As the sun rose, Etrius lifted itself from its bed, or at least it tried to. Looking down it saw Abby holding on tightly to its shirt with all four arms. Last night, after Adriana left, Abby fell asleep and when she did so, Etrius discovered that she didn't let go of what she was holding. As a result, Etrius also decided to go to sleep as there weren't many activities it could do when holding a baby. At least none it could do safely.

Patting her head, Abby pulled herself closer to Etrius with her eyes closed. Half carrying her, Etrius wandered into its living room. One of the first things it saw was a small bag. Opening it up, Etrius saw a collection of baby clothing. Given the conversation from last night, these were a gift from Adriana. Old baby clothing she “borrowed” from her family. Holding one up, Etrius saw that none of them would fit Abby. Mostly due to her arms and tail.

“I hope that they won’t be needing these anymore.” Etrius muttered.

“Waaa…” Abby let out.

“Oh, did I wake you?” Etrius asked.

“Muuu…” She rubbed her eyes clumsily with her human hands.

Blinking a few times, she looked up at it with tired eyes.

“Morning Abby.” Etrius said.

“Muuu.” Abby looked around the room.

“Alright, let’s get you dressed.” It said.

With a bit of difficulty Etrius put her on a towel on the counter and began to look through the clothes. Though thinking that none of them would fit, Etrius was disappointed to be right. Taking a knife, Etrius cut the sleeves off one of them and began to dress Abby. Though she didn’t fight it, dressing her was harder than Etrius expected, but eventually she was dressed to an acceptable degree. As Abby pulled at her clothes, Etrius got started on breakfast, or at least thought about it as it had no baby food, and didn’t even know what she could eat. After all, she was some weird alien thing, or at least looked like one.

What could she eat? Shirts and jerky, that's for sure. Maybe it could give her tender meat or something? Then again, she had no problems eating hard meat, so should she have that? Though it is odd and unethical to do so with a baby, it was time for some experiments.

Cooking small amounts of meat of various textures and some pulled apart, Etrius prepared various meals, as well as some warm milk. As it did so, it kept an eye on Abby to make sure she didn’t eat anything weird or roll off the table. Though she lay on her side, she watched Etrius without a thought in her mind. She needed a chair but that could come at a later time.

With the portions of meat cooked, Etrius plated them with some smashed up peas and corn and placed them on the table. Picking up Abby so that she was supported both on its arm and chest, Etrius sat at the table. Holding onto it much like last night, Abby looked at the plate of meat with interest, paying no mind to the milk. Now that Etrius thought about it, how was it going to make her drink the milk? Maybe she could suck it out of a cloth or something.

“Okay, what should I feed you first?” Etrius wondered.

“Muuu.” Abby reached out to the meat with her human-like hands.

Taking her suggestion, Etrius used a wooden spoon to bring up some of the torn up meat to Abby’s mouth. As she reached out for it, Etrius blew on the food in order to ensure that it wouldn’t harm her. Once it was sufficiently cooled, it fed the eagerly waiting Abby. Holding the spoon and Etrius’ hand in place, she used her interior jaw to pull the spoon into her mouth. As she closed her mouth, Etrius noticed that she wasn’t actually chewing with her larger, traditionally human mouth, but simply used it to help hold the spoon in place. Not only that, but she was also chewing the spoon. Pulling it out, Etrius wondered if she even had a tongue. If not, how did she eat?

Getting another spoonful, Etrius looked closely as she opened her mouth. It looked like she did, but that only made Etrius curious if her secondary jaw had a tongue. As it extended out of her mouth, Etrius didn’t see one, or at least didn’t see anything it could recognize as a tongue. With the second spoonful down, Etrius decided that now was the time for veggies. April, as usual, pulled the spoon into her mouth, but this time made a funny face. Spitting out the spook and most of the veggies, she reached for the meat.

“Now now, you need to eat your veggies.” Etrius said, not entirely sure that this was true.

“Muuu!” April reached for the meat.

With another spoonful of veggies, Etrius held it up to her, but she kept pushing it away. With her being uncooperative, Etrius looked her dead in the eyes and mixed the pulled apart meat and veggies. Taking a spoonful of this, Etrius held it up to her mouth. Somewhat conflicted, she accepted this.

