What is this thing?

[Eidolon]

Life had changed, and Eidolon lost herself a little in the routine of it. While she had kept herself physically fit over the years, it was not the same as proper training, and it would take time to build back. Zephyr was a hard mistress, uncompromising, but Eido found some solace in the work. It kept her from thinking. Not about regrets. About the future. About the book, and Kiyohito.

Despite her fears and reservations, the flutter of power that had brought Zephyr and her together had not yet returned. Whether the other woman felt frustration over that Eido could not say, but it certainly helped soothe her transition, allowing confidence in her own self, and in her own body, to take greater root. She felt the slow erosion of her guard; the fear that she would unintentionally do something to harm another relaxing a little. It was a delicate peace, balanced on a pinhead. But Eido accepted it for what it was.

She had slipped into her role unobtrusively and with quiet dedication. They did not speak much, and Eido volunteered little about her life or opinions. But when she purchased prenatal vitamins and left them on the coffee table, they went. Sometimes there were other gifts; small things she discovered Zephyr liked. It wasn’t friendship, not in the way one might think. But there was kindness in Eidolon’s loyalty. She slipped around Zephyr like a ghost, quietly peripheral, but she always took note of the small things.

Lately something was wrong, though. Not just the three day absence, but a change in Zephyr’s manner. Eidolon was naturally attuned to such nuances, but she saw and heard far more than she ever commented on. She asked no questions, reluctant to intrude on something personal – she knew, after all, that Zephyr was intending to bear a child, and Eido had done enough reading to understand that pregnancy was not always smooth.

She noted the wine.

If Zephyr wished to talk, Eido would listen, even if she had no wisdom to offer. Not as an Atharim, and not as a channeler, but as another woman. But she did not quite know how to make that offer, other than to be present.

She heard the knock from the other room, but her guard relaxed when she heard Zephyr greet the visitor with recognition. Jacob Dean was an associate. Eido would not intrude, nor make her presence known for now. Not because she was in hiding -- true to her word, Zephyr had purged the records of both Chihiro and Kota's names. If Eido was distant, she did give her trust honestly. She did not intrude because it was simply her way.