Dropping my backpack off in my room didn't take me long. It was a simple matter of unlocking the door, locating the bed, throwing my backpack onto it, and then locking it back up again. I then stepped back toward Eveline's door and knocked.

"It's not like you were gone long," she muttered. "Just come in already."

I sighed in resignation. This was the Eveline I had come to know well. "Just being polite," I told her as I stepped in and closed the door.

"You know me better than that," she uttered flatly, her expression wary. "So, what did the letter say?"

"Sofia's going into hiding," I began. "Gave me access to trauma healing nanocloud functions, and told me that I'll need to travel to the States to find more data at IBM Watson."

"What?" Eveline frowned. "What's an IBM Watson?"

I sighed, almost laughing at the offended tone she spoke with. "It's a building, a research facility from the old world, one that focused on computational systems. Our nanoclouds are basically a more advanced form of what we'll find there."

Eveline frowned, seemingly trying to understand what I'd told her. I couldn't blame her. I was a technical engineer, and even I had to think about the technological chain of advancement to get from the big-box silicon computing systems of the past to the invisible nanoscopic machinery coursing through everyone's bodies today. "So what will we find there?"

Now, it was my turn to frown. "We?"

"Yes," Eveline said flatly. "We. I'm going as well."

"Eveline," I began, utterly floored by this revelation. I'd thought that she was just going to be here to get me out of a sticky situation, given she only agreed to come this far with me, and now she had reached Berlin, I expected her to head back home. "This isn't what we agreed-"

"No, Rick," Eveline snapped at me, getting angry, her tail beginning to sway in agitation. "My parents both know I'm still travelling with you, and they know I intended to deal with that fucking whore after-"

"Eveline," I cut her off, waiting for her to stop.

"-everything her and that dog-faced arsehole Suzie-"

"EVELINE!" I roared. That was enough to stop her from her tirade, but her glare was murderous. I decided I'd better tell her what I had to, before this descended into another petty squabble. Neither of us needed it, and I needed to repair this fracture in our association, quickly. "If you think I don't want to have you around after you've now saved my life repeatedly, then you don't know me very well."

That surprised her, the murderous look softening slightly. She still looked like she wanted to maul me, but at least it looked like she might leave me alive at the end of it. "Then what's the problem?"

That was a fair question, I realised. "Mind if I sit down?" Eveline waved an arm toward the bed, even though she still looked mightily pissed off with me, and I took the invitation. "This entire situation is my mess to clean- No..." I put a hand up to stop her from interrupting, knowing she really wanted to protest. "Let me say this please, and then you can say anything you'd like. Please?"

If it were possible, Eveline's frown deepened. "You'll take me seriously after?"

What the fuck possessed you to think I wouldn't? I thought to myself. "I swear it... On anything you think I should. I will listen to you when I'm done and take seriously anything you need to say, after you give me a chance to speak."

The silence after my statement was uncomfortable, but eventually, she nodded. "Then I'm listening."

I took a breath to steady myself. This situation was tense, and Eveline deserved a lot more respect than I'd shown her the last time we had spoken. This was on me to put right, so I needed to choose my words carefully.

"I'm glad to see you again," I started, never taking my eyes off of hers, ignoring her agitated tail sweeps. "I mean that. You've again, saved my life, you've dealt with two people who were likely going to succeed in getting some valuable information out of me before killing me, then those I needed to visit, and you've helped me save some innocent lives who were being thrown away in some pointless power play going on west of here. Ralf was right. I owe you, but not just a chance. I owe you my life.

"The problem is, I don't know I'll ever be able to repay that debt, and I don't know if it even matters. What I have to do is dangerous, unpredictable, and is my mission alone. What I find out, whether it makes a difference in my life or the lives of anyone I know, I don't know, but it's not like I'm on some world-saving quest here. No-one who travels with me is going to benefit from what I discover, at least not that I know.

"And like I was trying to say before. I got myself into this mess by trusting the wrong people." I took a breath at that point. "I got myself into it... So now, I'm the one who needs to get myself out of it. I can't ask that you risk your life, nor remain apart from your parents, in order to help me on my quest. It's not fair either to you or to them, and I've already let your father down by casting you out before.

