It almost felt as if Marian was determined to drag all of my issues up so we could work on them as she looked at me with complicated eyes after her question. I wasn't even sure where to begin, what about us? It was true that our relationship had grown colder and more distant the longer I'd been at school, but I never really knew how to bring up the subject to her before. Did she want me to just bring it up casually like it was no different to asking about the weather?

I wasn't even sure of my own feelings on the issue, let alone how she would react. I could say with confidence that I loved her, the problem was with the extent that love reached. I'd fought long and hard to keep it at the love between a mother and child, but there was always a small part of me that wanted to be more, that whispered she wasn't my real mother so it was okay.

Just as I opened my mouth to speak our desert was brought before us along with the check. As the waiter left I once again opened my mouth to speak only to be interrupted by Marian.

"Before you answer there is something you see, but it will need to wait until after we leave here. I hope you'll think about this seriously." With that we ate the desert in silence before taking the check to the front and paying. The sun had set not that long ago so the darkness was just setting in as dusk faded and was replaced with the magic lights of the city as Marian led the way through the gradually quieting city.

We eventually made our way to an out of the way building that I'd never seen before, however Marian didn't hesitate as she opened the door and walked in, so I followed behind into the building as well. The interior was shop-like with various rectangular plates with numbers etched into them on shelves along with a counter where a female clerk sat who welcomed us as we came in. I didn't know what exactly was happening but Marian grabbed a plate etched with the number 36 and brought it to the clerk with me following confusedly.

A short exchange later of words later Marian guided me to the side of the counter to a narrow stairwell that both ascended and descended. She led me upwards to the third floor into a larger but still narrow hallway that looked like that of an old fashioned hotel, nearly identical to the two floors I'd seen on the way up here. It didn't take Marian long to find the room marked 36 and placing the plate on what I now saw was a handle-less door. The plate then morphed into a handle allowing the door to be opened and once the door was swung open the plate reformed into a plate in Marian's hand.

The door led to a small room that had the basic functions to work as a place of living, but it was otherwise sparse and bareboned. I was unable to figure out why Marian had brought me here even when she sat down on the bed and began to undress. 

"What are you doing?" I blurted out flustered as her simple blouse was unbuttoned revealing the upper center her abdomen and chest which was partially covered by the bra she was wearing.

Marian's hands didn't stop as she pulled off the blouse and began working on her skirt. "I said there was something I needed to show you before. It isn't something I can just show around the house or in the public, but this place has a good reputation for keeping the secrets of its clientele."

There were several questions that I wanted to ask but before I could Marian's skirt fell down revealing the entirety of her figure. Just as I remembered she was voluptuous with thick curves in all the right spots. However, there were two abnormalities, one was that she strangely seemed younger than when I'd previously seen her. I didn't actually know her age as it had never been specified to me, even on when we celebrated her birthday, but she had to be at least thirty-five, but I was almost certain that she was in her early to mid forties. There had once been the signs that her body was aging as her skin was becoming loose and creases formed, yet now I realized her skin was smooth and flawless, as if she was still a young woman.

The second abnormality was a faint design I couldn't quite make out near her crotch, it was as if she had tanned with sunscreen in the design in order to make it. As I approached to get a better look she lowered the white silken panties I recognized as one's I'd gifted her, but only to reveal the entirety of the design, not removing them completely.

It was simplistic and was what appeared to be a heart that had been split in half with an area of blank space between the two halves. I reached a hand out to touch it but stopped myself as I looked at Marian. "Why show me this? What even is it?" I assumed that it was not done intentionally by her, and it was too clearly a design to have been an accident. Which begged the question who or what had caused it.

I took a step back as I realized Marian was flushed and rather warm, likely due to the proximity I'd been in. She took a moment before looking at me once more. "It's a Crest, a mark usually associated with ownership, loyalty, or a contract between two beings. I don't know what this one represents, but around five to six months ago it appeared along with a new Skill, Crest. I had Elaine Inspect it for me and she said the master of the Crest is you."