True to his word, Ironwood had the paperwork ready when we landed. Myself and Cinder had needed to go to his office to meet with someone from the Atlesian equivalent of Child Services. But whilst the Official joined us started off as overly detached, and perhaps even bored, he eventually made a good point. It was rare that a single parent fostered a child, and despite the good word of Ironwood, he was still obligated to investigate as he would in any other case. Something I couldn't, and wouldn't fault him for.

The whole meeting took half an hour, and by the end of it, I was officially recognised as the legal guardian of one Cinder Fall. What this meant had had to be explained to Cinder a number of times, not surprising given her age, but she had summed up her feelings with a simple statement: "I want to stay with Casper!"

And that, as they say, was that.

___________________________________________________________________________

Cinder held my hand tightly for the entire journey from the Military Headquarters to my apartment block. Unlike with the Airship, she didn't look around at her surroundings, nor at the other people in the streets. She kept her eyes on the ground, and kept squeezing my hand for reassurance. Thankfully, because it was late in the morning, most of the streets were empty. Something for which I was immensely grateful. I really did not want to have to explain why the child I was with was acting so nervous.

Soon enough, Epsilon Heights came into view. A nondescript tower of white-grey brick and glass, near identical to all the others that surrounded it. It was pretty much the same as an apartment block down in Mantle, except for the fact that it was here in Atlas. Which meant that the exterior was clean, and was cleaned every month or so rather than every year or so and, should they be needed, an engineer-slash-electrician would come the following day rather than a few days later.

It wasn't fantastic, but it could be a lot worse. I'd spent my first few months in Remnant sleeping in very cheap hotels, and the less said about that period of my life the better.

Cinder outright refused to get into the elevator to my floor, and was even vocal in her refusal. So, whilst it took what felt like half an hour, we took the stairs up to the ninth floor. The first day was not the time to drop Cinder in the deep end in order to face her fears.

Soon enough, we reached my front door. I did have to explain how an apartment worked to Cinder, but honestly, it wasn't the first question she'd asked me that day, and I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.

"Here we go, Cinder. Apartment 9D." I told her. "This is us."

I unlocked the front door and let out an almost relieved breath as I stepped inside as the scent and atmosphere and feel of home washed over me. Almost nothing I owned here was overly expensive, I couldn't afford to live in luxury on my salary, but it was comfortable, it was warm, and it was mine.

Leading Cinder inside, I set my bag down, and closed the door behind us. Resisting the urge to simply slump onto the couch, I knelt down to be near enough face-to-face with the child that was still holding my hand tightly.

"Alright Cinder." I began as the child's attention turned once more to me. "I'm going to unpack, and then we'll go out for breakfast. We'll see if we can't get in a bit of shopping for you too."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Clothes, Food, Things for a child's bedroom, Toiletries…..Books...definitely books...I mentally listed off what'd I'd...we'd need to get. I figured I didn't have a hope in hell of getting everything we'll need today, but we should at least get the majority of it sorted out. We did have a whole week before I was due back at work after all.

"It does involve us going out at meeting people." I continued, and Cinder's golden eyes widened in alarm. "But I promise that I will be with you every step of the way."

"..P-Promise?"

"..I promise, Cinder." And I meant it, of course.

She stared at me for a few moments, before nodding with a quiet "O-Okay, Mister Casper."

I smiled. "Come on. This is your new home, remember? I'll give you a tour."

___________________________________________________________________________

The tour predictably didn't take all that long. Not surprising given my apartment is basically four rooms, but also because I wanted to head back out fairly quickly.

The kitchen-lounge, being the room that the front door opens into, was the first one I showed Cinder around.

The kitchen area itself was small, and having the washing machine and tumble dryer was still decidedly strange to me. But it did what I needed it to, which was the main thing. It was smaller than I was used to, but not so small that I couldn't pull off making more...complex meals when the mood hit me.

The lounge area had a television, a couch and an armchair with a footrest. Given I had lived alone up until this point, I really didn't need further than that. At the far end of the room, I'd long since set up an office area. Sure, it was pretty much a desk, swivel chair and computer, but for all intents and purposes it was my 'office'. Cinder, being as young as she was, didn't care much for the technology, but the chair….She actually laughed when I spun her around on it. True, they were little more than amused giggles, but laughter is laughter!

I opted to go to the spare room next. Given I intended to turn it into her bedroom, I was eager to show it to Cinder before the other two rooms. I opened the door, and led her inside. Boxes were piled upon boxes, the curtains remained closed, and the walls were a frankly hideous shade of grey. Privately, I couldn't truly recall what was in even half of the boxes inside. Having this room was thankfully convenient to store them away. It would certainly be...interesting, to see what they contained.

"This will be your room." I told her. "I'll need to clear out the boxes but-"

"..D-Do I get to pick which box to sleep in?" Cinder interrupted me, with an almost heartbreakingly happy look on her face. "Mama let me do that when we were travelling."

"No Cinder…"I sighed, and tried my absolute best not to imagine an incredibly inventive way to kill Luna Fall...and failed utterly. "You'll have a bed, of course. Along with other furniture. We can paint the walls too, if you'd like. Anything's better than this..muddy grey."

"...Red?" Cinder asked hopefully.

I raised an eyebrow, and fought back a grin. "...If that's what you'd like, Cinder."

"Yay!"