“How are you two settling into your new place? Bet you’re glad to finally get out of those cramped rooms, Luna.”

“Tell me about it,” Luna complained, “It was so crowded in there. And Anna snores. And’s always in such a bad mood in the mornings. It’s good that we can spread out more now and have our own space.”

“Yeah, it is nice,” Emily agreed, “So, what brings you here tonight? Seems like you’ve been giving me strange looks all day.”

Luna and Fumiko shared a long look with each other before turning back.

“Well, we were talking. Fumiko and I,” Luna said, “And we were wondering if we should… start up the incubation chamber again? It’s been almost three years now since we’ve gotten here. Our fields are doing well and we have extra housing. I… don’t see any reason to wait anymore.”

Emily sat back and looked at the two of them.

“Are you asking for everyone?” she asked, “Or for you two? Like how I raised you, Luna?”

“We’d… like to try?” Luna said, “It was just a thought.”

“Okay,” Emily said.

“Okay?”

“If you’re sure, then go for it. You’re right, everyone’s settled in well here and things are stable. I’ll be a grandmother!”

“C’mon, mom. You don’t look nearly old enough for that. We look almost identical now.”

“Yes, I hadn’t quite figured out the genetic variation sequence early on,” Emily said, her good mood fading slightly, “You older kids are all pretty close to the donors.”

She shook her head, “Anyway. What about the other babies? As the embryos go through all the different chambers, the machine can incubate as many as two babies a month if I run it as quickly as possible. But it takes a full year for any individual to pass all the way through the system and be born, so there’s a delay there. I don’t want to overproduce and not be able to take care of them…”

“Yes, two a month is far too much,” Luna agreed, “Fumiko, what do you think? We have plenty of food now, but we’ll have to worry about caring for them and feeding them for years without them able to help…”

“I know that it didn’t go as well the first time, Fumiko,” Emily added, “But I think raising the babies somewhat communally makes sense. If anyone wants to be a parent like you two then that’s fine, but it’s too much work for them by themselves. I can help and run the nursery if you’d like. You lot hardly need me for the manual labor anymore anyways.”

Fumiko looked hesitant, then nodded, “Okay,” she agreed, “If you’re running it, I’m sure they won’t feel unloved. That does make it easier rather than having to convince people to take in babies individually.”

“Great. I’ll start working on the floor plans of a nursery building, I’d be good to make it into a medical center too to treat us once we have more people getting sick and injured more often…” Emily said, “I’ll put your baby in for incubation right away. Special treat, I’ll even make it a blend of both of your genetics from the database instead of having it be totally random. We can decide how many more babies we’ll make and how fast later. In a year, you two will be mothers!”

Luna and Fumiko smiled and after chatting for a bit, the two of them left hand in hand. Emily smiled after them. They were so cute together.

Emily was glad that Luna had found someone, she had worried that with so few people in the group that it would be difficult for her.

— — —

“Hey, mom. Can we talk?”

“Oh, Luna? Sure,” Emily bounced the baby on her chest a bit and looked around, “Let me get Alem and tell him real quick. I’ll hand little Jackson here over to him.”

The baby cried when Emily handed him over to Alem who looked harried as he helped around the nursery. Alem tried his best to soothe baby Jackson and some of the other helpers came over to take over the group of three and four year olds he’d been entertaining before.

Emily and Luna walked outside and saw Fumiko standing there with a sullen ten year old Minato standing next to her.

“Minato? Fumiko? How are you?” Emily asked.

“Good. Minato’s lessons are going well,” Fumiko said, “Minato’s going to go and do a shift at the nursery. His friends were going swimming in the creek, so he’s rather upset to be missing it. But he told me that he would come now, so he has to go.”

Emily reached out and ruffled Minato’s short black hair and the boy grunted and shied away from her hand.

“Oh, it isn’t all bad, Minato,” Emily said, “If it makes you feel better, I’ll be setting up that rope swing next week so you can swing alllll the way out over the water before falling in. It’ll be much more fun to go with your friends there then. They’ll forget all about today after that.”

Minato looked up hopefully, “You will, Gramma? Were you going to tell anyone? That’s so cool!”

