“That's absolutely horrible.” Maron whispered when Emari finished recounting the story, and they both looked over at me. I saw their heads move and I ducked my head, then lifted it to look at them. Maron waved at me and I ducked my head again.

“I don't know what I'm going to do.” Emari whispered. “He... he has so much hostility built up that it's like an impenetrable wall.”

“Maybe just let him do what he wants instead of trying to get him to do what you expect him to do.” Maron said, wisely.

“I can't just...”

“He's only your second charge, Emari.” Maron said. “Believe me, once you have a bit more experience, you'll understand that sometimes it's better to let things happen naturally.”

“She's coming!” Someone in the audience exclaimed loudly, and a murmur that spread the word rolled around the whole assembly hall. I felt the disturbance in the flow of Presence in the room, so I lifted my head and looked at the stage with the podium on it. A few moments later, a female humanoid walked out onto the stage. I hadn't seen her before, so I knew she wasn't a part of the council that I had seen before.

Is she someone higher than the council? I asked myself. Because I was still using my mental technique that let me feel the flow of Presence, I could barely detect the slight blue glow around her. It must be pretty strong if I can see it from this far away.

The guardian care area was about halfway across the assembly hall, which was huge. The woman stopped at the podium and lifted her hands, and a wave of Presence pulsed out from her. I felt the tingle at the base of my skull and then felt the compulsion to listen.

They waste their powers for public speaking? I asked myself, incredulously. How arrogant are these people?

The woman spoke of all the things that happened in The Order since the last assembly a week ago, and it was all pretty much just mundane things, until she reached the end of her report and talked about what had happened to me. I was extremely glad to have had two accounts of the story by this point, and now I could find all of the glaringly obvious details that this woman didn't tell us.

I wasn't surprised at her deception, since I had expected it. What I hadn't expected was her rant about not hunting rogues down as a rite of passage, and I shook my head as even that was twisted and changed to not be a bad thing, only to be discouraged. I couldn't believe my ears as she went on and on about not letting feelings of anger, vengeance, and revenge drive you to act.

I stood up and did the reverse of what I had discovered I could do with my ears. Instead of letting Presence flow into my ears, I pushed Presence out through my mouth when I spoke.

“So letting ambivalence and detachment rule your emotions is a better solution, then?” My four year old voice boomed out and filled the assembly hall and made everyone wince. Wow, that was a lot louder than I thought it was going to be. I thought in amusement and reduced the flow slightly.

“That's not what I'm saying.” The woman on the stage said.

“No, you're just downplaying the slaughter of innocent people by members of The Order and only urging the other members to not hunt sentient people down, rather than forbidding them from taking their lives.” I responded, and a lot of people gasped. “According to your own words, they can still kill rogues when they find them; but, you will frown upon the act and perhaps maybe punish them if the murders aren't justified.”

Not a single person spoke and complete silence filled the assembly hall.

“This... is not the time for a debate.”

“When will be the time? Is there an open forum for my complaints and views?” I asked, and she didn't answer. “No? Okay, then. Thanks a lot for clearing all this up for me.” I said, my voice full of scorn. “Can I go now? I'm sick of listening to your half-truths and deceptive words.”

The woman didn't say anything, so I shook my head and walked over to Emari and held my arms up for her to pick me up. She was shocked that I would do that; but, she didn't hesitate at all as she quickly bent over and picked me up. She tucked me into the side of her body and I automatically put my arm around her neck to steady myself, then looked at the woman on the stage. I could clearly see the shock on her face and held in my laugh.

“Emari, take me back to my cell.” I said, and everyone looked at me in surprise. “What? You didn't know that they are holding me here against my will?”

No one responded to the accusations of a four year old, so Emari turned around and didn't look at or talk to anyone as she walked out of the childcare area and then up the steps to the doors. All their eyes followed us as Emari pushed the doors open with her hand and a bit of Presence, and we left the completely silent room behind us.

*

That didn't go as well as I had planned. The woman at the podium thought and tried to think of how to recover from what just happened. She took a deep breath and let it out, then started to speak. “As you have clearly seen, that young boy has been exposed to some harsh circumstances that were beyond his control.” She said. “He can't hold his tongue or stop himself from blaming The Order for his parents being rogues and criminals.”

