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Aelia, at her young five years of age, still didn’t fully understand what her parents and the rest of her family aboard the express did when they told her they would need to leave her with her big sis Bailu while they worked. Usually, when she asked, her mom would tell her about some of the adventures they would go on and what they did but when she asked if she could come with them she would always be met by a strong “no” that not even her best puppy eyes could get past.
This, like many other times, was how she found herself passing the time in Bailu’s office studying, reading or doodling. Sometimes both of them would go out on walks around the Alchemy Commission and she would try and get Bailu to take her to the giant tree over the water but she always said that was something for her dad to do first.
She was really getting tired of having all these questions and not nearly enough answers.
This was by far the longest time she’d been away from her parents, a couple times she had been able to call them and talk to them for a while but it wasn’t the same as being with them. She also missed Toasty, the little chimera surely missed her too after she’d been gone from her home for so long.
She missed Pom Pom too…
She wanted to go home…
It was then that Bailu walked into the lounge of her office, smiling as she plopped down in the seat in front of her across the table she was working on. “Hey Aelia, I have great news! Your parents are coming to pick you up tomorrow.”
All her sadness vanished in an instant. “Really?!”
“Yup! I just got off the phone with your mom and they told me they are just wrapping up their latest mission. There are things that are not completely done so your dad and most of the crew won’t be stopping by but your mom just told me she’ll be coming to get you so you can then go back to Planarcadia with her and meet up with the others.”
Aelia stood up, her little tail swishing back and forth excitedly. “Tomorrow?”
“That’s right, now, what do you say we go get some immortals delight as a little treat for how good you’ve been all this time?”
This day was continuing to get better and better. “Yes please!”
Aelia stood by the dragon tree of the Alchemy commission, practically bouncing with her little backpack on and another bag carrying her clothes and other things sitting beside her. After another minute of looking around her eyes finally landed on her mom as she walked around a corner. Without waiting another second she dashed towards her mom. “Mama!”
Stelle immediately kneeled down and happily took the impact of her full speed hug, barely managing to catch herself before returning it full force.
Planarcadia was supposed to be a simple stop of maybe four or five days where the most excitement they would get was supposed to be watching the Phantasmoon games play out on their own, instead their stay had extended into a multi week ordeal where they had all gotten deeply involved and even had to fight yet another lord ravager as well as deal with the revived Voracity husk that dwelled deep inside the world in canvas.
As if Irontomb hadn’t been enough.
No number of years would be enough to get over that particular mess and all the scars it left on the entire crew, so when Asat Pramad showed up she knew things were definitely not going to go as they had hoped. There had been times when fighting Fulwish and Asat Pramad that she had thought back to Aelia, worrying about if they would be able to make it out and get back to her, those thoughts had kept her awake many a night after they managed to wrap everything up and while Dan Heng had always been there to offer comfort she knew that the same thoughts were plaguing his mind when things started taking a turn for the worse.
Himeko’s sudden disappearance and the fight that ensued right after, having that dice head toy with her in his little question game that, while it had served to buy the crew time, she still felt like she had been led by the nose that entire time by the annoying lord ravager.
Then there was the fight.
She closed her eyes, trying to focus her mind on the feeling of finally having Aelia in her arms, but the memories flashed unbidden. The massive form of Asat Pramad’s three masks surrounding them, the way he’d yanked the express from the skies and slammed it into the ground causing fire and debris to surround them all. She lost sight of everyone, only vaguely hearing their cries over the sound of bending metal and crashing earth.
The heat around her had only been surpassed by the fire blooming from her chest, the careful balance that had kept the Stellaron in check shattering as everything broke around her, her mind mourning the fact that she would not have the chance to say goodbye to her daughter as the heat continued to grow closer and closer to that threshold of no return.
Then, Himeko was hugging her.
Despite the fact that she had managed to channel the wishpower to save her and the rest of the crew, the conversation she had with her for what they both thought would be the navigator’s final goodbye still haunted her.
The look of sadness in her eyes that still somehow managed to shine with hope as she passed to her the messages she wanted the rest of the crew to get from her.
It was terrifying.
And then, as if that hadn’t been enough already, after they thought they were free from Asat Pramad’s scheme the Voracity’s husk awakened and all but threw everything on its head for another couple days.
It was too much, they had just gotten free of all the mess the day before and Yao Guang had suggested they take some time to rest but Stelle could not take one more day away from her daughter when more than once in just the last couple of days she was sure that she would never get to see her again, never see her grow into the amazing person she knew she would become.
