Wednesday morning came faster than Rayla had hoped. She woke early and readied to see her parents for the first time in 15 years. She slipped on a deep blue tank top, and a short, black jacket over it. She put on a pair of navy blue jeans and her night blue sneakers. She pulled two strands of her hair back and tied the strands to hold back the remaining loose hair.

When Callum arrived at her house, she hugged Ethari goodbye as he wished her luck, and they left.

On their way to Tiadrin and Lain's cabin, Callum happened to glance at Rayla and noticed she was anxiously fidgeting her fingers. He gently placed his hand over her hands slightly relaxing them. Rayla looked to him with a small smile. He always knew how to calm her nerves.

Parking a little ways from the cabin itself, they walked the rest of the way.

At last they were here. They stood at the door for a few moments as Rayla hesitated to knock. Callum didn't rush her, they were in no hurry. So he allowed her to take all the time she needed. Rayla did consider turning around, leaving to never come back, but she promised and that's what kept her here.

She let her hand feel for the only comfort she could touch; Callum's hand. She held his hand interlacing her fingers with his. Callum lightly squeezed her hand in assurance. Finally, she knocked. They heard some distant chatter, before hearing footsteps walking towards the door. Rayla swallowed hard hoping to gulp down the rising nerves and anger.

The door was opened and both Lain and Tiadrin stood in place in awe of their daughter. She grew up. She was no longer the wee elf they once knew.

Rayla squeezed Callum's hand tighter as she saw them, "Umm... He- Hello?" She said quietly.

They held their arms out to hug her. In instant response, Rayla stepped away and they stopped almost seeming shocked to see her so distant. She seemed serious, much more serious than she'd been when she was four.

Rayla looked from one to the other, "Are we goin' in? Goin' out? I get it, things have changed, but let's not gawk about it. It's not gettin' us anywhere." She said coldly with a firm gaze. She noticed their gaze had shifted to Callum. The firm expression faded ever-so-slightly as she introduced him. "This is Callum." Then her expression returned.

Callum waved politely. "Hi."

Lain and Tiadrin just stared for a brief moment. She already had a boyfriend?

"Is there a problem with that?" Rayla asked plainly.

They snapped out of their thoughts and Tiadrin shook her head, "No, Sorry, we were just shocked to see you have a boyfriend." She apologized speaking with thick scottish accent.

Rayla furrowed her eyebrows, "Just because I came with a male friend, it doesn't make him my boyfriend. For your information, I don't have a boyfriend. Secondly, Was it that hard to believe that I might actually find someone who likes me?" Personally, it felt that way to her. She didn't seem to have a lick of luck in that department. But they didn't know that.

Lain shook his head, "No, no, that's not what we meant." He and Tiadrin stood to the side allowing them room to walk inside. "Greetings, Callum."

"Thanks, Sir." Callum kindly replied.

They led them to the Dining area, having Callum and Rayla sit at the table as Tiadrin fetched a wooden pitcher from the fridge. "Would either of you like some moonberry juice? It's freshly squeezed." She offered eagerly.

Rayla's expression lightly softened. They were trying, at least. "No, thanks."

Callum refused cordially, "Thanks, but I'm good right now." He gave Rayla's hand a light squeeze just to remind her, he was was here for her.

New to small talk with her, Lain spoke speaking in the same accent as his wife, "How are Ethari and Runaan? Getting along quite well with you, I hope?" He joked chuckling awkwardly.

Tiadrin looked at Callum, "Is there anything I can get you?"

Callum shook his head to silently deny. Hearing Lain bring up Runaan's name made him want to grind his own teeth, but he remained quiet. Lain didn't know, at least Callum didn't think he knew. He was more worried about how Rayla was taking it.

Rayla blankly responded to Lain's question, "Ethari is fine. Runaan? I don't know, he's back in Silvergrove. I'm not informed of his whereabouts anymore." She glanced a small, grateful smile to Callum.

Tiadrin turned to Lain with concern, why wouldn't his brother stay with Rayla? Lain was just as surprised to hear about it. "What happened that you three were separated? I know Runaan can be tough, but he cares more than you know. Why are you not all three living together?" He questioned politely, at least, he hoped it didn't come off that rudely. He was just concerned for his brother.

Rayla quietly scoffed. Sure, Runaan cared. That must've been why he was such a brutal jerk. She looked to Callum with question, Should she tell them?

Callum nodded.

Rayla sighed in slight frustration, "Let's just say, I had to leave. He was the reason I left.'Caring Runaan' wasn't as carin' as perceived... He... he.. hit me." She briefly explained her voice falling quiet as she neared the direct answer of why. She swallowed hard again to keep herself from showing vulnerability.

"Runaan? He hit you? Why? When? For how long?" Tiadrin asked taking the words straight from her husband's mouth. Runaan never got aggressive with family, he kept his aggressiveness at work. Why would he do such a horrible thing?

Rayla couldn't tell whether this was real anger or an act. But she still replied honestly, being sure to not show any hurt, "Four years, before I finally left." She struggled to mask it hoping it didn't show as much as it felt it did.

