Emelri felt the joy and ease drain from her body as recognition spread through her along with a growing dread. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she was crushed in a hug.

Her rice pocket fell to the ground.

The embrace was hot and sticky, overwhelming and suffocating, and not just because of the rigid, tight grip. Each overly accentuated touch the woman added over her back felt like a hot iron searing her skin.

Daldi had always touched Emelri too much.

“Oh Em,” the obese woman with long white hair, brown eyes, and light brown skin cried out dramatically. “I was so worried about you baby!” She put both hands on either side of Emelri’s face before laying a large, wet and all together intrusive kiss on her cheek.

She wanted to crawl out of her own skin to escape the wretched contact. “H-how did you get here, Mother?”

She pulled back to look into her face, and Emelri had to wrench the hands off her to prevent further stroking. “We were separated by that attack and all that fire... I was sure you were on the road somewhere, bleeding out or burning up or both.” She gave an exaggerated sniff. “Oh, the very thought of that.” Thick, ugly tears ran down her face. “Oh, I just can’t help but cry.”

She stood there helplessly, awkwardly watching this woman sob hysterically. This woman that’d been plaguing her subconscious for years. “Well, glad you’re alive but—”

“I’m just so overjoyed, so blessed to see my only daughter in one piece and safe.”

“Yes, well—”

“I won’t even mention what’s going on with your clothes. Tsk, Em, what’s with your hair?” Those loathsome hands were on her again, finding the white, pinned up locks on Emelri’s head. “Don’t tell me you’ve been associating with Venwi Folk again…”

She tried not to shrink back at the touch. “It’s stylish where I live. I like it.”

“Hm,” the hum was layered with distaste, “okay. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised, since you were always with that black-haired, Venwi tainted girl. Your current company is no better.” Hateful eyes flicked over to Pepin who just blinked back in response. “Guess you never quite grew out of those habits. Do I even need to bring up what happened to your body,” her calculating gaze trailed over the defined, beefy arms, “or the weapon.”

“The what?”

Her eyes shifted from the battle axe back to Emelri. “On your back,” she over-enunciated in a whisper.

Inhaling through her nose, Emelri opened her mouth to bite back when Adrian had a hand on her shoulder. The gentle warmth contrasted so much from her mother’s touch, it gave her whiplash.

“We haven’t been properly introduced,” he cut in, ensuring some distance between the mother and daughter. “My name’s Adrian.”

“Mm, yes, hello,” she said, pursing her lips. “Oh Honey,” she turned back to her daughter, concern clear on her face, “don’t tell me this man knocked you up and now you’re stuck to his side?” She reached for her arm, but Emelri pulled back.

“Sorry, what?”

Daldi only shrugged. “I know how that is.” She shook her head slightly as she said it. “You may think he’s good to you now, but he’ll leave you. There’s no doubt about that.”

Several expressions and attempts at words possessed Emelri’s face.

“I’m Emi’s adoptive father,” Adrian corrected calmly, staying firmly by her side.

“That’s right.” Emelri finally found her words again. “He took me in after I got away from the Yundet takeover.”

“Took you in? At his age?” Daldi scrunched up her face. “Now come on, you can’t tell me that’s not a little suspicious.”

“Believe what you want,” she said through gritted teeth, “but we’re busy finding a loved one, and there isn’t much time, so if you’re done—”

“A loved one?” She looked hurt. “Em, we haven’t seen each other in five years. If any loved one is entitled to your attention, it’s me.” She wiped at her eye as another tear fell out. “It’s time for you to come home now. You know, I met this boy that you’ll just love who’s a full alchemist unlike your bastard birth father, and I’ve worked so hard to win over his mother. He has the prismatic eye gene as well. Isn’t that just lovely? Maybe we can salvage the bloodline.”

“Great, but we’re leaving to find Pepin’s sibling.”

Daldi glanced behind her at the young man. “That non-Alchemist? You can’t be serious. Honey, you can’t go when you’ve just been reunited with your mother. Let’s go back to the house, just you and I, and we’ll catch up on everything. I’ll buy you whatever you want, and we can sit and drink tea like we used to while we talk. That’s what you want.”

“Actually, that’s not what I want, and I already have a home. It’s with Jacques and Adrian—”

“Jacques and Adrian?” she repeated incredulously, then laughed. “I don’t even know who the hell these people are. I’m your mother. I take priority to this… this Jacques and Adrian. You really think this young thing knows a damn thing about parenting?” She pointed to the blond and scoffed. “How insulting.”

“Well, that’s just how it is. I’m going with them. They’re my family.”

She screwed up her face, then sighed. “Emelri, you’re eighteen now, aren’t you? You’re still so young and naive, and older people will try to manipulate a sweet young thing like you. I was stupid and careless when I was your age too. I get it. Listen, I know we’ve had some points of stress in the past, but that’s the past.” She made a face like she’d just said something profound as she put a firm hand on Emelri’s upper arm. “It’s time to move past all this and grow up.”

“Points of stress?” She shook her head, smacking the hand away from her. “Points of stress?” She’d be repeating that phrase for days if she didn’t have some sense to reel it back in. “We weren’t separated by the fire five years ago. I ran away from home before any of that even started, because I hated living with you. Mothers aren’t supposed to do and say the things you did and said to me.”

