Grey sat motionless in her old room. Her breathe was calm, her mind focused. She felt her soul, burning strong inside her. She touched it gently, fondled it and grasped it firmly.

  She examined its ins and outs, its size, strength and potential. She removed the tiniest bit she could from it, separating it from the whole. She felt the divergence like a hot knife to the heart. A few days ago the pain would have left her weeping; now it was no more than an annoyance. She took the drop of her soul and attempted to remove it from her body. It fought against her, yearning to return to where it belonged.

  With determination she commanded it, forcing it out and into a skeletal husk her Father had helped her assemble. There she had it take root.

  Her concentration was broken and the droplet ran back to re-join her.

  Grey looked up annoyed at her father standing observant in the door way.

  “You were doing well. No need to push yourself so hard. Re-animating a humanoid corpse is a lot harder than a rat. A lot more dangerous too.”, Thanatos cautioned.

  “I almost had it. If you hadn`t interrupted me.”, Grey began annoyed.

  “Interruptions are a part of life. You need to get used to them, accommodate them or ignore them. When you can do that you can perform at your best when you are feeling your worst.”, Thanatos replied sagely.

  Grey took a deep breath and got up off the floor wiping the dirt off of her dress. The fireflies in the jar next to her danced around startled causing the rooms shadows to move violently.

  “I take it by your interruption that its getting te.”, she enquired, stretching out, hearing her joints click.

  “It is. I imagine Willow is starting to wonder why you haven`t returned yet. You`re usually so punctual”, they agreed.

  “Guess I better call it a day then, same time tomorrow dad?”, Grey asked, walking over and kissing him gently on the cheek bone.

  “Of course my dear, but please don`t feel so obligated. You have been doing well, better than I ever could have imagined. It is okay for you to take a break once in a while.”, they remarked, proud yet concerned.

  It had been two weeks since Thanatos had saved their daughter from the Dark. That day was a wake-up call for them, they had been too hasty in pushing her out into the world. They should have taken more time to let her fail and learn from her mistakes in a safe environment. Their negligence had almost gotten their daughter killed.

  Grey`s brush with death had left her reflecting on her own mortality. She had come so close to dying, to abandoning all those she cared so dearly for. It forced her to look inwards and acknowledge her life was no longer hers alone. She could no longer be so careless, so selfish. She had people who cared for her, people who needed her. People who would suffer deeply if something happened to her.

  She needed to be more focused, more self-aware. Every day she spent in study and practicing her Necromancy pushed her closer towards security. Not just for herself but for her family; for Willow, Max, Whiskers and Mika. Despite her father`s insistence that she had to learn on her own, they had remained strangely attentive. Providing assistance where it wasn`t needed but was still greatly appreciated.

  [---]

  As much as Grey wanted to oversee the construction of the rat farms, fate had other pns. To her relief Max had given her daily updates on the progress being made and by now they should have been fully operational.

  She was happy to hear how instrumental Mika had been in rounding up and recruiting all the former rat catchers. Some were resistant at first, not used to being told what to do. But once they heard about the free three meals a day and regur pay any compints went out the window.

  Some of the Goblin folk had taken time away from their farms to instruct the kids on the basics of farming. Sure these farms were home to rats and not mushrooms, but the principles were the same. Feed them, water them, tend to their enclosure, it was all very straight forward. Sure mistakes were made every now and then but those made for the best teaching situations.

  Despite her absence from the whole endeavour she was happy to hear how successful the whole operation was.

  Grey and Whiskers rounded a corner and began to approach the tunnel entrance to the farm Mika worked at. Mika was there, waiting for her escort back home. She had insisted she didn`t need someone looking after her but Grey would hear none of it. Mika could have fought it but she enjoyed the attention, not that she would admit it.

  She spotted Grey and wondered over walking cautiously minding her pockets.

  “You doing okay there kiddo?”, Grey enquired.

  “I`m good. Just don`t wanna wake Samuel.”, Mika responded.

  “And Samuel is?”, asked Grey.