"Oh, Rayla, we are so so sorry. We had no idea he would treat you so terribly. Believe us, he never acted that way towards any of us. We are so sorry for leaving you." Lain said with nearly invisible tears pouring from his eyes. He reached across the table to put his hand over her shoulder in comfort, but once again Rayla moved out of reach.

Rayla was getting more and more frustrated. That's all she heard from them. They always told "We're just leaving you for now" "We left" "Just leaving" "Leave, leave, leave" That's all she ever heard. "Can you just call it what it is? You didn't just leave me. You abandoned me. That's all you ever told me. Runaan did hit me, that's because he cares less about me than you know. He never cared about me. Not when you left me in his 'care', not now." She spout standing to her feet.

Callum stood with her as he started caressing the top of her hand, slowly calming her. She turned to looked at him feeling it. He offered her a faint, but reassuring grin. Rayla took a deep breath further calming herself.

Tiadrin corrected what she and Lain had been saying, "Yes, you're right. We.. did abandon you, there is no sugarcoatin' it. But we are truthfully sorry, that is why we are here, to fix this." She confessed.

Lain couldn't help, but ask, "And Ethari? Did he not stop him?"

Rayla hung her head, "No,... he didn't. But he was the one who told me to leave."

"Oh, We are so sorry for doing that to you. But we are here now, and we want to get to know you again as your parents." Lain answered then explained.

"For how long?" Rayla had to ask.

Tiadrin and Lain looked at her in confusion. Even though they had an inkling of what she meant, they were almost taken aback by her question.

"You can promise me this, but how long are you plannin' on stayin'? The moment you two are 'needed' you'll leave again. I'm not goin' down that road, not again. You caused me years of pain, I won't set myself up for more if you're not even goin' to stay. You didn't care back then. Tell me, what's going to change now? Parenting requires parents. Parents that are actually there. Good parents." Rayla said angrily. Her tone of voice didn't raise in volume, but the coldness in her voice spoke from the hurt, insecure part of her. She wasn't going to hurt herself further.

Lain an Tiadrin faced one another. They really couldn't consider themselves her parents if they didn't parent their only child. They only shared blood not a life.

Tiadrin informed with a hopeful smile, "We won't be needed. We promise, because this afternoon we will release ourselves from our oath. What changed is our point of view. We see what we've done and we want to make it right. Whatever it takes. If it helps, we can get to know you as friends first. We love you, Moonb.."

"Rayla." Rayla corrected, "If we start as friends, I'm only Rayla." She told them giving them the hope that she agreed. A small curve made it's way to her lips, and she gripped Callum's hand with a grateful squeeze.

"Rayla." Lain rephrased, with a relieved grin he shared with Tiadrin.

Rayla informed them that this would take time as they learned. She and Callum would visit them twice every week, until she was comfortable to go by herself which Callum undoubtedly agreed to.

~RxC~

Soon Rayla and Callum left. They drove to Katolis City High School to continue helping with decorating the basketball court. Once they got there, Nyx met them at the entrance and gave them their jobs for today.

This was the last day they were all going to be decorating. The last three weeks would be spent buying outfits for the prom, and restudying for the new semester, while the school's staff would be working on the new curriculums for each class, finding their outfits for the event, writing their speeches for it, and readying their classrooms to hold new and recurring students.

Rayla was going to finish painting the banner for the entrance of the court, and Callum was putting up the last streamers on the ceiling.

While helping Rayla finish the banner, Nyx began discussion, "How did it go?"

Rayla paused for a moment, "I want to trust them, I really do. But I just- I'm not sure how."

Nyx gestured to needing the neon green paint. "Rayla, who said this was going to be easy? This is a big step you're taking. No one said this wouldn't be difficult. But take it one step at a time. Give some, learn some. Give them some trust, then test it. However they take it will either be your stepping stone or a fearful step back. Don't be afraid to get hurt, because you cannot avoid it. Take a chance, and learn from the outcome." She advised sounding as if this was from experience.

Rayla turned to face her after thinking for a brief moment, "Thanks, Nyx. When did you learn this?"

Nyx grinned wide, "My mum isn't really my mother. Not my biological one, at least. She's my step-mother. My real mother died, when I was in middle school. That's why I started stealing things. I thought pretty things would help fill that unsatisfied hole that my mum's love and care for me had previously filled. Soren started helping me through it, and that was when and how I met Claudia. She eventually helped me, too. I figured that piece of advice when my dad started dating again. Had I not found that out, I wouldn't have had the great relationship I have with my step-mother. I call her mum as if she were my mother, without forgetting about my biological one."

Rayla sighed sympathetically. She, sure as heck, didn't know about it. "I had no clue about that."

"I know, but I don't talk about it much, because I have no need to. It's in the past, and that's where it always will be. I've moved on, so I can laugh back at it without any sensitivity. It took awhile, but it eventually worked. Just don't expect your pain to go away in the blink of an eye. These things take time, it's not all going to be smooth sailing, but you have to work hard at it. Okay?"

"Yeah, I will. I'm- um- Sorry for takin' you granted. I didn't know you'd gone through so much or even had so much experience. Looks like I'll start comin' to you, if I need any extra help. Thanks."

"No problem, I'm sorry about the crap I helped put you through when shopping. Looks like we're even. I'm always willing to give some advice. Just call me if you need anything."