From the day she was born until the day she died, Alora never stopped learning. She learned manners, she learned math, she learned people, and she learned magic. The one thing Alora thought she’d never learn, was forgiveness… or so she thought.

She was in her twenties, so young yet so old, when the world turned against her. Her parents assassinated, her people rioted, her servants vanished, and her sister betrayed her. She hated with all her being. Alora hated her parents for leaving her, she hated her people for their disobedience, she hated her sister for trying, taking her throne.

She wasted away, chained to her throne, her castle, her home as her armies fought and were defeated. As she hired mercenarys, as she hired witches. And one day, she decided to leave, go outside of her domain. There she saw a dying land. There were no people but the dead in the streets, no crops but the brown decaying remains, and she realized her kingdom was no longer here; it hasnt been for a while.

She neglected them. She abused them. She consumed them. She was never a queen. She was a tyrant. With this realization she let her tears fall. Her sister did not betray her, but it was she who betrayed her sister. She who betrayed her parents, her people, her servants.

She was mad. Mad with power, magic, grief. Obsessed even. To the point where her own sister had no choice but to go against her. And as her sister’s right hand man appeared, she couldn’t even fight back. She understood now. Everything was her fault and the only way to end this was to die. She must pay for her crimes.

And as the sword held high over her head, Alora did something she never thought she’d do. She forgave. She forgave her sister for leaving, for rising against her, and for killing her. Her sister was never in the wrong, and so she forgave and hoped to be forgiven in return.

Kav wandered aimlessly among the streets of Heliosin. Most of the shops and stalls that lined his path were empty, but here and there an early riser could be seen setting up for the day. The cool morning air was dense with fog. A solitary bird called out to its brethren, urging them to greet the day with him, but the only answer to his summons was silence.
    Kav was not an early riser. At least not normally. However, on this particular morning he had been sleeping under a tree, and had been woken by a shower of dew from a tree branch. Now he was wet, and miserable. “Serves me right for getting fired again,” he grumbled. Even as he said this though, he really couldn’t accept that it was his fault. How was he supposed to know the Baron’s daughter was allergic to nuts? Still, these things happened. He would just have to find yet another job to occupy his time. As long as they gave him a roof over his head and food, he would be happy. 
    Unfortunately, without any real skills, he was no use to anybody in this town. And if he wasn’t useful, he wasn’t fed. If he wasn’t fed. If he wasn’t fed, he wasn’t happy. It was a simple life, but one he was bound to live like his parents before him, and their parents before them.
    Kav sighed and sat down against a wall, allowing apathy to wash over him. He supposed he would just resort to begging for today. There was no shame in that, right? At least he wouldn’t be pretending to be able to do something he couldn’t. It was better than stealing anyway…Or was it? Kav had never tried being a thief before. It was possible he was quite good at it.
    A young man with bright orange hair strolled by just then. He looked like he might have some money on him. Deciding he had nothing to lose, Kav stood up, and pursed him. The young man was quite perky for being awake so early in the morning. He walked with a slight spring in his step, though his face looked rather serious.
    As he rounded a corner, Kav grabbed at the wallet which was tied to the young man’s waist. And the next thing he knew, Kav was pinned to a wall. “Ow!”
    “Stay, thief!”
    “I’m sorry! Please let me go! I promise I won’t do it again.” Kav whimpered pitifully. It appeared he didn’t have the skills to be a thief either. “I’m just hungry.” He strained against the man’s hold.
    “Hungry you say? So you would have another go hungry instead of soldiering on yourself? Where’s your sense of honor!”
    Kav wasn’t sure how to respond to this. He didn’t know it then, but this was just the first first lecture on being honorable he would receive from the orange-haired man. The first of many more to come. It would take time for him to learn what the man named Sir Arius meant when he spoke of honor. But Sir Arius choosing to forgive him for his attempted thievery and giving him a meal was when Kav started to learn just what honor was.

thewordeater - What a great lesson! Coastal’s master sounds like they are a very wise teacher. :D I sure hope that Coastal remembers this lesson next time he gets too cocky!
OregonCoast - Ninn and Sallie seem to have a really great relationship! It’s very sweet that Ninn is such a patient teacher, and I hope that Sallie grows up to be a great gardener. :D
Kitsumi Mahon - Aww, poor Rhynn! It sucks to be so uncertain of yourself, and I’m sure that they have been very lonely. :C I’m glad that they met Augy, and I am interested in seeing their friendship (hopefully) blossom!
Gabriel - Haha, aww, this was really cute! Poor Eryu, though! I hope his tastebuds recover quickly, haha. It’s really nice that Shiva got to learn a little bit about cooking from Eryu, even if he ended up making things a bit too spicy! 8D

