"So what happened to you?" Daniel said, moving my foot to check the range of motion. "Can hardly leave ya for five minutes before you go all fallin' apart on me."

"...I twisted my ankle when I stepped onto the porch," I said, cringing from the procedure. "Fortunately Morissey caught me when I lost my balance so it didn't end up worse than this."

He gently felt around the joint to assess the swelling and any points of tenderness while Riv leaned against my side. After a moment the nurse carefully placed my foot back on the floor and stood up.

"Ya got a low-grade sprain from what I can tell, and you're lucky it ain't worse," he said, offering his hand. "Let's get ya upstairs to the bed. I'd like ya to rest well this weekend, so let me take care'a chores and such for a few days."

"...I'm sorry, Daniel," I quietly said, standing up with his help.

"Naw, none'a that, now," he replied, bending slightly with his arms behind my back and legs.

"Wh-What are you--"

Before I could finish my protest I was swept off my feet, Daniel having scooped me up into his arms. I gasped and dug my nails into his shirt, no longer feeling the floor beneath me.

"I ain't gonna drop ya, just try to relax," he murmured, securing his grip around my back and thighs. "The height difference is a bit much for me to help ya walk, so this'll be easier for both of us."

I wrapped one arm around his upper back, clawing into his shoulders while my other hand clung to the front of his shirt. Having never been in this position before I was utterly terrified and already I could feel myself shaking. He held me still, turning his head directly toward me.

"Hey," he said in a low tone. "I'm not gonna let ya fall. Just trust me and try to relax, okay?"

Slowly I released my nails from his shoulders, but still clung tightly to his shirt with both hands. I hated feeling helpless like this.

"...Plus, look," he remarked with a sly grin, leaning over and nuzzling on my snout. "Easy access."

Even I couldn't help but smile a little as he carefully took each step down the hall, the children following close by holding onto my tail. I took a deep breath as he started ascending the stairs, burying my face in his shoulder so as to not look down. He held onto me a little tighter to reassure me as he climbed every step, and finally we were up on the second floor.

"You kids mind grabbin' the door for me?" Daniel asked. "Could say my hands're a bit full here."

Riv rushed forward to grab the bedroom door and open it, Daniel maneuvering around the doorway to carry me into the bedroom without coming in contact with the wall. Stepping over to the bed he leaned down and gently set me down upon the mattress, my looking back up to him in disbelief.

"Told ya I wasn't gonna drop ya," he said, rubbing his snout atop my head. "Thank you for trusting me; I know it ain't easy. Just hang out here for a few minutes so I can grab some stuff from the infirmary."

He pat my head and turned to leave, Riv climbing onto the bed with Sura soon following. Both children sat next to me, leaning against my side as I wrapped them up in my frizzy tail.

"What happened outside?" Sura quietly asked.

"I just landed on my foot wrong and sprained my ankle," I said, turning to hug on both of them. "It doesn't feel too great, but I will be alright. Can I trust you two to be extra helpful this weekend? I won't be able to do too much for a few days."

They both nodded and hung on to me, my rubbing my snout atop each head. Both of them stayed close and kept me company until Daniel returned. In his hands was a small bottle, a roll of bandaging, and a glass of water. He handed me the glass and dumped a small round pill from the bottle onto his hand for me to take, my downing it with the water as he sat on the edge of the bed. Lifting and placing my foot on his leg he gently spun the compression wrap around my ankle, fastening the end securely in place.

"Not too tight?" he asked.

I shook my head and handed him back the empty glass. He took it from me and brought it downstairs, Sura and Riv still leaning on me atop the large bed. As Daniel returned he grabbed one of his books and left the door open to appease any nosy staff that may be patrolling the other end.

"There anything you'd like while I'm up?" he asked, turning toward the desk.

"No, I'd...rather just try to relax after this awful day," I sighed, my ears fallen back as I looked down to my lap. "This was certainly one of the worst days I've had in quite a while. I wonder whom I might've wronged."

"Some things just happen," he responded, walking back over to the bed. "Not sure what to think about the work thing, but if ya keep your stuff up here overnight then it should hopefully not happen again. I'm really sorry about that."

"Please don't be sorry, it's nothing you caused," I said as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I'd just...rather not think much more about it and try to move on from here. Crying about it won't fix what happened."

He looked back at me with a stressed frown before climbing up to the other end of the bed, his book in hand. The two children moved out of the way as he lay near me on the mattress, putting the book aside for a moment to carefully bring me closer. As he lay back down I cuddled up to his side, his arm around my back holding me nice and close. Riv and Sura crawled off the bed to head to their room, coming back with some books and art supplies like they might any other evening. With both children occupied and Daniel gently stroking my head I soon found myself nodding off, finally feeling warm and safe enough to put this terrible day to rest.

