The familiar melody of my favorite song plays, but it wasn't nice to hear. I groan and stir in the bed moving slowly, my hand to my phone using more strength than I expected and checking the time. It's 6.00 a.m. We can sleep for five more minutes. The alarm will kick in again soon. I can feel Fidel huddling into me as he coos from how sleepy he is, and so am I.

I put the phone down and huddle with him as we continue resting.

—--

I slowly open my eyes again to the melody playing and the room… seems a bit brighter in a yellow light… ' Wait, how long have we slept?' I quickly pick up my phone and check the time. It's 7.16 a.m.! I immediately lift myself and try to shake away the grogginess from me. But it just made Fidel groan as he couldn't sleep for longer.

"I am sorry, Fidel. We have a busy day ahead." I say as I hold him in my arms and bring him to the bathroom, where I tried to help brush his teeth, but I accidentally hit his gum a few times and it hurts… I didn't bother helping to bathe him for today and just had him wear his shirts. The same goes for me as I hurriedly pick out a shirt and a pair of pants for me to wear as the last thing I remember are stripes of fabric hanging off this shirt.

Kicking the bedroom door open, I carry him to the sofa and lay him there before quickly going to the kitchen. I took the berries from the fridge and saw there wasn't much left. ' I need to get more today.' As I was about to slice up a berry, I realized I shouldn't use a knife when I am this sleepy. So I put it back and crushed the berries in my hands instead before sloppily putting it all into a container. ' Sorry, Fidel, your food will be chunkier today.'

I bring the pulp and slowly feed him, with each scoop needing to wait for him to finish chewing. My legs shake from how long this is taking, but neither of us can help it. I should be even faster after he is done eating.

Finally, I just look at the container and see he has eaten his usual portion and close it before going to prepare his milk and packing everything up. We are going to Talie Textiles today, which isn't near where we live. It is further than the mall, so we have to go by car… I looked at my resting child, before remembering I DIDN'T BUY A BABY SEAT FOR HIM! Looks like I have to borrow from Sebastion's for now and one more thing to buy.

Holding FIdel up, I quickly went out and knocked on Sebastion's door. Which soon opens with him shouting. "Ansel, there is a door ring clearly on your- Oh my…, you look… I shouldn't say that. What's up?

"I need to borrow your baby seat from your car to drive to Talie's with Fidel."

"No, you're not driving like that. I will help take you there, just give me the location.'

Too tired to argue, I took out my phone and pinged the location on the GPS before giving it to him when Minerva showed up. "Hey, you woke up our little Percy. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get her to sleep?"

"Yes, I am sorry, but this is urgent."

"Then, why don't you…- Never mind, you will hate it."

"Minnie, I am going to use the car to help drive them somewhere," Sebastion tells his wife.

"Yeah sure, just stay safe you, dummy."

"I will, my Dummette."

"..." I look away from them and keep the words to myself. ' Please, Desmond wouldn't want me feeling like this when he is gone. Especially Fidel here.'

"Come on, you said it is urgent."

"Right…" and we both went to the car park to his moderately sized car. As I put Fidel onto the seat he wobbly stands up and doesn't want to sit down because of the weird leathery texture of the seat. Instead of helping, Sebastion stands there and chuckles.

"That's just like Percy, just put it-"

"Him, Fidel is a boy."

He sighed. "Just put him there until he accepts it."

"No, he doesn't like how the seat felt. Please wait for me as I bring a blanket down," I say as I go home with Fidel still in my arms.

Returning with the blanket, I cover the seat with it before placing him in and fastening the seat belt for him. He comfortably rests there and I almost fell from how relaxed we are.

"You really need some sleep," Sebastian comments.

I nodded before sitting next to Fidel and holding his hand as Sebastion went to the driver's seat and started the car.

"So, how did you get him?" he asks.

"I… would like to not say, because it's awful. But he hatched three days ago."

"Okay."

And we fell asleep as he drove us there.

—--

"Hey."

I felt someone shaking me.

"I've been trying to wake you up for the past three minutes. How late did you sleep last night?"

I finally open my eyes, "The usual time," I tell him as me and Fidel yawn.

"Well, when is the usual time?"

