Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!

Chapter 48: Knives' POV
Flying might not be the right name for what he was doing, gliding was more like it. He could fly with someone else's weight, however there was no reason to actually fly when the wind would allow him easy access with little work. Plus it was a gentler ride, he did not wish to disturb his passenger any sooner than he had to. Being honest with himself meant admitting that he was enjoying having blue-eyes in his arms.

The feeling of warmth brushes against him before the soft voice of Tala comments, I felt curiosity from you earlier brother, what was the question?

Turning part of his focus to her, he replies, It was implied that Vash and I are still teenagers, not yet adults, how is that judged?

As you know, we grow from newborn to physically an adult in around a decade. At which point we look to be in our early twenties by human standards. At that point, our minds are still in the process of adapting and growing. Most plants stay within this teenage development stage for one-hundred to two-hundred years. Males tend to hit their maturity a little faster, somewhere around one-fifty years on average, while with females it depends on what type of abilities they have as to when they mature into their adult stage. Strength of ability changes a lot during the teenage stages. She answers him, mentally the both of you are shifting from teenager to adult, your levels evening out. Both of you are extremely powerful, more powerful than most of the bound plants, but I feel that is due to both your lineage and the fact you are tied to this realm unlike us.

Oh, he responds, not sure what else to say.

Another indicator is the selecting of a long term intimate friend. Teenagers may take lovers, may even enjoy somewhat longer lasting relationships but they do not seek one of compatibility, only of release. Ironically enough, you did that with your 'minions' as you think of them, Vash avoided the concept because he felt it would not work out. Even more ironic is you are both getting into a desire to find a lover, in his case he actually found his mate. You on the other hand, have found someone you may be compatible with, but whether she will be a mate or not is a matter to be determined later. Take care, brother, we can speak more later on the subject if you wish.

Rest well, sister. He replies to her, sending affection through the link. Another wave of warmth, much like a hug brushes him before the link subsides. Moments later, he banks his wings, fanning them completely out to land on the balls of his feet. As his feet touch the ground, his wings begin to fold up and withdraw, a painful process in which they vanish back within him. During this, he can feel as blue-eyes begins to stir. Opening her light eyes the slightest bit she gazes at him for a minute before he carefully lowers her legs so she can stand again. Righting herself she smiles at him.

He nods once at her, reaching behind himself to fasten his armor shut again. Motioning towards the town, he waits for her to move first before the two of them silently make their way back to the hotel-inn where they are staying. He is startled by the fact her mind seems to be swirling, but he keeps his thoughts to himself, choosing not to listen in despite the fact that he can hear echoes.

When they get back to the hotel-inn, Vash and temper are sitting at a table in the back talking as they look over a couple of files. When he spots Vash waiving them over, he nods in response, directing blue-eyes towards them by gently touching his hand to her back. Once at the table, blue-eyes takes the seat next to her partner, leaving him with the seat that puts his back to the people in the room. Frowning, he shift it a bit so it is more towards the wall than instead.

"Hello Milly, Knives, have a good chat?" temper inquires once they are seated.

Blue-eyes smiles at her, tilting her head, the slightest twitch making him wonder what that is about as she answers aloud, "Of course Meryl, though that's a tall cliff. Not quite as tall as the one Mr. Vash liked perching on though."

He's not sure what the look that passes between them means, but he says nothing in response himself.

Temper nods once, "Alright, well I was just getting ready to show Vash the files to the three properties that I thought would work the best."

Blue-eyes grins at her, waiving the waitress over to ask for some tea to drink. Once her tea is there, the four of them start going over the properties. He is almost startled by the amount of care that she had shown when picking. The first is an hour outside of town, it is mostly sandy, but there had been a house built there once before. The owners had died of age, leaving no one to inherit and the community had let it fall into disuse, sinking to the sand. It was supposed to have a water supply but no one had been able to find it when it was last checked so it was assumed that the water had dried up. The second one was actually a large piece of property that started just beyond the cliff that he had perched on and stretched for several iles. It includes possible water, but no way for it to be accessed by the community because of the bedrock being too hard and thick. The third is a little closer to the town, has a small three room house, but is in massive need of repair, however it comes with a nice sized piece of property and an already installed well, though how much water that is in the well is a question.