"You've already done what you were askd to do, Eveline. I've no right to expect anything else of you." I stopped talking at that point, but held her gaze. After a moment, she began to speak in turn.

"Right," she said briskly, then moderated her tone, frowning more deeply. "I hear what you're saying, that you're going to be facing an uncertain quest across the planet. That your mission isn't going to be of any help to me or to anyone else. I hear all of that. I also hear you when you say that you don't want to put me at risk," she paused, giving me a moment to register her understanding of those points. I wanted to protest where this was going, but I gave her my word, and I wasn't about to break it. "Truth is, I'm still fucking furious with you for how you spoke to me before, the last time we spoke to each other. You threw constant accusations at me of behaving like a... Like an aristocratic shit-stain, who scrapes people off of her shoe. You accused me repeatedly of being racist, of viewing every human being as beneath me," she took a breath, and it was clear she was working herself up, her eyes narrowing in anger while simultaneously growing wetter. "As though I would view every last human being on the planet like they needed to be killed, including the two people I love the most in the world-" her tail made another angry swipe, and she impatiently grabbed it, her tears falling down her cheeks, only to be absorbed by her orange fur. "I don't know if I can forgive you for that."

I deserved that, I realised, hanging my head in shame.

"Well?" She demanded on the tail end of a shaky inhale. All I could do was nod. "Say something, damn you!"

"What do you want me to say, Ev?" I asked dejectedly. "You're right. I said some awful things to you that I never even knew were true or not. I was defensive, and I was angry, and I lashed out at you in the worst way possible, when what we should have done was talk about what was really bothering you at the time."

The silence was deafening, and I found myself looking up, captivated by the murderous glare she gave me, her tail trying to escape her grip. "Careful what you say next."

"All I'll say is that I don't think you were really against diverting to help a town full of innocents," I said, and then I shut the fuck up and waited. She didn't need to hear talk about Lena at that moment, any more than I needed to hear how I was an idiot for trusting the murderous knife wielder.

"No," she eventually admitted. "If I wasn't already furious with you, I might have agreed with the mission." I nodded, saying nothing else. "Why did you do it?"

Why'd I do what? I thought in confusion. "They needed our help," I replied, thinking of the townspeople.

"Fuck sake, Rick," Eveline snapped at me. "That wasn't what I was talking about."

"Then what were you talking about?" I asked, my patience slipping.

"Why'd you go fuck her after our time ended?"

Shit, I cursed inwardly. Did we really need to do this now? I looked up at her. "Are you sure you wanna do this?" I asked her, giving her a chance to back out of this awkward mess now.

"Yes," she barked, never taking her eyes off of me.

"Damn it all," I muttered. "You and I," I sought a way to start this awkward conversation, found myself wandering into a fucking minefield. "We were enjoying ourselves, weren't we?" I waited, looking at Eveline, who said nothing, and gave nothing away. "I was hoping you were getting some enjoyment out of it at least," I sighed, my head hanging down, before I lifted it back up. Eveline suddenly found it difficult to look at me, and I couldn't bring myself to guess why she might have trouble all of a sudden. "Anyway... When you kicked me out of your room, I felt rejected, like-" I stopped myself. Like a piece of shit you'd scrape off of your shoe, I was about to say, but I realised in that instant, we'd already been down this conversational dead end before. "Like I didn't really... I dont know."

The silence that separated us was brief, this time. "I'm still not ready to talk about it," Eveline said quietly, taking some of the pressure off, as she finally looked at me. "But one day."

I nodded, holding her gaze for a moment, before I continued. "Anyway, I went back to my room, the only thought in my head was to get to sleep and just wake up to a new day where I'd hoped you and I could just make a fresh start." I swallowed, my throat feeling dry as I relived the moment where Lena played me like a fucking violin. "Lena took advantage, I guess."

Eveline stared at me, angered. "And you didn't want anything to do with what happened next?"

I let my head hang once again. To say I didn't want anything to happen that night would be to lie, and I wasn't about to insult Eveline like that, after what she had done for me. "I'd be lying if I tried to say that," I said after a moment. "It takes two, and I have to accept that fact. I'm responsible for letting things happen between her and I when I should have just refused," I took a breath. "It's just... Never mind."

"What?" Eveline barked, immediately.

"I don't want to make excuses, Eveline."