"Ten…"

"Well, that doesn't make any sense. Are you sick?"

"No, I am not." I unbuckled Fidel's seatbelt and held him in my arms.

The shop looks relatively old with many things outdated or slightly rusted. There are many types of colorful fabric hanging outside of the shop, this place does not have a front door.

"To be frank, you should have ordered those online," Sebastian says.

"No, it's best that I can confirm the fabric the way I like it in person."
"That's… a good point."

"Welcome back, Ansel!" an older lady suddenly calls out.

We both turn around to see Talie herself, "Hello, Talie, here's what I need," I hand her my notebook on the page of Lana's dress.

"This is an ambitious one!" she chuckles. "-And an expensive one too!"

"All right, come in, everyone- Oh, and I can't allow a pokémon inside here. But don't worry there's a daycare-"

"NO! I am not bringing him to a daycare!" I shouted when I felt Fidel shifting back and forth within my arms in a fit of restlessness. I hit my head when I told myself ' Don't do that again!'

I notice Sebastian and Talie look at each other before me. "What's the matter, Ansel?" Sebastian asks.

"I don't want to leave Fidel alone in an unfamiliar place. I mean. What if something happens to him? You know..." I tightly embraced him, pressing my cheek against his.

Talie sighs, "Okay, I will allow him in since you have been one of my most loyal customers. Just make sure he doesn't ruin any of the fabric."

"Thank you, I will make sure that doesn't happen."

Inside, I quickly found a sofa and lay on it with Fidel on me. I can see him grabbing the stripes from my shirt and it seems like he is trying to tie something. "Fidel, you need your sleep. You can play with them after we have more sleep, all right?"

He doesn't care and still tries to tie something together, So I turn inward into the sofa and have him lay on the cushion instead and wait until he falls asleep. Suddenly, Sebastian came to sit next to me making me slouch, thus leaving less space for Fidel which he found uncomfortable.

"Sebastion, can you not sit on the sofa?"

"Why?"

"Because Fidel is uncomfortable with how little space he has."

"Why don't you sit upright instead."

"I am worried he might fall off the sofa when I fall asleep sitting upright."

"This sleepy little guy-," he points to Fidel. "-Falling off the sofa," and points to the ground. "That's not gonna happen, you're worrying too much."

"But what if he does?"

"Just sit upright, and find out with me. If I see he got near the edge and is close to falling, well you have the right to keep doing what you're doing."

"That's dangerous! Is that how you're going to raise your daughter?"

"Yeah, so what?- Wait, you are comparing a ralts to a baby?"

"Yes, and you are a terrible father! How can you not care about their safety like that!?"

"I do, I am just more chill about it and a pokémon is not going to substitute a human child. Have los- Never mind, that's too far, but you shouldn't let your desperation to have a child put you this low."

"He is not a substitute! He is my child!" I shouted, causing Fidel to pull on the stripes even harder, accidentally strangling me so I shut up. I pat his head to calm him down and try to sleep.

Sebastion sighs, gets up, and sits on the ground when Talie is back with some fabric.

"Oh dear, why are you sitting on the ground," she asks him.

"I don't want to bother with her crap, again."

"What happened between you two?"

"She has lost her mind, she thinks the ralts is her child."

"That is bad? Don't most people with Pokémon feel that they are their children?"

"For her it is different, she has wanted her child for a while now."

"Yeah, I heard that from her plenty of times."

"And she thinks the ralts is her child, like… uh… the flesh and blood kind…, just going beyond taking care and making them happy. Argh, I don't know how to say it."

"It's fine, and Ansel?" she tilts her head looking at her customer.

Talie walks up next to her and finds out she has fallen asleep along with her ralts. She then lightly shakes her awake.

—--

Stirring awake, I turn around to see Talie, who has brought me several small sheets of the sample fabric to choose from. I turn around and have Fidel sitting by my side as I get up to sit upright to test the fabric.

After she placed all of it on my lap, I started to stretch and bend each of them to find which one was the most flexible. Unbeknownst to me, I saw Fidel pick up one of the sheets and try to bend it as I did by sandwiching it, cute. I pat his head and say "Thank you, for helping."

