There was a circle of life in this universe. Autumn knew that much was true, and it was just… something that happened. You lived, you died. The world went on. So even with her newfound healing abilities, she did her best not to get too deeply involved.

Only, with her birds? No contest. She would always heal the crows around the house.

This little guy wasn’t related to Russell, but he was part of the flock. It meant he was family. So when Russell showed up, cawing and crying, Autumn couldn’t help herself. She took the little guy into the apartment (secretly praying Zac didn’t notice or question), and wrapped him up in a towel. Something about a local cat, and lord she’d heard this one before.

Thank ******** it wasn’t Rosalinde. For all of her attitude, she knew better than to go after the flock. All it had taken was once.

Running her hands over the bandages, Autumn willed the pain out of its little body. It was so much more intense for the little guy- amplified onto her own body, it was almost like being torn apart. Her mind flashed back to Blackfriars, the ripping and tearing of her flesh so intense she’d thought she was at death’s doorstep. Take the pain, push it away. Nothing had ever happened to the bird. Her pain aside, she would put him back together.

And then, it was over. And she was still in one piece.

The little bird looked up at her, only… why was the world swimming? It felt like she’d just run a marathon. Or two. Autumn unsteadily stepped away, and fell back onto the sofa behind her. She wiped her brow, pushing away the sweat. This was worse than any single workout she’d had recently. Not even her hospital stay had left her this… tired.

A caw, from her newly healed friend. The crow- Rebecca, she remembered- was asking if she was okay. Autumn nodded wearily, offering the little crow a smile.

“I’m fine. Fine, I promise.” But it sounded exhausted, even to her. Never, in all her healing experiences, had she felt so worn and frail. Not that she’d had a ton of healing experiences, but still. She’d done bigger and worse than this, and never felt so shitty.

Rebecca cawed gently in her direction, then unfurled her wings and headed out with a promise to return.

Autumn’s eyes sagged shut. She was just… going to rest for a minute, that was all. A minute to close her eyes.

She opened them again with the opening of the door and a ‘hey!’ from Zac, and blinked blearily. Huh. He was home like, stupid early. Autumn glanced to the clock, since he wasn’t supposed to be home till—

It was five. She’d ******** slept for three hours. And she was still ******** tired. Blinking, Autumn stared at the clock face as if willing it to read a different time. There was no way. There was no ******** way she’d taken a two hour nap.

…Okay. Maybe there was a way. Maybe that way was that she’d exhausted herself with magic, and needed to figure out what the ******** was going on with her healing.

Which meant she had to go and find Pax.