As we walked back to the cabin, I asked if I could touch her just to place a few glyphs. "Why ask after I hugged you?"
"You hugged me in the moment, it was a big step yes, but just one. If I touched you unaware the full wait of your trauma would not only bare its fangs, but you would feel like that step was meaningless." I held out my hand and stopped. "Just prod my hand with a finger tip, you will feel what I mean, but try and maintain contact until I say."
The moment she made contact she got the point, her hand moved to her stomach as it churned beneath the surface. It was only a split second, but she wretched after. The crushing disappointment making her ask if I could really "fix someone like her".
"You aren't broken, a wounded monaraclaw bares it's fangs, does that mean you take it lightly? Trauma, at it's core isn't fear... It's perspective."
"I don't get it." She shrugged.
"Touching a man makes you feel sick, because your brain relates it to the man who haunts you, you begin to feel like you are trying to touch him." The words made her vomit and I used magic to clean the mess. "When a man touches you, it's the same. One day, one day I may have to ask for more details to see you push through some of it. For now, let's enjoy the time before that blood bath begins, I surely won't be able to sit idle."
"Astrael and Cosmael already punished him though."
"True. That man can never harm you again and I doubt anyone would in this town. Other nations though... I will hunt them down, Eve will likely join me, Astrael as well. Our telepathy will help us see the truth. Which reminds me... Why were you willing to be read?"
"I guessed when you told them to leave, you would have them read to know why... My chances of hiding it were better if I stayed, then he saved me from Kriel..."
"Makes sense, you should know, that there is a glyph on you that will call out to The Black if your emotions get heightened. It will cocoon you and summon either a deva, Layaera, Eve or I to you. I have no way of cutting myself out completely, but I figured at one in four the chances were in your favour."
"I don't really understand, but is it really just you five? That must have been lonely before..."
"Oh damn."
"Youuuu... Didn't that through enough did you?"
"No... I may have forgot there are other beings in the black that I haven't met. There are three deva, though Cosmael won't be one much longer hopefully. Apparently lots of divine beast ranks.... Oh shit... I think they said there was a couple of aspects."
"WHAT!? You can't call one of those for something like that."
"Hey, don't worry, you and everything else I hold dear will be fine... I am the soul heir of black... Besides I may be more worried about Auntie Kuronovus getting involved."
"Auntie coral-what?"
"The origin wyrm that serves the black, she has proven a most active supporter and terribly eager."
"Touch me, I don't care, just change it... set it to the residents of The Garden. Even Quatal could deal with most threats."
After a split second of alteration she pushed me, then apologised.
"There... No more apocalypse dragons in defence mode. Tomorrow after breakfast, you and I will train for two hours, with swordsmanship, magic and physical ability. Get ready... You are gonna hate it.
For the entire week that was the schedule, breakfast, training, bath, family time, then Eve and I went into seclusion to make a baby.
On the seventh morning Eve and I sat back to back on the bed, her fertility test showing ovulation had finished. "Did we do enough?" She asked nervously.
"Woman, we done more than necessary, we would have died if we done anymore. If you don't get pregnant this time, we try again next month and so on. Perfectly normal for even highly fertile people to take a few tries."
"Right... Think on the bright side, now we don't have a goal, we can try new things and enjoy some of our favourites that we skipped to make the most of the time we had."
"Don't take this the wrong way... I lost a stone this week, we're having two or three days off so we can recover fully. Also, this field is not my expertise, I only knew about the fertility side because of that one era... I don't know if we have to give it time to take."
We left the conversation there, Eve's hormones may have calmed down but her mind certainly hadn't and I was not brave enough to keep the subject going. Ultimately, it was safer to remind her we had work to do.
When we got to the cabin we were already prepared to head out, we just had to have breakfast and get our girls ready, who had apparently both been up late playing with Fala despite our warnings.
Cosmael had not been a morning deva since she started sleeping, it was as though an eternity of sleep deprivation was catching up to her.
Babylon on the other hand was already outside the cabin, doing exercises before breakfast. "Morning you two." She waved energetically, her first week had been relatively relaxed and she let her guard down a bit.
I waved a hand to clean the sweat and fatigue from her. "That girl doesn't quit..." Caliburn yawned.
"You're one to talk, you enjoyed the training more than anyone... Come on Babylon, you can help get breakfast on the table, then prepare some lunches for everyone at the clinic. I want you socialising while we're gone and not cooped up in The Garden all the time."
She nodded obediently, she had learned quickly that my training and my help with her trauma was often more daunting than it seemed. "So am I helping guard the clinic for the next couple of weeks?"
"No. You are socialising, I don't want you getting involved in any trouble that may arise. Spend time with your new family, get to know them. Stay until lunch today, then come back, then half an hour more each day. We are going to completely reset your social skills."
She nodded then came with us to the kitchen, where our girls were already at the table... Sleeping.
After a rude awakening, we learned that they had the idea that if they slept at the table, they didn't need to worry about being late for breakfast.
"Quatal I get... But you Little One? You should be the good example so she can be a good example to you later."
"I taught her the importance of fun, that seemed like something I wanted her to teach me..." She yawned, making Eve and Babylon laugh as they knew I was beaten already.
After breakfast we said our goodbyes and the four of us set off after I linked a synchronised monitor to the incubator for Quatal. We headed straight for the guild to see if any other jobs had popped up on our planned route, of which there were two, then we bid goodbye to everyone who had gathered in anticipation of our departure.
The first job we had was for a Crackling Jabber, A creature that was half-monkey at the front and half-tiger at the rear, except its hind legs were barbed and it had three whip-like tails. It's fur was supposed to be a ghostly blend of true white and pale blue and it got its name from the lighting element it wielded.
"Where is this thing supposed to be?" I asked Eve as she studied the job card.
"Somewhere in the coastal mountains between Kanelsia and the demon territory. The land used to be a country known as Bellerver. It was one that got wiped out completely during the war."
"Well, let's pay some respects to it then. Did you have any friends there?"
"A couple, so yes, I would like that. We best use enhancement if we want to keep our two-week estimate. These jobs are not close together... Oh, you are going to like one though, it takes us to the dwarven mountains, did you bring your alloy, we can still go grab it if you want."
"I got it, I kinda hoped that we could get that ball rolling."
"Please don't drink so much this time Dad. Last time you climbed their mountain naked on your hands for a wager."
"That!..Is... not as bad as it sounds... We were already at the top, I just climbed the last one-hundred metres or so."
"It was a kilometre." Cosmael huffed, blushing from the embarrassment our new relationship dynamic invoked from the memory.
"Please... I'm far more mature now."