After an ordeal that left me with more questions than answers, I ended up doing what I did best when faced with an impossible problem.

That's right—I ignored it entirely. Sweet, blissful ignorance and anxiety.

As a helpless baby being carried around by a clearly still-distressed woman, my autonomy was suspect at best. Sure, I tried to pay attention and figure out what had happened. But not knowing what people are saying and reading solely off emotion and context clues, when already thrust into a bizarre situation, made piecing anything worthwhile together an arduous task.

Siobhan and Elias looked both grim and determined. Meanwhile, I was still worried about why I'd passed out and freaking out over the fact that new guy spoke English without moving his mouth. Or was it telepathy? Regardless, really freaked out. Especially since he was seemingly gone.

With few ways to improve my situation or mental state, I fell back on trying to play with Siobhan. While doing so, she remained distracted and at times non-responsive. Her pondering throughout the evening continued to make me worry. More likely than not, I was the source of their distress and I had no way to apologize or assist.

Being so useless was frustrating.

Eventually, I settled on letting that frustration fuel my desire to learn and grow as fast as possible. I was great at spite motivation. I paid even more attention than my already focused efforts, wracking my tiny little brain as much as possible and jamming as many words, thoughts, and memorizations into it as I could within each 24-hour span. Slightly surprised steam didn't come out my ears, because my brain was cooked.

I debated trying to sleep less and spend more time at night reviewing, but going over things by myself was woefully inefficient. Rest was also an important part of training both body and mind. Sleep was necessary to repair damaged muscle, and also helped formed new neurons. And stuff.

It wasn't like I'd been a scientist. But the basics stood—you can't push your body forever. Even if I wished I could.

Instead, I embraced sleeping as hard as I could when it was sleep time, but not a moment longer. The same applied to learning time and eating time. I didn't want to half ass things. The temptation was there to just lazily idle my days away and grow at an acceptable baby pace, but I fought it off with an angry stick.

Whenever I learned new words or said new things, Siobhan would praise me. After a week of doing my best, the shaky handful of words I knew ballooned into several dozen. My pronunciation was still embarrassingly awful, but it was a start. What's more, I was able to weaponize my two new favorite verbs.

"Ub!" " 'ug!"

Yes. My requests for uppies and hugs were powerful. I could now, on command, become a little red pancake plastered to Sioban.

A small part of me remained guilty for using the kind woman as a source of comfort. That part was slowly dying, being beaten to death by the majority that enjoyed being squished and hugged against her own squishiness.

Siobhan and Eleanor let me play with baby Dinah one day. And by that, I mean put me in her crib and we just sort of vibed and made baby noises at each other for a while. After about 5 minutes though, she decided to cry. I flinched a bit and was soon removed so that Eleanor could comfort the little girl.

Still, five minutes was much better than previously. I'll try making more baby noises at her next time. Maybe she'll be less scared.

I'm not sure if they were trying to acclimate Dinah and the other children to me, or what. The elder children seemed more curious than fearful, so that was good. I even shook the one boy's finger the other day.

After another mostly uneventful week of Baby Life™, I'd more or less figured any immediate threat to my new continued existence had passed. At this point it would seem a bit odd to raise a kid for a few weeks then toss them out. But then one fine day, while I was working on my slowly increasing motor skills, a betrayal most heinous struck.

Elias had appeared and done his finger magic per usual. The bastard had used that to make me let my guard down, because in my addled state of bliss I found myself happily wrapped up by Siobhan and carried somewhere outside the church.

And not like, in the courtyard outside. Straight up, we were going somewhere. I didn't like that. Where were we going? Anyone?

Considering I was wrapped up like a little red potato, I couldn't even cling to Siobhan for dear life. I wanted to go back to the church in our little room and hide away in its familiar four walls. There were people outside. Or at least, I assumed so.

Siobhan and Elias were accompanied by a man I'd seen before. I think his name was Geoffry? He'd popped in once or twice to talk to Siobhan during the day and see me. Regardless, the four of us proceeded down a dirt path that I was hesitant to call a road, before coming to an increasing number of buildings. A village? Town?

Arriving at the maybe-town, two men who I considered guards had appeared. Words were had. The guardsmen seemed a bit tense, which only did the same for me.

