Whoo! I've been so busy, running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the past... few weeks? And I'm still really busy, help me please.

Actually, I should probably take this opportunity to announce that, due to the results of the US elections, I've been forced to put some of my life plans on the fast track for my own safety, whiiich means the next two years are going to be intense and very, very busy. I don't know what that's going to mean for my updating schedule, but I just thought I should give you a warning in case things do go haywire.

That being said, I'm not quitting, I promise. Taryn is my creative muse and the first character I've ever created with character development that actually makes sense. I'm proud of her and I'm not giving up on her.

Anyways, while I have the next few days to myself, I'm going to try and crank out a few extra chapters.

Anyways...

D. Gray-Man belongs to Katsura Hoshino.

The song "My Silver Lining" belongs to First Aid Kit.

My Silver Lining
"I've woken up in a hotel room, my worries as big as the moon
Having no idea who or what or where I am
Something good comes with the bad
A song's never just sad
There's hope, there's a silver lining
Show me my silver lining
Show me my silver lining"
-First Aid Kit

"Oi, Taryn! You alright?"

She turned from Pax. Then her eyes settled on the familiar form of Elan as he approached.

People scattered out of his way, more frightened of him than they had been of Pax.

But Elan ignored them, his eyes set on Taryn and Pax, ears swiveling forward and back rapidly. When he reached them, he sank onto all fours, but he still had to look down at her, considering how he towered over everyone with the recent onset of a growth spurt.

Taryn shifted on her feet, bowing her head slightly.

"Are you alright, Taryn?" the Irish youth asked again.

She nodded a little, but it wasn't enough to convince him.

Elan's tail twitched. "I can smell the fear on you," he pointed out. "What happened?"

Taryn shook her head.

He hesitated. Then he sighed. "Why don't you go to the inn?" he proposed. "I ran into a Finder. He told me we're at the same place as usual."

"I can't," she pointed out. "I have to help you and Lottie."

"We'll manage without you just this once," Elan said. "You're too distracted. You need to calm your nerves. A few hours to yourself will do you some good."

Taryn shook her head. "But I—"

"Ah!" he cut her off. "You need to take a break. Deactivate Pax."

"What if you need him?" Taryn pressed.

Elan looked up at the bird. Then he dropped his gaze to Taryn. "He'll tell you if we need his help," he said.

Pax lowered his head, pressing his beak against her lower back.

"But Stefano—"

"He isn't here. It's Horace and Mikhail this time, and they're some of the more understanding Finders."

"Isn't here?"

"No, he's in Honduras with Conrad."

"Honduras?" Taryn echoed. She couldn't help the relief that laced her voice.

Elan nodded slightly. "That's a few months' traveling away. So you don't have to worry about him," he said quietly. "You can take a break today."

Taryn shook her head, about to protest, when Elan placed one of his hands on top of her head. "Don't worry about it," he said. "We'll be alright on our own. What we really need right now is for you to be okay."

"But—"

Pax nuzzled his beak into her back, cooing. 'He's right,' he urged.

Taryn looked back at the towering bird, surprised, and then looked up at Elan again. "Okay," she agreed quietly.

Elan's tail waved slightly. "You know where it is, right?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer. He looked up at Pax. "Escort her there. This place is teeming with akuma today, and we can't afford to lose our scout."

Pax warbled indignantly, puffing out his feathers.

Elan snickered, stepping back and shaking his head. "I know, I know," he huffed. "She's important to you and you wouldn't let anything happen to her. But I'm in charge of this mission and it's my job to worry about everyone."

Pax's feathers laid flat. He cooed in acceptance before laying down and peering at his partner expectantly.

Taryn stepped towards him before she stopped, uncertain. "I want to walk," she said after a moment. "Clear my mind."

"Good plan," Elan said. "I'll tell your sister and the Finders that you're taking the day off."

"Do you have to tell the Finders? They'll just think I'm wasting time," Taryn murmured.

Elan ruffled her hair playfully, his fangs glittering in the sunlight as he offered a bizarre grin. "These two won't mind," he said. "I've worked with them a few times before. They're pretty laid back with the younger, newer exorcists."

The girl's expression softened. She peered up at Elan hopefully. "Like Mister Miquel?"

His lips drew back, widening that grin that most found to be terrifying. "They're a lot like him," he chuckled. Then he dropped his hand from her head and sank back onto his haunches "Now go on. You won't be able to help us if your mind's a mess."

