As usual, I don't own anything. I'm just a fan writing some fiction. Please enjoy!

Dwarven Vow 127:
Bidh an seabhag tàlantach a 'falach a spuirean.
The talented hawk hides its claws.

36-

"...are you sure we don't need to wear anything special?" Colette asked, tugging at the hem of her dress as she examined it. Her father and grandmother had arrived in Meltokio that morning, and she was so preoccupied with welcoming them that when she'd left home that morning, she had put on her usual pink gloves and brightly-colored scarf without even thinking. "I thought that ninjas wore… y'know, special ninja clothes."

Sheena laughed, stopping to let Colette catch up so that she could give her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You're fine the way you are, Colette. It's not like we're infiltrating a high-security facility. It's just a friend's house-" She stopped herself, glancing nervously over at Raine.

"It's fine. You can be friends with her," Raine answered, though it sounded a little forced. "It reflects well on your character that you can still be civil towards her after what she did."

Sheena frowned and glanced toward Colette, unsure of how to respond. This was nothing- they'd had far worse betrayals before, from a variety of people they'd trusted. But this time it was different for Raine than it was for anyone else. Even Genis, who had also been hurt by Low's betrayal, seemed at least a little sympathetic to her reasoning. But Raine was merciless, and while no one wanted to say it, everyone was afraid that it might be more of an emotional response than a logical one.

They approached the Low mansion normally, but instead of entering via the front door, they walked around to the back garden. The fence that surrounded the entire property was forbidding, but Sheena was leading the way with an expression that made it clear she knew what she was doing, so Colette and Raine didn't ask any questions. Finally, she came to a stop along a long, straight stretch of fence. Sheena pulled a pair of talismans from her pocket and held them up.

"Alright, you two, I want you to follow my directions carefully. When I tell you, you both need to grab the back of my collar and follow as close to me as possible. We can't get separated while we're moving, or else it could end badly. Understand?"

"What are we doing?" Colette murmured, her voice wavering. "I thought this wouldn't be dangerous-"

"It's a ninja technique to briefly create a bend in space. It's how we seem to appear or vanish into thin air- we usually disguise it with a smoke bomb so that the space-bend isn't visible and we can get out of sight before our target's vision returns. Using that, we can bypass things like fences and walls that are blocking our path." Sheena motioned to the fence as she whispered, looking back and forth between Colette and Raine to make sure they understood. "Though the bend can only connect spaces a certain distance apart, and can only stay open a certain amount of time. If we get separated, you might still be in it when it closes, and get dumped somewhere in the middle. Let's just say… getting impaled by a fence post because you accidentally reappeared in the wrong location would not help our mission right now."

Colette's face took on a look of disgust, but Raine was fascinated. "I see! I wondered about your technique, and just what the smoke bombs were meant to distract from. I assumed it was a form of sleight-of-hand, but I wasn't completely sure-"

"We can discuss this later!" Sheena interrupted. "Our mission right now is to get in and find the illegal prototype as fast as possible."

Raine blushed. "R-right. My apologies."

Colette reached out and put her hand on the back of Sheena's collar. "We'll hold on tight, so don't worry about us. Just focus on your ninja... magic-y... stuff."

Sheena smiled at the sound of Colette's phrasing. She'd been spending too much time with Lloyd. "Alright, I'm going to open up the bend. Don't let go until I say so, alright?"

"Alright."

Raine placed her hand on the back of Sheena's collar and gripped it tightly. Sheena closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and chanting the incantation under her breath. She felt the familiar sensation of the space in front of her giving way, and followed the path just as she always did. The feeling of her companions pulling at her threw her off, but only slightly. By the time she could even think enough to worry, they had already reached their destination. Sheena dissolved the bend with a flick of her wrist, and the world around them fell into place again.

"Okay, you can let go now."

Colette glanced around and clapped her hands in excitement. "Wow, we really are in the garden! It's like we walked right through the fence!"

"We did, in a way," Sheena replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "But don't be so loud. We're inside now, so someone might hear you."

"R-right." Colette placed her hands over her mouth, changing her voice to a whisper. "...so this is the back garden, huh? Zelos was right, it's the same style as his manor. Not exactly the same, but pretty close."

"So you can lead us to the servants' quarters?" Raine asked.

"Yeah, they're this way. Follow me!"