  “One of the new rattoes. The others were picking on em so I decided to take em home with me. You know, look out for him and stuff.”, Mika decred, climbing on the back of Whiskers with Grey.

  “I see. I guess we will have to set an extra pte at the table for Samuel then. Is he going to sleep in bed with you as well or do I need to make him a tiny cot?”, Grey teased.

  “He can sleeps wit me. He`s my problem, not yours.”, Said Mika.

  “Responsibility.”, Grey corrected.

  “What?”, asked Mika.

  “He is your responsibility. Problem makes it sound like you are unhappy to be caring for him.”, Grey expined.

  The two sat in silence for a bit as Whisker`s carried them home. Grey would have asked Mika about her day and been happy to listen to all the stories she could have told. But she was just too tired today. Finally Mika piped up with a question.

  “What was I?”

  “What do you mean?”, asked Grey.

  “Was I a problem or a responsibility?”, Mika wondered out loud.

  “Neither. You were deserving.”, said Grey.

  “Deserving of what?”

  “Deserving of love.”, Grey responded.

  Mika buried her face into Grey`s back to hide her embarrassment.

  [---]

  Willow was hard at work in the field alongside Max. The two were tending to the mushrooms picking out the weakest of the bunch to make space for the strong. It was tedious but important

  Willow looked up and wiped the sweat from her forehead noticing Grey, Whiskers and Mika coming down the hill of the tunnel entrance. She stood up excitedly and dusted herself off running casually towards them.

  Grey climbed off of Whiskers and ran to meet her wife. The two collided together Willow picking Grey off the ground to spin her around. The two kissed passionately until they were broken up Whiskers nuzzling his way in-between them, jealous of the attention.

  “Cheeky little sod.”, commented Grey, “I give you more than enough love. You don`t see Willow getting in the way of that do you?”

  Whiskers lowered his head apologetically.

  “Looks like someone else is a little jealous of the attention too.”, said Willow, locking eyes with Mika.

  Mika looked down gingerly and climbed off of Whiskers moving slowly towards Willow and Grey. The two pulled her in for a hug and the three stood together in a warm embrace.

  “You know, it sure does feel like ya`ll are forgetting someone.”, Max interrupted from the side lines.

  Grey broke away from her little families embrace and wondered over to Max giving him a big hug and a saucy kiss.

  “I could never forget you big boy.”, Grey flirted, checking out his shirtless torso and his new skeletal prosthesis. “The arm been treating you well today?”

  “Not as good as yesterday. I mean, each day it`s easier to use but I seem to get more and more tired as well. Like my co-ordination is improving but my stamina is worsening.”, Max expined, stretching the arm out for Grey to examine.

  She closed her eyes and checked to see how the bond she had created between the prosthesis and Max`s torso were holding up. To her aggravation the bond was weakening, she was going to have to strengthen it again. The problem wasn`t too big of a deal, in fact she could easily teach Max some basic Necromancy so that he could strengthen the bond himself. But that would take time, time she didn`t have.

  “Huh, I don`t know what you just did but it feels a lot better now.”, said Max. He checked his range of motion and made some simple gestures. “Almost feels like the real deal.”

  “I`m gd it`s working for you. Listen, the connection is going to keep fading with time unless you can learn to strengthen the bond yourself. I`m going to need you to find some time to try and communicate with your arm, so to speak.”, expined Grey.

  “I understand. Can`t expect you to do everything for me.”, Max replied with a cheeky grin.

  Mika came up behind Grey and grabbed her hand.

  “Can we go inside now? Samuel is getting hungry.”, spoke Mika.

  “Sure thing lil dy, why don`t the three of you go on ahead. I just need to finish up here.”, insisted Max.

  “Are you sure Max? I can stay back for a few more minutes; Grey knows how to get everything started.”, replied Willow.

  Their conversation descended into a pointless argument over who should make dinner and who stood stay in the field punctuated with annoyed sighs from Mika. Grey was comfortable to just stand back and see what Max and Willow could agree upon until she noticed Whiskers staring at the tunnel entrance. He was the first to notice the man in the suit coming towards them. And Grey was the first to notice the letter he was holding.