Taryn smiled slightly. She nodded. "Okay," she agreed. After a brief moment's hesitation, she stepped past the lycanthropic teenager and heard the sound of Pax's wings as they beat the air.

"Oh, and Taryn?" Elan said.

She turned back to him. "Yeah?"

"Taking care of yourself doesn't make you useless," Elan told her firmly. "So don't let anyone tell you that you are, alright? We depend on you, and we need you safe and sound."

Her head hung for a moment as Taryn thought over his words. Then she lifted her head again. She smiled. "Thanks, Elan," she whispered.

Elan's bushy tail waved slightly. He stood again before giving her a meaningful nod, wordlessly waving her on.

'Mother!' Pax's voice caught her attention.

The American looked skyward to see him wheeling above.

'Pax,' Taryn thought. 'Deactivate.'

At once, he shrank down to a normal size.

With the slow, steady tax on her energy finally gone, the burden weighing on Taryn suddenly felt much lighter. Although the knots her stomach had yet to unravel, she felt a little better already.

Pax screeched as he settled into a lazy glide.

Taryn followed him, smiling.

But as soon as she'd rounded the corner and Elan vanished from her sight, her smile faltered, as though a switch had been flipped.

Elan had eased the stress and calmed her down, but it seemed it had been nothing more than a temporary balm.

Her stomach tightened again as she thought back to the events that had transpired only a few short minutes before, before the Campbells had left. She pursed her lips. 'Pax,' she tried softly.

He didn't answer her directly, but she felt a soft brush against her conscience, signalling that he was listening.

She sighed softly, both physically and mentally, 'What do you think will happen to Mana?'

'He'll be alright, Mother. I'm sure of it.'

'But what if he's not?'

'He will be.'

Taryn peered skyward at the white falcon. She dropped her gaze a second later. 'How old are you, Pax?'

'Six.'

'No, that's not what I meant. I know you hatched six years ago, but… how old are you?'

Pax didn't answer, at least not immediately. When his response finally did come through, they were already nearing the inn where the exorcists regularly stayed on these missions.

His voice was uncertain as he spoke, 'I don't know.' He glided down to land in front of her when she reached the inn.

Taryn stopped and knelt, staring at him with wide, curious eyes. "You're really, really old, aren't you?" she whispered.

Pax bobbed his head as if he were nodding.

"But you don't know how old," she went on. Her shoulders slumped. Then she looked at her hands. "So why'd you pick me? I'm just a silly little girl. I can't do anything."

Pax nipped one of her fingers hard, his sharp beak cutting into her skin.

Taryn yelped in pain, snatching her hand away. She inspected the small wound before sticking her finger in her mouth with a faint, muffled whine, "What was that for?"

Pax twitched his wings. 'I didn't pick you to fight, Mother,' he declared. 'I picked you because I wanted a friend.'

Taryn dropped her hand and stared at him skeptically. "Couldn't you have picked someone stronger?"

'There isn't anyone stronger.'

Taryn wrinkled her nose. "Everyone's stronger," she huffed quietly.

'Are you arguing with someone older than you?' he fired back.

"You're six," Taryn said.

Pax paused. Then he fluttered his wings, indignant. 'Silly little girl.'

"Don't speak to your mother in that tone of voice!"

Now the bird looked even more ruffled. He cocked his head at her. Then he started to laugh, the noise carrying across their bond.

Taryn beamed, giggling. As she laughed with Pax, the unease that had settled itself so comfortably in the pit of her stomach finally began to fade for good.

For a few long moments, they stayed there, caught up in their own conversation and easily ignoring the people that shot them odd looks as they passed.

Finally Taryn stood. "Okay," she hummed quietly. "Well, I guess I shouldn't keep you from helping the others. I'll go upstairs."

Pax pumped his wings. 'Will you be okay, Mother?' he said.

Taryn nodded slightly.

He wavered for a few brief seconds. Then the gyrfalcon took off again, loosing an eager shriek as he flew away. 'I'll see you later, Mother!' he called.

Taryn smiled softly. When he was gone from her sight, she turned and walked into the inn.

-X-

Taryn barely moved from her spot by the window when she heard the door to the room being opened. Her gaze was locked on the distance, on the point where the sky met the ground.

There was quite a sight to behold.

The sky was painted in warm pastels to the west, where the sun was setting beyond the horizon, but as her gaze moved eastward, it turned to a dusky blue and then a rich hue of indigo where the night was beginning to settle over the earth.

