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

Chapter 57: Milly's POV
After the talk with Mr. Doctor, Vash had wandered off to visit with some of the people who live within the village after making sure that Meryl was going to be alright with it. She had just hugged him with smile and sent him on his way, leaving the three of us together. Both Meryl and Mr. Knives had shared a common look of humor as they watched Mr. Vash leave the room. Once he was gone, our small group had also headed outside, she wanted to see what the village was like. It was mildly funny that Meryl had taken her normal spot to the left, which put Mr. Knives uncomfortably on the right. Like any time Meryl and her had been in a new town she was excited.

She did not know why new places excited her, but they did. Perhaps it was the getting to see new faces and learn new things. So for the next few hours the three of them look around the town until she starts getting tired. When she starts to sway, she is startled by the fact that Mr. Knives scoops her up and turns towards the plant without ever bothering to say a word. Beside her she can hear Meryl's low chuckle as she starts drifting.

When they get to the plant it is almost as if the plant workers cannot see them as they pass by unremarked on. This is confirmed when Meryl inquires, "Are you directing their attention elsewhere?" And he nods in once in response.

She is not exactly sure how he knows his way so clearly through the plant, but a few minutes later she finds herself standing in front of the three bulbs and smiling to herself as he greets each in turn. Despite the fact it is embarrassing to be picked up like that, she had still found it to be enjoyable being held like that. She also wondered why she felt so drowsy all of a sudden. Shaking her head, she greets each of the ladies in turn.

Meryl's POV
Milly really is amusing sometimes, she thinks to herself as she watches her tall friend get scooped up like a tired child.

I am going to the plant, she hears Knives inform her in that semi-commanding tone of his. There is concern underlying it however, which is why she merely nods in response rather than snap at him for his tone.

Most people watch them as they move about, but now, they all seem to have their focus elsewhere. This is made even more obvious when they reach the plant and none of the workers seems to notice them moving through it. Amusement laces her voice as she softly queries, "Are you directing their attention elsewhere?"

He nods once, replying, I do not feel like dealing with the spiders at this moment. It would take longer to explain it to them then it does for me just to put a dampening field around us, since it is not on any one person, Vash cannot yell at me for playing in their minds. After all, I am not actually in their mind, I am merely bending the air around us shield us from view. I will maintain the dampening field until we get outside and about where we were in order to avoid problems with the spiders. There is clear disdain and frustration in his tone, apparently the people here were getting on his nerves if his voice was anything to go on.

She nods, smiling to herself. Knives has a point, he is not technically playing with their minds. Besides, if Vash does start to complain, she'll side track him because she had felt her patients wearing thin as well with all the stares they were getting. While most were curious, there were a few that were full of anger, fear, sadness, or a combination of the three. She had also noticed the boy, Brandon, watching as well. His eyes had a look so full of hate that she was certain he was going to cause a problem as soon as he could. She was actually looking forward to it, because she planned to be the one to take on that particular fight.

Once at the bulb, he sets Milly on her feet, which brings her out of the half-asleep state she had been in. All three of them greet the ladies within the bulbs, though she takes care to thank them for the information on the village. Each of the ladies pulls Knives into their bulb in order to hug him, which has her chuckling at the expression on his face. Once they are done with that, Ayako calls Milly over to her.

When Milly's hand touches the glass, Ayako greets her, but also sends a small surge of energy through to her if the soft glow is anything to go by. Little sister, you need to preserve your energy better, rest more if need be, or visit us more often. You are burning far too much energy and your colors could darken.

A confused look furls Milly's brow as she listens, "Darken?"

Stepping next to her friend, she murmurs, "You've seen how they are all light colored? Silvers and gold's? When their coloring starts to go dark it is because their bodies are running out of energy, if they totally turn dark, they die."

Her eyes get wide as she looks up at Ayako and nods solemnly. "I like being light brown," she mutters, a little louder she replies, "Yes, ma'am."

I am a healer, energy is something I have in abundance on this planet where I am never needed, or at least never asked to help. Visit often and I will make sure that you and your little ones remain healthy. She commands her in a tone so very like Kikyo's but full of warmth. Her attention then turns to Knives, You have caused many headaches and heartaches to those of this village, and a great deal of sorrow. Despite that, I am pleased to see that you wish to do this that will help the village for years to come. It is a vast improvement over your behavior several weeks ago when my bulb was almost destroyed by one who served you. I was not pleased. Thankfully though, I had the energy needed to repair it before anyone was injured by the glass. A punishment has already been passed down for your behavior that is appropriate. Now make sure that Milly blue-eyes reports to a bulb at least once every other day for the duration of her pregnancy. I would prefer she visits me, but will understand if she visits another.

