Ugh… What’s going on? Damn, I feel like crap. What the hell’s going on with me? I’m currently in my bed, Nelly and Cecily are sitting next to me, granted they’re sleeping, and the entire room smells like soup. Seriously, what the hell is going on? Hold on, let’s retrace our steps and see what we can find out.

Let’s see, the last thing I remember is Nelly saying that she doesn’t feel comfortable eating meat anymore, then Cecily chewing me out for scaring her needlessly. That waiter as well, he was chuckling and trying his best to cheer her up, but it truly seemed like there was no talking her into liking meat again. Now why the hell did I even badmouth dad to begin with? What a lousy excuse for a son I am… Eh, guess this is my due diligence.

That being said, I decided it’d only be fair for Nelly and me to switch plates, so after we ate, the feisty cashier rung us up, and we promptly left after enjoying a lovely outing. So why am I in this situation right now, then?

This isn’t my home. Well, duh, we never bought a home. This entire family vacation exists for the sole purpose of us finding the optimal place to call home. So then, this place must be an inn of some kind, but that still doesn’t explain why I’m feeling so weak.

Hmm, if I recall correctly, we had immediately hopped on a transport wagon that was headed for Maria, but then…

“By the Gods, was it always this stuffed in a transport wagon?” I asked, sweating profusely.

“Lune, you’re not looking so good.” Cecily inspected me, “Want me to tell the driver to make a short stop?”

“Nah, that’d just be an inconvenience to everyone. Let’s just continue with the current plan we have right now.”

“But we’re not under any rush to get to Maria, y’know? Come on, I was just thinking that we should take a break anyways myself.”

“Alright…” I finally gave in.

Thus, we had politely asked the wagon driver if we could take a break at the nearest stop, to which he obliged without any problems. Looks like it wasn’t an issue to him at all, which was good. Since he gets paid the same amount for a fare, regardless of time spent, to him this is probably just a welcomed break of sorts.

“Yeah,” I said as I looked on at the beautiful hillside scenery, “I still feel like sh-”

“Shhhhh!!” Cecily intervened at the last moment to stop me from teaching Nelly another bad word, “Okay, Mister, something’s seriously up with you!”

“Wha~?” I woozily turned around, “I’m doing just fine though! Man, if I knew you were gonna be such a worrywart, then I would’ve never said anything to begin with.”

“Dad, youw face is weally wed.” Nelly noted.

“Yeah, Nelly’s right.” Cecily put her hand to my forehead, “You’re burning up. Looks like a fever.”

Oh, so it was a fever. I see, now I remember. Actually, I’m surprised this is the first time I’ve gotten sick during my travels. Thankfully, it happened during a pretty peaceful time, like while I’m with my family. If I was to have gotten sick while out and about in a desert or battlefield, then I’m pretty sure things would have gotten real dicey real quick.

Well, that solves that mystery, but it still doesn’t explain what happens next. Like, how did we find this place to crash at? I’ve noticed this recently, but seeing as it’s spring season, a lot of people are buying houses and renting inn rooms to start their own little solo adventures. Obviously, you wouldn’t go leaving your nest during the winter, right? The winter cold would wipe you out in an instant.

Oh, now that I think about it, we were discussing something similar to this right after getting back inside the transport wagon. If I recall correctly, we even changed plans and decided not to head for the other two sub-countries.

“No!” I strongly objected, “We have to go! We can’t just skip them! I don’t wanna drag us off the planned out path just because of me.”

“Lune, Maria is riddled with sickness and crime. It’s not safe for you nor is it safe for Nelly to be anywhere near there.” Cecily warned.

“Ugh, fine…” I crossed my arms, “But we have to go to Umoris! I wanna see the beaches!”

And Cecily in a swimsuit! I don’t care that she’s mad at me, at least give me this much! I know I’m being a perverted asshole when I think like this, but I’ve been holding in my desires for a really, REALLY long time now! Just seeing her in a swimsuit would be more than enough to last me another couple of years, so we absolute can’t skip this!

“Umoris is…” She thought about it, “Well, it certainly is safer than the former option…”

“Right? It’s the go-to place to visit while on vacation! The beaches are just sublime!”

I was making it sound like I’m actually talking about it like I witnessed it firsthand, but that’s actually a lie, obviously. I haven’t really traveled outside of the Centralises and the countries in between them and Boreal, since that’s where Marina and I washed up on. That being said, I just really wanted to convince Cecily, so I got a bit too into it.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“So you’ve been there?” She clicked her tongue, “I bet you and Marina had the time of your lives there…”

“A-Ah! No, actually…”

“I don’t wanna hear it.” She turned away, “Go wherever you want. I really couldn’t care less!”

“Cecily!” I tried to grab her, only for a bump in the road to make me jump from my seat, “Ugh, I’m feeling sick…”

Opting to not make the situation worse, I quickly looked for a place to hurl safely, of which there was none, so I was left with only one other, dire option.

“Lune!” Cecily shouted, “Get down from there!”

“Dad! Don’t jump!” Nelly cried out.

What? The window’s the only safe place I can throw up through! It’s either that or I stink up the entire wagon! I’d rather die than live with that shame! Okay, just gotta hold on tight! Hold on… tight….

