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“What are you doing here, precious glacier?” I whisper, careful not to not wake her. Then I stand there in silence, staring at her and trying to make sense of the beautiful, unexpected sight before me.

Then a thought slips into my head, making my chest tighten.

She must’ve heard me having the nightmare.

And she stayed.

She hadn’t knocked. Hadn’t interrupted.

She’d simply...sat outside my door until she’d fallen asleep.

Fuck.

So sweet.

My mother used to do something similar.

Back when I was little.

Before the cruel streets and the filthy shelters.

Before everything went to shit.

Whenever a nightmare woke me, she’d sit outside my bedroom and hum quietly until I fell asleep again. She never asked what I’d dreamed about. Never told me not to be afraid. Never tried to make it disappear.

She just stayed.

Just existed there with me and for me.

My throat tightens painfully.

When had someone last cared enough to simply...stay?

A tiny sigh escapes her lips before she burrows farther into the wall, curling in on herself like an annoyed black cat refusing to acknowledge the existence of morning.

“Stop meddling, Mother.”

I smile.

She even argues in her sleep.

Cute.

I crouch beside her and carefully move the lock of hair away from her face.

“Princess.”

Nothing.

“Artemis.”

That makes her frown.

“Mmm.”

I blink.

“Artemis.”