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Amy normally would have been ecstatic to see Karrie. Now, though, all she heard was her father's voice in her head telling her that maybe she shouldn't get seriously involved with anyone. She didn't believe him. She was pretty certain she wasn't that much like her mother. But what would her father say to Karrie if they ever met? It was very likely that they would.

She sighed and looked over at Karrie. "Hey."

Amy closed her eyes when Karrie rested his hand on her head. She scooted up more and put her head in Karrie's lap.

"My dad showed up at Aqua Springs today... Can you play with my hair, please?"

Amy shook her head. "Not since I left home when I was 12. He hasn't changed. He said he wanted to see me and Aqua Springs, having read in the newspaper that I had opened a water park. Not ten minutes later and he gives me a check from my mom. He usually would send that in the mail. Do you know what he first said to me today? That I looked just like my mother."

"Not so much except that he proceeded to compare me to her, from everything to using my magic to... relationships."

She sighed softly as Karrie continued to play with her hair. She loved him so much.

Amy had never heard someone talk about her magic like that before. She turned over onto her back on Karrie's lap and looked up at him.

"Really? You think I should be proud, like I'm good at it? I've always felt so inferior with my magic, compared with how powerful my mom is..."

A tear fell down the side of her face, over her temple and into her hair when she heard what Karrie said and his hands brushed against her face.

She leaned up and wrapped her arms around Karrie's shoulders. She situated herself into his lap and rested her head against his chest.

"Thank you. Sometimes it's nice to hear someone else's opinion, someone who isn't my family. Though I did have problems at the beginning. It was so hard to even do the basics. I couldn't even create an entire outfit until Velcore brought Thistle to me."

"My mom has had a lot more time to practice. She's 1,900 years old, give or take a few. And she still has never been able to stay with one person for more than a few years. Or she hasn't. I don't want to be like that. You said I can choose to be different, but how can I when I don't know what different is? I don't know what a long-term relationship is like. At one point, I push people away because I'm afraid they'll leave me. The next moment, I'm holding people too closely and trying to keep them with me at all time, sometimes even getting upset when they spend a lot of time with someone else. I think that's my father coming out in me..."

Karrie was right. She HAD created his outfit yesterday all by herself. She hadn't even thought about that then. Sometimes it took others to notice things about yourself that you couldn't.

Being proud of herself quickly gave way to contemplation, though. Karrie made some really good points, especially about avoiding all relationships might make her more like her mother in the end. At least, that's what she thought he was saying.

"Well, I think Kits and I are really close, and Thistle and I are, too. I'd like to think Velcore and I are as well, but I can't speak for him. I can't be sure about that one."

She leaned back slightly and looked up at Karrie. "I... hadn't thought about how I might be doing exactly what my mother is doing by avoiding long-term relationships simply because I don't want to be like her. I was just so focused on not turning out like her that I didn't stop to think that I might be trying too hard and might end up more like her just by doing that."

She sighed started to play with his shirt lightly. "Karrie, why do you want to be with me? We've never really talked about why we want to be with each other. We became such good friends first and then it just progressed from there. My mom and father didn't know much about each other and I think my mom felt for awhile that she was simply obligated to be with my father since she had his child. I don't ever want that to happen with us. I don't want either of us to ever feel obligated to be with the other for some reason."

Amy leaned her head against Karrie's chest again. "I honestly don't know what I want. I've never really thought about it before. I was too busy traveling before and living moment to moment. No long-term plans."

She smiled at what Karrie said. She was glad he wanted to be with her, to spend time with her. "But why specifically Karrie? Shouldn't a person know deep down why they want to be with someone else? Like, they have a similar sense of humor, or they're intelligent, or they're creative, or hell, they're just hot. The last one wouldn't keep a relationship alive, I don't think, but you know what I mean."

Was she right about this?