For a bit he says nothing as he considers the options. He actually agree with temper that the second would be best, however it would require them living in the sand or here while they got it built, and he really did not want to do that. Of course, he could always see if Hassaar could send a double crew rather than just a delivery. Those lizaeri could build things in a very short period of time when they put their mind to it. Then the problem would become getting the water before the memousi were ready. Hmmmm, what a quandary. He was ill at ease with all of these spiders around, even if he was doing better about it.

"I'd say the second one," Vash eventually comments, setting the other two aside. "It has a known water supply even if they cannot get at it so no one would wonder where we got it, they would just assume that we found a way through the bedrock. There is little to no chance of sandworms, it has a nice size piece of property, and I just realized that it is roughly a day's ride from where it is on the map to the Seeds village Hope."

Seeds village Hope, he repeats to himself, there is something important about it…Oh! That was the last floating community that I had the minions blow out of the sky in order to terrorize Vash. Well, hmmmm, ummm some reason I think I might need to go there to make some form of an apology. Mentally he growls at the idea, he also knows that unlike the rest of the spiders on this planet, those particular spiders had been trying take care of the sisters in their care because they understood that they were more than just an energy source. They had also been the ones to rescue his brother on several occasions, and if nothing else that meant he owed them thanks for that. Gezzzz oh peats, this being nice thing was tiring.

Finally making up his mind, he stares at the papers about the second piece of property as he suggests the following, "We should purchase the second property, alert Hassaar to where it is and what will need to be done, then visit the Seeds village."

He can feel all three sets off eyes staring at him. Vash's thoughts are full of shock and questions, he is not sure why he would want to go to a village that he tried destroying. Blue-eyes is trying to figure out what the Seeds village is, she had never heard of it. Temper though has no obvious thoughts instead she has a minor feeling of curiosity there instead.

"If there is a particular house design any of you favor we can make sure that Hassaar gets it, his building crew is quick. I have seen them completely demolish one of their settlements just to rebuild it in a different style in less than forty-eight hours. It will also give the memousi a chance to get here with their aqueduct, though I have a feeling that they started working on it before we even left the ship because they planned to connect the two together." He comments softly so only those at the table can hear him, then switching to mind speech with Vash only he continues, I also need to thank those blasted spiders at the Seeds village for assisting you when I was being an ass. It is not something I am looking forward to, but I have a feeling my charming watcher would think it is a good idea. Besides, now that I do not want to kill every single one of them, I can admit that they are better than the rest of these land bound spiders not including our girls.

Our girls? Vash repeats, amusement coloring his mind voice, careful, someone might think you like them.

He mentally shrugs, replying, I do like blue-eyes, I am not sure about temper. She reminds me of, well, me. That's not something I exactly like. I was considering having the memousi create an aqueduct for the Seeds community, I realize it does not seem like much, but on a planet with little water it has to count for something.

Vash gives him a mental nod as he thinks about it. I think that it would mean more than you know, I also think that they would appreciate the apology that goes hand in hand or implied by you thanking them for helping me.

He smiles at his twin, commenting out loud, "Well ladies, what do you think?"

Again he watches as the two of them have a completely silent conversation just by moving their bodies in the slightest ways, it is something he determines he will have to learn in order to understand what they are saying when they are not speaking out loud. Finally both of them nod, but like normal it seems to be temper who is the speaker for the pair.

"That's a good idea, though we'll have to warn the sheriff that there will be people building out there so he does not wonder how it magically appears. We are both curious about the village. Plus you might consider offering some sort of peace-gift or apology gift to avoid future problems." Like him, her voice is soft and non-nonsense.

Blue-eyes pipes up with, "Besides, it gives the both of you a chance to discuss things with the people in charge there. Meryl has already had you cleared with the rest of the planet, you might as well deal with them now rather than waiting until later."

Both brothers glance at each other before bursting out chuckling, leave it to her to put it in such a way.