Sighing a little as she curled up in a sunbeam, Esfir tugged a little restlessly on the collar of her sweater and stared out her window. Sitting near her feet on the ledge was a small knitted bat that she’d found mere moments after appearing back in Destiny City with Ilmare. She’d taken the bat more out of instinct than any desire. But now that she had it, she really didn’t want to get rid of it. It was cute in a weird way. Looking back on that night, she could only shake her head at how stupid she’d almost been. The relief at finding herself in a familiar and above all, normal setting had almost over-ruled common sense. Cuan had certainly drilled basic safety into her. Never power down near anyone not on your side. Don’t ever let an agent of the enemy know who you really are or where you live. And don’t ever tell an enemy about your family.

Up until now, that had been fairly easy since she’d never really encountered an enemy to worry about. And she hated thinking of Ilmare as an enemy. The older girl had helped her. Comforted and protected her. She was a friend. Maybe even a kind of big sister in spirit. But Ilmare was a corrupted senshi and had herself admitted that her side wouldn’t like knowing how she’d helped a chibi senshi. They were enemies.

But Ilmare had again protected her in the moment when they’d both realized they were home. The older girl must have had some sort of sixth sense for when someone was about to mess up because she’d put her hand on Saiph’s shoulder for a moment and gently reminded her to not let her guard down.

“Don’t power down yet, kiddo,” she’d said with a weird smile that Saiph couldn’t interpret. “I don’t want to see who you are because if someone asks me, I’d have to tell the truth. Know your way home from here?”

Saiph had nodded, eyes wide with worry. Ilmare had nodded back before holding out her arms and crouching down.

“Good girl. Give us a hug and we’ll say goodbye. I’ll turn around and close my eyes so I can’t see which way you go, okay?”

Saiph had obeyed, tears leaking down her cheeks. She’d even watched the corrupted senshi for a moment more than she probably should have. And Ilmare had absolutely done what she said she would. And Saiph had run home, suddenly wanting her own bed and clean clothes and a bath.

But once she’d gotten home and snuck in, she’d been shocked to see that her calendar hadn’t changed. Powering down and creeping into the living room, she’d turned on the computer monitor and stared at the little date/time stamp in the corner. She’d been in that village for weeks! So why wasn’t anything here reflecting that? And she could hear her mother snoring softly in the big bedroom. No one slept that deeply when a small child was missing! So what did all this mean? Had she been taken into some awful, twisted nightmare version of Narnia? Turning the monitor off, she’d crept back to her own room and sat on the bed thinking hard. And when morning had come around, it hadn’t been difficult to convince her momma to let her stay home from school.

TIme might have passed differently in the village but her weeks there had still left traces of exhaustion on her face and in her reflexes. No, it had been really easy to convince her mother to let her stay home and rest. And while her mother had been at work, Esfir had very quietly gathered Cuan into her arms and told the guardian kitten everything. Including Ilmare. And though the cat had been very visibly sceptical, she’d eventually come to agree with Esfir that it hadn’t been a dream and that very deep and powerful magic had been at work.

She’d been far more vocal about Saiph teaming up with a corrupt senshi, though she’d calmed down a lot when Esfir told her about how Ilmare had said goodbye and warned her to stay on guard.

“It might have been a trick, but with everything else you’ve said, I think she was being sincere,” Cuan had murmured thoughtfully. “I think I would like to patrol with you for a bit to see if we can’t find her again. I would like to thank her for taking care of you since I couldn’t.”

Esfir nestled deeper into the sunlight, smiling a little at the memory. Cuan was not known to ever have good words for anyone in the Negaverse. For the kitten to want to thank a corrupt senshi… Well, if Esfir hadn’t experienced the village, she’d be wondering if Cuan had hit her head. Yawning a little, she reluctantly moved from her perch. She’d recovered for the most part from her weeks or fear and exhaustion. She was only a little tired and that was more of a gentle drowsiness than anything else. Maybe tonight she could go out and patrol a bit. And she’d remember to take Cuan. If they were very lucky, they might spot Ilmare. And if they were very unlucky, well. She wouldn’t think about that right now.

Feeling a little better for having made a decision, Esfir decided that it would be best if she finished what little homework she had. Maybe she’d clean up a bit in her room as well. That would make her mother happy. And right now, Esfir liked that. After all, she’d gotten a few weeks of no mother, no room, no nothing that she was used to. After that unpleasant taste, she was more than willing to do things to show that she wasn’t taking the nice life she had for granted.

Going to her backpack, the little girl rummaged inside for a moment before pulling out the folder that contained her math homework. It was her least favorite, but the quicker she got the work, the quicker it would be done. And thankfully, it was the only homework her teacher had given the class.

Right. Let’s do this, she thought.

(Word Count: 1038)