Sil grinned, "you do it."
Minx chuckled as she started taking off his shirt. "You, My Love, are getting a massage tonight. You've had a terrible week and even if you fall asleep in the middle, I will finish rubbing my hands all over every inch of your body. You deserve a good rest. I want you to sleep."
She had him stripped by the time she finished explaining. She had him scooch to his side of the bed. She then got out a massage lotion she made in her lab and proceeded to turn her husband into putty.
Soon after, he became a sleeping pile of putty but she kept her word. Every single knot in every single muscle was washed away by his wife's loving hands. He woke the next day feeling like a new man. She was still sleeping.
Caser was sleeping across the foot of the bed, a lot of contentment across his face. Shalt was in his room sleeping, which enabled Sil to enjoy the quiet time and just watch Caser and his wife sleep.
Watching them made Sil's mind go back to the monster. He had so many questions that he may never have answers for. How could someone see such tender life and look upon it as though it's nothing?
The innocent lives in front of him were surely not nothing. He resolved, in that moment, to start keeping a journal. He now understood why Minx did. He chuckled to himself. His wife, being right again. He was just grateful she let him win an argument or two.
He kept looking toward the kitchen. After thinking about everything Minx did for him, he decided to go for it. It couldn't be that hard, right?
Soon, the house was full of smoke. Minx and Shalt ran out of their respective rooms. Nothing was on fire, but Shalt did grab the pan and toss it in the sink with some water.
Minx grinned at Sil who hung his head once again. "Shall we go to the Travellers' Center for breakfast, or do you want to go to the lab?"
Sil looked defeated. "Lab?"
Minx looked at the time. "Let's go get Qi class done then go to the lab for breakfast. We can cook together and I can teach you more. Eventually you'll be able to do this, okay?"
Sil sighed and nodded. Shalt volunteered to stay behind and clean up the mess. Scraping the char off was going to take a while and he was hoping the cookware wasn't ruined.
At Qi class, Sil was introduced to Dawn and Fiza. He didn't pay them much attention because his wife was going to teach and he wanted listen to her. He was glad she was getting help and she would be teaching these girls. It would give her more time. She needed to work on her stuff, her strength.
Sil felt taking care of others was holding Minx back. He was beginning to think she should not have become a family head. Quinn got to do his own thing, why was she so busy? Like this class, for example. Could someone else teach it?
He hoped that would be the case someday. He also guessed that was kinda the point. She was the only one who knew so many things. She was spreading that knowledge around and making everyone stronger in the process.
Sil just felt his beloved was too strained, even though she never said such a thing to him. He decided to ask her something. He was not there when these classes started and there were a few new people as well.
"Minx, what does Qi do?"
"Qi is your life force energy. The energy around you. You can use this energy to enhance your body. It can make it harder for attacks to hurt you. I use it in everything. An example would be Qi is what makes my whip sharp enough to cut through a neck, even up through the King tier level. The stronger your Qi, the stronger our own attacks and defense. When I sparred with Leo, he said my whip was at least advanced tier just by adding the qi I had at the time. Does that make sense?"
"How did you learn this?"
"I needed to stabilize my anger and other emotions, so I was looking for methodologies to not be so emotional. I found some ancient books on meditations. Qi is one I took up. Chakras are the other. I have been doing them for three years now. Quinn also uses Qi, taught to him by Leo and I hope he teaches it to the others someday. However, it's why his attacks are so powerful, well, one reason anyway. Qi can bypass armor. It can be an equalizer."
Sil nodded with a smile. He doubled down listening to her lesson and practicing the meditation she was teaching. He resolved to do this even when away from home. He needed any edge against Hilston he could get. He just had no plans to let Quinn know he already knew it if he chose to teach it.
In the lab, Minx had Sil do all the cooking with supervision. She also taught him how to read a cookbook. The apprentices thought about joining them, but Mandy decided to take them back to her house and have them learn as well.
This was Minx's family time, and she wanted her to enjoy it. Mandy then spent the rest of the day teaching the girls the things she already learned from Minx. She decided this might be the best thing so Minx could focus on the lab and teach Mandy new things after dinner.
Sil also decided to participate in martial arts class. He marveled at how overprotective a maccavity could be as he watched Caser watching Minx. He watched as Minx practiced her sword, impressed with her progress. For the next three days, they got to enjoy being a family, working together.
During their time in the playroom at the lab, Minx listened to Sil reading his story to Caser. Life was good.
As they walked Sil back to the Cursed Ship, Sil asked Minx if she could get Borden and the kids to work on their area. He'd like them off the ship sooner than later. Minx gave him a passionate kiss before going through the teleporter with him. He then went one way, she went another.
In a training room on the Cursed Ship, a short humanoid man, the size of a puppy was leading 30 children in morning combat exercises. Minx walked in and leaned against the wall observing the activity.
Borden noticed and paused the training and walked over to her.
"Hey, Minx! Long time no see!" Borden said.
Minx smiled, "Hey Borden! Has Sil told you his plans for the kids?"