Crown

Hecate

A portal opened up in Illya's room and everyone stumbled through it. The doctor was still inside with the baby. He watched as Sora sat Illya down on the bed. As soon as Sin stepped through the portal, he sped away, leaving Avarice to show Kashino to where he'd be staying. Nikiro followed them out of the room. Bellany introduced herself and the doctor placed the baby in Illya's arms. She squirmed in her mother's arms, still, not a single sound came from her lips. Bellany spent a good while examining the baby. Almost an hour had gone by before she finally reached a verdict. 

"I can give you a potion. It's supposed to stabilize her shi. When she gets older you may be able to stop using it. Until then, however, it's best to give it to her daily to prevent her from withering away, be it through excessive bursts of random power or lack there of."

Illya breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that her baby would be okay, at least, relatively speaking.

Ri-is poked his head into the room and smiled."Mom! Dad! You're back!"

He stepped inside, followed by Yukimi, Ea and Tah Min.

"Yep. Looks like your little sister's gonna be okay!" Said Sora.

"That's great news! Oh! That reminds me, what are you going to name her?" Asked Ri-is.

Sora and Illya looked at each other. They glanced down at the baby, who snuggled close to Illya.

"...Hecate." Said Illya quietly. "Let's name her Hecate."

A big grin formed on Sora's face as he poked Hecate's cheek. "I like that!"

With the whole ordeal with the baby now settled, everyone finally relaxed.

"Oh! That's right! Mother, father, earlier we found letters in Ast—"

Yukimi and Tah Min slapped their hands over Ea's mouth and laughed nervously. Sora perked up when he heard Ea speak.

"What was that about Astrid?"

"Oh nothing, she went out with Tobi earlier and we just thought she'd be really relieved to hear that Hecate is going to be fine," said Ri-is.

Sora smiled. "I bet!"

Ri-is leaned in closer to Ea so Sora couldn't hear and whispered. "You know how much of a daddy's girl Astrid is. If you tell him that Astrid's been talking to a boy, you know dad is going to lose his mind. He might just drop dead if he sees what they've been talking about."

Ea thought for a moment and conceded, realizing that Sora would most likely die of shock if he heard that his precious baby girl was being courted in such a passionate way, and even worse, that she was reciprocating. Yukimi and Tah Min let go of him and watched as everyone was swiftly distracted from his outburst with talks of the baby.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Avarice finished showing Kashino around. It was easy because his tour was mostly comprised of Nikiro talking and explaining things and Avarice just guiding them to their next stop. When they were finished, they returned to the courtyard. In a streak of bad luck, Sin just so happened to be walking through it to get to his room. Avarice and Sin made eye contact and both of them froze, wide-eyed and mouth agape. Unfortunately, before Avarice could signal to run, or at least distract Nikiro and Kashino, Nikiro had already spotted Sin.

"Sin! Are you feeling better now that you're back home?" He asked worriedly.

Sin scratched his head nervously. He was very tempted to just run away, but he knew that if he did, Nikiro would just ask more questions and all he wanted now was to just forget everything up until this point. Kind of hard to do when the person you're trying to forget keeps trying to talk to you.

"Uh...yeah! I'm fine now. Guess I was just a little homesick...you guys uh...seem to be having fun!"

Nikiro and Kashino came closer. "Yeah! I was just gonna take Kashino to the forest you showed me when I first got here! Remember? The one where you helped me pick flowers that he might like?"

Sin frowned, mentally scolding himself. He knew that would come back to bite him.

"Y-yeah...sounds great...you'll really like it there!" He said, trying to make an attempt at talking to Kashino.

Kashino smiled. "I bet."

"Avarice? Can you take him there? Just take him to the pond and I'll meet him there later. I have to do something first," asked Nikiro.

Avarice groaned. He really wasn't up to doing anyone any favours, but with the awkward tension rising, he would give anything to escape right now.

"Sure thing. Follow me." His monotone voice, clearly displaying how unenthusiastic he was about the whole thing.

Nikiro smiled and waved as they watched Avarice and Kashino leave. Like a nervous tick, Sin bit his bottom lip. He turned on his heel, ready to make a break for it but was surprised when Nikiro swung his arm around his shoulders.

"Nu-uh. You're not running away this time." Sin briefly panicked at how close they were, but he didn't say anything, prompting Nikiro to continue. "I don't want to make it seem like I'm prying or anything but I can tell you're not being entirely honest with me and I'm just worried about you."

Sin sighed. "Look, I really am just very tired. I'm sure after a good nights rest I'll be fine again. You don't have to worry every single time I don't feel like talking to you. I have other things to do too you know."

He didn't mean to sound irritated or harsh, but he couldn't help the way his voice shook into a stern, almost cold tone. He watched Nikiro's face contort into a pained expression and Sin felt himself die a little inside. Nikiro let his arm fall limp and it slid off of Sin's shoulders.

"Okay...sorry for bothering you then..."

He averted his eyes and Sin did the same. While the conversation seemed to be over, neither of them moved to leave. So when an unexpected drifter passed by, she had a front-row seat to the awkwardness that had unfolded.

"Um...am I interrupting something?"

Both men lifted their heads to see a very confused Dez holding a small bouquet of flowers in her hand.

"Dez! Great timing! I was just going to look for you!" Sin exclaimed.

"I thought you were going to take a rest..." Nikiro said irritably.

He was less angry that Sin had brushed him off so coldly and more angry at the fact that someone who he considered a very close friend, was now spinning him in circles and he simply couldn't understand why. Sin stood silent for a moment before walking up to Dez and linking arms with her.

"Like I said, I have other things to do." He began pulling Dez away, leaving Nikiro behind.

Sin was holding Dez's arm with such force that she was certain there would be a mark when he let go. From what little she knew of him, she did understand that it was very out of character for him. After all, Sin always made it a point to never use such a display of force against any lady. Knowing that something was wrong, she let him whisk her away. For the split second that she looked back, she noticed the way Nikiro's shoulders slumped and even though she didn't know what was going on, she felt bad for the man and as she walked away, she could tell from the sorrowful sight of Sin's back, that Sin felt even worse.