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Chapter40: Meryl's POV
After walking away from the brothers, it was hard for her not to glance back at least once to see if they were taking her advice or not. Despite that, she managed to make it to the other bio-dome without doing so.
Upon entering the other dome, Milly glances down at her inquiring, "Did you have to beat Mr. Knives up?"
Chuckling, she nods, "Yes Milly, I think it was called for. I also think it will not need repeating. Though I did offer to teach him how to fight like that, so we may train together in the future."
Her tall friend nods, glancing around at the various desert plants but stops when she sees something moving. Startled, she stares at it, silently pointing it out. Turning a little she looks towards where she is pointing and is surprised to see a little animal of some type scurrying across the ground, it stops by one of the low laying cactus' before continuing on its way.
"Amazing," Milly breaths, "is that an earth animal?"
She nods, murmuring in response, "Though I do not know what type."
After a few more minutes watching it, the girls continue on their way. Milly is humming softly while they walk, as she is wont to do. When they reach where the bulbs are they are surprised to see that there is still a whole host of activity going on. Somewhat shocked to see how many lizaeri were in the area, they can do nothing more than stare at the host of lizard people as they work on the area surrounding the Amber's bulb, with a few of them even working literally atop the bulb itself.
Hello, how are you? Dai asks excitedly as she drifts from the top of her bulb to the bottom.
Both Meryl and Milly place their palms on the glass in greeting before Milly replies, "Good thank you, how are you Miss Dai?"
We are family, call me Dai, I am enjoying watching them place the new bulb even though Amber has not spoken to me yet. I hope she will not be as silent as Rena, it gets frustrating trying to connect with the others when telepathy in the long range is not as easy for me. Dai tells them as she does a flip in her bulb, watching the work going on around her.
"Family," Milly mutters, a concerned look crossing her face.
Leaning close to her friend, Meryl comments, "Don't worry about it, they are designed not to be attracted to close blood relatives remember, so you can keep on questioning the idea until you decided what to do without any guilt."
Nodding, she glances at the other bulbs before drifting away to go speak with them. A few minutes later, she smiles as she hears her tall friend start to softly sing. Slowly, she sees the plant in the second bulb start to come closer to the bottom, rather than staying at the top. She is surprised to see that her colors are mostly faded into a grayish tone.
"Dai, why is she so dark in coloring when the rest of you seem to be golden, silver, and white tones?" Meryl eventually asks, watching the second plant.
She stopped wanting to live after her human died. She had a favorite, one that would sing to her and bring her small trinkets, when he died during the Fall she became depressed, she was just about dead when Knives found our ship and decided to make it his home. As you know, he is a powerful telepath, and he took control of her, forcing her to heal. It was not something she was happy about, now he tends to avoid her as much as possible, only dealing with her when she tries to harm herself. He might not have been able to speak to her but she made her hatred of him felt. For a moment Dai pauses, to glance at her sister in wonder. This is actually the first time I have seen her respond to anyone since the Fall in a non-negative way. Our newest family member has quite a gift.
Smiling, she nods, "Milly is definitely special, she's got a unique ability to just be, a lot like Vash actually."
Dai nods, doing another flip in her bulb, That's a good thing yes? Vash is your mate I noticed; at least I am guessing that is what the link I felt was. She pauses frowning for a moment. There are times I could wish to be better at understanding links and telepathy. Shrugging, she brightens considerably. I have a unique gift too. I am one of the only amplifiers on this planet, maybe the only one actually. Can you share anything about either of them with me?
Sitting down on the sand beside the bulb, Meryl considers it for a moment before speaking. "Well, Knives is a strong telepath and relies on that ability to understand and react to situations as they unfold. Vash is a strong empathy and relies on the emotional understanding he gets to react to situations. Ummmm…"she falls silent for a moment still thinking, "Oh! I know, Knives can make a really good pot of coffee, he's honest, and I think he has finally figured out how to forgive, though who I am not exactly sure. Vash is a real sweat heart, he does completely idiotic things that are beyond dangerous and then gets out of trouble by giving this high voltage, charming smile of his, not the fake one, the real one. Then he goes and does something thoughtful, like making dinner, or cleaning up, or whatever other thing comes to mind."
Focusing on a couple of instances, she brings them to the forefront, offering them up so Dai could actually see what she meant. With her hand on the bulb it takes Dai a moment to make the connection but once it is made, she starts giggling at the different images of Vash that she is shown.
Your right, he is a sweat heart. Amusing too, does he really do that type of thing any time there is a situation? Dai inquires after watching a bit more.
Nodding, she chirps, "Yep."
I think he has more energy than me. For a minute the two sit in silence, listening to Milly sing to Rena in the next bulb over. Sighing, Dai finally asks, Why has he not healed properly? I notice a great deal of metal in his body, not to mention the arm.