"Fuck that," she retorted, slicing a hand through the air in dismissal. "Tell me what you wanted to say."

"Well..." I took another breath, feeling like the biggest idiot on the fucking planet. "It's just that she made it all sound so reasonable."

"How so?" she demanded.

This post-mortem was draining. "Well, she pointed out the fact that we weren't in a relationship, we weren't promised to each other, we weren't exclusive, hadn't discussed it... And... Well, she said that with all of that in mind, having a drink with her shouldn't have been a problem."

The silence was strained, but eventually, Eveline spoke again. "Yeah, it sure sounds 'reasonable', doesn't it?" I didn't miss the bitterness in her voice. "Yet I still feel like you just discarded me-"

"No, I'm sorry, but I can't just sit here and listen to you tell me that I discarded you when you kicked me out of your room not twenty minutes before any of that happened," I protested. "I'm sorry, Eveline, I really am. I never wanted any of that to happen the way it did, and it..."

"I'm trying, Rick," Eveline told me, her voice pained. "I'm trying to accept that what happened that night with her was not your fault."

"Don't do that," I told her. "I'm not going to pretend I had no control over what happened. Whether I was right in thinking this or not, and clearly I'm wrong, seeing how you're reacting to this at the moment," I continued, risking my next words despite the hurt in Eveline's expression. "I felt at the time, that you just didn't care about me enough to want to stay with me after... What we did. My pride was wounded, and I know that's a childish reaction. Everything that happened after that is both my and Lena's fault. If I'd have put a stop to what she fucking did that night, I dare to say it, but you and I would probably be on fairly friendly terms right now."

After an even longer silence, Eveline spoke up again, her expression momentarily crumbling before she pulled herself together. "I don't know how to feel about it," she admitted. "I'm going to need to think about it for a while."

I nodded. "I'd be surprised if you didn't."

"Let's stop talking about it for now. And Rick?"

"Yeah?" I asked, my tone soft, in an attempt to show her some form of deference, or something, I didn't know.

"I'm sure I'll bring it up and throw it into an argument in the future," she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck as her eyes once again overflowed with tears. "It's childish, and I'm working on it, but I..."

"I'll try not to take it too personally if you do," I told her, appreciating the fact that she knew how childish it was to do such a thing as to throw a past event into an argument. "Seriously, I owe you. I can weather some displeasure if I can make it up to you. Just..."

"What?" She asked me after a moment.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Just please, no more silent treatment if you're pissed at me. If I've done something wrong, fucking tell me, yeah? I need to know what I've done wrong in future if I'm ever to have a chance to put it right."

Eveline let out a shaky sigh, nodding as she did. "Yeah," her reply was almost whisper-like. "Yeah, dad told me that it was both childish and a means of... Abuse."

She was beginning to lose grip on her self-control, and I felt her need to have some space around her, so I stood. "We can talk again later, if you want. I'm guessing you'd appreciate time to yourself?"

She turned away from me, struggling to breathe. Feeling like there was little else I could do, I started toward the doorway, when she called out in a tremulous tone, "Rick!"

I turned back, looking at Eveline's damp face, her expression one of determination to maintain control for a bit longer. "Yeah?" I asked in as gentle a tone as I could.

She visibly swallowed. "I'm going with you. That's not up for debate," she said, taking another breath. "And thanks... For the effort."

I nodded, stepping outside the door, closing it behind me, pausing at the threshold for a minute to collect myself. Without meaning to, I heard as Eveline's feet padded across the flooring, and the next moment the lock engaged on her door. Almost immediately, I heard a gasp, then a slight wail, as she broke down.

My heart felt like an ice pick had been stabbed through it in that moment, and I froze. It was some moments before I felt able to walk to my own room, where I too, locked myself in, walked to my bed, shoved my backpack to the floor, and then collapsed to the bed, too exhausted mentally and emotionally to contemplate anything else today.

----------------------------------------

I found myself awake early the next morning, and I wasn't entirely sure why. I listened to the noises around me, and realised that in the next room, Eveline was quickly walking from one place to another as she was apparently organising herself for whatever the day was to hold. Wishing to be helpful, I made a quick trip to her room, knocking on her door.