Losty - A great discovery! I love how you depicted Kamal finding and then manifesting his fire in your third paragraph; I could almost feel it in my gut too!
Pyrrha - Poor Nikos! The feeling of getting lost is terrible, and I can empathize with Nikos’ feelings. I’m glad she found her way back!
diaveborn - Lyn makes that couch look so cozy. I like how you used the active pose to really make her sprawl out. I wish I could curl up there too!
Hyasynthetic - Ajax’s relationship with his magic and with Silver are captivating. I like how this short story gave insight into a bigger storyline. It made me want to read more about Ajax — will he learn to control his magic? How will their relationship develop?
Jordii - What a sweet ending! I liked learning more about Khione — it is really interesting she had to live alone in the cold, and so happy she found someone who could free her from that.
KeeperGreymuzzles - Oh my goodness, Holly and her uncles are so charming. This story sucked me right in, and I loved seeing how it developed. Every little girl needs an army of uncles to teach her things!!
Vysal - The hardest lesson of all. Alora’s story is a sad one — living a life of such pain, and then to awaken to the destruction she caused.. I wish things could have gone differently for her! ):
raus - This was an intriguing and in-depth look at Mycenians who may not fit in to society perfectly, and I loved it! I really liked how Mycenians came together and brainstormed ways to connect to Melia and how we experienced their struggles and hopes. It looks like their persistence is paying off!
Hawkins - I was glad that Anna came through in the moment Clara and Jessa needed her the most — I have a feeling these three will go on to conquer many more demons!
Zukana - An unusual, but wise teacher! It seems that Echo is also on his way to deeper wisdom, and will hopefully one day be a great healer. I loved how you tied in the recent earthquakes; that was a nice touch!
Arintol - Kav learned an important lesson, though he wouldn’t have met Sir Arius if he hadn’t tried! I’m glad luck went his way — he seems like a nice guy, just fallen on a bit of a rough patch.

Space was much louder than Laika thought. Under the rattling and banging and gutteral roar of the engines, there was something else – a constant noise that had nothing to do with the earthly sounds of her ship, her pounding heart, her ragged panting. There was a hissing, as if space itself was whispering its secrets to her. She strained to listen, but things were getting hot, so hot…

There were no windows in her ship, but she saw pinpricks of light, twinkling like the stars without. Darkness threatened the edges of her vision, forming a starscape that pulsed in and out of focus. The vision of space behind her eyes warred with the metal and machines in front of them.

listen… the whispers said. hang on. let go. listen…

The starscape pulsed in time with her heart, and the inside of her ship was replaced with snatches of memory. The vaguest sense of warmth, milk, brothers and sisters and safety… She saw the street she used to live on, the garbage she ate and puddles she drank from. She saw the lab she was taken to one winter morning, asked to do incomprehensible things but warm again at last. She saw the machines and the needles and the people, so many people, all patting her and touching her and sometimes hurting her but never meaning it.

Finally, the most painful memory of them all - She saw the children she had played with the day before launch. For Laika, people were mostly hands and smells and gestures, either kind or gruff or mean, but always lumbering and powerful. Children, though, children were all faces and laughter and light to her, kindness and joy and endless love. The memory-children blazed like the sun, like laboratory spotlights, like stars. They opened their mouths but only the hissing of space came out, louder now, drowning out the clunks and rumbles of her failing ship.

Listen… Do you hear it? It’s almost here…

She tried to lean forward but the straps held her tight. Her ears swiveled this way and that, trying to locate a sound that was all around her. She closed her eyes but it made no difference – the starscape was inside her head and outside the ship, with everything between useless and invisible. Her heart pounded in one last furious burst of speed, and then began to slow. Her head became heavy, too heavy to lift, and she relaxed, slumping against the too-tight straps.
listenhangonletgolistenhangonlistnletgolisten…

“I can’t believe she’s gonna make it!”
“She won’t, if you don’t concentrate and help me get these tubes out of her!”
“What kind of monster straps an innocent being into a tin can and flings them into space without an air conditioner?”
“You know what kind. You know what system we’re in.”
“oh… right…”
“Poor thing. We’ll get her patched up good as new, with a TranslationMod so she can tell us where she wants to go next. It’s the least we can do.”

Laika’s eyes were gummy and hard to open, her body ached deeply and felt like stone. She was laid on a table, cool but not cold, firm but not hard. The voices were somewhere above her, and she felt herself being unhooked and detached. She was being separated, from the web of machinery that linked her to her ship, linked her to earth, linked her to the lumbering men of science that had strapped her in so far away and not so long ago.

