NEW WORLD — HOLIDAY CALM

Chapter 96: Elders' Advice

The Next Day

“Damn, man, you really are keepin’ up…”

“Well what’d you expect? I’m literally exactly as strong as you are, right now! I bet I could stalemate you for a whole day!”

“That so?” Spike remarked with a challenging smirk. He locked eyes with Austin as the two grasped each other’s hands and pushed against each other, trying their damnedest to force the other backwards across the dusty WCU training grounds — though with neither giving way. While Spike was significantly stronger than any normal man, Austin’s Simulator Psychotechnism allowed him to copy Spike’s superstrength and prevent him from getting the upper hand… in a contest of raw strength, at least. In terms of martial skill, Austin was still no match for Spike — a fact the latter readily proved by merely jerking his right hand downward, taking Austin by surprise and forcing him off-balance. Spike immediately took advantage of the opening to force Austin to his knees, and then wrestle him to the ground.

“Aw, c’mon!” Austin scowled as he extricated himself from Spike’s grasp, at which point the two men climbed back to their feet. “I had you, until you pulled that little trick…”

“I just moved my hand,” Spike retorted. “Raw strength won’t do you much good if you ain’t prepared for somethin’ as simple as that.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Austin muttered, wiping sand off of his shirt and pants before shifting his attention to the side. The ACT Qualifiers were still ongoing, and as such the training grounds were largely occupied by other students training their abilities. But with the first week of the Qualifiers now passed and over half of the signed-up teams being disqualified, the training grounds were now far less crowded than they had been at the beginning of the week. “Still too crowded for my preference, but…” Austin muttered to himself, and then shook his head to clear his thoughts.

“You ready to keep goin’?” Spike questioned.

“I mean, sure, I guess…” Austin replied. “Man, though… we’ve been goin’ for about an hour, at this point. I just don’t have your stamina, man.”

“What happened to stalematin’ me for a whole day, huh?”

“C’mon man, I was joking. Look, I can copy your strength and durability, but I guess I can’t copy your stamina, because my muscles are fucking screaming at me right now.”

“…Oh.” Spike looked down at his muscular biceps, and then over at Austin’s — which were significantly less pronounced. “…Well, we have been actively trainin’ for an hour, like you said. The fact that you could keep up for this long shows you’ve really improved, though.”

“Yeah, yeah… still have a ways to go, though,” Austin muttered, leaning over with his hands on his knees. “Man… it’s really annoying that I gotta train my body to use my powers, neither of which really have anything to do with my body… I wish I just had your muscles and stamina, Spike. This would be so much easier if I did.” As soon as the words left his mouth, though, his eyes widened in realization, and an excited grin crossed his face. “Wait! I can get your muscles!”

“Uh… what? The fuck are you talkin’ about?”

“Dude, Danielle’s in town, right? I just gotta copy her shapeshifting to give myself a fuckin’ sweet bod, like yours!”

“…Well, I guess,” Spike responded, momentarily glancing down at his own muscular body and heavy build. “A body and muscles like these take work and discipline to maintain, though. If you just zap yourself to look like me, but don’t change your workout regimen, then you’ll just lose all the gains.”

“So? That’s exactly what Danielle does, right? She just constantly shapeshifts herself into having a toned body without ever actually workin’ out. So I just need to copy her powers and do the same!”

“She ain’t gonna be around forever, you know. Pretty sure the Eximius Vir leave by the end of next week.”

“Well, okay, sure, but getting big muscles is still the hard part, right? Once I have ‘em, maintaining ‘em won’t be nearly as hard. Besides, weren’t you the one who originally came up with this idea, back when we first got snapped up by SERRCom?”

“I guess, but that doesn’t change anythin’ else I’ve said, here.”

“Man, c’mon, just roll with it. This’ll help you, too! If I get a body like yours, then I’ll be better able to keep up with you in training!”

“…Keep up with me…” Spike muttered, his gaze drifting down to his right hand. “…Guess there really ain’t many folks who can keep up with my strength, huh…”

“What…?” Austin eyed Spike warily. “…Somethin’ wrong, dude?”

“It’s no…” Spike began, but trailed off. He glanced up at Austin, only to sigh and look up at the cloudless blue skies above.

“…Somethin’ about Sky, ain’t it?”

“What?” Spike snapped his attention back to Austin. “How’d you know?”

“Seriously?” Austin retorted incredulously. “The two of y’all used to be all over each other. It was almost disgusting to watch. But ever since you learned that you had superstrength, you’ve been keepin’ your hands off her. And if it’s so obvious that even I picked up on it, then you know something’s wrong.”

