A few seconds passed, just long enough for a string of fresh worries to sprout in Eevee's mind. He wasn't expected. He should have at least sent a letter instead of just showing up. As the silence stetched on, just a short pause in reality but the nervousness in his mind stretched it out into a horrible, awkward thing. Maybe she didn't want to see him. It had been a long time since she had heard from him, his last letter being from not long after he had first joined the guild. She must be angry with him, and he just showed up out of nowhere...

Eevee's smile nearly faltered in that short, unending moment. And then she smiled back, brilliant, radiant and beautiful. Eevee's worries vanished and were instantly forgotten.

"Oh, Eevee," she spoke slowly and carefully so as not to slur, stutter or otherwise stumble over her words. "I am, so happy, to see you. Please, come inside."

"I'm happy to see you too!" Eevee said as he stepped inside. The house had a certain sharp spice to the air and smelled of cloves. That much was the same but very little else was. Just from what he could see from the entry way, the furniture and decorations had changed over the years, but truthfully that was very much the same as well. His mother grew bored quite quickly of seeing the same things over and over and would switch styles fairly frequently. Wicker furniture and sky blue decor seemed to be her latest taste. "I'm so sorry I haven't written more often, but things happened and I had no idea how to put them into a letter... Oh, I shouldn't be making excuses. But I can tell you all about it now!"

"That sounds, wonderful." She closed the front door of the house. "Your team, did your team, come with you?"

"Sol's here, somewhere. We got separated after, well, we ran into Adren."

His mother blinked, slowly, then looked past Eevee, down the hall towards where he remembered the den was. "Perhaps we should, save this for later."

Eevee turned to see what had caught her attention. A tall, willowy Gardevoir peered down the hall from the den with curiosity. She appeared to be quite old, even for a Gardevoir, age having changed her colouring to bleached green and ivory. Eevee remembered her. His mother had had so much trouble putting together sentences, saying words correctly, basic communication. It was the efforts of the extremely patient and compassionate Gardevoir that his mother had been able to reach her current level of recovery. Eevee would never be able to express just how grateful he was to her.

"Oh! I didn't realize..." Eevee started. He hadn't even considered that she might have company over, and now he just went and interrupted them. "I mean, I can come back..."

"Nonsense!" Gardevoir smiled. She walked serenely down the hall to stand by his mother. Eevee couldn't help but think of how fragile the two of them looked together. Gardevoir was tall and thin like a tree branch about to be snapped off by the wind. His mother's back right leg, her bad leg, trembled slightly and he saw her shift her weight off it. "I'm sure she's much more eager to talk to you than old me."

"I don't want to interrupt," Eevee said, though he really did want to talk to her, tell her all about what had happened, about the guild, team Wanderers, about Sol and Jak and Ren. Now that he was actually standing in front of her that feeling had only intensified. But it had been a long time since they had seen watch other and the last thing Eevee wanted to do was be a nuisance on his first day home.

Gardevoir's laugh sounded like tinkling bells. "You've raised a polite boy, Mariam. One to be proud of, from what I've heard. I'll leave you two to catch up. My office could stand a little clean up before my next appointment, so getting over to the Grove early would work out well." She put a hand on his mother's shoulder, and then she walked out the front door, leaving mother and son alone.

...

Sol was too taken by surprise to feel anything but confusion. A few seconds passed in this grey state of 'What the hell, Why am I on the ground?'. This was more than enough time for Riley to act. He had already been moving when the attack started, hand on Sol's shoulder pushing down, foot sweeping out to trip her. It was thanks to him that they were both on the ground to let the flames pass harmlessly overhead. Sol felt their heat, uncomfortably warm on her back. Still in her dazed state, all she could think about was a tumultuous first meeting almost a year ago that had begun with her getting set on fire.

Riley was back up in seconds. Sol was spitting dirt out of her mouth. Adren was standing just outside of the apartment complex, fur the colour of candlelight now bristled out, glowing, fire crackling between the individual strands. Stiff posed, wreathed in flames, he looked the part of a fearsome beast, except for his eyes. Those were empty and vacant, unseeing.

"Where are your friends now, Wanderer?" Adren asked. His tone was empty as his eyes, without any of its usual smugness.