Those voices… They sounded like the children she remembered, all sunlight and laughter and starscapes. One of them patted her head gently, and the tender love in the caress burst in her head like music. Laika listened, and her tail began to thump gently against the table.

The feline Ineki never had been one for groups, in fact, she’d never been one for other Ineki in any sense. She often preferred staying in the trees, away from any others of her kind. Relaxing in the sun, listening to creatures in the grass, writing, drawing, those were the things she enjoyed. Would she call herself happy? No not really, but she was content. In her writings, she always made up love stories, prince charmings, even vampire romance novels. She’d draw cute couples, either ones she made up or ones who passed under her tree while she was thinking. She wanted someone to share her life with, but she never went anywhere, so she doubted that happening anytime soon. So she used her mediums as coping. She imagined herself in these stories some times. It helped. She figured this was all she needed.

Something change her view on life however. One day, when she was resting in her usual spot, quite the commotion happened below her. Looking down, she spotted a dog Ineki and an array of scattered objects. Metal, glass vials, books, papers, pens. Too much for one creature to be carrying, but as he moved to start picking it up, it was apparent he was alone. He was soon dropping it all again. Shaking her head, the feline knew she’d be getting no peace with him around. Standing and stretching on her branch, she lept down, landing next to him, causing another clash of noise as the dog was spooked. With a soft chuckle, she moved to start gathering up some of his things.

“Sorry about that. You looked like you needed another paw, or four.” Looking over at him, she paused. He was just staring at her, glassed cocked to the side and mouth open slightly. She blinked at him. He almost looked like one of those love-struck fools she wrote about, but it seemed that pause was the moment he needed, as he jumped up and fixed his glasses, starting to gather up his items quickly.

“No no. It’s fine. I’ve got it. Didn’t mean to bother you. I’ll just be getting this and.. Going. Right. I must be going.” He spoke so quickly. She couldn’t tell if he was in a rush or just embarrassed to have dropped all his things on the ground. With a shake of her head, she continued helping pick all the items up.

“I insist. The name is Sand. I can help you get where you’re going. This is a bit much for one person to carry.”

“Oh alright. I’m… William.” He introduced himself, finally getting all his items gathered between the two of them. “I work at the nearby research facility. It’s where I’m headed.” He explained, starting to head down the road.

“Research? What’s that like?”

“I just… Research things. Different things. Wildlife, weather, air toxicity. Chemical reactions.” he probably could of kept going, but he stopped himself there, chuckling with a small smile. “That sort of thing…”

“That must be really cool. Do you think you could show me some things?” Research. That was a totally new subject to the loner of a cat. She supposed it wasn’t much different than the observing she did daily, but this sounded so much more exciting.

“Oh… S-sure? When we get there I can show you around. It’s the least I could do!”

The pair got there fairly quickly, though most of their journey was in silence. Neither really having much to say to the other Ineki they had just met. Once they made it inside, any words the feline had thought of were gone. The place was huge! So many bright lights and screens. Not to mention all the bustling Ineki going back and forth, notebooks in hand. William seemed to fit right in, really, but it was far more than Sand was use to. William forged ahead, leading his small feline helper right through the throng of other people as though he did it every day. Which he probably did, now that she thought about it. He led her back to a smaller room, where a smaller group of their kind moved about tables, chatting and even laughing together softly.

Watching him sit his load down, on a table in the room, she followed suit, careful not to knock anything over. The next few moments went a bit quick for the feline Ineki. He began introducing her to all the others he worked with. Names and faces became jumbled, but she did her best to greet each of them. Then he was showing her gadgets and chemicals and telling her about his work. He must’ve been doing this sort of thing forever. He was so quick to list names and functions, and he seemed so excited to be sharing what he loved to do with someone. She found herself enjoying the time spent with the happy canine, and even enjoying the company of the other workers in the room, at least the ones that stopped to speak with her.

She ended up staying in their little work space until lunch came, and went. Her eating what the workers offered her instead of heading off to find her own food. When work was over for the day, more than one asked her if she’d be coming by again. Before she could say no, William was there saying Sand was their newest intern. Not even thinking about arguing, the feline just grinned at her new co-workers. It was going to be tough, learning everything William already knew. Everything had seemed so foreign to her, but it was all fascinating, and maybe it wouldn’t be too bad having this group there to teach her.

Maybe she wouldn’t be a loner if this was the kind of people she could hang out with.

