SilentSky didn't say anything, so Danika asked, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"He's been talking and laughing a lot more in the last couple of months, and writing new songs… He'd been closing himself off and struggling for awhile…" Silent Sky said finally.

Danika wasn't sure that he'd finished talking or what kind of response was expected, so a minute passed in silence before she said, "Okay?"

"What are you really promising him?" SilentSky asked a bit sharply.

Danika blinked and pulled up the spell information. "Well, the spell says…" she read the words to SilentSky.

SilentSky rolled his eyes and demanded, "Not your character, you!"

"I haven't promised him anything," Danika replied uncertainly.

"You are either annoyingly oblivious, or purposefully acting stupid," SilentSky declared.

Danika repressed a sharp retort and reminded herself that this guy was Aishin's friend and co-worker, and his group obviously respected him. "I really don't understand what you want to know," she replied reasonably. "Can you just ask me directly, or at least tell me what you're worried about?"

SilentSky was silent for a moment. "I'm worried that you're temporary," he explained finally. "I'm trying to ask about how much of a commitment you're willing to make. This is probably just a game to you, but it affects more than that, through Aishin it affects all of us."

Danika frowned and answered the easiest part first, "Temporary? I'm not going to live forever, but I don't expect to die anytime soon?" She still didn't quite understand what he was trying to ask about commitment and promises, but she replied, "And of course this is a game, but I know that Aishin is a real person? I'm one too."

"Are you going to meet him then? And then what?" SilentSky demanded.

"How should I know?" Danika replied sharply. "We've never talked about meeting outside the game." Meeting Aishin was a distracting thought, but after a moment she added hesitantly, "Look, I get that you're worried, but I think you're trying to make things too complicated. And I don't know that there's any romantic…" Danika's words trailed off as she thought about Aishin's stated reason to get VR.

Her wings exposed her thoughts with bright pink and rose colored sparkles and SilentSky rolled his eyes and asked, "Have you even listened to any of the new songs?"

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"I listened to the one about envy," Danika admitted. She'd looked up 'Green Eyed Secrets' and listened while she worked.

SilentSky's expression writhed through a string of ridiculous emotes, finishing with tearful laughter. "Ok, I get it. You're right, and I'm trying to make things too complicated." He laughed. "I'll go help herd the newbies and leave you to finish your preparations."

"Ok?" Danika replied uncertainly.

SilentSky stopped in the doorway and added, "Good luck ZipZing, I'm glad we get to meet you today."

Danika stared after him for a long moment and then shrugged and zipped over and repaired the lines that had been scuffed by Edwardian. Then she entered her garden and began picking leaves. Aishin was much bigger than her egg had been, so the spell circle had to be much larger and would use a lot more leaves than the little one Justin had made, but at least he wasn't as big as a horse like Ranma.

--

Danika was still laying out the diamond dust lines when Shrubbery came online, followed by MatchlessMinion a few minutes later. MatchlessMinion's plush grey messenger cat arrived next to her shortly after. For a moment she worried about how it tracked across her finished lines, but then saw with relief that it left no trace.

She had left her messenger screen open, so the message popped up in front of her while she laid out the rest of the line she was working on. It read: "Shrubbery told my sister that you're letting her watch when you make Aishin your familiar, and now she's pouting! I know you don't want a whole mob there, but can't you invite her?"

Danika stopped and wrote back: "There's already a mob, she may as well come too, but aren't you guys off in the Dwarven kingdoms?"

Then she wrote to SaltySiamese: "Of course you're welcome to come too, I just thought you were still chasing the goblin artifact?"

The snow leopard cub bounced through the leaves of the outer circle each time he carried another message away, but although the leaves appeared to puff away from his feet, they settled right back into place as though they'd never moved a moment later. She carefully aligned the hundred year old ring in the symbol on the south side, and the perfect seashells on the north.

The other items filled in the east and west, and she checked the spell description page one last time, before messaging Aishin: "I think it's ready, but now SaltySiamese and MatchlessMinion might be coming too."

The cub pounced back in at the same time as MatchlessMinion's grey cat returned. The cat ignored the snow leopard cub, but the cub watched the housecat messenger intently. MatchlessMinion's message read: "Portals, duh."

Aishin's message read: "Kit Tay will be on soon too right? There's no rush."

Danika sat in the empty hall beside her pebble in the blank space reserved for Aishin. Now that the circle was finished she had time to think more about the odd conversation with SilentSky. Her wings dimmed and she wished that life could be simple.

--

Aishin returned first, and alone. He looked at ZipZing sitting on the floor in the middle of the circle with her sparkles dimmed and asked abruptly, "What did SilentSky say to you?"

Danika looked up at him, and activated her wings. He held out his hands and she flew over to land on them. "He wanted to know what I'm promising you, but I'm not entirely certain…"

Aishin interrupted before she finished speaking, "Ignore him. It's none of his business, and you don't ever have to promise me anything."

Danika replied with amusement, "Ever is a long time."

Aishin grinned at her. "I'm not saying I'm never going to ask you for anything, just that you never have to promise me anything," he clarified.

His face was half covered by the dark cloth he seemed to prefer, and Danika gazed at him a little regretfully. She opened her mouth but then shut it again without asking anything.

"What?" he asked seriously.

"Would you…." she trailed off.

"It depends on what you want me to promise you," he replied softly.

Danika blinked at him, and then laughed. "What district did you think I lived in?" she asked.

Aishin grimaced, but then told her. "It really seemed likely," he complained.

"It was, because I do," she told him laughingly as the door opened again.

"Hey, no fair, you said you'd wait," Shrubbery complained.

Aishin's eyes widened and Danika giggled.