I opened my eyes and was only slightly surprised to have two cute faces pressed into both sides of mine. I was now laying on my back and wasn't sure how Afyne had managed to climb over me to my other side and propped herself almost on top of me, considering I had been in a meditative state and should have woken up if anything happened. She was sound asleep with an arm around my neck and hugged me tightly, while Maylia's arm was draped over my chest and hugged me just as tightly.

My arms were kind of trapped underneath the both of them and I didn't mind it at all. It meant that I couldn't move without disturbing them, and I activated my Detect Mana Presence technique to look around and tried to see what time it was. I looked out through the wall and saw where the sun was, and it was just barely above the horizon. I 'looked' down into the kitchen to see that no one was there and knew it would be a while before any kind of breakfast would be ready.

I didn't use a mental technique to go back into a meditative state, despite that being my normal reaction to passing time when I can't do anything else. I just laid there and soaked in the feeling of having Maylia and Afyne as they used me for comfort, in their similar and slightly different ways. I wasn't sure why having a young girl depend on me made me feel better about everything, though. I was still worried about messing up or doing something wrong; and yet, that didn't stop me from wanting to keep taking care of her.

I almost laughed out loud at parental thoughts that I'd never had before and caught myself just in time. It's funny how my entire perception of... well, everything... has changed, now that I have a new concern in my life. I thought in amusement.

Afyne moved slightly and her arm around my neck tensed up, she took in a deep breath and held it, then slowly let it out and relaxed again. Her fingers rubbed my neck a bit and tickled me a little, so I had to grit my teeth and did my best not to react to it. She stopped after a few seconds and I relaxed.

Even though she's still asleep, I think she was making sure I was still here. I thought.

That made me think about my old guardian Emari, and I was pretty sure she mentioned that I did the same thing to her. That reassured me, because it meant that I was on the right track to being a good guardian. I closed my eyes as I let the feeling of them hold me permeate my being while I kept watch and waited to see how long I could lay there before they woke up.

Almost as if she knew I had just made that bet with myself, Maylia took in a quick breath and opened her eyes. I tried not to laugh when she realized that she had her face mashed up against mine and I felt the heat on my cheek increase as she blushed. She very carefully moved her head away slightly and turned to look at me, I assume to see if I was awake, and she sighed a little when I didn't open my eyes to look back at her. She didn't remove her hand from around my chest, though.

It was then that she noticed Afyne was partially on top of me, with her face against mine, and Maylia smiled. She didn't try to move her away, adjust her position, or wake her up. She just laid her head back down next to mine, almost touching, and closed her eyes.

Now we're both keeping watch and waiting. I thought.

Both of my arms were still pinned, so I stayed still and waited patiently. I was temped to get up, eat a quick breakfast from our own food stores, and get to work on finding the monster; but, I also didn't want to ruin what was to be Afyne's first morning with us. It wasn't that I wanted to make a good impression on her, it was because not every morning was going to be as leisurely relaxing as this one. Maylia and I had some frantic mornings and some normal ones, and I wanted Afyne's first morning to be a normal one.

We didn't have to wait long before Afyne woke up, because the kitchen staff had arrived and the smells of cooking food wafted up through the floor. She opened her eyes and tensed up her muscles briefly, and she relaxed for a few seconds. Just like with Maylia, I saw the moment Afyne realized what she was doing.

Afyne jerked a little and wasn't as careful as Maylia had been as she turned her head. It was still pressed tightly against me, so when she turned, her lips grazed the edge of my lips and then they pressed into my cheek along with her nose. I felt the heat in her face as she blushed much darker than Maylia had, then she pulled her face away from mine. She stared at my eyes and didn't move as she waited to see if I was going to react to what she had just done by accident.

I stayed perfectly still, so she wouldn't be embarrassed, and Afyne slowly slid herself up into a sitting position and took her hand away from my neck. She looked at Maylia to see if she had noticed, and saw that she was still sleeping, so she laid down next to me with her head as close to mine as she could put it without touching me. Her blush didn't fade as she stared at the spot where she had inadvertently kissed my cheek and her hand reached up and touched her own lips.

I figured now was a safe time to start to stir, so I took in a long slow breath. Afyne jerked only slightly, so I let the breath out and took a faster one. Maylia took that as a cue and started to do the same thing, and pretended to wake up. I waited for a few moments before I opened my eyes.

“Now that was a good sleep.” I said. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Maylia said and propped herself up on her elbow to look down at me, which freed my arm from her weight, so I reached up and caressed the side of her face briefly.

“G-g-good m-m-morning.” Afyne said.

“It really is.” I said and lifted my head a little to look down at my other arm that she had pinned. “Would you mind if I had that back?”

“Wh-wh-what?” Afyne's face was still flushed red. When I wiggled my fingers against her leg, her whole body jerked. “OH! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!” She said and rolled off of my arm.

Both Maylia and I laughed at her reaction.

“Hey, it's okay.” I said and put my now free arm around her shoulders, then pulled her in for a hug and used both arms. “I wasn't complaining that you had it. I just couldn't hug you properly without it.”