"Who are you?" Riley demanded. A ball of blue light formed in his hands. He was ready to attack at the slightest provocation.

"It's Adren, Eevee's douche of a brother," Sol coughed, pushing herself up to her knees.

Adren was grinning. Riley's eyes narrowed.

"What are you?"

"He's a Flareon."

Adren's grin grew even wider, baring bright, sharp teeth. The smile didn't touch his dull eyes.

"Where are your friends, Wanderer?"

"What the hell is your problem? I get now why Eevee attacked you on sight, you ass."

Adren's fur gradually began to lose its shine, the fire died down to nothing and he was back to normal. Almost. He still grinned widely and his eyes retained their vacant glassiness.

"It's getting late, Wanderer, and you are so far from home."

"It's not even supper time yet."

A flicker went through the Flareon's expression and his grin finally faltered. It twisted into a frown, and then a look of disgust.

"It's not even an act, is it? You truly are a fool."

A long moment of silence passed between the three. Then a shiver passed through Adren's body and his face went as slack and empty as his eyes. Riley stiffened, and then allowed the aura he had focused between his palms to disappear before sprinting towards the Flareon. Sol thought for sure he meant to attack, but instead he ran up to help support Adren as he slumped over like a life less doll.

A keening whine came from the pair. Cautiously and still very much confused as to what was going on, Sol approached them. She saw the sound was coming from Adren, now a trembling, shaking mess, tears pouring from wide, terrified eyes.

This didn't help her confusion.

...

Sol didn't like hospitals. Or maybe it was this one specifically. Amera's Grove was the only big hospital she had ever been in. It reminded her of the many times she had been injured and confined to a room. She felt like once she was inside, she would be stuck there with all the other people who had to feel just as miserable as she did.

She didn't want to be there, but she wasn't sure when exactly it would be appropriate for her to leave. What she had really wanted to do was drop Adren at the doors and be on her merry way, but she didn't voice that to Riley. So they helped him inside. Adren seemed completely unable to speak for himself, so Riley explained to one of the hospital staff what had happened. Sol didn't hear what he said. Didn't really care to. She just wanted to leave, but Riley was held up answering questions and Sol's confusion was steadily being replaced by anxiety. She wasn't feeling up to wandering the streets by herself right then. She still hadn't found out where Eevee could be, anyway.

Sol fidgeted in her chair in the waiting room. It had been Riley's idea to bring Adren here. Sol hadn't made any objections but also didn't see the point. He wasn't injured or sick, she thought. Just shaking. Violently. Spasms, almost. And he wasn't talking. Weird whines instead. And crying. A lot of crying. Ok so maybe the hospital was a much better choice then just leaving him laying in the street.

Sol stretched idly, watching Riley talk to one of the nurses again. Explaining what happened once again, she guessed. She didn't think they completely believed him. It was a weird little story. She wondered where Eevee was and what he would make of all this.

The door to the waiting room opened and an aged Gardevoir walked in. A look of immense relief passed over Riley was speaking to and they hurried over to speak to her in hushed whispers. Someone they thought would know what to do about all this, Sol guessed. They must have been as clueless about Adren as Sol was.

Riley came back over and sat next to Sol. They didn't say anything to each other, just watched the nurse and the Gardevoir talk to each other before disappearing down a hallway, presumably toward where Adren was being kept.

Sol tapped her nails against her chair's armrest. She swung her legs and kicked at the floor. She stood up and paced.

"Do they even need us to stick around?"

"They might have more questions. And when you tell Eevee of this later I'm sure he'd want to know how is brother is doing."

"This isn't taking too much time? I thought I had to be carted off to the clan without delay."

Riley didn't respond. Sol huffed and went back to wandering around the waiting room.

Eventually the Gardevoir returned while Sol was flipping through the waiting room magazines. Her eyes landed on Riley and she walked up to him.

"You were there to witness what happened to Adren before he entered his current condition?" She asked. "Could you walk me through what happened?"

"He went nuts and then he went whimpery," Sol butted in.

Tired, unamused eyes turned to Sol. Eyes that widened upon seeing Sol's face.

Great, another fan of Lumen's articles.

The Gardevoir recoiled and let out a scream.

"Wanderer!"