“I tried to tell you,” Loan whispered in Hiral’s direction, a look of apology crossing his face.

And the man had tried. Multiple times. Not that Hiral was really thinking about that now, though, his mind stuck on the woman in front of him.

“Mom,” Hiral said flatly. It wasn’t voiced as a question, but he sure as hell intended it as one. What in the – apparently – nine hells was she doing there?

“Hiral,” his mother said. “It’s… good… to see you.” The words that left her mouth sounded forced. Awkward. Her eyes went to Elezad and her daughters, the latter two still wrapped in a hug with Hiral.

“Didn’t think I’d ever hear you say that,” Hiral said before he could censor his sarcasm. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought it was just explained?” his mother said, looking between Loan and Ilrolik. “We’ll be joining your raid party.”

“And you’re part of their group?” Hiral asked. “You? An Artist? When did you become B-Rank?”

“Hiral,” his father said, stepping between him and his mother. “I was hoping to have this conversation with you before… before you found out this way.”

“You knew?” Hiral asked, though he oddly didn’t feel angry at his father. Really, he’d only had a bare minute to talk to the man before his mother had showed up. “Are you also…?” He didn’t even need to finish asking the question, his own senses reaching out and looking at his father.

The man was B-Rank, just like his mother. Low-B-Rank, sure, and with an energy that felt thin – that was the best way to describe it. Was that surprising? When Hiral considered it, no, it wasn’t a shock at all. Both his parents were two of the most talented and sought-after Artists on all of Fallen Reach. Why wouldn’t they be B-Rank?

As for the thin aura he felt? That had to be the difference between reaching B-Rank through combat-gained solar energy versus through other means.

“Turns out I am,” Elezad said with a shrug. “And, when we found out all of you,” he pointed at Hiral, Nat, and Milly, “would be coming down here, we decided one of us needed to do the same thing. One of us had to run dungeons and experience what you are. How else would we be able to support you?”

“It surprised us too,” Nat said, finally pulling her head from Hiral’s shoulder and looking up at him.

“Why isn’t it you?” Hiral asked his father.

“Your father,” his mother started.

“Didn’t ask you,” Hiral snapped, his eyes not leaving his father.

Elezad didn’t even look back at his wife. “The council,” the man said simply. “It made more sense for me to keep my eyes on them, and for Sera to join Ilrolik’s party.”

Sera. It was odd for him to hear somebody say his mother’s name. The people close to him had learned early about the divide between him and his mother, so her name was rarely mentioned. Even his father rarely talked about her around Hiral.

“Is this going to be a problem?” Ilrolik asked, eyebrows furrowed as she looked between the family members. Apparently, she was not one of those people aware of the divide.

“Depends,” Hiral said. “Can Sera pull her weight?”

Ilrolik nodded slowly. “She’s an excellent buffer and debuffer,” the Shaper said. “Group wide, too. Not just individual abilities. Very handy when we’re fighting groups.”

“What about against Bosses?” Hiral pressed.

“I can…” Sera started.

“Again,” Hiral interrupted. “Didn’t ask you.”

“Is that any way to talk to your mother?” Ilrolik asked.

“Since she chose not to be my mother for the last ten rotations, then, yes, I’d say it’s exactly the way I’m going to talk to her,” Hiral said, and he felt the arms of his sisters squeeze tighter around his chest.

“Hiral, this isn’t a conversation to have in public,” Sera said, stepping in as if she was going to join the family circle beside Elezad. She didn’t get more than a single step before two shapes in black coats put themselves between her and the others.

“I really don’t think you should,” Right said.

“And, we’re not going to let you, anyway,” Left added.

Sera stumbled back at the sudden arrival of the doubles. Or, maybe it was at the fact they looked almost identical to her son. Sure, she’s seen them from a distance in the Amphitheatre of the Sun, but that was very different than seeing them from that close.

Half a dozen emotions flashed across her face in quick succession, and she opened and closed her mouth just as quickly, like the right words wouldn’t come.

Before anything came out, Hiral spoke, though it was to Ilrolik.

“As for your question, it won’t be a problem,” Hiral said. “Like we explained before – I’ll talk to you, and you’ll talk to your party.”

“I don’t know if that’s the best way to do this,” Ilrolik said.

“Then maybe you’re not the right party to join our raid group,” Nivian said, and Seena crossed her arms beside the tank, nodding.

“You’d turn us down? Over this?” Ilrolik said. “This raid zone sounds important, and we’re one of the strongest groups.”

“Not really our choice,” Seena said, looking purposefully over at Hiral. “We’re just giving our opinion.”

“It’s fine,” Hiral said, though his eyes lingered on Sera staring at his doubles. They’d made it very clear she wasn’t getting past them to join the others. For her part, though, her eyes hadn’t left their faces, like she was studying them. “Ilrolik is right in that it would be a waste not to use their strength when we need it.

“And, if I’m being honest,” Hiral continued. “I’d love the chance to fight beside Loan.” He looked up at his big trainer as he said that, and the man’s nervousness at Sera’s appearance seemed to lessen a little. “Wouldn’t mind working with Drahn again either.”

