Cuan had spent the day poring over Esfir’s schedule, wanting to find likely pockets of free time that could be used for training as well as gentle persuasion. For a friendly and outgoing child, Esfir wasn’t as socially booked as Cuan might have feared. Which might need an entirely different talk one of these days. Yes, Esfir as Saiph had duties. But she was also a child and needed to have time to be a child.

I have been remiss, she thought to herself. Still, it was probably going to be the easiest problem to solve of the current crop.

Certainly, she didn’t need to patrol every night. If they cut the weeknight patrols down to two or three… and shortened the Saturday night patrol by half or replace all together with training sessions? They’d always kept Sunday nights free to rest and recover and spent time with Esfir’s mother. No need to alter that. Bright green eyes narrowing, Cuan looked over her notes and changes and gave a little nod of satisfaction.

Her girl would get more time to herself to rest or play and she’d have a good, big chunk of time open to train and have trips to her homeworld. As far as the lykoi could see, it was the best possible plan. And Esfir so rarely argued with her, so it was unlikely that she’d start now. Particularly since she was hitting some big growth spurts and these changes would mean more time to herself to get used to the idea of growing up.

Tapping at the keyboard a few more times, Cuan cleaned up her notes and sent the whole thing off to Chariklo to look over. Once she knew her bird’s schedule, then they could really set something up. Thinking quickly, she sent another note, requesting Xibalba’s assistance as well. It was one thing to fight senshi. Knights and Negaverse officers were something else entirely. She’d be doing her charge no favors by excluding those who fought with weapons rather than straight magic from the training.

And if she could talk Xibalba into taking Saiph to his Wonder… why, there would be that much more knowledge and experience under her belt! Though Cuan herself had never been to a Wonder, she knew enough from listening to know that they differed in key aspects from a proper homeworld. Not to mention that it would be the only way for Saiph to experience a planet or star not her own.

Cuan rather thought she might enjoy that.

She was startled from her musings by Chariklo’s almost immediate response to her notes.

Looks good to me. Let’s start this week. Xib says he’d be happy to help.

Staring at the message, Cuan couldn’t help but feel a little bit of shock. As easy as that to secure her girl some help? It seemed too easy, but Chariklo was not the type to break trust over something like this. And, much as it amused and alarmed Cuan to think such, Chariklo might well be the perfect person to reach past whatever walls Esfir was holding against her own guardian. Chariklo, objectively, was cool. Cool tended to count for a lot to a thirteen year old.

Word Count = 541