“There we go.” Etrius said. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Muuu.” She frowned.

With her reluctant cooperation, Etrius continued to feed her, wondering how exactly it was going to get her to drink the milk. The day, though starting off somewhat different than usual, was no more challenging than any other. Given the recent arrival of Abby, Etrius decided to work on household tasks. That was much of the same that it had done over the past few days. Cleaning aside, it was mostly work on food preservation and chopping firewood.

Abby mostly sat around, watching Etrius work when she wasn’t being carried by it. When she wasn’t sitting still, she was wiggling on the floor, perhaps in an attempt to crawl. Luckily for the both of them, she did nothing dangerous. Even when not looking, Etrius could rely on the shadows to keep watch over her.

Speaking of the shadows, Etrius kept watch over both them and Abby. What sort of relation did they have? Could she even see them or was she like the others. Throughout its chores, and in between feeding, Abby showed no sign of seeing or even noticing them despite the shadows moving freely around her. As the day continued, nothing happened. Which was good? Good or not, the paranoia didn’t go away, even over the next few days.

The meeting with Torie was, understandably, delayed with instead Etrius receiving a package containing sapphire and silver amulet. It was together in one piece, but that wouldn't be too much trouble. With much of its chores already done, Etrius went straight to work one the magic tool. Though it was called that, it was anything but magical. In reality it would be utilizing the cooperation of the shadows. Not the crawling shadows, but the shadows.

With Abby holding onto it like usual, Etrius got to work. Pulling the sapphire from its place Etrius inspected the gem. Thanks to Adriana, it didn't need to worry about any major imperfections in it. With this in mind, Etrius promptly shattered it. The shards were suspended in air, reflecting what sunlight made its way through the window. The shadows which remained hidden until now made their presence known. A choir sounded out in awe, their voices echoing in spires unseen. The sun dimmed, not like covered by clouds, but into a pale moonlight.

The sapphire began to glow, but different from both the sun and moon. Shadows closed in, and its brilliance was dimmed, though remained the brightest light in the room. Shadows, willing or not, were pulled. They fluttered and burned, screamed and cheered, cursed and blessed. The brilliant light was caged into a multifaceted shape that reflected its own light and somehow dimmed itself even more.

Cries joined the choir as the sapphire was reformed, the once brilliant light was now a small glow like the dimmest star in the night sky. Engulfed by the surrounding sapphire the small shape became little more than an imperfection in an otherwise flawless gem. The choir was silenced, and the moonlight fled as the daylight filled the room. Holding it, Etrius found it to have become surprisingly cold, though it quickly returned to room temperature. Satisfied with its concealment, Etrius returned it to its silver backing. As it was moved into place, the shadows, cast by the brilliant light left their mark. Though much too small to see the fine details, the faces and many nonexistent eyes were present in an otherwise crackling spiral that was burned into the silver backing.

With the sapphire now locked in place, Etrius only now looked down to check on Abby. Shaking, she looked in the place where the gem was floating, with tears in her eyes. Before Etrius could react, she let out an ugly noise.

"Waaa…" She started out quiet.

"Ah! Abby." Etrius said, lifting her up to face it.

"Waaaaa…" She built up power.

"Don't cry, I'm sorry." Etrius said, hugging her.

"WAAA!!!!" She cried, muffled by Etrius' clothing.

Again, negotiations had failed. Standing from the table, Etrius walked the room making calming sounds while gently rocking her in hopes of stopping her tears. The shadows hid themselves away as this was not their problem. Her four arms tried to wrap around Etrius, but they were far too short. Etrius silently glad that it's house was so far away from any other dwelling.

Eventually, Abby tired herself out and fell asleep in Etrius' arms. Feeling guilty for having caused her distressed state, Etrius kept her close as that seemed to calm her. Her claws were digging into its clothes, but luckily they were small and not very sharp. Glancing at the necklace, Etrius was sure that it would work, but wondered if it should try it just in case. Though given the scare that Abby recently went through, it didn't want to risk waking her up and surprising her again. Petting her head, Etrius watched her antenna twitch before settling down.

Stepping outside, Etrius was surprised by a cold breeze. Seeing clouds on the horizon, Etrius knew that winter was about to set in. Like many throughout the region, Etrius headed inside to start up the fireplace.