The next morning was as though the past few days were months ago, Saffron integrating well into the usual swing of family goings-on. I'm sure in actuality she was trying her hardest not to seem out-of-place given her story, but I couldn't help but feel impressed how easily she took to new things. She really did want to be here, I suppose.

Daniel and I woke up early for the sake of putting together a nice breakfast we could all enjoy together in the lounge-- the first one not eaten in their bedroom. Some cracked and beaten eggs here and hot pans there eventually got the two of us a breakfast of pancakes with strawberry fruit sauce for a topping along with some slices of bacon as a side. Fortunately we'd gotten up early enough that everything was finished right on time for their arrival, the children following their noses down to the lower floor. Riv arrived first with Sura and Saffron just behind him, all three children groggy and with unkempt hair. At least as far as I could tell they slept well and I couldn't help but laugh a little to myself at the sight.

Daniel worked to serve each plate as I took the milk from the icebox and poured a glass for each of us, our finally taking a seat for ourselves once the other three were situated. We all dug in and passed the time with small talk, Saffron noticeably more calm and happy now that the main symptom of her corruption was shielded from most. I finished my breakfast first of all of us, eating rather quickly so I could get started on my workday before Morissey arrived. Standing up from the bench I took my dishes and quickly washed them up before heading out to the lobby.

I couldn't help but feel a little excited. Morissey had wanted to meet Saffron and now she was in a condition where this was possible. With my rear on my chair and my work on my desk I waited for my employer to arrive, staring out the window to the greater world in the meantime.

It wasn't long before the door handle would rattle and the door itself would be pushed open to reveal said employer, looking rather happy himself. Although he'd softened since my initial enrollment in his organization it still both surprised and amused me when his stoic expression gave way to something a little more nuanced. I couldn't help but wear that amused smile for myself as he stepped his way across the sunlit lobby floor, his expression turning slightly worried when he took notice. As far as I could tell he wasn't used to emoting much and was concerned with how others saw him should he do so, which given his role was pretty understandable.

"...What's that look for?" he asked as he got closer to my desk, his ears dipped back and eyes glancing over his shoulder.

"Nothing bad," I replied, handing him yesterday's completed assignments. "It's just funny to see you smile. I'm not quite used to it yet."

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry," he said, suddenly quiet as he put the folder under his arm.

"Please, I said it was nothing bad," I quietly laughed, taking a new folder and setting it upon my desk. "What's gotten you so happy?"

He looked aside and over his shoulder once more, his ears slunk back a bit before turning back to me. I wasn't sure what that was about but it was something I'd noticed more the past couple years, as though he was seeing if he was being watched or overheard.

"...I'm just excited to meet another child of yours," he said, just barely audible even given how close he stood to my desk. "I admit I've always been rather taken by how pleasant and well-behaved your children are given...a collection of circumstances."

Given what I knew about him those words had an extra dimension to them, his eyes hinting at that hidden meaning. That meaning and the severity thereof was hardly lost on me, my remembering back to so long ago as I had to stumble my way through the very same revelations.

...It was funny how those things worked out, and funnier still to see someone else go through the same.

"Ah, that's fine," I responded, resting my elbows on the shelf of my desk and folding my hands in front of my chin. "Everyone should be coming out to the lobby very soon. They're just finishing up breakfast."

"Would you mind if I stood here until then?"

"Of course not."

I grabbed my pen from its holster and clicked it, ready to get started while Morissey stood in wait just in front of my desk. It wasn't long after I took the pen to the documents before me that footsteps could be heard down the hall and on the stairs, the children returning to their room to get dressed for the day.

"Shouldn't be too long from the sounds of it," I said, smiling to myself as I filled a blank on the page. "Daniel will likely be out very soon and the kids shouldn't be far behind."

Like clockwork the nurse soon arrived, stretching his legs in the lobby corridor and letting out a big yawn. He turned to Morissey who turned to him, both men eyeing each other and giving the other a nod. Daniel hadn't forgotten about that encounter back some years ago, though I'm not sure Morissey knew.

