Yes, back home he was struggling too, taking care of the kids, training, patrolling, basically serving as Head of the Institute, but he had Emma. Diana. Cristina. People who could take some of the burden off of him, even when they didn't realize they were doing that. But here, it was just him and Ty. Yes, the Lightwoods were here, Simon and Clary and Jace were here, Magnus too, but Julian hated asking for help. Asking for a few days off because Ty wouldn't let him leave his sight had been hard enough.
Now there was...all of this. Not only was it hard because the one friend Ty had made here on his own had been kidnapped and Ty was swearing vengeance but also because this was too much like what had happened at home. Mark and Helen had been sent away because they weren't Shadowhunters, they were Seelie. Ty's friend had been taken because he was magical. Julian was one who usually insisted on not drawing attention to themselves, but for this? To stand up in the face of discrimination, he would.
He had been coming back from the art store, needing some kind of release, and guiltily took the long way home. Julian knew he shouldn't have, but he needed time to process too. Mark had left so suddenly, and then this, and Julian just...wanted some time. To himself. Just a little bit. He wasn't even walking anywhere intentionally, just walking, which was how he ended up in the woods with a girl just about Dru's age who was talking to plants. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he said, hands raised. "Secret's safe with me, even though you aren't one. And if you were, that would be okay too." Sure, it was pretty gutsy to say in this environment, but he needed to start saying it often. So what if people were witches? Or warlocks, or whatever?