“Heh… guess so. But I just… I dunno, man. I don’t wanna hurt her, you know?”

“Sure, sure, I get that. But you haven’t accidentally crushed anything else, have you?”

“No, but I don’t get as handsy with anythin’ else as I used to with Sky.”

“Ah ha ha… guess that’s true,” Austin conceded.

“Thankfully, Sky seems patient, but…” Spike looked down at his hand again, clenching it tightly into a fist. “…I can’t leave her waitin’ too much longer. I’m close to gettin’ a proper hang of this strength of mine, but… I ain’t quite there yet…”

“Oi, oi… and you call me pathetic, sometimes,” Austin remarked with a sigh.

“The hell’re you—?”

“C’mon, dude. You’ve been worried about this for how long? Three months? And when did you ever come to ask me for help?”

“…Guess you have a point…”

“I mean, sure, I know I’m not the most reliable of people, and that I complain a lot. Especially when you bring up your relationship, you lucky bastard. But… I can copy powers. I ain’t gonna get ‘handsy’ with you, but I’m sure there are other ways to help you properly ‘get used’ to your strength. I bet I could learn a lot about my own Simulator powers from doin’ that, too!”

“…Heh.” Spike adopted a resigned smile. “Alright. Guess I’ll have to take you up on that.”

“Great!” Austin remarked. “…But let’s wait until I give myself some neat muscles, first! That’ll really even things up.”

“Always with the instant gratification, huh?”

“It’s not instant gratification, it’s… …well okay, I guess it’s kinda like instant gratification, but c’mon, would you really not do what I want to do, if you were in my position?”

“Sure,” Spike admitted, “but now I’m wonderin’ how you haven’t yet tried to copy Kaoné’s powers to make a new PC or somethin’…”

“Oh shit, dude, that’s a GREAT idea!” Austin exclaimed as he pounded his fist into his palm. “Why didn’t I think of that?!”

“Probably ‘cause it takes a lotta work.”

Austin and Spike both looked to the side, where Davídrius now approached, with two other individuals in tow — a man and a woman. Both were light skinned and dark haired, and sported the white, tan, and beige desert robes of Treséd, but their similarities stopped there. The woman’s shoulder-length hair and confident, quick strides were enough to remind Austin and Spike that they had met her before: she was Rebehka Tchiréon, Dean of the Wanleon-Tchiréon Academy of Chaotics in Relédiaka. Compared to her, the man possessed a much more casual aura, with his hands slotted into his pockets as he sauntered up next to Davídrius. A square jaw, short hair, thick eyebrows, and a five o’clock shadow that was on the verge of becoming a proper beard signaled the man’s maturity, easily putting him in the same age bracket as Davídrius and Rebehka, while his height put him just about halfway between Davídrius’s six feet, and Rebehka’s few inches over five — making him the second shortest of the five individuals present.

“I hear Materiatechnism is one of the hardest abilities to simulate, anyways,” Davídrius remarked, adding to his previous comment as he, Rebehka, and the unknown man stopped just short of Austin and Spike. “Kaoné only got where she is ‘cause of decades of hard work. Don’t think you can copy that in the blink of an eye.”

“I wasn’t saying that,” Austin retorted defensively. “…Is it really that hard, though?”

“It’s hard to say for certain,” Rebehka replied. “Kaoné’s Materiatechnism is unique — most Materiatechnics have to estimate exactly what region of space they’re manipulating, and specifically how they’re manipulating it, but she just has to point at an object and think about turning it into something else, basically.”

“I mean, I saw her make a car, once,” the unknown man pointed out. “I’ve never seen another Materiatechnic make a complex machine like that, not all in one go, at least. Kaoné’s really something else.”

“Yeah, and she went and bailed on us…” Davídrius muttered.

“Awww, don’t worry, buddy!” the man replied cheekily as he threw his arm around Davídrius’s shoulder. “Rebehka and I are here for you! We can all drown our single sorrows in alcohol, together!”

“Ugh, don’t say it like that…” Rebehka muttered.

“Hey, it’ll be fun! You just watch.”

“Uh… right,” Spike commented uneasily as he eyed the unknown man. “Uh… who’re you?”

“Just an over-curious asshole pokin’ his nose in places it don’t belong,” Davídrius retorted, though despite his annoyed expression, he made no effort to remove the man’s arm from his shoulders.