Meridians sat her tears welling and falling unheeded save for a damp paw that occasionally scrubbed her face.  The wisewomen had been proclaiming for at least a week, maybe two ahead, but aside from vaguely noting their dire warnings, her interests in their sayings went unnoted.  She was too absorbed in her very, very ill child Oogway.  She sat in deep shock after losing him and then took up her quill to craft a letter to them in reply as her voice was rendered useless among her tears.

“I’ve never been interested in Astrology beyond the usual ‘huh, that’s interesting’ said the Gemini as I collected tidbits of information and compared readings with patterns I’d already noticed. 

I watched with detached interest last week as the buildup to the full moons, eclipses and other proclaimations occured.  Endings and beginnings I watched with only a part interest as my own focus became completely absorbed as my baby, my coatimunde Oogway became severely ill, prompting a hospitalization with a doctor hours away. 

My mother’s heart was wrenched apart as we had to leave him behind for the first time in over 7 years.  He’d never slept away from home.  We left him with his soft music and favorite blue and yellow dragon plushie.  Over the weekend we bumped into walls, not able to focus on our work, barely able to focus on the care of our other kids, trying to bolster one another that the antibiotics would work, it was only a severe kidney infection. 

Your moons and signs marched forward, mechanically.  Endings, beginnings.  Our doctor and staff worked tirelessly, but as the infection was supressed, it became clear Oogway’s kidneys were failing.  We spent Monday afternoon with him, each of us holding onto a paw, petting his face, letting him know we were there, he hadn’t been abandonned, they wouldn’t let us stay with him but we so desperately wanted him to come home with us.  He seemed to rally, seemed the best in days, he wanted to fight on.  We wanted to give him every opportunity.

Tuesday came and went in agonizing slowness as a new treatment had been ordered in on Monday.  It arrived!  We under went a power outtage, delays, and then the irritation that the new treatment had yet to be given.  I was beside myself, ordering the staff member to stop talking with me, attend my Oogway!!! 

Agitated, we went to the beach as the sun was setting.  Long ago we spent almost every clear night on the beach, watching the sun slide out of sight in hopes of catching the green glimpse flash across the sky.  We watched, but I wished we wouldn’t see it, didn’t want to see one as I was frightened for Oogway, so desperately wanted him to rally. 

Endings.  It comes as no surprise, but our little man took it unto himself to take away the choice to ease him over.  The doctor said we would have had to make the choice in a couple of days as his kidneys had completely failed on Tuesday.  He slipped away.  Our little sweet coati boy had decided it would be too hard on us, and he slipped away quietly with as little fuss as he could. 

You speak of new beginnings at this time.  I’m a shell, numb, shattered and in shock.  In the vacuum after he left I sit and hold his dragon plush.  I don’t know or care about new beginnings, but the astrologers were right about endings.”

Atropos stumbled blindly in the cave, the faint glow from her siblings having disappeared quite a while ago. She was too small and young to provide any light of her own- and they knew it. They’d left her behind once again, knowing that their parents wouldn’t say anything about it. After all, who would care for the weak being that she was?

However, she continued to walk in what she hoped was the right path, wings catching on the unfamiliar stones. She turned, left, right, left, left, stepping down her trail of pure hope and guesswork.

After a while, she stumbled upon a large, open cave. Excited that she had finally made it home, she ran through the opening-

-only to find that the cave was empty, and that there was nothing waiting for her but an empty stone wall.

Atropos sighed, giving in and collapsing on the ground. She was lost, away from home, and no one was going to come look for her.

She didn’t cry, no, Atropos never cried. No one in her family cried. Too many years had engraved it as a sign of weakness in their minds, passing it down to every being that was born into that large, dysfunctional family.

So Atropos simply laid there, closing her eyes, debating whether to go out or to just keep still and wait for death to claim her. She opted for the latter, at least until she could drag herself out of the hole of self-pity that she’d dug herself. A hole, a place lower than any other she’d met. Her siblings would say that it was only fitting, as ones who couldn’t use their power belonged in low places such as that.

However, Atropos was startled when she saw a small glow light up the tunnel. Jumping up, she turned around, eager to see who had taken pity on her.

No one. No one was there. No footsteps- or any noise, really- down the long, winding tunnel. However, the glow still remained, taunting her with the false hope of someone that actually did care for her.

Wait. Glow?

Slowly, Atropos turned her head, staring at her own body. Sure enough, the deep purple scales were in fact the source of the faint glow. Unable to stop a rather unprofessional grin from splitting her face, Atropos ran back down the tunnel, using her new light to guide her. Maybe, just maybe this would allow her to be accepted.

