Instantly Adam knew they were in trouble.

Trolls were stupid, ugly, smelly, and many other awful things, but they were also hunters in their own right. If creatures with the miasmic stench and rocklike intelligence of trolls were not only still alive, but increasing in population, they had to be eating something. Since they didn’t seem to see the trees as overgrown broccoli, that meant that they managed to hunt, kill, and eat animals despite their stench giving them away. The implications were that they succeeded somehow, and that could be problematic.

With the roars of the trolls still echoing around them, the three crouched low in the vain hope of hiding. “What now?” Adam asked, hoping that Martin had a solution. The look the older man shot him invalidated that hope immediately.

Martin pulled his pack forwards and started rooting through it. Looking up briefly he said, “I was worried something like this might happen.” He looked briefly in the direction the trolls were in. “Well, not this, exactly, but something along the same lines.” A short sword and some bracers were pulled out of his bag, and he started strapping them on as he spoke. “We need to split up. I’ll lead them away, you get back to the way station. You remember the way?”

Adam nodded, and Martin started to pull away. He stopped and directed a meaningful look between the two boys, then stared at Adam with an eyebrow raised. Waiting.

Sighing, Adam nodded. He’d been avoiding looking at the other boy, trying to keep System Assistance from kicking in, but now he knew his time had run out. Still he paused, nervous. He didn’t quite know what Instant Family would do; to Jay, to himself, or to the bond between them. The skill blatantly stated that he would get to choose how long Jay would remain family, but he had a hunch that System Assistance would complicate things.

Instant Family: Everyone has a family, even orphans. As an orphan you get to choose your family. Instant Family lets you choose the family you always wanted. More importantly, it also lets you choose who isn’t family anymore. You’ll always know who your family are.

Designate people as Family or not. Identify Family or Foe.

Even more concerning for him was the link between Instant Family, and Mother Knows Best. He really didn’t want to know everything about Jay, but Martin was right. The skills would make Jay family, and let him know what he needed to about what he was doing, and where he was. In the situation they were in, it would be invaluable.

He sighed, closed his eyes, and activated Instant Family.

At first there was nothing, and then a warmth spread through him, radiating outward from his chest. It wasn’t love, exactly, but it also wasn’t not love. A sense of camaraderie, shared experience, and belonging. It was a reminder of those boys he led away from the orphanage, a few in particular.

Pygmy Bob was the driving reason behind their escape, but he wasn’t exactly the most well liked of the boys at the orphanage. He was a nice kid, but most of his focus was on adults instead of the other children. Combined with his clumsiness, naivete, and general ignorance, most of the other kids could only take him in small doses. Certainly, he was a bit of a mascot for the other boys, but there was less of a personal connection than with the others. And yet, they all uprooted their safe, sheltered, protected lives to give those things to one of their own that did not have them.

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Braxton was a lazy ass, and a grumpy one at that. He’d bad mouth nearly everyone, complain about having to do anything, and was generally a pain in the ass to be around. He was still one of the gang.

Dwarven Bob was a stand up guy. Solid, dependable, and huge compared to the rest of the kids. He was also so good that it made the rest of them irritated at the thought of being compared to him.

TomTom always wanted to fight, but never fought fair. He was also the first to call foul on anything anyone else did.

Leeroy carried around a girl’s doll, and bloodied the nose of anyone who commented on it. Big Boy Billy, who was almost as small as Peebee. Ekart, Stump, Virgil, Peck, Gregory, Mason, and Tomboy. None of them were perfect; they all had problems, himself included. None of them would refuse to stand up for each other, but it didn’t stop them from fighting. None of them were anyone’s first choice, but all of them were family.

And now, Jay was too.

He slotted into the small group of people that Adam would do anything for like he was made for it. As if he had belonged his entire life. Maybe he had, in a way. He would certainly fit in with the others. Now that he was family, Adam would give his all to protect him.

That thought, even more than the others, solidified it for Adam, and his skills. Mother Knows Best rose up like a tidal wave. He could feel the absurd amount of knowledge the skill was building up, ready to crash down upon his poor brain. He was terrified that the skills incoming force would wash away all that he was. And then, in an instant, it all turned to dust. Only one piece of knowledge truly flowed into his mind. Jay was family.

With that certainty firmly entrenched in his mind, he could feel a rustle in his mind from two of his skills. He didn’t know why things like it kept happening, but much like the old woman representing Mother Knows Best, he knew he had two more residents in his mind now. Both had already been there, but without full manifestations.

Mama Bear had been more of a ghost than a full existence until that moment, but now it was as full and lifelike as the old witch. Unsurprisingly, Mama Bear was a bear. In particular it was a hibernating sow, guarding the front of a cave. Under normal circumstances he would have expected her to be deep inside, but that was where the second skill was starting to manifest.

The dust from the tidal wave of knowledge that Mother Knows Best had created after he used Instant Family was vanishing from where it had been, but reappearing in the back of the cave. One tiny spec at a time, it was building something. It should have been obvious, but it still surprised Adam when it was filled in enough to register. Instant Family and Mother Knows Best had combined to create a tiny version of Jay, and then put it in the safest place it could ever be. In Mama Bear’s home, with the bear herself standing guard.

With all of his skills aligned with his heart for once, Adam was able to look at Jay without the System Assistance getting in the way. There was definitely a tugging on the reins of his control, but it was resistable. He saw the fear in the boy’s eyes, and realized he should have comforted him sooner. Martin had done his best, but he was no Mother. It opened his eyes to exactly what his next skill needed to be, but they didn’t have the time for him to grab it. He was still taking too long to get into his mindscape to be able to make changes while angry trolls were hunting them in a forest.

Reaching over, he ruffled the boy’s hair, earning a glare in turn. He chuckled quietly, then looked to Martin, offering his other hand for the man to shake. “Be careful. I’ll take care of Jay, but I expect you in time for dinner.”

Seeing he’d finally accepted his responsibilities, Martin nodded, smiling. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be there.” They both snorted with laughter at that. With a last look, Martin vanished into the underbrush.