Ravela dreamed of an assembly hall filled with people. Beside walked her sister. Both of them were young women about to undergo their rite of passage. They were granted the right to lay their hands upon the Ever Shard. She had no idea what that was but could feel the excitement and equal fear in her young self.

As they walked through the vast hall, the crowd began to stomp their feet rhythmically.

*Knock*

*KNOCK-KNOCK*

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Ravela fell. Her eyes looked at a room with green-striped walls. Confusion and disorientation struggled for supremacy in her mind.

“Wha-”

*Knock Knock Knock*

“Ramiel for the last time are you in there?” A man on the other side of the door called out for her.

Ravela struggled to her feet. “Yes, I am here. Who is it?”

Ravela grabbed her training clothes from her closet. Putting them on quickly she opened the door. After cracking the door open, she sharply inhaled and looked panicked at her left hand. Relieved that she wore Ramiel’s ring she fully opened the door and found Sheriff Thorn looking concerned.

The sheriff opened with a question instead of a greeting. “Are you feeling alright?”

Ravela furrowed her brows. “Not really,” She glanced at the clock and realized that she had slept till three in the afternoon.

Sheriff Thorn cleared his throat in his very own way before he spoke again. “There is still the matter of your witness statement and it has been two days.”

Ravela was dumbstruck. She was still looking at the clock. “Um, y-yes. M-my witness statement. What do you need?”

“Why don’t we take this outside for a bit, Ramiel?” The sheriff offered.

Nodding, Ravela affirmed, “Yes, let's do that. I-I will be down in ten minutes if that is alright with you, sheriff.”

After sheriff Thorn nodded affirming his agreement, Ravela closed the door. She stiffly walked into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and washed the dried blood from her skin.

She took off Ramiel’s ring for a moment. Her eyes no longer glowed amber. They were now just as black as they were when she first looked at her reflection. It might be just Ravela’s imagination, but she felt even paler than usual.

After putting the ring back on, she got dressed properly. Sheriff Thorn was waiting in the dining room that was overrun with teenagers and parents. “Oh good, there you are. Let’s go this house is way too busy for me.”

Ravela glanced over the group nodding at them before following the sheriff outside.

Sheriff Thorn walked straight toward the waterfront. “So, I talked to Deputy Briar. He told me what you did when his partner and he arrived on the field. That was some fine on-your-heels thinking blocking the hammer of the revolver. Saved my man as I understood it, and for that, I thank you, Ramiel. You got the thanks of every other deputy under me as well.”

Ravela squirmed inwardly feeling that praise was undeserved. She was tempted to ask the other question that was on her mind but restrained herself. “Well, tell deputy Briar that we’re even. After all, he shot that psycho after he knocked me on my ass.”

Sheriff Thorn furrowed his brows. “Well, I would say one enabled the other. But you’re a good man for not lording that over my deputy. So, I take it everything is as my deputy described it, but what about the explosion? Tell me what happened. The crater that it wrought seems ridiculous that it is so little…ehm…damage. At least the culprit is dead already. It made releasing the dead to their families much easier.”

Ravela flinched at the memory. “This man-”

“Akai Kordo,” Sheriff Thorn supplied the name.

“Yes, he let a truck roll onto the field in the third quarter. I was just returning from the bathr-. Wait, isn’t that one of the guys who got arrested for that bus crash? How was he out of jail?” Ravela stumbled mid-sentence.

‘Wrong question.’ Ravela realized as sheriff Thorn made a face like someone had fed him a lemon through closed teeth.

“Yes, one and the same. He and his brother were among the escapees. Still looking for his brother. Are you sure you didn't see his brother there?” Sheriff Thorn asked visibly grated. “Argh, forget it he wouldn't have left there without his brother. If he wasn’t with him he probably is dead somewhere.”

Ravela had made the sheriff’s day a whole lot worse by reminding him of his failure to catch them before they did something horrible.

The man sat down on a tree trunk balling his fists in impotent anger. “If I had not missed those two shots the other day I could have prevented this tragedy. I blame myself Ramiel, I really do.”

