Her Imma was less than kind the next morning over the video chat.

"Rutt, Ma la'Azazel chasha-"

Ruth tried to get some semblance of dignity back, she didn't even have time to take a leak before mom called.

"Imma, Mother, I have company here."

One of her brows twitched as she noticed Eli had the exact same coloring as her mom's.

Her mom on the other end is pacing around Grandpa and Grandpa's house. She could actually see them at the moment, giving her a thumbs up from behind her mom.

"I would think you wouldn't want to show the dirty laundry, but regardless, WHAT The FUCK were you thinking, You-"

Aand then, Eli butted in. 'Of course.'

"I'm Israeli, actually, she would just feel more vulnerable."

She wasn’t sure if he’s actually trying to be confidently helpful, or relatably trying. She also wasn't quite sure if his interjection was actually doing anything helpful.

"Charming… Boy, unless you want to get in that sick bed…"

'Hurtful, though depressingly expected, and unintentional.'

"Wow, mom, thank you for that image."

Huh, she actually didn't mean to put it like that, if those little twitches in her mouth, brows, shoulder and…

On the screen, imma stuttered for less than a full second, and then plowed on.

"Look, I get it, we sprung on you the responsibility for getting here, even though we were all under the impression that our own Star-Mixer would get us here originally, but the date for its mandatory twice a decade deep test happened to fall on the same week." She saw her mom taking a breath.

"It is my fault. But we both know that that is not an excuse to continue being short not only with us, your Imma & Abba- I get it with us, but You even went and made little Ari cry. He's three now, and just smart & autistic enough to both know that you were angry, and blame himself for it."

She could tell Eli was straightening his shoulders back… Her mom didn't stop for a heartbeat.

"Now your uncle is sitting with him, and still trying to explain to a three year old, who already has a harder time than most of his peers to understand basic social cues, that you were just upset for something that had nothing to do with him and that it was an accident."

Eli's reassuring hands rested on her shoulders, and there mere presence served to drain more stress out of her than she could ever actually say.

Then her mom took one last breath. She was obviously done.

Eli tenderly kissed her temple.

"How about we all go on a nice walk on a tether road. Make a day of it. The food is free, you have a bathroom practically every half a K and sitting as well. The view is gorgeous."

And after a breath of his own, he finished with, "And you have a moving road and a train next to you if you want to go back."

Suddenly Abba decided to join in the conversation, though she couldn't actually see him. "Wouldn't it be crowded there? Whenever we're back in Sha'Ar it is really-"

And grandpa, one of his own father in-laws, interrupted him with, "Oh that's not a problem here. To be honest, I was always shocked you all somehow got Houses in your tethered bonds. Here, that stuff is really just an excuse to have people there."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Her mom looked toward something out of sight, she assumed it was her dad. Then Imma smiled at het.

"Makes sure you don't-"

She paused, blinked, and continued.

"Good luck to you both, I will send you what Yoel says on their end."

Aand she cut it.

…

{Tara my dear, that was disappointing.}

That was what she got on her account after she got out with bail.

She wasn't told who paid, and the address that sent that wasn't one she ever saw.

But that Didn't change the facts of the matter. She still knew exactly who she needed to grovel to.

She focused and perceived. Like a drip, trickle, unseen underground river…

~"You're late, little pup."~

The Dame was, is and always would be, titanic like this. Tara took stock of the situation and centered.

"Shoot the messenger then. I only just now saw your message."

'That was a mistake.'

The Dames' sharp embrace never had any brittle in it. It just gifted you with shards.

~"Do I still need to housetrain you?"~ The response came smooth like glass, and just as sharp.

"I am sorry for the nerve, I should have reached for you as soon as I was alone."

With that Tara's body was suddenly no longer at home, but instead there; At The Family Home, with the Dame physically across from her. Face to face, Dame Althea was shorter, softer, and had much kinder eyes. An accomplished liar.

"Please, enjoy."

She did as she was commanded, and took a cookie. If she was relaxed, it would probably have been good. As it was though, she was barely aware of the texture, not to mention taste.

"Thank you, mom."

"You are welcome dear," the Dame said in that deceptively sweet tone that mother's all too often used before pulling out a switch.

When Tara finished it, she wiped her mouth, cleaned her shirt, making sure to draw it out and give herself as much time as possible before the inevitable.

"Enough stalling, pup. What is your excuse? Both for drawing attention to us for a ride, and then worse, not finishing off little reluctant boy- G.I.Joe?"

…

Yoel, his wife Batia and little Ari were really nice. So was Ruth's mom whose name he still couldn't remember, and the names of the fathers of that sibling pair, her mom and uncle.

Yoel himself wasn't nearly as prickly as you would expect, justifiably or not.

"Hey, Eliezer, right? Thank you for this, we honestly forgot about this place and places like it. I know it will help Ari here, he loves to go out, to somewhere pretty, and alone."

Eli grinned back. Something, a concept, almost clicked.

"I am just happy to be here."

And he was, the steps shifting over the walk into planes, all of it, both familiar and new.

With a breath, his smile dimmed but remained, and he could see that it was like this not just for himself.

…

As Ari ran between the edges of the steps, his Imma stood with Savta. Mother and Grandmother chatted but watched like hawks.

Every time he got to an edge he froze, then it clicked. Then he was on the next, and then suddenly back.

Eli smiled, happy for the toddler. He took a look at Ruth and she smiled, but it was a brittle smile.

"Hey, what's up?"

She shook her head.

"It's nothing."

He hugged her, for a moment, just enough to let the catharsis work without being flashy.

"Please. I actually like you and have no want to hold it over you, or anything of the like,"

She smiled. Sighed. And spilled.

"I'm an impaired, I have no skill that I can manifest. I never got a concept. That boy can barely be understood to someone who doesn't already know him, sometimes barely to those of us who do, but he just managed a teleportation skill."

He tilted his head. Trying to find something that might help, but was he even supposed to?

"Isn't his uncle the first confirmed teleporter?"

She frowned.

"How did you know that?"

He coughed for a second.

"I'm Israeli, and while I don't personally know him very well, I saw him on social media a lot as a kid. It didn't click at first, but you know, same first name for your baby cousin and the Ari-Paz, they look similar, his dad looks, sounds, and I was pretty sure has the same first name as Ari-Paz's brother. And he just teleported-. At three."

As he went on, she just tilted her head, again and again, and sighed.

"So, a conjecture, but true nonetheless. Yeah, it does make sense when you put it like that."

She looked away. And he hugged her some more.

"So, you still didn't actually tell me what you do for a living when not at school."

Her shoulders slumped for a moment, he wasn't sure if with releaf.

"I'm your basic small-time mover/tour guide.

He giggled for a bit, an instant blush.

"A stylish tour guide."

She nodded, dead serious.

"Yeah, I can charge a lot and be selective about it, but you know, I take middle to upper class people, not actual Royalty unless they're roughing it."

He nodded. A bit faster than his ego was comfortable with.

"I am so taking you up on your offer yesterday."

They both blushed just a bit at that, and for a moment the scene unfolding in front of them didn't seem quite so domineering as before.

…

Yoel was panicking, just a bit. They had only just undid the baby proofing in the house.

"Batia, we are going to have to have Ari-Paz practically live here… Won't we?"

She nodded.

"You're scared about the general change of little Ari being a teleporter… Right? You and your dads, or Ari-Paz, don't have any issues with it, right?"

He sighed. "No." 'But Ari-Paz will be pissed none of us have called him in a while, before the news.'

…