What Side Didn’t Know Vol.2 – A5, C9. Personal Growth

“Touching,” Dubhe drawls.

Read the atmosphere.  We’re having a moment here.

“So, what do we do?”  I whisper in Lillia’s ear.  It’s true that I had lost my wife and children once before but I was only a little bitter about that.  I had emotionally lost them long before I actually died. I have been given another chance. Er, many of them.  Lillia had not.  How does she continue on, despite losing the person closest to her?  

“Hm.”  She leans into me.

Melsy makes her way over.  “Husband.”

“Hm?”  Lillia and I both look up.

“The others probably couldn’t hear that, but, you know, I’m a dragonfolk,” she explains, looking at the others around us.  “Dryads are dumb though.”

I feel Lillia tensing up, so I hug her tighter.  You can fight after she gets her words out~.

“I think what she’s trying to say is, some people take too much happiness.  Like Gaia. She’s a bit of a downer on everyone.” Lillia relaxes and tilts her head at that.  Nice recovery. “Or like Brendan. You just can’t reason with them.  So you have a choice to either tolerate them. Like Gaia. Or remove them.”  Melsy isn’t smiling. She’s very serious.

That’s…a bit barbaric.  Here I was, trying to make a town in the image of my previous world, but already I’m being advised to abandon that for culling those unsuited.  I’m not sure I agree. I don’t know that I have a whole lot of options though. It’s not reasonable to keep him locked up forever. Who knows how long he will live, after all.  This world is odd with time and lifespans.

“So we remove him,”  I restate. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but what else do we do?  If we drop him off months travel somewhere else, he’ll just steal other people’s happiness.  If we keep him locked up, who will that help? No one here is going to try and reform him. All of us have lost things dear to us from people like him.  Except me. Maybe Melsy? No, she clearly stated that Gaia was a downer. I’m sure she isn’t excluded.

“Yeah,”  Melsy confirms with a nod.

“The orckin.”

“I think.”  She pauses. “Dubhe, come here.”

Dubhe huffs.  “We don’t take directions nor orders from you!”  She walks over anyways. Was she always so tsundere?

Melsy continues, “if we let the orckin give birth, and take away the hume children, can you raise them with your…er…hume pet there?”  She points at the previously-enslaved hume girl.

“If Hus- Tristain begs, we wouldn’t mind relaxing all day long for a few more years to raise these weakling hume children.”  Wow, not sure if that was from habit or a Freudian slip.  Funny either way though.  Don’t. Smile.

“Husband, if we drop the orckin female and her children off a few days march from here, it is up to them to fend for themselves, right?  They haven’t necessarily done anything wrong, so you’re right. If we don’t need to eat them, we shouldn’t tread on their happiness.”  She sighs at that last bit. Are you really drooling when looking at her? You, who doesn’t eat food?

“What about food for the children?!”  Demanding much? I get why you’re so worked up, but you’re so intense about this whole thing, Dubhe.

Melsy looks over to me, no, to Lillia.  “I’ve been wondering about this for a while now, but those dryadites can’t build their little houses any closer, can they?”

Lillia shakes her head.  Huh?

“You’ve decided then?  You can’t turn back, right?  Won’t Gaia be mad?” What are they talking about?

Lillia buries her head in my chest, and mutters, “I can provide for everyone.  I’m happy again, I don’t want to lose that. I will watch over you all forever.”

Wait.

No.  Wait.

“Lillia?”  You can’t be serious, right?

“Huh?  We can’t hear you tree girl, speak up.”  Dubhe, that’s really rude.  No need to snarl like that.

“No, I won’t be happy with that.”  I declare.

I don’t get why she’s going to do this.  This is terrible.

“Food Source Husband.  I will be food source. It will make me happy.  Take care of our children.” As she talks, her body begins to glow bright green, and expands in my arms.

Stop!  No!

Before I can say anything, though, she is already ten or so feet tall and still growing.  Her branches sprawl out above us.

No.  Lillia.

My throat can’t voice my words; it’s tight, in a knot.

Why would you do this?  We could have figured it out some other way.

Author’s Note: Thanks for the support! Sorry for the delay. And now you know why I was upset so many weeks ago. Dryads doing whatever they want. /sniffles

Editor: DungeonPalmz