“We’re finally going back, then.” Lila blinked twice. “Did you know Ark City actually rebuilt our little house? Rebuilt it exactly as it was, along with the rest of Erudition Street. A lot of the fallen lived that in the past, so it was probably the Beastfolk Congress trying to immortalise them.”

“Can we live in them, then?” Gemini asked, curious.

“Yes. There’s a team of dedicated caretakers, whose sole purpose is to ensure that the homes of the fallen will always be ready should they ever come back,” Lila replied. “T-to be honest, I…”

“Hush.”

The two held each other for a moment. Lila hadn’t let much slip, but Gemini could tell that she had been profoundly affected by the fact that he had never made it out back then.

“Auh.”

The two of them jumped as little Aria, who was currently gazing at Hereward with interest, made a sound and reached out for him. The great god, as usual, was in his radiant shadow form, which was probably why his daughter was trying to reach out for what essentially was a walking lightbulb.

“S-sorry,” Gemini mumbled. “Ahem. Did we do the ‘moving hug’ thing for a second too long?”

“If it was,” Hereward replied, “I didn’t notice. Like I said, as a rule of thumb, time is nothing to beings like me, who have lived for a hundred millennia. Anyway, your child really likes it when someone near her is giving off light. Have you explored that as a means of pacifying her whenever she cries?”

“She’s a brave one,” Lila replied. “Rarely cries, unless she needs help.”

“Huh. Well, forget what I said, then.” Hereward extended a glowing hand to Aria, who immediately reached out to pull it closer. The great god made an amused sound as the baby inspected his hand and tried to figure out why it was so nice and shiny.

Given that they were outside, where the slightly darkened sun was shining, this was no mean feat. Hereward’s literal brilliance was indeed outshining the sun in some ways…and yet somehow easy on the eyes.

This was Orb, after all.

“Maybe I should look into starting an orphanage once this war is over. Or volunteer as a babysitter,” Hereward murmured. “The Sentinel of Space, now the Sentinel of your babies! How’s that for a tagline?’

“It’s great,” Lila replied.

“Glad you think that way. Well, I’m going to note that down…”

“You do know that not all babies are as docile as Aria, right?” Gemini asked. “She seems very clever for her age; as a general rule of thumb, babies need to be watched over all the time. Of course, we still watch over her all the time, but she hasn’t done anything that actually warrants such surveillance.”

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“Auh!”

“See what I mean?” Gemini chuckled. “Tis a pity Quinn is busy having fun running the Wildlands, or else Aria would have been a wee bit livelier.”

“Auh…”

“I do get the feeling that your daughter understands what you’re saying,” Hereward replied. “Hmm. Are you using a lighter form of compressed information transfer in your words? It seems possible.”

“Like Liamar? Well, that doesn’t seem all that impossible. It’s just that stuffing lots of information at once is probably rude,” Gemini mused. “And painful to the general populace, no? What do you think, Lila?”

“Me?” Hmm…” She thought for a moment. “Well, your words do stir up some extra thoughts whenever I heard them. Is that related?”

“Probably,” Hereward replied. “He’s probably generating subliminal thoughts within your mind, to help aid your comprehension.”

“Subliminal?” Gemini asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you’re doing it without If neither of you are noticing it, it’s well within the safety limits of information transfer, but this does account for why Aria seems a lot smarter than other babies. You’re transmitting emotions and thoughts directly to her whenever you speak, which she can interpret without the need to learn those words.”

“That’s interesting,” Gemini noted. “Does that mean that great gods and anyone who knows how to do this are essentially great babysitters?”

“Probably,” said Hereward. “Or great early-childhood educators, whichever you like. We’ll never be out of a job.”

“I don’t think great gods will ever be out of a job, though…”

“You’re just being too pessimistic,” Lila added. “Alright, shall we head off now? Or should we call the others along too? The Demigods of the Wildlands did seem rather interested in checking out Ark City too, after they heard about the food there…”

“Let’s call them over, then,” Gemini decided. “Although I suspect most of them would decline my invitation.”

“Why?”

“Well, those grandmothers and grandfathers are probably busily fawning over their own grandchildren, after I freed them all from my service,” Gemini replied. “At most, Quinn’s going to come and no one else.”

“Oh.” Lila let out a small sigh, before smiling. “Yes. Family’s important, right? They should spend more time with their kids and everything, especially since there isn’t much time left.”

“You don’t sound confident in the chances of us winning,” Gemini noted.

“Call it instinct, I guess,” Lila replied. “But enough about that. Call Quinn over, and then let’s get going. We haven’t seen the others for quite some time, and Eliza’s not someone who would let any random purpose know about this. The others must be worried…and suspicious.”

“Eliza already knows I’m back,” Gemini replied. “No point trying to surprise her.”

“Oh. How boring.” Lila sighed. “I was wondering how Ark City would react if you were to show up without anyone knowing that Gemini, not Asteria, was the Demon Sovereign.”

“…where did this part of you pop out from?”

“It’s been always there, just that it didn’t have an avenue to surface in,” Lila replied, her face alight with a mischievous grin. Incidentally, your return would also mean that Emily would finally have the most illustrious of personages to study. I foresee a future in which you are strapped to a metal table and zapped with all kinds of energy.”

“Would she really do that?” Gemini asked, curious. “I can easily break any restraints she puts on me. Her equipment would break if I had the slightest intention of resistance.”

“True, but would you resist?” Lila asked.

For some reason, Gemini had the feeling that he might just comply with that unreasonable scientist.