Everyone in the audience turned back to face the stage and looked at her.

“Despite his viewpoint, we are investigating the incident and have already restricted The Order members that were involved to remain in the building until we discover what happened.” The woman said, and she felt everyone relax. “The boy isn't being detained. He has nowhere to go and no one to look after him, and since he is only four years old, he can't be left alone to look after himself.”

There were murmurs of agreement from a lot of the people there, including the guardians in the childcare area, especially since he fit right into their criteria for 'needs constant care'.

“We are doing our best by him and we hope that, in time, he will come to see that and understand.” The woman said, and nearly everyone agreed with her. She called an end to the assembly and walked calmly to the edge of the stage, then when she was out of sight, breathed a sigh of relief.

*

“Where are we going?” I asked when Emari turned down a different hallway.

“You accepted me as your guardian.” Emari said with a huge smile, and I blinked my eyes at her.

“That's not an answer.” I asked. I didn't need to detect the flow of Presence anymore, so I stopped concentrating on the mental technique.

“The first time a child trusts a guardian to protect them is a special moment for the both of them.” Emari said and stopped at a door in the middle of the hallway. She touched the panel on the side of the door frame and the door slid into the wall with a hishing sound, instead of swinging open like all of the other doors that I had seen so far. She saw my surprise and chuckled.

“They leave some doors in the old style, despite being able to convert everything to an electronic version.” Emari said as she stepped inside and the door hished closed.

“Why?”

“Nostalgia, and probably because it's good practice for when we're on other worlds that are less technologically capable.”

“But...”

“Are you worried about being locked in?” Emari asked, and I nodded. “Then I can solve that problem right now.” She said and hit several buttons on the inside panel. “Okay, go ahead and touch it.”

“What?”

Emari chuckled and took my hand, then pressed my palm to the panel and held my hand flat. After a moment, it beeped and turned green. “There we go! Now you're all set!” She said happily. “Go ahead and try it.”

“But...”

“Just lift your hand off of it and touch it again.”

I thought about responding, then did as she said. I lifted my hand from the panel and then put it back on it. The door made a 'hishing' sound and opened up.

“See? It's easy.”

I lifted my hand and put it back, and the door closed.

“You figured out how to close it before the timer expires!” Emari said happily and kissed my cheek. “You're so smart!”

Both her happiness and her affection surprised me and left me kind of speechless. “Can... can you put me down now?”

“In a minute.” Emari said with a big smile. “I know you already ate those awful adjustment rations they needed to feed you, so how would you like a treat?”

“Wait, adjustment rations? What are those?”

“It's specially treated food so that it's not so hard on your body.” Emari said and carried me into the kitchen. “It adds special enzymes to your stomach so that whenever you visit another world, you can still digest the local cuisine without getting sick and get the nutrients your body needs.”

“How do you know that?” I asked as she opened an appliance that looked like a microwave. I was surprised that it was actually a refrigerator.

Emari laughed and grabbed what looked like an orange and shut the appliance door. “I'm a guardian. I know everything there is to know about taking care of children.”

I watched her as she put the orange-like thing on something that looked like a cutting board. She hit a couple of buttons and waited for a second, then there was a low hum.

“Mmm, can you smell that?” Emari asked and picked it up and walked over to the table and sat down. She had moved around and did everything with me sitting on her hip the whole time, like it was the most natural thing in the world. It had surprised me so much that she was so adept, that I had forgotten about my request to put me down.

“Here, try this.” Emari said and picked up the top half of the orange-like thing and inside was some kind of cream and the top half was empty.

I had never seen anything like it before. “What is it?”

“Only my favorite dessert!” Emari said happily and stuck her finger into it with a plop sound, then pulled it out. “Try it.” She said and held her finger in front of my mouth. She didn't try to force-feed it to me like I thought she would, so I took in a breath through my nose. The most wonderful smell assaulted my nostrils, and she saw my face light up. I reached out with my tiny hand and grabbed her finger to hold it steady and licked up some of the cream.

