The Light in His Darkness

Group Meeting

Tam wasn't sure what to expect as he, Glimmer and Bo made their way back to Havenfield.

It was all very incredibly awkward; apparently, Linh hadn't told anyone that he was bringing Glimmer.

If he had to guess, it was Linh's way of punishing him, and once he realized that, he rolled his eyes.

Even if he was "still a part of the group", as Sophie suggested, they obviously thought that he was bonkers for trusting Glimmer.

His instinct took over, and he guided Glimmer to let them stand a little farther apart from everyone else. And when he said everyone, he meant every one of his friends. Sophie, Dex, Marella, Fitz, Wylie, Linh, Biana, even the girl with big, brown, curly hair - who he knew no one seemed to like, and who seemed to be a part of their team, now - and the one girl with dreadlocks - their Psionipath, he remembered, from Loamnore. And all of their bodyguards, along with Ro, which surprised Tam.

Tam was glad that they had chosen to have the meeting outside. It gave him more space, he thought.

He noticed Linh eyeing him and Glimmer. She wasn't pleased that he had brought her, but if she had a real problem with it, she could've told him when he originally told her that he was actually bringing Glimmer.

You can do this, he told himself. It's just the first time you've been with everyone altogether since . . .

He suddenly started to wonder if he was wrong to bring Glimmer there. He felt really out of place just himself, and Glimmer stuck out even more than he did. 

His time with the Neverseen had changed him. And he didn't think anyone quite knew how to acknowledge that without making this everything so much worse.

So Tam went ahead and said the first words. "Okay, I want to say something," he told them. "But first, can I be introduced to these two? They weren't with us the last time I was here." He gestured to the dreadlocked girl, and the other one.

Dex waved absentmindedly, and Tam noticed that everyone was more than a little subdued today. "Maruca is the Psionipath. Wylie's cousin. And Stina is an Empath. She works with Sophie and Biana and Wylie and I on Team Valiant. She's also part of the family that helped deliver the baby alicorns."

Tam was thrown a little off. Apparently, Linh hadn't quite filled him in on everything. "What is Team Valiant?"

Sophie threw a glance at Linh. "You didn't tell him?"

Linh shrugged. "It's not like there was a whole lot of time to fill him in on everything."

Tam rolled his eyes again. "Team Valiant," Wylie said after a very long and very awkward pause, "is something that the Council set up to help Sophie utilize her other abilities."

And with that, Tam knew that he would never understand the Council. "And they thought that right now would be the best time to do it?"

"Well, it was only about two weeks after you left," Wylie told him.

"So you spent two weeks focusing on this stuff?" Tam asked. Somehow, he almost felt a bit betrayed.

And that was all he needed to set his mind at war again. They're your friends . . . but they were working for the Council instead of trying to get you back . . . the Council, who they never agreed with . . . what could've been so important?

Tam clenched his teeth and pressed his hands against his ears.

"Tam, are - are you alright?" It was Linh, her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look her directly into her face.