Alli yawned as she watched Charlotte and Charles work through their exercises. She still wondered why Alaria had put the responsibility to train them, well Charles really, on her shoulders. Couldn’t she have just imparted the information herself when he came to rescue her? Or was that a no-no in the High God community because they weren’t related?

Was this just some convoluted way of getting around the rules? Or was there something else going on that she simply didn’t understand.

She kind of thought that there might be. Then again, her thoughts and emotions had been changing over the last couple of weeks. She thought that her body and mind had finally finished developing. That wasn’t the case with the human form she had adopted to be closer to Myriam.

That body was still growing and changing, and it was having a very real effect on her. It was strange. In a way, her two forms were almost separate identities, and yet not. When she was Alli, she was older, smarter, and more collected. That wasn’t the case when she was Silvi. In that form, she was more carefree, and was overall just a young girl enjoying her youth with her family.

Her personality didn’t completely change, but it freed her and gave her a different perspective. It provided some emotional distance to problems her younger body simply processed differently.

Like how she felt about Charles. A few weeks ago, she had been sure that she was in love with him. Now… especially after their talk, she wasn’t sure what she felt. Everything was so confusing, but at the same time what he had said had rung true.

She had been holding onto him as her rock, as her everything. It was possible those feelings she had attributed to love were an extension of that.

The sad thing was that she could now see some of those same behaviors in Myri. Alli, and by extension, Silvi, had become the girl’s emotional rock. She didn’t want Myriam to become so dependent on her that she couldn’t function when she wasn’t around.

Alli had a feeling that particular endeavor would need to be more of a long-term goal. Myri had already been through too much in a short amount of time and was still healing. For now, at least, she did need a rock. Someone who wasn’t going anywhere.

Shaking her muzzle, Alli refocused her thoughts. She was still confused about a lot of things, but she had been able to piece together what she didn’t feel at least. At this point in time, she had decided that she wasn’t actually in love with Charles. Not in the same way that Kira was.

That left her confused as to what she did feel though. He wasn’t her owner, and the title of ‘Soul Companion’ no longer fit as well as it had before.

It was a topic that had been occupying her thoughts, more than she liked to admit.

Charlotte stood and cracked her back, bringing Alli’s attention back to them. “Well, I think that’s enough for tonight. I still want to spend some time with Scott before he passes out.”

Charles stopped his own exercise. The tendril of golden energy he had been manipulating slowly receded back into his finger. “Same time tomorrow night? The sooner we get all of this down, the better.”

Charlotte nodded and tapped her glasses. “I know, and don’t forget, I have more unlocked than you do. The potion has really been cranking away at me in that regard. I’m already at twenty-five percent, just with our practice and drinking it each night. I still leave a use of the potion open during the day in case an emergency happens.”

Alli and Charles knew she meant in case something happened to Scott. The potion couldn’t be given to normal people. It had other effects on people that they couldn’t allow to spread around. They had to be careful with who they gave it to as a result. Luckily, Scott was no normal person, not anymore at least.

Charlotte hurried up the stairs of the lab to the main floor and then to the second floor, where she knew she would find her husband.

“What now?” Alli projected to Charles. They had already dropped Kira and the food off with Kate and Beth. Now they were done with the training as well. Did they go right back up or did they want to do something else?

“That’s up to you. Did you want to talk about something, or get back up to Myri right away?”

Alli hung her head, taking a moment to concentrate before initiating the transformation. This time, she got everything right. The clothes were all on properly… no, not quite. She removed her left shoe and manually put on a sock that hadn’t made it. Still, it was her best clothes equipping effort yet.

“I was thinking about that just now actually, our relationship has changed from before. However, I think because I was something Myri recognized and already loved, she has latched onto me tighter than ever. I’ve become the center of her world, just like you were mine.”

He nodded. “I know. I think we’ve all noticed how tightly she clings to you, and how hard it is to get her to separate from you for any length of time.”

Silvi played with her fingers for a moment. “How do I help her? How do I help her heal? You should hear her at night when she has a nightmare. Nothing helps Charles.”

It nearly broke his heart to hear her talk of the fourth member of their family in such a broken way.

“I don’t think there is a fix, not an immediate one anyway.” He told her, his voice cracking as he hugged her. “Only time can do that. All we can do is be there for her and let her know that we love and care for her. She’s a member of our family, Silvi. If she wants to talk, we’ll be there ready to listen. Until then, and at her age, I think time, a loving environment, and a friend are the most we can do for her.”

Silvi smiled into his chest, and fiercely hugged him back. Yeah, he had definitely changed from the reticent loner who had found her. That man was still in there for sure, but he had a family now. It had softened some of his edges. At least she thought so, but maybe that was because she hadn’t been able to go around with them as much lately.