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Ravela felt a bitter taste on her tongue. Failure was something she had to face as well. She put her hand on his shoulder. “You couldn't have known. You were helping a friend and still came running when you heard the commotion. If I had taken more interest in the culprits I might have recognized that prick when leaving for the bathroom. You can’t let these imperfections haunt you. It wasn’t your fault. Y-you did your best, as did we all.” Ravela said those words as much to herself as she said them to the sheriff.

Neither of them truly let themselves off the hook though. She felt it in her own heart as much as she saw it in the self-loathing glimmer in the sheriff’s eyes.

“Seven people died there, Ramiel. Most of them were no older than my son. Some were just children. I should feel horrible. I should feel sick. But what kind of man feels relief when seven people died? Why am I glad it was just seven? I feel disgust for myself, son. How can I look at the parents or children of those victims and in my heart of hearts, I feel relief.”

Ravela hadn’t expected to be hit with the tally of her inadequacy without asking and she hadn’t been prepared for an analysis of her thoughts by someone else. A lump formed in her throat.

“I saw the explosion. The fact that there were only seven deaths is- it was a miracle, sheriff. Just not enough to save everyone.”

“A miracle?” The old man sounded angry. “What kind of miracle leaves this behind?” He pulled out photographs and Ravela couldn’t look away.

The two teenagers lying in the flower bed. A shriveled husk of a player without any visible burn marks. His Raven’s gear was untouched by fire. She saw a small earring and didn’t quite understand what had killed him. The following picture showed a woman and a man, their flesh more gel than anything. The skeletal fingers were still adorned with two matching rings. The bizarre corpses were a common sight in all but the flower bed picture.

“The worst part is these people survived the initial explosion. I have no clue what happened.” The sheriff said. “I just hope the families can find peace after I declared this an open and shut case seeing as the culprit being dead and all.

Ravela realized in horror what had happened. She flicked back through the photos and there she spotted them, small amber gems on necklaces, hairpins, rings, and even on the earring of that one player.

She gave back the photographs feeling enraptured. ‘Not the explosion had killed most of these people. I did!‘ Ravela felt like she needed a bath. She was on autopilot for the rest of the conversation.

This planet used the crystal as a gem in common jewelry. Ravela for the first time connected the dots and understood the full ramifications of using her telekinesis.

A crowd of roughly 600 people. How many wore crystals on their jewelry? How many had she touched with her power? At least seven had not survived Ravela’s attempt at helping them.

Ravela’s throat felt dry and had she felt not jubilant before now she felt downright guilty. The thought that those seven may have still died without her intervention didn’t lessen the shame she felt.

She gave the photo back to the sheriff. “Do you think I have what it takes to become a police officer?”

The change of topic startled sheriff Thorn out of his grim thoughts. He looked at Ravela with his eyebrows raised. “Hm, I don’t think you would be wrong for the job. Your actions when lives are at stake certainly speak for you. I wouldn’t mind having you as a deputy of mine. You are almost certain to be welcomed by all the other deputies too. Once you get recertified I’d be willing to deputize you. Get you sponsored for the police academy. I don’t mind what you do once you are done with the academy, but I would be glad to keep you on the job.”

The sheriff got up a bit flustered. “Anyways, you were just talking about the explosion. What happened right before that?”

“Hm, Akai Kordo is fleeing the parking lot in a hurry. The explosion spreads like a flame wall. Then deputy Briar came to my side asking what happened. From there, everything happened pretty much as the deputy said it went down, I would imagine.” Ravela made the recounting short and painless.

Scribbling some more notes into his notebook, sheriff Thorn slowly walked back to the path near the lake.

“I have other witnesses to question. But I will try to get the courthouse to expedite your procedure. I feel the judge will see things our way now.”

Ravela wasn’t sure what the sheriff meant by that but that would be one less worry to plague her. “That would be great.”

Ravela returned to Ma Stone's house with many thoughts on her mind.