“Oh, wow.” I said as the flavor hit my tongue and I let her finger go. I couldn't describe what it tasted like, because my brain had no references to compare it to.

“Isn't it the best?!?” Emari asked and licked the other side of her finger. “Oh, Goddess! That's so good!” She exclaimed and closed her eyes and let the flavor fill her mouth.

I could see her slowly sucking on the delicious treat and she took two long and slow breaths. After another moment, she opened her eyes and looked at me.

“I'm really glad that I can share this with you, Ullir.” Emari said as she locked gazes with me.

“I...” I was going to respond with the same thing, then changed my mind. “Can I have some more?”

Emari smiled and dipped her finger into the dessert again and held it out to me.

*

Everyone ignored the sound of running feet in the hallways as the member of The Order ran by them. The person ran all the way to her destination and stopped just outside the door. She used the Presence to very lightly probe inside the room and felt nothing. She caught her breath and grabbed the door handle, turned it, and yanked the door open.

“N-no.” The teenage girl whispered as she saw with her own eyes what the Presence had already told her.

The room was empty.

She stepped inside and looked around and didn't notice anything that could have been considered a personal possession. She walked over to the small table and saw two uneaten ration dinners and touched the empty one. Her hand glowed slightly blue as she used her Tracking ability to follow the Presence residue. With the faint trace of his energy in the palm of her hand, she quickly pulled up her hood to hide her bright pink hair and slightly pointed ears, then left the room at a run. She reached the assembly room and the trail was lost in all of the other trails that left the room.

“Dammit!” She exclaimed and looked at the fading energy in her hand, then it was gone. “If only there had been more!”

“Is there something I can help you with?” Maron asked the young hooded figure.

“No.” The hooded figure said. “Thank you, guardian.”

“If you're looking for...”

The hooded figure covered herself with Presence and ran off down the hallway.

“Run!” Jarod said and lifted his arms.

“I think I spoil you too much.” Maron said as she picked him up and covered herself with Presence.

“Spoil me! Spoil me!” Jarod said happily, and she laughed and ran in the other direction towards the large indoor gardens. She had promised Jarod a bit of time playing in the flowers.

*

Emari and I had finished the dessert and moved from the kitchen table to the large and comfortable couch in her living room. Now that I had a chance to look at the place, it was very luxurious and opulent and seemed to be a much higher standard of living than I was used to. She still hadn't put me down and kept holding me close, even while she relaxed on the couch, and I didn't complain about it.

“Emari.” I said, and she looked at me with a smile. “Are we just going to sit here all day?”

Emari chuckled. “No, I'm just enjoying your company while we wait for your first lesson to start.”

“What lesson?”

Emari reached into her pocket and pulled out a small datapad and hit the button. “It says here that after the assembly, we have an hour of personal time, then we need to go to meet the instructor for your course.”

“My course in what?”

“It depends on what the instructor decides.” Emari said and hit another button on the datapad. “Oh! It seems we used up a lot of that hour already.”

Emari stood up easily, even with me still tucked into her side, and she walked over to the bedroom and opened her closet. Inside was several racks of clothing and two sets of drawers. Most of the hanging clothes were robes of slightly different colors, from light to dark. She opened one of the drawers and I saw that there were multiple pairs of folded tight-like pants and a dozen tops that looked like long-sleeved t-shirts. All of them were a light beige color and I looked at her face with a question on mine.

“It helps if everything is the same color, then you can get dressed in the dark or in an emergency and you won't have to worry about mixing and matching.” Emari said.

“But...”

“I'm just showing you my drawers.” Emari said and opened the next one, and I saw that it was filled with her underwear and bras. My mouth made that little 'o' of surprise and I looked back at her face. I saw her deep blush and she shut the drawer as she knelt. “Th-this one's yours.”

I looked down at the open drawer and saw that it was filled with miniature copies of her outfits. I looked back at her face and I raised my eyebrows at her.

“Of course you're staying here.” Emari said. “I'm your guardian.”

“But...”

