Chapter 3

The moment the eleven days were up there was a knock on Lian's bedroom door. Lian jumped and pulled his headphones out, "Yeah?"

"It's Nissa. May I come in?"

Lian smiled, "Of course, Mother!"

Nissa closed the door behind her as she entered the room. She smiled gently at him, "Are you doing alright, Lian?"

Lian nodded, "I'm fine."

Nissa sat down next to him on his bed, "Are you sure? It's been eleven days. That doesn't usually bode well for most."

Lian nodded again. He lowered his gaze, "I'm used to it by now, Mother."

Nissa brushed his black hair out of the right side of his face, "I'm sorry." She held up a necklace with a long silver chain and a cat head shaped pendant, "Here."

Lian grinned and took it from her, "Thanks" He pulled it over his head and shoved it under his hoodie.

Nissa sighed and touched the hair clips that held his hair back on the left side of his head, "You stole more clips from Mayu didn't you?"

Lian shrugged, "She said she didn't mind."

Nissa shook her head, "It's not good to steal." She stood and put her hand on top of his head, "Come to Mayu or myself if you need anything."

Lian smiled up at her happily, "Yes, Mother. I will."

Nissa smiled back at him, "I'll be having tea in the garden after nightfall with Mayu if you wish to join us."

Lian brightened instantly and nodded excitedly, "I'd love to!"

Nissa chuckled, "Remember. Not a word to your father."

Lian nodded and whispered, "Yep."

Nissa hesitated for a moment but turned and left his room.

Lian reached over to his fox and wrapped his arms around it. He buried his face into it's side. He sat up and scooted closer to it, "Mother's finally doing tea again. It's been years since the last one." He paused, "I guess I understand why she doesn't do it often. Father would be livid if he found out." He shuddered.

That night Lian slid silently into Daria's bedroom. His brother would be out training still. And since his window had bars on it he'd just borrow somebody else's. He opened Daria's bedroom window and climbed onto the ledge outside it. He carefully closed the window behind him and dropped into a nearby tree. He maneuvered his way to the ground with ease and raced across the courtyard. He slid to a stop and hopped effortlessly onto a marble bench, next to Mayu.

Nissa and Mayu both watched him in amusement. The white marble table had tea, bread, and cookies sitting on it. Ivy and pastel flowers wrapped around the edge of the table.

Mayu smiled, "Here, why don't you sit, instead of standing on the bench?"

"Oh." Lian sat down and swung his legs, "Hi."

"How've you been?" Mayu asked.

Lian shrugged, "By myself." He noticed Mayu studying him worriedly and quickly added, "Which is fine. I don't mind it." He nodded, mostly to himself, "Besides. I've got my buddy to hang out with."

"You still haven't named him?" Mayu asked.

Lian grabbed some bread and bit into it angrily. "Loc still won't tell me his name," he explained with his mouth full.

"Why not?" Nissa asked curiously.

Lian shrugged. He swallowed his bite, "Because apparently it's a secret and I don't have anything to share with him."

Mayu laughed, "That sucks."

Lian cocked his head to the side, "Mother?"

Nissa nodded, "Yes?"

"Why is there only one mountain over there?" He pointed out towards the mountain that rose like an obsidian spire about a two day walk outside the city. "I thought mountains came in ranges."

Nissa stared at the mountain silently for a long while. Lian started to get impatient but didn't push her to answer. Eventually Nissa finally said, "It was initially a simple hill. But after thousands of years of lava piling on top of itself and cooling, it formed into the monument it is today."

Lian studied the mountain, "But...wouldn't I have noticed it before now if it's been around that long?"

Mayu shook her head, "Not necessarily. You..." She trailed off for a moment. "You don't get out much."

Lian lowered his gaze and studied the table, "Oh yeah." He started to pick at the ivy around the table.

Mayu quickly changed the subject, "Mother. Aria wanted me to give you these seeds. They're to a plant he found on Theros on one of his missions that Father sends him on." Mayu set the small cloth sack containing the seeds down close to the center of the table.

Lian leaned closer and touched the bag curiously. The seeds were large and rounded. They were vaguely cylindrical but each individual seed had a different set of irregularities from all of the others. He looked at Nissa, "Can I dump out the bag?"

Nissa nodded, "Be careful."

Lian slowly and gently dumped the seeds onto the table. A tingling sensation pricked his hands. He gave Mayu a curious look, "Are they magical?"

Mayu shrugged, "Aria didn't say."

Nissa took one of the seeds and held it in her palm for a moment. She smiled, "Midnight Lilies. I should've guessed."

Lian glanced at Mayu in confusion and cocked his head to the side, "Midnight Lilies?"

Nissa nodded, "They're Aria's favorite flowers. They can only be found on specific worlds. And Theros is not one of them, meaning he took a short detour on his way home." She got to her feet and walked a few feet away from the table. She knelt down and set the seed on the ground. She placed her hand, palm down over the seed. Slowly she lifted her hand off of the ground. The lily grew underneath her hand until it reached maturity. The flower however remained closed.

Lian blinked slowly, "Is it supposed to be like that? It doesn't look like a lily."

Mayu put her hand on his shoulder, "Be patient. Wait for the moon's light to hit it."

Nissa got to her feet and moved so that her shadow no longer fell on the flower. In the light of the moon the flower opened. It's petals glowed a gentle silver. Flecks of light like stars fell from the petals. The lights faded once it hit they ground. A barely audible jingling sound floated through the air.