Afyne stayed stiff in my arms for several moments, then she relaxed and hugged me back.

“Yep, it's definitely a good morning.” I said and let her go, then I turned and pulled Maylia down on top of me and hugged her. “Good morning again!” I exclaimed and kissed her on the lips, then on the cheek, then on the neck in rapid succession.

Maylia laughed and didn't struggle much against me before I let her go.

“I think I smell breakfast. Is that breakfast?” I asked and sat up as I looked at Afyne. “Are you hiding it?” I dove onto her and tucked my nose into the crook of her neck. I made loud inhaling noises as I snorted like a pig and tickled her neck to make her laugh.

Afyne laughed that uncontrolled laugh that all kids have. I felt a little foolish carrying on like this; but, it was worth it to make them laugh.

“Nope! No breakfast there.” I said and looked at Maylia.

“No. No no no!” Maylia said and tried to roll off of the bed. Afyne kept laughing as I caught Maylia and dove onto her and did the same pig snorting thing to her neck as I tickled it and she laughed, too.

“No breakfast there, either!” I exclaimed, then sat in the middle of the bed and sighed. “I guess we have to get out of bed and get dressed.”

“You sound so disappointed.” Maylia said and put a hand into my hair and combed it back behind my ear. “We have to get dressed anyway, since...”

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A knock on the room door interrupted her and I went over to answer it. A young woman who looked about twenty was there with a big tray of food.

“Good morning.” She said and didn't bat an eye at my nightgown or my dishevelled state. “My father said you might want to have breakfast in bed.”

“Ha ha!” I laughed exaggeratedly.

Her mouth dropped open at the sight of a floating green hand as I used a Mana Presence Hand to take the tray from her.

“Thank you!” I exclaimed and gave her a quick hug, then I shut the door on her very surprised face.

Both Maylia and Afyne laughed as I carried the tray over to the bed.

“Breakfast in bed with two beautiful ladies.” I said and climbed onto the bed and sat down between them. “Could this day start off any better?”

The three of us enjoyed eating the food on the tray and our very first breakfast in bed. We washed up after that, then Afyne helped me dress Maylia in her armor, since she took the longest to get ready. After that, Maylia and I dressed Afyne in new pants and a shirt, since riding a horse wearing a dress was not a good idea. Afyne put on her belt by herself and tucked her nightgown into her bag of holding.

I got dressed myself and Afyne had been surprised at the weight of the cloth. She hadn't seen the metal pieces until she ran her hands over the cloth and felt the difference. She didn't ask me about it, though. I saw her slightly unhappy face as I put on the blast shield to cover my eyes, then she sighed a little and smiled. We put everything away that we had out, put on our green cloaks and left the hoods down, then left the room to go downstairs and returned the room key and the breakfast dishes.

“Leaving so soon?” The innkeeper asked and accepted the tray and the key.

“We're going to hunt the monster!” Afyne said loudly, and a few people gasped, including the innkeeper and his daughter.

“You can't go after it!” The innkeeper's daughter exclaimed and everyone turned and looked at her.

“So, you admit there is a monster.” I said and she blushed. “It's all right. We have as much information about it as we could get from people that wouldn't admit that there's a problem.”

The innkeeper sighed. “We are trying to protect the town's reputation.”

“All lying does is cause mistrust.” I said. “If a visitor had been taken, would you admit it then?”

“We would have to.”

“So, who is outside the town and watching the people that come here?” I asked.

“We... don't have anyone doing that.”

“Then how do you know that no visitors have been taken if they didn't come to the town first and then disappeared?” I asked and he couldn't answer. “You could have a bunch of people missing that were coming here and got caught before actually arriving in the town.”

No one said anything in response, and I didn't really expect them to.

“If we only left and didn't come back, would you assume we were missing or on our way?” I asked. “What if those that actually left, didn't come back, because they were caught by the monster?”

I could see the realization on the innkeeper's face that they had made a terrible mistake. They had no way to confirm if a visitor had been taken, unless it happened right in front of them, and they had been deluding themselves by saying no visitor had ever been taken.

“Don't worry.” Afyne said, confidently. “We'll take care of it.”

The innkeeper looked surprised for a moment, then he smiled. “We can only hope that's true.”

“You'll see.” Afyne said and took my hand and Maylia's, then she led us out of the inn and to the stable. She quickly checked the horses and nodded her approval after the young man put the saddles and kits back onto the horses and secured them properly. “Good work.” She said and took out two copper coins and held them out to him.

“Th-thank you, miss!” The young man said and took the coins.

We led the horses outside and I put her up on mine, added the solid Presence to the saddle for me to sit as well, and climbed on. We had a great description of the spots that townspeople had gone missing, so we started our search at the closest one. Maylia picked up on the tracks right away, and we followed them. It led to another spot where the dirt and bushes had been disturbed in a circular pattern.

“It rested here. A lot.” I said, and Maylia nodded. She pointed to another track and we followed it out to another spot where someone had disappeared. We went back to the circular depression and spent several hours following the different trails around.

