Despite the inside of the building being well lit, the cloudless autumn sky was near blinding, taking everyone a second to adjust. Henry’s artificial eye adjusted more quickly, but it was still somewhat disorienting being partially blind. When they had all adjusted to the brightness, they began walking down the sidewalk, past the variety of graffitied buildings, toward the city’s downtown. In the distance, Henry could see the sharply-angled, monolithic structures of the few Ultra-Corporations that stood above the rest of the remaining skyline. 

Henry vaguely remembered the times his mom used to talk about the city before the Ultras showed up. Before he had been born, the previous city had been abandoned by its former government bodies and corporate interests after various industries fell apart. There had been times when groups tried to set up new governments or power structures, but they ended up failing, whether that be peacefully or through violence. Over the decades, there were multiple conflicts that had chipped away at its infrastructure, leaving many parts decimated. By the time Henry had been born, most of the fighting had ceased and the area became known as Mirage. It had turned into an anarchist commune, where most of the people living there focused on taking care of each other. 

In a weird way, Mirage became a refuge for people wanting to leave their pasts behind since most of the residents were willing to give strangers a clean slate if they were willing to help out in the community. Most new people adjusted pretty quickly, but sometimes, some seedier individuals would arrive and try to take advantage of the hospitality, but they didn’t stick around for long. Word traveled quickly in Mirage, and if the residents caught on to someone’s unwelcome behavior, they usually ended up being escorted out. Sometimes with the encouragement of a mob or a few well-armed individuals. His mom told him that some of the people they chased off were scouts of the Ultras, but she always lamented that they hadn’t been chased off soon enough. 

Where Henry and the kids lived was mostly devoid of life, except for the occasional flock of sea birds perched on rooftops, scurrying rats, or sprouts of dandelions finding a home among the various cracks in the pavement. Outside their neighbors, not many people lived in this part of the district, so there weren’t many people to interact with. It wasn’t necessarily that there was anything particularly dangerous with the area, but more to do with the fact that other areas weren’t affected as much by the fighting over the years. Most of the city lived in established neighborhoods; places where homes were built like matryoshka dolls using the ruins of what the city used to be. Henry expected the area to be full again by the time Chicory and Rowan were starting their own families. Still, despite the lack of people, the area was quite colorful and vibrant from all the previous paint jobs and murals that had managed to survive the years, save for a few bullet holes and scorch marks that had marred them. Some murals that were chipped away showed previous murals underneath. 

“Daddy! Daddy!” Chicory tugged on Henry’s arm.

“What?! What?!” He playfully tugged back.

“Can-can we, um, can we go see the-the-the, the unicorn!?” There was a mural several blocks away that they had found on one of their outings. It was of a unicorn laying in a meadow surrounded by animals drinking from a rainbow puddle. There was clearly a wound where the unicorn’s heart would be, creating a rainbow stream to the puddle. The piece was lovely, but Henry was glad Chicory hadn’t noticed the blood or that she couldn’t read the stylized text near it that said “I’LL DIE AS I LIVED: WITH A BLEEDING HEART!!”

“Sorry, Pumpkin, but that’s a little too far with the time we’ve got.” She pouted. “But hey, we’ll pass by the bunnies!” An old pet store had a mural that was so damaged that the only recognizable animal was the baby rabbits.

“Oh, okay.” As they continued walking, they approached a bombed-out hardware store with a robot painted on the side that was holding open a chest compartment. Within the compartment was a heart and beside it was some angular text saying “IT’S WHAT’S ON THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS.” Henry lightly tapped Rowan on his arm.

“Hey champ!” Rowan looked up from his phone. “Check out that guy!” As Henry motioned to the robot, he was caught off guard by the way Rowan’s face changed. For a moment, the kid’s eyes flashed with…something, before he returned to looking disinterested.

“Oh, yeah, uh, cool.” He turned back to his phone. Henry watched him for a bit.

Does… he not like robots anymore? He used to…

Henry felt a pang of remorse, but had his attention drawn back to Chicory as she tugged on his arm again.

“I like it, Daddy!” Henry ruffled the top of her head a little. 

“Thanks, Pumpkin.” He took her tiny hand in his. “Alright, bunnies then school!” The little girl giggled, jumping and hopping along to mimic them.

After a quick visit to the mural, the group headed further downtown, seeing more familiar faces as they progressed. Henry said hello to some of the people he interacted with frequently, such as the bakers and grocers. Chicory and Rowan, with different levels of enthusiasm, said hello to teachers and classmates from their school. While looking around, Henry met eyes with a syndicate enforcer posted at a street corner, a shiny metal badge on their chest and a holstered sidearm hanging from their waist. Considering they appeared to be a male human with no discernable grafts, and their firearm wasn’t anything outlandish, Henry pegged them as a Docker or a Conductor. Their face was scarred in several places, but looked relatively normal, so Henry doubted they were an Artisan, but he had been surprised before. Since the school and its surrounding area were considered neutral territory, Henry figured the man was just there for observation, so he gave the enforcer a simple nod of acknowledgement and continued walking.