Her arms tightened around Aelia, golden tail coming around and wrapping around them both as she felt the sting of tears on the corners of her eyes.
“Mama?”
She pulled back, pushing back the overwhelming feelings as she took in the sight of her daughter’s confused expression. “I’m sorry sweetheart, I just…missed you a lot.”
The girl smiled, throwing her arms around her mom again. “I missed you too.”
Stelle sighed, taking in a deep breath full of Aelia’s powdery fresh scent that was hers only and always served as a balm for her frayed nerves.
She pulled away again, tail falling back behind her as she quickly wiped the unshed tears from her eyes. “Are you ready to go home?”
Aelia’s smile grew impossibly wider.”Yes!”
Stelle nodded, standing back up and looking to Bailu who until then had been content enough to let the two of them reunite. She had told the healer through sporadic messages about their delay and, in loose terms, what had caused it. She had been understanding, of course, and when Stelle told her that she would be coming to get Aelia she was happy just knowing that she and the rest of the crew were fine.
“Thank you for taking care of her Bailu.”
The healer nodded. She had grown taller in the last few years and was now a fine young Vidyadhara that carried herself with confidence and ease. “It was no problem. I like having her around, she’s always showing interest in my work and has shown interest in learning some of the healing cloudhymn arts so who knows, once she’s a little older I’ll start taking these opportunities to teach her as my own little student.”
And Stelle would love nothing more. If it made Aelia happy and Bailu was happy to help then she would support her daughter. “Sounds like a plan.” she looked down at Aelia who still clung to her as if she were about to disappear any second. “So, you want to learn Bailu’s healing magic?”
The girl nodded, eyes full of determination that was thinly veiled by the little embarrassment that came with being put on the spot like this. “Yeah...”
“Well, I don’t see why not, I’m sure your dad will be happy to hear that’s an interest of yours.”
She looked up at her mom, then at Bailu, then back at her mom. “Really?!”
“Of course sweetheart. Now, we have things to do and we can’t keep the express waiting for too long so go ahead and start saying your goodbyes.”
Dan Heng watched Stelle and Aelia walk over the dock in Seafeld city, the little girl pointing at the fish in the water as her tail moved back and forth excitedly in a way that made him smile.
He felt a presence behind him, so unmistakable now that he didn’t even need to turn towards the new arrival. “I thought you would be gone by now.”
“Hmm…Silverwolf heard something about a new game being released and for once she decided to actually buy it instead of stealing it through her usual ways.”
“And so you’re stuck here waiting, I assume.”
“Something like that.” Blade looked towards the docks, seeing Stelle with a little girl that was not only distinctly Vidyadhara, but shared an unmistakable resemblance to the man beside him. The breeze ruffled his hair and the long ends of his red coat as he simply continued to look at the scene before him. “So…that’s her, then.”
Dan Heng nodded. “Her name is Aelia, though, I’m sure you already knew that.”
“Elio never mentioned her name. He only told us a few years ago when she was born that it had happened. Said it was the first time he was surprised.”
Dan Heng turned to look at Blade. “So…even he didn’t know?”
The man shook his head, crossing his arms. “I don’t know what you did but…just know, if you had hurt Stelle there would be no corner of the universe where you would be able to hide from me.”
What? “I don’t…wait, you were chasing me before anyway, how would that have been any different?”
“Because before I was still following Elio’s plan, if you had hurt her then not even he and his plans for the universe would’ve kept you safe.”
Dan Heng was confused, he knew Stelle had been with the Stellaron Hunters for some unknown amount of time before ending up in Herta Space Station with amnesia and joining them aboard the express, he dared not ask what exactly was the relationship she used to have with Blade but judging by how much he seemed to actually care and how protective he was being he could only guess that there was some closeness to them.
The difference was that said closeness felt more like the same sort of protective instinct borne from love he had for his own daughter.
Something to ask about later, perhaps.
He turned back to look at his mate and daughter. Stelle was kneeling by the edge of the dock as Aelia sat down, dangling her feet over the edge as she looked down at the water while her tail continued to swish back and forth with joy. “I would never hurt her. Of that you can be sure. Those two are everything to me and I will always protect them.”
Blade uncrossed his arms, looking up at the bright sky. “Good.”