Colette led the way toward the manor, finding a door along the smaller building on the southern side of the estate. She had no trouble opening it, and the three entered to find themselves in a kitchen area. A man was working to roll out some kind of dough, but he stopped and looked at the group that had suddenly appeared, his face blank in surprise.

"...are you ladies lost?"

"We're sorry to interrupt you," Sheena spoke up before either of the others could, "we're guests of Professor Low and she asked us to retrieve something from the garden. She gave us directions, but we got a little turned around. Now that we know where we are, we can find our way back."

"Alright, then." The man turned back to his work. "Let me know if you need any more help."

"Thanks. We will."

From there, Sheena started leading the way. Colette seemed a little confused, so Sheena grabbed her hand and pulled her along. Once they made it out into the hallway, she stopped and looked at Colette and Raine in turn.

"If you can't avoid detection entirely, then avoid detection by appearing that you belong," Sheena explained. "If you look and act confident, people believe you."

"That's a fascinating tactic. I didn't expect such advice from a ninja," Raine commented. "The general stereotype is that you can turn invisible at will. But I suppose that's scientifically inaccurate."

Sheena grinned and shrugged in response. "There's more than one way to be invisible."

As she said that, Colette had already begun to wander down the hallway, peeking into doors as she went. Sheena scrambled to catch up, and Raine followed slowly behind, still glancing around cautiously. The building was empty, however, and they spent much of the morning searching the rooms for any sign of a machine matching the description from the most recent Alpha-Beta project publication.

"...do the servants actually live here?" Raine finally asked after they'd searched a few rooms. "These rooms seem awfully small, and there's no decorations or personal belongings."

"No, no!" Colette responded, and then stopped herself to lower her voice. "I mean, if it's anything like the Wilder mansion, then only certain servants are live-in. Sebastian lives with them as well as the chief maid, Grace, and Seles' servants Tokunaga and Veronica. These extra rooms are called the servants' quarters because most servants lived in the manor with their employers when these types of mansions were first built, but nowadays the rooms are used by employees as storage spaces and places to spend their breaks."

"That's good," Raine responded with a sigh of relief. "These look like the student dormitories at the Palmacosta University. It's fine enough for students living on their own, but for grown adults with families, it's…" She stopped and shook her head. "Sorry. To- er, Low just has so many half-elves working for her, I didn't want to imagine that these were their living conditions."

Sheena perked up. "If that's the case, then shouldn't we be looking in the quarters of the live-in servants? According to Yuan, Veronica implied that the prototype was being kept in the manor. So wouldn't that have been done by someone who lives here?"

"Not necessarily," Raine replied. "In fact, I'd sooner search these rooms than those of the live-in servants. Even if the servants building this thing do live here, it's unlikely they'd keep it somewhere it can be traced to them if discovered."

"Ah, right. I hadn't thought of it that way."

As they spoke, Colette had moved to the corner, rummaging through a trunk at the foot of one of the beds. "Hey, there's a bunch of books in this one. I wonder if they're scientific articles."

"You think so?" Sheena knelt down next to her, glancing over her shoulder as she opened one. "If they are, we might be looking in the right direction."

Raine took a tentative step toward them. "I'd be careful with books that you found in someone's private trunk-"

Before she could finish with her warning, Colette let out a high pitched yelp and tossed the book back into the trunk. Sheena slammed the trunk closed and shot to her feet. "Th-those aren't science books."

Raine sighed. "Sorry. I should've said something earlier."

"I-I have a lot of questions…" Colette stammered. "...Sheena, what were they doing with-"

"H-how would I know something like that?!"

"Well, you and Lloyd have-"

"Not anything like that! That was just… just…"

"Girls." Raine clapped her hands, cutting off their conversation. "I'll be happy to give you an educational talk later. But right now we have more important things to think about. Let me see that trunk."

"Huh?" Sheena took a step back, allowing Raine to approach the trunk and open it again. "What about it-?"

"When you started rummaging through it, it didn't look like it extended very far. It's very possible that the trunk has a false bottom and is designed to hide somethi-" She stopped, catching a glimpse at one of the books. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Ugh, I hope this is just meant as a distraction. No one should ever read this garbage, and you girls definitely shouldn't be getting any ideas from this."

"Oh, thank goodness," Colette murmured, breathing a sigh of relief. "I was worried there for a minute."