He giggles from my head pat, looks up at me with his shining red eyes, and presents the sheet to me.

"Thanks again," I bend and stretch this one and it is just what is needed, so I hand it to Talie.

"That'll be thirteen dollars per meter," she informed and walked to the back.

"I will return to collect it after my work's done," I called out to her and we went back to his car.

After everyone is inside the car, Sebastian asks. "To the apartment?"

"No, just bring us to the shop. I don't want to do two trips since I already brought everything."

"Okay," and he drove us there while we slept.

—--

Arriving there, we are less sleepy than before. I bid "Bye-bye," to Sebastian.

"Goodbye to you too," and he drove off.

After locking the door Inside the shop, Fidel is expectedly drawn to the shirts, and again I collect the ones that got his attention before going to the table. I place him on the chair, unroll the mat, and put all of his stuff on it.

Including the sponge, I giggle a little about how this came along before placing Fidel on the mat. Seeing that I still have time before I have to work, I sit down with him to watch him play with his new toy. He mostly squishes the sponge in various ways with his hand, the wheels of the toy car, one of the books, and that book just so happens to be the one I haven't read to him yet, The Giving Tree.

"Fidel, can you please give me the book?" I looked into his eyes as I asked.

He turns his head around in response while holding the book, not understanding. So instead I hoist him onto my lap and open it up in his hands to the first page of the book. The drawings here look like doodles drawn with a pencil, but they look amazing and artful in their imperfect way. I found myself tracing the lines of the tree with one finger while he traced it with his thumb.

With that out of the way, I start reading to him. "Once there was a tree…" It shows the tree herself right next to the text. Flipping to the next page. "and she loved a little boy."

—--

"... And the tree was happy. The end," I look at my child and softly pat his head. "Do you like this story, Fidel?"

"Ralts. Ralts." he raises both of his arms as he happily says.

"I like it too and I will be as good of a mother as the tree is for you." I lower my hand to his cheek and he holds my hands with both of his small ones in return. My eyes felt like it's close to tears.

Turning to check the door, several people and pokémon are waiting behind the glass. I left Fidel on his own and unlocked the door to let everyone in, "Welcome to my shop, I hope you all can find what you need here," I cheerfully said while making sure no one got too close to Fidel and I mean everyone.

Sitting back down at the table and dragging the mat with my child closer to me, I remind myself. ' A competition is coming soon, many of them will come to ask me to make their clothes for the event and it will be a very busy time. Do not panic and stay calm, you've been through this.'

"Excuse me?"

"Yes?"I snap out of my thoughts and look at the gal.

"I need a commission, can you make something cute for Molly?" she looks down to the ground. I get up and look over the worktable to see the most iconic pokémon of all time. The yellow mouse herself, pikachu. She smiles and gives me a little wave.

"Yes, they are one of the most popular pokémon in the competition. What is it you specifically need?"

"I uhh…"

' Great, one of those unprepared ones.' I think to myself and look at Fidel reading the same book I just read to him. Maybe reading isn't the right word, more like looking at the pretty pictures, which is fine by me. I will be able to teach him how to read soon.

"Oi!" a guy called out.

I raise my head to meet him, "Yes?" He wears all black from head to toe, with black eyeliners, and those immodest piercings. Besides him is a Bisharp, who seems bored and as old as Grandpa from the wrinkles around their face. They even have light rust on their forearms and legs. The most worrying part is that their head blade is half gone…

I am fine with those who keep them around for non-trainer purposes because I do so as well for Fidel. But unlike Fidel, they won't have the chance to learn new things or have the chance to be more. But the most important thing is that they are comfortable in this life. I even heard some of them couldn't survive in the forest because of how comfortable their lives were. At least they aren't under those trainers who would actively separate others from their friends and family.

"Can you do goth?"

"Yes, do you have a plan?"

"Yeah, I want her to wear something that covers all the red parts of her body and I want it done more… like an undead. Also don't forget to keep the blades around her torso visible, I like them, they look like ribs."

"Oh, so that's a she," I lightly exclaim and look at her who is now looking around the shop.

"Yeah, she is a retired battler and I take care of her now."

"Oh…, anything else?"