“I just told you, didn’t I?” Emily said in a half whisper, “But first you’ve got to help out here. Your mother Fumiko’s right, you promised you would do this. You’ve got to keep your promises as best you can.”

“Okay, Gramma,” Minato said, still not happy but also not looking as upset as he had before.

“Now go,” Fumiko said and gave Minato a small push in the small of his back towards the open door of the nursery, “Go ask Alem how you can help. He’s still in charge for this shift. Luna and I will be talking with Gramma for a while.”

“Okay, mom. Mom. Bye,” Minato said and gave a little wave to Luna too before going inside.

“Thanks, Emily,” Luna said, “Were you really going to set up a rope swing over the water without telling anyone?”

Emily shrugged, “I thought it’d be fun for the kids,” she said, “Make it a big mystery who had set it up for them. Ah, but I suppose that’s ruined now that I’ve told Minato…”

Emily reached up and rubbed her head awkwardly.

“You spoil him too much,” Fumiko said lightly.

“Maybe I do,” Emily admitted, “Not you though. Putting him to work early!”

“Pah. He didn’t have to come, he volunteered to go. He’s just upset that something better came up after he’d already promised to do this.”

The three of them walked off and over to Luna and Fumiko’s home. They sat inside and sat on the couches inside, Fumiko and Luna on one side and Emily on the other.

“So, what made you call me off of work? Alem will be furious that I’m leaving so much work for him.”

Luna snorted, “C’mon, mom. You had to practically shove leadership into his unwilling hands. If you even hinted you wanted to take control he’d shove it right back so he could just be a full time assistant again.”

“Well, he was the only one that was there constantly,” Emily said, “Everyone else took shifts, it made sense that he’d be the one in charge. Not me, I like the role I have now.”

Luna snorted, “Yeah, I’m sure Alem would have said the same.”

There was a short silence, “He seems to be doing well though,” Luna said, “I’m glad. Everyone who goes there is very loving with the children. Even Minato once he gets over his little mood today, I’m sure.”

“Uh huh. What’s wrong, Luna? You look stressed.”

Luna sighed, “John and Anna are just being a nuisance again. Think they’re so much better than everyone else because Anna gave birth naturally rather than having her baby come from the incubation machine. I was just wondering if you could talk with them? The other children nearby are listening, and I think it could cause problems. That they’ll feel worse because they’re from the machine rather than born from a person.”

“Of course, of course,” Emily said frowning, “I did talk to them about it right after Anna gave birth. I didn’t know they kept at it since then. I never heard anything like that from them.”

“They know you don’t approve, so they only say it when you’re not around,” Luna said.

“I’ll talk to them and see what I can do. But that can’t be all. You could have told me that tonight after I left the nursery for the night. What’s got you so worked up?”

“There’s… It’s John and Anna, but not just them. They want to leave.”

“Leave?” Emily said in confusion, “Why?”

“It’s… they don’t like me. We’ve always clashed even when Anna was little. Especially when we were roommates. You know that. But part of it is they just want their own space. They think the village is too crowded now that we have over two hundred people here, even if most are still children.”

“Well, how many?” Emily asked with a frown, “How many want to go of the original fifty? We still need labor for the fields and fishing in the river and ocean. To keep things running. But if they want to go then we shouldn’t keep them here against their will.”

“About thirty of them. And their children, so another ten or so there.”

“Thirty…” Emily said in shock, “So many… I see why you’re stressed. Can you bring them together? Why don’t we just talk it out?”

“Mom, they can’t just leave!” Luna said, standing to her feet looking upset, “We built this together, all of us! Why- I don’t understand why they don’t think I’m good enough! Am I that bad of a leader?”

“Shh, Shh, no Luna of course not,” Emily said as Luna sat back down and Fumiko started massaging Luna’s tense shoulders.

“It’s like when we left the others and founded this place,” Emily said, “It’s not that you’re bad. They just… want to go their own way. No matter what’s going on, I know they respect you. I’m sure they never meant for you to feel like that’s what they meant.”

“See, honey?” Fumiko said, “What have I been saying?”