"Of course. This author clearly doesn't know what that technique is, much less how to write it properly. I'll be happy to recommend something much better quality if you two are intererested in-"

"Raine, look! You're right- the bottom of the trunk doesn't go all the way down." Sheena pointed, all too happy for a reason to cut Raine's statement short. "There must be a hidden compartment, if we can find out how to get to it."

"The upper portion is probably removable through some means," Raine said, beginning to pull the books out and set them aside. "But it'll probably be heavy, so I'll need your help."

"Oh, I can get it! I'm good at lifting heavy things!" Colette piped up, finally recovering from her earlier shock. "Just tell me what to do."

"First we'll have to expose the edges of the upper portion. It looks like that has to be done by unlatching the sides here, but that'll require a key of some sort… Colette, could I borrow one of your barrettes?"

"Here."

Colette unclipped one of her flower-shaped pins and handed it over. Raine took the sharp end of the pin and placed it in the front keyhole, fidgeting with it for a few tense moments. Her expression was confident at first, but it began to drop as she continued, growing more and more frustrated the longer she worked. Sheena knelt down next to her and pointed at the lock.

"Try angling it upward. Sometimes the key goes in upside-down."

Raine scoffed. "With all due respect, do you think this is my first time picking locks?"

"Sorry, I was just trying to help. We don't want to break the lock and let them know we've been in here."

"This is a sturdy lock. The barrette will break before it does."

Colette's eyes widened. "H-hey! Lloyd made these for me! They're a matching pair. If one breaks-"

"-then he can fix it," Raine finished, gritting her teeth as she continued to struggle with the lock.

"But if the tip of the pin breaks off and gets stuck in the lock-" Sheena began, but before she could finish, there was an audible click and Raine stopped. She grabbed hold of the handles on the side of the box and pulled. The sides of the box shifted a little, but she wasn't strong enough. "Colette?"

"Right!" Colette leaned over the front of the box where Raine was sitting and pulled on the handles. The side panels on the box slid up, pulling the upper portion of the box with them and revealing the hidden chamber underneath.

"...oh." Colette frowned as she looked at the hidden chamber. "It's not a machine after all. Just some sort of… can…?"

"No." Raine shook her head, her voice wavering as she spoke. "That's it."

"Colette, set that part of the trunk aside," Sheena instructed. "Let Raine handle this- it could be dangerous."

"Yes, of course!"

Colette nodded and shuffled to the side carrying the upper portion of the trunk. She moved in between the two beds so that she could set it down by the dresser, but her foot hit the leg of the left bed and knocked her off balance. She tumbled forward, holding the trunk over her head to save it from falling onto the floor and making a loud noise. Unfortunately, she stumbled directly into the dresser, and the trunk compartment slammed into the top, hooking onto the top drawer handle and knocking off the lamp that was sitting on it. Colette instinctively dove to the side to catch the lamp, letting go of the trunk, and as she did so the entire dresser fell forward pulled by the weight of the trunk. The lamp was safe in Colette's arms, but the dresser and trunk made an enormous clamor as they crashed into the floor.

Sheena and Raine looked up, their eyes wide. Their first instinct was to make sure that Colette was okay, but once they noticed her sitting to the side, unharmed and hugging the lampshade, they could begin to worry about their own situation.

The room went deathly quiet. No one dared to make a sound or even move. The first voice they heard was a fourth one, yelled in disbelief as the door to the room swung open.

"What is going on in here?!"

The city-wide state of emergency had been lifted early on Monday, but it took until Tuesday for most people to feel comfortable walking the streets of Meltokio again. Once that happened, relieved tourists headed out in droves, determined to make up for lost time before their holiday was over. Song took the chance to open up the pottery shop, and within a few hours the place was buzzing. He was so busy, he almost didn't notice a familiar face arrive at the door- with a less-familiar face in tow.

"Dirk! You're back!" Song waved from the front counter. "Is this the friend you went to see?"

"Aye. He jist arrifed wi' his maither-in-law this mornin'." Dirk smiled and motioned over. "Frank, this is Song, th' doctor I wis tellin' ye abit. Song, this is Fran-"

"Wait, wait, don't tell me!" Song interrupted, leaning over the counter to get a better look. "You're… Colette's brother!" There was an awkward pause, as though Song were waiting for some kind of reaction, but Frank just sort of stared at him in confusion and he was forced to backtrack. "Haha, I-I was just kidding. It was a compliment. But you are her dad, right? Colette's, I mean."