She was about to return upstairs when Laena waited for her in front of her room. The black clothes looked quite somber. “Laena,” She greeted the teenager without much enthusiasm.

“Ramiel, Ma told me to ask if you wanted to come to the burial service today.” The teenager inquire.

Ravela made a sour face and notice Laena flinching at the grimace. “And that, girl, is what failure looks like.” She grabbed the handle of her door and added with a somewhat soft tone, “Tell her, I will be coming. When do you go there?”

Laena responded by simply saying, “We leave in an hour. The appropriate attire should be black, or else people might take offense.” She turned to walk away. “Don’t blame yourself for what happened. It wasn’t your fault.”

Ravela entered her room and before closing the door said this time with bitter conviction, “Don’t be so sure about that.”

Ravela got into the bathtub and cleaned herself properly. The rest of the hour, she made sure that her clothes were appropriate for the occasion. After realizing that she had no black buttoned shirt to go with her suit she finally settled on one of her black running shirts.

To her surprise, the out-of-town guests had stayed behind and most of them had appropriate clothing too. Ma Stone noticed Ravela’s confusion and with a glance realized its source.

“Mr. Roice, I see that you chose to join us today.” She linked her arm under his and led him a bit down the hall. “The local tailor was so good to lend the people from out of town, who wished to join, some appropriate clothing. Don’t mention it.”

Ravela noticed, not for the first time, the kind and considerate nature of Ma Stone. She forced a smile on her face and said. “I see, thank you for warning me. I almost asked an awkward question.”

After waiting with the other adults for some time the teenagers eventually trickled in. Some looked very distraught others a bit annoyed, be it the clothing they had to lend or the fact that they had to take part in something that reminded them of their mortality. They all had a very tired look in common, however. Ravela sympathized with that feeling of exhaustion even though she had slept the longest out of all the people in the house. Had sheriff Thorn not knocked on her door she doubted she would have even woken up today.

Once all guests of the house had gathered the group went as one to their destination. Ravela saw Laena glancing over at her. It was quite obvious that the teenager wished to talk to her, but Ma Stone had elected to guide her through this ritual that Ravela never experienced before.

The group reached the cemetery after a walk through the streets which saw many people walking in the same direction.

The walled-off field was full of tombstones. They had to walk for a while before reaching the freshly made spots. The four graves with headstones that look like they were engraved in a hurry and sat pretty central in the graveyard.

Ravela split from the group with apologies. Retreating to the sidelines seemed like a good idea. She found herself near an old knotty weeping willow beside a small pond. Overlooking the cemetery from that hillside the cold air of the day felt just a touch damper beneath the leafless curtains of the willow.

It wasn’t long before the hearses arrived. Ravela observed from afar the depressing scene. Four people died only because of the gems on their jewelry, and because they had the misfortune of Ravela being the one trying to save them.

Step approached behind her. The person who joined him in her distant spectator role stood silently with her. Ravela didn’t turn around she was too busy committing this scene to her memory.

Relatives and friends cried as the coffins were lowered into the ground. The rustling from the wind in the willow’s empty branches softly overshadowed the grieving people’s sorrow at the foot of the hill.

The person beside her smelled of light perfume. She could smell the scent of green apples from them and just the faintest hint of tobacco. They stood there for a long while just watching as the crowd slowly dispersed, but eventually, a voice broke the silence.

“Such a tragic affair. Honestly, so much death on all sides. What even was the point?”

“Has madness ever rhyme or reason?” Ravela asked without turning around. “They buried their friends, partners, and siblings today. It feels cynical to say all in all they were lucky.” Ravela paused realizing that in her moping she had been a total klutz. “For whom did you come here today?”

“I stand in for a grieving father today, though just as a witness.” The man sounded somber, but Ravela could detect the faux grief. Her brows furrowed.

“And what relates you to the father?” Now distracted from the crowd below. Her shoulder stiffened and she stood now a bit straighter.

“We were long-term business partners. I raised his boys just as much as he did,” The man said, his voice now a rolling rumble, low and intense.

She turned around and found herself face to face with a man with yellow tattoos.