Later in the night, I was back at the house. I was sitting in a chair in one of the rooms in it, with Kaitlyn sitting on my lap.
“So, someone finally went into Diamûn?” she asked.
“Yeah, though a lot more people will be coming soon,” I added.
Since Kaitlyn presented as a cat, she was curled up on my lap. She had a fondness for my lap, so she claimed it whenever she could.
“You put some work into the entrance area here… I may have to revise Asha-belôr,”
“Don’t do it on my account,”
At this point, I heard the door to the house open. Mother’s here! I turned my head to look over where she’d enter the living room I was in. Mother came in, and Lillian was behind her.
“Mother, you brought Lillian?” I asked.
“I wanted to talk with her and you for a bit, that’s all,” she said.
“And what about me?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Who was that?” Lillian asked as she entered.
“Kaitlyn stopped by. She has a fondness for Kaya’s lap,” Mother said.
Lillian looked at Kaitlyn on my lap as Mother took a seat on the couch across from me. Lillian stood at the opening to the room, not sure if she should sit next to Mother.
“Unfortunately, Kaitlyn, you aren’t included in this conversation; so I’m going to ask you to leave.” Mother said.
“Oh fine. You’ll kick me out if I don’t leave anyway, so I’ll be on my way,” Kaitlyn sighed.
She jumped off my lap and vanished before landing. Mother then patted her hand on the couch next to her.
“Sit here, Kaya,” she said.
I got out of the chair and took the spot next to Mother, while Lillian took the chair I was just sitting in. With everyone seated, Mother began what she wanted to talk about.
“So… I’ve heard you want to know more about Kaya?” she asked.
“Yeah… I’ve heard only the very basics of who Kaya was before she wandered into Diamûn,” Lillian said.
I leaned on Mother’s shoulder as Lillian and Mother started discussing my past. I preferred being with Mother, so I didn’t exactly like talking about my past from before then.
“Well… little Kaya here was just a poor thing who ran into my front door on the run from some bandits,” Mother said.
“Really? How’d she get on their bad side?” Lillian asked.
“She had some food of theirs,”
“Oh, she took some food of theirs?”
Lillian paused for a second before the unsaid implication of that statement clicked for her.
“...why?” Lillian asked.
I wasn’t sure if she was asking Mother or me, but I didn’t want to join in unless I had to.
“You’ll have to ask Kaya that. I haven’t pressed any more than I’ve had to… her past is something I don’t want to rush her on,” Mother said.
I perked up at Mother’s comment.
“Though… I can understand her desire to want to keep herself in the present with me, I suppose,” Mother added.
She put her hand on my head and ruffled my hair.
“Hey, Kaya… can I leave you with Lillian to talk?” Mother asked.
“...Okay,” I said.
Mother left us alone, and for a minute neither me or Lillian said anything. She had moved to sit next to me on the couch. I wasn’t sure what Mother wanted me to do, or what her goal was.
“Um…” I said.
“I’m curious… How much have you told Maya?” Lillian asked.
“Um… we haven’t really talked about it,”
“Why?”
Lillian looked at me, almost incredulously.
“Uh… she hasn’t asked me… and I haven’t wanted to bring it up,” I explained.
Lillian leaned back on the couch and sighed.
“I see what’s happened here. Maya is too kind,”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s fine, I’m sure you’ll figure it out one day.”
I looked at Lillian, confused as to what she could have meant. She smiled at me and moved on to her next question.
“So… why did you run away from home? Er, your previous home.”
“I didn’t… I was kicked out,”
“You were kicked out? Why?”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t want to answer. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t want to… but I didn’t.
“...When were you kicked out?” Lillian asked.
I looked at Lillian for a moment.
“I was… thirteen, I think,” I said.
Lillian leaned over and gave me a hug. She didn’t say anything, she just gave me a hug.
“Why do you care…?” I asked.
My voice was somewhat weak - partially because I was nervous talking about it, partially because of Lillian’s hug.
“Remember when your mother asked me to be someone you can rely on?” Lillian said.
“...yeah,”
“I’m just trying to be that someone, that’s all. Hey, do you have any questions for me?”
I thought about what Lillian said at the end. Do I have any questions for her? I thought about it, before eventually landing on one.
“How did you know that Giriya was my doing?” I asked.
Lillian let go of me and gave me a smile.
“To be honest, I didn’t. That was just a pure guess.”
“What?!” I shouted.
“But… when you get old enough, you learn enough about people that you can make some very educated guesses about things… and I’ve been around for quite a while,” Lillian added.
The next day, the Pathfinders helped bring in the Guild staff to Diamûn. A few early adventurers had somehow made the trip to Diamûn by the end of the day - though Mother had to talk them out of entering that evening. It was the first time I realized how important Diamûn was - I mean, I knew that it was, but this was where it started to feel important.
Diamûn was officially opened once again. A lot of people were going to come through, and I was oddly eager to meet them. The one thing I would find a lot of them had in common was their goal to reach the end of the dungeon - and to that, I wished them the best of luck. Mother and I would be waiting.
