Lilith woke to a large series of windows detailing abilities she had, apparently, gained from putting Siph into her servitude. She mentally nudged them to the side so she could look over them later, putting her effort instead into dealing with the source of this.

Carmen, what did you do?!

I offered Siph a mutually-beneficial arrangement and she chose to accept, is there a problem with that?

Lilith groaned mentally. Yes, there’s a problem with that! I don’t appreciate you trying to take advantage of people like this!

Please. Siph knew exactly what she was getting into and agreed to it. She’s in our mental link now, go ask her about it yourself, I’m busy digging.

Lilith sighed, choosing to let the subject drop. She’d talk to Siph in a bit, she needed to see what she had gained first. It was mostly various physical enhancements and a couple of massive increases to her fire and acid resistance, but there were a few other, more interesting, additions on top of those.

Curious, Lilith activated Dragon Mantle, and a feeling of pure strength washed over her. She flexed her fingers, marveling at the wicked-looking claws coming from her fingertips. Satisfied, she let out a small gout of flame, watching in astonishment as the flame came from her throat and she didn’t feel in the least bit injured by it.

“Woah.” Raphael breathed. “When did you learn how to do that?”

Lilith’s whirled to face Raphael, letting Dragon Mantle deactivate. She had forgotten that other people might have been in the room, and she felt more than a little embarrassed about her little display. “Um, this morning. Uh…”

Raphael looked at Lilith in wonder. “You’re…really one of them.” She said. “You’re actually a Perfect Chimera!”

“Um, yeah, I guess? I thought you knew that.”

Raphael waved a hand dismissively. “It just didn’t…feel real. You were using all these weird eldritch abilities, those didn’t feel like real Perfect Chimera stuff. But quick adaptation like that? That’s like…classic Perfect Chimera! How does it feel?!”

Lilith blinked, overwhelmed by the girl’s sudden enthusiasm. “Uh…same as yesterday? I mean, not actually the same but like…I’ve kinda grown numb to getting all these new abilities and stuff.”

“Come on, you were a kid once! You must have fantasized about being a Perfect Chimera before!”

Lilith shook her head. “I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but I was born and raised on Earth. I didn’t even know Perfect Chimeras existed before I became one.”

Raphael stared dumbly at Lilith. “You…what? You’re from Earth?!”

Lilith nodded. “Yeah, but that’s not really…important? I’m more concerned about you, to be honest. Are you…okay? I mean, I think you’ve been given a pretty harsh punishment, and we kinda just got stranded out somewhere dangerous.”

Raphael frowned, giving Lilith a baffled look. “I…am, I guess, I feel a lot safer now that a dragon’s protecting us, but…why do you care? You’re…we’re enemies.” Raphael had an odd look on her face as she said that, like she herself had forgotten her animosity towards Lilith in her excitement.

Lilith shrugged. “It’s in the past, and, well, everyone makes mistakes. I made plenty of them when I was your age, so it wouldn’t be fair if I judged you too harshly. All I really want from you is to learn from your mistakes and use them to help become a better person. Besides, we’re both stranded out here, so we might as well work together, at least until we’re back to civilization.”

“But…” Raphael said softly, a troubled look on her face. “You said you didn’t like my punishment.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You said you want me to learn, but you also said you thought my punishment was too harsh, and I thought my punishment was pretty light.”

Lilith frowned. “I…don’t necessarily see how those two things are connected. And this is what you think a light punishment is? What kind of punishments do you usually get?”

“Grandma likes to lock me in an empty room and give me only bread and water for a few days when I misbehave this bad. She says I should take the time to think about what I did so I won’t bug her with it again.”

Lilith gasped, fury boiling up within her. “That’s not okay!” She exclaimed. “That’s never okay! That’s like…literally torture!”

“No, it’s not, it’s just being alone for a bit.” Raphael said, tilting her head in confusion. “That’s not torture.”

Lilith took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “Look, I don’t know how things work on Haven, but where I’m from that sort of thing is banned and would probably get you taken away from your grandma, or maybe even get her put in jail. It’s called cruel and unusual punishment.”