Silence washed over them both for a bit. At one point Blade had turned his gaze back down the docks and saw as Stelle chased Aelia around, the little girl laughing and hopping around trying to avoid being caught by her mom. Dan Heng heard the soft ghost of a laugh and out of the corner of his eye caught the softness in Blade’s eyes, the small smile that was just barely tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Blade…would you like to meet her?”
The Stellaron Hunter looked over at the Vidyadhara beside him, surprise just barely tinting his gaze. “Meet her?”
“It’s clear to me that at one point in the past you considered Stelle part of your family with the other hunters, I will not pry, it’s not my place. But I can clearly see how much you care for her, she can still be your family if you want it. Same goes for Aelia too.” A small shine of mischief glowed in Dan Heng’s eyes as he crossed his arms. “I’m sure she would love to have another uncle.”
Blade narrowed his eyes slightly, his mouth turning into an annoyed frown as he glared at the man beside him. Before he could retort, however, approaching footsteps made both men turn to Stelle and Aelia as they walked over.
Aelia was still smiling broadly but her demeanor became more subdued the moment she spotted Blade, hiding behind her mom as she continued to look over the tall man. Dan Heng kneeled down, reaching his hand out towards his daughter. “Sunshine, come here. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
Aelia reached out, taking her dad’s hand and walking out in front of him, switching her gaze back to the tall scary man in front of her as Dan Heng wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “This is Blade, he’s an old acquaintance of your mom and I.” He leaned closer to Aelia, speaking a little lower. “He’s also your uncle.”
The girl snapped her attention back to her dad. “Uncle?”
Stelle immediately read the situation and smiled. “He might look scary but he’s actually a big softie.”
Blade turned an unamused look on Stelle who simply shrugged with a smile. In an attempt to look less scary to the little Vidyadhara he crouched down, extending his hand out to her. Looking at the little girl he couldn’t help the way his eyes softened, that barely there smile Dan Heng had seen earlier returning. “It’s good to meet you, little one.”
Aelia took a small step forwards, taking Blade’s hand in her own smaller one. “Nice to meet you uncle Blade.” She still seemed unsure about him, like something didn’t feel quite right about this new person, but he seemed nice enough for now so she would look past that weird feeling.
Blade let out an amused huff, smile growing just barely more noticeable. The girl was cute, that was an undeniable fact, her eyes that were mirrors of Stelle's, her long dark hair hanging loose which created a deep contrast with her tiny golden horns that protruded from her head and that teal tail with golden fur that flowed with the small flicks she was doing. She was the spitting image of both the parents and he could tell that she was well loved by them and the rest of the express crew, not that he had any doubts of that of course.
Stelle moved closer to Aelia, hand on her shoulder. “Hey, did you know uncle Blade was the one that made your dad’s and the General’s weapons?”
Her little eyes widened when she looked at Stelle, wonder and surprise in those citrine pools. “Really?”
Her mom nodded. “Yup, a long long time ago, but he did.”
Aelia turned back to Blade, her smile now fully on display as she focused on this new piece of information.
She had seen her dad’s spear only a few times while he trained but every time she always thought how it was really pretty and one day she would like to have one of her own. The general’s massive sword-spear that she didn’t know the name of was also very pretty. She gave a little jump, tail swishing fast behind her. “Uncle Blade, can you make me a spear like my papa’s?”
Blade’s eyes widened, looking up at Dan Heng who, to his credit, looked equally shocked. He stood up again, shaking his head. “Aelia that’s— ”
“Of course.”
Stelle and Dan Heng looked at Blade, speaking in unison. “What?!”
Blade stood up, crossing her arms. “I can make her a spear.”
Aelia jumped, excitement clearly visible. “Yay! Thank you uncle Blade!”
Dan Heng pinched the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath before turning to Blade again. “Blade, she’s five…”
“Perfect age to start learning the trade, then. I’m more surprised that you haven’t trained her on anything yet.”
“She watched our training sessions, I’ve play-sparred with her a couple times but…she’s still too young for the real deal.”
“I’ll forge her a spear, I hope that by the time it’s ready you’ve taught her to at least hold it properly.”
Before Dan Heng could argue again he felt small hands wrapping around him, when he looked down Aelia was looking at him with pleading eyes. “Please papa, I want to learn to fight like you and mama!”
A smirk painted the Stellaron Hunter’s features. “See?”
The man turned to Stelle, who had grown quiet. “Some help here Stelle?”
“Well…I actually think he has a point…”
“What?”