"Ah, that's right." Frank bowed apologetically. "Sorry, I was just surprised. How did you know? Dirk said he hadn't mentioned me, so I expected I'd need to introduce myself."

"Are you kidding? You don't have to say a word. Colette's the spitting image of you!"

The statement gave Frank pause. He blushed and smiled, glancing away. "I... can't tell you how happy it makes me to hear that. I- we- owe you so much. Thank you for everything, Dr. Lu-"

"Aw, don't be so formal! You can call me Song."

"Oh! Well, thank you for everything, Song-" Frank stopped as he noticed a woman approaching the counter with a bowl set. "I'm sorry, I won't keep you from your customers. It was nice meeting you."

"Aww, you're not staying?"

"He an' Phaidra ur gettin' a tour ay th' city frae Hazel. He jist wanted tae come by an' say thanks fer… ah, all yer hard work."

Song offered a friendly wave. "Well, enjoy the city, then! Drop by anytime you'd like to visit!"

Dirk walked Frank back to the door, giving him a pat on the back. "Noishe'll shew ye th' way."

"Are you sure you don't want to join us? Hazel said she'd be happy for you to come along."

"Nae, I'm sure. I'd raither stay wi' Lloyd. Besides, th' lest time I walked aroond th' city, fowk got scared. It's raur tae see a Dwarf oan the surface at aw nowadays, much less in a large city. I'm content tae lie law an' stay by my son's side until I'm sure he's safe."

"That's fine, then. Say hello to Lloyd for me."

"Will dae."

Dirk left the shop area to climb up to the apartment. He arrived in the kitchen to find Lloyd and Anna at the table, papers strewn all over the tabletop. Yuan was at the stove cooking breakfast, but upon noticing Dirk's arrival, he stopped and looked up.

"Oh, thank goodness. Please talk some sense into these two- they're driving Adora and me crazy."

"Drivin' ye crazy? Wi' what?"

"Hey," Lloyd defended, tipping Adora's bassinet toward Dirk so that he could see, "don't complain for Adora's sake. She's asleep."

Anna held up the paper she was writing on, showing off a short list. "We're discussing names," she explained. "Lloyd thought that, since he can't go out right now, he could make himself useful by helping Kratos and me think up names for the baby."

"Names? Awreddy?" Dirk asked.

"That's what I said," Yuan agreed. "Six weeks is a little early to start shortlisting names."

"I'm seven weeks, actually."

"Oh wow, Anna, that makes a world of difference."

Dirk laughed and took a seat beside Lloyd, leaning over to take a look at his list. "Well, I'll bite. Whit names hae ye gotten sae far?"

"Don't encourage them!" Yuan started to protest, but the tea kettle started to whistle and he had to turn his attention back to the stove. In the meantime, Lloyd began reading off his list.

"For a girl, we came up with… Cleopatra, Odalys, Idonea, or Alvina."

"And for a boy," Anna continued, "Esmund, Ishmael, Corwin, or Gonzales."

"That last one was my idea!" Lloyd raised his hand, a proud smile on his face. "What do you think?"

There was a long pause as Dirk carefully considered his words. "They're quite… unique," he finally spoke. "Whaur'd they come frae? Onie special meanin' tae them?"

"We just kinda thought them up," Lloyd replied with a shrug. "They're cool-sounding, right? We want to give the baby an awesome name."

Yuan coughed, poorly concealing a negative comment, but neither Lloyd nor Anna seemed to notice. Dirk, on the other hand, couldn't resist a smile. "They're fine names. Whit matters is that ye gie th' child a name wi' love."

Anna and Lloyd looked at one another, both beaming. Anna picked up a pencil again and scooted her chair closer to Dirk. "If it's not too much trouble, would you be willing to give us some suggestions too?"

"Me?" Dirk asked.

"Of course! It might be nice to give the baby a traditional Dwarven name, after all."

Dirk closed his eyes and smiled. "Hm… well, if ye insist upon it.,. I'd say, fer a boy, Cinàed. An' fer a girl, Eireann."

"Wow, that was fast," Yuan spoke up with a half laugh. "Have you just been holding onto those, waiting for a chance to use them?"

