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"Those <********>," swore Black, taking them straight from the Liberty Center's entrance to her office. "They think they can tell me where to go? How dare they." And with that, Black punched a hole through the wall, reached through, and opened her office door from the inside. She held the door open for Merroth to go in and he did so, not daring to make a single move or word against her.

Nerys would sometimes lose her temper, but this was the first time Black had. She slammed the door behind her with such vengeance the wood cracked. Then she kicked her desk and sent it skidding across the floor. Pencils and pens scattered over the floor. Finally she turned to Merroth.

"Do you know what I say to them?" she asked him, face inches from his, sneering.

Merroth swallowed. He was afraid but he knew he must not be. "No."

Black whirled, threw her arms up in the air, and yelled, "Screw them!" Her office chair was nearest. She lifted it and threw it against the wall and when it bounced back towards her she obliterated its atoms into nothing.

Then she began laughing. Merroth held his breath. He could not tell where this was going.

Her laughter was not malicious. It was joyous. She scooped up a handful of pens and pencils from the ground and handed half to Merroth. She held her half in both hand and twisted, snapping them with a crack and spraying liquid ink everywhere, even on herself and Merroth. She threw the pens and pencils at the wall, one handful at a time.

Merroth looked at the assortment she had given him. "Go on," she said, "Break them." He could not break the whole bunch at once as she had, but he snapped one of the pencils. Black laughed happily again and Merroth tentatively smiled up at her. She returned his smile, went to her desk, and began to rip out the drawers from their fastenings. Merroth threw the pencil halves at the wall and did his best to break a ballpoint pen but only succeeded in bending it. It still made a fine projectile.

The drawers were tossed in the middle of the floor and Merroth and Black ransacked them, breaking and tearing everything they could find. What Merroth could not bend or break with his hands he stomped on.

They threw everything at the wall, watched with satisfaction as containers shattered and junk dented and scratched the wall's surface. Merroth mildly shocked himself tearing the desk lamp from its outlet, but was too caught up in the moment to do anything but laugh with giddiness about it as if drunk. He laughed so hard he got the hiccoughs and had to stop breaking things until the hysteric convulsions quieted, Black giggling and snorting as she patted him on the back helpfully.

The room around them was in pieces. They had left dents and scratches and holes in the walls, had partially ripped the electrical socket from its moorings and stripped the moulding, had broken every object which had at one time been used for writing, ripped with hand and teeth every scrap of paper, shattered inkwells and glasses and broken the lids of boxes from their hinges. Pieces of once-valuable junk were scattered about, bits of models and artifacts from dozens of places. It was pure, total destruction, and Merroth sat in the middle of it with ink staining his shirt, exhausted.

Black set herself down beside him and sighed happily at the mess they had created, satisfied. "You're a good person, Merroth," she said, looking at the jagged shape of what had once been the base of a display stand. It was the first time Merroth had been called such, and it would not be the last, though it was the only time Black ever said it. Merroth looked up at her, at the distant, faraway look in her eyes, and for the first time felt like maybe, just maybe, Black had taken him from the nursery for a reason beyond her own amusement. It was the only time he ever saw this in Black, but he would never in his life forget it. The memory of sitting with her that day in the middle of her destroyed office was one that he would keep with him for as long as he lived.

And just as it began, some days later it was over and Merroth could leave from his bed. He fled from it with the fury of a released tiger, out for blood immediately, feeling like he had been caged for an E-TER-NITY. He knocked over everything in the house he could get his hands on in vengeance for his imprisonment. He completely ruined the perfect little family idea Nerys had gotten into her head during the two days of near-constant tending.

In short, things went from bad to worse, or maybe more specifically, bad to better to worse, depending on whose perspective was being used.

So when Black showed up Nerys practically threw Merroth at the almost-goddess and Black laughed and laughed at this pathetic woman, unable to cope with a simple toddler.

That moment of epiphany after Black had been expelled from daycare was only three days gone now, but it seemed like Merroth to have been at least two ages, cooped up in his room as he had been. So his first greeting to Black was to kick her and throw mud at her, which did have the benefit of greatly annoying her (she had expected the kick but not the mud, a rare moment of distraction on her part as she was laughing at Nerys). Black's response was not to call Merroth a good boy but to escalate.

And escalate they did. The moment they were gone from the island and it was war of the would-be tyrants. And for the first time, Black got angry enough to kick back at Merroth, so he tried to pee everywhere in her office and Ejay began to get very grumpy and short-tempered but Black would not send Merroth back because at this point she wanted to prove that she was better at handling Merroth than Generys.

So they put him in the next room and gave him the DVD player.

In every life there exist moments, vast and life-changing, and the minute Merroth set eyes on the screen with its brights colors and animated characters and silly song, he experienced such a moment. And when the DVD ended, it repeated, and he watched it again. And again. And again. Until finally he was so exhausted he fell asleep watching it and someone must have carried him home because he woke up in his own bed.

Daycare was done. The era of digital entertainment had begun.

