Staying at Eryk's house is wonderful. It's so quiet, and comfortable, and safe. Once Irene returns with Selena, she greets me quietly. She sits with me, brushes my hair, helps me walk around Eryk's house a little, and lets me rest my head in her lap when I get tired and want to take a nap. Between the earth mana and snuggling with her, my nightmares hardly bother me at all.

She cooks for me, a lunch that isn't just focused on being nutritious, but also tasty. And it's amazing. For some reason, I have a huge appetite again. Because I'm injured? The last time I ate so much was when I was heavily injured after the last battle.

Resting in her lap, happy and full, with those muddled thoughts rolling through my head, I finally land on the obvious answer, one I should have realized months ago.

"Of course, it's earth..." I mumble to myself, half asleep. It must affect my stomach. I always use it when I'm injured, so of course that's it...

The happy, comfortable day slowly slips by. Even Selena enjoys herself, the small, gentle smile never leaving her face as she holds me, strokes my head, changes me into another set of loose, comfortable, and frilly clothing. When she gets me an afternoon snack, with a glass of delicious, colorful juice.

Is this what it would be like? Living here? No worries? No constant tension or fear of breaking rules I don't understand? Being beaten or tormented?

Do I deserve this? This comfort? This safety?

Clinging to Selena's side, I look up, into her strangely soothing blue eyes, tears forming at the edges of my own. "Why is this so nice?" I ask. "Why does being here feel so good?"

She hugs me close, answering in a whisper. "Because we're safe here. Because no one will hurt us here."

We stay like that for a long time, my mind slipping in and out of sleep as the warmth and comfort finally start to sink in. Bits and pieces of something filters back, slipping into the cracks of my nightmares. Images of stone, of strange figures, and faces I don't know. Feelings I don't recognize. Each time, they remind me of something. Some dream I'm forgetting. But the details always fade, and I can't put things back together again. None of the others can remember it either. Like water, slipping through my fingers whenever I try to grasp at it.

I ask Selene if she ever has dreams. She says yes, and confirms that usually, they fade with time. She says that maybe bits and pieces will come back to me one day.

The light through the windows shifts to orange, and the last few bells of the day begin to ring through town. Emily actually gets off work a little early, Chisa spotting her in town. Like I asked, Riko talked to her earlier and she was incredibly relieved, but mentioned that she needed to talk to me.

So when she's getting close to Eryk's house, I tug on Selena's dress and have her help me into the front room. A 'foyer' she called it. Irene peaks her head out of a connecting room, watching us curiously, before Emily reaches the front door, her knock drawing Irene's attention. Then she frowns at me, and I cling a little closer to Selena.

She goes to the door, opening it to find Emily waiting nervously on the other side.

To my surprise, Irene greets her graciously today. "Welcome, Master Eryk told me to expect you. Aria is right here." She stands aside, but I catch the odd, suspicious look of hers as she glances at me. I don't care though. After hesitating uncertainly in the doorway, Emily overcomes it, and rushes inside.

When she comes running right at me, I try to brace myself, but Selena gets startled and retreats, leaving me staggering, unable to put much weight on my left leg, before Emily crashes into me, wrapping me in a tight, painful hug.

"Ow ow, please!" I gasp out, before she loosens her grip a little.

"S-sorry..." she mumbles as I lean all my weight into her to stay upright. "How are you feeling? You don't look so bad this time." She starts checking me up and down, quickly noticing the way I'm standing since she's still holding me up. "Your leg?" she asks.

"I had to walk on it for a while, it made the injury worse. So I'm trying to keep off it now," I explain. Then she starts eyeing the bandages wrapping most of my right side. "Bad burns," I tell her, "but that's my fault. Miss Beth treated them so they don't hurt too bad. I'll be fine," I assure her.

"I'm so glad," she cries, hugging me tight again, a little more careful this time.

"W-wait, gah!" I gasp and flail to get her to stop again, and mention the lung damage, touching my chest where I got hit, so she won't squeeze me like that again.