A member of their family… She liked that. It was almost as if Myriam had become her younger sister. Yeah, she liked that a lot. It felt right. The four of them were a family.

“Let’s get Kira and then head back on up. I’m sure Myri is beside herself at this point.” She said, pulling back with a soft grin.

He ruffled her hair and gave her a quick scratch behind the ears that stuck up through her hair. She had both sets of ears in her human form, and it felt just as nice to have them scratched now as it did any other time. A fact that he was very aware of.

Silvi took a moment to take in the town as they walked out of the lab and headed towards the main apartment building. A feeling of pride and accomplishment springing up at what they had managed to bring forth. Saving these people, and creating this town, really, all of the towns had been a team effort. Charles needed everyone right there with him, helping, and it was further proof to her that he was no longer the loner from before.

He needed Kira, and sometimes her when he went out to create the towns. He needed Krystal and Kory’s help to manage everything, and Charlotte to make the barrier stones among other things. It was a small team, but one that was destined to grow larger.

She ran ahead and opened the door to the building, a satisfied smile gracing her face.

“What are you grinning about all of the sudden?” Charles asked as they walked into the lobby.

“Nothing, just thinking about how much you and we’ve done for everyone. It made me happy to think about, I guess.” She finished lamely.

A shadow flickered across his face. “I’m glad you haven’t been coming down with us as much lately. Some of the things we’ve been seeing-“ He sighed, and ran a hand down his face. “They’re not things I want you seeing.”

He nudged her forward before she could ask any questions.

She already knew some of what they had been seeing lately, but was it even worse than what they had been letting on?

Silvi didn’t like how not knowing made her feel. She was supposed to be his soul companion, a member of his party, and someone he could depend on. Instead, he was trying to keep her out and protect her from the things she should be experiencing with them.

“Don’t say that!” She shouted suddenly, spinning around on the steps to the next floor. “I’m supposed to be there with you. I’m not like Myri. It isn’t going to break me!” She hated saying that about the girl she held close to her heart.

******

Charles swallowed and spoke in a hoarse voice. “It’s not a question of whether it would break you. It’s a matter of it robbing you of your innocence. Silvi, you have been my guiding light, my conscious ever since we met. I helped people because I knew it was what you wanted me to do. Now, imagine what I would do if that ever changed.”

“Are you saying that seeing those things would change me? That I would lose my faith in humanity and people as a whole?” The thought chilled her to the core.

“Yes, I do, because that’s exactly what it’s doing to Kira and me.” He leaned against the wall, suddenly too tired to hold himself up. “As soon as we reach the needed fifty towns, we are both done. We can’t take it anymore.” He finished in a heavy voice. “It’s all too much.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me, tell me how bad it was?” Her heart broke at the thought of them both holding in so much pain without being able to tell her about it.

“Like I said before, we didn’t want you to know how dark humanity can get. Besides, you’re busy helping Myri heal, and that is more important right now.”

“I can do both!” She stomped her foot angrily, a crack bursting out from the step as she broke it.

Before their eyes, it was slowly fixed as the town system automatically used some of the mana it taxed from the residents to repair the damage. It was where the bulk of each town’s UM fund went to. Maintenance and utility fees, no matter their form were never cheap. The materials had been upgraded and even changed, but so had the people using them.

Charles pushed off the wall, feeling thirty years older than his actual age. “Maybe you could have, and I’m sorry for not at least giving you the option to be included. But Silvi, Alli, you have to remember, you’re my conscious, my friend, my companion, and my family first. Not necessarily in that order either, but what you are not is my therapist. I never want to put my burdens on your shoulders. You don’t deserve that, I just want you to be happy.”

Silvi stayed on the repaired step for a few more seconds as he climbed past her, tears pricking at her eyes. She understood why they had done it, but it still hurt to not be there for them when they needed her most. That’s all she wanted to do for her family, is to love them, and be there for them.

Unconditionally.

Her head hung low as she climbed the steps one at a time.

Charles gave her a one-armed hug as they left the stairs behind and walked down a hallway towards a familiar door. It was Sierra’s apartment. Despite her work with the kids, she maintained her own place. She had realized early on that she needed to separate her work life from her personal life where she could. She had a personality that wouldn’t allow for any comprises otherwise and would always be working.

“Sierra says you made Silvi sad,” Kira said, opening the door before Charles could even knock. She took in the girl’s drooping husky ears atop her head and cocked a brow at her fiancé. “I can see that she was right. What did you do?”

“You changed your hairstyle.”

“Don’t change the subject!”

Silvi looked up, taking in the trimmed and slightly curled edges of her hair. It wasn’t a big difference from before, but it was neater and framed her face better than when it was simply long and unruly. She liked it, though she thought the original reverse bob style still suited her best. It was the hairstyle Kira had when they first met.

“It looks good on you.”