There was shock on her face along with silence. “Oh, Honey...” she said softly. “I had no idea you felt that way. You should have told me. I... I’m just so so sorry that ever happened.”

Pain flushed over her features. “No. No, I don’t want your fake apologies or your fake tears. I lived with you for thirteen years. I know how this goes. After the countless times you asked for my forgiveness after hurting me, not once did you ever actually change the way you treated me. Not once. Your words are so empty, it’s almost laughable how fake they are.”

“Woah, none of this is fake, Em. You’re crossing a line saying that. I’ve never been anything but sincere and honest with you.”

“Oh sure, like when you’d tell me how beautiful I am no matter what, then in the same sentence belittle every little fucking thing about my appearance until I hated myself just as much as you hate yourself.”

She gasped. “How can you talk to me like that? Was I a perfect mother? Of course not. Was I a bit too harsh here and there? Sure, but I was never as bad as my own parents were to me. Like it or not, no parent is perfect, and certainly not your precious Jacques and Adrian. Besides, you were just a kid. Kids remember things all wrong all the time. Don’t you think you’re blowing things out of proportion? You don’t know what you’re talking about. You loved living with me.”

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Emelri chest heaved, finding it hard to form words when a loud disturbance interrupted the conversation.

There were cries of terror and a clash of swords, and Emelri turned to see a group of Spillers tearing down stands, setting things aflame, and drawing their weapons on the Alwoskt townspeople.

“Why are there Spillers here?” Adrian cried, drawing his sword.

“A raid,” Emelri said with a frown, taking Broyeur off her back; her mind one track now as she stepped around her mother. “We need to do something.”

Rushing forward, she thrust her weapon out to prevent a Spiller’s sword from coming down on a cowering Alchemist. She used quick movements to maneuver the heavy weapon between her hands, and soon had the blade embedded in the assailant’s stomach.

Ripping it from the torn flesh, she turned to a man with blood-red clothes and hair, and readied her weapon. She barely took a step forward when a flash of light and resulting energy made her hair stand on end. Whipping around, she stared down the blade of a Spiller who, after a second, crumpled at her feet.

On the other side of the corpse was Pepin, eyes glowing green as he gave her a small nod before ejecting a charge of emerald lightning from his hand at something beyond her sight. Turning, she saw that he was protecting Adrian now, downing several Spillers without hesitation. She was quickly brought back to her own surroundings by more oncoming assailants.

Heaving the massive weapon, she brought Broyeur down with a cry, stopping a charging Spiller in their tracks by cleaving halfway through them from shoulder to sternum. Placing her foot on the mangled corpse, she wedged Broyeur free just in time to catch the blade of a longsword with the axe handle.

Her fingers went to her shell necklace, and she disappeared. This new victim stood no chance when she cut them in two from behind.

Pepin once again caught her attention as he now faced off against several Spillers who’d clumped together to face against the magic user.

“They have an offensive user!” she heard one of the villains cry. “End him at on—”

The voice cut off as a charge was sent through the crowd, filling contorting bodies with green electricity. Somehow, Pepin managed to only target the Spillers with this deadly attack, and the villains fell to the ground as spasming dead weight.

After such a devastating blow, the fight was over.

“Emi! Are you alright?” Adrian was by her side in an instant.

“Yes. Did you see what Pep just did?”

He nodded, then motioned his son over, his height giving him an advantage over the crowd. “Pep!”

Horror painted Pepin’s face as he stared around at the carnage of his own doing. A moment passed before he registered his name being called out. The glow left his eyes, and he looked over at his father in a daze.

A small gasp escaped his lips when a downed Spiller grabbed his ankle.

“Y-you...” the Spiller managed weakly, blood oozing from his mouth. “Are you the same man that devastated Yundet? Are you that magic user?” The man grasped at a gaping wound on his chest with his other hand, and Emelri could tell he wasn’t going to live long.

Pepin stared. “You’re... talking about Toulou, aren’t you.” Crouching down, he grabbed him roughly by the front of his shirt and shook him. “Where is my sibling? Tell me!”

The Spiller groaned as copious amounts of blood gushed from his abdomen. “Don’t know... the man... he’s famous. We came to Alwoskt to hopefully find and end him. He’s killed... so many of us...” He exhaled and the light left his eyes.

Emotion crossed over Pepin’s face as well as a flash of green in his eyes. Releasing the still body, he stood, holding himself by the arms.

“Pep!” Emelri was by his side now along with Adrian. “Are you okay?”

Regular green eyes searched her face. “Toulou’s been here,” he whispered. “We can’t lose them.”

“And we won’t,” Adrian assured.

“Where’s Bibi?” Emelri asked, looking around. The other two did the same.

“Damnit,” Adrian cursed under his breath. “He must have run off during the chaos. We should split up and look for him. Quickly.”

The two teens nodded and ran off in separate directions.

Emelri searched behind a large building, making a note to herself to clean Broyeur’s blade later, since it was still stained red and currently dripping over her shoulder.