“That was only a temporary living space. You were going to be moved out of there at the end of the week, even if you hadn't acknowledged me.” Emari said. “You did, so here you are.”

“I'm... moving in... with you.” I said, and she chuckled.

“I'm not letting you out of my sight.” Emari said happily and bent down to put me on the floor. “Can you get changed yourself?”

“I... maybe.” I admitted, and she grinned at me.

“Strip first!” Emari said as she knelt and tickled me under the arms. I laughed at her quick attack and she grabbed the edge of my top and yanked it up and over my head before I knew what had happened. “Whew! I think someone needs a good scrubbing!”

“But...”

“No buts!” Emari grabbed my pants and pulled them down.

“H-hey!” I exclaimed and then she tickled me again. I laughed and she picked me up and strode across the bedroom and into the bathroom. The next moment I was standing in the middle of a big shower.

“Close your eyes for a second.” Emari said and reached for something.

“But...”

The next moment, a soapy spray hit me in the face. I had both my mouth and my eyes open at the time, too. I started to cry and wipe at my eyes as I tried to spit out the foamy soap.

“Oh, dammit! I'm sorry, Aaron!” Emari said and I felt her get in behind me. “I told the maintenance bot that the spray head had the wrong setting; but, I guess it wasn't fixed.”

I couldn't respond, because I was trying not to throw up at the awful taste. She turned me around and then the water started. It was just a trickle at first and she scrubbed at my face with a soft cloth.

“You poor thing.” Emari said as she saw my bloodshot eyes and gave me a hug. She let me go and started scrubbing everywhere else. “The next time I see that maintenance bot, I'm going to kick it right in the lug-nuts!”

I snorted a laugh and she grinned at me, then the water spray intensified.

“Oh! Rinse time!” Emari said and moved over slightly to let all of the water spray to hit me all over, then the shower was over. “There we go.”

Emari picked me up without a second thought and took me out of the shower to the rack of towels. She grabbed two of them and walked out of the bedroom and tossed one onto the bed. Surprisingly, it unfolded and landed flat, and she laid me down on it.

“I'll have you all dried off in a second!” Emari said and snapped the other towel out to fluff it, then she covered me in it.

“Hey, what...” I stopped talking as her hands rubbed my head through the towel, then they moved down and dried off my face and neck, then my chest, then my legs and feet. She picked the towel up and folded it over to get to the still dry side and gave me one more quick wipe to get anything she might have missed, then she grinned at me.

“There! All dry!” Emari said and walked over to the closet and grabbed a new outfit for me. It was then that I noticed that she was completely naked.

“E-Emari.” I said and she came over with my change of clothes.

“It's okay. Everything is made to stretch and can fit any size.” Emari said and bent over me to slip a pair of underwear on me, then pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt. “See? Perfect!”

I didn't say anything, because she was still naked and bent over me, and I wasn't sure I could say anything coherent.

She picked me up and stood me on my feet. “We just need to tie the belt around...”

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Oh, dammit!” Emari said and grabbed the towel I had been laying on and dried herself off quickly.

I watched her closely and her motions weren't random or wasted. She was dried off almost as quickly as I had been, and she grabbed a pair of underwear and put them on. I stood there completely speechless as she finished getting dressed and grabbed a robe for herself, then picked up a small one for me.

“No, it's too long. You'll trip.” Emari said and tossed it onto the bed. “My mentor would kill me if she saw me doing this.” She said and picked up a corded belt from the closet and it had one of the cylinders on it. She unhooked it from the belt and hit the button on the side, and a bright white sword came out of it with a low humming sound. It was about three feet long and looked like it was made of pure energy.

“Wh-what... what...”

“Yes, she would definitely kill me.” Emari said and picked up the small robe and swiped the bottom 6 inches off of the end with the humming sword.

“Oh, my god!” I exclaimed.

“Wh-what did you say?” Emari looked at me with concern on her face.

“I'm sorry, I was just startled.”

Emari didn't say anything as she put the altered robe over my shoulders and tied the belt around it. She picked me up again and we left the apartment at a run. After a few moments, she covered us with Presence and ran as fast as she could. She didn't want me to be late for my first lesson.