October
Lucy's Age: 13
When looked at from a big-picture perspective, I feel fully vindicated in my decision to have spent the bulk of my time and energy developing Venice. Things have progressed in ways that I didn't originally anticipate, but she's become an incredible asset.
I still occasionally have to help her with regards to maintaining the proper mindset. There's a tendency there for her to be softer than she should be, but she continues to make good strides.
I've tried very hard to keep knowledge of just how good our working relationship is from Imastious, but I'm not sure we've succeeded, which is unfortunate although not entirely bad. Imastious is unlikely to mess with what I'm sure has become his star team of mission-runners, and if he does, Venice will now have additional incentive to protect me.
I have to admit that I would have more of a difficult time now cutting her loose if the situation demanded it than I would have had just a few years ago, but ultimately I would do what was necessary to survive.
I've discussed these kinds of issues obliquely with Venice but she seems unconcerned with the fundamental imbalance in our relationship. While I never felt honor-bound to warn her off, it is nice to know that my efforts to do so have failed to cause her to reassess her position. Ultimately my efforts at being honest with her should decrease, however slightly, the odds that she'll turn on me at a later date.
Despite my overall satisfaction with how things have gone with Venice, I can't escape a nagging worry over the situation with Lucy. She called me a short time ago and asked if it would be possible for us to resume the kind of martial arts training she'd enjoyed so much when she was younger.
A part of me wanted to say yes, but after some thought I told her no. I didn't explain any of my reasoning to her, but it would have put her at too much risk. Venice would have quickly noticed if I'd started disappearing for large blocks of time. She's also jealous and resourceful enough to eventually track me back to Lucy if our training sessions had gone on for more than a few weeks.
I almost reconsidered my decision not to explain my reasoning to her before I got off the call, but she's only thirteen, she's not ready to be exposed to my world yet.
This does highlight the fact that I'm going to need to find a way to put some distance, emotional and physical both, between Venice and I. Doing so without ruining things between us will be difficult, but I'm starting to think that it might have been a mistake to leave Lucy unattended for so long.
In the meantime, I've decided that it would be best to make a trip up to Yonkers and scout out an appropriate dojo for Lucy. I'm not going to be able to oversee her training personally, but I can still give her the opportunity to resume preparing for the life ahead of her.
In many ways I'm pleased, both with her desire to resume training and her desire to spend some time with me. This is the first time since we installed the virtual hiking appliance at the house that Lucy has shown any signs of life.