A ball of copper and white fluff met Sora’s vision as she roused, smiling down at the sleeping girl in her lap. She reached down to smooth her silky locks away from her cheeks since they’d moved during their rest.

She suppressed a giggle in her chest upon seeing Nari’s yellow-furred fox form curled up at her daughter’s feet; the couch had extended slightly to match their nighttime rustling.

“Feeling better?” Seiōbo leaned against her armchair, legs crossed with her four white-tipped black tails lying across them; she wore a soft smile while observing their sleeping party.

Sora’s gaze drifted to Kari, her big poofy black tail curled around her front in her sleeping position; her chest rose and fell as she peacefully smiled at whatever dream she was experiencing.

“A lot better,” she whispered, looking to her follower and best friend. “How are Wendy and Mofupsi?”

“Hmm … I’ve accelerated time to the highest degree possible without having a negative effect on their spiritual dissolution and renewal. It’s going to be a long process, but everything is now set up … Six months in my mother’s Realm, and it should be complete.”

Taking a deep breath, Sora adjusted her position a tad, making Emilia groan, which in turn, brought a moan from Nari, but the pair only shifted around a little before settling back into sleep.

“Can you explain that a bit further? Six months here or, mmh … No, I guess I know it’s going to be longer than that,” she mumbled, and the memories of her childhood with the brown-eyed girl touched her heart. ”How old will she be … Will she feel out of place?”

Seiōbo’s vision went to the sleeping pair. “I did not say it will be easy … However, I did not plan on only those two growing when putting forward this option. Sora, you need to grow … quite a bit.”

She blinked at her aunt’s suggestion, looking down at her daughter. “You want me to use these time chambers, too … What about Emilia?”

“I have my own thoughts on your daughter,” Seiōbo giggled, changing positions. “You agree with me that Emilia needs special attention?”

“Yes … What do you mean by that, though?”

“The simple answer … Time to grow, find her place with you, and for you to see yourself more as a mother, which means something needs to be done to facilitate that growth. Wendy will not gain experience in this state—she can’t—her Intelligence is in a state of paralysis. However, you will move to new heights, and that is the price of this power she’ll gain.”

“I know … I want to make it as easy as possible to catch up, though,” Sora mumbled, studying her best friend’s resting figure. “Things can get so complicated, and I don’t want her to feel left out.”

Her aunt shook her head. “It’s impossible to aim for her to not feel left out, Sora, which is why she’s willing to go through this process. In the end, this will be a net positive, but it will come with its challenges. I have a plan.”

Trying to prepare her heart for what she likely wouldn’t like, Sora nodded. “I’m listening.”

A slight frown touched Seiōbo’s lips as her deep sapphire irises settled on Emilia. “You cannot provide everything your daughter needs … I know you are going to ask me to create an Intelligent Construct to help her as my sister did … I cannot.”

Puffing out a long breath of air, Sora slowly nodded. “Aunt Inari said it was difficult, and I couldn’t do it either.”

“You misunderstand … I could, but … for reasons I cannot explain right now, I am fearful to do such a thing … Sora, Nari and I look composed and put-together … We are not. We need time to heal and come to terms with the life we’ve already lived and lost … And this one we’ve been thrust into.”

Gut tightening, Sora sighed. “I get it—well, I don’t, but I assume it hasn’t been smooth for you … I’m sorry for relying on you so much when you’re probably screaming inside.”

Seiōbo’s gaze wandered to the white walls of the room they were in, a reminiscent look in her eyes. “I am happy that you have given me this chance … I’m still young, and there is so much more I could do … to be freer than I was, and to have something my sisters dreamed of as little girls. A nightmare and a dream … It almost makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.”

Her focus and gentle voice turned to Emilia. “I believe I can relate a bit to how you feel, Sora … We both want our mother to hold us as we cry into their comforting embrace, but life is cruel and will make us wait … I want your daughter to have you, even if not as much as she’d like.”

“My training for what is to come?” Sora asked, covering Emilia’s shoulder that nuzzled out a little from under it; her adorable little body had been somewhat restless since she’d moved, and her ears folded back as her tails looped around Sora’s to keep them still.

Their attention turned to Kari as she yawned, her skirt sliding up to her thighs as she stretched out, poofy tail curving around to extend to its full length. “Mmmgm … Wow, I didn’t expect to fall asleep,” she mumbled, throat sticky while pushing herself up and rubbing her eyes. “I miss anything?”

Sora shook her head. “He-he, no, I just barely got up myself. My aunt was going to explain what she had in mind for our training.”

“Huh, I thought we were gonna be doing that ourselves,” she grunted, working around her jaw.

“You will. However, I plan on the three of you exploring your abilities and growing together.”

Sora and Kari’s brows furrowed, glancing at each other before returning to the four-tailed Vulpes. “Three of us?”

“Mmh-heh, yes, the three of you … Aiden will want to join you, and I suspect Alva has been planning on it as well, which is why she’s been slowly building your Core to allow for her to help in your training by projecting herself into a visual form.”

It clicked as her mind flashed back to what her aunt did when meeting Tola for the first time. “Can she do that as a Fenris Wolf?”

