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my fingers brushed against a more sensitive area.  The scar was long and thick, and an obvious blemish upon her otherwise flawless leg, but it wasn’t necessarily the sight of it that disturbed me. 
    I lowered my other hand from around her chest and lifted her shirt, peeking down to notice another pair of scars along her abdomen and lower back that mirrored each other but were no taller than a wallet.  With a slow breath, I lowered her shirt and gently removed my arm from beneath her head.  She didn’t try to stop me as I pulled away from her and carefully maneuvered myself into a sitting position so that I could hang my right arm over my raised knee.  I sat there, contemplative, before Helena leaned up as well and wrapped an arm around me.
    She didn’t say anything, nor did she ever have to.  She knew what to do.  She rested her cheek against my arm and waited patiently, but something was different this time and she seemed to know it. 
    She pulled away and rested her chin atop my shoulder.  “You’re not upset?”
    I wasn’t actually.   Nor, was I really all that sad.  I was barely even introspective, just… contemplative.
    I nodded.
    “Feel any responsibility?”  She asked.
    I shook my head, but with slightly less confidence.
    “That’s good,” she whispered.  “I think that’s progress.”
    “Maybe,” I said just as quietly , feeling better already.
    Helena lifted her chin and kissed my shoulder, scooted away from me, and started searching for something, but couldn’t seem to locate what she was looking for. 
    Finall y, she turned to me.  “Where are the orbs?”
    My eyes look ed away guiltily.  “Uh… I left them by the rock.”
    “Jacob…”
    “I’m sorry!”  I said defensively.  “I couldn’t help myself.  You know what they do.”
    She nodded as she stood, all too aware.
    “ Well, that’s it then,” she said.  “You’re done with them.”
    I watched her walk past me.  “Where are you…”
    “I’m going to have Jeanne destroy one and I’m going to hide the other!”  She snapped at me, but not angrily.  “I don’t know if they’re making you worse or what they’re doing to you exactly, but I’m not going to let you grow addicted to them, and we certainly don’t need two of them.”  I rose as well, but she pushed me back down and pointed at me.  “You stay here.  I’ll be back.”
    I winced at a spike of pain in my side, but it wasn’t too bad , and looked at Helena as she looked at me.  There was nothing to indicate she was angry at me in her eyes, just horribly, horribly concerned.  She turned and left the tent, her long shirt that reached halfway to her knees billowing at the movement.
    When she was gone, I looked at my feet.
    Even without the orbs, I still felt constantly overwhelmed by just about everything.  There was more on my mind than ever before, including Agrippina’s continued existence, the orbs themselves, Archer’s unexpected arrival with his troops, the drastic changes to Roman history, and so much more.  Often, responsibility for Helena’s numerous injuries weighed on my mind just as heavily, but it seemed like I was beginning to lose that one.  She’d never blamed me to begin with, and after five years, letting go of at least that responsibility felt good.
    I thought about all thi s is as I scooted to the back of the tent, and slowly lowered myself onto my back.  I stretched my legs to work the kinks out, and rested there peacefully for a few minutes until an explosion off in the distance jolted me upright again.
    Like the last time we’d destroyed an orb, I wasted a moment of thought wondering if something would happen to us, but like last time, nothing did.  Slowly , as my heart rate steadied, I lowered myself to the ground and raised my right arm to drape it across my forehead.  I was quite comfortable in that position and felt myself growing sleepy.
    Helena returned sometime later, but I wasn’t sure how long