While perhaps true I'd have to meet people eventually, I much preferred the idea of being able to at least communicate with them first. And no, making little babbles and an attempt at saying hello did not count. I still barely understood a third of what was being said.

One of the men took off in a direction, leaving Elias to chat with the other man. He kept looking at me, so I stared back and made a few faces at him just to see his reaction. I was rewarded with a small chuckle, which caused me to do the same.

Ice officially broken. Bingo.

While Elias busied himself with the remaining guard, the previous one soon returned with a vaguely familiar man, Bushy Brows. He was dressed just as fancily as the time he'd visited before. Today though, he seemed a bit disheveled and like someone had forced a lemon in his mouth. Or some other orifice.

After a bit of conversation, I realized that Bushy Brows—Edouard?—wasn't too happy to see me.

Any sympathy I had for the man was smothered by the fact I didn't want to be here either. Sorry, my guy.

Elias spoke with the man for a short while before they seemed to decide on moving the conversation elsewhere. Siobhan carried me amidst our new escort of people through the town. It was still what I considered the morning, but several people were out and about.

Eyes. Too many eyes, gradually locked onto me.

Every person we passed seemed to catch notice of me, leaving me extremely self-conscious and uncomfortable. After repeating that a handful of times, I whined into Siobhan's shoulder. While I didn't fully understand what was going on, I at least wanted to express my discomfort.

She simply cooed some reassurances at me. My objections were noted, filed away, and tossed into the rejected bin.

I only hoped Elias knew what he was doing and that this wasn't going to lead to some public lynching or child sacrifice on an altar, or, or something.

Buildings passed all the while. I tried to take notice of the people and places around me. Judging by the construction, something told me I was out of place. Stone and mortar, thatched roofs, rudimentary roads and construction—this didn't seem like Earth.

While I was mentally prepared for that based on what Nex said, it hurt all the same. I'd never see my family again. And I hoped this strange place wasn't too backwards, despite obviously being at least one step back in technology.

Seriously, being red was bad enough, I didn't want to add communicating with smoke signals to my list of challenges.

Then again, magic. Elias had definitely done magic, so maybe I could learn it too? That seemed nifty. I'd toss my phone away for magic powers. Maybe? Hmm, actually that might be tough.

While my squirrel brain latched onto the thought of conjuring up the elements in a vain attempt to distract myself from possible impending doom, we'd arrived at a crossroads with something of an open lot. There was a well, a few stalls, and some sort of stage. There were already a few people there, but upon arrival we caught even more attention.

It didn't take long for a crowd to gather. More specifically, it seemed like they were actively seeking people out. Several of the guardsmen had left and returned with more people in tow, and it slowly ballooned from there. Meanwhile, Siobhan stood around me while talking to Elias and that Edouard fellow.

Awkward. Uncomfortable. Distressing.

People kept looking at me and I couldn't do anything about it. I buried my face in Siobhan's shoulder, hoping we could go back soon.

After they'd gathered quite the crowd, I heard a ring! from a bell. It cut all the audience's chatter. I looked for the source, which turned out to be Bushy Brows. He cleared his throat and addressed the crowd.

I tried to follow and pick out words. Elias. Siobhan. Benevitas. Church. Diadora. Fragments of sentences that only made a little sense.

Mostly I judged the tone and reaction of people. Confused. Scared. Some angry.

Elias spoke to the crowd at some point. Siobhan unwrapped me, exposing more than just my face. I looked at the crowd, a couple hundred sets of eyes all directed my way. Their eyes all contained various emotions, all of which made me uncomfortable.

Since I was no longer bundled up, it was easier to move my arms. I took this opportunity to cling to Siobhan and bury my face far more firmly while wrapping my stubby arms around her front.

Then, something awful clicked. All these people are staring at me. Judging me. Thinking I was a freak. And really, more so than ever, wasn't I?

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

My self-consciousness magnified and multiplied, and I felt a familiar terror coming on. My breath hitched as I started to panic. My brain decided it was a good time to turn on the waterworks. Realizing I was now apparently going to start crying in front of over a hundred strangers only exacerbated my problems.