Alright Lilith, I know you’re up, come meet with me in the main room, now. Siph commanded.

“Um, Siph’s telling me I have to go talk to her.” Lilith said, glad for the excuse to get away from the awkward topic. “Sorry, I know we were talking, but I don’t want to make Siph upset as she’s kind of our lifeline here. We can finish later on, if you’d like, just…think about what I said.” She hurriedly exited the room, making her way to the main room.

“Good, you’re here.” Siph said. She was in her humanoid form and was sitting down on a large rock. “Take a seat, we need to have a talk.” She motioned to a rock across from her, and Lilith sat down on it.

“Um, I couldn’t help but notice that Carmen made some sort of contract with you.” Lilith said. “I thought I told you about her, but, um, I can try and release you, if you’d like?”

Siph snorted. “I knew exactly what I was getting into.” She said. “And we’re going to talk about the conditions I laid out to Carmen last night. First, you are not allowed to use any abilities that might affect my mind.” She held up a hand, forestalling the question Lilith was about to ask. “Yes, even your Patron ability. Second, starting today, I’m going to train you in how to use my gifts. I’m not going to let you squander something I gave.”

Lilith frowned. “If I can’t use Patron, what are you getting out of all of this, then? This seems like an awfully poor deal for you.”

Siph grinned. “Simple. You’re even further in my debt now. I rather like the idea of having a Perfect Chimera owe me a few favors, even if right now you’re too weak to be able to get anything done that I couldn’t do myself.”

“I…see.” Lilith said. “I won’t do things that I consider immoral, though. If you’re expecting that, then I’ll take my leave now. We’ll figure out some way to survive on our own.”

“Don’t talk back to me!” Siph snapped. “Learn some respect for your mother!” Siph’s hands flew to her mouth as if she was going to cover it, but she stopped halfway, face growing incredibly red.

There was a long, drawn-out silence after that, and eventually, Lilith spoke up. “Excuse me?”

“Y…you heard me!” Siph said, flustered but apparently not willing to go back on what she said. “The way I see it, you just got access to your dragon side from me. And I’m currently watching over you and everyone, and I’m going to teach you how to be a dragon. So…let’s just check the boxes.

“Gave you life? Check. Feeding you in your infancy? Check. Teaching you how to fend for yourself? Working on it. That…sounds like a mom to me!”

“But you didn’t give life to me and I’m not an infant!” Lilith protested, bewildered.

“Y…your life before doesn’t count! You don’t really know living until you’ve been a dragon! And besides, you’re what…forty?”

“Twenty-five!”

“Doesn’t make a difference.” Siph said. “You’re not even considered a child until you’re one hundred, and not a proper adult until one thousand.”

“I’ll be dead by then! That timeframe doesn’t apply to me.”

This time, Siph gave her the bewildered look. “You’re joking, right? You have everything I have as well as a bunch of other stuff, the capacity to get so much more in the future, and to top it all off you’re apparently some sort of eldritch abomination. I’m pretty sure you’re going to far outlive one thousand.”

“Look, I’m…flattered, I…think, but I’ve already got a mother.”

Siph, growing ever redder, was silent for just a moment. “You can…have two. Please? Even if it’s just in name only, it’s fine.”

“Why does it matter?”

“You were human before, so I imagine you don’t really…get it. Do you know when the last dragon was born? Over five hundred years ago. As creatures with theoretically infinite lifespans, it’s very hard for dragons to have kids. And now that we’re all scattered in this much, much larger world, I don’t have high hopes for meeting another dragon willing to have kids with me.

“And…look, I’ve always wanted a kid, and here you are, someone who, at the least, has a dragon form that’s liable to look just like me. I’m not going to let this opportunity slip by. I’m going to be totally honest. I want to use those favors you owe me to, at the very least, let me have this and to have you take me back with you. You don’t know how lonely it is here.”