From her spot by the window, Taryn could see where the edge of town met with the vast, seemingly endless Campbell property, where the wheat, new and green, stretched on into a false eternity that came to an abrupt end somewhere that she couldn't see with her own eyes.

She'd been here for the past hour, watching the sun begin its descent. Every now and then, her gaze would drift eastward, in the direction of the manor where she knew the Campbells resided.

Desperately, and in vain, she would squint to see if she could make out the stately home, although she swore that if she looked hard enough she could spy it.

But she wasn't straining her eyes that time. She was just watching Pax's small, white form as he continued to wheel through the air above the town.

"You alright, sis?" Charlotte's voice caught her ear.

Taryn tilted her head as her sister closed the door to their room. Then she tore her attention away from Pax to look at her sister. "You're done early," she noted.

Charlotte huffed as she lifted the strap of her quiber and set it on the floor against the wall, where she sat Retribution a moment later. "There were a lot of akuma earlier, but after about noon, they just stopped," she explained flatly. "Elan told me something happened to you. He'll be out patrolling for a few more hours, but he did send me back early so I could check on you. So are you okay?"

Taryn nodded slightly. "I'm okay now," she said. "I took a nap. That helped."

Charlotte peered at her. "What happened?"

Taryn glanced back through the window for an instant. Then she turned to her sister and began to recount the day's events, starting from the moment she met up with Mana and Neah until the moment Cyrus and Neah left.

Charlotte's eyes were narrowed. "What do you think is wrong with Mana?" she questioned. "You said Neah and Cyrus made it sound like Mana gets sick all the time."

Taryn shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "But Neah was really worried, so it can't be good."

"But Cyrus wasn't that worried, was he?"

"Well, no…"

"Then I'm sure he'll be fine."

"But Cyrus is real weird."

Charlotte stretched her arms above her head languidly. Then she relaxed before sinking down onto the edge of the bed. As she removed her exorcist jacket, she focused on her sibling. "You said Pax is scared of him?" she asked.

Taryn nodded.

Charlotte waved her sister over. "What did he say was wrong with him?"

"He didn't," Taryn answered quietly. She sat down on the edge of the bed beside Charlotte before turning her back to her. "And I kinda get the feeling he's not going to tell me unless he has to."

"He's your Innocence. He does kinda have to." As she spoke, Charlotte lifted a brush that Taryn hadn't seen her grab and began running it through Taryn's hard. "You could just order him to tell you."

Taryn closed her eyes at the familiar feeling, smiling faintly. "I trust Pax," she murmured. "He wouldn't let me get hurt."

"Speaking of, you mentioned he cut himself off from you somehow. How did he do that?"

"I don't think Pax knows, either. But it was frightening."

"Do you depend on him that much?"

"I don't know. I don't… think I want to know. It made me feel bad."

Charlotte nodded.

Silence stretched between them for several, long minutes, broken only by the very faint rustle of the brush running through Taryn's long hair in a slow, steady rhythm.

"Cyrus."

Taryn opened her eyes, drawing from her thoughts by Charlotte's voice. "What about him?"

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Charlotte murmured.

"Dunno. But he really gave me a bad feeling."

"What'd he do, aside from complain about Pax and sneer at you?"

"He… didn't really do anything. He just scared me."

"Really? Nothing else?"

Taryn pressed her lips into a thin line, thinking. An involuntary chill ran down her spine when she remembered the pure loathing she'd seen on his face. "Well," she began softly. "When I found him after Mana got sick, he had a real… mean look on his face while he was looking at Pax."

"Mean? Mean how?"

"He looked like he hated Pax." Then her eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh, and when I told him Mana was sick again, he didn't even care."

Charlotte paused, lowering her brush. "That's weird," she commented. "Whenever you or I got sick, our aunts and uncles worried a lot. I wonder if it's just different in families with lots of money."

"Why would it be different?" Taryn asked.

Charlotte shrugged. "Remember we used to help out with chores a little bit?" she said.

"Yeah, like helping Mama cook or Papa in the garden?"

"Yeah." Charlotte made a face. "'Cause we're poor folks. Mama and Papa couldn't pay for help, so they just had us help out when we could."

Taryn nodded slightly. "But what's that have to do with it?"

"Well, I overheard one of the Finders mention that poor families sometimes have kids so they can have extra help around the house. If that's true, maybe families with money don't need to have kids, so they don't get as worried when one of them gets sick."