---

The weekend crawled by slowly, lost mostly to sitting in bed as I poked at the extra work I'd requested on Friday. It was hard to concentrate, my focus broken with every little bump and creak the house would make as it settled, hoping I wouldn't see the daystaff's heads in my doorway. Every little motion or shift in the air had me quickly looking up and over to my door should someone try to break in and damage even more of my hard work.

The feeling nagged at me for days-- the reason nobody likes reporting issues should the one reported decide to try getting even. Proof or not, I knew deep down who was at fault but hoped it'd be the last time anything like this occurred.

Daniel and the children were very helpful and accommodating for the whole weekend, the nurse giving me the adjustable crutch so I could walk more or less independently up and down the hall. Because it took so long climbing or descending the stairs Daniel opted to bring meals upstairs to me. We all ate in the bedroom, their not wanting to leave me alone for too long. I appreciated it, but still felt horrible to burden them with any of this when I should have been more careful. Even so, the three of them clung to me as long as I was still confined to the bed, with Daniel keeping me close and snug against his side and both children spending time at the foot of the bed with their hobbies.

It took about a week and a half for my sprain to heal, those days some of the longest I think I'd ever experienced. Morissey was not too happy to see me back in my desk so soon, requesting instead that I work in my room while healing. Though I didn't want to argue with him he relented surprisingly quickly when I insisted on staying at my desk. I didn't like being left by myself while someone in the house seemed to have it out for me, and though he didn't say so I think he felt and understood my concern.

It wasn't long after my foot was well enough to bear weight again that one of the pure residents was adopted. With their departure came a cut in my pay on top of the cut I'd already endured for my work's destruction. The cuts in total amounted to about twelve percent, or roughly five hours of work lost to the wind per week. Already tired from looking at walls of text on weekdays I took five or six hours of assignments every weekend, trying to put them off until the children went to bed so we could still spend time together. I didn't want my whole weekend thrown at paperwork when I should be taking my family outside and enjoying my time off.

Just...keep my nose in my work, I thought. The one cut was only temporary, right?

***

A bit under a month had passed since Reverend's work was vandalized and so far the incident hadn't repeated itself. Since his pay was cut I'd been helping more with bills and groceries than usual. Really I had no problem with such a thing, but the little man was very adamant to shoulder as much of the household financial burden as possible even if it left him with more week than paycheck. He wanted to be as independent as he could and I didn't want to deprive him of that and possibly make him feel infantilized, so I let him be and put much of my income into savings. I'd a feeling there'd be a time we'd need it.

I took my weekend walk into town, heading to Ulimi's shop to sort out groceries and dinner plans. It was a cool winter day but the weather was otherwise pleasant. I wished pretty bad I could take Reverend with me into town, but he was so afraid of getting recognized and leaving the kids home that I didn't try to press the issue.

As I walked through the busy streets the past few months I'd begun noticing more and more of Morissey's staff, whether they be in the streets with the rest of the population or in the buildings I'd frequent. It was getting to the point of being unnerving, but they seemed to pay me and others little mind. I'd catch whispers about it here and there as I passed through, but less than I recall from months ago. I couldn't be sure if it was a matter of comfort or futility on their part, but I kept my guard up regardless.

Passing by the gawking dock workers I took my turn toward Ulimi's shop. As I reached for the handle I heard bits and pieces of sentences, undoubtedly about me and mine. Turning back around they looked back at me, though with a look of vague concern and fear. With my brow furrowed I rolled my eyes, grabbing the handle and entering the small shop.

"Hey, good to see ya," Ulimi said behind his counter. "How's everything at home?"

"Could be better, but could be worse," I said with a shrug, taking my bag up to the counter. "Can I get these all refilled?"

"Sure thing," he replied, taking the containers out of the bag. "Did something happen?"

"Mm, little while back someone destroyed a whole day of Reverend's work and he got a pay cut because of it," I said, folding my arms. "We don't know for sure who it was, but gotta feelin' it was one of the daystaff. None of us had been in the lobby since the previous evening and everything was fine then."

Ulimi turned around to carefully place a dozen eggs in one of the containers.

"Wasn't any of the kids, was it?" he asked. "Ya had a couple pures, too, I thought?"

"Yeah, but the pures ain't allowed downstairs after goin' to bed, and I can't imagine the kids would feel too inclined to go after a folder they can't even see kept behind a desk in a room they never go to. Reverend's been sayin' how there's a daystaff creepin' him out pretty bad the past while but that...seemed to finally come to an end a while ago? Or, so we thought."

He looked back over to me, his ears tilted.

"Has this guy done anything noteworthy?" he asked, closing the egg container and handing it back to me.

"Other than just watching him real closely and givin' him dirty looks, I couldn't say," I said, rubbing my neck as I put the container in the bag. "I feel like there's more to it but Reverend won't tell me. Poor little man don't like talkin' much about the things that bother him; hates feelin' like a burden. Wish I did a better job'a showin' him he's far from it."