Lian's eyes widened. "Wow," he breathed. He watched Nissa plant the remaining six seeds completely mesmerized.

Mayu noticed and waved her hand in front of his face.

Lian jumped and turned to her her, "Yeah?"

Mayu shrugged but studied him in silence for a moment. "You weren't blinking," she finally explained.

Nissa glanced at Lian but said nothing.

Lian didn't notice Nissa. He rubbed his eyes, suddenly aware of how dry they were, "Oh." He jumped up suddenly, "Mother! Mayu! Guess what?!" He pulled a small notebook out of one of the many pockets of his dark blue cargo pants. He flipped through it in a rush until he found the page he was looking for. He held it up, beaming proudly, for them to see. "I had an idea for a more human looking service bot that is a little more humanoid looking and can actually provide conversation! That way when Father locks me in my room it'll talk back when it brings me my food!" He set the notebook down on his lap. "The conversation points would have to be programed ahead of time of course. Because it's a robot and wouldn't be able to learn all on it's own."

Mayu gave him an approving nod, "Best make sure you don't lose the notebook then huh?"

Lian nodded. He continued excitedly, "And I think I might have found a way to transfer animal consciousness into a computer. But I don't really wanna test it. I don't know what would happen if I did and well...my buddy is really the thing I have available to test it on." Lian lowered his gaze and mumbled, "And what if he died?"

Nissa cupped her hands together and a small brown and light grey mouse formed in her palms. She held it out to Lian, "Take him then. He'll be able to withstand any mishaps that could occur."

Lian gingerly took the mouse and held it in his hands. It squeaked a couple times and pawed at his fingers. A few seconds later it tucked it's nose between his pointer and middle fingers of his left hand and fell asleep. Lian giggled, "He's so tiny."

Nissa smiled, "Don't be afraid to ask if you need any more."

Lian grinned, "Yes Mother!"

When tea ended Lian scaled the wall to one of his other two sisters' bedrooms. It was more difficult than usually, since he only had one free hand. He held the mouse Nissa had given him in his left hand. The window was already open because she couldn't sleep without it. He slid slowly and silently off the windowsill, watching her sleeping form. He paused and cocked his head to the side, "Is she wearing armor? While she's sleeping?" The room was too dark to really be able to tell. He shrugged and silently left the room. The door clicked closed behind him and he stiffened. He raced down the hall to his own bedroom, opening and closing the door without making a sound.

Lian opened up a drawer in his desk and set the mouse down inside. He turned to where his fox watched him curiously from his pillow, "Don't eat him, alright? He's your new brother."

The fox yawned and curled back up to go back to sleep.

Lian pouted, "Well fine. Love you too then." He went over to his closet and pulled out a couple of shirts. One was a bright red t-shirt that he never wore. The other was a thicker fleece pull over that he also never wore. He threw the shirts over the back of the desk chair, turned on the lamp, and pulled a singular drawer out from under his bed. He grunted from the effort of picking it up. The drawer was full of junk. Bits of scrap metal, old gears, wires, fabric scraps, screws, broken glass, and pretty much anything else.

"C'mon. I know it's in here somewhere." Lian dug recklessly through the contents of the drawer. He paused just long enough to take off his hoodie, "It's hot." His white turtle neck tank top went down to his waist. His belt had two chains hanging from it that had the sole purpose of decoration. He wore four necklaces of various lengths, including the one his mother had given him earlier. He hissed when he cut his hand on some glass but shook it out and continued to shove stuff aside.

Five minutes later he triumphantly held up an old sewing kit, "Ah-ha!" He set it on the desk and put the drawer back under his bed. He pulled the scissors out and started cutting apart his shirts. The first thing he cut out was a long strip that he wrapped around the cut on his hand. Then he cut the shirts apart further and glanced at the mouse multiple times for reference. Once he was satisfied with the pieces of fabric he laid them out on his desk. He cut a slit in his pillow, without disturbing the fox. He pulled some of the stuffing out of his pillow and took it back over to his desk. He placed the stuffing onto one of the pieces of cloth and then laid another piece of cloth on top of it. A handful of minutes later he had successfully sewed it closed.

"I need a book." Lian sneaked out of his room and made his way downstairs. In an effort to make as little noise as possible he shoved the large wooden door to the library just open enough that he could squeeze through. He grabbed the first large, heavy book he could find and then hurried back to his room, making sure to close the library door behind him.

He set the book down on the makeshift mouse mattress he had made to flatten it out so it hopefully wouldn't be lumpy. He layered the thick fleece of the jacket in between the red cloth of the shirt and sewed it together to make a blanket. When he was done he pulled the book off the mattress. He gently picked up the mouse with one hand and set him down on the mattress. He laid the blanket over the mouse and got to work making a layer of insulation for the desk drawer to keep the cold out.

When Lian was finished he picked up the mouse, on it's mattress wrapped up in it's blanket and set it down in the desk drawer. "I'll make you some toys over the week." Lian promised. He took the sewing kit and sewed the slit in his pillow closed. After putting the sewing kit back in the drawer, he put his hoodie back on, turned off the lamp and climbed into bed. He pulled his blanket over his shoulders, "Good night." He waited for a few moments.

Silence answered him.

He sighed, "Good night, Lian." He closed his eyes and fell asleep.