“But… but if they leave,” Luna said, “Then they’ll be gone. We might never see them again. You won’t be there to help protect them, mom. What if they need help and- one of them dies before we can go to help?”

“Me?” Emily said, “This place has grown so much, it doesn’t need me protecting it anymore. Standing outside with an axe and scaring off the packs of those wolf-like things from attacking the dormitories like it was in those first days…”

“But what if someone dies after they leave? It would be my fault for letting them go.”

Emily waved around the house, “Isn’t this village great? Aren’t you happy now, more than ever with Fumiko and Minato? Leadership? I worried too, you know. Doubted myself about stepping back and letting you mostly run things when we first moved here. But if I’d stepped in and told everyone what to do, we wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t have done nearly everything that we’ve done over the years. We’ll do what we can for them, but if they want to go then that’s their choice. Maybe they can build a place as happy as this somewhere else for themselves. If we had stayed at the complex and not moved, I doubt any of us would be nearly as happy as we all are now.”

Luna sniffled and wiped her eye with the back of her hand.

“Sorry, something in my eye,” she mumbled, “I just hate to see them go…”

There was some silence as they all sat in silence.

“I’ll call them for a meeting tomorrow night,” Luna finally said decisively, “Would you be there, mom?”

“Okay. I’ll come. And maybe after I convince you two to have some more grandchildren. I want more of them to spoil!”

“Mooom,” Luna groaned, “Enough already, Minato’s a handful enough.”

“You could adopt one of the younger ones from the nursery. I’m telling you, Minato might like having a little brother or sister.”

“Maybe,” Fumiko said thoughtfully. Luna’s head whipped around so fast that her hair swirled around her like a cloud from the sharp motion.

“Maybe?! Wha- I mean- Er, yes. Maybe. We’ll think about it, mom.”

Clearly Fumiko’s statement was news to Luna.

— — —

“So Luna’s told me the basics,” Emily said to the group, “You all want to start your own village?”

Anna stood up and hesitated as everyone’s eyes turned to her.

“Yes, mom, that’s what we want to do,” she said formally before sitting down. Several of the children in the first group had taken to calling her mom in the beginning when they were young and the habit had lasted even to today. Emily didn’t mind too much if they called her mom or just Emily.

Emily had talked with John and Anna about their bragging about their natural born baby and scolded them both for a bit. John had been mostly unaffected, but Anna had shrunken inward and looked hurt by Emily’s disappointment in her. It seems that she hadn’t meant to be malicious about it, but just felt like since she’d done the work of carrying the pregnancy herself that she deserved to brag a little when she could. Emily could understand that, even if Anna had gotten carried away with it.

“And why is that? We have plenty of food here, room to expand. Why split off?”

“We just want to start somewhere new, mom,” Anna said as she stood again as the spokeswoman for the group apparently, “We want… we want to start something ourselves. Like you, Luna, and the older ones did back then.”

Emily stared at Anna for a moment. She’d only been six when they moved here. Emily hadn’t thought about it that way before.

“You all feel that way?” Emily confirmed and the rest who wanted to go nodded their heads in agreement. The ones who wanted to stay were sitting slightly apart from the rest, but they were here for the big meeting too.

“So, there’s one big problem with all of you leaving at once,” Emily said, causing everyone to tense and look nervous, “Labor. We need people to tend the fields, work at the nursery, keep all the kids out of trouble… If all of you leave then we won’t have enough people here to keep things running.”

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There was silence as no one said anything.

“So, let’s think of what we can do to fix that,” Emily continued, “I think Luna had a few ideas. Let’s talk it out and see how we can make it work.”

Everyone relaxed and Luna stood up and took over. She started presenting the plans that she’d discussed with Emily before to make sure that both of the villages would have enough people to run things.

The meeting ran on as the debate over what to do went on and on. But the mood was much more constructive than Emily had expected it to be considering how hurt Luna had been by the idea of the rest of them leaving before Emily talked with her.

They kept talking, but tensions started to rise as no one was happy with the available options. Most required most of them to stay in the village for a few more years until the next round of children was of a working age and could make up for the loss of so many of the adults.