"I got it!" the gal suddenly interrupts. "I think she should be a beautifly!" She holds up Molly and puts her hands behind her to act as wings.

"Girl, can you not?" he tells her.

"Sorry, sorry."

"It's al-RIGHT!-" I suddenly shouted and my body trembled when I felt Fidel clutching around my leg tightly shaking just as much as I was. I immediately hold my child up, cover him in my arms, and pat his head to calm him as he clutches onto my shirt with all the strength he has as a child.

"Y-you're sa-afe, Fidel I-I wil-l not let anything hurt you." My stutter disappeared with the priority on top of my head.

"What's going on?" I heard the gal's question.

"Karleen, what did you do this time!?" the goth scolded before directing at me. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I am fine, but Fidel is scared." The pressure slowly went away. I can feel Fidel's belly rising and descending on mine. He's at peace now. I slowly tilt my head to my right to look at her. I jump when it's revealed the bisharp is right next to me, trying to get close to Fidel. Her teeth gritted, worried about him.

"Don't get close, you might make it worse." The goth warns once again.

"Please, give her a chance."

"But she just scared your ralts senseless!"

"Don't mind me, I am just part of the background." The gal says and steps back.

I ignore him and beckon Karleen closer. "Come on, you want to cheer Fidel up don't you?"

She looked to the goth, who sighed and let her be. Taking the chance she looks at me and tries to smile, which seems to take a lot of strength. She points to her mouth for validation and I say. "You don't need to try too hard, just a small one is enough because the most important thing is your genuine feeling for him."

She nodded, and her face relaxed, she then covered her face and I immediately understood she was trying to do a peek-a-boo to cheer Fidel up. Although bisharps are not known for their expressiveness. Speaking of Fidel, he is still looking inward at me so I calmly told him. "Hey…, the bisharp lady has a surprise for you~". I pat his head until he raises his head to look at me. I turn him around to Karleen and she opens her hands and reveals she is spinning both of her eyes in circles.

Fidel laughs at what she is doing, making me as well. She covers her face again and I say "Peek-a-..."

"Boo!" She opens her hand on cue. This time, She opens and closes her eyes and mouth together at the same time still making the both of us laugh.

This went on for a little while until I got reminded by someone "There are… a bunch of people waiting for you." I look at a customer who's holding her dress in both hands trying to cover her face.

"Oh, almost forgot and," I look at Karleen who tilts her head. "Play with him, all right. You have gained his trust." I say as I put Fidel back on the mat followed by her sitting down with him. Surprisingly, Molly even comes along.

I quickly handle some of their purchases, almost dropping the money or the clothing, because I want to get back to Fidel as soon as possible. I'm also reminded of what I need to do when I feel hungry as I make their purchases.

After the last person left, I looked around in front to see the goth and the gal was nowhere to be seen. I turned to my right and found them there. The gal is sitting on the edge of the mat watching Fidel play with them. And the Goth is leaning against the wall with a small smile.

"All right, Fidel. You need your milk," he turned to me the moment he heard my voice. I place him on my lap and feed him his milk bottle.

While he was drinking, I took out the notebook and asked them "Any more details you want on your shirts?"

"Just make a beautifly costume any way you like. We don't care, since you would make something amazing anyway," The gal answered.

"Aww, thanks, it's not that amazing, it's just stitching a bunch of fabric together."

I looked at the goth and he replied "Hmm, I would like to add some stuff," and then at Karleen, who was surprised. "Anything you like to add?" I asked.

She knocks on her head a few times, making some clunking noise before walking next to the goth. He drew in some nets around the shirt, making notes to put tears around it and fully covering the body in black. After he placed the pencil down, I simply told him "Please hand it to Karleen."

"You're letting her be in this?"

"Yes, she is wearing it after all."

"I suppose that's fair," he hands the pencil to her.

She couldn't hold the pencil like we do, since it's shaped like a mitten just like Fidel's except that it's metallic and ridget. Thus it takes a while for her to draw something out as she pins the notebook down.

The result is a crudely drawn outline for a dress. The goth inspects it and is fine with the addition.

"Alright, that would be 700 for the dress," I tell the goth and then to the gal. "Yours would be 400. And I don't think I can finish them by tomorrow so please let me have your phone numbers."

