‘Ummm… so…. I had a boyfriend named Chris, back home, before my Discovery, and, and we dated for almost three years, and I thought we were going to get married, and my whole family liked him.’ Lillith pauses, then continues all in a rush. ‘And then I found out he had been, he, he cheated on me and his, his excuse was that I was, was too shy… That I wouldn’t try things out, wouldn’t do things with him, so he blamed me for driving him away… I told him goodbye after I found out, but it was really hard, but I just wanted you to know.’ Tears fill Lillith’s eyes as her thoughts come to me. I gently place my arm around her and hold her in a hug as she composes herself.

‘I’m so sorry, it wasn’t your fault that he cheated, just so you know, and, just so you know, I, I do like you…..’ I flush as the thought sends. She sniffs, once before laying her head on my shoulder gently.

‘I thought I was over him, I haven't thought about him for a while, but… I never felt ready to start dating again after that.’ She thinks. It sounds quiet, even in my head. ‘I, I mean, I think I like you too, just…’

I nod, ‘And I’m not going to push you to consider a relationship, take it at your own pace.’ I squeeze her shoulders gently. She nods against my shoulder, and takes a few minutes, then straightens and stands up, before helping me up.

She then says, “Good night Trigger, can we talk more later?” I nod, and she smiles, then walks to bed, and I head to mine.

DAY 4:

Later that night, I wake up as my 2 hours are finished, I sit up in bed and think about our conversation, about her statement of maybe liking me, but uncertain of wanting to date yet. I get up and walk over to check on her again, figuring on going for a run afterwards.

‘Hi…’ I hear in my head, and I see her eyes are open and watching me

‘Hello? Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?’ I ask.

She shrugs, then lightly pats the bed next to her. I sit where she pats, and look down at her.

‘I’m a light sleeper, especially with my hearing being adjusted. Umm…’ She pauses, and I wait. ‘Does the smell of blood… do anything to you?’ She asks after a long moment.

‘It makes me hungry, but not as a wild animal….’ She nods slowly.

‘Can I ask for, umm, some strips of cloth?’

‘Sure, how many strips?’ She holds her hands out to indicate a size, hesitating.

‘Maybe five or so?’ She says.

‘Okay.’ I produce 10 strips of the size she asked for. ‘Hope that's enough for what you need it for.’ I stand up, ‘I’m going for a run, see you in the morning.’ She nods, then settles back down, watching me somewhat sleepily. I touch my hand gently to her cheek, then slip out the door. I accelerate myself, then take off, running out to where my circles stopped yesterday, and continue widening them, exploring the area around the cabin, just in case. Several hours later, the sun rises and the air starts to slowly warm as I approach the cabin, having found food just a bit ago. I sit down on the rock, and the medallion responds to my call, crawling to my right hand, then forming into Justice. Standing back up, I practice with it, the sword commenting on my position and moves, helping me fight better. After the sun is up over the trees, I hear the door to the cabin open, and I turn around to see Lillith walking down to me, carrying a plate of food. It looks like she has a pile of dry cereal. I recall Justice and smile at her.

“Good morning,” I say.

“Good morning Trigger.” She responds, settling on the bench and watching me.

“Looks like I forgot to make bowls, let me fix that.” Three bowls glow into existence on the bench. She smiles and thanks me.

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“I don’t always like milk, but a bowl is easier to hold cereal in.” She says, transferring her food to one of the newly made bowls. “Although, now that I’m not allergic, I might like the taste…” She muses.

I sit down next to her, “Did you sleep well last night?” She nods, picking up some cereal and popping it into her mouth. She offers the bowl to me. It seems to be Marshmallow Mateys and Frosted Mini-Wheats mixed together. I raise an eyebrow and pick out the frosted ones.

“Is Twila up?” I ask. Lillith nods.

“But she’s not coming outside it seems. She told me she wanted to stay inside for a while. I sorta think she just wants to get us to spend time together?”

“That's alright by me, not that I mind her around.” Lillith smiles and ducks her head, picking out a marshmallow and eating it.

“What do you want to do today?” She asks after a bit.

“Well, helping you train your elemental powers sounds fun, I have them too, so we can throw elements at each other and block them, if you like.” Lillith nods, and I might be mistaken, but she seems eager to spend time with me. I smile and sit there for another few minutes while she finishes her cereal. When she stands to bring the dishes into the cabin, I follow her inside. Twila is sitting at the table and smiles and greets us, then goes back to her pink-colored waffles. I blink in confusion at them, then step outside and wait for Lillith.