There were debates on the timeline and how many people delayed for how long. But Minato was the oldest at only ten. It would be at least six, maybe even seven years before the children born after him would be able to replace the labor of an adult in a real way. And until that point most of the people would have to stay here in the village to keep things running.

They weren’t opposed to staying for longer in principle, but six or seven years was a long time to wait. The argument escalated until Fumiko and John were almost shouting at each other as they argued as the rest watched on.

“Stop! Stop! Both of you!” Emily shouted, and the argument subsided and everyone looked at her.

“There is one last option,” Emily said a little quieter, “I didn’t want to bring it up until I had to. But we could… Ask the others for help. Peter, Clara, Sanje… All of them. They’re tireless and could provide labor for the fields until the kids are old enough to do it themselves.”

“Would they even want to?” Fumiko said harshly, “Not like they care about us anyway. How do we know they won’t leave if it grows too boring for them?”

Everyone shifted awkwardly, but no one spoke up to contradict her.

“Fumiko…” Emily warned, and the woman looked away and to the ground, some of her old anger welling up and showing itself in Fumiko’s tense stance and lips pressed thinly together.

“I know a lot of you have anger towards them,” Emily said, speaking up, “But they never meant to hurt you like that. It was just the ten of us, we didn’t have a whole community to take care of the little ones like we do now. It was hard for them.”

Fumiko crossed her arms across her chest, “Hard… If they really cared then they would have joined you in coming to live with us. Instead they sent us away and probably forgot our names without even a second thought as soon as we were out of the door. They didn’t even try to pretend like they wanted to come.”

Emily waved her hand as she saw that Fumiko was just getting more upset the more they talked about it as the others watched on.

“I don’t want to argue. Whatever your feelings towards them, I think they’ll help if we ask and it’s only for a few years and not permanent. That’ll let all of you go and start your own village soon, and keep our home here just as healthy and well fed. It really is the best of both worlds.”

There was some muttering in the crowd and the debate turned to the question. The arguments were much more heated as they discussed the option. But eventually, despite reluctance from some people including Fumiko and Luna, they decided to go ahead over their objections.

So the decision was made and Emily promised to handle asking the other nine Immortals for their help. She did wonder what they could be up to for all of this time. There’d been nothing but the occasional radio message from Peter for all of these years to check in on them.

— — —

“Wooow, you’ve really built this place up Emily,” Clara said as they walked through the village, “Feels like only yesterday that we were here last.”

“It’s been at least thirteen years now, actually.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t realize. We’re still all still on ship time, you know. One minute’s a year, one year’s a minute.”

Ship time, referring to the colony ship they’d been cooped up in the trip from Earth to here. There hadn’t been an exact count, the timekeeper had broken half way through and it had been an unknown time before Emily had fixed it again, but it was at least two hundred years' journey. It was true, time had seemed to pass in a blur and then at a crawl seemingly randomly as the dull years stretched into decades and then over a century on the ship. At least a century.

At least.

“Well, a lot’s changed here,” Emily said neutrally, “I’m glad you all came to help.”

“Of course! Happy to help. And get me some action finally after so long. Did you see some of those hunky guys? Yum. Or women for you, they all looked great and fit out here working out all day and getting toned. I’m sure they’re lots of fun.”

Emily stopped walking and stared at Clara, a wave of disgust washing over her.

“The fuck did you just say?”

“What?” Clara said and looked at Emily in confusion at the sudden hostility, “They’re in their twenties, it’s fine. We’re technically in our twenties too. They can make their own decisions. I barely even knew them years ago. I’m just saying.”

“Own decisions? Barely knew them? Clara, I swear if you so much as touch any of them…”

“God! Alright, fine. Dammit, I was looking forward to this… I’m so freaking pent up…”

“Clara, you better be making a bad joke or I’ll be testing just how fast our healing is if I find you so much as flirting with any of them.”

“Rawr, momma bear on the prowl,” Clara said with a weak chuckle, “Shit, great way to start us back off, huh?”

“You’re the one who brought up sleeping with my kids like a damn pervert,” Emily pointed out.

