The silence didn't last long before it broke.
A sharp gasp came from the back of the shelter, followed by a dull thump, someone had fallen. Flashlights turned quickly as the group drifted their attention away from Riven and Cassian and toward the girl lying on the floor.
"She's down!" someone shouted. "Not again..."
The girl's body jerked against the floor. Her back arched, then dropped hard. Foam gathered at the corner of her mouth as her muscles tensed and released in a rough, uneven rhythm.
Cassian began to move, but the older man was faster, raising his rifle and aiming it straight at Riven.
"Back off!"
Riven had already been moving toward the girl. He stopped where he was and raised a hand.
"She's seizing" he said. "If you hold her down or block her airway, she could aspirate and choke."
The man didn't lower his weapon. His voice was tight, directed more at Talia than at Riven. "We don't know what he's going to do."
Talia looked toward the girl, then at the men who had raised their weapons.
"Stand down."
The man turned to her and hesitated.
"I said stand down" she commanded.
He didn't lower the weapon completely, but his grip eased just enough for Riven to pass.
Riven moved in and crouched beside the girl, speaking in a low voice, just for her to hear. He'd read once that people could sometimes hear during episodes like this. That idea had stuck with him.
"You're alright. This will pass."
Her muscles were rigid, her head turned to the side. He didn't touch her face directly, just adjusted her position, tilting her forward enough to let the saliva run clear. When her body jerked again, the angle held. Afterwards, he moved her arms into a safer position to keep her from striking the floor.
Cassian knelt beside him. "Tell me what to do."
"Hold her feet gently. Don't hold her down, just keep her steady."
Cassian stayed quiet. There was a kind of focus in Riven's hands that stopped any joke before it could form. It wasn't just that Riven knew what he was doing, it was the way he moved, like every motion had a reason Cassian didn't fully understand. He crouched beside him and took hold of the girl's leg.
"She's overheating" Riven said. "Where's your water?"
"Over there" said the same woman who had shouted earlier, already scrambling to hand over a small metal canister.
Riven poured a small amount into a cloth from his satchel and pressed it to the girl's forehead, then her neck. His movements were careful and without pause. He knew that hesitation would only raise doubt and make things harder for everyone involved.
Cassian watched Riven work and saw more than instinct or caution. He noted it quietly, filing it away as another layer he hadn't seen in him until now.
The girl let out a shaky breath. Her body tensed once more, then gradually started to settle. Her jaw loosened, and the stiffness in her limbs began to fade.
Riven stayed crouched, watching her chest rise and fall as he counted each breath. When he leaned back, his hand hovered near her for a moment before he pulled it away, no longer intervening, just making sure she wasn't left alone in the seconds that followed.
Talia had been watching from the other side.
"Does she have episodes like this frequently?" Riven asked.
The woman from before nodded. "She's had them for years. We've seen worse too. And the little one doesn't always come back quickly."
"She's stable now" Riven said. "She'll be tired, maybe nauseous when she wakes up. Don't feed her until her stomach settles, let her sleep."
Talia stepped closer, crouching beside him. "Where did you learn that?"
"I was training in medicine. Before."
"Before what?"
But he didn't really need to explain more, and after a few seconds of silence, Talia seemed to understand that too.
Cassian stood next to him keeping his arms crossed and the eyes fixed on the girl as her breathing steadied. After a moment, he looked down at Riven. "You never mentioned this."
"You never asked."
Riven wiped his hands with a worn cloth from his satchel, taking his time. He hadn't noticed how much he missed this, not just helping, but knowing exactly what to do. It felt like he was offering something truly meaningful for once.
The man who'd aimed the rifle earlier stood off to the side with his arms crossed, saying nothing. He didn't plan to apologize, but he stayed out of it now, just watching in silence.
--------
By the time the storm eased and the wind settled, the light outside had turned dull and washed out. It gave the impression the day was caught between moving forward or ending early.
They'd been offered a back room to rest, separated from the main area by a curtain hung across a rusted pipe. Riven sat on a low platform made from scrap wood and salvaged foam, the satchel tucked beside him, untouched since the seizure.
Cassian sat across from him on the floor, arms resting loosely. He hadn't said much since they left the main room as he was still processing what he'd seen. He had spent days trying to figure Riven out. He figured how he was always focused on efficiency and survival, but now he was starting to see there was more to him than he'd realized.
"You were calm" he said finally, "...when it happened. Like you'd done it a dozen times before."
"I have" Riven replied. "In training, and after too."
"You said you were a medic?"
"I said I was studying, but I never got to finish."
Cassian leaned his head back against the wall. "Why not?"
Riven didn't respond right away. He kept his eyes on a crack in the ceiling, following the line where the paint had worn and peeled back.
"When the networks fell" he said "it didn't matter what I was anymore. Clinics closed and power went with them. People stopped waiting for treatment and started looking for water."
"So you just adapted and moved on."
"I guess I stopped trying to be anything and just kept going with what was left."
Cassian considered it. It felt familiar, going along with whatever kept you moving because there wasn't much else to do.
"My sister was the one who believed we could still make a difference" Riven said, his voice lower now. "Even after everything fell apart, she kept tracking the grid. She didn't think it was dead, just quiet. She believed it was still moving water, and if we could understand how, we might be able to fix it."
"Did you believe her?" Cassian asked.
Riven nodded slowly. "Not at first, but she believed enough for both of us."
He paused, then added, "She didn't make it past the fourth zone. We reached an old node and tried to bring it back online. Something went wrong during the restart and she didn't make it out."
Cassian watched him, slowly putting the pieces together. Riven's goal wasn't really about the core or the signals, they were just the means, not the reason.
They sat in silence for a while. Outside, the wind had faded to a faint breeze, pushing dust through the vents in uneven bursts. It no longer felt dangerous.
Cassian leaned slightly to one side and changed the subject, though not by much.
"That old facility near the basin, the one marked on the grid map. You think it's where they're stationed?"
Riven shook his head. "No way to know for sure. Talia hasn't said anything, but it looks like they're operating throughout this entire region so my guess would be yes."
"That node's older than the others we've come across" Cassian said. "If it's still intact, it might be connected to a deeper section of the network."
Riven nodded. "If anything's still running upstream, it would be through there."
Cassian raised an eyebrow. "You really think they'll let us near it?"
"No" Riven said. "But we'll find a way."
Cassian didn't argue. He didn't like plans that didn't include permission, but he understood why this mattered.
"Alright" he said. "We follow the node."
He stood, brushed the dust from his sleeve, then looked back down at Riven.
"You know… when I followed you out of Sector Nine, I didn't expect much. You seemed to be just another person chasing ghosts."
Riven glanced up at him. "And now?"
Cassian shrugged. "Still might be ghosts, but I'd rather chase them with someone who remembers how to keep people alive."
Riven didn't answer right away. He reached for the satchel and adjusted the strap.
"I'm glad you stayed."
Cassian smiled, a tired, genuine thing. "Yeah" he said. "Me too."