Quickly, she answered it, her expression unreadable, and I noticed she had traded her dark assassin wraps and coverings for her usual shorts and shirt combinaton. "Yeah?"

I decided not to make a big deal of her apparent disdain this time. "Anything you want me to do while you take off for your morning hunt?"

The question caught her off-guard, but she quickly recovered. "No," she said tersely, then moderated her tone. "Thanks."

I nodded, then thought of today's plans. "I'll wait for you to get back before making plans to leave. Any preference where?"

She thought for a moment. "There's an outdoor cafe not too far from here. The Cafe Anna Blume. Apparently it's been around for a long time, but it's a few streets away. Straight across Schönhauser Allee, then all the way along Sredzkistraße. On your right, just before the third crossroads."

I nodded. "I'll see you there," I then waited. Once she started to close the door, I knew I'd been dismissed, so I headed back to my room to pack my gear and head out.

While Eveline was off doing her usual ritual of stalking prey outside the limits of the city, I spent some time on a side project. Having spoken with Laurent a few days prior, I had an idea I wanted to pursue, but I needed more information, and I needed to discuss it with my nanocloud. I set off for the cafe Eveline told me about, and ordered a coffee and some toast. While I ate and drank, I queried my nanocloud.

What do I need to know in order to begin development of a system capable of managing synaptic pathways relating to imprint behaviours?

Nanocloud requires a synaptic map of a sample brain and an analysis of the affected memory and cognitive regions for examples of this behaviour, in order to begin the process of determining the nature of this behaviour system, before an attempt to moderate or influence this mechanism should even be attempted.

Well, that was obstacle number one, I told myself. Somehow, I needed to obtain at least one synaptic map from someone who exhibited or experienced imprinting. I suspected that the synaptic map needed would be the one of the person whose behaviour I needed to influence, or if I wanted one that worked generically, I'd need many such maps to find the common areas of the brain responsible.

Correct.

Wonderful, I said to myself. The only problem now, was how did I find examples of such behaviour in people able to communicate with me, so they could confirm or refute whatever my nanocloud had discovered?

Recommended actions:

Find one specimen able to communicate how imprinting occurs to them as an individual.

Obtain a synaptic map taken while they explain imprinting in their own words.

Find multiple specimens that are likely to exhibit imprinting in its many forms.

Obtain their synaptic maps.

Common synaptic regions can be mapped from this data and compared to synaptic maps of individuals not exhibiting this behaviour.

A basis can be established for affecting imprint regions of susceptible brains.

The problem was the only person I knew anywhere near me at the moment who had imprinting as a character trait was Eveline, and she was hardly going to want to cooperate without me telling her what I needed this data for.

But I wasn't ready to discuss it with her for a few reasons, not least of which was the fact that what I was considering might not even be possible, or might not work reliably, and I didn't want to announce my idea until I had a better idea if it would actually work.

I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up.

Is there any way we can obtain a synaptic map without the subject knowing? I asked my nanocloud.

Individuals in possession of a nanocloud may be alerted to any attempt to read synaptic data from their own hosts.

This information is not available at present.

This was going to be an issue, and I wasn't yet sure how to resolve it. A call to Laurent was in order, and it was late enough in the day, that I could call through to speak to him. I decided to enter the cafe premises and approach the staff at the counter, a man who looked rather average among the people of this town.

"Do you have a phone I could use?"

"Sure," he told me. "There's a booth over in the corner there, but I'll need a couple of data credits to use it."

Data credits was fine. I had plenty. "Five enough?"

"Sure," he told me, as I pressed my knuckles to his own, and our respective nanoclouds handled the transfer. "Let me know if you need anything else."

I nodded, and then made my way straight to the phone, pulling the booth door closed and picking up the handset, dialling Laurent's number.

"Good morning, the cuisset residence?" Bernhard announced.

"Hello Bernhard," I greeted him. "Has Laurent left for his morning rounds?"

"Yes, Mister Reyes," he told me without asking who I was. My voice must have been distinctive enough to remember. "Can I take a message?"

"Sorry," I replied. "It's somewhat urgent. Is Aline available?"

"Apologies, she is also on her own errands."

"Ah," I sighed gently, then inspiration hit me. "I don't suppose Amélie could come to the phone, if she's nearby, can she?"