Maybe, just maybe, this could be the start of her freedom.

Casimir was already feeling a little droopy in the wings by the sixth hour of his relatively tame ten hour shift, even if he was just doing standard appointments today rather than ER or diagnostics he was already feeling the hard turn around between yesterday’s 24 hour shift and this one. He may not need much sleep, but he still needed more than he’d gotten it seemed.
He just had no desire to mooch around their silent house wondering what had been important enough to call John into a warzone and if this would be the time he’d come back in more pieces than he’d left in, they’d survived enough battlefields that either of them tempting fate any further made his feathers itch with anxiety.
But John, loving cavalier bastard that he was, dove head first into anything he thought he was needed for, leaving Casimir to bury himself in work and research until he got that “All’s well I’m coming home” call that took the lead weight out of his chest.

When he’d become the nail-biting home-spouse he wasn’t actually sure.

He’d just finished a basic appointment, shifter took a nasty fall in their four-legged shape, didn’t feel the hairline fracture until they had to walk on two feet again, and was scribbling down notes in the patient file worrying his lip between his teeth and trying not to smudge the pen ink while he wrote when a mildly harried looking Mary from the front desk materialized in the corner of his vision, waving a offensively bright sticky note with some urgency.
“Casimir? Casimir? Hey your husband John is on line one, said he needed to talk to you ASAP?” She sounded a bit worried, though whether it was because of John calling or the number of times she might have had to have said his name he couldn’t have been sure. Mary was one of Delilah’s new underlings, and while she was nearly as good at her job as Delilah herself she hadn’t quite learned the rhythms yet, meaning she didn’t understand why the mention of John calling dropped the lead weight from Casimir’s chest down to the pit of his gut at terminal velocity.
John never called him in the middle of a shift and had to talk to him. Not once in these years even though emergencies. And this must have been written all over Casimir’s face because Mary’s brows knitted together in concern as she guided him over to the back of the closet the passed for a file room where most everyone on staff took vaguely private calls.
“John? You never call me at work, what happened?” Casimir didn’t even wait for a greeting when he picked up the phone.
“Well hello to you to Dovie.” It was him, and he sounded fine, tired, but fine, Though there was note of nervousness to the pet name that usually was said so easily that caught Casimir’s ear.
“What’s going on?”
“Well. Cas, it was a bit of a mess here, residential and badly overrun which is why I decided to be part of the response an-”
“Are you coming home?”
“Yes but there’s something else.”
Oh no.
“Did something happen? Who did you lose or were you hurt? Wait where was this? It isn’t out in-”
“Cas! Babe hold up a moment and let me explain okay?”
Casimir’s mouth shut with an audible snap, partly from irrational irritation and worry wriggling around in his chest and partly because even if that was a soft snap John so very rarely snapped at anyone it stung. On the other end of the call John exhaled heavily and he heard him shifting something around an muttering.
“Look, in the aftermath, we were digging out survivors and there was this really young baby girl found, her mother killed protecting her from the wreckage, no other family anyone knows about. But she’s a winged Nephilim Cas, Zee recognized her for what she was. She’s so little and you know what the system is like, they can hardly handle the older children not to mention the young ones. And they aren’t even close to being set up for a Nephilim of any age, particularly not a winged one with the medical requirements that might come along and someone said something about you being really the closest thing to an expert on angels in the mortal realm -” there was a brief pause and more shuffling on John’s end of the call, Casimir hoped he was taking a breath. “And, well, it seemed like the best thing to do was to bring her home with me, just until we’re sure she’ll do alright in the system or something.” He sounded nervous, trailing off into a hesitant silence for a response.
Casimir blinked blankly at the far wall. Was John saying he was bringing a small child home with him? How young was ‘really young’? And a winged Nephilim at that? The idea of a nephilim child in his house made Casimir’s wings feel prickly and his hair stand on end, intellectually he knew there was nothing inherently bad about them beyond whatever is was that made their health so fragile, at least not that any of the very few in history had shown. But he had the same strange ingrained mistrust for them the rest of his species had.

Except for perhaps Zevekiel from the sound of it, but he might have been even farther from his original species than Casimir himself.