Nearby, I vaguely recalled Edouard awkwardly clearing his throat and continuing to address the crowd. Siobhan turned me back around and I nestled myself against her while trying to calm down. While several of my fears were rational—thinking I was about to get lynched by a mob, being a freak, all that fun stuff—several of them weren't. It was those I tried to stifle and push away.

It was ... just an introduction. Yeah. I'd need to meet other people eventually. Objectively speaking, if Elias and Siobhan were still being as supportive as they seemed, and not simply handing me over to an angry town, then this was probably a good thing. A little demon baby was far less intimidating than whatever I imagined a full-grown demon would be like, right?

No worries, town! I'm friendly. Look how small and helpless I am! Surely there's no need to kill me simply for showing up here uninvited. Right?

All my mental reassurances did little to stop my blubbering against Siobhan's front. Elias even came over at some point to check on me, but I just firmly pressed my face against her until she peeled me away to look at me.

Why was she so nice to me anyway? Did she think I was a lost kitten or something and decided to adopt me? I don't think, if a little red child had showed up to my house, I could've done the same. Why was Elias helping me out? Maybe their church wasn't like back home, but I'm pretty sure if a demon, even a baby, had poofed onto their doorsteps? It'd be cast out or killed regardless. So, why?

I felt miserable. I wanted to go home. Or at least back to the church. At least there, the only one I worried about judging me was Dinah.

Edouard and Elias continued to address the crowd. It seemed like they'd opened up for questions, as I remember a few voices hollering forth something that sounded as such. Mostly male voices, a few female. I'm not sure how long went by exactly, but we continued to stand there. Siobhan was gently rubbing my back. My nervous energy had petered out and I felt cold, shaking.

"Good ◻◻, Diadora. Good ◻◻. ◻◻ okay? ◻◻ ◻ back ◻◻."

Siobhan cooed in my ear, gently rocking me. I'd noticed at the start she seemed stiff and nervous. Her gait while walking here had been off. I'm sure she wasn't looking forward to this much more than I. She'd probably gotten saddled with me, yet still she was working hard.

It didn't matter what had happened. I didn't want to be outdone, to keep relying on her. I needed to work on my baggage, sort through it, and carefully unpack what needed unpacked, then shoot the rest into space.

My sniffles finally got under control. I dared to peek out at the crowd again.

Confused. Apprehensive. Still a bit scared, but less. I didn't see much anger.

Bushy Brows continued to talk with people, but at some point the crowd began to thin ever so slightly. Elias still responded at times. Slowly, people seemed more or less done with whatever had transpired. I'm not sure what they'd done to appease the crowd or how serious the situation had been, but by the time people had left, they seemed more or less satisfied.

Or perhaps they were just busy and didn't have more time to waste here. The problem with guesswork was how prone to fault it was.

A few people had even come up to get a better look at me. I'm not sure what they were expecting, but they seemed afraid to touch me. Curious, nonetheless.

After those last stragglers, we finally left. Siobhan and one of the guardsmen took me back to the church. Elias and Geoffry went off somewhere with Edouard—probably still discussing or smoothing things over. Despite my relative lack of involvement and interaction in the whole event, I felt exhausted.

By the time we'd gotten back to the kids' room, I was like dough in Siobhan's arms. She eventually propped me up beside her with the book she and Eleanor normally had, then started reading to me until I fell asleep. I tried to pay attention for a while, but after today's stress I was running low on mental juice.

It was evening when I woke. I'd been placed back in my crib, loosely wrapped in a blanket. I laid there for a while, pondering the whole day.

There hadn't been any pitchforks or torches. That was a plus.

Not knowing was eating me up. Dying had been awful enough. Being so useless wasn't helping.

I looked around the room, only to notice Siobhan seemed to be asleep on the couch. Eleanor was at her desk, writing something.

Naps were fair. I decided to exercise instead of wake Siobhan. She'd surely earned a nap.

----------------------------------------

The following days were, thankfully, much more relaxing.

No Bushy Brows, no English-speaking telepaths, no town mobs. It was just me, Siobhan, Eleanor, the kids, and sometimes the other priests and nuns.

I had more teeth coming in. My speech was ever so slightly less gibberish. My arms and legs were being more cooperative. I think I'd even grown just a hair.

