201 Homeward (2/2)

Far past midnight and nearing dawn. So much time had passed, and yet, how? When he tried to recall how much time he spent in the darkness, he found that he felt it was at the same time short and long.

He felt equally confident in saying he had spent one hour there or ten years or even a hundred.

There was no true sense of definite time in that place.

Li shook his head, focusing on Tia instead. She was not unscathed. There were wounds around her body, albeit minor. Some cracks to scales that armored her skin. A chip on one of her horns. A few shallow cuts that had long since stopped bleeding.

”Tia, you're hurt,” said Li urgently. He hovered a hand over her head, casting a spell to heal all her wounds. ”What happened?”

”Monsters,” said Tia. ”Lots and lots and lots of them. Looked like shadow, but not on ground. I fight them. They tasted bad. Cold. Rotten.”

Darkbeasts? Even after Li had destroyed them all?

”How did you get here, Tia?” said Li. He frowned, feeling awful that Tia had to fight without him. To fight for him, even, in this case. She should not have had to deal with anything like that. ”I thought I told you to stay home. Zagan was keeping an eye on you as well.”

”Doggie help me,” said Tia, red flashing around the outlines of her pupils. ”Make me stronger.”

Zagan materialized in wisps of shadow next to Tia, assuming his canine form. ”This personage greatly apologizes for bringing the girl here. However, she insisted you were in danger, and your safety is also mine own concern.”

”No, no, that's fine,” said Li as he tried to make sense of what had happened.

”Many hours pass, but papa never came back,” said Tia. ”So I tried to feel through here.” She tapped her heart. ”But only felt cold.” She shivered. ”Not warmth, not papa's warmth.”

Li understood what she meant. She had tried to use their soulbound link to try and find out what Li's status was, and though he normally was full of life that was warm and nourishing, it was evident that while he was gone, his life signature had disappeared, too.

”Papa promised,” said Tia as she wiped her tears from her eyes with her claws and looked accusingly at Li. ”He promised to be back early.”

Li paused, trying to sift through his mind to explain to her why he was gone. That he did not intend to be gone this long. That he had no idea things would become so very strange. He wanted to give her an explanation, but he realized that she was not looking for one.

”I'm sorry, Tia,” said Li, finally.

Tia went back into Li's arms. She breathed in, then out, calming herself. When she looked up, she was smiling. ”It's fine, papa. I was just worried. Maybe little angry, but only angry because I worried. If papa is sorry, then that's fine.

As long as you here now.”

Whatever answers Li needed, he knew he would find. Although his time attuning with his eldritch side was hazy to the point that one could even call it unproductive, he did not come out of it empty handed.

He now knew it deep down within himself. Every single answer he wanted, every single bit of control he wanted over his eldritch powers, all of that, he knew inherently that the answers were within himself.

With time, it would all flow.

”Let's go home, Tia. Father will spend as much time with you as you want to make up for everything.” Li knelt down and scooped Tia up, putting her on his shoulder – her favorite spot. They smiled together, And like that, they walked out the forest, Zagan trailing behind them, making them look like a neat and complete little family.