Finding the girl had been no issue as her magical signature had led straight to the river, where she was drinking as if her life depended o it. However, she saw them coming long before what Ember assumed to be humans' normal range of perception. A lighter immediately appeared in her left hand, and she lighted it just as suddenly. But the tiny flame was snuffed out just as fast. And snow started to gather into a snowball in her open and waiting right hand.

"Ice Needle," She squeaked, turning the inoffensive snowball into a frightening icicle before shouting: "I don't want to hurt you!"

Her every word was contradicting her behaviors, but Ember knew what she actually meant. She was trying to intimidate them into leaving her alone, and as far as Ember was concerned, it was working. It was not worth it fighting over this. But Merida was a different animal.

"That's a good thing cause we don't want to harm you either." The puppet said, raising her hand above her head in the human sign of surrender.

"I know who you are and what you did for my little brother. You are out for my dad too." The little girl said accusingly.

Ember tilted her head, trying to figure out what the girl was talking about. But she had not that much history that she couldn't figure it out. Her only interaction with other kids had been the dead ones and those she had played with over the past few weeks. And the girl was probably talking about the former. As for why she would want to do the same thing to her dad... Ember supposed her dad was the pyromaniac, and she was comparing him to the summoner they had helped take down.

And Merida had come to a similar conclusion: "Your dad caused a lot of death and injuries, yours included. He needs to be stopped and be held accountable for what he did."

"He didn't mean to. The bad fire made him do it." The girl pleaded back, defending her father even after he did all those things and left her for dead.

"The fact he has no control over his magic made him all the more dangerous for others and himself." The doll retorted mercilessly.

"I can't let you kill my last remaining family!" The girl screamed, lighting her lighter once again and ready to attack.

"And we won't." Merida temporized. "Fighting a pyromancer with this body of mine would be suicide. And I can't let Ember track him down on her own. I don't want her to end up a literal hot dog to some fugitive. Look: it's a regrettable coincidence, but you are the only person who might be able to withstand your father's power and make him see reason. That's your one and only chance to make the other humans see things your way."

"You want me to betray my dad!" The girl lashed out, and the icicle ran straight through Merida's head.

But the doll had no organs. Therefore the puppet was merely pushed back and fell on her butt. And she was healed back to full condition before she even stood back up.

"I went here to offer you shelter away from the other humans so you could decide what you wanna do," Merida lied to the girl's face, "But your old man is a wanted man. He is going to be hunted down relentlessly anyway. And you are the only one willing to defend his case. Your choice. But I don't particularly like being stabbed, so I won't ask twice."

Then, Merida turned around and walked toward Ember, who had been waiting at a 'safe' distance from the other two.

"Wait!" The little girl shouted as Merida was midway to rejoin with Ember, causing the doll to smile smugly as the girl could not see her.

"You want to buy time for another shot?" Merida turned around, facking defiance, "So that you know, I don't have a heart either."

Ember could not help but let out a doggy laugh at her partner's last statement, as it was true in more ways than one.

"You would really take me in? Knowing who my father is?" The little girl asked, insecure.

"What can I say?" The puppet shrug, "Ember has a soft spot for kids."

'Don't use me to sell your fucking lies!' Ember quietly retorted, displeased at her partner's behavior.

You thought it yourself: I don't have a heart, period. Besides, you do have a soft spot for kids. But you are right, and I will make it up to you.

I want that girl on our side at any cost. Just name your price.

It was too late for Ember to argue. She should have thought it through when Merida asked her to track the girl. But it had been too easy to default to her normal behavior and do it. Just as it would be as easy to be friendly with the girl, ignoring Merida's lies and not-so-hidden agenda.

'I will go with your white lie. But you will have to tell her your own reason for wanting her in once we get there. No sugar coating. And let her know that this is MY house and she is welcome ANYWAY.'

You want her to know about you???

Merida exclaimed in utter disbelief.

'She is going to live with us, supergenius.' Ember retorted, rolling her eyes. 'How long do you think it would take her to figure it out?'

★☆★

"Fire turned bad after Mom died." The girl, whose name was Mary, said, opening up as they walked into the woods and back to their home.

It was Merida's first time making that trip on foot, and Ember took a guilty pleasure in seeing her partner struggle to keep up with the little girl's pace.

"So he lost control due to grief? I guess losing his son and wife in such a time frame could easily do that to any man. Did he hurt you?" Merida kept asking neutrally.

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She thought about it before shaking her head, but Merida kept staring without saying a word, and so she finally gave in.

"Dad told me he turns magic into fire, that I turn fire into magic and magic to ice. It was unpleasant, but he never hurt me..."

Marie never finished her sentence since the burned mark on her arms were testimonies that her statement did not hold true anymore. But Merida's question wasn't about today's event as she was trying to learn the girl's story. And through her, her father's story.

Mary had been the elder sister of her family. Before the system, her worst nightmare had been that her parents would divorce like most other kids at her school. When the system appeared and chose her, her parents didn't believe her and started to argue with each other. Later on, her father was chosen by the system too, but not her mother or her younger brother. So he decided to keep it a secret between the two of them, to keep the family afloat.

Then, tragedy struck, and her little brother was killed by that Air Elemental and his summoner. However, they did not know at the time. Everyone was afraid of everything. Her mother stopped going to work, and Mary got homeschooled. Then Merida and Ember returned to town triumphant, and the truth was finally out. And suddenly, her mother turned from sad to angry, often lashing out at Mary until the last system notification, which calmed her down.