Dirk knew it was meant to be a joke, and while he forced a laugh, the melancholy in his voice came through ever so slightly. "Aye, in a matter o' speakin. I've been holdin' ontae these fer a lang time."

"They're both lovely," Anna broke in. "What do they mean?"

"Cinàed was my faither's name. It means 'born in fire,' an' he was aye as guid a smith as they come," Dirk spoke, his eyes closed in remniscience. "An' Eireann was my sister, his prized pupil. Her name means 'abundant land,' a guid name fer anyone workin' wi' th' earth."

There was a pause as both Lloyd and Anna added the names to their lists. Lloyd sighed, his smile softening with affection. "I like those names a lot."

"I will admit, I chose them in th' hope that my child would tak' up th' smithin' tradition," Dirk replied, "but I ken that a child has tae follow his ain path."

Lloyd leaned over, pressing his shoulder against Dirk's. "But your son did take up the smithing tradition."

"Aye, he's startin' oot well enough," Dirk answered, nudging Lloyd back. "Bit he's got a lang road ahead o' him. He'd best nae get tae comfortable whaur he is."

"Dad." Lloyd laughed, straightening up in his seat, and Dirk reached up to give his hair an affectionate tousle. Anna, meanwhile, turned around in her chair and looked at Yuan.

"What about you, Yuan? Do you have any suggestions?"

"You're asking me?" He scoffed in reply. "I have no desire to intrude on your lovey-dovey family moment."

"Oh, come on, Yuan!" She sat up on her knees, leaning on the back of the chair. "You're family too!"

Lloyd scooped Adora out of the bassinet and held her to face Yuan, taking one of her hands between his fingers and waving it. "Say 'that's right, Daddy! We're all family."

Adora didn't seem to be echoing Lloyd's voice for her, instead whining and flailing in irritation that she'd been woken up. Yuan reached for her, pulling her from Lloyd's arms and rocking her against his chest.

"Alright, you win. If you'll agree never to do that to her again, I'll give you a name."

"R-right." Lloyd blushed. "I won't do it again."

Yuan nodded. "Then you can put the name Lei on your list."

"Lei?"

"Yes. It's a girl's name, written with the character for flower bud."

Anna wrote it down, smiling as she did so. "How pretty! Why that name, though? Is it special to you?"

"Not particularly." It was a lie and Yuan knew they could tell, but Anna didn't push further and Lloyd and Dirk followed suit. Yuan continued rocking Adora gently to lull her back to sleep, and she was soon content enough that he was able to put her back in the bassinet. As he arranged the blankets around her, Lloyd spoke up again.

"So how about a boy's name?"

"Huh?"

"Well, Dad gave us both a girl's name and a boy's name. So you can give us two names too."

Yuan frowned. "A boy's name, huh? What's so special about separating boys' and girls' names anyway? Why not just make a list of neutral names to use no matter what?"

Anna slid her chair back and swatted at him. "Hey! That's a sound argument on societal gender roles, so don't use it as just an excuse not to participate in family events."

"Alright, fine." Yuan sighed, returning to the stove so that he could plate up everyone's breakfast. "How about this? For a boy, I'd suggest… hm… how about Botta?"

"Botta?" Lloyd asked. "Like Botta from the Renegades?"

"I suppose, if you want to consider it a namesake. You do owe him your life, don't forget."

"I like the name," Anna commented. "Do you know what it means?"

"It comes from an ancient language that's not spoken anymore. Supposedly it's derived from the word for 'order' or 'command."

Lloyd smiled as he wrote the name down on his paper. "It suited him well. He seemed like a good leader-"

"As good as a leader as he may have been, I'm not naming my son after your renegade buddy, Yuan."

The voice came from halfway down the stairwell, and within a few seconds Kratos appeared through the doorway. Anna jumped up and ran to hug him, and while he opened his arms for her, he was focused more on what was going on around them.

"What's this? Some sort of planning committee?"

"Lloyd wanted to do something to help out while he's recovering, so he's helping think up names for the baby." Anna took a step back and handed the paper over to Kratos. "Take a look! What do you think of them?"

Kratos accepted the paper, reading it over. As he did, a series of odd expressions passed over his face. He finally made it to the end of the list and smiled again. "It seems everyone has their own take on how to decide a name," he murmured. "As for me, I rather like the name Lei."