“Does she have a thing for strawberries?” I ask Lillith as we walk over to the lake. Lillith nods.

“It would seem so. Remember, I have only known her for a few days, but… She seems to like them, yes.”

“Okay.” I nod, when we reach the lake edge, we fly to the center and hover a few yards apart.

“Ready? Lillith asks me. I nod, and we start pushing wind and water at each other. Lillith blocks one of my waves with a blast of wind, and I counter with another splash of water from behind her. She flaps her wings to rise above my wave, but it soaks her legs. She sighs and her clothes flicker back to the dark blue bikini from yesterday. I also shift to my swim trunks and continue throwing water at her. Behind her, I work at accumulating a ball of water, sealed by wind, and keep air moving around her head to stop her from sensing it before I can drop it on her.

She keeps trying to splash me between us, but I manage to dodge most of them, I still get soaked though. The ball soon reaches basketball size and I work it over her head, keeping her distracted during the process. I then dump it on her, drenching her again. She makes a little gasping noise, then laughs. She sends a giant wave at me, and I plunge under the wave. When I emerge, she is nowhere in sight. I sink back under the water and start scanning, first under the water, then above the lake. She seems to be in the air, but I still can’t see her. So, I pick up as much water as I can carry, and rise to her. A cloud of steam surrounds me as the temperature soars and a lot of my water evaporates. I drop the rest of my water, and prepare a gust of wind. I’ve lost her magic trail again, but it only takes me a moment to find her. She’s managed to get behind me again. I whirl around and shove a ton of wind in her direction. I assume she flies backwards as her magic seems to fade, but I still can't see her. I drop to the ground, hiding in the trees, watching her trace. Her trace approaches where I hit the trees, she’s flying pretty fast, faster than I can without enhancing my speed in this sun. I watch, crouched down as she flies overhead twice, three times, she seems to be circling. Is she looking for me? I make a finger gun with my right hand, and lead the shot. I take two magic shots, then quickly move to a different cover. Once there, I freeze in place, and watch her trace continue to circle, then I notice my feet are buried in rapidly hardening soil. I smile, then rip my feet out of it, the soil has hardened significantly, so I keep moving and shooting bolts of magic at her trace. I see her outline flash in the sky as one hits.

“So she's invisible, nice.” I mutter as I lift off the ground, tired of sinking in the rocks. The next bolt of magic I send is matched and fizzles to nothing before it reaches her. I hover, moving along to keep the earth from reaching me and wait for her next move. I feel a strong wind knock me backwards a second later. As I recover, trying not to touch the ground, my body seems to grow heavier, and I falter under the surprise of the extra weight. I hit the ground and rock slides up my legs, trying to trap me. I struggle against the rocks, choosing to not enhance myself, yet still break free. I’ve lost her trace in the process, and I hover and spin in a circle, trying to find her again. I snap my head up at the end of the spin and catch her trace again. I strain to move out from under her, but she stays over me, being able to fly faster than I can. All of a sudden my weight lightens, fast enough it’s dizzying. I shoot into the air from the released tension, and fight to get under control again. Lillith’s trace comes from underneath me when I finally catch it again, on the ground. I pause. I catch two traces, about ten feet apart. Twila must have joined us. But which one is Lillith? One of the traces bolts away from me, but I don't move much besides dropping to 6 inches off the ground, waiting for a ground fight. The trace that ran, circles around me, approaching from behind. I turn around and see Lillith standing there. I morph Justice out and stand facing her, listening to Twila’s trace behind me. Lillith approaches, her hands held out in my direction. Twila approaches me slowly, seemingly trying to be quiet. I hover in a circle, trying to get both traces in sight. Lillith flickers and disappears, but her trace slowly approaches me as well. I can’t see Twila. I continue to circle Lillith until I get both traces in front of me. It startles me when I feel a third trace appear out of nowhere to my right and just behind me. I drop to the ground and demorph Justice, “I can’t fight ‘Clone’” I state, “I surrender.”

Two of the traces disappear at that and Lillith flickers into appearance. “They really can’t do anything.” She says. “I was just trying to add more magic traces so you couldn’t track me.”

“It worked, that's for sure, I could feel you, but I can’t tell which is which, aside from the lack of flying.”