“I know she’s young but…it wouldn’t hurt to teach her at least the basics for now. You know more than anyone else how risky our lifestyle is.”
“I…” She had a point, just a few days ago they were still recovering from the aftermath of the fight against Asat Pramad and all the accompanying trauma that had hit them all like a truck. Sometimes he saw the times Stelle almost died or got hurt in his nightmares and he knew Stelle was suffering from similar visions. Yet…a part of him wanted to keep his precious daughter away from all of that, keep her sheltered in a little bubble where she would always be safe and never learn that the universe is a much crueler place than she knows.
But he knew that doing that to her would not be fair, or healthy. She would need to learn eventually, he and Stelle would have to slowly break to her that fact. But for now…maybe teaching her enough so that she’s not entirely defenseless would not be too bad an idea.
He sighed, conceding. “Alright, I’ll teach you how to fight and defend yourself.”
The girl’s eyes grew impossibly brighter, tail moving even faster. “Yay! Can we start now?”
“We’ll start when we’re all back home and we can recover for a couple days, your mom and I are still pretty tired from our last mission.”
“Well…okay, that’s fine too!” She turned to Blade with the same bright smile. “When can I have my spear?”
Blade smiled, reaching down and ruffling the top of her head. “The best weapons take time and care to craft, and I have my own work to attend to, so it will be a while. But once it’s done I’ll let D— …your father know, and we can meet up so I can give it to you.”
Stelle looked down, pensive. Blade noticed. “What’s wrong?”
“Well…she’s still small, I don’t think she’ll be able to haul around a spear well enough to do anything right now.”
“I will make her a smaller version that will last her a few years. When she outgrows it I’ll make a full size one to keep from then on.”
Dan Heng leaned down, picking up Aelia and carrying her in his arms. “Are you sure? We don’t want to take time from— “
“It’s fine. I’m doing this out of my own desire to help her…to support her, I guess.”
Stelle smiled. “Well, I’m glad. She likes you which means we’re going to have to figure out how this whole thing is going to work between the hunters and the express now that I’m sure Aelia will ask to see you every now and then.”
Blade smiled. “I’m sure that won’t be a problem.”
Three weeks later a package was delivered to the express during a regular routine stop at Herta Space Station. Welt brought the box in and everyone gathered in the parlor car once they realized that it was addressed to Aelia. With everyone gathered Stelle and Dan Heng stood beside Aelia as she unlocked the lid and opened the long ornate dark wood box. With the lid fully open they could see now that it had a royal blue plush interior where a brand new spear was sitting inside.
The spear was the right size for Aelia’s small size, it was made mainly out of a dark metal that gleamed under the parlor car’s lights. The butt end of the spear was adorned with a deep blue design engraved with bright silver patterns resembling dragon scales. The blade was forged around an ornate base made of the same deep blue metal and silver design in the shape of a pointed tip from which the actual blade sprung outwards from the sides near the end of the ornate tip in a diamond shape, the main body of the blade sprouted from the upwards facing side of the diamond-shaped silver blade in an outward curve before bending sharply back towards the tip and converging to form the ends of the blade.
On top of the spear was a single note with one word written on it.
Sun carver.
All in all, it was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship that could only have come from one person and one person only. Stelle looked at Dan Heng with a knowing look as Aelia carefully pulled the spear out, marveling at the design as she looked it up and down with wide eyes.
Sunday leaned forwards, scanning the scene in front of him. “That is a beautiful spear.” He turned towards Dan Heng. “I know you started teaching Aelia the basics, did you order this for her?”
Before he had a chance to answer, Stelle jumped in. “Oh no, this was a gift from Blade!”
Almost in unison the entire crew turned wide eyes on her as they spoke. “Blade?!”
Dan Heng sighed.
And here I wanted to be more careful breaking the news that Blade had become Aelia’s new uncle after our stop in Planarcadia…well, no use now.
“It’s alright, we met up with Blade before leaving Planarcadia, Aelia took a liking to him and so did Blade towards her. He’s…also Aelia’s uncle now, so if he drops by unannounced there is no need to worry.”
This cracked open a whole can of worms that took Dan Heng another half hour to explain and clarify while March and Stelle watched over Aelias as she slowly went over the forms Dan Heng had taught her with her new spear. All in all everything went well and now at least the crew wouldn’t get jumpscared by a Stellaron Hunter suddenly appearing aboard the express.