"That was Yuan's suggestion," Lloyd explained.

"Yes, I assumed it was." Kratos looked up at Yuan, who turned away to focus on plating pancakes instead. "As much as I'd love to help out, I can't stay long. Yuan called me over to discuss a militia issue."

"Sit doon an' join us fur breakfast," Dirk offered. "We can talk while we eat."

"Sorry, but I've already eaten. Yuan promised this would be brief."

Yuan slid the papers on the table aside and started placing plate out in front of everyone. "You all start eating. I'll join you in a few minutes to feed Adora."

Lloyd leaned over the bassinet, holding out a fork with a piece of pancake on it. "Here! I can feed her-"

"Try to feed her those pancakes, and you'll end up with a few extra wounds for Song to patch up."

"I-I was just kidding," Lloyd laughed nervously. "Sorry for that. You guys can go talk now."

Yuan and Kratos stepped aside into the stairwell, walking down a few steps so that they were out of sight of everyone in the kitchen. Yuan cleared his throat as he stopped and leaned against the railing.

"You know, you don't have to use the name I suggested. They were pressuring me to give them something, but I really don't care whether or not-"

"Your grandmother was an incredible woman, one whom I held in high regard," Kratos interrupted. "Don't think my willingness to honor my own daughter with her namesake has anything to do with you."

Yuan forced a smile through gritted teeth. "It's a little early in the morning for that attitude of yours, don't you think?"

"I've been on patrol since three-'o-clock. It's practically afternoon by now." Kratos paused and took a deep breath. "Sorry. As I said, I've had a long morning. You promised that you'd keep this brief, so go ahead."

"It's about the conflict tomorrow surrounding the Great Tree," Yuan replied, letting himself relax a little. "Anna told you about that last night, right?"

"Yes, she did. What about it?"

"I was hoping that a small group from the militia could be present to prevent any violence from breaking out. I wanted to request that you be there."

Kratos was quiet a moment, his expression clouding as he considered it. "I thought there wasn't going to be any chance of violence. Anna said that Raine was going to disable the device so that there was no danger to the Great Tree."

"That's true. But I want to be sure. You can never be too careful…" Yuan glanced away. "To be perfectly honest, the real reason I'm asking is for Adora's sake. I'm still not comfortable letting her out of my sight for too long, especially considering how the situation might change in Meltokio during this conflict. I want her with me. That's why I want to be absolutely sure there's no trouble tomorrow."

"Ah, I see." Kratos let out a sigh. "But is there really no one here you'd feel comfortable leaving her with?"

"No, there's not. Song is coming with us to the Tree too, and Anna and Colette are going to be helping Lloyd get back to Dirk's house."

Kratos went silent again, closing his eyes and leaning back against the wall. "...we're still contracted for a patrol of the city, but there's a fair amount of overlap in our patrol areas. If I changed around the assignments, I could spare one platoon for you. That's about fifteen people; would that be enough to satisfy you?"

"Yes." Yuan answered with no hesitation. "That would be enough."

"Good. I'll arrange to be present there with Platoon A. Once the conflict is over, we can talk about compensation."

"Huh? Compensation?" Yuan stiffened and leaned in closer. "I thought this was a personal favor done to protect the Great Tree!"

Kratos scoffed. "We're mercenaries, not charity workers. But… perhaps I'll be willing to negotiate if you're cooperative."

"You're the worst."

"Hah! What else is new?"

Kratos swatted Yuan with the back of his hand, but Yuan grabbed his wrist before it could make contact with his face. He stopped, holding out Kratos' left hand and examining it quietly. A moment passed in which Kratos waited for Yuan to shove his hand away or make some sort of rude comment, but he did neither. He just sort of stared. Uncomfortable, Kratos frowned and jerked his hand away.

"What's with you all of a sudden?"

Yuan looked away so that his hair was hiding his face. "Sorry, I was just thinking… I was wondering how long it's been since you wore your Cruxis Crystal."

Kratos' eyes widened in surprise and he glanced down at his hand again. "I hadn't given it much thought. It's been about two years, I believe. I took it off shortly after the Myrddin festival when I moved in with Anna again."

"And you haven't worn it at all since then?"

"Haven't really wanted to, no."

"Why?"

