In the days following Tess's arrival, Nathan spent very little time with the other members of the Council. He only saw them at breakfast, lunch and dinner because – while they remained waiting for possible missions – the two descendants of Hyram stayed in the gym or in the courtyard garden, observing the other Nerys from afar. Tess, without harming them, exploited those around her to show Nathan what she could do. Unfortunately it was the only way she had to prove it. She entered their minds, just for a few moments, and manipulated them into doing what she wanted.

That morning, they were in the garden. Tess had shown a girl's mind images of a dance and she had for no reason started dancing. After a few seconds she released her from her control.

«If you can create enough vivid dreams, you can alter their reality and make them do what you want, even when they're conscious. But before you can do it, at this distance you will need a lot of training. It took me many years. At first without physical contact, you won't be able to do it even for a few seconds.»

«I hope to get it done before convergence.» Nathan said as he lay down on the lawn.

Tess apologized for what she had said the day she arrived, for being insensitive. «I'm sorry, that wasn't nice of me. I didn't mean to offend you, I use to speak without thinking first.»

«They insulted me in worse ways when I was in the orphanage. Especially because of the color of my hair... they didn't know whether to call me "blondie" or "readhead".», actually they had said even crueler things to him. Blaming his hair if no family wanted him was the least.

Tess lay down too. «Here you have nothing to fear. This place doesn't even remotely resemble my school. Maybe I'd be better off staying. We should leave Earth anyway, there's no point in continuing to study and do boring homework.»

«If you don't join the Council, you'll have to take lessons like a normal seventeen-year-old student.» Nathan told her.

Tess playfully hit his arm. «Do not lie to me. They are not mandatory.» she said. «You won't be able to convince me to go with them. I don't want to take any risks.»

Nathan looked at Tess out of the corner of his eye, and for a moment he thought he saw Dawn. In those days he hadn't seen her often and had rarely been able to talk to her. He blinked and tried to banish the hallucination instantly.

That's when Jeyson and Ellen arrived.

«Is this how you practice Nate?» Ellen asked him sarcastically.

Tess rose from the lawn, and Nathan did the same, without haste. After all, they had nothing to hide.

Nathan asked what they were doing there in the garden. «Why aren't you with the others?»

«I've been spending too much time with Oswald and Rick lately. I had to make it up to her.» Jeyson smiled at his girlfriend as he gently shook her hand. She said something else, about someone replacing him, but Nathan was fascinated by the intertwined fingers of their hands. They reminded him of the evening in the principal's office. Dawn's face so close to him.

«Nathan?» Ellen called for his attention, bringing him back to the present. «Everything okay?»

He hesitated but finally nodded. «Yes. I was just lost in thought.» he said.

«Fine then. We're going now.» Jeyson said. «See you at lunch.»

Nathan waved to them and watched them walk away together, as they continued to joke and smile at each other.

Tess searched the face of her similar. «You don't have a crush on her, do you?» she asked him and he turned to deny it immediately. «You were staring at them wistfully. You almost seemed disappointed they were happy.»

Nathan shook his head. «No, it's not what you think at all.» he said.

Tess smirked. «So… you're envious, aren't you?», she gave him a light push with her shoulder. «Don't worry, you can tell me. We are the same species, we are like a family.»

At the word “family” Nathan jumped up. Tess covered her mouth. She had been indelicate again. «I'm sorry. You don't have a family and I should learn to keep my mouth shout.»

«No, it's not about that.» Nathan said. «I think my cousin… is like you and me.», he put a hand to his forehead. «How could I not think about it?! Her hair is just like yours.»

«And like yours.» Tess pointed out. «Where is she now? Does she know you're here?»

Nathan shook his head again. «I didn't think she was one of us, so I didn't tell her anything. I haven't heard from her since before I got here.»

«You should tell the others.» Tess advised him.

He didn't have to be told twice, eager to run into the Council room. «Yes, I better go.»

She waved goodbye and then went back to relaxing on the lawn, while Nathan walked away. His steps became faster and faster until he began to run. It wasn't because of his cousin he was in such a hurry, he wanted to see Dawn. In those days, he had given priority to his powers, because he wanted them at all costs, so as not to be left behind, but he had regretted it the moment he saw Ellen and Jeyson. Tess was right, he had been envious of seeing them together.

When he arrived in the Council room, out of breath, everyone looked at him in surprise. Oswald and Meg had heard footsteps heading in their direction, but they didn't imagine it could be him.

«Already tired of your lessons?» Jeb joked, sitting on the couch playing on his phone.

Nathan took a breath and his eyes inevitably searched for Dawn's. She was on the couch, not far from Jeb, with a book in her hands. She had a confused look on her face as she was staring at Nathan standing in the doorway, wondering why he ran there. «Did something happen?» Dawn asked him.

«No, everything's fine.» he reassured them and then talked about his cousin, about the high probability she could be like them.

Dawn's reaction was not at all what he expected. She scolded him. «Why are you only saying that now?! You said you were alone and without a family… if we had known, we would have done some research on relatives close to you. You would have had answers much sooner.»

Nathan looked down crestfallen. He had been an idiot, too busy feeling sorry for himself and thinking only about himself. But he couldn't admit it out loud, so he just apologized.

Dawn sighed. «Forget it. We will investigate and verify if she is a Nerys.»

Nathan thanked her. «Can I come with you when you go to get her?», the question surprised everyone in the room. Usually he didn't seem to have much desire to follow them when they intervened. It was strange he had taken the initiative.

«Did you succeed?» Dawn asked.

He shook his head. «Tess just showed me what I could do, but there's no point in watching her use her skills when I can't actually practice.»

«I knew he would give in soon.» Sam joked.

«Confess, you missed us.» Oswald said without taking his eyes off the television, or Richard would beat him.

Nathan didn't answer. Then Chelsea decided to take the initiative and invited him to join her, Meg and Sam to play cards. He remained stunned by the door. He tended to stay away from them, to never really try to integrate, because he was convinced they didn't want him around, that they considered him a burden. But it was all just in his head and he needed to stop thinking like that.

«So?» Meg urged. «Are you playing or not?»

Nathan nodded and joined them. He sat down on the floor with them, on what remained of the carpet, behind Oswald and Richard.

Dawn cracked a smile, happy that Nathan was finally starting to make some progress, then she went back to reading.