"Mister Reyes, can I ask what this is about?" Bernhard asked, slightly irritated.

I had to be careful, here. "It's a rather delicate subject that concerns Eveline. I need some advice from someone who can understand her mind-set, and Amélie would be a good candidate for what I need to know."

A pause. "Very well, I'll see if she is available."

I waited for a few minutes while Bernhard walked off to find Amélie, and eventually, she came to the phone, her melodious, cheerful voice a breath of fresh air.

"Hello, Rick?"

"Hi Amélie," I greeted her. "How are you?"

There was a slight hesitation before she answered. "F-fine," she stammered.

"Are you sure?" I asked, realising that she might have just been being polite, thinking I was only asking as a courtesy. That might well have been true, but she was a friend of the Cuissets, and I wasn't going to behave like she was an NPC in a video game. "You sounded hesitant."

She let out a sigh. "Not really," her voice dropped a bit. "I don't think I should get into the details with you. No offence," she said apologetically.

"None taken," I reassured her. "I should probably apologise. If I'd known this was a bad time, I'd have waited until later-"

"No, it's fine, we can talk. It sounded urgent?"

"Yes, but- are you sure?"

"Yes," she said, her tone sounding slightly happier, and I listened for any hint that she might be trying to put on a brave face to whatever was bothering her at the moment. "But I appreciate the concern."

"You're welcome," I told her. "Seriously, Laurent has been very helpful, and you've always been nice to me, so you know... If there's anything I can do, just go ahead and ask."

The pause didn't last long, and then a slight puppy-like whine sounded on the other end, before Amelie spoke with a happy sigh once again. "I can see why she wants to spend time with you." That comment had my complete attention, but some instinct told me not to pursue it. Instead, I waited. "Bernhard said it was something concerning Eveline, and some advice you needed?"

"Indeed," I agreed. "What do you know about imprinting?"

The pause was significant. "Excuse me?" Amélie's voice sounded astonished.

I suddenly realised that this might be a taboo subject. "Sorry if I've offended you, that wasn't-"

"No no," Amelie interrupted. "I was surprised by the question. No offence taken."

I let out a sigh of relief. "What I'm trying to do is something I hope can be useful to anyone who has to deal with imprinting in their lives. The problem is, I need to get synaptic maps of people whose brains are wired to imprint on others, preferably while they are discussing imprinting, so that my nanocloud can get a read on what areas of peoples' brains are triggered by imprinting behaviour or memories of the process."

"I understand," Amélie replied, surprising me. "You know Eveline is susceptible to the effects of imprinting, I would imagine, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation, right?"

Damn, this woman was sharp. "Yes," I replied simply.

"Why not ask her yourself?"

I took in a deep breath. "Here's where things get complicated," I began, wondering how to explain this without causing further problems. "Firstly, Eveline and I are barely talking to each other. I won't go into it too much, except to say that it's largely my fault, and I don't want to give her cause to be any angrier with me than she already is."

"I understand."

"The second problem is that even if she wasn't, what I want to do is something I don't know will work or not. Not until I know more about how the whole process works, and my nanocloud can do it's work."

Amélie sighed. "You don't want to get her hopes up, do you?"

That insight astonished me, since I hadn't even spoken of the real reason I was even attempting this project to begin with. "I... You're quick!"

"I've known Eveline since we were barely cubs," she told me. "I know things about her that no-one else does except her parents. I know she has an almost irrational fear of the imprinting process given her experiences, and I can tell, just from the conversations I've heard you having with Laurent, and the tone of your voice today, that you want to try and find a solution for her."

"Yeah," I decided to go all-in with Amélie. "Ok, here it is. I'm trying to build an imprint control function, or something similar, that will allow her nanocloud to control what gets imprinted, based on her own wishes, and what should be stopped. I have no idea what you both went through when you were younger-"

"Wait, before you go any further," Amélie took a breath. "Eveline went through some experiences that I'm not going to talk about. That's her story to tell, but it's not one I share. My life was much more pleasant compared to hers. I was rescued before I had even learned to walk, and long before anything more than a familial imprint would have been possible. The Cuissets fostered me for a while before I was adopted by my pack, and so I learned at a very early age the value of decent humans and beast-folk. I just want you to know that I have never faced what she did, so I wouldn't be fair to her if I pretended otherwise."

