The professor froze.
"I do hope that is you and not an intruder," Fort called again groggily from the bed.
"No, no, it's me!" Noble assured him. Dropping quickly to ground level, she exited to the bedroom. "I was looking for something, but now that you are awake, I have found you, and that is far better!"
The professor kissed her husband softly as he stood to greet her.
"I am glad you are back." In spite of Fort's words, Noble could feel the sadness washing over him like waves of the ocean.
The compassionate wife wanted to impose some calm into his spirit, but rather than use her Ability, she wrapped her arms around his chest and pulled him into a hug.
"How are you holding up?" Noble laid her chin on his shoulder as she embraced him.
"About as well as expected, I suppose. I couldn't sleep most of the night."
"I should have been here instead of going to the Dream Realm. I'm sorry." Noble felt guilty.
While her own coping mechanism was to keep as busy as possible until the day had passed, Fort had needed her here in the silence to share in his grief.
Fort sighed, his eyes wet with incoming tears. "I cannot believe it has been eleven years today. It feels like only yesterday that Seb told us he was tired."
Silent streams began to run down Noble's face as well. "He was a good kid. I can still hear his voice when I exit my pod asking me to tell him anything and everything. I only wished I had told him more."
"No self-doubt or second-guessing. Not today." Fort sniffed. Leaning his head onto his wife's he mimicked Seb's voice. "What did you see today? Anything interesting? Tell me all of it!"
"Nothing terribly exciting happened, I'm afraid," Noble took on her motherly tone. "I did have a meeting, but it did not go as planned."
Fort pulled away and looked at her seriously. "Is that why you were late returning? Is everything alright?"
Noble nodded. She took her husband's palms in her own. "Yes, everything is fine. We can talk about that later if you want when you are less tired."
Kissing the back of her husband's hand, the professor furrowed her brow. "You do not seem well, my love. Perhaps you should take the day off and rest. I will cancel my classes and stay home with you…"
Fort squeezed her hands gently. "It is just my usual gloom on the anniversary of our son's death. We should both go about our day as normal. Seb would want us to celebrate his life by living our own."
"Are you sure? I know everyone would understand if we took a day for ourselves."
"I'm sure." If they stayed home and hunkered down, which was tempting, Fort feared that they might relive more of the past than just their son's passing. "Maybe another day."
The man pulled his wife into a bear hug and they stood in silence for a long time. They found deep solace in each other's arms.
Fort took a deep breath and a pale smile came to his face. "Am I smelling what I think I'm smelling?"
"If you think you are smelling sweet congee, then yes," Noble pulled away and wiped her eyes. The corners of her mouth upturned slightly.
"Seb's favorite." Fort sniffed at the air again.
It smelled of sugar and cinnamon. Their son had put his own flair on the traditional dish and the recipe had stuck.
"He always said it tasted like home," Noble recalled his lopsided grin as he ate his own concoction almost every morning.
"Then we shall fill our home with its smell and our bellies with its warmth," Fort said definitively. "I'll go wake the kids." He headed out of the bedroom as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
"I'll set the table," Noble looked toward the empty doorway, almost expecting Seb to walk in and offer to do it for her. Talking about him always made him feel alive again.
Had it really been eleven years? It had passed in a blink.
"We still miss you," she spoke into the air. "And sometimes thinking about you hurts. I did not get to know you nearly as long or as well as I would have liked, but I wouldn't trade knowing you for the world. I love you, Seb."
Noble took one more deep breath and dried her tears. It was time to face the day.
---------
After an enjoyable breakfast, Noble made her way to the Academy with her head and heart full of memories.
Fort and Noble had opened up more than usual, telling all manner of stories about the child whom none of their others ever got to know.
The kids had many questions, and for the first time in a long time, they felt free to ask them. It was a sweet time, though far too short.
On her way to work, everything the professor passed reminded her of Seb. As the train made its upward arc over the city, Noble spotted his usual haunts.
'There was his favorite ice cream shop, and over there is the park we used to go to often on Saturday.' When the train descended, Noble couldn't help but chuckle. 'And there is the karaoke bar where I learned both the men in my life were completely tone deaf…'
Even walking through the halls of the academy, Noble thought about how amazing Seb would have found the whole place.
'He would have wanted to learn anything and everything. Well, I guess I have to do the learning for the both of us.'
Noble sat down at her desk. She had a ton of work to do. The most pressing of which was getting ready for her class that was due to start in a quarter of an hour.
But before the professor could even open her datapad to look over her class notes, Bee Two's panel opened and the android appeared.
"Professor Noble!" the silver-alloyed AI sounded…excited? "There has been another gate opening which my protocols have flagged."
"I saw it on my communicator this morning," Noble rubbed her temples. It had been a very long morning. "I will look at it more after class. Thank you, Bee Two." The professor began to scan the screen in front of her.
"In the meantime, would you like me to gather as much information as possible for you to peruse on this new anomaly?" Bee Two queried.
"What?" Noble barely glanced up. A human would have taken the hint, but the android persisted.
"Do I enact protocols to gather as much information as quickly as possible?" Bee Two repeated patiently.
The professor waved her hand. "Yes, as I said I will look at it in a little while. Now if you will excuse me, Bee Two…"
The android bowed. "The protocol has been activated, overriding the previous directive. I will have all the information for you by lunch, professor."
The alloy creation retreated toward the recess in the wall, ready and able to commit all the processing power to achieve the professor's goal.
In the ensuing silence, Noble focused solely on the material she wanted to cover for class that day. All too quickly, students were filing in.
Catphine, Hamish, and the Hectare were among them. While the first two were not a surprise–they had each attended a class at least every other day since their first–Hectare drew the professor's undivided attention.
Noble hoped the legacy was not there to cause trouble. The last time he and Hamish had been in her room, they had nearly come to blows.
'Today is not the day you want to mess with me,' she suppressed the urge to use her ability on Hectare.
The annoyed Awakened could try to scare the Sleeper into leaving, but that could also backfire. It was also highly unethical for her to exert that kind of pressure on someone who was entrusted into her care.
Sighing, the professor closed her eyes and focused on the legacy member. Nothing in Hectare's emotions signified malevolent intent, and so Noble decided to let him stay.
It turned out he was keenly interested in a Memory he had just gotten from his older brother. As he desired Noble's input, he was polite and even gentlemanly towards her and the others in the class. It was a welcome change.
'Will wonders never cease!'
When class was dismissed, Noble intended to catch Catphine and fill her in on the information that she had discovered about the mysterious [Key].
But when she looked up. Noble found the gorgeous young woman had silently slipped out just before things ended as if she had anticipated the conversation.
The professor returned her datapad to her desk and sat down with a sigh.
It was just as well. Noble still needed to process exactly what Emer had said. It had all happened so fast, and she had been very flustered. She ran over his words again in her mind. The diviner had been quite insistent that they not meet again in the real world.
Her eyes widened in shock.
'Did he…did he see my death?'