“Your kids? I mean hardly… It’s not…”

Clara trailed off as she saw Emily’s steady look.

“Wait, you really think that?”

“Of course, what else would they be? I raised them out here, didn't I? Stayed with them throughout all these years when they needed it.”

“Well, that’s… huh. I figured with Luna, but the rest too… Well, shit. Sorry. I guess I was being a pervert. I wasn’t really thinking of them as the same people as those kids running around underfoot back then. Or that you saw them that way. Sorry again.”

“Yeah, well… I’m serious. Don’t even think about it.”

“Mmmmh. So mature and responsible,” Clara said, “I understand. You’re right, it is gross. I just wasn’t thinking again.”

“Mmmh,” Emily replied wordlessly as they kept walking through the village. The rest of their conversation was a little strained, but things calmed down as Emily started filling Clara in on all the things that had happened in the village since it had been founded.

— — —

It had been three years since the majority of the adults and their families had moved out to establish their new village. Emily went with them to help them establish themselves. She set them up with their own antimatter generator. And while they didn’t get an atomic printer, they got one that was far less precise. A three dimensional printer that could print metals and use raw materials as in input. It wasn’t nearly as precise as the atomic printers, but it was plenty enough to manufacture farm tools and whatever non-electrical component that the new village could ever need. It could even do some simple circuits sometimes even if it struggled to do so without making mistakes in their production. Even if it was still an absolute power hog and needed a dedicated antimatter generator to keep it running,

Emily shuttled between the two villages with a cargo electric plane that she’d built. Much to her relief, the two villages weren’t as disconnected as she thought everyone had been imagining in the beginnings. There were five or ten people who swapped around to one or the other as they rode along with Emily’s flights between them every few months.

But after three years, the new village was well established and their crops were growing well. They all had shelter and had settled in properly so they didn’t need Emily’s help anymore.

Before she left, Emily built them a copy of her incubation chambers and associated equipment and taught a group of the adults how to properly use it, running off of the power from their own antimatter generator.

They should be able to increase their population as much as they’d like without relying on the natural way as long as they had the machine. And the genetic variation algorithm that Emily had created should make sure that everyone was genetically distinct enough that inbreeding shouldn’t ever become an issue even with their small population.

Emily landed the electric plane back on the runway on the outskirts of her original village for the last time. From now on some of the other adults would be running the flights between the two villages to trade supplies and let people move to one or the other in the future.

Some of the people who had moved away had become homesick and moved back, while others who had stayed in the village had realized that they wanted to leave themselves. So despite thirty of the original batch of adults leaving for the new village, nine of them ended up returning over time as people settled in and started deciding which village they would want to stay in permanently.

Emily walked and looked off to the right and saw Peter pushing a plow to prepare for the planting season. When he spotted her he stopped and came over.

“Emily! You’re back. Permanently this time,” Peter said, “The other village is all settled in?”

“Yep,” she said, “Much smaller than this one of course, but everything’s all set up. Their fields are set up and can feed everyone who’s there. I don’t like being away from Luna and Minato for so long, even if it is nice being with the children in the other village too ....”

“There’s been talk of a yearly meeting,” Peter said, “So everyone sees their friends in the other village regularly. Luna and Fumiko have been planning it for the last few months. The idea is taking multiple trips with the cargo plane to shuttle everyone over for a few day long festival before returning. Right now they’re still arguing about hosting it here every year or if they should alternate locations.”

“Interesting… I like the sound of that. I’m glad Luna’s thought of something. You’ve been more involved with the village a bit recently?”

“Oh yes, it’s rather interesting watching Luna running this place. Not sure I appreciated it through these years just how much she does. Nothing like running CODA of course, but she’s done well with no formal training at all.”

“Well, I’ll tell her you said that, Peter,” Emily said politely, “How goes the labor?”

“Oh you know, it goes,” Peter said, “It’s only a few years, we’re happy to help out.”

Emily went to leave before stopping herself and turning back around.

“Peter, why did none of you ever come before? You seem to be enjoying yourself now. Why did you hole yourselves up in the complex with just the nine of you?”