Her father stopped going back to work, and they started rationing food. But she and her dad kept practicing in secret in the backyards.

Until her mother died in a fight, and her dad started losing control and leaving at night. But he returned with food every morning and made a pinky promise always to do so.

She knew something was wrong this very morning since he did not come back. And then, the fire told her everything she needed to know right before Ember barged in.

It was a really tragic story, but Ember could tell it was full of holes here and there, from basic omission to missing links and information. She had her own reading of Mary's tale from the smell of the girl's emotion as she answered Merida's questions. The girl felt responsible for her brother and mother's death, which made absolutely no sense. And she had an unwavering sense of loyalty and love for her father, which was closer to Ember's definition of a pack than any human ever got.

And yet, Ember could tell the girl was not exactly stable. Kind of self-destructive in a different yet similar way compared to her peers. Though this time, Ember could fully relate and empathize with her feeling. Losing one's family was the worst, and Ember lost hers twice. And similarly to the girl, she would do anything, even to her own detriment, to never make it thrice.

★☆★

"Home Sweet Home," Merida exclaimed in relief as they crossed the bridge to their isolated meadow, though Ember detected a bit of sarcasm. "I never thought I would be so happy to get back."

"Why are you leaving so far in the woods anyway?" Mary asked out of curiosity, not in the least tired from their little stroll.

"I would gladly ask this question to Ember's late owner," Merida said, "She passed away with your little brother. Unfortunately, one of the many things you and she have in common. By the way, this place is Ember's house, not mine, and though I don't share her sentiment, she wanted me to tell you that you are free to stay with us as long as you wish, no strings attached."

"Your dog talk to you?" Mary exclaimed, her eyes round as saucers.

"That's a common misconception, but Ember is not MY dog. It would actually be the other way around, though she thinks of our relationship as a mutual partnership. And yeah, she is talking to me through our system bond. It's kind of similar to any system notifications, except it's the two of us sharing thoughts."

"Okay," Mary accepted, dubitative, "What is she saying right now?"

Ember?

'Tell her to hurry up so we can share a meal, play Frisbee, and cozy up before the fire. On second thought, maybe not today isn't the best day to light the wood burner.'

And Merida stared at her blankly before she started translating in a deadpanned voice:

"Ember wants you to hurry up so you can share a meal, play Frisbee and have some time to get to know each other. She suggested lighting the wood burner too but think you might have seen enough fire for today."

"Cool," Mary exclaimed before they reached the house entrance, instantly distracting her from her previous thoughts, "Are you seriously crawling under a broken window each time you need to get in and out?" She asked in disbelief.

"No can help. The key to the front door was lost with Ember's late owner. And you are the first human to visit ever since. Besides, opening doors is too much of a bother, so we simply leave them open." Merida explained apologetically.

And so it was Mary's turn to stare at Ember blankly.

"I would only play Frisbee with you if you promise to do something about it." She boldly stated after a while.

'Merida...' Ember quietly stared at the doll, her tail between her legs, giving her puppy eyes.

I got it. I will get to work immediately. Though there are too many pieces to restore it fully, I can make it less of a hazard and more of a feature.

Then the doll told the same to the little girl:

"I will restore the remaining glass and smooth it around the edge. But the hole is too big to repair fully, especially with so many pieces." She pointed out at the grass, where the tiny pieces of glass had already been lost and buried deep inside the soil.

"Thanks for trying," Mary said before finally agreeing to enter their humble abode.

But it turned out the 'door' was not the only thing not to be up to human standard, much to Ember's chagrin.

★☆★

With the cart still undergoing repairs and Merida's unwillingness to do her healing tour on foot, the new trio had adopted a new routine, which consisted of playing, training, and napping at four hours intervals.

Ember was still learning new cantrips to combine with her mind-based ones. But dream-based magic includes random bits of every kind of magic, from physical reinforcement to matter manipulation, with a bit of healing and properties transformation thrown in the middle. But they all shared a theme of being accessible only while Ember was asleep, making some of them completely worthless.

Merida was still trying to expand her beginner-tier life magic toward more offensive options. And so she kept diligently trying to make tools and traps though she had yet to catch anything with them.

And Mary was training around the fire in the evening, actively learning how to draw out energy from the fire without outright killing it, so she could sustain her power for longer and learn more power-hungry spells once she would have gone through her own tier-up from beginner to novice.

However, Mana-based magic, which affect the elements, was nothing like Ember's Akasha-based mind magic or Merida Chi-based life magic and requires a very different kind of understanding. Something Merida had called physics, and that needed an intense level of cramming, reading actual paper book which were absolutely indecipherable to Ember.

So they all ended up alone together, each one working on their own project while always being less than a kilometer apart. And Ember could not relate to the other experiences while the reverse wasn't true, making her feel isolated in her own house. Merida had been able to learn how to read just fine. And though she was not on the nose about it, Mary was even better at making tools than Merida could ever be, which allowed Ember to appreciate the doll rambling about her body's shortcomings.

There were indeed many things a young girl could do that both Ember and Merida couldn't: Starting with fixing the doors so everyone could open and close them with their foot, allowing for a semblance of privacy whenever it was needed. Reorganizing the house so everything needed was within everyone's reach. Hanging some curtains over their new improvised backdoor so the cold would not get in. And overall, turning Ember's den back into a proper habitable human house.

Ember did not know how she felt about that last part, but she could not deny the apparent benefits of everything else: The house was now warm, clean, bright, and cozy — as it should always have been.