They both hand their phone numbers and I can see their names on my phone, the goth is Jacob while the gal is Kelly. I noticed that I only know their names after knowing the pokémon which is a little funny.

"Alright, I will contact you guys when it's done. Bye-bye~"

"Bye-bye!" The gal bid goodbye and Molly followed her out of my shop.

"Bye, come on Karleen," he tells her and she reluctantly gets up. Fidel stands up as quickly and pulls on her leg.

Seeing this I get up and pat Fidel's head. "She has to leave now, we might be able to see them next time, all right."

He still doesn't let go. So I breathe in. ' This is going to hurt,' I quickly yank his arms off her leg and we start to tear up. I breathed in and out to calm myself and managed to get him onto my lap, hug him, and pat his head to calm him even though we both cried out loud.

"Ma'am, are you okay?"

I used my will to speak."I-I am-m fin-ne," I sniffed. "J-jus-st go, it-t will be o-over so-on."

"No, there's no reason for you to cry."

I look away to breathe in and out, I don't know whether or not I should tell them. This connection is more extreme than anyone who has a ralts. Instead, I continue to cry with Fidel, as I lift him to rub my cheek into his.

Suddenly I felt a cold hand touching my shoulder, it had a warmth to it despite that. "P-ple-ease, it w-will be-e o-over soon." I sniffed.

"Karleen, we have to leave."

I can hear their footsteps fade away into nothing as I still sit there with my child. I breathed in and out and thought hard despite struggling to reflect. 'I am crying- no… Fidel is crying because he is hurt that he can't spend more time with Karleen. But I must use my strength to restrain myself from letting his feelings control me. That's what I need to do to contain them, I can't forget what I am feeling.'

When I was about to use some force to stop my action it… didn't matter anymore. I have stopped… crying as Fidel is now… whimpering to himself… We have to nap now… I got up… to take the blanket… and we fell… asleep.

—--

Opening my eyes, they no longer feel heavy and I do a little wake-up stretch, it's satisfying. And immediately someone quickly walks up to me with his clothes. "I've been waiting for a long time."

I realized I didn't lock the door before taking the nap, but it doesn't matter anymore. "Wait," I tell him as I take off the blanket to see Fidel all cheery and energetic now. "All right, I need to work now," I told Fidel but a grumble escaped my stomach. ' Right, I forgot to eat and so is Fidel.'

"Excuse me," I told the customer as I took out Fidel's food to feed him while I helped him make his purchase for many others who had waited a long time. I even apologized to some of them as well. And like all the other days the shop is empty again but not Fidel's container since he has eaten his portion, and it's time for me to eat as well, can't forget it again like yesterday.

Searching the bag, I did not find my container at all and I quickly flipped it over to pour everything out, but it's not here! 'Oh no, what happened,' I groaned as I pulled on my hair, quickly pacing back and forth around the shop, wondering why I didn't have my lunch.

But when I noticed Fidel holding his legs together and hiding his face, shaking. I immediately stopped to sit down next to him and hug him. ' I shouldn't have panicked like that…' And I suddenly remembered… I didn't make my lunch today, I face-palmed.

Looks like I am going to starve myself again just like yesterday. I let Fidel out of my hug and watched him play.

"EEEEK!" I suddenly heard a high-pitched noise by a girl and I got up to see a three-year-old in a dress running towards Fidel. She is also holding a doll.

"Hey, don't get too close!"

She immediately stops and looks up at me before looking down, covering her face. She starts to giggle since she is pretending to be embarrassed. I find this endearing.

"Sorry about that, my daughter is very excitable." A woman suddenly came to me. She is a bit older than me.

"It's all right, most children are like that, anyways. What do you need?"

"Jus-"

"Mommy, mommy, can I read the storybook here." The girl interrupts.

"Sur- wait. Storybooks?"

"Yeah! It's on the mat with the pokémon."

The woman leaned to see Fidel and then back to me, staring. Her eyes said something but I am not sure which is which.

"Is there anything wrong?" I asked.

"There's something up with you."

"Please, I just want to give him a proper childhood like you would with your daughter."