Taryn's eyes widened. "But Lottie, that's horrible!" she gasped. "It can't be true. Miss Katerina loves Neah and Mana. Remember? She was real scared for them when the akuma attacked us."

"Well, of course she does. She's their mother. But maybe the rest of the family doesn't care as much, 'cause they don't need them."

Taryn frowned.

Worry twisted in her stomach all over again. That couldn't be true, could it?

Charlotte finished brushing her hair and stood again. As she walked across the room to set the brush on the dresser that had been provided for them, she spoke up, "Anyways, I'm sure Mana will be okay. He is Neah's brother, isn't he? If they're really twins, Mana has to be as stubborn as Neah."

Taryn wiggled around so that she could watch her sibling as she got ready for bed. "Neah is pretty stubborn, isn't he?" she murmured with a small smile.

Charlotte grinned. "You tell me. You somehow manage to put up with him."

"You just won't give him a chance, that's the problem!"

"Maybe I just don't like rude jerks."

"He's not so bad. He's just grumpy!"

"That's no excuse to take it out on everyone else." Charlotte flopped on the bed unceremoniously, making them both bounce.

Taryn huffed as she bounced. Then she leaned back until she was laying across Charlotte's back. "You can't say anything," she pointed out. "You're grumpy about everything, too."

Charlotte grunted into her pillow, her words muffled and unintelligible. She lifted her head a moment later to grumble, "Get off."

Taryn sat up and twisted to face her sibling, only to yelp when the archer suddenly shoved her off the bed. She landed with a loud thump, sprawled out on the floor.

Charlotte peered over the edge of the bed, smirking at Taryn's dazed expression. Then she retreated, snickering.

"That was mean!" Taryn protested.

Charlotte yawned noisily. "Are you going to lay down or not?" she called. "I'm tired and sore."

"I would've already if you hadn't pushed me," Taryn grumbled as she stood. She laid down beside her sister, smiling warmly as Charlotte immediately slung an arm across her abdomen. Then she turned to gaze out the window at the last vestiges of sunlight finally began to disappear, reaching out with her mind to see if she could feel Pax.

He warbled back quietly before returning his attention to the task at hand.

Taryn closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep.

It seemed that only seconds had passed when her eyes opened again, but it was well past midnight.

Taryn yawned, turning her head to focus on her sibling, who was fast asleep. She wiggled free of Charlotte's grip and then walked across the room to the window again. She peered out at the night sky, taking in the sight of the stars above before she focused on the crescent moon that hung in the air like a crooked smile.

Pax's voice reached her mind.

Taryn lowered her gaze and blinked when she spotted him perched on a rooftop opposite the inn. She raised her hands, about to open the window, when he spoke up again.

'May I hunt, Mother?' Pax asked.

Taryn paused, fingers on the latch. She furrowed her brow. 'Sure, but I want to come with you,' she answered.

Pax's wings twitched. 'Won't Aunt Charlotte worry?' he asked.

Taryn looked back at her sister, still fast asleep. She sighed, 'You're right. You can go hunting, but I want you to stay away from the Campbell home, alright?'

'Yes, Mother,' he agreed.

Taryn smiled at him, dropping her hands from the window. Then she leaned forward to rest her arms on the sill. As she watched, Pax took to the air and headed north. She watched him until she could no longer make him out, long after their bond had reached its limit. He was too far away now for her to tell him anything, so she only hoped nothing happened to him while he was gone.

Taryn looked back at the moon and sighed. Then she buried her face in her arms.

What a long day.

...I may or may not have stayed up till 4 am writing this. I regret nothing! (I do, in fact, regret everything.)

Anyways... I'm proud of the beginning and the end, but not so much the conversation with Pax. I feel like it's... missing something?

Pax is still a difficult character to write, so that might be the problem, too. His personality is like... a revolving door? Yes, I do it on purpose and I know why he's like this, but that doesn't mean it's easy for me.

Reviews:

None.

Well, sort of. I got a PM from someone who wanted to remain anonymous asking about Taryn and Neah and... this is a slow-burn. I thought that was... relatively obvious by now, but I guess I could stand to reiterate. This story is going to be a slow-burn. Anything remotely... couple-y won't start happening for... a while yet. Quite a while yet. They're just thirteen right now, and they only see each other every three months if they're lucky?

Give it time, loves. Good things come to those who wait.