A comprehensive study of the psychological profile of all known Samurai was conducted, and the only common factor among all of them was this: They didn't seek to obtain power.

So, in short, if you're reading this you're probably disqualified.

--"How to become a Samurai"

***

I spent a lot of the day lazing about, doing a little light reading. Then at some point I got inspired by some of the reading about Valkyries I was doing, fictional or otherwise, and started to map out bits of research I thought I needed to do, things I had noticed I didn't know but probably should. That lead to more research being required, because it is hard to know what you don't know. There were some obvious things, like studying the various Anti models I didn't know much about yet, especially the higher tier ones, in case I ever ran into them. It wouldn't do to have another Model Twelve or Thirteen incident. Other things were harder. It seemed no one had written a textbook for new Valkyries, and really, with how differently we tended to operate, I could see the difficulty, but surely there were some universalities? I decided to tap a resource I had unique access to; the other Valkyries I was living with. With a bit of a finagling, it might even prove a good excuse for some bonding time with Val. I flushed slightly at the thought. Yeah. This was a decent plan.

I took some notes for things to look into, but didn't pursue it too much just yet. Incursions happened somewhat unpredictably, but only every few months, on average, so I didn't feel like I was in a massive rush. Odds were good that I'd have a fair bit of time before I was needed to respond to another emergency.

I frowned a bit.

That also meant it was likely it would be a fair bit of time until I could get more points. Really, these toys were rather addicting. I wondered if that was a universal trait for all humans, or if I was uniquely or especially prone to such an addiction. That lead to me wondering about why I was chosen as a Valkyrie, and soon my thoughts were spinning in circles. I then decided to simply ask.

Hey Eyon, why was I chosen as a Valkyrie?

[Ah, you finally got around to it. You were chosen because I thought you would make a good Vanguard. We make profiles of the people on earth, and monitor those that look promising. Then you stepped in between a Model Three and your supervisor, and proved you had the impulses to back up your good profile, and here we are.]

I notice you were rather vague on the details of the profile, there.

[I was, a bit. Fine. We grant Vanguards a lot of power, so the most important thing to make sure of is that that power won't be misused to oppress or otherwise worsen the lot of humanity. That single criteria rules out a lot of people, although less than you might think, and is the most important one. After that it is a matter of determining what a person would do, given such power. We don't require our Vanguards to be proactive and helpful, but it is a bit of a waste when one turns out not to be. You're both, which is really appreciated. And then there's the entertainment factor.]

The what now?

[I've already said too much. Forget I even mentioned it.]

Entertainment? Really?!

[I told you to forget about it.]

I narrowed my eyes.

Are you trying to distract me?

[I would never use such underhanded tactics.]

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Well, it won't work on me. Come on, spill. What else does my profile say about me?

[That you're stubborn and won't take no for an answer.]

And?

[That you're just a bit annoying, and prone to focusing on unhelpful details.]

You're just trying to get out of this conversation without telling me anything of substance!

[You also spend way too long in bed, have a terrible taste in music and have trouble coordinating colours.]

Fine! You could just tell me if you don't want to talk about it!

[That would be rude.]

So's your face.

She elected not to respond to that particular insult, so I guess I could consider it my win, if I squinted really hard.

***

That night, I woke up in a sweat from a nightmare. I had dreamed of staring dead faces and piles and piles of corpses, all silently accusing me of being a failure, and of failing them. The details were a bit vague, as dreams tended to be, but I was definitely not going back to sleep any time soon, no matter how comfy the bed was. Instead, I got up, or tried to, but kinda overshot the edge of the bed and landed awkwardly. Great. Now I was sweaty and lying on the floor. Still, I remained there for a while. It felt appropriate, that a failure like me should be down here, with the dirt. I could rationally recognize that I was in a bad head-space, but that didn't help much with the way I felt. So instead of getting up, I started silently crying, just wallowing in the feeling of being a failure, of being useless. Sure, I'd helped some people, but what did that matter when so many still died?

Then the door to my room opened, and in the rectangle of light from the hallway stood Valerie. I instinctively turned away from her, not wanting her to see me like this, a miserable failure.

But, I could still see her striding towards me through my drones, a look of concern on her face.

"Sylvi, what's going on? Myrai said that Eyon said you needed some help? Why are you on the floor, sweetie, and why are you crying? Had a bad dream?"

As she reached me, I just sniffled and hid myself away as best I could. She knelt down in front of me, peering at me for a bit, before reaching out.

"Shh, come here sweetie." She said, as she pulled me towards her. I fought it for a moment, then surrendered to her embrace. "Everything is alright. You're safe, you're fine, it's okay."

"N-no it's not. They all d-died. They're all dead, t-they..." I sobbed out.

"Who died?" She asked as she stroked my back.

"The p-people in the shelter."

"Shh, it's okay. It's okay, sweetie. Do you want to talk about it?"

I took a deep breath. "M-maybe?"

"It's okay. We can talk now, we can talk later, we can not talk. Anything you want." She continued to rub my back, and her presence calmed me down some.

After five minutes or so, I'd mostly stopped crying. She kept murmuring that it was fine, that it'd be okay. It didn't really matter what she said, her being there and the sound of her voice was all that mattered.

"We found this s-shelter, in Gdansk." I eventually said. "It was..." I took a breath. "It was bad."

She hummed attentively, but let me continue at my own pace.

"The d-doors hadn't locked properly, or something, and they were all..." I swallowed. "And then there were these giant worms, Eights, just eating them, and I flew in there, and first I couldn't kill them so I flew in there some more, and when they were finally dead all I could see was just... Just corpses. Just all these dead people looking up at me, and did I do anything wrong? I should have been there, but Red Knight said they were already dead before we arrived, but still..."

When I ran out of words, Val waited a bit. "You cannot save everyone, Sylvi. Especially not when you're not there. Even Valkyries can only move so fast."

She hugged me tight, and I nodded weakly against her.

"From what I heard, you performed exceptionally. Katherine only has praise for you, saving her, saving people, saving everyone, to hear her tell it. So try to focus on that, okay? On all the great things you did, rather than something that happened before you were there."

I sniffled, then looked down. I had gotten snot and tears all over Valerie's pyjamas. Oh no. I started crying again.

"Oh shh, now what? It's okay Sylvi, it's okay, what's wrong now?"

"It's just, you're so kind and wonderful, and you come in here in the middle of the night because of me and then I just get your pyjamas all messed up and..."

"Stop."

I looked up at her. "Huh?"

"Listen here, you. Don't you dare get worried about my clothes now, of all things. I came in here because I was worried for you, and it seems I was right to be. You're an idiot. A sweet, adorable idiot." She smiled at me. "My clothes are the last of my concerns, not when you're sad and crying and waking up with nightmares. You're the thing that is important here, Sylvi. You."

I couldn't help myself.

I kissed her.