*

Kara finished telling Queen Celestina everything that had happened during their journey and the queen didn't let any kind of emotion show on her face. The others weren't sure what to make of that, however. There was a knock on the door of the room and Gavell came in.

“Your majesty, the magic users have gathered in the chapel and await your orders.”

The queen had been writing occasionally as Kara had talked, and she wrote out several more sentences and handed a piece of paper to him. Gavell didn't read it and folded it up to put it into a pocket.

“Once the message has been sent, I want them to discuss things with the archmage and the sorcerer priest to try and determine how we can find these cracks. Tell them that some have been around for a long time and may not be easily detectable from the ambient mana in the areas around their locations.”

“Yes, your majesty.” Gavell said and bowed to her, then turned to the emissaries. “This way, please.”

Jessica and Josh stepped forward and then they both, as if they had previously coordinated it, reached back and took the hands of Evangeline and Aimee. Neither the queen nor Gavell said that they couldn't take them with them, so the four of them followed Gavell out of the room. When only Kara, the queen, and the young girl were alone in the room, the young girl spoke.

“You care a lot about Hunter, don't you?” Milly asked.

“Yes. He is my...” Kara paused for a second, because she was about to say 'prince'. “He was my apprentice for almost four years before he ran away.”

“Does apprentice there mean prisoner?” Milly asked.

“He wasn't a prisoner.” Kara said. “He was underage and I taught him as I took care of him.”

“You lie to yourself.” Milly said, and the queen put a hand on her daughter's shoulder to quiet her.

“I'm training her to use her gifts properly.” The queen said and looked at Milly. “Some things need not be said openly.”

“How do you decide?” Milly asked, a little confused.

“Experience and practice.” The queen said. “Like now. Calling someone a liar, even within their own perception, is not proper or appropriate.”

Milly had to think about that for a minute. “What if it's detrimental to that person or to those around them?” She asked. “Should they be told then?”

The queen let a small smile out briefly. “Even then, there are more subtle ways to say such things.”

Milly very slowly nodded her head up and down as she understood what her mother meant.

“Thank you for the thorough account of your travels.” The queen said to Kara. “I need a bit of time to think about how to proceed from here, considering the impact your information is going to have on the populace as a whole and on your group in particular.” She said. “Please, feel free to roam through the castle and the grounds while you wait.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” Kara said and left the room.

“They didn't ask about Hunter.” Milly said, a little surprised.

“Kara knew that he wasn't around when they were summoned, so she must also know that he is not in the immediate area.” The queen said. “However, I don't know her range of detection.”

“Is that why you said she could check the castle and the grounds?” Milly asked.

The queen nodded. “Depending on where she goes, I can estimate how far away she could potentially feel him.”

There was a knock on the door and Gavell came in. “Your majesty, the message has been sent. All of the mayors in the cities and towns have been notified of the cracks and the otherworldly monsters.” He said. “We are waiting for confirmation that they have passed the information on to the town guards.”

“I'm sure the warning alone isn't going to be enough to reassure them.” The queen said. “I hope the magic users can come up with a way to detect these cracks.”

“I'm sure they will, your majesty.” Gavell said. “Shall I bring the others in to see you now?”

“Are they completely healed?” The queen asked.

“The healers finished very early this morning.” Gavell said. “Allirynn was even more badly hurt than Hunter was.”

“Did they say what caused it?”

“Lamia venom, your majesty.” Gavell said. His face remained passive; but, his voice held anger.

“Inform the guards if you hadn't already, and make sure that she doesn't leave the castle, even if the emissaries try to leave.”

Gavell nodded his understanding. He wasn't going to let her go without hearing what happened.

“I'm sure that... Allirynn was it?” The queen asked, and Gavell nodded again. “I'm sure that his story will be just as enlightening as the Emissaries of Light's story was.”

“I certainly hope so, your majesty.” Gavell said and bowed, then left at a fast walk to retrieve Allirynn and Imiryl from the guest room.

*

“Can you tell how old the tracks are?” I asked Maylia, and she hopped down off of the horse and carefully traced her fingers over the indentations, then she touched the ground next to it.

“A day, maybe two.” Maylia said. “That was about when the old man said the last person disappeared.”

I nodded. “This is the right trail then.”

“I'm sorry it took so long to find it.” Maylia said and climbed back onto her horse.

“I didn't think to ask how old the tracks were until an hour ago, so don't worry about it.” I said. “Plus, we found its hunting pattern and found a few sites that the old man didn't know about.”

“Which confirmed your guess about it actually taking visitors and not just townspeople.” Maylia said.

“Unfortunately.” I said. “This track doesn't fit the pattern, so we know this has to be the way that it went.” I took a hand off the reins of my horse and gave Afyne a one arm hug. “Don't be angry if we have to leave the horses behind and you have to wait with them.”

Afyne chuckled. “Why would I be angry? That's my job.”

“Thank you.” I said and kissed the top of her head. “All right, Maylia. Lead on.”

Maylia nodded and smiled at the bright red face on Afyne, then she turned her horse around and followed the tracks. I followed her and we moved off into the wilderness and far away from the town.