One quick tear in space later, and Corinna was back in the dinner hall. However, someone else was also seated there, just sipping on some tea. 

"Welcome back. I thought you would have taken your time with that." [Grandma]

"I ran out of patience." [Corinna]

The two exchanged no more words after that. Corinna poured herself a cup before sitting down and resting her head on her mother's shoulder. What her mother did instead was warp them onto a sofa in the family room and give Corinna a nice lap pillow. 

After many moments of silence, Corinna was the first to speak. 

"Was...it wrong? Was I wrong?" [Corinna]

"You've made lots of mistakes in your life. I couldn't even begin to keep track of how many times or things you've done wrong." [Grandma]

"Not that, I meant...haah, I don't know anymore." [Corinna]

"Darling, I believe you know first-hand that it is difficult to fix your child if details are not given. You've gone through far worse, so why are you bothered by something like this?" [Grandma]

"I don't know, it just...doesn't feel right to barge in like that. I mean, that sloth of an angel may have been worthless, but it was still his domain and I showed up out of nowhere and ate him just like that." [Corinna]

"You've always been such a stickler for these things. Isn't it better if you go out and loosen up like that now and then? It's not like anyone even has the authority to stop you." [Grandma]

"It still feels wrong though to make a mess of things like that. We're not even from this galaxy to begin with." [Corinna]

"You know, there would be other benefits to throwing your power around." [Grandma]

"Like what?" [Corinna]

"For one, it would reinforce your...what do they call it, 'cool mom image'? The children are always fascinated by flashy shows of power no matter what species they are. Adding onto that, it might also strengthen their willingness to rely on you if they saw you blowing up solar systems for their sakes. Which, by the way, don't do that too often, there aren't many beings here with the Time attribute compared to our previous home." [Grandma]

"Yeah, yeah, I know. So? Anything else? Because I highly doubt I need the two you mentioned." [Corinna]

"Hmm, well there's one more benefit, probably the biggest one of all: the occasional rampage would serve as a good show of force. I'm sure you remember that we weren't exactly welcomed here by everyone back then. All those stares and glares and other things ending in -are, not to mention the names they called us." [Grandma]

"Oh, I remember each and every one of them. I had lots of fun breaking their spines." [Corinna]

"Exactly, do that sort of thing more often because, unfortunately, those loud ones usually left a lot of offspring that have carried those grudges for a ridiculous amount of time, even by our standards. Scare them, intimidate them, or eat them, any of those will do with keeping the peace and quiet intact." [Grandma]

"You mean those stupid angels might try something if they think I've become complacent?" [Corinna]

"Indeed. Now, I'm not saying to get rid of them immediately; they had somewhat of a role to play for little Lia's development." [Grandma]

"What do you mean by that? What does Lia have to do with them? Will she be okay? What if she gets hurt? I swear, if they even scratch her, they will suffer for eternity. Why are you so quiet? Why can't you just tell me everything for once? Do you know how hard it is to wait for you to finally answer? SPILL THE FUCKING TEA!" [Corinna]

"Did you get everything out?" [Grandma]

"Obviously not, but I know that nothing will ever work on you." [Corinna]

"Oh, that's not true. You should know by now I'm quite soft on the children, your father even more so." [Grandma]

"Seriously though, why do you never intervene in these prophecies of yours? You could have saved Lia, spared her and everyone else from suffering, even reverse their fates entirely. I don't recall ever seeing you nor Father actually fight or anything either." [Corinna]

"..." [Grandma]

"Mother? I...you don't have to answer that...I'm sorry for asking. I-I didn't mean to-" [Corinna]

"Do you hate us?" [Grandma]

"...What? No. W-why would I? Why would you say such a thing?" [Corinna]

"It's exactly as you said: your father and I have never interfered with any course of events. No matter how terrible or chaotic, we've always let things happen naturally. As a result, millions and billions of beings have suffered, plunged into war and chaos, or worse. We could have stopped them, altered their fates, saved them, but we never did. Not when our own home plunged into chaos...not when all our siblings and friends perished...how could you not hate us?" [Grandma]

"I....." [Corinna]

"We were the cause of it, you know, the reason all of that happened." [Grandma]

