It has already been several days since the two of them started living together and Emizella's generosity was starting to weigh heavily on Crystal's consciousness. She noticed how independent the riolu had learned to become in her time of living alone. She had the dedication and discipline to keep up with her training, the resourcefulness to keep her home well supplied and the kindness to say to Crystal that she didn't have to worry about anything.

"I can't ask my guest to work," she insisted when Crystal asked if there was anything she could do to help around the place.

But am I even a guest anymore? she wondered, picking up a loose twig and starting to chew at it, Aren't I just a freeloader at this point?

"Hey Crystal, I'm back!" Emizella called as she ducked into their base, the band from Damien and Janice's shop clinging to her forehead and a winded look lingering on her face. "Hm? What's wrong? You seem kinda down today."

Crystal watched her for a moment before sighing and letting the half-eaten stick fall from her lips. "It doesn't feel right to just lounge around doing nothing. I feel really lazy and I guess it's bumming me out…" her front paws slid out from under her, sprawling out on the grass and stretching beneath the speckling sunrays. "I mean… I should be helping out, shouldn't I? At least with my living expenses, right?" she asked, her eyes peering up towards Emizella's staring gaze.

"You know, there isn't much of a difference between supporting one pokemon and two, so-" she stopped herself, seeing the glistening gaze striking at her core harder than any punch she could muster. She bit her tongue before she could even think about finishing that statement and started again. "Well, there are some odd jobs floating around the village if you really want something to do."

"Really?" Crystal's eyes brightened, showing Emizella that she truly could find stars sparkling during the day. Her tail wagged behind her, the little ball of fluff going a mile a minute at the prospect of something to do with her time. "Like where?"

The riolu swallowed down something, her eyes diverting in thought, "Well… Lily does babysitting on the side, so she could probably introduce you to someone. Tim and Kim are always looking for a few extra hands when they get their stock in and then there's the schoolteachers looking for assistants." She counted each one off on her fingers, stopping when she ran out of digits to count with on one paw but it was a good start. "There are others too, it's just about asking around."

"Lily babysitting, Tim and Kim's store, and the school… Got it!" Crystal nodded her head, excited to get a start on things.

She bounded towards her new bag, a faded midnight pack that shifted from deep violet to soulful indigo with several stars accented across the surface, slipping her head under the sash and adjusting it onto her back.

Emizella wordlessly watched the fennekin hastily prepare herself for her departure, running past her at a light gallop before she remembered she could speak. "Wait, you're going now?"

"Hm?" she slid to a stop, looking back at her curiously, "Why? Is it too late now?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"I wouldn't say it's late, but…" she started to stumble, her reasoning and rationale fading with every second those wide, curious eyes stared at her with expectation. She breathed out a short breath, shaking her head slowly, "No, never mind. You're… alright with heading there yourself, right?"

Crystal's smile returned, nodding her head with certainty, "Yeah, I know the way." she reassured her before turning to leave. "I'll be back before nightfall." she called, already gone with the vines and leaves swinging from her departure.

"Yeah… have fun…"

~uwu~

Crystal couldn't quite say that "fun" was the right word for it, but after her first pay, she couldn't deny the giddiness she felt in earning the coins that jingled in her pouch. It was a sense of pride and accomplishment that sent her skipping down the trail with her small contributions. And being able to buy the groceries for dinner, with just enough extra for dessert, made her heart swell.

She could hardly believe it herself, how bringing back just a few coins could make her this happy, but she finally felt like she was giving back to Emizella's generosity. At least enough to say she wasn't a complete mooch.

"You're always so eager to help…" an elderly trevenant said in his slow, ancient voice.

Crystal turned to look at him, sorting away the books into the village library's shelves. From what she had learned, he was recognized as the village's great Elder Pines. Some have said that he's been around since the village's finding a long time ago. Judging by the deep grooves in his bark, Crystal could believe it.

"Such a cute little busy body, you remind me of my little Dahlia when she was a wee flabébé." he laughed, the leaves on his body shaking with the fond memories.

"These are the last of them." a florges with her rosy petals sighed, a small stack of books cradled in her arms before she set them beside Crystal's short stature. "Papa, it's pretty late. Shouldn't you be home?"