The sound of footsteps once again echoed down the stairs and down the hall, a small train of children making their way out to the lobby to start their daily schoolwork. First Riv arrived, then Sura not far behind him.

"Our new one should be here shortly," I said, turning back to my work. "Probably just finishing getting ready after feeling unwell for the past few days."

"That is no problem; I'm happy to wait," he said. "Like I said before, please don't feel like you must rush their recovery just so I can meet them."

Before his words finished I heard a tiny gasp from the corridor, my eyes easing up to search for the source. I could just barely make out part of Saffron's face, her eyes wide and stricken with fear before disappearing back into the hallway. The sudden thumping of footsteps against the wood floors took us all by surprise, even making Morissey jolt alert to face the corridor.

Something was wrong.

"Um, one moment," I said as I stood up from my desk.

Daniel and the other children looked to me, confused, and all I could do was return their gaze with my own as I made my way to the hallway. Poking my head around the corner Saffron was nowhere to be seen.

I looked back to the others in the lobby.

"I'll...be right back," I said.

With that I entered the hallway, looking around me for any indication of my third child. Nothing down here seemed amiss and Saffron was not very familiar with the gist of the house as it was. If she were to run somewhere it would probably be somewhere familiar. I reached the end of the hall to look in the lounge but she was nowhere to be found. A quick look in the bigger kitchen was also fruitless, though that didn't surprise me.

I could only think to look upstairs.

I found my way to the stairs and slowly ascended, looking around for anything out of place. Once I reached the top I looked both ways, opting to hang right toward their bedroom. I did poke my head into the bathroom, but as far as I could tell it was empty. Finally reaching their bedroom door I grabbed the handle and gave it a twist, another little gasp beyond the door alerting me of her presence.

"Saffron?" I softly called through the door. "It's just me. May I enter?"

No response.

"Please?" I called again. "I don't know what this is about and just want to make sure you're alright."

Still no response. While I would normally respect their privacy, something like this happening with one of my children had me far too on-edge to leave this alone. I completed the turn of the handle and pushed the door open to find Saffron on her bed with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. Upon seeing me she jumped farther back against the wall, her head low and shoulders raised as though ready to fend something off.

I took a step forward and she bent her knees.

Another step forward and her hands came out in front of her.

"Saffron, I'm not going to hurt you," I said. "Please tell me what this is about."

"...Him," was all she'd say, her voice a low bellow the likes of which I'd never heard from her.

"Him?" I repeated. "Morissey, the man I was talking to down in the lobby?"

She nodded, her eyes a strange mix of fear and anger.

"...I'm not sure I understand," I said.

"Why is he here!?" she sharply barked, making me jump.

"...H-He's my employer," I replied. "He comes here every morning to take my finished work and drop off new work."

"...Y-You...work for him?" she asked, her voice cracking and wavering.

"I...do, yes?" I answered. "Please, Saffron, tell me what's going on. I don't understand what has you acting like this."

"I-I thought I could trust you," she choked, tears finally starting to make their way down her orange face.

Something about those words and this sight struck me in a way I hadn't the words to describe. I had no idea what was going on or what Morissey had to do with anything as, to my knowledge, they hadn't even met. Was she mistaking him for someone else?

"...Saffron, I truly don't know what this is about," I pleaded. "Please, please tell me what's going on."

Her eyes looked straight into mine and I felt a strange tightness around my heart. I could only assume that was the effect of the corruption, but I wasn't about to stand down.

Maybe she could feel my sincerity as that tightness eventually relented, though she still looked ready to pounce should I do anything to betray her trust. I stood as still as I could, not wanting to put her any more on-edge than she already was.

"Y-You honestly don't know?" she whispered, though I could still make out a hint of confusion.

I shook my head.

Her face tensed and her eyes wandered from mine and instead looked to the floor. Seeing her this confused and distraught just ate at me and I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and tell her everything was alright, but any sudden movement on my part would only do more harm than good.

"...H-He was the owner of the compound," she said, "...the...places I've stayed."

"...What?" I asked, my own eyes widening.

"A long...long time ago I remember s-seeing him in another town," she recalled, her eyes still to the floor. "Th-There were others...a lot of others, who all followed him. He looked different back then...with eyes l-like mine."