As she feared, Bibi was nowhere in sight. She decided this area was a dead end and turned when someone caught her by the arm.

“You’re safe! Thank Ziluria!”

She backed up. “Mother.”

“Oh Em, I saw what you did out there,” Daldi said carefully, taking her hand back and creating some distance between them this time. “Saving those people. Wielding that weapon. You were amazing. I was so impressed.”

“Oh.” She blinked in surprise. “You were?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ve never been so proud. If I had known you were so passionate about it, I’d never have banned you from using a weapon back then. That was my fault. And Adrian... you know, he actually seems like a decent enough father-figure, and that Venwi user even impressed me with his magic. Also, I just wanted you to know, I don’t expect you to meet my every expectation. I’m just so proud of you already.”

“You... you are?” Those words were supposed to feel good, to Emelri’s understanding, but something sticky and unpleasant settled in her stomach that she couldn’t quite explain.

“Of course, I am. I always have been. That’s why I’ve decided to do something right for once. I’m going to buy a bigger house so that you can move back in, and we can set things right.”

“Wait, what?”

“Honey, please. I feel so bad for the things I did to you.” She suppressed a small sob as her eyes once again filled with tears. “And you know, I never wanted our relationship to be like it was with the neighbor’s girl who cut off her parents. You remember what happened with their relationship? Oh,” she fanned herself, “the very thought of that.”

“What does that have to do with—”

“I just cherish my only daughter so much. I’m so proud of you, Baby.” She was hugging her again, and that’s when it hit her.

The cold, claiming, borderline obsessive physical affection felt so wrong, so repulsive. The hugs she received from Jacques and Adrian had never felt that way. Not once. Not ever. Even with Jacques’s grumpy disposition, his affection had always been genuine and warm. Loving and comforting. Adrian’s was similar in nature. Calming and giving.

That was just it, wasn’t it? The difference between her adoptive fathers and this woman holding onto her now. She’d never be able to unsee it; never be able to unfeel it.

“Come home where you belong,” Daldi insisted softly. “We’re family, right? You’ll feel much better when you come with me, and you leave that other life behind.”

“Enough.” She pulled from her grasp. “I’ve done. Why would I want to be with someone who wants me to leave my friends and family behind? Who actively uses and hurts me?”

“Huh?” She shook her head. “What? I don’t do that, Em. You’re being manipulated by this ‘family’ of yours into thinking I’m this monster. I was never as bad as you say.”

“Perhaps you think so, but it’s not like you ever fucking cared to find out how what you did affected other people anyway. I don’t owe you a damn thing.”

“Well.” She made a face. “You know, I worked so hard as a single mother raising you without a father. I did the best I could considering my terrible circumstances. I cried every night since he left me. You don’t know how hard it was for me. The long nights, the diapers, tsk, I don’t even want to talk about it, it’s so upsetting.” She put her hands up dramatically.

“Dad left you because you ruin people,” she said gravely, “because you’re selfish and you never truly take responsibility or accountability for anything. Because you somehow can play the victim while simultaneously tearing someone down. You think you had it hard? The number of nights away from Yundet I woke up in a cold sweat praising Ziluria I was not actually back in our old house under your roof where I felt I would rather die than stay there another day... Whether I can express it to you effectively or not, no child should feel the way I did and still do after living in your house. No one deserves the life I lived the first thirteen years of my life. No one and yet here you are, somehow turning it all on me.”

“That’s not true,” she whispered, lip trembling. “Whatever I need to do to fix this, I will. I just want us to be friends again.”

“Stop. Just stop—”

Emelri thanked Ziluria when someone approached them. It was a man dressed in a guard outfit, holding a spear. “Is everything okay here, folks?” he asked, and she felt she could kiss this stranger. “There’s a rest house where you can hide until we’re certain all the Spillers have cleared the area. I will escort you.”

Daldi’s eyes never left her daughter; the neurotic glint in them forcing Emelri to look away as she said softly, “There’s no use. Nothing I say will ever reach you, and you’ll never change, as difficult as that is for me to accept. You need me, but I don’t need you.” She swallowed, then turned to the guard. “Excuse me, would you take my mother to the safehouse? I’ll be fine on my own.” She patted Broyeur’s handle, and his eyes went to the blood-stained weapon in understanding.

“Of course.” He took Daldi by the arm. “Let’s get you somewhere safe, alright?”

The older woman resisted but his grip was unyielding. “Let me go at once! I’m not leaving!”

“I’m sorry, Madame, I must insist. It’s a safety issue for you to be out here any longer.”

Her voice was high-pitched and hysterical now as she thrashed. “What? No, no! My daughter!” She turned back to Emelri, stretching her hand out to her. “My one and only, beautiful daughter. You can’t take me away from her. Please!” Something animalistic and unhinged took over this woman as she was dragged away, and Emelri had to turn away from the sight. “You’re taking me from my baby! My baby! My daughter! She’s no one else’s. She’s mine, do you hear me? Mine. Emelri! EMELRI!”

As Daldi’s wails and delirious ravings rang out, Emelri remained turned from the spectacle, her face scrunched into a painful frown; her eyes pinched shut as hot, distressed tears slid down her face.