial light above them. Quite ironic. A streetcar moved leisurely along rails, going around the square. It moved slow enough that it didn't need to stop for people to get on or off of it. On the far side of the square, Robert saw a park behind a wrought iron fence, as big as the one back on district twenty-three. People moved to and fro in a leisure pace, giving him the impression, this wasn't some heartless corporation's territory. Mansions and three-stories apartment buildings surrounded the square.

"Follow me," Amanda said as she headed straight for one of these mansions.

Her mood was back to normal. That or she was exceptionally good at hiding her emotions if she wanted. In any case, Robert's job was to keep her safe, not happy. It might sound callous but he attributed their recent... misunderstanding to a lack of well-defined boundaries.

They stopped at the mansion gates. It had no guards or a fancy lineup of servants. Actually, it was empty. If not for the lack of rust, decay, dust, or debris, he'd say the mansion was abandoned.

"This is my official home," Amanda said. "It's quite big for a single girl my age, isn't it?"

She was fishing for a reaction. Robert shook his head, "I think it is more a statement of your status. To tell everyone who walks past these gates that you are, in no shape or way, inferior to the people living in the other mansions. Home is a place we make out of the place we inhabit."

Amanda smiled. "I wonder then, is this my home?"

"That's a question only you can answer."

"I guess it is, then. Dad won't let you live here with me, though."

"I believe that's for the best."

"But you can stay next door. I have an apartment ready for you. Let's go see it. You can drop your luggage there."

The apartment building next door was quite cozy. it was long with the apartments opening to a walkway. Stairs on the outside granted access to the second and third floors. It had no elevators or ramps because here in corporate utopia, nobody was physically disabled. Robert noticed that the mansion wall on this side was tall enough to hide the lawn from the apartment windows. Vined covered most of it, sparing the apartment residents from the eyesore of a brutalist barrier.

They climbed to the third floor. Robert's apartment was the one closest to the mansion wall. He expected better furnishing and wasn't disappointed. The apartment was fully furnished with the best runic appliances. What the rift cataclysm two hundred years ago took, humanity struggled to reinvent. Instead of electricity, ether. Instead of circuits, runes.

She guided him through the apartment like a tourist attraction. Amanda knew the place so well Robert could reach only one conclusion. She decorated this apartment for him.

"Though we have three bedrooms, this is a bachelor's apartment. The first one is a library office combo," she opened the door to show it. The office resembles the illusion they saw in Titania's office too much. The room even had a faint smell of sawdust.

"Did you decorate this today?" He asked.

"Of course not!" She replied with mischief in her voice. "I ordered it decorated today. I don't know if you already read these books, but--"

"Don't worry. I read most books two or three times. I have a lot of free time in the liminal void."

"Then you will love the next room."

It was a music studio with a plethora of musical instruments on display along the walls. It had a shelf full of music books and guides on how to play each of the instruments.

"I know nothing about music," Robert confessed.

"I guessed it," she said with a huge grin. But weren't you the one complaining about having too much free time? Do you want to pick a new hobby? Music, maybe?"

Robert was dumbfounded. Did she prepare all this for him? It was too much but he tried to not let it show. Who knew what disaster would happen if she ran away again.

"I don't see the harm in trying," he replied.

"Did you like it?" Amanda used puppy eyes.

"Yes, I liked it. It was a little too much but thanks. I can tell you put a lot of thought in here."

Not to mention money. These instruments didn't look cheap. She must've ordered them before the vacuum passage sucked them.

"It's all yours," she declared with an innocent gleam in her eyes.

This was the reason she was so upset during the tram ride.

"On one condition."

"Yes?"

"No more surprise gifts. People will think the wrong thing if they know you are giving me things all the time."

"I'm not!" She protested.

"Amanda. I said no more surprises. Its fine if you ask me first. But don't get upset if I decline it if you don't."

"Okay. Hey, do you want a--"

"No."

"--dog?"

"Woof!" A bark came from the master bedroom.