Meryl bites her lip, trying to determine what she can say without intruding on his privacy. "Partly because he only recently discovered that you girls can heal him, partly because he thought healing himself would turn his back on his humanity, and partly because he sees them as reminders as to why to avoid violence. At least I think that's about right. You would have to ask him to be sure," she answers slowly, carefully thinking out what she wants to say in response.
Dai says nothing in response, instead she drifts to the top of her bulb and seems to focus elsewhere.
Shaking her head, Meryl decides to join her best friend.
Milly's POV
Miss Dai said that the lady in the other bulb is silent, curious she had wandered over to it and placed her palm carefully on the glass as she greets her, "Hello Miss Rena," her voice soft.
When there is no response, she is a little surprised, titling her head she is even more surprised to see that Miss Rena is almost completely grey in coloring, and not the beautiful silvery gray like some of the ladies are, but the sickly grey. Remembering how much Yali had liked her singing even though she was sad, Milly sits down in the sand beside the bulb, beginning to hum before actually singing. In the next bulb over she can see Miss Amber come to the bottom to listen but there is still no reaction from the plant beside her. Resolved, she continues to sing for the silent plant even though she doubts there will be any sort of response.
After a while her throat gets dry and she is surprised to see one of the lizaeri standing next to her, their small blue-tone body a stark contrast to the sand around them.
"Thank you for the ssssong," it tells her in the hissing tone that seems common from them, "We thought you may be thirsssty," with that the small lizaeri hands her a canteen full of pure water before vanishing back among the other lizaeri working without her getting a chance to thank them.
Shaking her head she goes back to singing, her voice soft, but all of her songs full of hope, joy, and any other positive emotion she can think of.
Eventually Meryl joins her, and actually sings along with her, her own voice never growing loud but still heartfelt. It is not until the song is done does she remember that it had been Lila's favorite, a song the two had shared, making Milly wonder if it was not a mistake to choose.
A soft smile graces her short friends face, "Thanks Milly, it had been a while since I heard that song."
Nodding, she glances up surprised to see that Miss Rena has finally taken notice of something.
You feel sorrow, a rich voice murmurs, both girls clearly hearing it. Why do you feel sorrow during that particular song, but not now that you are done singing, or before you came over here?
The soft smile turns sad as Meryl replies, "That was Lila's favorite song, watching a loved one die can be a cause for sorrow, so can the remembering, but it is a good sorrow because it lets me know that she lived."
Sorrow is horrible! It is evil! It is probably his fault your Lila is gone, just like it is his fault so many others are dead! the plant above the girls just about screeches.
She starts to say something else but Milly doesn't want to hear it and snaps at her. "Stop it! Not everything is his fault you know, Miss Lila died because those who were protecting her besides Meryl were not that smart, it had nothing to do with either of them. You should not accuse someone of something without knowing. I have siblings too you know, and they do things that make me mad, but that does not mean I spend forever hating them. Eventually you have to deal with it, do you really think whoever it is you are mourning would want you to be this bitter?"
Shocked, the plant can do nothing but stare at her unable to respond. In time, she drifts back up to the top of her bulb without saying another word.
"I'm sorry Meryl, I had not recalled that you used to sing with her…" she starts to apologize but he friend waves her off.
A soft chuckle escapes her as Meryl comments, "I miss Lila but I never wish to forget, remembering her is perfectly fine."
Was this Lila a family member or a lover? A new voice asks, and both girls turn to see Miss Amber hovering near the bottom of her bulb, most of the gray gone since she had had time to heal.
"My first cousin, family, we grew up together." Meryl answers the plant as she walks the few steps to being next to her bulb.
Milly joins her smiling, "I remember when I first meet you and her, the two of you were driving poor Ethan mad because he couldn't figure out which was which. It was really funny since you had such different eyes."
They were twinned? Miss Amber inquires, curious about the concept.
Shaking her head, she replies, "No they weren't twins, but when they were young they looked like twins, you know how two sisters can be almost identical even though they may only share one parent? Well those two were like that for looks."
Oh! Miss Amber gasps, I've seen that happen plenty of times with us. Miss Amber looks up, frowning, before bidding us farewell and returning to the top of her bulb.
Immediately after she turns to see both brothers walking towards her, Mr. Vash seems like he is relieved about something, and Mr. Knives looks more relaxed than she can ever remember seeing him. Maybe this trip to his home was not such a bad thing, but really, she will be happy when they get back on their way, because why the domed areas don't bother her the rest of the ship gives her a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach she would rather avoid. Smiling, she turns to face them, with only a glance at her partner to know that she seems relaxed too.