“The name’s Christeané. Christeané Kolstén,” the man introduced himself, bowing his head slightly toward Austin and Spike. “Nice to finally meet you guys!”

“He was real ass-sore ‘bout bein’ the last one to meet you Earthians, you see,” Davídrius explained. “Shoulda seen the tantrum he pulled a couple weeks ago.”

“Excuse you,” Christeané snorted, withdrawing his arm to pass Davídrius a glance of played-up annoyance before looking over at Spike. “You’re Spike? We’ve been in contact, right? It was you who wanted to know about Forcetechnic-based martial arts?”

“Oh, yeah… yeah, that’s me,” Spike replied. “I got your messages a while ago, but I haven’t had much time to look into the stuff you mentioned… thanks for the tips, though.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” Christeané replied airily. “I’m sure you’ve been busy. I know I have, with everyone at KCC demanding my attention all the damn time…”

“KCC…? Wait a minute…!” Austin’s eyes finally lit up with realization, and then with glee as he beheld Christeané. “Wait, you’re that Christeané? The Hero of Neticen?!”

“Wow. Straight to Neticen, huh?” Rebehka commented, amused.

“Oh… that was just coincidence, that’s all,” Christeané replied. “Anyone could’ve fought Morcii over Neticen, I just happened to be the one who got to.”

“Yeah, but you were still the one who did!” Austin eagerly responded. “You used the Master Fourth Tier Chaos State, right? And then your fight was so explosive that you literally destroyed the planet! What was that like?!”

“Uuuuuhhh…” Christeané grinned sheepishly. “It was, uh… a fight, I guess.”

“Austin, give the poor man a break,” Spike admonished, placing his hand on Austin’s shoulder as if to rein him in. He then passed Christeané a confused glance. “…Though I’m still a little confused about what’s goin’ on, here.”

“Christeané was one of the members of Hero Machina!” Austin exclaimed, “you know, the people who saved the galaxy 20 years ago, at the end of the Nanocreature War? And he’s the one responsible for one of Morcii’s defeats! At Neticen! They blew up a planet!”

“Luckily, no one was on the planet at the time, but it still seems odd to be so excited over its destruction,” Rebehka commented. “Neticen used to be the Citan’s Primary Fortress World. Its destruction created a massive hole in the CSA’s defenses and military might, you know. A hole that can still be felt today.”

“It’s really an overrated fight, anyways,” Christeané insisted. “All of the power came from the Ayas, not me. And then Morcii came right back a few months later, anyways… Personally, I prefer to talk about my actual accomplishments. Like being the Dean of the Kolstén College of Chaotics!” He proudly pounded his chest once with his fist. “The jack of all trades of all the Schools of Chaos, and just behind Kevérin’s stuffy-ass school in terms of training up combat-ready Chaotics. That’s what I call an achievement worth talking about!”

“Oh yeah, you’re a Dean, right…” Spike said. “…Huh, wait, have we met all of the Deans, then…?”

“You should’ve, at this point,” Davídrius replied. “Me, Kaoné, Rebehka, Christeané, Kevérin, Kievkenalis… that’s the lot.”

“We really have met all of the living members of Hero Machina… wow!” Austin remarked. “This is so cool!”

“I’m more curious what y’all are doin’ here,” Spike asked. “Uh, not to pry, or anythin’. But ain’t bein’ a Dean a busy job?”

“That isn’t even the half of it…” Rebehka said with a weary sigh.

“That eager to get away from a certain annoying Knight, huh?” Christeané questioned cheekily.

“Please, don’t remind me… I’d rather not think about her while I’m here.”

“Heh. Well, it is the Fall Break! If you want to forget about stuff on this holiday, then I’d be more than happy to help!”

“I thought it was Spring Break?” Spike questioned.

“Hemispheres,” Rebehka answered, and then nodded toward Christeané. “East Nimaliaka is in the northern hemisphere, but Relédiaka and Treséd are both in the south.”

“Ah, details, schmetails,” Christeané waved her off before grinning at Austin and Spike. “Still, nice to meet you guys, and nice to see that Davídrius really isn’t running you into the ground. Yet, at least!”

“I ain’t even the one teachin’ ‘em, asshole,” Davídrius retorted.

“Regardless, we do have a couple things we need to tend to,” Rebehka pointed out. “Austin, Spike, it is nice to see you again. Hopefully, things will go better this time around.”

“Oh man, don’t say that, you’ll just jinx it,” Austin responded.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Davídrius snorted, and then began walking off, around the training grounds. “Rebehka, Christeané, let’s get this shit over with so we can actually be on break!”