Elias would stop in and do that finger-thing every three days. Sometimes Siobhan would take me out to the gazebo to enjoy the weather, or to the church when they held services. The priests and nuns seemed less wary around me the past couple weeks, so that was nice.

I was still afraid whenever we went to the services. While it was interesting, especially when you knew what I knew about dying and gods, being there made me feel a little tingly. Thankfully, it wasn't like that burning sensation before. We simply stood at the very back of the pews and listened in. Sometimes Siobhan would even join them in singing.

She was cute and had a nice singing voice. I may have been developing something of a crush on her. Or perhaps this was just Stockholm Syndrome since it wasn't like I could escape my situation? No clue.

I'd never really understood the whole 'nun costume' or fetish thing, and I wouldn't normally have thought her my 'type', but between her personality and hidden 'personalities' Siobhan had quickly rocketed "kinda cute I guess" into the "100% absolutely smash this nun with the force of a billion suns" stratosphere.

That was kind of hard since I now lacked both the means and hormones, so instead I mentally noted how great she was yet again and plastered myself to her side when we studied. 'Twas blissful companionship.

"Sib! 'Ug!"

She chuckled at me before acquiescing, "Fine, fine."

Putting the book aside, which I'd come to know was called the Scripture, I was wrapped up in a hug.

It was still difficult to move my arms properly, but I could at least reciprocate slightly. The reward for all of my hard work the past few weeks was the ability to shakily follow a conversation and on-demand boob to the head.

Had my bodily progress been going as well as my speech, I probably would've been able to at least toddle around by now. Unfortunately, I could still do little more than rock back and forth. Given that it'd only been about three weeks since coming here, that was probably some sort of world baby record.

Or again, maybe not. Demon babies, yadda yadda.

Extracting myself from Siobhan's bosom, I turned my attention back to the Scripture. It was basically this world's version of the Bible or Qur'an or Tanakh. I still couldn't read yet, but Siobhan had taken to teaching me letters in the past few days.

It wasn't like I could write either, so I was just mentally cataloguing the letters for now. We'd only started that this week and most of my attentions were still on learning vocabulary and turning my vocal cords and mouth into something useful.

Mostly, it was relaxing. Interesting too. I'd never been very religious, so being thrust into a church after meeting a god was a fresh perspective. The Scripture didn't mention anything about Nex, so far as I could tell. That probably jived with what she'd told me. If she really were a Goddess of Mischief, then this Benevitas fellow was likely the God of this universe or whatever. I think I might've caught his attention that one day. It hadn't happened again, for better or worse.

So, I guess Nex really just kind of dropped me off here for their entertainment.

An amusing thought. But still, I hoped me being ditched here was ... consensual? Welcome? Sufficiently entertaining, dare I say it?

—Basically, I didn't want to wake up *literally* smitten. I'd already woken up dead once, no need for round two.

As I soaked in the warmth from Siobhan, I remembered the care of Elias, and even reflected on the begrudging assistance of Eleanor ... most people didn't even get that. Siobhan continued to read the Scripture aloud for me, but my normally razor-sharp attention was half elsewhere.

My anger over dying had dissipated. My worries for my family and friends were still a raw, open wound, but it had started to scab over. Months, perhaps a few years, I'd slowly try to get over it. Slowly work towards it. Slowly.

I propped my head against Siobhan's arm at some point.

"Getting sleepy, Dia?" she chuckled.

"Nn." I shook my head.

I wasn't sleepy, just tired. There was a difference. And I'd have trouble wording it.

"Let's get you to bed."

"Nn," I shook my head again. " 'Ug."

Eleanor sighed from nearby, still tending to Dinah, "You ◻◻ her too much, Siobhan."

"Maybe," came a chuckle from behind.

The Scripture was set aside and I felt two strong, soft arms wrap around me. For a while, I was content to simply sit in silence.

"But she's been such a good girl. If she keeps learning ◻◻◻ so fast, I'm going to have to call her a ◻◻."

I wasn't sure what that was exactly, but I blushed regardless. Complimenting me for something so basic seemed silly. And calling me a 'good girl' made me feel weird. I wasn't ready to process that.