Casimir realized he’d just been staring in silence and not responding for, how long had it been? When John breathing a heavy sigh cause the line to crackle.
“Casimir, look, I can’t just leave this kid alright?” Use of the full version of his chosen name brought Casimir’s brain sharply back to now with a decision made.
“No, no John it’s fine I’m just…” He shook his head even though the mage couldn’t see him, switching into a medical mode because that he could manage right now.
“Bring that child home with you and call when you arrive, I’ll check her out completely and well, we’ll sort out anything she’ll need while she’s staying with us from there. Did someone onsite check her out?”
Fifteen minutes of prep conversation later Casimir hung up the in house line and stepped out of the file closet looking more than a little dazed, wings hanging low and thoughts no all there, instead he was in his head running over lists and logistics and the more complex idea of having John come home with a child.
Fuck.

Delilah was leaning against the counter as he wandered by in a daze, not even acknowledging her curious greeting which was more than enough to get the lion of a nurse to look at him a little harder. She knew he’d just been on the phone with his husband, which never happened, so whatever this was had been big enough to rattle him. Delilah looked at the schedule and back at Casimir, yeah she didn’t need that vacancy on staff today.
“Casimir.” She repeated it until he finally looked at her stern expression squarely.
“Casimir go home. I don’t know what in the Realms John called you about but obviously you’re not going to be of any use here today and you’re already well past any reasonable amount of hours. Shoo.” He looked like he was about to protest but the middle aged half fae raised her clipboard threateningly. She was a solid foot and then some shorter but her look was enough to quell any half hearted protests Casimir might have been able to come up with and he found himself being shepherded to fetch his things and was out the door in only a few minutes, blinking at the doors closing behind them and Delilah’s kindly parting words telling him that anything he needed, he should call, whatever it was.
The seraph tugged at the two feathers hanging from his ear softly, the familiar texture helping him think. First so errands maybe, just so he wasn’t lurking at home waiting for a call, then. Well. After that who knows?
This, even if it was temporary, was going to be quite a change, if hopefully a small one.

Three years on -

There was the sound of an office door opening and it was followed by a familiar child’s laugh and equally familiar clomping footsteps.
Someday, Casimir liked to imagine, John wouldn’t walk like a dragon with it’s tail in a trap, someday.
Today wasn’t that day though as he thumped into the space Casimir had, a few years previously, claimed as an office for himself as the hospital building had expanded with Eir propped on his hip and laughing at something or other with the grey unicorn plush she couldn’t live with out clutched in her little hands.
In reality the room was just one of the now defunct clinic exam rooms, but that just had the added perk of running water and extra outlets, no water cooler visits needed and it made it far more alright for his family to just wander in like this. Though a glance at the clock told him they were wandering in because he’d lost track of time again.
“Regular shift hours eh?” John teased by way of a greeting, almost drowned out by Eir cackling he was running late with the unmitigated glee of a child catching a parent’s misstep. John grinned wider at that and lowered Eir to floor, allowing her to sprint the short distance to Casimir with her tiny partly fledged wings fluttering in excitement to tell him all about her day wrecking havoc with the help of ‘amalth’ the plush unicorn.
Tired as he was from today and every day before it, Casimir found his well of affection the tiny Nephilim was more vast and endless than even his scope of perspective and liked to rear it’s head at moments like this to make listening to the rambling tales he, admittedly, only caught half off between the speed she spoke and the occasional crisscrossing of languages, something that genuinely brightened his day. Whatever world his daughter saw he had no conception of, but it was interesting alright.
And to think, he’d once thought she was just a small change in his life.

Limerence couldn’t exactly say she was a creature that lingered. Lingered on decisions, lingered on action, lingered on… Well, anything. She was a creature of the moment; a jumper - not a thinker. No, she’d always lived on one philosophy. If you think something, do it. Still, there was one thing that had anchored her. Mara, with subtle emotions and habits that Limerence couldn’t quite understand. Mara, who was the opposite of her blunt and rash nature. Mara, who had left her in the middle of the night and had never returned.

Limerence couldn’t quite put into words how she had felt. She’d cried, but sad was too shallow. She’d spat out insults, swore, lost her appetite. Her anchor was gone, and she’d been left adrift. Nothing to pull her back to reality and say; “you’re being too foolish”. Ultimately, she was at a loss.

At a loss, for a couple of weeks.

“Yo, have a cigarette?”

They met at the sea. Limerence could remember the waves perfectly, the bite of the ocean air. Arcana was different. Very different. Whereas Mara had been subdued in comparison to herself, Arcana was more intense. Young and full of fire, her life as wild as her hair. She was passionate, a smooth talker and a live wire. Her intrigue simply started with the fact that Arcana was an akaname like herself, the pleasure at seeing her own kind. But it wasn’t quite that simple, as they spoke. This person whose life had been so far different from her own.

“I don’t smoke.”