He turned his full attention to Ilrolik. “You and your party can join our raid group. I suspect we’ll be going in first – as soon as the zone opens – so make sure you’re at the interface an hour before it opens. We’ll need to review what your group’s strengths and general tactics are, to make sure we can work together smoothly.”

“I still think…” Ilrolik started, until Loan’s big hand fell on her shoulder. When she looked over at him, the man just shook his head. “Fine. I understand. We’ll meet up as a group an hour before the zone opens. Would you object to me – alone – coming to talk to you and the other party leaders?” She nodded at Nivian and Seena when she said that.

“That’d be fine,” Hiral said. “But, can it wait a few hours? I’ve got some things I need to do, then I’d like to talk to my sisters.”

Ilrolik nodded without saying anything else, so Hiral looked down at the girls.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I’ll come find you in an hour or so, okay?” Hiral said.

“Are we in trouble?” Milly asked quietly.

“Of course not,” Hiral said, rubbing the top of her head. “I just want to hear about how you’ve been doing. I bet you’ve got some great dungeon stories. Did Nat make more monsters dance?”

“Nothing as fun as the worms,” Nat said.

“See? Stories,” Hiral said. “I… just need some time first.” He said the last bit quietly, so only they could hear him.

“I’m sorry, Hiral,” Nat said just as quietly. “We tried to tell her it was a bad idea.”

“Dad explained to us too,” Milly explained. “Told us what he told you.”

“It’s not fair,” Nat said, turning a scowl at their mother.

Sera, surprisingly, caught the look, and quickly turned her head away, shame clear on her face.

“No, it’s not,” Hiral agreed. “But, nothing’s really changed, right? I’ve still got you two and dad. That’s more than enough for me.”

“What about Seena?” Nat asked, tilting her head back to look at the Grower. “Are you two… you know?”

“After you tell me about your dungeons, then it’ll be my turn,” Hiral promised.

“Okay,” Milly said. “One hour?”

“About that,” Hiral said. With that, he gave his sisters one more squeeze, then gently pushed them toward their father. “I’ll see you soon. Dad, we should talk too. About the council.”

Elezad looked around to make sure nobody was really listening outside their group. “We should. I want you to be careful out there.”

Hiral looked over at Nivian, Seena, and the rest of his party. Then to Right and Left still running interference against his mother. “I’ve got plenty of people looking out for me.”

At that, his father beamed a smile. “You really do,” Elezad said, pride at how far Hiral had come glowing off him like the sun.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Hiral said to Ilrolik.

“Hiral!” Sera said.

“No,” Hiral said to her, simply. “We spent the last ten rotations not talking because that’s what you wanted. Now, just because you want to make time for me, you expect that to just happen? Again, no.” With that he turned and looked at Seena. “Mind coming with me? I could use…”

“Of course,” Seena said, stepping up to him and wrapping her fingers in his.

“Thank you,” he said quickly, then activated his pseudo-aspect. A second later, the scarves of energy flowed out through his Ring of Amin Thett, and gently wrapped around Seena. “I’ll see you in an hour,” he said to his sisters.

Then he and Seena gently lifted off the ground, floating into the air, before shooting off back towards the entrance of the valley.

More than a few surprised gasps followed behind them as they passed overhead, but Hiral didn’t slow or look back. Another moment, and they were almost back outside, though Hiral took them up onto a ledge overlooking the savanna. Still shielded from the rain by the same overlapping cliffs, they settled on to the stone, then sat down to watch the gentle storm raging in the distance.

“Sorry about rushing out like that,” Hiral said. “And… for all the family drama.”

“You don’t have to be sorry about either of those things,” Seena said. “But, don’t think for even a second that counts as the flight you promised me. You seem to have gotten a pretty good handle on it, though.”

“Huh?” Hiral asked, then realized he had just flown them both out there without even thinking about it. He’d been so distracted by his mother’s appearance, he’d literally done it all on a whim. And it had been so easy. “Yeah, I guess so. And, of course I’ll take you any time you like.”

“You okay?” she asked more seriously, fingers still wrapped in his. “I didn’t expect to see your mom there. Definitely not like that.”

“Me neither,” Hiral admitted. “Part of Ilrolik’s party? Literally the last person I would’ve ever guessed to fill the sixth spot.”

“Ilrolik didn’t know about your relationship?”

“Guess not,” Hiral said. “Not really surprising. Not like she goes around looking into who gets along with who. Especially not for somebody who failed ten Shaper tests.”

“But her own party members? You’d think she’d look into your mom’s background a bit.”

“Ilrolik probably knows everything she thought she needed to know about my mother,” Hiral said. “Like I said before, my parents are kind of famous when it comes to Artists. If mom is even half as good in a fight as she is when she’s inking a Shaper, I’d guess that puts her in the top ten percent of people on the island. Shapers included. And you saw she had two Mediums? I bet that’s not easy.”

“The thought of her being strong kind of pisses me off,” Seena said.

“Me too,” Hiral admitted.

“Are you going to talk to her?” Seena asked.