“Thank you, Silvi. You’re sweet. Now tell me what this big lug did to make you sad?”

“We just got to talking about some of what you and I have been seeing out there lately, is all. I mentioned that I was glad she hadn’t been coming with us as much and had been able to miss a lot of the things we’ve witnessed.” Charles licked the inside of his suddenly dry mouth and waved to Sierra further inside the apartment.

Silvi had her gaze trained on Kira to see how she reacted to his words.

Kira nodded slowly. “Ah, and I’m guessing she didn’t like not being there to help us out.”

He nodded.

“You both might as well come inside. This isn’t something you should be talking about in the hallway where others could hear.” Sierra offered, coming up behind Kira.

Silvi could hear a couple of doors quietly click shut as the nosy neighbors tried to avoid detection. The inside of the apartment had been packed into a couple of boxes in the corner, with only a few items left out for daily use.

“It looks like you expect to come up to the space station soon,” Charles commented, taking in the boxes. “And judging from what Kira said earlier, I’m guessing that Odin either hasn’t fallen yet, or you still retained some of your powers.”

“No, he fell, but he was nice about it and gave me a few pointers about controlling my abilities before he did so. My ability to tell the future is slightly weaker, but my class helped to offset some of the effects. It’s nice actually, it was too strong for me to control in a lot of ways before. Now that it’s weaker, I can better manage the side effects and the ability itself. Plus, it still works with the bow just fine.” She grinned and pulled out the ‘Bow of Future Flight’, which he had enhanced and linked to her weeks before.

“Are you coming up to the station, then? I thought you were waiting.” Silvi pressed the woman.

“Oh, I am, but unless something happens that I didn’t see, the space should be available within the next day or so. The visions I have for things farther out aren’t as clear as those closer in time. There are too many variables and unpredictable items that could occur the farther out I look.”

“Well, I know mom was planning on expanding the space station within the next day or two, so you are probably safe,” Kira informed her, before looking at Silvi. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I…” She stopped to seriously consider what she wanted. “Not right now. I’m too confused still about other things, and this is just making everything worse. I want to be there to help you both, and I’m not. Even when you come back, you haven’t mentioned anything to me, and that hurts.” Maybe she did want to talk about it after all, as all her feelings abruptly came pouring out.

They listened to Silvi bare her heart to them for the next several minutes without saying a word. This was her time, and it wasn’t for them to ruin it.

The silver-haired girl gradually sank to the floor, her dress pooling out around her legs.

She sniffled and rubbed at her red eyes. “Why do I suddenly feel a little better after just saying all of that?”

Charles sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. “Welcome to human emotions, sweetie. They make absolutely no sense, to anyone. Sometimes just talking is enough to get things off our chest, and afterward, we’ll generally find whatever was bothering us before is now manageable. At least that has usually been the case for me.”

Kira crouch on the other side of Silvi and hugged them both. “And me, for most problems, at least. Some are just too large.”

“Same,” Sierra added, from her place on the couch.

Silvi relished in the feeling of their warm hugs for a few moments before sighing. “Fine, I think I’ve mostly settled a few things within myself now in regard to our discussion from the other day, Charles. And I can understand why you both didn’t want to bring me along or talk to me about what you were seeing and experiencing. All I can say to that is I can’t remain innocent forever. I’ve already seen a lot with both of you, you don’t need to protect me, not from this.”

“Alright, we won’t, at least no more than we would if you were with us.” Kira gave her a quick kiss on the temple and held them both aloft as she stood. “Now, let’s get home. I’m sure we’ve made Myri wait more than long enough. She’s going to want to come along tomorrow night now.”

Charles shook out his legs and released Silvi with a laugh. “Yeah, she probably will. Your poor parents.”

“Meh, they love her.”

Silvi took the rare chance to hug Kira back. The woman was still somewhat leery of others touching her at times. She had gotten tremendously better, especially when it came to those close to her. However, as a rule, it was still better to wait for her to initiate any contact.

The doorway up to the station opened before them as Charles waggled his fingers at Sierra. “Take care, and we’ll see you and all your little charges up there soon enough.”

Silvi waved and hurried through, anxious to see Myri. Kira was right. They had made her wait extra long this time around. She probably wouldn’t be happy about that.

Krystal met them at the door to their small apartment with a finger to her lips. “Shh, she just fell asleep a few minutes ago. She wore herself out worrying that something had happened to you all.”

Silvi ducked under her arm and saw Myriam asleep on the couch. Her cheeks were red from excess rubbing, with a hint of wetness still on them from her tears. She breathed in the girl’s scent and felt a part of herself relax.

This is where she belonged for now, with Myri, where she was needed. A smile ghosted across her lips as a sense of calm settled over her. There were still things she needed to figure out, but she had a family who would help guide her when she needed them.

Just like she would always be there for them. That was the way families worked.