As the school came into sight, people were huddling up around the outer wall to get in. Most of them were families chatting amongst themselves, so Henry lifted Chicory onto his shoulders and made his way through the crowd. As he pushed through, he received a message from Reggie, his longtime friend and his patrol’s lieutenant.

REG: Hey, everything good? Gerry just called and he seemed super pissed about you.

ME: I’m working on it. Just give me a sec.

REG: Need help?

ME: Nah. If Gerry calls back, tell him I’m almost there.

REG: He said he tried calling you and you won’t pick up?

ME: That’s cus I blocked him.

REG: Wish I could do that :/ I guess just hurry. 

ME: Yep.

“Daddy, look! Aunt Lily!” Chicory excitedly leaned forward to point Henry in the right direction, causing him to almost lose balance and drop her.

“I see her! I see her! Now, sit still, Pumpkin!” Righting himself and getting Chicory to settle down, Henry headed for Lily with Rowan following close behind. 

He could see Lily was conversing with a parent. She had been pretty, still was pretty, but Henry knew he’d never have a chance with her again. Lily worked hard for many years to become a respected teacher and community member, while Henry knew he was a mess, to put it mildly. She was a “Doberman” that was starting to have some gray develop around her narrow eyes as well, but overall, her fur had an almost satin-like sheen to it. Her vision had always been bad when it came to reading, so she wore a pair of reading glasses attached to a beaded necklace around her neck. She had always acted motherly since she was young, and now her figure matched her demeanor. Henry didn’t know the name of the neutral-colored clothes she was wearing, but they were very similar to the clothes she had given Rowan and Chicory. He remembered how fascinated with India she had been since they were young and had managed to take a trip there recently. Henry had felt that she had wanted to pass on that fascination to the kids as well. 

“Aunt Lily! Aunt Lily!” Chicory began waving to get her attention. Looking around, Lily eventually caught a glimpse of them and smiled, giving a tiny wave back. It was for a brief second, but Henry saw a flash of panic on her face before she saw Chicory. Ending her conversation with the parent she had been talking to, Lily began heading toward them as they finally managed to make it through the crowd. 

“Why hello there, Sweet Pea!” Henry felt Lily lifting Chicory off his shoulders, so he assisted her. He watched as Chicory wrapped her little arms around Lily’s shoulders and hugged her as Lily cradled the little girl in her arms. “How are you today?”

“Great! Rowan made a, uh, mamala for breakfast, and and and daddy walked to school with us!”

“I can see that!” She turned to look Henry in the eyes. “You guys were running a little late. I was starting to get worried.”

“Daddy took us to the bunnies!” Lily raised an eyebrow. 

“The bunnies?” Chicory leaned backwards to help point Lily in the right direction.

“Yeah! Back there!” Lily grabbed Chicory’s hand and pulled her closer.

“You’ll have to show it to me sometime.” She turned back to Chicory with a wide smile. “And oh, look at what you’re wearing!” Lily shifted Chicory around in her arms. “Aw, you look so pretty! And I love your little booties!” Lily lightly booped Chicory on the nose, causing her to giggle. She then turned toward Rowan. “Oh my goodness, look at you! Look how handsome you are!” Henry turned to look at Rowan, who was being a bit aloof, keeping his eyes toward the ground and his hands in his pockets.

“Uh, sure…thanks.” Henry couldn’t tell if Rowan was embarrassed or not. When he turned back toward Lily, there was a strange look on her face. Her eyes were narrow, but the way she frowned told Henry that she was feeling guilty. He had seen it enough times when she had lied to her parents about spending time with him. Henry didn’t have another moment to dwell on it as he received another message from Reggie.

REG: Hey, he’s getting real pissed now. Better hurry whatever u r doing.

“Okay gang.” Henry pulled in Rowan for a quick hug and leaned over to give Chicory a kiss on the head. “Gotta run. Have a good day at school! I’ll see ya…” As he turned to walk away, Henry felt someone tug on his arm.

“Actually, um—Henry, I would like a word.” He turned around to Lily, whose demeanor was quite grim.

“I really need to…”

“Please, Henry, this is important.” Henry and Lily locked eyes. He could feel her begging him not to leave. Henry sighed.

“Alright, but please make it quick. I’m running late.” She gave a nod of acknowledgement and set Chicory down, kneeling with her hands on her knees.

“Sweet Pea, I need to talk with Henry alone for a moment. Why don’t you go on inside?” Chicory nodded, having placed one of her fingers in her mouth. “Rowan, would you mind taking her to her class?”

“Sure.” Rowan held out a hand and Chicory grabbed it with her free one. “Let’s go, Chicky.” Removing her finger from her mouth, she turned to wave at Henry as they walked through the school gate.

“Bye, Daddy!” Chicory stumbled a bit as she tried to walk while looking back to wave at Henry. He smiled and waved back.

“Bye, Pumpkin! Bye, Champ!”

“See ya, Cass.” With that final goodbye, Rowan and Chicory disappeared through the school gate.