“Aw, what a pain…” Christeané muttered, watching Rebehka and Davídrius walk off before following suit himself, leaving Austin and Spike alone again in their corner of the training grounds.

“…So that’s Hero Machina, huh…” Spike commented.

“Yeah! And now, we’ve met all of ‘em!” Austin exclaimed. “Man, maybe coming to Nimalia was worth it, after all!”

“Didn’t take you for one to get into celebrity worship.”

“C’mon, dude, they literally saved the entire galaxy! How can you not be excited to meet them?”

Spike simply shook his head in resignation. “If you say so. Our trainin’ flow’s all messed up, now, though. Might as well call it for now.”

“Sounds good to me,” Austin replied. “We can pick up again tomorrow or somethin’. Surely by then, I’ll have muscles as big as yours!”

“Right. Sure thing, dude,” Spike deadpanned, watching Austin retreat from the grounds toward the campus entrance before turning toward the dorms himself, more than ready to look for lunch.

*

“Yo, sis! You in here?”

Twy responded with deadpan silence as she looked up at Sky, who had just barged into her dorm room. “…I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said ‘no’?”

“Ha ha! Funny!” Sky remarked with a grin, her gaze quickly bouncing around to take stock of Twy’s room. Mid-afternoon sunlight shone through the window, offering some illumination of the impeccably clean room interior. The bed against the wall was cleanly made with pale blue sheets, with a couple of paintings hanging on the wall above it. A small, cheap table, just large enough for two people, stood under the room’s singular window, with a white and blue rug underfoot to cover the stone flooring. Sitting at the table was Twy, with a large piece of paper lying in front of her, bearing the beginning sketch marks of a new artistic piece. “More art, huh?” Sky eventually commented, closing the room’s door behind her and then readily taking a seat at the table across from her sister.

“That was going to be how I spent my afternoon, yes,” Twy replied with a sigh. “But I suppose that’s not going to happen, now, is it.”

“Oh c’mon, sis, you don’t hate my company that much,” Sky insisted.

“It’s not that I hate your company, per se, so much as I often prefer my own.”

“Ah, there’s that introvert streak. C’mon, when was the last time we even had a chance to hang out?”

“Yesterday? And the day before that? And the day before that?”

“I meant as just the two of us, smartass.”

Twy sighed again, shaking her head in resignation before finally depositing her pencil on the table. Leaning back in her seat, she said, “you don’t usually want to just ‘hang out’ in the middle of the afternoon, much less on a weekend. Don’t you have anything else you want to do?”

“I can’t ‘want’ to spend time with my sweet little sis?”

“You’re the younger of the two of us.”

“Ah, by a whole five minutes,” Sky retorted dismissively. “It’s not like there’s anything to even do right now, anyways…”

Twy nodded in understanding. “Ah, so you were bored.”

“You make it sound so bad when you say it like that!” Sky exclaimed, “can’t you just accept that I like you and want to spend time with you?!”

“I’d forgotten how pushy you can be about it. You’ve been ‘wanting to spend time with me’ less and less ever since you started dating Spike.”

“Yeah, well… hmph.”

Twy warily eyed her sister, noting that she had turned to pouting. “…Everything alright with Spike?”

“It would be, if he’d actually fucking touch me!!” Sky remarked, angrily pounding the table with her fist — and small flames wreathing her arm as she did. As soon as she realized what she had done, she adopted a sheepish look, and diverted her gaze from Twy. “Ah… sorry…”

“It’s… fine,” Twy responded uneasily. “So… he still isn’t comfortable with his strength, yet?”

“Yeah, but it’s been, what, three months?” Sky’s sheepish frown transformed into a scowl. “I’ve been very patient so far, but I’m a very physical lover, you know!”

“All too well. Still…” Twy looked down at Sky’s fist, and then at the table where she had pounded it a moment prior. “…I think your little outburst just now is exactly the kind of thing Spike is afraid of. It’s easy to lose control of your powers when you’re emotional.”

Sky opened her mouth, as if to argue, only to stop herself and settle into a resigned sigh. “…Damn it, I know you’re right, but… three months, sis! Three whole months of this! I don’t know if I can take it anymore!”

“Have you talked to Spike about this?”

“Not… recently. I brought it up when we were on Sikalia, but he still seemed uncomfortable, and we’ve been kinda busy since…”

“That’s a good point, actually… even if physical touching is off the table, the two of you haven’t really had many opportunities to spend time alone together ever since we came to Nimalia, right? Or even since we got picked up by SERRCom.”