Lilith gave that some thought. “I…guess that’s fine.” She said. It was a pretty small thing to ask, and she would rather not test Siph while she was protecting them. And it’s not like Siph could do that much harm if she was taken back with them; they’d have the Protectorate’s forces there to deal with her. “If that’s all, I can do this for at least a little while. I can bring you back too, though no promises we’ll keep this relationship then.”

Lilith was hit with a sudden headache that vanished as soon as it appeared, leaving only a window behind.

Lilith paused, processing the new information. One thing immediately stood out to her – she had used a mind-altering effect on her mother, right after she had been told not to.

“I’m sorry, mom!” Lilith said quickly. “I swear I didn’t know I was going to get that! It just happened when I agreed to treat you like my mom!”

Siph shook her head, walking over to Lilith and pulling her into a huge hug. “I don’t care.” She whispered, stroking the back of Lilith’s head. “I would have asked for this, you don’t know how happy this makes me.”

“That’s…a relief.” Lilith said, returning the hug. She was surprised by just how much affection she felt for Siph now; it was exactly the same as how she felt about her other mother.

After a few moments, Siph broke off the hug, wiping her slightly teary eyes. “Sorry.” She said. “I’m just…a bit overcome right now.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence which was, thankfully, broken when Judy entered the room. “Lilith, why are Siph and I sisters now?” She asked, a confused but not unhappy look on her face.

“New Skill I got, um, well,” Lilith looked to Siph, uncertain about how much she should say, “Mom can tell you more if she wants, one thing sort of led to another and…well, here we are.”

Siph walked over, giving Judy a side-hug. “I’ve wanted a kid for a long time, and I called in the favors Lilith owed me to have her treat me as her mom for a bit and to take me back with you guys. Then, apparently, magic decided to make it official. I wasn’t expecting anything like this, but I can’t say I’m mad, I’ve wanted a sister for a long time too.”

Judy blinked. “Oh. Um, what are we gonna do about Lilith’s other parents?”

Siph frowned. “Don’t know. I’m…assuming we can just add them to the Skill, right? That should resolve any problems.”

“And you’re fine with the fact that it’s going to change your perception of them?” Lilith asked. “You just said you didn’t want that.”

Siph withdrew her arm from Judy’s shoulder, shrugging. “It’s a little uncomfortable, but I think it’s totally worth it. I know that whatever I feel about things now, just leaving them out of the loop would make things way harder on you, and I’m not going to stand for that. And I won’t be hearing objections from you about it, understood?”

“And…if they don’t want to?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Siph said confidently. “But if they feel half as strongly about you as I do, they’ll join.”

Judy and Lilith shared a look. “I…don’t know.” Lilith said. “They’re…well, they don’t even know about magic right now. They don’t even know I’m a girl, I wasn’t one before I became a Perfect Chimera.”

Siph stared at Lilith. “You guys are from Earth?! Alright, sit down. You’re going to explain to me exactly what led up to you becoming a Perfect Chimera. And when we get back, I’m going to need pictures of you from before, too. I want to know everything about you that I can.”

Siph turned to Judy. “Oh, and could you tell Carmen to stop digging? I’m not making my daughter do manual labor for me. And…well, since Lilith agreed to take me back with you, I won’t be using it anyway.”

Judy nodded, leaving as Lilith obediently took a seat on the rock floor and began to tell her mother about everything that had happened to her.

Fighterman481

So, I'll admit I wavered a long time at what I wanted Raphael's standard for a "bad" punishment to be. And, in the end, I ended up keeping it as is instead of making it lighter, because...well, it might be really bad, but it's also...in character, I think. I feel Elenoa would jump at the chance to have Raphael out of her hair for a bit if Raphael was causing her trouble, and well, she would figure no one's going to stop her if she does something like this so no consequences means no problem.

But...that's about all I really have to talk about in terms of changes, the rest is just polish work. Perhaps not my best polish work, I had a bit of trouble with this chapter, but it's still probably better than the original so that's what counts, I suppose.

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading!