Dozer was deftly using a knife that was half the size of one of his fingers to slice carrots when Annie stomped aggressively up behind him and pressed her forehead against his back with enough casual force for the muscles of his back to tighten. Dozer felt a satisfied smile cross his face, but he largely didn’t respond and allowed Annie to have the space to work her way through her feelings.

If she wanted to talk about what she was feeling, she would be talking about it already.

With his long arms, it was quite easy for Dozer to take the sliced carrots, put them into a paper bag, then put that bag into a larger bag with the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches he had made earlier. After thinking about it for a second, Dozer threw six walnut muffins that Annie had baked this morning into the larger bag. With remarkable delicacy, Dozer set the completed picnic he had just made by the open window.

He rinsed the knife and cutting board in the sink immediately to his left. Both were wiped down with a nearby dishrag. Then he put his knuckles against the counter and waited. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long; Annie wasn’t very good at either patience or self-reflection.

After another long sigh, Annie finally spoke with her forehead still against Dozer’s back. “Am I a bad mother?”

“Delilah still refusing to leave her room after you yelled at her last night?” Dozer asked in his low rumble. Not that he really needed to ask; Annie’s fretful pacing in the hallway today was more than answer enough. But there was a ritual to this, the interactions with her wife.

He could feel her nod against his back with remarkable vigor. “Yes! She refuses to even talk to me! But what did she THINK I was going to say after she led a group of children to somehow fly across Kharon and crash a wooden raft into the side of the Glowstone Ballroom… and you know the worst part? I still can’t figure out how she did it. It’s driving me insane!”

In some ways, Annie was extremely predictable. Dozer carefully spun around and set his large hands against Annie’s shoulders. She waved her hand to knock his large palms away, but he gently placed them back on her shoulders despite her mild protests. “You aren’t a bad mother. It is just you and your daughter are cut from the same cloth. It creates friction when you are in close proximity.”

Annie favored Dozer with a sharp look. “Cut from the same cloth? You think I would have done something that dumb when I was her age?”

Dozer returned the look mildly, not bothering to make his thoughts on that point audible.

Huffing in annoyance, Annie spun around with her usual grace. But then she leaned backward against Dozer, one of her hands going to her swelling stomach. The top of her head reached the bottom of Dozer’s breastbone. “I guess its just… since we have another kid on the way… I’m starting to get really anxious. Weird, right? That we… we are really in way over our heads with this whole parents thing. We both know that Delilah’s development… has been strange, because of the System. But maybe its not just that. If I’m a bad parent on top of that-”

A small hand flicked in through the window and picked up the bag of prepared food, timing itself perfectly with the climax of Annie’s emotional speech. And it was clear that Annie was quite swept up in her own thoughts because she didn’t react at all to the well-timed movement. Despite the fact that Dozer’s large body blocked his wife’s view of the window, normally she would definitely would have caught such a disturbance that was so close to her.

To be fair, it was sufficiently sneaky, just the little thief should be completely outclassed… especially when she moves so guiltily… Dozer hummed with not a small amount of pride. They had raised a good daughter together.

Annie continued to speak. “-then we are probably raising children who will be dumb enough to run into danger. And people die all the time now, Dozer. We both know this. The initial reports from scouts heading to the location of the Corrupted Invaders include three fatalities. There will be heavy resistance taking those Danger Zones. And this is just the beginning! So maybe we… we need…”

Annie trailed off. Dozer didn’t need to look into her eyes to know she felt lost.

Dozer swept her off her feet and spun her around in the air. In his large hands, she was as light and precious as the finest silk in the world.

“Ugh, put me down you oaf,” Annie punched his arm, hard enough to crush a normal human’s shoulder joint, but the two were intimately familiar with each other at this point; she punched him like that because she loved him.

But, true to his wife’s request, Dozer set a scowling Annie back on her feet. But before he could try and convey his feelings about their child and the prospect of a second one, a loud noise echoed across the surrounding area. Both twisted to look.

RUMBLLLEEEEEEEEE.

After sharing a glance, Dozer and Annie walked outside. From the low ridge on which they had built their temporary house here outside Ogre Ridge, they could just make out the cloud of dust from the valley where Kharon was currently situated. Then they watched as Kharon raised itself over the surrounding low hills on hits four vast legs that unfolded from underneath it.

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“I guess they are heading out today,” Annie hummed. “It’s too bad. The soaps they make are really- WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE!”

Cut from the same cloth, Dozer thought fondly.

Annie’s body melted into a blur of white that twirled and spun back through their front door, through the kitchen, and back down the hallway. Dozer couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard the noise of the door to Delilah’s room exploding into splinters as Annie made a dramatic entrance. What did slightly throw him, however, was the curious quiet after Annie discovered the room empty.

It wasn’t a large head start that Delilah had managed, but it would likely be enough. After all, Dozer shared the same confusion as to how Delilah had created a flying raft, but his curiosity was a blunt thing. It was enough to him that he now knew she could make such a thing. And after she had sprinted a safe amount of distance from the house, Dozer had no doubt that was exactly what she had done.

Annie walked back outside and stood next to Dozer with a blank face. She made no attempt to chase after her daughter. Kharon began to clamber over the surrounding hills, heading directly West.

“...do you know the worst part?” Annie said quietly. Dozer tilted his head to the side, wondering whether she had discovered that he was complicit in the escape. Not that Dozer tried to help their daughter flee from their parental disapproval of her most recent actions, but rather it was that Dozer stood a little more distant from the issue than Annie had been and had easily seen this sudden flight coming.

There were perhaps steps that he could have taken to make sure Delilah wouldn’t manage to successfully escape. But he didn’t have the heart to take those steps to restrict the daughter that had gradually become his whole world. And sure, he worried what she would get into while he wasn’t there, but Dozer already had the experience of slowly woo-ing Annie during those early days in Donnyton. Trying to hold onto them would just bring about the opposite result that he wanted.

Besides, Dozer had sent messages to both Tatiana and Naffur, requesting that they locate Delilah and keep an eye out for her antics. Despite how busy they both were, there were enough capable people around Kharon that Dozer didn’t doubt it would be one of the safest places for Delilah.

“What’s the worst part?” Dozer asked slowly.

“That skank took the last of my muffins,” Annie grumbled. “I’m really craving something sweet right now-”

Dozer frowned over at Annie. “Don’t call your daughter a skank.”

“If she didn’t want me to call her a skank, she shouldn’t have taken my muffins.” Annie’s eyes gleamed with a cruel sort of repressed violence. Dozer decided that he wouldn’t argue this point any further.

*****

Tatiana glanced at Wolfram as the two stood on one of the high rise apartment buildings on the East of Kharon and looked toward the slowly shrinking forms of the Nordawn Mountain Range. “I am surprised that most of you and your fellow secretaries agreed to stay on Kharon. I was under the impression that you planned on taking control of the ogre population away from Obyrn Myyr. Shouldn’t you be there, building up support?”

Wolfram snorted. “Did your Ghosthound need to curry support from the ogres? No, he was simply the strongest and the best, and people recognized that and followed him without question. I shall allow Obyrn Myyr to complete the tedious task of developing an ogre empire without me looking over his shoulder… our confrontation is not for several months anyway. Better for me to adventure and understand the lay of this world so that I might better lead my people when they once more become mine.

“You earthlings grow quickly. The ogres will need extensive preparations to keep abreast of such developments.”

I wonder if things truly were so simple with the ogres. If you hadn’t followed Randidly for being the strongest… would this transition have been nearly as bloodless? Tatiana kept her arms behind her back, even as the breeze whipped up stray strands of her hair into a frenzy around her face. “Well thank you for staying here in Kharon. Your assistance is appreciated. It makes my job much easier.”

“Truly, I do not understand how you managed all this on your own,” Wolfram said with a frown. “My own workload currently is… ahem. Prodigious.”

It felt good to have that feat recognized, although Tatiana played it off. “Yes, well, certainly things have been a bit more hectic recently… with the parties, dealing with the new populations, setting up trade agreements with various Zones and Orders… but I have a feeling that it’s only going to get worse. Kharon is becoming rather influential.”

For a while, the two looked at the departing mountain range in silence. Then Wolfram spoke again. “There is a thing I have been meaning to ask you. About your Ghosthound.”

“Technically our Ghosthound now, is he not?” Tatiana said in a teasing tone.

Ever serious, Wolfram nodded slowly and adjusted his large glasses. “Our Ghosthound. Yes, I suppose that is true. Our Ghosthound. I resisted, but a few of my fellow scribes accepted this… Eidolon Crucible last night. They woke up exhausted but much benefited from the experience. I understand the utility of a moving city, but why does he seem to purposefully isolate himself so? Many would benefit from his teachings. He is jumpstarting the growth of humans. But there are more direct solutions to this problem.”

Tatiana released a sigh. “It is not a secret, but I know Randidly prefers to be rather vague with the details. Perhaps you would even understand better than I of his motivations. But the image of the Ghosthound… cannot be used to pass the Second Calamity.”

“He has seen Ascension,” Wolfram released a sudden breath. “That is why he is so harsh. That is why he teaches lessons but disappears before individuals can imitate the tang of his image. He cannot become the dream, only the nightmare.”

“Just so,” Tatiana confirmed. The two stood in silence for a while longer.

“He takes a difficult Path.” Wolfram sighed. Tatiana nodded emphatically. After adjusting his glasses again, he asked another question. “Does he require anything from us? To try and overcome this… Special Investigator?”

“Probably.” Tatiana sighed. “Unfortunately… our lord isn’t the best at asking for assistance. He has worked on his own for too long.”

Bringing his fist around, Wolfram patted his chest. “Ahem. I figured you would answer like that. Which was why I wanted to make a suggestion of something that we could do for him…”