“Helen?”

Why is she here now? We haven’t spoken in decades. Has she even changed after all these years? I shudder at the thoughts.

“Oh relax, dad. That was a joke.” The smiling figure reaches out from the shadows of the doorframe, revealing a girl, no, a woman, that I took in over half a century ago. She's grown since then, matured.

“Really? You know what happened the last time we were alone?” My back against the wall of the room, I grip the stone with my hands as she approaches me slowly, her hooves making a characteristic noise that I once cherished hearing around my house.

The happy memory of a smiling girl in my arms recedes after I recollect how we distanced one from another.

“Yes. I was wrong then, dad. I was… confused. It’s better now.” She stands at an arm’s length, and slowly reaches out for me, hugging me around my back, just like she used to do. “I missed you, dad.”

I slowly reach and stroke her hair while she buries her cheek in my shirt. The Link surges, none of the eruptive desires present from the last time. I discern pain, I feel sadness. I peek at the hints of happiness of being home. It's difficult, trying to contain it all.

“You know your horns are poking my face when you do that?” She unclutches my body and smiles briefly, and I look down to see right into her bright red eyes. “There’s the girl I raised. Well, before…”

“Before I tried to get into your pants and you banished me?” She tries to avert her gaze from my face, barely successful. “Yeah, that was my fault. I realize that now. It was so foolish of me.” She starts walking around the room, only rarely moving her head in my direction. “I guess you were right that two Lilin can’t live together like that. You were correct, as usual.” A small sulk shows up on her face, like the times I tried to teach her something during her training.

“So, why are you here of all places? Nobody ever visits the Underlibrary these days. Except for the old folk like me.” I crouch, using a simple water stone to wash out the evidence of my activities from the floor. It sometimes sucks not having the water affinity. I’ve tried burning it off a couple of times, but the smell was… less than desirable. Although, the entire place here could use a bit of cleaning. Maybe for the next Lilin Council meeting, we organize this place.

“I heard about the new royal baby, and I knew you’d come to The Capital soon enough. I realized you usually spent your time here. Being able to sense you from a distance helped.” A small smirk escapes to show on her face. So she came specifically to see me?

“What are you doing in the Underlibrary, dad? You almost never come here.” At her questions, I exit the room, her footsteps following me in tandem. I walk over to the table with the Ritual scrolls and books and hold one in the air for her to see.

“He asked me to do it.”

Her mouth agape and eyes wide open, she stares at the writings spread around us. “But why?”

“You should know why, better than me as well. It’s better than…” I stop mid-sentence trying to not cause more harm with this conversation. Enough of sad tales for one day.

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“Yeah, it’s better than what happened to me. But I turned out fine in the end, right?”

A small chuckle escapes my lips as I start picking things up around me, trying to ascertain what I need to keep and read further. “Well, apart from trying to sleep with your own adoptive father, I’d say you turned out well, unless you did something terrible in the past thirty years or so. But I’d probably hear something about that if it were to happen.

Where have you been anyway? And why are you here now?”

Her face turns sullen again. “I’ve been here and there, travelling across Dralarag, going to Drakkar and Nazjara a few times, been on a few adventures of my own. It’s been fun, and liberating.“

“Did you meet someone? Thought about a family? Without involving me, that is.” She laughs alongside me on that note.

“His name is Sersos. He’s from Nazjara.”

“You’re going to marry a Slither?” Well, I suppose it’s not that far out of reach. It’s not exactly against any laws we have, but they usually had problems with that.

“Don’t call them Slithers, it’s rude.”

“Fine, but that wasn’t rude a century ago, let me tell you that.” Oh Gods, I’m starting to sound like an old person. Is this it?

“Anyway, I came to see you for your blessing. And to see The Capital again.”

“Of course you have my blessings, why wouldn’t you?” I start walking away from the library, various scrolls in hand. Then I realize I may need to do something else. “Would you like to come home for dinner?”

She almost squeals, running along the steps to catch up to me. “I’ve heard you got married. Congratulations.”

So, word travels, I guess. “Well, you get to meet her I guess now. I didn’t predict this happening. I think you’ll like her, even though she’s a Human.”

“But didn’t you fight Humans? Didn’t you hate them?”

“I did, once. And I fought. I won battles, and I lost things. And then I forgave. You’ll understand someday, I hope. I forgave you too a long time ago, I just didn’t think you’d want to come back. I’m glad you’ve found yourself now. You grew up so fast, you’re a proper young lady now.”

“Dad, please, I’m fifty.” Her mock anger over her age is fun to coerce.

“So? I'm still a lot older than you are. When you become the older one, you get to call me whatever you want.

How long are you staying in The Capital, Helen?”

“I was thinking on leaving tomorrow or the day after.”

“Good.” I still have something to give to her later, something I should’ve done thirty years ago. I approach her and hug her tightly. “I missed you too.” A breeze blows from somewhere in the halls, as silence envelops our bodies for a moment, the memory of a child I met long ago resurfacing again, as my eyes tear up briefly.

“Now, let’s go. I think you’ll like Sophia.”

With that said, we leave for my home, where my wife is hopefully waiting for me. I can’t wait to see her face again.