"O-oh, sorry..." she flushes red with embarrassment after making the same mistake again, but I finally hug her back.

"It's fine. I'm really glad to see you."

"Me too..."

After we stand there hugging for a bit, Irene clears her throat loudly. "If you'll excuse me, I believe we should get you cleaned up now, in order to keep the house presentable."

When she says that, I look back, spotting the bits of dirt and mud Emily tracked across the otherwise spotless floor, then down at myself, the nice dress they put me in now with big, dirty marks on it.

"I'm- I'm so sorry," I stammer out, my heart doing flips. How do I apologize for this?!

Irene stops me with a hand. "It's fine," she sighs. "This much is within our expectations. Let's just get you two clean."

I lower my gaze in shame. "Thank you..." When she comes over to push us toward the bath room- err, bathroom, I glance back up and Irene actually has the faintest hint of a smile on her lips. Just that eases my worries as she calls for Kristene and Selena to start a bath for us.

After she gets us there, she has us strip off our dirty clothes and takes them away for cleaning. Then we sit on the floor, and I shiver because the stone is pretty cold. I think it might take them some time to get the water heated for us. I could probably do it, Kristene returned with the ingots Eryk wanted earlier, everything I need for mana conversion. But I can't show them that, so we just wait here patiently for now.

"Hey, uhh, Aria?" Emily speaks up nervously.

"Yeah?"

"You know how I told Riko I had something to tell you earlier?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, uhh, it's... It's... really important..." I frown a little. It isn't something bad, is it? Wouldn't she have told me earlier if it was? Or maybe she was worried so she wanted to tell me in person?

"What is it?"

"I... Well... Mmm..." she mumbles. "Sorry, can I tell you in a bit? After our bath?"

"Sure, but now I'm worried..." I complain.

"U-uhh, well, umm, it isn't anything to be worried about," she says, but her tone isn't very convincing. "It's just... I don't know..." She keeps looking around, anywhere but at me as she speaks. Doesn't she know that's just going to make me more worried...?

I sigh. "Fine, just tell me when you're ready?"

"Y-yeah..." I shift closer and hug her, trying to let her know that whatever it is, it's fine. She feels stiff and nervous though.

After a little longer, I hum a little. "Huh..."

"What is it?" she asks, going a little red when she sees me staring at her.

"I never really see you naked," I comment, and touch one of the huge scars over her shoulders. "I'm sorry, I should have done more so these healed better. All the other ones healed fine," and I point out the spots on her arms and legs where there are no signs of the injuries from that monster attack.

"It's fine," she says softly, a hand coming up to touch it herself. "It's weird, it's like... like a reminder. Of how you saved me."

That makes me frown more. "But those are the injuries you got when I wasn't protecting you."

"Yeah, but you were there to save me like, super fast, before it could do anything else, you know?"

"Mmm...." I grumble. "I guess..." It still makes me feel bad though... Then, Emily suddenly pokes me in the side, and I yelp, "Eep!"

A silly grin spreads over her face. "Don't worry so much, everything will be fine," she suddenly claims, the look bringing a smile back to my face too. We lean against each other, just feeling content. "Yeah, everything will be fine..." she mumbles for some reason. We wait a little while longer, for Eryk's servants to come with hot water.

Thankfully, our bath passes without incident. After Nana's help with floating, I manage to focus on the good feeling of the hot water and I have fewer flashbacks than before. Selena is in a much better state this time too, and despite her clear fear at my occasional outbursts, she stays at the side of the tub with determination.

Emily joins me inside the tub, and we sit together, helping Selena wash ourselves and each other, so it goes by a lot faster than last time.

After our bath, they dress us both in loose fitting, colorful clothes. From the look, these would be... nightgowns, I think? Mine is a surprisingly bright pink, with short, ruffly sleeves that barely cover my shoulders. It feels sort of silly compared to my usual clothes, but it swishes around me when I move and the fabric feels so nice and soft against my skin, it's really wonderful. Emily's is darker, more of a purplish blue, with a similar, but somewhat less fluffy style. It's bigger than mine, but still small on her.