"Childhood? That's a pokémon- and that doesn't mean I applaud the abuse of them."

"He deserves it!"

"He doesn't need it."

"No! It's mine!" We both heard the girl shout and I felt my eyes sour. We Immediately both walked over to check.

Fidel is sitting down looking at the girl's doll and is very close to crying. I immediately sat down next to him and held his hand as I carried out the dance of hand and lost myself in his mind.

It's shorter this time since I am at work, but it worked as Fidel climbed up on my lap and hugged me. "It's all right, Fidel, I am here. Whatever troubles you, I will always be here for you."

"What was that?" The woman asked in surprise.

"A secret of the species that I know of. Now please, can you tell your daughter to share her doll with Fidel."

"Absolutely not, you clearly see him as your child and not a pokémon." She holds her daughter's shoulder distancing herself.

I was about to ask how she knows that but she is a mother like me, she can tell I consider Fidel my child so I ask again. "Please, he wants that, I am not going to take it away." I then looked at the girl. "Can you share your doll with him?"

She looked down at her doll, at me, and then at her mom. Fortunately, she walks over to me and stretches her arms out with the doll.

"Thank you, I promise you sharing is not as painful as you think."

"Okay, that's enough she is my daughter." Her mom interrupts.

Looking back at my child, I softly tell him "The girl has a surprise for you~" and I turn him around and place him on the mat. His eyes immediately light up upon seeing the doll and he excitedly grabs it. He mostly squished the doll and when he was about to poke the doll's eye.

The girl shouts "No! you'll hurt her!"

I stop Fidel's hand from going further and guide his hand to the other parts of the doll's body. I look at the girl again. "Come over, I still have the storybooks you wanted."

She immediately stops pouting, runs to the mat, and grabs the book. She sat down on the mat next to Fidel when she picked The Very Hungry Caterpie.

Once the children are settled, I turn to look at the woman who immediately says. "You can't just do this, it doesn't benefit him."

"Why not, he has the capacity for it!"

"What could you even do? Stop living in that fantasy."

"I am not!"

"Think about it. He can't have the future you think he can. Besides, the kind of life we live isn't suitable for them. They don't have the capability"

"I just want to have his potential realized, not in the sense of his psychic powers, but for who he is. Many of them are so much more than that."

"Really? Where is the evidence?" She countered

That stopped me because I had none, and collecting them would be suspicious for both sides. "It doesn't matter, I didn't break any law raising him like that!"

"Did you? Will you break rules every time you want to bring him to a place, causing a nuisance everywhere you go? Or will you argue for months straight to let him in school or such? All of this will put you in jail separating you from your 'child'. And for what? Just to feel like a mother?"

My mouth opens agape, as I think of how Fidel might lose me. I am so focused on him that I forgot about what will happen to me.

Hearing no response she worriedly asks. "You actually considered doing everything I said, didn't you."

"JUST STOP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE OF THIS." I start to cry. And immediately I heard he did too. I quickly run past the woman and hold Fidel in my arms as we hide in the storeroom.

I couldn't control myself again… but this is a slow journey like Lesteh said. I can't push this aside. I must allow myself to feel and take the initiative to control and stop. Stop. STOP! I start to bang my head against the wall. I felt something on me. Looking down, he is still crying but has enough control of himself to rub his cheek on me, and… I don't want to bang my head against the wall anymore.

Still, letting Fidel be my emotional support is not good for him as a child since I still have my mom and my forest parents.

My tears finally stop and I stand up. Peeking through the door, the woman and her daughter had left.

After I place Fidel on the mat, it's also near closing time. I call up Sebastian for the drive, collect the broom, and clean the shop while I wait.

While sweeping, Fidel's mat got in the way and I see an opportunity with this. "Hey, Fidel~" I got his attention before softly dragging him to the edge of the mat and slowly lifting it, and eventually he slid to the other making both of us giggle loudly as I cleaned the floor underneath. I did the same for the other side.

Once the chores were done, we both went to Toby's. "Hello~, the new usual three?" He greets us when we enter inside.

I thought about the settlement again and I decided to have five muffins. For Aria and Rowan for their hard work.

"No, I would like five, please."

"Yet another occasion?"

"No, I just want more for… my new friends." I told him "And also a piece of bread too."

"Again? Okay then." He packs everything and gives it to me.

"Thank you."

"May your day be sugar-filled."

"Aww, "I chuckled a little at how silly that was.

Standing outside of my closed shop, Fidel plays with the many stripes on my shirt while we wait for his arrival, which isn't long as we get into the car, and off to Talie's we go.

After I collected the fabrics we waved goodbye to her and it was back on the road. I also make sure to tell him. "Just drop us off at the park."

"Are you sure, while holding that roll of fabric?"

"Yes."

"Okay, it's on you."

After arriving at the park and bidding each other goodbye, I walked to the settlement.

—--

I am immediately met by the matriarch and her mate upon entering along with someone blue. It's the sawk.

" Welcome back, Ansel, we have brought Hermestes here for an apology," Aria says.

"Oh, so that's his name." I look at him, not liking what he did but absolutely understanding why.

They both nod and Rowan taps his shoulder. He took a deep breath, bowed, and grunted out his words. This got Aria to bonk his head a little so he sighed again and apologized.

"I accept your apology, and please I'm not like the rest of them," I told him and then to the couple. "Anyways, I bought muffins!"

"Muffins? What's that?" She looks to her mate and he explains. "It's a sweet treat that has a spongy texture."

"Yes, try one," I hand them the muffin and Aria immediately bites on it.

" It's… amazing! Can you get more?" Her voice was loud in my head.

I will but I will only bring one per person since it's not particularly healthy.

"It's true," Rowan told her. She looks down pretending sadness.

Looking at Hermestes, I take out my muffin for him as a token of co-acceptance with a smile.

He hesitates to grab it, but he turns to look at them before reluctantly taking it from my hand. We still look at him silently telling him to appreciate the gift. He sighs and bites down on it. He was speechless about what he ate and tried to give me back the half-eaten muffin. Which got him stares by the couple.

"It's alright, Aria. If he doesn't want it. I'll take it." I sigh as I put it back into the paper, making sure the bitten part doesn't touch the other muffins. ' This will take time.'

" Are you sure, you're fine? You don't seem to feel fine."

"No, but I would like it this way, alright. Just give him the space."

"... I will respect your decision."

"Thank you," I picked some berries nearby before leaving them for Lesteh and Novia.

—--

"Hello!" I waved to them when I saw them at their spot

" Welcome back, Ansel" I heard him and I hugged him. "Feeling huggy today?- You know what, you don't have to answer that because I already know."

I chuckled as I put everything down when I heard Novia's voice " Why only he gets the hug, and I don't?" She sounds a bit pouty.

"Alright," I lean in to hug her.

" So how is it today?" She asks.

"Oh, I… cried today and… still working on controlling my emotions. I don't think I should have cried on that one." I felt the hunger in my stomach and bites on a berry while I took out Fidel's container to feed him.

" Well, what is it?" He asks.

I swallowed. "It's about bringing Fidel to be involved in my world more and… how he would lose me…" I look at my child as he chews away.

"That must be awful since you can't part with him especially after you bonded with him."

"I know, but speaking of that, I might actually have to leave him here for a day a few days later." I bite on the berry.

" But you can't just separate from him that long, even more so of what happened yesterday.."

With food in my mouth, I say. "I know, but I am just a single person. A human's life can get very busy."

" What are you even doing though?" She asks.

I swallowed. "Getting him some much-needed supplies and playthings."

" Those don't seem hard to come by."

"Yes, but the place where I can get the most of them doesn't allow us together." I feed Fidel another scoop.

" Urgh, the duality of humans… Did I say that right?"

"It's called the duality of man. You were so close."

She pettily sighs.

"Machoke!" Someone suddenly interrupts. I turn around to see a machoke, the one with a stitch on his shoulder. He is the one who saved me yesterday!

"Oh hello, thank you for saving me yesterday. I don't know what Fidel would do without me if it wasn't for you." I gratefully told him. "And also, don't you ever leave the settlement with such a serious injury!" I held on to both his shoulders to shake him awake, but he wasn't shaken and I was instead.