They spoke about their lives at full. Arcana was young, been cheated on, slept under more roofs then she could count on two, three, four hands. A wanderer, jumping from one place to the next. She’d settled on here for a while, said she’d made friends at the local bar. Limerence was not quite as young, lived under the same roof her whole life. Travelled a few times, but she’d always returned to the place she deemed home. They shared the same sense of humour. Limerence felt it. Not romance, at all. A sense of bond, similar to what she would imagine sisters to be like.

“Hey, mind if I stay with you for a bit?”

Lim had accepted, of course. The arrangement was good, and the noise of someone else in the house settled her. She took Arcana under her wing, and gave them both something new. A guardian. A companion.

She missed her old life, from time to time. But Limerence wasn’t someone who liked to linger.

Day One:
Matthew blinked awake. What happened? He looked around to find himself on a cot in a tent, bandages wrapped around his chest and his left forepaw. Then he remembered the ambush. The team. He had to check to see that they were all alright.
    Matthew jolted to his feet. A rather foolish move he reflected as pain exploded in his chest, sending shards of agony through his whole body. He gasped as he collapsed on the floor of the tent.
  “What did he do that for?”
    “That looks like it really hurt.”
    “Should we help him?”
    Matthew didn’t recognize any of the voices surrounding him, but he was in too much pain to care. It was only a few moments before he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Day Two:
    “Is he dead?”
    “Nah, he’s just sleeping.”
    “He looks dead.”
    Matthew’s eyes popped open again and he looked around. Voices? No, he was alone. He tried to prop himself up on the cot, but all his effort produced was a groan of misery. The tend flap parted then.
    “What are you doing?” Eric the team’s medic asked. “Lay back down before you fall out of bed again and I have to get Colin and Jackie in here to get you back on it again.”
    Once again, memories swirled back to Matthew. His team had been on another expedition into the cave’s depths. It was just another routine job. Except this time they had stumbled upon a cult of ineki mages hiding in a series of tunnels. It had been a grueling two days of tense watching when they had been ambushed.
    “Is everyone alright?” he asked Eric. As one of the team’s scouts, Matt should have seen the attack coming. Which meant if something had happened to any of them, it was on him.
    “Just get some rest. We can talk about what happened later.” Eric answered. “I’ll be in with some food in a bit.”
    “Ooo, food. I’m hungry.”
    “We should get something to eat.”
    “I agree, but how do we get any without being seen?”

Day Six:
  Matt was hollow. Four seriously injured, including him. Three dead, including the Captain. That meant only five members of their twelve mycenian team were still on their feet. The return to the main settlements of the cave had been going slow. Matthew couldn’t do much other than sit in the back of the cart and be pulled along, ignoring the pain that wracked his torso whenever the cart lurched.
    “It’s so dreary today.”
    “Should we leave?”
    “But I like it here!”
    Matt ignored the voices that echoed in his head. They had been pestering him ever since the ambush. He didn’t dare mention them to any of the others though. They would think he was going insane. So, for the time being he watched the others for any signs that they were hearing the voices too.

Day Eleven:
They were only two days away from a settlement now.
    “Ow! Glen, that’s my tail!”
    “I’m sorry, there’s just not much room!”
    “Would you two stop bickering? I’m trying to sleep.”
    They were getting harder and harder to ignore. And there were always three. Not always the same three, Matt noted, but always three. Still, they couldn’t go more than half an hour without making some remarks or striking up a conversation with each other. Most of what they said was rather senseless. The others were beginning to ask him questions about his health and give him strange looks. Matthew did his best to act natural.

Day Fourteen:
He’d been in the city for a day now. The city leaders who had sent his team out questioned him about what had happened during the ambush. Matthew had avoided most of the questions insisting he had been knocked out early on in the fighting. Apparently he had given them reason to doubt his statements. He was being held in a hospital for observation and further questioning upon his recovery.
    “This place smells terrible.”
    “The food is just as awful.”
    “It’s not that bad!”

Day Twenty-Five:
Snapped. Mentioned the voices. Now committed to a facility.

Day Thirty-One:
He wasn’t really insane, was he?
  “What is he doing in a place like this?”
    “How should I know? Ineki do the weirdest things sometimes.”
    “I don’t think he can leave, guys…”

Day Forty:
Today was the day he would do it. Today was the day Matthew had gathered the resolve to talk back. He hadn’t been able to deny their existence, but never answering had made them feel more distant, less real. However, today he would face the problem dead on.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” he asked the air.
  “Who is he talking to?”
  “How should I—”
  “I’m talking to you,” Matt cut in. “Who are you? And what do you want with me?”
    You can hear us? A voice cam back after a moment of silence.
    “Of course I can,” Matt groaned miserably. “Now who are you?”
    That was when three little mice crawled out from under his bed.
    “I’m Channcie, this is my friend Glen and sister Sally.” The lead mouse said flatly.

