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

Chapter 49: Vash's POV
When Meryl and him had finally gotten down stairs he was almost worried about his brother but she had reassured him that tall girl would find him without any problems. He was startled that she had trusted tall girl to be alone with him, and when he asked about it she had smiled at him before replying. "The safest place for Milly is with him, he's sworn to protect her, and the one thing all of us agree on is he is honest. Besides, you have to have noticed that those two seem to be having something going on between them. Maybe this is what's needed for them to figure it out."

It takes him a minute to consider before he realizes that she actually trusts that his brother will do as he has said. It also surprises him that she shows any sort of trust in him, particularly since she does not seem to like him. He must have said something about it out loud because she grins at him as their lunch is set in front of him and answers that thought.

Chuckling she comments, "Well, why wouldn't I trust him? Remember, I know as much about you two as you two know about yourselves." She gives a small shake of her head shrugging, continuing she says, "As I told Milly not that long ago, he might be an ass, but he is a better ass now than he was then."

"Oh," is the only thing he can think to say in response, he had not looked at it like that but she was right, even if he was still an ass, he was a better one now than he was then. For a while the two of them are quiet, sitting close to each other as they eat their respective lunches. He can't help but think that this was the thing he had wanted, a chance to just be and be accepted by those who care for him.

After a bit short girl goes to get the papers on the properties that she is considering for purchase. She had just sat back down next to him when he sees his brother and tall girl enter the room. He is taken back by the fact that they are extremely close to each other, his brother is almost directly beside her with only inches separating them. It is the first time he had seen it, and if the colors were opposite he would be reminded of the fact she had moved in the same fashion with Wolfwood.

Wow, Meryl was right, he thinks watching them and waving them over. That is not something I had expected. I mean it's great. It gives him even more reason to stop trying to kill everyone but it still was not expected. Why would tall girl like him like that when he is the cause of Wolfwood's death? Unless she sees something that is similar in their personalities. He almost starts to start over think when Meryl slips her hand on his thigh and gives it a squeeze, bring his attention out of his head as tall girl and his twin settle into their seats.

"Hello Milly, Knives, have a good chat?" Meryl inquires her tone curious.

"Of course Meryl, though that's a tall cliff. Not quite as tall as the one Mr. Vash liked perching on though." Tall girl responds.

However as he watches the two of them have a conversation in physical body language even as Meryl comments, "Alright, well I was just getting ready to show Vash the files on the three properties that I thought would work the best."

After the waitress brings refreshments for them and tea for tall girl, his short girl starts going over the properties, he barely pays attention to the process, instead he considers what it would mean if something did happen between his brother and Milly. In the long run he determines it would be good for both of them, she needs someone to rely on, and he needs someone who is reliant. It really would be good for both of them. It would also guarantee that her little one would have someone who would protect him without question and not just because he has sworn to. Despite his inattention, he determines that the second property would be the best one to work with because it would be the easiest to work with.

"I'd say the second one," he eventually comments as his mind works out where it is placed on a map and in relation to other communities. He quickly recalculates the answer when he realizes that the Seeds village is just over a day's ride away. That could be handy, he thinks. "It has a known water supply even if they cannot reach 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."

He mentions the village to see what his twin's reaction is. Emotionally, curiosity kicks into over drive for him as his mind processes. Once he has figured it out, his emotions shift from curiosity to frustration to resolve almost faster than Vash can keep up. Finally Knives remarks, "We should purchase the second property, alert Hassaar to where it is and what will need to be done, then visit the Seeds village."

While his brothers emotions had reflected resolve, that was not what he expected him to decide. It shocks him and makes him wonder why and he cannot help but stare at his twin. What is he thinking? From beside him he can feel the satisfaction and overlaid with curiosity from Meryl, that startles him as well, while tall girl seems to be puzzled.

Under the table he takes hold of Meryl hand, focusing on her and attempting to connect telepathically, he is extremely happy when it seems to work. Why do you feel satisfied by the idea?

Her response takes a moment, and seems to come through a different path than he is used to using. Because it means that he is recognizing that he was wrong. I would bet it also means he plans to apologize in some way, shape, or form.

Before he can respond to that, Knives states, "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 system, 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." His voice is soft enough to not be overheard by others. For some reason though, he switches from speaking to mind speech and continues, saying, 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 that the rest of these land bound spiders not including our girls.

Wow, he thinks in response, I can't believe that Meryl got that one on the head, nor can I believe that he is even willing to come that close to an apology, it seems so different. But then, isn't that the point? He's not the same Knives now as he has been the last one-hundred years, his personality is going back to more like it was before the Fall. It's amazing.

Smiling to himself he only replies to part of it, allowing amusement to color his mind voice in pleasure as he remarks, Our girls? Careful, someone might think you like them.

He gets the impression of a shrug as his brother replies, 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. He had paused on the word me when referring to Meryl, discomfort coloring his mind voice at the idea that a human was like him.

All and all, this could be the perfect way to prove that he was changing. Giving a mental nod to his brother he responds, 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.

"Well ladies, what do you think?" Knives responds aloud instead of with his telepathy.

The girls had been having a discussion while they were mentally conversing. Falling silent, the two of them quickly have another one of those body language chats he had seen them have on so many occasions before Meryl answers, "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." Somehow, he also hears her comment, let me guess, he mention it to you in mind speech?

How did you…? he begins but gets interrupted when tall girl makes a comment.

"Besides, it gives 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."

She has a point, he thinks, but really only she would put it that way. Glancing at his twin the two of them share an instant thought about it before both of them burst out chuckling.

The Seeds village used to be in the air but Knives had sent the Gung-ho Guns after him and they had knocked it from the sky, killing several members of the community. They would feel that he needs to answer for his crimes, but they probably would not realize that he was already doing so. How was that going to work? If they tried to stop him from staying with tall girl it was not going to work, and while he might not kill them, they definitely would not want to get in the way of him keeping his word. Hopefully they would be able to come up with something that would help resolve it. While there is really nothing worth a life, the humans didn't really have any rights to punish him when he was already being punished by the plants. It would be something he would have to figure out before they left.