Merroth was furious at ending up in his bed again and took it out on Nerys. When Black came the next time, he took it out even more on her, and they fought again and once more he was given the DVD player. And the same thing happened all over.

And then he found out the thing played other DVDs and how to work the buttons so he could watch and rewatch his favorite bits and sing along, howling nursery rhymes at the top of his lungs in an attempt to break the soundproof walls of the vacant room beside Black's office. "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he!" Only it was more, "Kookooburrasits inna olgum tree, merry merry kingava bushishee! Laaah, Kookooburra, LAAAAH kookooburra, howgayer life musby!"If he wanted, he could get really angry and throw the DVD player and Black would (usually) get him a new one. Before long he had all the songs and words of his little collection memorized. It was, in fact, more fun than anything in Nerys and Edward John's home, and Merroth started to look forward to Black's arrival and their fighting and tried each time to come up with ways to get the DVD player sooner and sooner.

Nerys noticed and she was not happy. "What are ye, a little turncoat?" she demanded of him, thrashing his bum over her knee with a switch when he returned one day.

"You're stupid and fat!" Merroth told her, and then she dunked him in salt water until his eyes burned. He managed to smack her with a weapon made from a board and a rope, leaving a rough red welt across her arm, and she chased him with murderous intent until Edward John got in the middle and diffused the situation.

"YOU dun have KOOKOOBURRA," Merroth screamed at Nerys, and instead of getting angry with him she threw up her hands and ran off crying and Edward John chased after her.

It began when Merroth unearthed a folder in Edward John's office. Edward John hated Merroth making messes in his office, so of course Merroth made it a point to make them there. He climbed up on the desk and was pulling things from the shelf when the rear of the shelf came off. Merroth had discovered a hidden compartment.

At first Merroth thought he had broken the bookshelf, but when he saw the leather-bound folio he knew he had unearthed a rare prize and pulled it out, dropping it onto the table at his feet. The folio spilled open and sent papers flying across the desk and onto the floor. Merroth ground his foot into the nearest sheet, only to stop when he realized there was something different about this paper.

It was covered in horizontal lines from top to bottom and scattered throughout were dots and vertical lines and letters. Merroth stared at the strange marks on the paper. He turned the page so the scattered letters were right side up but the dots and lines still meant nothing.

There seemed to be something vaguely mathematic about it. Each dot was positioned either on or between lines, in perfect whole and half intervals. When Merroth looked at the shapes as a numerical pattern, it almost seemed to make some sort of weird sense, but he could not decipher the identity of the functions for these equations or the end value. He quite forgot to finish making his mess and just stared at the dots and lines, calculating.

In came Edward John, swooping like a hawk and giving a cry of anger and upset equal the preying bird. He yanked the pages from Merroth's hands and forcibly evicted Merroth from the room, closing the door behind him. Merroth was so shocked by how quickly it happened he just stood there in the hall, gaping. For a brief moment he had seen on Edward John's face a look of such anger it frightened Merroth, moreso than anything Black and Generys could do. Edward John was nothing if not dependably pathetic, at least until today. Sure, he got angry when Merroth pulled stunts and executed antics, but for a moment Merroth had seen pure fury.

He lingered outside the door and listened as Edward John kicked at the desk and chair in a rage. There was the sound of paper tearing and Merroth decided to make his exit from the vicinity before Edward John came tearing after him.

Edward John did not speak that night at dinner except to snap at Generys when she pressed him for explanation. Generys informed Edward John he could sleep on the couch tonight because there was no way she was going to tolerate such insubordination on the upper decks. (She considered the house to be a sort of land-locked ship.) Edward John left the table without clearing it. The plates were still there on the table hours and hours later.

Merroth remembered the patterns of the dots from the numbers he had assigned them and he began to draw the patterns on the wall. This had the desired effect of keeping Edward John angry. When Black came next, it was Edward John and not Generys who was eager to be rid of the boy. Merroth was quietly very pleased with himself at this achievement and smiled all lthe way to Black's office, where he set a new record for shortest amount of time between his arrival and his being given the DVD player.

Edward John did not speak to Nerys. He did not even look at her. He slowly, deliberately dressed himself, from his shirt to his breeches to his buckled shoes and even his powdered wig and hat, and left the house without a word.

The dinghy was tied to the sad little post they used as dock, but the tide was out, so he had to push it, all the while Nerys yelling derisions and profanities in his ears. He tuned them out. She wanted him to acknowledge her, not just in the literal sense, but also in the broader sense, and be honest about their relationship. Edward John did not even want to try. He could not do it.

He dragged the little boat across the sand, leaving a deep furrow in his wake. Pissed off, Nerys gave up and finally returned to the house, hopefully to put on some clothing. Edward John launched the boat into the gently-lapping waves. He waded in with it, drenching his good shoes and stockings, and finally heaved himself up over the edge and took the oars.

He was in no way foolish enough to row away from the island into totally uncharted ocean. He simply rowed out of sight of the house, near enough to shore that he could swim back if he was not caught by an undercurrent, and then he covered his head in his hands and wept.

