"Oh." Solus froze a bit under Lith’s scowl.

They had agreed on Solus using her newfound ability in secret, not to exacerbate the feelings of isolation that Kamila developed after losing her powers at the end of a pregnancy.

"I mean, yes." Solus said.

"That’s great." Kamila said with a sweet voice and a warm smile that didn’t extend to her eyes. "Another person who can connect with my children better than I do. Just peachy."

"I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you, Kami." Solus gave her a deep bow.

"Don’t apologize." Kamila pinched her nose in frustration. "You have simply done what I did every day of my pregnancy and still would if I still had my powers. Gods, how long will it take for me to stop being a grumpy jerk?"

"That depends on you." Lith shrugged. "You know that I have a solution for that."

"What do you-" She turned to him, recognizing the pensive gaze and dour expression that put together formed his perverted face.

In the months right after the birth of a child, Lith and Kamila were usually too tired to engage in any recreational activities. Even when they did have the energy, neither of them wanted to get far away from Raldarak for long.

"You sure do." Kamila said with a laugh. "Too bad that I don’t want another... trial period with your powers so soon. I’d say we have our hands full with this little imp already."

"Don’t call Ral like that. He’s a sweetie." Solus said, lifting the baby boy in her arms.

"Mama!"

"See?" Solus hugged him tight. "He always knows the right thing to say."

"Constable!" Valeron tried to show off his new word of the day.

"Bae!" Elysia followed suit, releasing a purple bolt of Choke magic. "Me goo too, Mom!"

The baby girl looked around, noticing that while Valeron clapped at her and Raldarak looked at her in admiration, her parents either frowned or covered their faces with their hands.

"Me goo?" Elysia wasn’t so certain to be a good girl anymore. "Dad? Mom?"

"Yes, baby girl. You’re the best." Lith took her in his arms. "Good job for not shooting that thing at anyone. That would be bad."

"Yah." Elysia nodded. "Me no ba."

"What rune was that now?" Solus sighed.

"Bazek. It’s the magic word for Choke magic." Lith said after asking Elysia to repeat the mystical rune’s sound via a mind link.

***

Nobody liked the news about Elysia discovering the magic word for the fourth stable Cursed element, but they all pretended to be happy and showered her in compliments. The members of her family wanted Elysia to grow up while in control of her gifts, not to live in constant fear of them.

"As soon as the Lodestar charges up, I’m going to use it to research Bazek and the other stable Cursed runes." Lith said during lunch. "I need to understand how they work in order to teach Ral and Ely how to control them."

"So soon?" Tista asked. "I mean, the Reactor just finished charging a while ago. Shouldn’t you let the Spark and the other floors work at full power for a bit? If it keeps up like this, the production of magical materials will be as good as halted.

"Even worse, the Awakening process of the Trawn Woods will be indefinitely postponed."

"We don’t plan on using the Lodestar often, Tista." Solus replied. "We’ll split those two hours between Lith, Malyshka, and Elysia. We’ll do our best in that time and then compare notes once the pseudo-Fringe dissipates.

"With a bit of luck, a single session will give us enough material to work for days. If it doesn’t, we’ll at least have assessed the abilities and limitations of the new floor. We have yet to use the Lodestar once, Tista.

"If we don’t practice with it enough, we’ll never learn how to use it properly when we need it the most."

"Speaking of Awakening..." Elina cleared her voice, making Tista inwardly curse at herself for bringing up the topic. "I’ve thought long and hard about it. Seeing you work on Faluel’s Gungnir and witnessing Solus’ breakthrough was an eye-opener for me."

The last part made Tista and Lith sigh in relief. Elina had heard plenty of stories about how painful an Awakened’s breakthroughs were, but no matter how well a story was told, it couldn’t compare with seeing it firsthand.

"I know it’s going to be hard, but I want to Awaken." Lith’s hopes dropped like a falcon with a stroke. "I want to be able to defend myself and my children."

Elina couldn’t forgive herself for freezing in fear when the Awakened had attacked Zekell’s home. Their killing intent had scared Elina to the point that she hadn’t even noticed when one of the Awakened had taken Surin away from her.

No matter how hard she tried to remember that day, one moment the baby girl was in her arms and the next she was gone.

"I promise you that I’ll work hard and follow your instructions by the letter." Elina clenched her cutlery as hard as she wished she had clung to Surin. "I’ll be patient and won’t overwork myself anymore. You have my word."

"Mom-" Tista tried to object, but Elina raised her hand for silence.

"I know what you’re going to say, sweetie." She said. "I don’t have to Awaken. I know that you and your brother are capable of keeping us safe. Yet I want to do it. Even though I might never amount to much as a mage, I can’t give up without first giving it my all.

"If someone else ever comes after our family, I don’t want to regret the moment I choose to do nothing but hope for the best. No matter how little my contribution to our safety might be, I don’t want to be a burden for you."

"I feel the same." Raaz nodded without stopping to eat. "I’m aware I won’t become strong overnight, and that learning magic will take time and discipline. As Mother said, I’m just making the decision I won’t regret.

"My fields will still be there when I stop training. I can still go out for a beer with my friend at the end of the day. What I can’t do is keep living while pretending there’s nothing more I can do to protect my family.

"Maybe it’ll turn out that I have no talent for magic and I’ll quit in a few weeks, but I have to try. There is no shame in giving up after doing your best and realizing your limits. Hiding behind your weakness and using it as an excuse to shy away from your duty, however, is the coward’s way.

"I may be weak and a fool, son, but your father is no coward." Raaz put down the cutlery and looked Lith in the eyes.

"I know, Dad." Lith replied. "What about you two?"

"I want to Awaken as well." Rena said. "But not to be a warrior. I have my children to look after, and they are my priority. I want to study magic just enough to endure the first breakthroughs. I have no interest in developing my core past a certain point.