Hiral clenched his teeth at the question. It wasn’t the first time Seena had encouraged him to speak with his mother, and he’d brushed it off. This time, though, with everything so raw, he just had to ask. “Why do you want me to forgive her so much?”

“Huh?” Seena asked. “Who said anything about forgiving her?”

“Then… why do you want me to talk to her?”

“Oh,” Seena said, like something had clicked. “You thought I wanted you to…? No, Hiral. Like you said, just no. I don’t think she deserves your forgiveness – I know I couldn’t if I was in your shoes – but that’s not why I think you should confront her. Her treating you the way she did? Bitch. She’s lucky I didn’t fry her on the spot.”

Small flames danced in Seena’s other hand as she spoke, the fire swirling around and in on itself over and over.

“She would’ve been nothing but ash,” Li’l Ur added, nodding from her shoulder.

“But,” Seena went on. “I didn’t do that for the same reason I’m saying you should talk to her.”

“And that reason is…?” Hiral prompted.

“So you have a chance to say your piece,” Seena said. “You’ve lived with wondering why she treated you like that for ten years. Half your life. When you needed her, where was she? And, from what you’ve said, you spent the whole time blaming yourself for being treated like that. You thought you were broken, or you deserved it.”

“I… did feel like that. I don’t anymore.”

“And you shouldn’t have then, either,” Seena said, squeezing his hand. She loosened her grip a second later, as she got her anger under control. “She had to have seen how it hurt you. Your father’s explanation, sure, maybe it was true, but that doesn’t make it right.

“You deserve the chance to vent. To rail against her and blame her for how much you suffered because of her choices. I want you to have that, so you don’t keep bottling it up. That’s all.”

“You want me to yell at my mother?”

“Or throw her off the island,” Seena said. “Since I know you would jump off to catch her – you’re not a bad guy, after all – it could be kind of funny. Maybe just send Drake to grab her.”

“Would probably give her a heart attack,” Hiral said.

“And she’d deserve it,” Seena said.

Hiral blew out a breath, some of his anger going with it. Not the fury at his mother, but the unreasonable irritation he’d felt towards Seena for pushing him to talk to Sera. She was just looking out for him.

And was she wrong? He had been bottling up his feelings for most of his life. He had been blaming himself for how his mother had treated him. He had thought he was broken and useless. And he’d felt guilty for putting his family – his mother – through that shame. At least for a while. That guilt had turned to outright rage over the years, but – if he was being honest with himself – part of that had been at himself for not being able to pass the Shaper test.

He’d only recently gotten past it too, and the thought of facing his mother had been… daunting. Why, though?

“Why am I afraid to talk to her?” Hiral asked.

“Do you think it’s really fear?” Seena asked. “I don’t.”

“What do you think it is?”

“You know you’re going to get angry. You know you’re going to yell,” Seena said. “Maybe throw her off an island.”

“So?”

“So, I don’t think you’re the kind of person who wants to be angry,” Seena said. “Look, Hiral, I only met you recently – not including the year we spent in the dungeon – and I didn’t know you most of the time you spent being the Everfail. Sorry for using that old name…”

“It’s fine, I’m past it.”

“I know you are, which is why I’m okay saying it. Anyway, from what you’ve told me, you could’ve spent those ten years hating everything. Hating everybody. You could’ve been a ball of anger that lashed out at anybody around you, and you would’ve had a good reason for it.

“You didn’t. Instead of being angry all the time, you channeled that into not giving up. You kept working and trying. You took care of your sisters. Worked with Arty, and trained with Loan. Solved puzzles with Gauto. It doesn’t sound like you were Mr. Popular or anything, but you had friends.

“Then, when you had the chance, you went back and saved all the people who’d made your life so damn difficult. Why? Because that’s who you are. Not somebody who wants to be angry.”

“You’re the one telling me to go be angry at my mother,” Hiral pointed out.

“Sometimes what we want and what we need aren’t the same thing,” Seena said. “Just my opinion, but I think you need the chance to tell Sera what you’ve been feeling. If you don’t, it’ll keep circling around your head over and over.

“At the end of the day, you shouldn’t talk to her for her. You should talk to her for you.”

Hiral nodded as he thought about what the woman beside him was saying. She had a point. Talking to his mother might help him get past that part of his life. It didn’t mean he would forgive her, but at least it could bring him some peace.

“Thanks, Seena,” Hiral said. “That makes a lot of sense when you put it that way.”

“It’s why I’m the party leader,” Seena said as she smiled at him. That smile quirked, though, as if she’d just thought of something. “I… do have a question though.”

“Oh? What?”

“Sera. Seena. Our names are kind of similar. You’re not using me as some kind of replacement mother-figure, are you? This isn’t a creepy mother-complex, right?”

Hiral’s eyes widened – he hadn’t even considered the similarity in their names – then he saw that same quirk at the corner of Seena’s mouth. She didn’t really think that at all! She was just trying to get a rise out of him, and it was working!

“Maybe you’re the one I should throw off an island,” he said.

“I know you’d come catch me.”

“Every time,” Hiral said, wrapping his other hand around where their fingers intertwined. After that, they didn’t need to say anything else, and she leaned into his shoulder, and the two of them sat watching the rain fall.