"What? W-what do you mean?" [Corinna]

"...Forgive me...I...I-" [Grandma]

"Shhh. It's okay, Mother. You don't have to say anything more, not now or ever if you wish." [Corinna]

"Thank you, dear, but you of all people deserve to know. Come visit us, and you'll hear the full story. I promise. Take your time, no rush at all. I...we'll be waiting for you." [Grandma]

"Of course, Mother.....I love you, both of you. I'll only hate you if you forget that." [Corinna]

Mother and daughter chatted a bit longer to get rid of the heavy atmosphere. Parting with a smile feels much better after all. And that they did, with hugs and kisses that were more heartfelt than usual.

Lucillia

FWWAAAA~

That was...a really good sleep. Nice and peaceful without any monsties in my head.

10/10 would highly recommend. Limited supplies only, seek Mama for details. Side effects may include snuggles, borderline suffocation, and family members who won't leave you alone.

"WAAAAAHHH!!! LIAAAAAA!!!" [Silvania]

In case you were wondering, she's been doing that since I woke up, which was 20 minutes ago. And she keeps hugging TIGHTER...every...second...blehhh...

"*Sniff* Silvie? You should stop hugging her now." [Lunestia]

My one saving grace-

"Because it's my turn to hug her." [Lunestia]

-betrayed me too.

Halp...

.....

Ughh, I never thought hugs could be so tiring. I thought they were supposed to heal you, not almost kill you, but apparently I was wrong. 

Haaah, well, at least it's over now. They won't let me get out of bed, though, so I can't do much. And by that, I mean they literally have me surrounded on all sides: Big Sis' Silvie and Caela are cuddling me from both sides, the twins are sitting at the other end of the bed, and Mira's holding the door. 

Uhh, was it really that bad? I honestly don't even remember a lot of things that happened in the previous life, soooo, why so serious? 

Meh.

The cuddles aren't too bad, though. They do feel nice and comfy. I just have two problems.

The first one is that...Mira's too far from me and I don't like it! I tried getting her to come closer, but she keeps saying something about being a servant and yadda yadda yadda. I don't care about no servants! I demand more Mira now! Sadly, no one would appease my demands, so I just have to settle with cuddling her in my dreams. Boohoo~

Haah, and the second one is that I'm really bored right now. It's the middle of the night, but I just woke up with lots of energy. And then there's my sisters who won't let me do anything other than sit here. I wanna practice my writing, but Mira said it would make the bed all dirty. I wanna go outside to see the stars, but everyone keeps saying its too dangerous at night, which I doubt. Most of all: I wanna read a book! And not just any book, I wanna reread some of the old series from my previous world.

Except those are stuck there, so I can't get them anymore. Haaah. Soooo booooooored.

Can someone just throw a book at me? Anyone? I'll take anything! Even one of those really boring history books would do. UWAAAAA, books, where art thou? Come to meeeeeee.

*Squeak*

Eh? Who dat? Oh, it's Mama! Wait. There's one more. Grandma! She's still here?

"I'll be around a little while longer, sweetie." [Grandma]

Cool. Can you help me? 

"Eh!? Grandmother? In the flesh?" [Solestia]

"Not quite, but close enough. How are you, dear? It's been a while since I last saw you." [Grandma]

Those two started up their own conversation, so Mama had to talk to the rest of us. 

"How are you girls doing? I believe you had some questions earlier." [Corinna]

"Indeed, Mother. I...forgive me for being blunt, but what happened to the rest of Lia's memories?" [Lunestia]

"Mmm!" [Caelenia]

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" [Silvania]

"It means that what we saw wasn't the entirety of Lia's memories. Didn't you notice all the gaps and holes? Or were you too busy crying to notice?" [Caelenia]

"Uhm...maybe?" [Silvania]

"Haah, I never expect any less from you." [Caelenia]

"Ahem! If you girls are done with that, we still have a rather serious topic to discuss." [Lunestia]

"Calm down, Luna, I was going to address that. As you figured out, those were indeed only parts of Lia's memory. More specifically, you saw the parts that she herself remembers. The rest of it was locked away deep in her mind." [Corinna]

Hweh? Is that why I don't remember much?