...Corruption? If that's the case then this must have been about six years ago, so Saffron would have been about four if our estimation of age were accurate.

"I'm listening," I quietly said in reassurance.

"I-I don't know the town we were in, but I remember people around me swarming some old building as...as he and a bunch of other people tried to leave it. I didn't know what was going on, just that my family was part of it."

...Was that the attack Morissey mentioned?

"...The...The next thing I knew m-my family had been captured and brought to...some sort of compound, and I was with them," she sniffled. "He led the people who held us there. I don't...know how long we were there for, but it felt like forever."

My ears slunk back.

"...I don't know why, but I-I remember he eventually came back," she remembered, her tired eyes squinting. "What I don't understand is...I thought I remember him saying something about a release to a nearby town, yet..."

"...Yet?"

"...His people brought us well past that town, and after a while we were put on a boat and taken to an island near here," she said, rubbing her arm. "A-After that I hadn't...seen the outside world until I came here."

I wasn't sure how to take this.

"...During that time most of my family escaped, I guess, leaving one by one," she continued. "...I was too young to follow so I was left behind. The...people at this compound were not like the people at the other one."

"What do you mean?"

"...At the first compound, I remember we were fed two or three times every day and still given mats and blankets to sleep with. I...remember him requesting those things and the people under him being unhappy about it, but doing it anyway. If there was more to it I just don't remember."

"What about the second one?"

"...I never saw him, only the people under him, like before. I think they were even the same people a lot of the time. Th...Th-They were horrible to us. We were given food every other day, w-we were often beaten, and I...remember some had been forced to live without clothing. They were the people who put something really hot on the back of my neck not long before I came here."

A few of her tears hit the floor just below her.

"I-I was the last one," she seethed. "I was finally big enough to escape and swim to the mainland I hadn't seen in...I forget how long."

"...How did you know to come here?" I finally asked, that question being on my mind for the past several days.

"I remembered...bits and pieces of what the compound people said, something about a place in a town near there run by 'a little girly man with a creepy dilute kid', as they put it," she confessed, her ears flattening upon the quotation. "...The words used for this place weren't nice, but I thought if they didn't like it, then...maybe it was a good place for me to go."

"...Saffron, I'm so sorry for what you went through," I said, opening my arms. "I promise you that I had no idea about any of this. I truly, honestly didn't know."

After a brief pause she lowered her defenses enough to step closer, coming toward me to take my invitation. She came up against my front and I wrapped her up in my scrawny arms, holding this distraught, terrified child tight with the side of my face pressed against hers.

"It took a lot of courage to tell me all of this and I couldn't be more proud," I whispered, rubbing her back to calm her. "Thank you so, so much for telling me and trusting me enough to do so."

As though granted permission she returned my embrace and started to cry into my shoulder. I could only imagine that kind of turmoil and the circumstances behind it all and was left for an uncomfortably long moment with my own thoughts.

...Just what kind of organization was all of this? Wasn't this group supposed to help people?

Had I been lied to?

Somehow, even with all of this information, it didn't feel like Morissey had lied to me. I remembered his own recollection of that time, how he'd been pressured into doing things he didn't want but how he gave in to keep their confidence. More than that, I remembered his words regarding keeping his relationship with Riv's mother a secret as he'd only invite harm should it become known, as well as how careful he was to check around himself for stray eyes and eavesdroppers. Should I take the memories of a child as gospel it would seem that there were members disregarding Morissey's orders and requests should he be unable to personally oversee the goings-on. I wondered, then, if this compound south of here were something Morissey even knew about if that were the case. From both his and Saffron's stories it seemed to me that...maybe there was more to this than just a single misguided man with a bias.

...Much more.

A passing shadow to my side caught my attention, a pair of eyes from the staff meandering their way to see into the bedroom and observe our embrace. They looked to me, then to Saffron, and as though they recognized her those eyes slightly widened and mouth slowly opened in alarm.

...I wasn't sure what to do from here, myself and my family now mired in several snares of conflict I could never have foreseen.

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