Weather on the island was mild, so Merroth was not terribly troubled by being outside. There were plenty of ripe fruits, and he soon had turned his little hideaway into a home away from home. Broad banana leaves formed the floor and dried palm fiber the bedding. He built a little wall of rocks. Nerys came again with more food, but she did not speak to him after her first attempt to drag him home, just put the food down and left. Edward John was mercifully and conspicuously absent.

This went on for some time, until Black came to find Merroth.

~ ~ ~

Black had come for Merroth several times before and considered torching the island when she was informed he was not available. After a few days, she reasoned she had better things to do with her time than play hide and seek on some godsforsaken island in the middle of nowhere looking for someone who did not want to be found. She was disappointed, yes, but there were other things to waste her time on.

Until, that is, a notice came from the Center directed to her instead of Edward John. Black read it once, twice, and then crumpled it into a ball and trashed it. She and Ejay headed out.

It would have been an easy thing to wipe the island totally out of existence, or flatten it, or any number of overkill plots, but in the end Black just mentally pinpointed Merroth's location and trampled everything in her path to get to him. Ejay trailed her bemusedly. It was really kind of a nice spot, really, until Black came along and trampled over part of Merroth's construction. She was ready for him to run from her, ready to make this one of their classic battles, and she was disappointed.

For a brief moment, so brief it barely registered in the grandiosity of spacetime, Black felt the urge to be a praetorian. She saw Merroth, could tell he had been through something, and for scarcely an yllym she had wanted to help. Then the corrupted taint of her soul bore down on the little spark and buried it completely.

Merroth, she quickly determined, was not at home in any sense but the physical. He had simply tuned out upon her arrival. She yanked his arm, but there was no real reaction, and she dragged him back to the portal without any trouble. Halfway back she was beginning to get cross about it. "At least pretend," she hissed at Merroth, who only stumbled along in her grasp and skinned his knee.

Generys was waiting at the house, arms crossed, ready for some sort of altercation.

"This," Black informed her, pulling Merroth up by his arm, "is not acceptable."

The confrontation Nerys had wanted was with Merroth, a trading of barbed tongues, but instead she was faced with a vengeful almost-goddess. For the first time, Nerys actually doubted the decisions in life that had led her to this point.

"I told you to take care of the boy," said Black, who had said no such thing and left the task of finding Merroth a home to Ejay instead of interviewing potential foster parents herself. Ejay, of course, had conducted no interviews and just handed the boy over to Generys for his own personal benefit. He was soon to be rewarded for that uncharitable action.

Nerys said the only thing she could think of, in a small voice: "E's alive, in't he?" She tried to imbue these words with attitude, but all she managed were jerky arm motions.

"This is not living in the full sense of the word," purred Black. "I am ending our agreement."

The change in Generys was immediate. Her mouth fell open in horror and she almost stepped back. A tiny shout came from her mouth, "No!" followed by another, louder scream: "NO!"

"Yes," said Black, her voice an almost inaudible breath of exhilaration. Nerys rushed forward and was pushed roughly back just as fast.

Merroth came to his senses and yelled, reaching a hand out for Nerys, his face beginning to mirror the terror on Nerys's as he realized what was happening. He looked at Nerys with wide eyes, not even wanting to believe that they were about to be separated, but recognizing too well what was going on from his many experiences with the process. This was the first time he had ever not wanted it to happen. Tears, which he had thought all used up that day he had gone into the jungle, sprang anew to his eyes. "Mmuh... Mum!"

"Merroth!" Generys was reaching for him, fighting the invisible forces that restrained her, struggling without success. She was so strong for a woman, far beyond her tiny frame, but she could not beat an adversary who rewrote all the rules of the universe to ensure a complete and utter victory.

Ejay, who had been silently watching up to the point, touched Black on the shoulder. "I think that's enough." Black turned and looked at Ejay, ready to retort that it was enough when she said it was enough, but she understood the look in Ejay's eyes. She was very fond of her lieutenant.

"Say goodbye to your fake mother," jeered Black, tugging Merroth along with her whether he wanted to go or not. Merroth wailed at the top of his lungs and continued to reach for Nerys just as much as she was reaching for him.

Then Black and Merroth were gone, disappeared down that dimensional corridor, thin air in their wake. Ejay stood along with Nerys. The bonds released Nerys broke and she stumbled forward onto the pebbles of the pathway, moaning and sobbing. Ejay waited until she was more recovered before kneeling at her side and offering her his hand. "I'm sorry."

It was so odd, this man who looked exactly like an older copy of her brother. Nerys's anger flared and she spat at him. "It's your fault! Bring my son back!" Ejay wiped the spittle from his cheek.

"You know as well as I do: I cannot."

Nerys wailed and sobbed anew at the loss, forgetting her anger in her despair. Ejay put his hand around her strong little shoulders, so powerfully compact, and comforted her, "Shh. I promise you, you will know a child's love again."

Nerys slammed her fists against the ground, spraying pebbles into the air. "You can't know that!" she screamed.

Ejay only leaned in closed, brushing her hair aside, and whispered in her ear, "Edward John is infertile."