“…Now that you mention it, I guess that’s true… when would we have time for that, though…”

“Hmm, well, there’s still a week of the break left after Hunger’s Bane. Maybe you can do something, then. Like go on a trip or something.”

“A trip? Where? Are we even allowed to leave Tresnon on our own?”

“Has anyone ever asked?”

“…Huh.” A contemplative look spread across Sky’s face. “…I guess not! I’ll have to look into that, then! A trip with Spike… I like that idea!” Contemplation then turned to playful annoyance as she remarked, “hey, wait! This is just a ploy to get me away from you, isn’t it?”

“Oh no, you caught me,” Twy deadpanned.

“Aw, man…” Sky released a wary sigh as she scratched her head. “It would figure. Even after I came over to talk to you, you just end up giving me advice…”

“And that’s why you’ll always be the younger sister.”

“Oh, shut up. It’s not like you never need help, you just never ask for it!”

“Neither do you. I always have to be the one asking you if anything’s wrong. Just like earlier.”

“…Ah ha ha…!” Sky laughed sheepishly, and then turned to fully face her sister as her expression turned serious. “But it’s my turn to do that, now!”

Twy responded with a confused stare. “Uh… what—?”

“You’ve been even more withdrawn than usual lately, you know!” Sky declared. “This entire past week, you’ve barely talked with me, or Spike, or even Austin! Not after we got disqualified from the ACT, and even before that, you seemed kinda… out of it.”

“R-really…?”

“Yeah. It started right about when we got back from Riverana, actually.”

Almost immediately, Twy’s gaze dropped, as though she had found a new fascination in the paper in front of her — all while she began to fidget in obvious discomfort. “…O-oh, um, really…?”

“Yes, really,” Sky insisted. “I know you got into a fight while we were there. But it seems like everything worked out just fine, and it wasn’t your first fight, either, so there has to be more to it, right? Something that’s bothering you?”

“I… I don’t know why you’d say that…”

“Oh c’mon, sis! We’re twins! You can’t hide anything from me! Just like that time a few weeks ago, when you saw right through me, and helped me talk about some of the stuff I was worried about… but this time, the tables are flipped!”

“I think you mean ‘reversed’.”

“Oh shut up. And don’t think you can get out of this by being a smartass.”

“Ngh…”

“What happened in Riverana? Or at least… what’s bothering you?”

A long, drawn-out sigh escaped Twy’s lips, during which her eyes remained cast downward. She then shifted her attention to the world seen through her window, and the campus grounds that were busy with mid-afternoon weekend activity. “…Heh,” she let out a small chuckle with a smile, though it failed to reach her eyes. “…It feels weird being on this side of the talk.”

“I knew I was right,” Sky responded. “Whatever it is, you can tell me!”

“Yeah… I guess. Well, you’ve already heard that I got into a fight, along with Phoenix and Kestrel. And you’ve heard that it was against a Chaos State Chaotic, too.”

“Yeah. The fact that you stood up to that sounds pretty impressive, sis, not gonna lie.”

“Everyone says that, but you didn’t see what condition I was in at the end of the fight. I must’ve had a dozen broken bones, and maybe even a concussion. It was only Kievkenalis’s ‘Chaos Heal’ ability, coupled with Nimalian medical tech, that got me back to normal in just a day or two. If we were on Earth, then that fight would’ve put me out of commission for months… if not indefinitely.”

“Oh… Hmm, you were in a cast for a day, weren’t you…”

“Exactly. And on top of that…” Twy paused to take another deep breath. “I… I can barely even put into words what I was feeling during the fight itself. I’d never experienced anything like it. Like, obviously I’ve been in fights before, against EA, or those Bleeders we fought when we first got here. Or the infection outbreak in Relédiaka. But this…”

Sky remained respectfully silent as Twy trailed off again, waiting for her sister to find the words to voice her thoughts.

“…It’s like…” Twy continued a few moments later, “…that last fight, was the first time I was up against someone all by myself. Until Phoenix and Kestrel showed up, I was alone. There was no one to back me up, to come to my aid, and I was up against someone who was way stronger than me…”

“…That does sound pretty stressful, huh…”

“Yeah. At least in all of our other fights, I could rely on everyone else for help. And that’s not even it. You should’ve seen how much destruction that Chaotic caused! Once they were captured, and I was back up in the city, I looked down at the valley where we had been fighting, and… there were craters everywhere. In the side of the river, the forest, even in the cliff edge under the waterfalls, where the lab had been. But the next day, all of the signs of damage were gone, just like that! Fixed by Chaotics, so I’ve heard. And Dean Yumach seemed to think nothing of it.”

“Isn’t it a good thing that the damage could be fixed so quickly?”

“Well, yes, but it makes you think, doesn’t it? Just how many other places were subjected to the damage of a Chaotic fight, only to be repaired hours later, and for everyone to continue on as if nothing had happened? Just how common are Chaotic fights, if someone like Dean Yumach can brush it off so easily?”

“I thought he was taking it pretty seriously…”

“The fact that security at his lab had been breached, yes. But he didn’t say much about the actual fight.”

“Huh, I see…”

“So, it’s just, I…” Twy began wringing her hands as she fell silent for another moment. “…I just don’t know what we’ve gotten ourselves into. Or been dragged into, I guess. Is it really normal, to get into fights like that, where your life is on the line, and… just…”

Silence reigned for another few seconds, with Twy staring down at her hands, and Sky keeping a wary eye on her. Eventually, Sky responded, “…I’ve been thinking about that, too, actually. Or something similar, anyways.” She then held out her right hand, into which she created a docile flame before continuing, “no matter how cool these powers we have are, you can’t really deny that everything that’s happened to us because of them is fucked up. And it doesn’t really sound like things are gonna get easier from here, either…”

“Right…”

“But!” Sky exclaimed, drawing Twy’s gaze upward to make eye contact for the first time since the subject had been broached. Once she saw that she had her sister’s attention, Sky extinguished her flame and then clapped her hands in front of her, as if pleading for forgiveness while she bowed her head. “I’m really sorry for just assuming that you’d be okay after a fight like that! Next time, I’ll do better!”

Twy responded with a dumbfounded look. “Wha-what? What are you apologizing for…?”

“Well, we’re all in this together, right? But you still had to go through that fight alone,” Sky pointed out, raising her head to look at her sister once again. “Well, I mean, alone until Phoenix and Kestrel showed up, I guess. But it seems like you went through everything after it alone, too — and that’s what I’m apologizing for. For not seeing that you were stressed out sooner!”

“Sky…”

“I would’ve preferred to be fighting alongside you, too… but it’s a little naive to think that will always be an option, I guess. Which won’t really help much with the whole ‘facing life or death’ thing in the middle of a fight… but I can at least be someone you can talk to afterward! Or even just lean on! In this world where Chaotics fight all the time, and everyone thinks that’s normal, I can be the one you come to talk to about how fucked up everything really is!”

Silence again dominated the room, though this time with an undercurrent of bemusement, rather than moroseness. And after a couple seconds, Twy couldn’t help but smile. “…Thanks, Sky,” she commented softly. “Even after that jumbled explanation I gave, you still back me up…”

“Ah ha, well, I’d be lying if I said I understood everything you said…” Sky replied with an uneasy laugh. “But I know what it’s like to have a hard time putting your thoughts into words. And I got the general gist of what you said. These fights we’re getting into, they’re getting more dangerous… and the way I see it, the only way through this is to stick together!”

“A truly classic ‘Sky’ response.”

“Hey, I’m being serious, here!”

“I know, I know. …Thanks.”

“Anything for you, sis!” Sky remarked.

“Heh…” Twy smiled in response, and then heaved a massive sigh of relief. “…Wow. I actually feel a lot better now, having gotten all of that off my chest…”

“I know, right?! It’s always great to be able to talk about this stuff. It’s why I’m glad I have a wonderful sister like you, who knows how to get me to talk, even when I don’t want to!”

“You’re making me sound way pushier than I really am…”

“Believe me, if anyone knows just how pushy you aren’t, it’s me.”

“Somehow, that feels more like an insult, than anything.”

“Nah, it’s just me saying that you should get out of your shell more! Lean on others more!”

“Like barging into their rooms when they’re spending time by themselves?”

“You know it!” Sky replied with a wink and a grin.

Twy smiled despite herself, all while shaking her head in resignation. “…Never change, Sky. Never change.”

“Wasn’t planning on it!” Sky exclaimed. “Hey, speaking of change, have you seen that new shawl Kestrel’s been wearing recently? I think I wanna get one like that!”

“Huh? Oh, I think I know what you mean. Hmm, well…”

Having moved on to lighter topics, the sisters’ conversation continued on, passing under the warm light of a weekend afternoon.