Ah, I thought as my strength betrayed me, my hands slipped off. Thus, I fell off the wagon’s window, and tumbled off the side of the hill we were driving on. Yeah, now I remember. That explains all these bruises I have on me in the present time. Ouch.

***

“Hey, guys…” I nudged the sleeping girls awake that appeared to have fell asleep while tending to me, “Wake up.”

“Mnn…” Cecily murmured, “Five more minutes…”

“Then you, Nelly?” I turned to her, “Mind explaining what’s going on here?”

“Mnn…” She followed her mother’s example, “Ten more minutes…”

“That’s even more than Cecily!” I yelled, waking them both up forcefully.

“Ack! Huh? Oh, you’re awake.” Cecily rubbed her eyes, “Good morning, Lune.”

“Ah, morning.” I replied, “Where are we? I remember tidbits of what happened, but the last thing I can recall is me falling off of the transport wagon.”

“That’s…!” She stood surprised, before tearing up a bit, “Lune, that happened a week ago.”

Huh? I was out for an entire week? No, that’s impossible! I mean, I know I’m not one to pass up a good nap, but isn’t this taking it too far? Hold on, I think Ed once told me about this, wasn’t this that so-called coma thing?!

“So I was asleep for a week straight?” I asked as if to reaffirm.

“No…” Cecily bit her nails in anxiety, “That’s the worrying part. You were awake, and perfectly normal the entire time.”

“What?” I asked, “But I don’t remember a thing. What exactly did I do during that period?”

“You got up as if nothing happened.” Nelly began recounting everything that happened, “You kept wepeating to mom that you weally wanted to go to Umowis.”

“Yeah, sounds about right.” I chuckled.

“But after we got there, you immediately checked into this inn and clocked out on the bed.” Cecily explained, “The inn was kind of full too, but you just proudly professed about being the Famed Inventor, so they gave us one of the better rooms. It was actually quite uncharacteristic of you.”

“I did what?!” I jumped out of bed, “Ah, crap! I don’t wanna use my name as a stepping stone! I should probably apologize to the staff, that must’ve been rude of me…”

“No, it’s actually quite the opposite.” Cecily smiled, “You were in dire need of help, they told me later that they don’t feel bad about it at all.”

“They don’t?”

“Yeah, in their words: ”If we didn’t help the Famed Inventor, who has given the world so much out of his own volition, then what kind of people would we be?”” She paraphrased, “You shouldn’t fear your hard work, Lune. I actually see you in a better light after hearing the people sing you endless praises.”

“But, I’m not proud of my time as Sol.” I explained, “Sol’s a terrible person. A guy who’s ends justified his means. I don’t even wanna consider us the same person, I’m too ashamed to do so. Also, he’s the reason I, with Marina… y’know…”

“Is that so?” She looked down, still smiling, “About that… I’m sorry about getting mad at you about it back in the transport wagon. I should have let it go a long time ago.”

“You’re wrong!” I barked, “You should be mad at me! You should never forgive me for as long as you’re alive! I did something horrible to you, so don’t ever feel guilty for hating me!”

Looking at all this unfold, Nelly only stood by quietly, waiting for everything to calm down. This entire time, Cecily and I would beat around the bush and try to hide mine and Marina’s past relationship for as much as we could, but Nelly’s smart, so I’m sure she figured everything out even without us straight up telling her.

Yeah, she’s just as good at reading the room as she is about putting two and two together, so she’s probably just waiting for us to tell her ourselves. That being said, it seems even she hit her limits, as she soon lashed out herself to voice her complaints.

“Enough!” She yelled, tears forming around her eyes, “Stop fighting! Stop feeling guilty! I’m sick of it!”

Surprised at her strong words, we could only, ironically enough, feel even more guilty after realizing we pushed our daughter to her wit’s end. Finally, we shut up and just sat there awkwardly for a while before I finally recalled something important.

“What day is it today?!”

“?” Cecily tilted her head, “It’s the 14th.”

“THANK GOODNESS!” I smiled wryly as a weight fell off of my chest, “If I had slept through my daughter’s birthday, it’d be the end of me!”

“Pfft!” Cecily finally cracked an honest smile, “So you do have some fatherly moments in you.”

“Of course I do!” I said, lifting Nelly up high and putting her on my shoulders, “She’s the Princess of the Grimhearts! The cutest and fairest lady of them all! Now come on, I’m itching for a walk. My legs have all but atrophied by now!”

“Wah! You’we gonna cawwy me like this!?” Nelly held on tight.

“Of course!” I replied, smiling just like any idiot parent would, “I wanna show you what an adult sees from their point of view! Think of it as an early birthday present – but don’t worry, because you’ll get your actual one tomorrow!”

And so, carrying her around the capital of Umoris, I had Cecily explain to me what was where, all the while spending some quality time with my daughter. I know I used her early birthday present as a pretense for going on this walk, but in reality I’m really just being selfish again.

Thinking about it, Nelly’s already 6 years old. Soon enough she’ll be too big for me to carry her on my shoulders, and I already missed the most crucial parts in her childhood, so I really wanna make the most of it while I still can. I hope you’ll forgive your old man, Nelly, but even he needs some healing every once in a while.