As he asked that simple question, Yuan turned around again. There was a genuine look of confusion on his face, one that seemed oddly out of place to Kratos. "What do you mean, why?" he replied. "It's because of my family. I have a reason to live. I want to be able to spend my life with them."

"But now that you have more reasons to live, shouldn't that make you want to wear it more?" Yuan demanded, his voice jumping up in volume. "What if something happened to you? You're not an angel anymore. You could be hurt badly or even killed! Your body is aging now, vulnerable to disease and injury… doesn't that frighten you after all this time?"

"No."

The answer was so quick and decisive, it took Yuan a moment before he really got it. His expression remained puzzled, so Kratos continued with his explanation.

"The Cruxis Crystals made us ageless and unaffected by the world around us. We gained incredible strength and longevity, but it was all at the cost of being able to truly live. We were in a sort of stasis like Adora was, but unlike her, we were conscious. We could see the world moving and changing around us, and we could see ourselves being physically left behind. We became outsiders to the world. And I don't want to be an outsider in my own family. If weakness, age, and eventual death are the prices for truly living again, I'll gladly pay them. I'm willing to part with immortality because I want to live." Kratos stopped, coming to a realization as he watched the subtle changes in Yuan's expression. "I get the feeling that you're asking because you feel the same. Am I wrong?"

Yuan's shoulders went stiff and he took a step back up. "Th-that's not it! I'm not sentimental like you- I'm more than happy to keep living as an angel if it means I can protect the Great Tree and Martel's legacy!"

"Even if it means watching Song and Adora grow old and die without you?"

The two froze, staring at one another in silence. Neither one was willing to speak, both waiting for the other to say something. Yuan was waiting for some sort of follow-up, but Kratos had nothing more to ask. He wanted a response.

"...th-that's not…" Yuan managed to choke out, but he didn't get any farther before his voice trailed off.

"Look at my family. For most of Lloyd's life I was an angel and Anna's soul was trapped in an exsphere. When we go out together, we look like a group of friends rather than parents and their child. Don't pretend that's not what's going to happen to you and Adora if you remain an angel."

"And if I take it off?" Yuan snapped. "What then? Four thousand years of instinct built on angel abilities will just disappear?"

Kratos sighed. "I'll admit, I had trouble at first. I tried to push myself beyond my limits- I went too long without sleeping, forgot to eat, let myself get into dangerous situations without realizing the consequences… but I'm not an idiot and neither are you. My desire to live for my family helped me remember to take care of myself. If you want to live, you'll remember."

"If I want to live, I'll remember," Yuan repeated, his eyes narrowing in disbelief. "That seems a little too simple."

"It's the only advice I can give you." Kratos turned away, starting down the stairs again. "I've overstayed my welcome, I think, and Bryan and the others are expecting me. I'll let you decide for yourself. If you truly want to remain an angel, I'm in no position to stop you. But I think, just as Martel wanted to give Adora a chance to live, she'd want you to have a chance to live as well. Don't forget that."

The stairwell went silent as Kratos left. Beyond the door, Yuan could hear Song's voice calling out excitedly and Kratos' voice making quick excuses before disappearing. He sighed and turned back around, starting up the steps again.

"If I want to live, I'll remember, huh?" Yuan murmured, placing a hand over his own Cruxis crystal. "It's safer not to take the chance." But as he entered the kitchen once again, he was enveloped by the warm, lively conversation that was taking place. Adora's bassinet was turned toward the stairwell, and once she saw Yuan appear by the doorway, she let out a joyful squeal and began flailing her arms.

"See? He was right there the whole time," Lloyd laughed, rocking the bassinet back and forth in an attempt to calm her down. He spoke up again, this time addressing Yuan. "She got all upset when you left, so I just turned her around to look at the door. I haven't fed her any pancakes, I promise."

Yuan approached the table and scooped Adora up in his arms. She gave a playful coo and reached for his face, grabbing a tiny fistful of his hair and tugging on it. Instead of pulling away, he closed his eyes and leaned down, pressing his forehead against hers and staying there for a long moment.

"...Yuan? Is everything alright?" Anna asked. The sudden question brought him back to his senses, and he straightened up, gently pulling his hair from Adora's grasp.

"Yes, everything's fine. I just… have some things to think about."

"Do you need any help?" Lloyd offered, reaching a hand out, but Yuan turned away.

"No, I do not."