"So let me make sure I understand what you just told me." Kemm said, wondering if somehow he was hallucinating all of this.

"Someone murdered a human's mate so the human stole their sun and doomed the entire solar system to an icy death. Your order found the warp pocket containing that sun, declared it a holy site, stole a planet to keep the sun company, and now you carry it around with you wherever you go."

Matriarch Oz shrugged. "It would be more accurate to say that it goes wherever I go, but yes."

"How?" Kemm asked, feeling a wave of exhaustion overwhelming him. He wasn't sure if it was from traveling through the portal or just a natural consequence of dealing with humans but he was barely able to stay on his feet. He found himself imagining laying down in the soft grass and sleeping, maybe forever.

"I'm not very good with technology but I'm sure one of my grandchildren could probably explain it better than I can." She replied. "It's something to do with quantum. Do you know much about quantum?"

This was too much for the young overseer. "I… I…" Words failed him. Kemm was not equipped to deal with this. A few hours prior he had been just another youngling looking out at the stars with wonder. Now he was arguing with monsters that stole whole suns and planets.

"You know." Mused Matriarch Oz. "You're one of the first non-humans that I've told about this place, who didn't make a fuss about how many beings St. Rachel killed. You also don't seem particularly broken up about your uncle."

"Nothing is created or destroyed, the soul is eternal. From the grass we came, to it we will return." Kemm muttered, his brain on autopilot.

"That sounds nice." The Matriarch said as she took his hand gently in her's and guided him towards a wooden bench. Gratefully he took a seat.

She reached into her basket and handed over a long thin orange vegetable with a tassel of green leaves on the end. "Have a carrot, you'll feel better."

He took a cautious bite. It was sweet with a pleasant crunch and surprisingly it did make him feel better. He sat in silence, looking over the neat rows of the garden and collecting his thoughts.

He decided that honesty was probably the best policy, she seemed to respond well to that.

"I don't know what to do." Kemm finally admitted. "I thought once I was overseer I would know all of the answers, like it would just all fall into place. Now I'm realizing…" He struggled to find the words. "I really don't know anything."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The Matriarch sat back on the bench and retrieved a rectangular purple wooden box from her basket. It was about the length of her hand and had what looked like a magnet stuck to the side. She twisted the top revealing an elegantly engraved titanium tube and a compartment filled with shredded dry plant matter.

"Nobody knows everything. Not even me. A lot of stuff is going to trip you up the first time." As she spoke she removed the metal cap from the tube and packed it with the dried herb before replacing the cap and reaching for her lighter.

"Luckily as you get older and more experienced you make fewer mistakes and for better or worse you tend to run into the same problems over and over again. Eventually you figure them out."

She played the thin blue flame of the torch over the tip of the metal cylinder, taking care to heat it evenly until there was a metallic click signalling the device was up to temperature. She took a hit and exhaled a wispy cloud of vapor.

"There's no magic that gets bestowed on you when you become a parent or a leader, you're still the same person you were before. The idea is that you grow into the role." The device let out a click as it cooled. "What I'm trying to say is, be kind to yourself. If it was a stranger trying their best you would understand if they didn't always know what to do. So at least afford yourself the same kindness you would offer them."

Kemm looked at this strange wise creature with her basket of vegetables, sitting in her garden, consuming what could only be some kind of narcotic… and he couldn't imagine her any other way. But once she must have been a youngling too, with doubts and fears of her own.

"You want some?" Asked the Matriarch, gesturing with the device. "You could probably use something to unwind after the day you've had."

"What is it?" Kemm asked. He had taken drugs before, but usually only at religious ceremonies or as a part of his seeking. Limissian culture wasn't big on recreational substances, or recreation itself for that matter.

"Just an herb from our home world." She assured him. "It's mildly euphoric and fairly relaxing. Besides, you're on a temple world. It's allowed."

"Sure, why not?" Kemm said, happy for something, anything, that would help him stop his head from spinning. "How do I do this?"

She headed the device with her torch until it clicked and handed it over to him. "Just breathe in the vapor slowly, taste it, feel it, then exhale."

He followed her directions, surprisingly it wasn't as harsh as he was expecting and left a sweet herbal taste on his teeth and tongue. He exhaled slowly, not feeling the drug take hold yet but knowing it was coming.

The Matriarch took her device back and set it cap down on the wooden box. The magnet kept the device upright and seemed to be acting as a kind of heatsink.

He looked out over the garden, noticing how the breeze made the leaves dance and sway. With each breath he could feel his body relaxing and his mind becoming more quiet. He closed his eyes and let himself melt into the bench.

"You'll be just fine kiddo." Matriarch Oz promised, gently stroking his fur. "One day years from now you'll look back on all of this and wonder why you were worried in the first place."

Kemm yawned, feeling sleep begin to overwhelm him. "Whatever you say, Abuela." He muttered as he drifted off. "Whatever you say."