"I'm sure you're doing just fine, Daniel," he said, picking through loaves of bread. "Some things gotta come from him. Lead a horse to water and all that."

"...I guess so," I sighed. "Have ya noticed anything here in town? Can't help but feel like there's more of them lately and not sure I like it."

He put the bread in a box and replaced the box in the bag, grabbing another small container for an order of cornbread. His face was tense and his ears pulled back while he put the sweet golden square in the container.

"...It's weird," he said. "Certainly seen more of them, but I don't know why they're here. Seems like there's at least one in every building, at least every building run by faradens. Even if they're not really doing anything they still creep me right out."

I turned to walk down the aisles and sort through various fruits and vegetables to bring home while Ulimi weighed and packed away some butter. With some asparagus, beans, apples, and fruit jam in my hands I stopped and looked out the shops window to the people outside. Even on that street was one of those staff stationed at the corner, watching down the street like a guard. Just a short distance away those dock workers huddled together, occasionally looking back down to the staffmember and turning back away to talk amongst themselves.

"Seems it ain't just us," I said. "Even the assholes workin' the docks seem bothered. Even if these guys're supposed to be some kinda patrol I can't help but feel more up in arms with their bein' here."

"Glad the feeling's mutual," he replied, looking out the window. "This place was never a bastion of good fortune or sanity but the vibe's certainly changed. People seem a lot more reserved now, almost like they're worried about something. The timing seems a bit too uncanny for my liking. You say Reverend works for these people?"

I brought the food up to the counter, carefully placing down each item to be weighed and sorted.

"An organization his boss calls A Greater Society, but I'm not sure what they do, exactly," I looked back out the window. "Reverend is loathe to indulge me in any details about his employment, saying he's under NDA about basically all of it. His boss is a weird guy so I'm not at all surprised, but...given some things, it really makes me wonder."

"'Some things?'"

"Surely you know that his name ain't 'Reverend', but he's...almost terrified to let anyone know what his name is. Given that's what his employer calls him I can't help but wonder if he's the reason behind it-- that's meant to be a title which assumes membership in some kind of organization. I don't buy that as being just coincidence."

Ulimi tapped his hard fingertips against the counter, looking down at the grocery bag in thought. Something told me he'd thought the same thing all this time.

"Who's this boss of his?" he asked.

"Name's Morissey. About five-five, ruddy-brown fur with a white face and a darker stripe down the snout. Usually wears a long black coat. Though he's usually pretty polite somethin' about him puts me off, 'specially ever since some run-in Reverend had with 'im a couple years back."

"What?" Ulimi's head recoiled back a bit.

"Don't know the details, he wouldn't tell me," I sighed, tapping my foot against the hard wooden floor. "Whatever it was, though...it was traumatizing and put him in a bad place for a while. He was already havin' a lot of trouble with somethin' else leadin' up to it. Took a lot to recover. Been keepin' my eye on both of 'em since."

"Has he thought of quitting?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Often, from the sounds of it, but...with nobody in town willin' to humor his work, he's afraid of losing the only thing that'll hire him. Plus, since I'm technically his employee and not his boss's, if he quits then I'm out a job, too. It's a very...delicate situation we're in, so I'm tryin' to put enough into savings to uproot should somethin' happen."

"...Long time ago I gave him a weapon," he recalled. "With the change in town vibe, the things he's gone through before and dealing with now, please make sure he's carrying that on him."

"I certainly will, thank you," I quietly said, opening my wallet to fish out some money. "Just hope it won't come to needin' it. He's got some issues, but Reverend's a good man. I don't...I don't know what I'd do if somethin' happened to him."

Ulimi took the money and counted it, putting what was needed in the register and handing me back some bills.

"Uh, I think you--"

He shook his head and placed two pastries gently in the bag, picking it up by the handles and standing it upright.

"There's something in there for you, too, that I hope you like," he said, nudging the bag toward me. "I can't do a whole lot from here, but please do tell us if there's anything we can help with. We all like ya both a lot and so far those goons seem to be leaving hoofers alone, so I'll keep my eyes and ears open for anything more."

"...Thanks, Ulimi," I said, my head low as I put the money away and took the bag from the counter.

I turned and walked out of the shop, heading back toward the foster home on the other end of town. Curious, I looked in the bag to see what he meant and found a flaky half-moon pastry with a strong scent of apple and cinnamon. I took it from the bag by the napkin it was wrapped in, where a small note had been scratched into the soft paper.

"You don't ask for much, so here's a treat from me. We care about you."

I stopped walking and smiled to myself upon reading those words, removing the pastry from the napkin and folding the paper neatly into my pocket. I took a large bite from the sweet confection and continued on my way home.

***

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