“I am enjoying meeting everyone,” Peter said after recovering from his surprise at the sudden question, “And it has been nice. I’ve already told you that the rumors about my life extension treatments were fake. That I was an Immortal far before the bombs dropped on Earth, right?”

“Right,” Emily said, “You were the first Immortal among all of us.”

“I lived over a hundred years on Earth. I had to watch many of my friends die of old age. If we become attached to any of these people then we’ll have to watch them die too. None of us have aged even a day since the Shadow gave us our powers. We only have each other for a chance for meaningful relationships. The others all understood that after they recovered from their euphoria after that you managed to resurrect humanity like this.

“The only reason I didn’t protest you leaving us more than I did was because it was clear that you were unhappy with how the rest of the group was treating you, rightly so. They are… surprisingly stubborn in their dislike or disrespect for you despite my efforts to convince them otherwise. So, I’m glad that you’ve come out here to have a vacation and break away from them. When you come back we’ll be able to work through our differences and heal the break in our group from a better place.”

Emily stared at Peter in shock as he finished and stared at her steadily.

“That’s… So you never really cared about them? Any of the children? You think this is just some sort of vacation for me?”

Peter raised his hands defensively, “Not getting invested doesn’t mean I don’t care about them. I still care very much about the health and growth of the village as a whole of course. Just not for the individual people in it as much. And perhaps vacation is the wrong word… Yes, it is the wrong word. I just meant that at some point you’d come back. Whenever you have the desire to, not that I or anyone else would ever force you into anything. The rest of the group is actually rather harmonious and happy together, and I think it is such a shame that you’re out here by yourself.”

Emily settled down a bit at Peter’s explanation, “I’m never alone out here. My children here are just people. I’ve felt better in these last few years than I ever have before, even back on Earth. I love them and they love me.”

“I see. This is a rather wonderful place,” Peter said and some of the seriousness of the conversation faded away, “But that’s why we’re staying distant. You’ll understand what I mean in a few decades, hopefully longer if everything goes well here. I’ve realized recently that I don’t think I ever explained it to you properly when all of our emotions were running so high when you first left. I should have made our reasoning clear to you years ago.”

Emily met Peter’s eyes and then nodded, “Thanks for telling me now.”

“Not at all… Not at all. I… will continue with my work now. Glad to have you back, Emily.”

“Bye, Peter.”

Peter went back to the field to continue his work and Emily walked on towards the cluster of buildings of the village in the distance. She frowned and kept mulling over Peter’s words as she went. Luna looked older than her now. Emily had kept her body at its appearance at twenty five despite how much time had passed. But Luna now was in her mid thirties. If a stranger was to look at them, then they’d guess that Emily would be the younger sister of the two these days with how similar they were genetically and in appearance.

Time came for them all except for Emily and the other Immortals apparently.

Emily walked through the village with a slight frown on her face and distractedly greeting the people coming over to say hello to her.

Finally Emily reached her destination and looked up.

“Gramma!” Minato said as he looked up from his datapad that he was taking his education lessons on as he sat on the front porch of Luna and Fumiko’s house, “You’re back!”

“And permanently this time,” Emily said as her frown turned into a smile.

Minato ran forward, leaving the datapad behind and the two of them hugged for a few seconds before she released him.

“Hey, Gramma. Can you tell me about the time you fought that big beast to save mom Luna again?”

“Sure,” Emily said, “But first… You have homework to do, don’t you?”

“But Graaaaammmmma! It’s so boring!”

Emily reached out and booped Minato on the tip of his nose with her finger.

“Work first, then play. Sit with me, I’ll help you. Then I’ll tell you the story again.”

Minato grumbled, but went back and picked up his datapad and returned to Emily. The two of them walked a hundred feet away and sat down at the roots of a looming tree. Minato scrolled at the screen and started complaining how hard his homework problems were as he jabbed his finger angrily at the screen.

Emily watched him for a bit and wrapped her arm over his shoulders and he unconsciously leaned against her even as he kept going and held the datapad resting where their legs lay in front of them side by side, him resting the device mostly against her thigh.

