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Emiliana was closest and approached him first. “Papa?”

No response.

Shenado floated over to Zeff now. ‘Unbelievable,’ she said as she inspected his face. ‘He’s still asleep.’

Marcos didn’t understand. “What?”

‘Your father protected you unconsciously,’ said Shenado. ‘I’ve heard about things like this happening, but I’ve never seen it myself... Wow.’

‘Instinctive knowledge and awareness,’ said Chergoa, hovering up behind Emiliana. ‘You don’t need to be a servant to possess those things. Still, I am quite--’

Ramira’s muffled cries interrupted her.

“She needs help!” said Marcos.

‘Bring her over to the bed and take her shoe off,’ said Shenado. ‘Emiliana?’

The older sister was already rifling through the far cupboards for supplies. Chergoa told her to try under the bed, where she found a first aid kit. Emiliana took over for Marcos in sterilizing and dressing the wound.

Of all the things their mother taught them, Marcos had always thought this would be the least valuable. He’d figured that once they became servants, they would have no need of such skills, but now he saw how wrong he’d been.

As Emiliana finished her work, Chergoa picked up the conversation again.

‘What do you think? Should we leave or stay put?’

‘We seem to be safe for the moment, but we don’t know enough about the situation to be sure. Asad and Dimas are both relatively close. We should meet up with one of them.’

‘Agreed,’ said Chergoa. ‘Em, how’s about you help Big Papa Elroy here walk with us?’

Marcos watched Emiliana place a hesitant hand on the man’s back. She had to take the lead, but just as Chergoa had said, Zeff began to keep pace with her.

Marcos picked Ramira up again and then stopped. “Uh. There’s still a wall of ice in the way...”