I had to admit, I really liked Amélie. Her honesty and compassion were clearly evident in just this one phone call. "Thank you," I told her, my voice a little hoarse. I cleared my throat. "Anyway, so I wanted to do something that would give her a sense of control, because I think that's something she might need. My problem is, I don't know if what I'm trying will even work, and I need to know, I need to try it out, and I would prefer to do all of that so I have something to surprise her with when the time is right, and all, hopefully without her knowing."

Amélie didn't say anything for a moment. "You like her, don't you?"

Shit, I thought to myself. I didn't need this complication, and I certainly didn't need to discuss it with a third party. "Sorry, Amélie. That's not something I'm ready to talk about. I'm already feeling guilty for talking about her as much as I have while she's not here."

"So that's a definite yes, then," she quipped. "Don't worry, Rick. I'll keep that one to myself until you're ready to talk to her about it."

"No," I protested. "I didn't say-"

"You don't need to-"

"-and I don't even know if it'll ever be a good idea to think of-"

"Rick, stop." Amélie's suddenly forceful tone stopped me cold. "It's never a good idea to close those kinds of doors. Trust me when I say that you could miss something wonderful by putting up walls like that." Her following words were far more softly spoken. "I really believe that if you tell yourself that it's not worth the effort, you'll regret it for as long as you live."

I was floored. I literally didn't know how to respond to that statement, and for some moments, I couldn't speak without fear of saying the wrong thing. I couldn't contemplate Eveline and I ever getting along that well, especially given our history so far, but I wanted to do something good for her, and that motivated me to try this project of mine in the first place. "Alright," I eventually replied, feeling the need to acknowledge Amélie's words.

"Good. To those who know her, the disdain she shows others is a facade, and we know her well enough to know that her loyalty is a hard thing to earn, that there are dimensions to her personality that some of us have never seen, and that if anyone were ever lucky enough to see such aspects of her personality, we are truly blessed." Amélie told me gently, before abruptly changing topics. "I'm due in Hanover in a few months, but let me speak to Laurent. I may be able to make the trip earlier if I can convince him that meeting with Eveline will be worth the change in plans," she stopped to take a breath. "I can divert to Hamburg before heading home, we can meet, then speak privately, and you can do what you need to do with me."

I only then realised what Amélie was offering me. She was volunteering to be both a guinea pig for some tests I was to perform, as well as to willingly give me access to her nanocloud and the brain I needed to map. It also afforded me some other opportunities to access Eveline's own synaptic data.

It was a massive leap forward in what I wanted to do, and hope surged within. "Thank you," I told her, almost breathless. "This is exactly what I was hoping for."

"You're welcome," she told me. "Now, I need to get back to minding the cubs at the orphanage, so I'll say Au Revoir for now."

"Of course," I acknowledged, grateful for her help. "Shall I try to call again tonight, or should I try to get to Hamburg within a certain time window?"

"Head to Hamburg. Leave within the next day or two, but aim to be there seven days from now, and plan for an overnight stay. I'll be there in time."

"Alright, sounds good," I told her, and caught a glimpse of Eveline as she stood outside the cafe, looking around to see if she could catch sight of me. "Listen, she just arrived. You want to speak-"

"No, best not," Amélie interrupted. "She might become suspicious. I'll surprise her when we meet. Take care, Rick, and see you soon."

The line went dead.

Well...

That was rather an abrupt end to the conversation.

Still, I now had a definite plan, and likely had some useful data to come to further my project, and all while en route to my ultimate destination in the US. All I needed to do was to keep my head for now, and see how things develop.

Eveline looked impatient. I needed to get outside, so I left the phone booth, heading outside. The sound of the door opening caught her attention and she swivelled around to face me, her eyes narrowing.

"Where were you?" She demanded.

I looked back to the door I'd just walked out of. "I don't know," I told her, unable to resist the sarcastic retort. "Where did that door lead? Is it magic?"

She said nothing, instead, choosing to narrow her eyes until they were almost slits, her lips pursed in annoyance, her tail giving a flick of irritation. "No need to get snippy with me," she retorted. "Have you eaten?" I nodded. "Then let's decide where we're going and make plans to leave as soon as possible, yes?"