Where did they even get these clothes for us? Unable to contain my curiosity, I ask Irene as she leads us from the changing room attached to the bathroom, and she shows another rare, tiny smile.

"Eryk bought a wardrobe for you after his failed attempt at adopting you, in case he got another chance in the future. He said he wanted to make sure you would always be welcome in this house."

I have no words to respond to that. We make it halfway across the house before I mumble, "Oh..."

Irene has us sit down on a long couch in one of the larger sitting rooms, then excuses herself, saying she's going to start a fire since it's starting to get a little more chilly at night. I snuggle with Selena on my left, and Emily on my right. I don't really know what to do or say, I just sit, and enjoy being with them.

Like she said, Irene comes back a little while later with some wood. We watch quietly as she puts it in the fireplace in the sitting room, not far from the couch, and lights it. Then she quietly leaves the room, and it's just us. We sit for a little bit, watching the fire.

It''s so nice and calming, I feel like it's going to put me back to sleep...

My attention is pulled back when Emily tugs on my sleeve lightly. I blink away the sleep in my eyes and ask her what it is.

"U-umm, so..." she mumbles nervously, but I put a hand up to stop her. "Huh?" Then she turns her head, picking up the sound I heard before her. I got my water mana back when Kristene brought those ingots earlier, and I think I usually carry more than Emily. When we both turn our attention away, Selena looks us over curiously, just in time for the front door to swing open, loud enough that she catches it too. Together, the three of us move back to the foyer, to see Irene greeting Eryk on his way in.

He's much more put together than I saw him this morning, his hair all nice and smooth, with his fancy dark clothing and his calming confidence. "Good evening Aria, Emily," he greets us, but I'm distracted when Selena jolts and shifts to stand behind me instead of on my left, so I have to catch hold of Emily to keep myself upright without putting too much weight on my leg. I catch Eryk's glance above me, to Selena, but then he's looking at me again.

"Good evening, Eryk," I return the greeting with a smile.

"How was your day?"

"It was..." I almost can't put it into words. "It was great." That isn't good enough. Not even close to explaining how I feel. "It was... just... the best... Everything..." I mumble uncertainly, trying my best to express to him just how amazing everything has been.

"That's good to hear." His soft smile makes me sniffle a little, but I don't want to cry. Even if it's happy crying. "How about you, Emily?"

"Today was good," she answers easily, but then she looks away for some reason, and her tone changes, sounding more... detached, or mature, or something. "Yeah... Today was good..." What does she mean by that? Even Eryk raises a brow at her response, then she looks up at him, and says, "I need to tell you too."

"Tell me what?" Eryk asks.

She answers his question with a question. "Can we sit down?"

When she points a look at me, he says, "Yes yes, of course," and begins heading back toward the sitting room. As soon as I move to follow, I turn to glance Selena's way, but she's gone. I look around but she's not here, and when I listen, I hear her footsteps retreating into another room. That makes me worried for a moment, but I have to lean my weight on Emily and keep pace with her as we follow Eryk.

We sit back on the same couch as before, Eryk across from us, so he's right beside the fireplace. "You two look nice and comfortable," Eryk comments.

"Yeah, thank you. For... for the clothes," I stammer, annoyed that I don't have a better way of expressing how thankful I really am. "For everything, really. Irene told me, well, why you got them... Thank you..." I end up mumbling, trying to make him understand.

"You're welcome." He says it plainly, but I can see in his eyes that he does get it. And he sounds so sincere, I have to fight not to tear up again.

After we sit by the fire briefly, we both turn our attention to Emily. She's clearly really anxious about whatever she wants to say, so I give her a comforting hug and smile, like she always does for me. That helps her calm down, so she can explain.

She takes one big, deep breath and locks eyes with Eryk. "Mister Fredricson is dead."