"Nonsense. Besides, a moonlit stroll does these old branches some good." he shooed at the thought, watching his great-great-granddaughter give a short sigh at his reluctance to leave.

"Alright. We're almost done here, so at least let me walk you home."

"Such a sweet girl." he smiled, honestly the most docile, jagged grin Crystal had ever seen.

It felt a little contagious, the corners of her own lips turning upward in a soft smile. She let it linger as she continued to help file everything away. Mindless work but satisfying in its own regards. Everything had a place and everything slipped nicely into its space among the shelves.

As she slid each book away into their respective homes, a thought flashed through her mind like a solemn reminder. Everyone had their place, a space where they fit just right. Dahlia's was in this library surrounded by stories and tales from the past. Elder Pines's was right in this village, watching over the pokemon that collectively called this place their home. But Crystal… there was a place for her. Obviously, there was a place for her somewhere in this world. But where was it? What was it?

"You're the one they sent this time?" She remembered the voice.

She hadn't heard it since that day nor had she experienced any fainting spells or skull-splitting headaches. What could it have meant? What does it mean by "this time"?

"Oh! How did that one get in there?" Dahlia's voice drew in Crystal's eyes, startling her out of her thoughts as she looked up at the florges thumbing through the pages of one of the books. "I've told Clarise so many times that this belongs in the culture section, not history…"

She looked at the cover from beneath Dahlia's levitating body, "Xerneas: Goddess of Life and Beginning."

"What are you talking about? Xerneas is part of our history." her grandfather argued, reaching a handout and gesturing for Dahlia to hand it over.

"Papa… we've been over this…" she muttered but handed him the book despite her troubled expression.

"I was there, you know." he said to Crystal, leaning closer and pointing to Xerneas's celestial depiction on the cover. "Ah, I've never told you before, have I?"

Crystal shook her head slowly, completely oblivious to the silent, adamant objections coming from Dahlia's crossing arms and shaking head.

"I see, well then, back before any of this, back before we were even a small speck on the world's map, we were just a small band of pokemon, traveling together in search of a place to call home. I was just a small phantump back then but I remember it clearly. Some of us were refugees running away from cruelty and injustice. Some of us didn't have a home to go back to and were forced to find a new home. My family and I were the latter, our forest burnt down by a terrible, uncontrollable flame."

Dahlia sighed softly, picking up where she let off and letting the old tree carry on with his story.

"We carried on for miles upon miles, never knowing when our journey would end. I started to think that it never would end; that I'd be a wandering little phantump forever. And then… I saw her in a dream."

"Saw who?" Crystal asked, eyes wide and hanging onto his every word.

"The goddess of life herself, Xerneas." he let the name sink in for a second before continuing, "She said to me, 'You've come such a long way, my little lights. You needn't travel much further. Past the stream and through the trees, you'll find a part of me watching over a small clearing. I will gift this land to you so that your family and friends may thrive for generations upon generations.' I woke up and immediately went searching by myself. She spoke the truth and I found our new home here." he nodded his head, as sure of his facts as his leaves were luscious and green.

"But… why you, if you don't mind me asking. Why did she come to your dreams?" Crystal asked carefully, attempting to refrain from stepping on his roots.

The elder gave a hearty laugh, her leaves rustling wildly, "Who am I to guess the intentions of a goddess?" he asked back, thankfully taking no offense to the question. "I will say this, her words were true. We've been able to thrive peacefully under her protection for nearly two hundred years. Whatever her intentions were, I'm sure they were benevolent."

Benevolent, huh? Crystal thought, considering the idea for a moment before she heard Dahlia clap her hands loudly.

"Alright, it looks like we're done for today." she announced, calling Crystal's attention to the lack of books left to be shelved and the full shelves looking neat and trim and ready for tomorrow's visitors to mess it up all over again.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I stopped paying attention and you ended up finishing for me." Crystal said, her ears lowering guiltily.

"Don't worry about it. When Papa starts talking, you can't help but listen." Dahlia waved her hands at her, blowing away her worries with the soft breeze, "You're still new around here so you haven't built up an immunity yet, but trust me, you'll get used to it."