Fidel laughed when he saw me making a fool of myself and I laughed with him. He almost spilled the container in a fit of laughter.

After we were done, I asked him "So what's your name? I didn't catch it the first time we met?"

Lesteh then helps him reply. " His name is Guetes."

"Oh, so what are you here for?"

Guetes tells Lesteh which made him jump a little before he tells me. " He… wants to be sure whether or not the world is a good place. So he can…" he turns to ask him and back to me. " So he can see more of the world."

I sighed as I didn't want to come to this. "It's… not for you, you shouldn't go out, because the trainers will capture you and take away your agency!"

He angrily said something to Lesteh and he told me. " He says why not and he would be careful… And you're proof that not everyone from your species is evil and wants to capture us."

"That is true, but the ones that will capture you walk among them... Aren't I enough to tell you that you shouldn't go into my world? I know them better than you could ever do and yet you still want to go out like that. Me!" I gesture to myself "A human has to tell you that!"

He starts to cry but not in the way I regularly would as he keeps quiet and wipes away his tears by pretending to scratch his eyes, but I keep going. "I know this is not fair, and I think so too. But that is what the world has come to... I understand if it's hard to accept and I'm sorry I can't do anything about it. The least you can do is to make the most of what is in front of you." I finished and he sighed, kicking the ground as he walked away.

Looking around for my child, Fidel is sitting on Lesteh's lap still holding his happy smile while his grandpa holds his hand to send the happiness into him. ' Thank you.'

"I wish Ripeh could have Fidel sit on his lap."

" He would have instantly loved him."

"Yes…, did I forget to mention he had a daughter?"

"He did!?" I heard both of their voices.

"Well, now you know…" I held Fidel back into my arms. He hugged me and toddled to the paper bag. "Right, I forgot I bought muffins for you two."

I watched them eat their muffin as I continued to feed Fidel thinking about my old friend, Rippegio. I remember how he talked about some males trying to court him and how he plays along with it until they are about to get down and dirty which is when they find out he is a guy. That was pretty him.

I also remember how he tried to court me himself when all he ever asked was about me and was rather impatient to see me. Eventually it led to me escorting him to the city when he couldn't bear to leave me at all. He tried to learn everything and was overwhelmed so he then asked me to live in the forest instead. I start to giggle a little thinking about that and it hits me. "I should have told him that I can act as an escort when he wants to see the world."

" What?" Lesteh asks .

"I should have told him that he can see the world, but I have to be his escort when we are there."

" That's great!"

"But what would his parents think?"

" He's… alone, claiming that he got separated from them when he was distracted by something for too long. He used to live a nomadic lifestyle."

"Oh…, that explains. I will make it up for him tomorrow. It's getting late now."

—--

When the sun's almost set, I bid them goodbye and collect some more berries before going back home. I only ate half a berry there and they are not particularly filling.

At home, I place Fidel on the sofa and turn on the television for him, while I cut off the bitten part of my muffin and throw it away like the rest of the inedible parts of the berries. In the end, I decided to put it on a plate and give it to Fidel and just take out the cake mom made instead. I also put some berries beside the cake on my plate. I'm still hungry after all.

Fidel absolutely loved it and made a big mess even when I held the plate for him as he hungrily ate as if I didn't feed him enough. I noticed that he had also bitten off a bit of the paper that held the muffin, what a silly child. I went ahead and unwrapped it for him. Mom's cake was just like how I remembered it, moist and simple.

After his cartoon ends, I turn off the television and clean up the living room. We went back to the bedroom afterwards to deeply wash ourselves since we didn't bathe at all in the morning and we stink.

With both of us on the bed, I was cutting out the many 'scales' Lana's dress would have, when Fidel thought it would be funny to slide his toy car around my back. It would have been annoying but it wasn't, instead, I'm… happy with this so I let him continue to keep me company in this silly way.

Cutting away, I hope he can still be my happy little boy when I am going to be away from him for some time a few days later. A ralts separating from the parent they bonded with for too long is never a good idea. I hope he will have fun in his little adventure there despite this. And with Lesteh and Novia, I think he will be fine.

Finally, I sang the lullaby and we fell asleep for the rest of the night.