“Gramma? Gramma? Were you even listening? You said you would help me…”

“Sorry, Minato,” Emily said as she broke from her trance and scanned the math problem in front of her, “It does sound rather hard doesn’t it? Let’s try from the beginning. We want to make an equation with the variables from all of these words so we can solve it. So let’s try to do that together…”

Emily and Minato sat there under the tree and she helped him with the simple algebra problems.

“Gramma, can’t you just tell the story now?” Minato whined, “We did most of it, didn’t we?”

“Only three more problems, Minato,” Emily said, “Just a little longer.”

“Blegh.”

When they were just about to finish up the last problem, Emily spotted Fumiko walking towards them in a greenish mottled sleeveless dress that went down to her knees, dyed from one of the local plants they’d discovered over the years. Holding her hand was Luna and Fumiko’s new five year old daughter Aurora that they’d adopted from the nursery when she was two years old, right after the villages had first split apart.

“Helping Minato with his homework again, Emily?” Fumiko said with a smile, “It’s fun when you have Gramma to help you, isn’t it Minato?”

“It’s not too bad,” Minato mumbled before perking up, “But Gramma promised to tell me the story again when we’re done! We’ve only got one more of my problems to go through. Do you want to hear it too, mom? Aurora?”

“Sure. I’ll go get Luna. We can listen to it together again, I’m sure your mom will have something of her own to say about it.”

— — —

“And so then I leapt into the air!” Emily said dramatically as Minato looked up from her side at her face, riveted by her story. Aurora hadn’t been interested and she had wandered off to look closely at a few flowers growing from the ground a dozen feet from the rest of them. That girl had always been an odd one even when she was little. Not that any of them were normal really.

“Your mother Luna screamed at the top of her lungs in fear as the beast was about to jump onto her with its jaws wide open,” Emily said, refocusing on her story and Minato, “But I grabbed it around the middle in mid-air and slammed it to the ground before it could reach her. Smash! Peter Rose scooped up your mother in his arms and ran back to the plane where it was safe at full speed. But I had to deal with the evil beast that had decided to attack us. The two of us wrestled for a bit, fighting each other and rolling around on the ground. The beast was so very strong, but I had my healing powers on my side to keep me going and fighting without ever having to stop. And so eventually I slithered up its body. Sssssllliddding up towards its head.”

Emily took her hand and tapped up Minato’s belly and up to his shoulder like she was playing a piano and he giggled.

“And I pounced myself!” Emily jabbed in slightly with her fingers like a claw into Minato’s collarbone and Minato jumped a little despite knowing her movements by heart after her acting out the story for him so many times.

“ ‘Bam bam bam!’ I smacked it’s head, ‘Bad beast! You leave my beautiful daughter alone!’ I shouted,” Emily said while lightly poking Minato on the shoulder again with each ‘Bam’. Emily shot a little smirk at Luna sitting nearby with Fumiko. Luna rolled her eyes at Emily’s words, but kept smiling at the two of them anyway.

“The beast let out a pitiful little yoooooowwwwlllll, and then fell to the ground defeated. Fleh,” Emily flopped limply onto Minato who giggled again and pushed her back up to a sitting position with his hands as she half flopped onto his head.

“With one final blow, I knocked the evil beast out cold,” Emily said once Minato had pushed her back up to her sitting position against the tree, “And I rushed back to where Peter had run with Luna. We rushed back into the plane and took off into the sky, everyone safe and sound in the end and the evil beast defeated in the woods behind us. And he never came back and bothered us again.”

“So cool, Gramma!” Minato said as Emily finished, “I can’t believe that actually happened! You fought off the beast with your bare hands to defend mom Luna! Pow pow bam!”

Minato looked up at Emily in awe and she felt her heart about to explode by the pure cuteness radiating off of him right now.

“Ah, Minato,” Emily said and ruffled his hair a bit with her hand…

“Gramma, why are you crying? Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Minato asked in concern.

“Nothing, just something in my eye,” Emily said as she wiped her eyes with the back of her free hand that wasn’t wrapped around Minato’s shoulders, “I’m just glad that you’re all here with me. It’ll be wonderful being back here full time again. Let me tell you another story. I’m sure there’s a few that I remember that I haven’t told you yet…”