Crystal's head rose up slightly, her ears still drooped but they were slowly starting to lift themselves back up again under the florges's forgiving smile.

She reached into her bouquet, rummaging her hand through the flowers before snagging onto the coin purse she was looking for. "Here you are," she handed over several coins, the pile feeling a bit heavier than what Crystal was expecting, "and a little extra for humoring my grandpa." she whispered with a wink.

Crystal didn't have a chance to say anything about the unexpected tip, Dahlia already turning to start getting ready for their walk home. She could hear her in the back of her mind, her grandfather insisting the book belonged with their history collection and his granddaughter telling him that they'd talk about it once they were home.

Even though time wore at the mind, changing memories and adding a bit of fiction into their tales, something told Crystal that the legend of Xerneas and this village wasn't a mere myth. And something else was nagging at her that this legend was far from over.

~uwu~

By the time Crystal slinked herself back into their base, the stars were starting to wake up, giving their little greetings from the heavens above. No doubt that it was later than she usually returned home, but she was more concerned if Emizella might've been wondering where she was. Her eyes searched for her little blue body, scanning across their single-roomed hideout before finding her huddled away at the side, a bag laid open before her and a variety of tools and supplies by its side.

She looked too preoccupied to have noticed Crystal's return, her eyes narrowed in intense thought to hear the fennekin's soft paws crossing the distance and closing the gap. She looked past her body at her bag, mostly empty with one or two items stuffed into its pouch. Was she packing or unpacking? It could be either-or.

"Emi?" Crystal called her name, the light returning to her eyes at the sudden call.

"Oh? You're home already, Crystal?" she asked, turning to look towards the fennekin.

Crystal tilted her head, "Already? It's already nightfall." she said.

"Is it really?" Emizella looked upward at the nightly blues washed over the sky with their little jewels dotting and complementing its surface. "Huh…"

"What've you been doing? Planning a trip?"

"Kinda," she turned back to her bag, "I've hit a bit of a snag in my training so I was going to do some dungeon diving instead for some practical experience." She picked up a rope, stared at it for a moment before ultimately deciding to add it to her small, packed pile.

"Dungeon diving?" Crystal parroted, her ears twitching out the tired buzz in her head to make sure she heard her right.

"Yeah. Um… that's what I call going into dungeons without any solid plans. Just finding what I can and taking on anyone who wants a fight."

"So grinding." The word slipped out from Crystal's lips before she could question if that was even a term in this place.

Emizella laughed softly, "Grinding? Is that what they call it where you're from?"

"Something like that…" Crystal laughed as well, although a bit more nervous than the carefree sound bubbling up from the riolu but she hoped she masked most of it well enough.

"Heh, well, if 'grinding' is what you call getting stronger and smarter for the future then yes."

That is exactly what grinding is.

"Hey, you've got any jobs lined up tomorrow?" she asked, a sudden idea lighting up Emizella's crimson eyes and making them shine like rubies.

"Tomorrow?" she thought about it, "No, I think I was going to take a break tomorrow."

"Oh… I see." the light flickered in her eyes, dulling slightly. "I was going to ask if you'd want to come with me, but I don't want to wear you out." She chuckled, but it felt hollow like a mere pleasantry, "Actually, you probably should take tomorrow off. You've been working pretty hard."

"I'll go." Crystal stopped her before the riolu could talk herself any further into rescinding her offer. "I want to go with you!" her voice grew adamant, almost shouting, before she could think to reel herself back with an embarrassed flush growing on her face. "I mean… we haven't had the chance to hang out in a while, so… I'd rather spend my day off with you."

Emizella stared at her, dumbstruck and slowly catching the pink bug that colored Crystal's cheeks. "Geez," she muttered, turning her face away, "When you say it like that, you've got me feeling kinda flattered…" she admitted, pushing one more chuckle before she felt ready to flash Crystal with her most excited grin. "Alright, let's get you packed too. We leave out first thing tomorrow morning!"

"Am I going to be getting any sleep?" she asked, her face looking innocent enough but Emizella could spot a jab when she heard one.

Well, a few jabs here and there were good too, she supposed.