“Wait, what are you two talking about?” Kari asked, pulling her skirt down while scooting forward, now fully invested in the conversation. “My mom can show herself outside of my Core?”

“Remember what my aunt did?”

“Umm, yeah, I guess, but … Can she?”

They turned to Seiōbo as the woman giggled. “Of course she can; it is in a different manner, but the result is practically the same. As Vulpes, we mold Existence through our desires that naturally tap into the flow of its design to fulfill our intent.

“Fenris Wolves take a far more brute force method—as could be expected of the strongest physical forces in Existence—they don’t rely on anything but their own strength. Consume, grow, dominate; that is the Fenrir way,” Seiōbo chuckled.

“I am sure Alva will bring it up soon with you—sorry for the spoiler, heh, but yes, Aiden will want to join you. He is tired of feeling like a slave to himself and wants to overcome and control his powers over causality.”

Kari ran her fingers through her mane of black hair before scratching her right folded down ear. “No way … My mom can just show up and hang out with us? It would … be like she’s really here.”

“Mmh, curb your expectations,” Seiōbo warned. “Yes, it is wonderful, but it is, in essence, training your spiritual elasticity and resilience … You will exhaust yourself because it is entirely dependent on your fortitude; the longer you do it, the longer she can stay out.”

A shining grin grew on Kari’s face. “Don’t keep hyping me up … I get to train and see my mother?”

“Emilia?” Sora asked, trying to understand her aunt’s plan for her daughter while fending off the girl’s sleepy arms, now attempting to lock her forearm into a bear hug.

“Mmh … Emilia needs a tutor, like you had my sister; I’m happy her first real exercise with you was learning the Outer Body Technique, and it shows how you went back to the basics that my sister taught you. Now that you are locked out of your Vulpes magic…”

“Okay, yeah, she needs a guide,” Sora finished, stroking her daughter’s tails as they overlapped her own in a possessive way. “I get that, but I can’t see her liking it when you and Aunt Nari are here. I know she’s kind of had to grow up fast … like me, I suppose, but there’s only so much she can understand before her emotions, as a kid, take over … Look at her now!” she forced a laugh at the girl, still unconsciously trying to wrestle Sora into a comfortable position for her to hold.

Seiōbo puffed out a long breath. “Yes, it won’t be easy on her at first … Not only does she need a mentor, but also a nanny I believe you call them, for when you’re learning how to properly use these new abilities you’ve gained.”

Her gaze saddened. “Sora, when I was inside your Oltera Nexus, I learned a great deal about what Null-Void was, how it reacts to Existence, and its development inside you … I realized a vital thing while preparing the seed with Emilia.”

“Which is?” Sora asked, catching Kari scooting back and crossing her legs, deep in thought on what her own cultivation would entail.

“Your father’s side is more potent than our side … If you don’t learn how to control the entropy it causes, you’ll never use your Vulpes magic again, and it will only continue to grow to overtake your mother’s side.”

Tingles vibrated around the inside of her chakram as she lifted her hair across her chest to stare at the circular weapon. “So … I don’t need to focus on power but control?”

“Correct. Sora, you have three tails … What does that tell you?”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t say … I’m strong?”

Seiōbo’s blue irises drifted to her sister, curled up on the sofa at Emilia’s feet. “Nari was attacked by a 6th-dimensional entity of this universe not too long ago. How do you think she fared against it?”

Kari’s attention returned to the conversation, vision narrowing at the mention of an enemy. “Wait, when was this—did you save her?”

Sora’s vision went to her bubbly, troublemaker blonde aunt, resting soundly against Emilia’s bare legs. “She doesn’t look hurt … Did she win, or did you heal her injuries?”

“Heh, Nari played with the insect … How many tails does Nari have?” Seiōbo pressed.

“You mean tail,” Kari mumbled, giving the fox an impressed stare. “Did she really play with a 6th-dimensional being … How strong was it?”

Seiōbo rose to her feet, finding her hands behind her back as her tails fanned out. “That’s my point … Sora, how much stronger do you think my sisters have become from their eight-hundredth birthday to their current strength?”

Sora shook her head. “I don’t know … I want to say a ton, but the way you’re framing it—it has to be a lot. Right? Aunt Inari said she’s millions of years old.”

A small smirk lifted Seiōbo’s lips as she moved to stroke her sister’s small, sleeping figure. “Founders reach the height of their power the moment they mature; the difference is how much they can utilize, control, and most importantly, understand—you can only use what you know you have—and what comes next, is finesse and familiarity.”

Straightening, she held one hand up to show the thirteen disks Sora recognized as the dimension example the woman had shown them earlier.

“The energy you can utilize in the 3rd dimension is limited because you only understand so much of it, but the limitation also grants you something Nari and I do not know, which, yes, does limit us to an extent until we cap our strength and live it ourselves.

“However, since we were born in the 12th dimension, we have experience in a sphere far beyond any power that could be gleaned in this 3rd dimension. Even if Nari has a single tail and isn’t quite as powerful as that 6th-dimensional creature—as an example—it is still an ant looking around a small section of its world, while she is exploring the vast cosmos.”

