The serious expression on the Lyrin girl's face didn't last for long. In a matter of monts, the new reality of her situation had set in.
Rin sat down at the bar, put her head in her hands and began to weep.
I could understand where she was coming from. From here on out whatever life she had built up for herself had probably co to an end thanks to us.
The mont we stepped into the gabuilding we were probably being tracked by the sniper. The mont Rin showed, the jig was up. The gang mber had clearly recognised her sohow, and from there had figured out that she was here to et us. She was our lead. If he had managed to take her out then we would have had nothing.
The real question that was burning in the back of my mind was simple. Did they know that we were coming to investigate, or did they just track every guard mber that entered the building with a sniper? If it was the forr of the two, the Guard had a leak. Soone was feeding the clans information about our missions and our movents.
It wasn't sothing I could afford to think about now.
Now I had to keep my head firmly screwed onto the task at hand. Potential traitors to the guard could be dealt with at a later date if they even actually existed.
"It's going to be okay, Rin," I said, taking a seat next to her.
"Oh and what do you know, human," She sneered. "You think you're so cool, don't you. Smashing up giant robots and getting fast-tracked into the guard. It's sickening."
I flinched back as if I had been physically struck by her verbal onslaught.
"It's going to be okay," she mocked with a sob, "My whole life is over, nothing's ever going to be okay again."
I looked over at Fal and Yr'Arl for so support, but neither of them said a word. I didn't know how I, the social awkward human from another universe, had landed in the unenviable position of comforting an alien I knew nothing about. But here I was.
"Co on now, you don't know that for sure," I tried again.
Rin glared at , the sa red glow rimming her eyes that Fal had gained after finding out that Pax had been captured by Clan Pren.
"I was just shot at by a mber of the gang that kidnapped and used as a drug mule when I was a kid," She sneered. "I'm going to have to drop everything. I'm going to have to get a new identity all over again. My life, as I have known it for almost a decade is over and it's your fault."
"Rin, please, you're a Lyrin If you don't help us Fal's mate is going to die. She'll never be able to ld her mind with theirs ever again. Surely you understand the importance of what we're trying to do here, the reason that we had to seek you out in the first place."
Rin blew a long, heavy, breath out of her nose. "Yes, I understand why you've co to wreck my life, to make sure that hers carries on all fine and okay," she snarled. "So let's get this over and done with, so I can get on with whatever I've got to get on with after all of this and hopefully never see any of you three again."
I caught myself a mont before thanking her. I was sure that being thanked for her service was the last thing that Rin wanted from at that point. I gestured for Fal to co over. She was the most experienced of the three of us, I had no idea how long she had been a Guard mber before we had t but going by Rin's story it was at least a decade. She'd know how to deal with the procedure behind interviewing a witness much better than I did, considering I didn't know any of that at all.
I got out off the barstool next to Rin and allowed Fal to sit down, and then walked over to Yr'Arl by our captive gangster so that the two of them could talk in private. Even if Rin didn't look happy to see her old saviour, I imagined they still had a lot of catching up to do between them.
"You did the best that you could, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl said as I leaned against one of the tables. "She has been placed into a terrible situation, one that no one should have to be put into no matter their age. You would never have been able to get through that conversation without her becoming agitated at the very least."
I nodded at that, accepting that he was right while still feeling awful that we had in effect put an end to her life. Sure, I was going to do my damndest to stay alive, but what sort of a life was she going to be able to return to? Maybe if we destroyed Clan Pren in its entirety she'd just be able to go back to normal.
"Say, Yr'Arl, do you mind if I ask you sothing?" I asked.
"Of course not, Jacob Lyre, you may feel free to ask anything that you wish. I will attempt to answer your query as best as possible."
"Why do you always call Jacob Lyre?"
"That is your na, is it not?"
"Well, yeah, but it's like That's my full na. You don't need to say the whole thing every ti, you can either call Jacob or Lyre, understand?"
Yr'Arl tilted his head to the side as he considered this new piece of information. As if it had been sothing that hadn't occurred to him in the slightest.
"I do not believe I will be able to do this, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl said, holding up a five-fingered paw before I could interrupt. "On my planet, splitting a na is a great offence. If you were to call Yr or Arl I would know that you were deeply displeased with . Do you understand?"
I nodded my affirmative, it was a weird cultural hangup but one I could respect.
As our conversation petered out the bird alien on the floor began to stir. A grim smile passed over my face.
At last.
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