"More or less." [Corinna]

Woah, cool- wait, did you just read my mind?

"Maybe. It was a recommendation by your grandmother." [Corinna]

"Works well, doesn't it?" [Grandma]

When do I get to learn how to do that?

"When you're older." [Corinna]

"Enough with the side tracking, hurry up and get to the main point!" [Silvania]

"Hey! Silvie!" [Caelenia]

"You girls are quite feisty tonight, aren't you? Not that I'm one to talk. Anyways, I was originally going to keep all of that a secret from you girls, but my mother...convinced me, so to speak, to show you the rest of Lia's memories. Although I'm sure Lia herself doesn't remember them, do you?" [Corinna]

Nope.

"Well, I doubt you even want to remember them, so you can stay with me while the others do their thing." [Corinna]

"Huh? Aren't you supposed to cast the spell?" [Solestia]

"That's what I'm here for, dearies. We don't get to meet often, so this will be a great excuse to spend time together, hmm? You can have all the time you need to ask your questions. They could be about me, your little sister, or why your mother never visits even after I keep telling her." [Grandma]

"Get going already, would you?" [Corinna]

"Fufu~ Alright children, come with me for enlightenment. That includes you, child of the sea." [Grandma]

No one had any complaints, at least not yet, so they all followed Grandma through the door with my Mira. Mine! She's mine, I tell you! I can tell her all about myself, uh, myself! So bring her back right now! Or else!!!

"Lucillia." [Corinna]

Hai.

"Hmm, well first of all, how are you feeling? Were you able to finally get some sleep?" [Corinna]

Mhm! It was the best sleep I had all week!

"Good. I'm very proud of you for being brave enough to come forward like that. We weren't really sure if that approach would work out or not. Although taking a look at everything now, it seems real problem was your severe communication disorder." [Corinna]

My who what now?

"Think about it this way: you were a child and you spent the last four years of your life talking to no one. And for you, that was nearly a third of your life. If we assume that a normal human or whatever spends around a third of their life asleep, then that means you only ever talked to someone else for about a third of your life." [Corinna]

Uhhh, is that a bad thing?

"Not really. Lots of dragons end up on lone journeys after they come of age. But for you, a mere hatchling who isn't even a month old AND spent her previous life as a short-lived species, that could create several problems like the one I just mentioned." [Corinna]

Uhhhhhhhhhhh...

"Hmm, let me put it this way. How are we communicating right now?" [Corinna]

Oh! I know this one! You're reading my mind or something, right right! 

"Correct, but don't get carried away now. Ever since this conversation began, how many times have you spoken out loud?" [Corinna]

Uhm, none.

"So what happens if you run into someone who can't read minds, like your sisters or maid?" [Corinna]

Uhhhhh...

"Exactly. That's what we're going to work on next, is fixing your communication disorder." [Corinna]

How we do dat?

"Well, there's a few options I have available:

We can keep things like this, except I will stop reading your mind and forbid you from writing your thoughts. You'll basically be forced to speak. Slowly but surely, you'll be comfortable with talking again.

Our next option is to teach you telepathy a little earlier than usual and have you use that from now on. If talking is too difficult for you, then this is the next best thing and really not too out of the ordinary. You'd just be like one of those kinds of dragons who always live in their larger form.

And of course, our final option is to do nothing at all and hope for the best, which you are forbidden from choosing." [Corinna]

Hmm, none of those sound exciting though! They're all boring and no fun!

We need something like, like, I dunno, feed me one of those things that make you say everything like in those interrogation scenes.

"You mean a truth serum of sorts?" [Corinna]

Yeah that!

"If that's the case, then I could just cast a recurring spell on you that would do just that. But are you sure about this? Your mouth wouldn't exactly have a filter anymore." [Corinna]

I mean, it's not like I know any secrets or anything. The only people I interact with anyway is you, Mira, and my sisters. Plus, we can stop it whenever I want or when I can talk normally again.

"Well, if it's what you want, then I have no complaints." [Corinna]

Ah! Wait! Don't make it a spell. I wanna try something with it!

"And that something is?" [Corinna]

Can you make it a plant? No, no, an herb! One that we can grow and make tea out of it!

