1.) Woke In A Dream – Age 6

Make the best use of what is in your power and take the rest as it happens.
- Epictetus

NEREID

The terror I perceived in her went far beyond anything I'd known.

"You're safe here, child." I said softly in Martian, the words and inflection rusty in even my mind. There were some parts of the language that were never used during diplomatic negotiation, but those were the parts required of me now.

Rei hesitated, curling further in on herself if that were at all possible before asking the most heart breaking question I could imagine.

"Where's my mom?"

The words came out small and frightened, something I'd never imagined the Martian dialect capable of producing. And those words thrust burning fingers into my chest, refusing to let go. That same motherly instinct I'd felt back on Mars swept over me again. I reached out, unable to help myself despite the fact my mind was screaming that she was dangerous.

"Oh sweetheart." I breathed in Neptunian, hoping that she could tell by my tone I had no intention to harm her. I wanted nothing more than to make things better for her, to be able to tell her that her mother was simply out of the room and would be back in a moment.

"I'm sorry." I continued as I reverted back to Martian, watching as Rei's fists clenched and her lip trembled. Some part of her already seemed to know the answer to her question. "I'm so sorry Rei, but your mother is gone."

"Gone?" Came the quiet echo, small hands gripping at the hem of her borrowed shirt, before she looked up and met my eyes. The comprehension in them was terrifying. "She's not coming back, is she?"

"No. I'm sorry Rei. She isn't."

Rei gave a small nod, her shoulders hunching and head curling down towards her chest, her small frame becoming even smaller in her grief.

I sat in next to Rei's bed, holding her hand as she finally drifted off to sleep. I gave a sigh, wondering if she would ever truly be okay again. I shook my head, pulling a blanket over her as I stood from my seat. Hopefully she would be able to rest now... at least for a bit.

Proteus reached out towards me, almost as if he wanted to pull me away from her. I knew logically he would be right in trying to do that, she was dangerous right now... but all I could see was a small, frightened, broken piece of human being. I stepped out of his arms and approached Rei, drawing on the mist that hung outside.

I slowly and carefully engulfed Rei's burning hands in my own, making sure to create a perpetual stream of water over my skin; preventing her from burning me. I could hear the water sizzling away from my barrier continuously, a small curtain of steam rising between the two of us which I fed back into my protection.

I knelt down in front of her, meeting her eyes searchingly. She looked like she wasn't even seeing me. Her eyes were clouded and her tiny frame was shaking.

"Rei?" I asked softly, not wanting to scare her any more than she already was. She didn't reply but her attention seemed to focus on me as her eyes cleared. Almost immediately, she tried to jerk her hands back out of my grip but I kept a firm grasp on her. "Rei? What's wrong?"

"You're safe, Rei. There's nothing to be afraid of here." I continued, doing my best to keep a hold of her as she struggled. I pulled her closer to me, noticing that as I did so she made a conscious effort to lessen the flames that burned around us.

I frowned slightly, realizing that she was already coming to fear her powers. She was trying to get away from me so she wouldn't hurt me.

"No. Don't" Rei finally said, her voice small and terrified. "Let me go."

I refused to listen, instead wrapping her in a hug; pulling her on to my lap and just sat there as she fought with me.

"You're in control of it, Rei. There's nothing to worry about." I told her, even though I knew she wasn't controlling it right now and that there was a very good reason to worry... but I knew she could get it under control, she just needed a bit of help.

I could still feel my barriers getting burned away as I kept her wrapped firmly in my arms. I just held her there until she stopped fighting me and the flames finally died away. She was still shaking violently as if she was chilled to the bone. I removed one of my arms from the containing embrace to settle it on her back. I rubbed it comfortingly, whispering reassurances as I did so.

"See?" I prompted, trying to catch her eye. She remained curled inwards, her eyes downcast in what seemed like shame. "You can control it. It's nothing to be scared of."

"But..." She murmured, looking up and meeting my eyes. I could see the fear and concern in her. I took one hand away from her back, keeping my other arm wrapped around her as I showed her my palm; it was unmarred by her fire.

"You didn't hurt me. Rei, look." I told her, her gaze turned downwards again and her small hands wrapped around mine, turning it, inspecting it for evidence of injury. She looked back up at me, her gaze confused and questioning. "See? You can control it."

"She very clearly wasn't controlling it, Nereid." Proteus finally said after Rei had fallen asleep in my

arms, his voice was tight. "Lying to her about what she was doing isn't going to help."

"Proteus, having her fear it will only make it worse. She doesn't need to know the damage she can cause, you didn't see it. She..." I let out a sigh, remembering what I had come across on Mars. The fact that a child could hold that sheer destructive force inside was baffling. She was so innocent. So alone. So wounded.

"She needs to learn how to control it before it controls her. For that she needs to trust in herself and trust in me. We didn't expect Michiru to have it completely under control all the time, especially at this age. It should be no different for Rei." I continued once I'd gotten myself under control a bit more. The thought of what Rei could do still terrified me but I wasn't about to let anyone know that. Her especially.

"Michiru wasn't able to burn down the entire palace, sweetheart." Proteus chided, but his voice was beginning to show acceptance of my words.

"She's with us now and we're not going to treat her any differently than we did Michiru. We'll teach her to control it the same way we did with our daughter, the same way Neptunians always teach their children: with compassion, comfort, and, hopefully, some amount of enjoyment. I will not have her fear this." I told him firmly, his stern expression slowly faded into a smile.

"We can still put her in a less flammable room though, right?" He asked, I laughed quietly not wanting to wake Rei.

"Yes. I think that would be an effective countermeasure." I told him, looking down at the small burns on Rei's hands. "At least until she's more comfortable with her power."

I wasn't sure what the limitations of her powers were, right now it seemed she could control the flames to some extent but I could see the proof of the fact that she could still be hurt by it. Whether from her own lack of control or from the embers of the burning furniture I couldn't tell. Either way it meant that she had hurt herself... but not others.

Not yet at least.

Proteus laid his hand on my shoulder, the weight of it causing me to turn and look at him.

"You're not coming back to our bed tonight, are you?" He asked, a fond look in his eyes.

"I think I'm going to stay with her in the infirmary." I told him, he leaned down kissing the top of my head.

"Try and get some sleep at least." He advised before walking to the door. I stood up, being careful not to jostle Rei. He glanced down at her, a bit of a grin on his face now. "I have the feeling you're going to need all the rest you can get. This one looks like she might actually come to try your patience."

And with that he was headed back to our bed as I made my way to the infirmary.

AN: Okay, well I'm struggling with writing kids about as much as I thought I would... which is to say as much as humanly possible. Hopefully I'll be able to bring in more of the girls pov soon rather than just exploring Nereid. Never planned on having this story be fully told, rather I wanted to reveal fragments of it. Aim for about 1500 words per chapter until about chapter 5 or 6 when Michiru and Rei are old enough to carry on a coherent narrative.