That night Dan Heng ended up spending a while longer with Aelia in the training car, getting her used to the weight of a real spear while going through the motions of basic defense forms that would be easy enough for her to handle at her young age.
When he saw she was starting to get tired he called it a night, walking over to Aelia while vanishing his own spear. “Alright sunshine, that’s enough for today.”
The girl let out a breath, tired but still with a smile on her face and bright eyes as she looked up at her dad. “Did I do good?”
The dragon smiled, eyes softening as he reached over to ruffle the hair on the top of her head. “You did great. Liking the new spear?”
“Yeah! It’s really pretty and it feels good.”
No surprise there, Dan Heng had waved it around a bit and immediately saw how well balanced it was, Blade had done an amazing job, of course. He shifted his gaze to the spear, a thought occurring. “Hey, would you like to learn how to put away your weapon the same way your mom and I do?”
Any bit of tiredness that had been in her body left her immediately. “Yeah!”
Dan Heng laughed, standing up and summoning his spear again. “Alright so, people use different ways to conceal and carry their weapons with them, one of the ways we Vidyadhara are able to do it is via our Cloudhymn. Do you remember when I taught you about that?”
The girl nodded, still smiling.
“Okay, so I know you haven’t done this before but try reaching deep inside you. You’l feel a thread of energy, pull at it and see what happens.”
Aelia closed her eyes, brows pinching in concentration. After a few seconds of silence she snapped her eyes open, a barely there glow shining in her citrine gaze as she looked at her dad. “I feel it!”
“Good, now, hold your spear firmly. Imagine a little space inside you, like a pocket, and try to put your spear in that pocket.”
She nodded, closing her eyes again as she tightened her grip on her spear, holding it out. She huffed once, twice, then her brows pinched further before the blue spear vanished in a blur of blue sparks. Aelia opened her eyes, shocked when she saw the spear was gone. “Sun carver is gone!”
“Yeah you did it, great job sweetheart.”
Her joy suddenly turned to worry at the flip of a switch. “Wait, papa how do I get it back?”
The girl started panicking, her tail flicking behind her in agitation. Dan Heng kneened in front of her, taking her little hands in his own. “It’s alright, take a few breaths and calm down.”
The girl did, closing her eyes and managing to slow her beating heart, yet she still had a look of apprehension and fear. “Okay, now, the same way you visualized putting your spear in that little pocket you’re going to visualize pulling it out. Look for that familiar energy that is unique to your weapon and pull on it.”
Aelia nodded, closing her eyes again. A couple minutes went by and Dan Heng was unsure as to if she would be able to do it, it had been impressive enough that she had managed to put it away on her first try to begin with but pulling a weapon out was a harder endeavor. He was about to tell Aelia just that when a loud clang made both Vidyadhara snap their attention behind the little girl. There, sitting innocently on the floor, was Sun carver.
Aelia’s smile returned full force, turning around and picking up the spear with relieved joy. “I did it! Did you see papa? I got it out again!”
Dan Heng was impressed, actually, that would be a bit of an understatement. He had a feeling his daughter would be a natural at handling Cloudhymn and combat once she got older if she was managing these feats on the first try at her young age of five. “I saw it, you did very very well. It takes most people a few tries to manage it so, while your aim was a little off, you still did amazing.”
“I want to show mama!”
This pulled a laugh out of him as he stood back up. “We can show her later, first, you need a bath. It’s getting late so come on, let’s head back up so you can clean up.”
“Okay!”
They started walking back, Aelia in front leading the way while Dan Heng followed. He couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he watched his daughter almost bouncing with barely restrained joy, her tail energetically swishing behind her in wide arcs.
He hadn’t intended to have her training this early on but he had to give it to Blade, he’d been right. Aelia was also enjoying it a lot more than he would’ve imagined and was really determined to become better at it which made pride fill his chest at seeing how quickly she was able to pick the craft up almost as if it were second nature.
Maybe he shouldn’t be as surprised as he was, Stelle was an amazing warrior and he was not bad himself so maybe it should’ve been logical for Aelia to take after both of them in that regard. It was somewhat surprising that she went for a spear, he had thought before that when the time came she would go for a bat or a lance like her mom considering how her gaze would light up whenever she was watching them train and her little eyes would mostly follow Stelle’s moves before asking her to let her have a try.
Of course, with how big Stelle’s lance was, the girl had not even been able to pick it up.
Well, whatever the case was, he was secretly glad that she had chosen a spear.