It'd been weeks now and I still hadn't had to use the bathroom. I still felt fine. So how did that work? Was there a black hole in my stomach? A fusion reactor? I didn't understand. Science was being pissed on, then tossed into the wind. Or perhaps my stomach.

Well, those both were issues I could punt down the road for at least a while longer. It didn't make a whole lot of difference right now. Unpacking needed to come in proper steps.

At some point, Siobhan had taken me off her lap and set me on the couch. She went to tidy a few things up. When she returned, I decided to try speaking my mind.

"Sib, fanks yew."

My speech was still awful. My tongue still uncooperative. My teeth and throat inferior to the task. But I wanted to finally express my thanks.

Siobhan looked at me strangely. It probably was strange. No, it definitely was. But I was really thankful to be here, to have another chance. My eyes got misty. I turned toward Eleanor.

"Ell, fanks."

Eleanor looked at me strangely too. Then the two looked at each other. And then my dumb ass started to cry again, which only frustrated me. Why was I even crying this time? I'd finally gotten to thank them. After weeks of learning and practicing. What was there to cry about?

I was scooped up.

"Dia dear, what's wrong?"

"Du'nno," I hiccupped.

"Shh, shhh, it's okay dear."

For the umpteenth time in weeks, I found myself sobbing quietly into Siobhan's shoulder. Eleanor had cradled Dinah then come over.

"This is getting too ◻◻◻ for me. I can't ◻◻ I'm being thanked by a crying ◻◻. What is the ◻◻ coming to? Next, Father Elias is going to ask me to ◻◻ a ◻◻◻ egg."

Eleanor had a grumpy tone, but she still gingerly pat my head as I tried to reign in my sobbing.

At the mention of Elias, I warbled, "Elyas too. Fanks."

There was a sigh.

"Siobhan, if she keeps learning so fast, we're going to have to ◻◻ an ◻◻◻ ◻◻ plan for her. Which is ◻◻◻, she can't even walk yet! Are all ◻◻ children this ◻◻◻?"

Siobhan grimaced, while Eleanor frowned deeply and continued.

"I ◻◻ Father knows what he's doing."

The two shared a concerned look.

"Dia, dear. Why are you sad?"

"Du'nno."

While I continued to sniff into Siobhan's shoulder, making a mess of the poor cloth, Eleanor spoke up.

"She ◻◻◻ misses her family. With as ◻◻◻ as she's ◻◻ to be, she likely ◻◻◻ them at least somewhat. ... Maybe?"

Eleanor threw Siobhan a self-doubting stare.

"Dia, dear. Do you ◻◻◻ your family? Do you miss them?"

Do I miss my family?

That hit me like a truck. Despite the misunderstandings leading up to it, despite the fact I thought I'd come to some small semblance of peace with the matter, I still hadn't expected anyone to just ... ask me that, point-blank.

My tears, which were gradually coming under control, slipped entirely out of my grasp yet again. I nodded and pinched my eyes shut. Siobhan started kneading my back and the two made conversation.

"I'm ◻◻◻ she ◻◻◻ them. ◻◻ children really do ◻◻◻ faster than human children. What do you suppose ◻◻◻ to them?"

"I don't know. Father Elias found her with just that ◻◻. She can't be more than a few ◻◻ old, I ◻◻◻ she might ◻◻◻ something but it's still ◻◻◻."

"Tell me about it. I'm still ◻◻◻ to how fast she learns. It's ◻◻."

"Don't call Dia ◻◻, Eleanor."

Eleanor rolled her eyes and let out a small huff, before returning to Dinah and fussing with her. Siobhan continued to rock me.

I'm sure they were misunderstanding a ton of things right now. It wasn't like I could correct them, nor was I sure that'd be a good idea. I was already weird enough, didn't need to push that button more than the dozen times I'd already slapped the shit out of it.

A while passed, more conversation, and exhaustion began to creep in. I'd do better tomorrow. Then the day after.

In the very least, I wanted to be able to walk on my own soon and stop having these crying fits. Even if it was nice to actually have a shoulder to cry on, I didn't want to continue these one-sided relationships. I couldn't stand owing people things. It made me feel awful.

Tomorrow. I'll do better tomorrow.