He inclines his head, doing a partial bow in her direction. I will make sure she gets here at least once a week, and to see one of our other sisters at least every other day. He replies formally, respect echoing in his tone.

Good. She answers him before returning her attention to Milly. The soft glow returns, this time outlining her in a variety of different colors in different parts of her body. When the glow fades, Ayako remarks, Your conversion is going nicely. It will be completed well before your due date. Since the burst of energy provided by Sepheria both of your little ones have caught back up to where they should be in the growth process. Your daughter's body is a little smaller than she ought to be, so I will be watching her development carefully and boosting her as needed. Your son is developing perfectly. The healers here will wish to check you. Deny them, they are fine for plain humans, but they will be of no use to you.

"Yes ma'am," Milly replies, nodding in understanding.

Now then, you should return to the village square, it is almost time for the mid-afternoon bells to signal an hour prior to their dinner time. I will see you later when you return with our other brother. That said she returns to the top of her bulb, the other two bid them farewell as well before doing the same thing.

Giving a small shake of her head, Meryl chuckles to herself thinking, no matter the race, healers and elder sisters are all the same. At least there is now someone who will keep a close eye on her health who actually understands the changes that she is going through. She had been mildly concerned about that because they were different than others, even though she remembered everything she had learned during Lila's pregnancy, that had been several years prior, and Lila had been purely human.

As the three of them return to the center of town, she does not pay any attention to the people around her since she knows that they cannot see her yet. Instead she focuses on the connection between her and the planet to see how far the memousi and lizaeri are. After finding them, she does the math to determine distance and is surprised when she finds that they had just started the aqueduct under the compound property, at the speed they were going, they would be to the Seeds village in two days.

Are you coming out of your head? She hears an amused Knives inquire as he drops the shield that he had erected around them. They are almost in the exact same spot that they had left a little bit prior.

Knives' POV
Are you coming out of your head? He inquires of temper, who had been lost in thought for the last few minutes since leaving the plant. His voice is full of amusement because he can also feel the flare of power around her as she accesses her earth senses, though what she is doing he could not say.

She looks up and nods, a smile playing at the corner of her lips. "I was seeing if I could tell where the memousi and lizaeri are at. Currently, they are at the property. The memousi have two different groups working according to the planet, while the lizaeri are harder to determine because they do not seem to work in a pattern. The planet thinks that they will be here in two days at the speed they are going."

"You can really tell that Meryl?" blue-eyes inquires, her voice full of wonder. "That's amazing."

He considers it for a moment, before nodding, "That sounds about right for where they are at."

Once they are visible again, he leans against the edge of a building as he watches blue-eyes join Vash in playing with the kids. Temper meanwhile, takes a seat near the dried up water fountain in the center of the town. Reaching into a pocket, he pulls out the small device that he uses for communication with Hassaar and the others, and sends them a copy of the village's layout from what he can see. After completing that, he tucks the small device back into the pocket and goes back to considering blue-eyes more than he is sure is healthy. A plant healer, he thinks, is a good thing for her to see, even if I have to fly her over here to do so.

It is not long after that that the old man comes over to where he is standing, and stops beside him looking up. "You surprise me." He comments, "For some reason I never considered it even remotely possible for you to ever stop hunting us."

He glances at the old man, replying, A combination of being shot and having my sisters decide I need to be punished has its effects. I can tell you this though, attempt to get between me and them, and there will be far more than hell to pay.

"Alright, if that's what it takes to keep the peace, it is easily accomplished. Can I ask how they choose to punish you?"

He sighs, keeping his eyes on blue-eyes as he replies, For one thing I have been added to the link that all bound plants share, which means I now have a thousand sisters who can boss me when they feel like it. For another, as cost of a life, I am to defend blue-eyes little ones life at all cost. That means that I stay with her, I have accepted the punishment as is and sworn to uphold it.

For a few minutes the old man says nothing, and then he comments, "You could always ignore it."

If I promise something, I damn well do it. He just about snarls aloud despite his preference for telepathy.

He nods once, "I understand, that is one thing he has said in the past about you." Pausing, the old man looks towards the bell tower before continuing, "Supper should be ready in the great hall, if you would like to collect the others, I will go make sure everything is ready."

Frowning he watches as the old man goes into the large building before calling out to his brother and the girls with his mind. A few minutes later, all four of them stand together at the door. It's looking like it is going to be a long night.