Jacq - This entry was incredible, Jacq, and informative as well! While I knew some basics about Laika’s story, I never knew many of the details. After reading I was prompted to do some research, and oof. ;; I really enjoyed the way your Laika associated the rising heat with the small, loving, warm moments she was shown. Lovely tribute!
Nyhkan - Sand was such a cutie! I enjoyed that the opportunity for change fell, quite literally, just at her feet, and that she had the courage to try for it. :) I hope her experiences with William are as exciting as the stories she loved to dream and write about! I’d be very interested in reading more about them in the future.@Ny
Losty - I’m a sucker for werewolf stories, especially those where the transformation is seen as a regular part of life or rite of passasge rather than terrifying. Laylah’s youthful excitement and curiosity were a lot of fun to read, and I’m glad she has her family’s warm support! I hope she can always find such joy in life - great character!
Jenny151618 - I am so glad Bruce let himself go for this opportunity, even if he was frightened at the possible backlash from his peers! It’s so important to accept yourself, even if it means opening yourself to possible criticism. Not only did he help his family, but it sounds like he grew immensely at this competition. :) Thanks for sharing!
OregonCoast - I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of Oogway, Oregon, and know what this piece must have meant for you to write. :( A loss of one so close is a difficult change to accept or to continue past, but I hope for healing for all involved, and that Oogway himself is peacefully resting now.
[@Shepherd] - Wow! I was pretty nervous when John called, and definitely wasn’t expecting a child to be the resulting change! That’s quite an undertaking; thank goodness this change turned out for the better and no one was in trouble. :) Eirian sounds adorable - I’m sure she keeps her adoptive parents hands full! Awesome entry & cool characters, Shepherd!
Condor - “While she learned to submit, she did not learn to forget.” - what a great line. 8| This entry was awesome, Condor, and the conclusion was marvelously written. I am impressed that Keket took hold of her own destiny so forcefully. Does she ever regret her decision? I imagine she doesn’t regret her freedom, but does she regret the means? Intriguing character!
diaveborn - I love how your entry this month is Lyn juxtaposed over the ocean! It gives the sense that while remembering her lost loved one, Lyn feels adrift, or lost perhaps. It’s a great composition and seems to represent well how one feels when coping with a loss. Nice work!
Zukana - What a cool awakening story! The imagery in your piece was so vivid, it felt as though I was experiencing everything Aeon was as he made his way through the cave and into the sunlight. I imagine it must be incredibly disorienting to cease being and then awaken somewhere completely new. I’m glad he has a partner to help navigate his new existence!
Oxton - Moving on is so hard, especially when its forced upon you so quickly and without explanation. It’s great that Limerence was able to find some healing in the presence of another. This was a great entry to read, and I am impressed with Lim’s ability to push forward even in her confusion and loss.

Pyrrha Oh wow, what a great turn of events for Atropos! They say it gets darkest before dawn, and I really love how Atropos became her own light at the end of the tunnel and found the way forward within herself. :) Very nice work!
Hawkins Lab accidents are always cause for alarm, especially when you wake up as a cat! I really enjoyed this story, and I’m so glad it worked out for the best. Newfound shapeshifting must be a big change to adjust to, and I’m glad Billie learned to control it. Hopefully she doesn’t cause Ellis too much grief; I can only imagine how much fun being a cat in a lab must be. :)
Lala Adjustment from a combat situation to civilian life can be tough in the best of circumstances - when accompanied by grave injury as well as the restructuring that comes with a life’s dream coming to an end, I can only imagine how James will work through these things, hopefully toward healing and comfort. I hope that Eliza is able to help him toward that end! It sounds like she’s ready to be his rock and support through everything to come. Thank you for sharing this!
Azurrys Your piece took me on quite a journey, with many heavy themes and events. Regaining consciousness with nothing to go on but a hint of a memory and current context seems very jarring and disorienting, and I’m glad at least the younger group was able to escape. I’m interested in hearing more about what’s become of Malcolm-not-Malcolm, and what awaits him in the future. Thanks so much for sharing your story!
Hyasynthetic You’ve done really well writing the dread and suspense into this piece - it was immersive and tense, nicely done. That said, what’s happened to Will’s family is awful. That’s a heck of a way to send a message, and I hope Will is able to bring some sort of peace to his family.