"Uhm, well, I can certainly do that and have your sister grow them, but why tea, exactly?" [Corinna]

Fufufu~ Isn't it obvious? It's so we can call it 'honest-tea'! You could be in the middle of a meeting with your arch-nemesis, slip them a cup and tell them to have some 'honesty' when in reality it's honest-tea but they'll just brush it off as banter! Then they'll tell you every juicy secret just like that! Genius, isn't it? Mwa-ha-ha!

...

Uh, hello? Mama? Hellooooo? Is this thing on?

"Your imagination is certainly...creative. I probably shouldn't expect any less from you. Well, bring that up with Silvie and I'm sure she'll gladly help. You probably won't even need me to do anything; there should be a couple of those kinds of plants on this planet somewhere. Just ask your sister to come up with the blend." [Corinna]

So they do exist! But how come you didn't mention them earlier?

"To be honest, it slipped my mind. The ingredients are quite rare for most people, and I never had any use for them to begin with. Now then, we have all this time to ourselves, why don't we enjoy it?" [Corinna]

Hmm, but I'm really bored right now. And somehow, I feel like I've had enough cuddles and snuggles for one day...

"Don't worry sweetie, I brought you a gift. Multiple gifts, technically." [Corinna]

Eh? What's a gift again? Is it that thing where you give it to someone and if they smile, it means you did a good job, but if they don't you sleep on the couch?

"Pretty much, though some people don't get off with just sleeping on the couch, but that mostly depends on their life choices. Anyhow, without further ado, enjoy your gifts." [Corinna]

Hmm? I don't see anything, but then Mama went fwoosh with her hand and- OOH!!

MY BOOKS! They live!!!

"I doubt you mind, but I went ahead and paid your previous world...a visit and grabbed all your favorites. Once you're done re-reading them, tell me and I'll take you to the palace. There's plenty more where that came from, so don't worry about running out of books just yet." [Corinna]

What was that? I was too busy reading. 

"Hehe, nothing, just carry on with your books." [Corinna]

'Kay!

Let's see, this one's about a guy who got teleported to a different world (isn't that just soooo original?) and it loooks like they want him to go and beat the Demon Lord. Look at that, another bunch of egotistic assholes who think that the solution to their problems is to drag in an innocent bystander from an entirely different planet.

But wait, plot twist! He's actually NOT the hero and gets kicked out instead. Hmph, you could at least get rid of him properly like a good corrupt kingdom. Because next thing you know, he becomes overpowered, tames a wife, and lives the slow life.

Cool.

Ah, speaking of slow lives, isn't that kind of what I'm doing right now? 

Let's see: free of obligations, check; comfy lifestyle, check; everything you could ever need provided for, check; chronic boredom because of being bored, check.

Huh, would you look at that, I'm living the slow life right now. I'll admit, it does get really boring sometimes, but honestly I'd rather have boring than constantly watching your back and killing on a daily basis. Plus I finally get a body I'm comfortable with.

It's like a dream come true. Well, no. I don't believe in dreams because they never come true, at least from my experience. I've found that the more you dream about something, the less likely it will happen. 

So, I'm just going to stop talking, er, thinking, and just enjoy the damn book.

Meanwhile, Mama scooped me up into her arms and starting reading with me on the bed.

... 

FWAAA~ 

We got maybe halfway through before my eyes started to feel heavy. I guess little ol' me doesn't have much capacity for energy, right now. 

Welp, not like I can do much except for grow up, so back to sleep I go! Zzzz...

Fishcat

Well, this chapter took longer than expected, but I blame it all on school. Remind me to never make a schedule that includes a five hour gap between classes. At least now, I have a laptop, so I can do more homework and more importantly: write chapters while I'm on campus. Anyways, how do you all feel about having moments with only dialogue and almost no narration? I personally don't like narrating every single thing, because it feels awkward sometimes and, quite frankly, you don't need it a lot of the time. I also feel it makes the reader get more into it with their imagination, but maybe that's just me and everyone else hates it. As a result, do forgive me for the occasional plot hole. I swear they pop up out of nowhere and it's not my fault! Let me know how you feel and remember to stay safe, take care, and when life gives you lemons, make batteries out of them.