Sora’s ears twitched before folding back. “Are you saying … Since I have three tails, should I be able to fight 6th-dimensional beings?”

“In short, yes, Kari, Aiden, and you should be more than capable of handling any of the obstacles you’ve come up against. You haven’t taken the time to understand yourselves or Existence. My sister has tried to ease you into grasping those concepts, but, in my opinion, she’s being too cautious. I want you to push forward, even if it becomes dangerous, which is another reason why Emilia cannot be there when you are stretching your self-control.”

Sora’s gaze fell to her daughter’s face. “I get that … I agree, but … How much time will pass—will Eyia and Jin be doing this, too?”

“To a lesser extent, yes. Although Jin has her own issues, and she will not be using these six months to train at an accelerated pace like you will … If you want answers as to why, you’ll need to ask her about it.

“In any case, as you progress, it would be beneficial to practice with Eyia; it will be essential for you to understand her powers and fighting style.”

“Hmm, yeah, I can see that—to become more rounded; I need to know how to fight people that use weapons and stuff since, heh, I am a living weapon.”

Kari folded her arms under her chest and yawned again, working around her neck. “How much time will pass?”

Seiōbo was quiet for a moment, her focus on Wendy. “So far as I have predicted and scheduled to correspond with Wendy’s slightly slower acceleration … Nearly three years if you train for twelve hours a day inside these time-accelerated rooms with one day a month to spend with your daughter—you will need time to rest.”

“I have already selected and stocked both a private and shared room for each of you. He-he, not that any of you need food or water—especially, you, Sora—but you can still enjoy it. All you need to do is wish to be in the room as a group or on your own, and the Realm Core will transport you.”

Silence ensued as Kari and Sora thought on the process before them; three years’ worth of training for six months would increase the age gap between Sora and her daughter. She’d grow closer to Aiden, Kari, Eyia, and Jin during that time, as well.

Just breathe… Sora told herself, closing her eyes and trying to soothe the emotions making her chakram quiver. Three years for six months … That’s days inside this place on my own, but to Emilia, I can time it where I’ll spend every night and morning with her, which she’ll love … I’ll be nineteen years old when this is done, and Emilia will still look like an eleven-year-old, but it won’t be weird for her since she sees me every day.

Her focus moved to Wendy. Will she change? I suppose we’ll see; I changed … I’m a freaking weapon now! That being said … we’ll finally have the chance to recover and get over the panic that’s been our lives … yeah, this will be a nice three years.

Clearing her throat, Sora smiled. “It will be nice to slow down from all the insanity … Who will tutor Emilia?”

Seiōbo chuckled. “I’ve already scouted someone while you were sleeping; you’ll meet them when seeing Mary and the others off—everything, of course, is left to your final decision if you’ll accept her for the position.”

A little nervous about the prospect of Emilia spending so much time with someone she didn’t know, Sora’s artificial lungs puffed out a hot breath of air through her cheeks; it was strange having a body that didn’t require much of anything, but mentally, she still felt as if she needed it, and the actions helped release stress.

“I trust you, Aunt Seiōbo … Hmm-heh, you’re different from Aunt Inari, but I know you have my best intentions at heart, just like her.”

Seiōbo’s attention went to Emilia. “This may sound harsh, I am not all that attached to you as of yet, Sora, and this might seem a little heavy-handed, but it is the best path I could see. Still, it will pass in the blink of an eye…”

Her smile drew into her past. “I will say there is a peace I have gained that I hadn’t experienced before, and that is thanks to you, Sora … Time is a tricky thing that is more subjective than you might think. Hmm … Mary and the others are preparing to leave; we have another two hours or so in this room to allow Nari and your daughter to rest.”

Sora leaned back and closed her eyes with a short laugh. “I may do the same … even if I just slept, I already feel tired just thinking about everything ahead of us … Still, I’m excited. Emilia is going to be able to be a kid for a while … She’ll go to school, find friends, and have fun … Even if we’re going to leave in six months for her.”

Kari stretched her arms into the air and leaned to the sides. “Mmgm … Yeah, I’m happy to spend more time together, and Aiden, heh … Wow, I don’t know the last time I just hung out with him … I had so much hate in my heart … I don’t know what to expect now, but I’m not really sad or hurting anymore … Thanks, Sora.”

Emotion filled Sora’s breast while looking at the smiling dark-haired teenage wolf girl; the most terrifying person in her entire life had become her friend, and just looking back at their rough, intertwined path made Sora’s eyes water.

Now, it was time to help mend Aiden’s broken and searching heart; the weight of the sky had collapsed on them for years, but now, they were healing, and they had each other to thank.

“Thank you, Kari … As my aunt once told me, you can’t have the joy without the sorrow, and I wouldn’t trade away how I feel right now to wash away all the pain we’ve been through together.”

Leaning back, she closed her eyes and settled in, gently stroking Emilia’s hair; a blissful rumble shook her throat as she nestled against her fingers, ears folding back and making Sora relax. I don’t want to jinx it … but I feel like we’ve weathered the storm.