Danika gazed at the elegant woman across the familiar table a little incredulously. No one would believe you if you told them that twenty minutes earlier she'd been laying on the stairs laughing at her best friend, as she took another silent sip from her tea cup.

Ryuske finished telling Hikaru about the changes Danika and Shinichi had made so far, and Hikaru's eyes sparkled as she told him, "I'm really jealous you know. Shinichi's been such a good kid, and now you have such a practical and independent daughter-in-law."

"We're not married yet," Danika protested weakly.

"It's good to wait until you're sure," Hikaru told her approvingly. "My kids take after my mother," she added with a long sigh and a shake of her head.

"Your mother is lovely," Ryuske protested laughingly.

Hikaru held up her hand, as though that would prevent Ryuske from hearing her whisper and told Danika, "I'm the only one in my immediate family who got married before getting knocked up. Even the lawyer."

Danika tried not to giggle, until she met Ryuske's eyes, and he winked. Her laughter bubbled up and overflowed.

--

Ryuske returned late that night, and Ryullusion joined ZipZing in finishing her latest delivery quest from the elven fletcher.

"I told my Hikaru that it has a lot to live up to," Danika told him.

"Seems a bit unfair?" Ryullusion replied after a moment. "I'm sorry I sprang the introduction on you so suddenly."

"It was fine," she protested automatically.

"Liar?" he suggested. When she turned to look at him, he added, "You seemed quite reluctant at first?"

She shrugged, avoided his eyes for a minute, and then shrugged again, before looking at him and trying to explain, "She is so important… I just, what if she… if you…" she waved her little clawed hands helplessly.

Ryullusion gazed at her with such a blank expression for a moment that Danika half wondered if he'd disconnected. "You…" he began, and then stopped. "Danika…" he tried again.

"Um," Danika mumbled. "She wasn't much like I imagined?"

Ryullusion gave a snort of laughter and rolled his eyes at her. "I can't decide if I should be scolding you or assuring you that I love you too? You are important too!"

"That's not what I," Danika began.

"I thought I only had to interrupt this kind of conversation between you and Silvam," ShinZing complained out of nowhere.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

ZipZing fell out of the air and bounced, as surprise stopped her wings. They both looked at her for a long moment and then started laughing. "That's not…" Danika began to protest again.

Ryullusion interrupted by telling ShinZing, "I introduced her to Hikaru today, and she seemed really uncomfortable at first."

ShinZing zipped down as hugged her. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"Hey," Ryullusion protested.

ShinZing continued, "She's actually pretty nice I think?"

"She is really nice," Danika agreed quickly. She glanced at Ryullusion, and then gazed into ShinZing's eyes helplessly.

The comfortable old love she'd seen between those two, the bittersweet feeling of certainty that Ryuske had gently protected that comfort for decades, her fear of being a disappointment… she struggled with how to communicate everything.

"You're sparkling like a rainbow," Shinichi whispered and bent to kiss the tip of her nose.

Her sparkles went uniformly pink for a moment. "I'm okay," she insisted, as she reactivated her wings and hovered beside him.

Ryullusion was looking at her uncertainly, even though ShinZing smiled in relief, and Danika gave an aggravated huff at herself. It was just words, and she was certain that he'd forgive her if it took her a few tries to get them right. "I was afraid that, I guess maybe, I wasn't sure that you'd be able to be proud to introduce me?"

"You worry about your inability to walk way too much," Shinichi complained.

Danika blinked. "What? No, I mean, I don't think that would matter to her would it?"

"It wouldn't!" Ryullusion insisted. "But what have I said that makes you think I wouldn't be proud to introduce you?"

"I was dressed scruffily since I didn't expect to go out, this job with Starcraft Technologies is my first 'real' job, I don't play a single instrument?" Danika listed uncertainly. Those were just surface things, but they were easier to describe than the uncomfortable feeling that she couldn't entirely describe even to herself.

"Oh… but you have a lot of good points!" Ryullusion replied quickly. "And in case you still doubt it, I am really proud to have you, both as a friend and as part of our family."

ShinZing just reached out and petted her for a moment, but after they finished the quest and Danika logged off to sleep, she found a message from Shinichi waiting on her phone.

"Sorry that I assumed it was about your legs. I really do know how you felt," Danika read doubtfully. She couldn't explain how she felt, so she couldn't see how Shinichi could understand, until she read the rest. "Before… I couldn't understand why anyone would choose me when there is always someone better. When Nao insisted that my songs were the best, I always thought he was just exaggerating, because there are so many songs I like better than my own. Well, there are lots of things like that. But recently I realized, it doesn't matter if there might be someone better, because you're still choosing me. You are good enough. You are really great. And this probably sounds wishy-washy, but I mean it. I love you a ridiculously sappy amount."

It really was an awkward message, but it made her feel the same way that she'd felt when he'd talked about living to be a hundred. And she realized belatedly how much he'd really meant when he'd told her that he'd keep choosing her.

Her reply was short: "Me too, a sappy amount."

But a moment later she sent another one: "I'll keep choosing you too."

Before he could have read the second one, a reply arrived: "I know."

Danika felt slightly offended, even though she wanted him to know, and have confidence in her feelings. But an offended message would just seem silly after he read her next one, still, she criticized silently, someone who wrote love songs ought to know better than to reply with 'I know.'

His next message made her grin though. "I can't tell you how glad I am. Too vastly for words. And I have to go to sleep, but look forward to more words tomorrow."

"I will," her message promised.

--

The next afternoon, Dalma protested mildly, "We haven't touched the guidance and psych analysation systems, so it should work just like the Empire for personal quest generation."

"I don't know," Danika argued, "I think the amount of combative conflict is higher in my tests."

"I doubt that," Devon said skeptically. "The Empire is swamped in quests to kill things."

Danika grinned at him, but she still questioned, "Each other though? It's kind of hard to distinguish between the pirates and the merchants."

Jade protested, "But according to all of the sample stories, the merchant ships should also have armaments."

"All's fair in love and war?" Devon suggested cheerfully.

"Speaking of love," Danika finally brought up one of the things that had been bothering her for awhile. "If the analysis system hasn't changed, will this game also matchmake people?"

"Living Jade Empire doesn't actually matchmake people for love," Devon replied questioningly.

"The advertising people imply that with the 'heart's desire' line, but that kind of thing would just open up an endless sea of problems," Dalma added.

Jade said helpfully, "Encounters with other players with shared, or complementary statistics are often included in storyline paths though, because people are usually much happier when they interact with a limited circle of familiar characters."

None of them could understand why Danika started laughing.