“Has Lolo been up there the whole time with Andromeda?” Catherine asked.

“No… He wasn’t, he came down after you went outside. I sent him over to the neighbors.” Argo replied.

They both waited for the steps to come closer, they were slow and steady. They would stop every few steps, then continue. Then the origin of the sound came into view.

Andromeda had come down. She was rubbing her eyes, there were tear streaks down her cheeks and her face was flush. She looked like she just got done crying.

“Uh, hello? Where am I?” She said. Argo was in complete shock, Catherine was shocked as well. Andromeda wiped her eyes and saw both a familiar face and an unfamiliar one. She stepped off the landing and down to the first floor.

“A-Andromeda?” Argo said in disbelief. After days of complete silence and listless wandering, she was up and about like nothing happened.

“Yeah?” Andromeda responded.

Argo and Catherine both jumped to their feet and ran over to her.

Catherine put her hand over Andromeda’s forehead to check her temperature, while Argo checked her eyes. Both found that she was alright, despite only minutes ago being like this.

“How long have you been… Up?” Argo said. The way he said it felt off to Andromeda, she got the hint that something wasn’t right.

“Around an hour, I woke up crying for some reason.” Andromeda said.

“Crying?” Argo said.

“Yeah, just bawling my eyes out, nose running, the works.” Andromeda said. She walked farther into the room and looked around.

“No TV?” Andromeda asked.

“TeeVee?” Argo and Catherine said in unison. Andromeda remembered where she was, and then for a split moment flashed back to everything that had happened before she woke up, and then shook her head. She realized they probably don’t have things like that.

“Never mind.” She said.

“Right, come over here and sit down.” Catherine said, worried that she was still feeling some effects. She led Andromeda to an open seat next to the couch they all sat down on.

Andromeda looked at the pair before her.

She was already familiar with Argo. He was a large, bearish man with a bushy beard. Larger than most people she had ever known, and wider than the rest. Though he wasn’t overweight, he just seemed to be built like a brick wall.

Next to him was a slightly younger woman, Argo himself looked around 40, so she was probably a few years younger than him. Maybe 35, though you might not be able to tell by looking at her, it was more in how she carried herself. She had that motherly feel about her that you can’t get without experience. She herself was very youthful, contrasted with her tired eyes.

The woman was wearing a simple blouse and a knee-length skirt. Her hair was a dark auburn that flowed freely around her shoulders. Compared to Argo’s pitch black hair, in contrast, she was almost red-headed.

“This feels a bit strange, but I guess this is the first time we’ve been properly introduced.” Catherine said.

There was that phrasing again. Why would it be weird if they only just met. She wouldn’t say that unless it was only technically true.

“You two seem to be dancing around something. Mind telling me what?” Andromeda said. Andromeda surprised herself, that was pretty blunt. Even for her. She did just wake up, so being snappy was to be expected, but that felt strange.

“U-Uhh, well yeah, there is something I wanted to tell you.” Argo said.

“I’m listening.” Andromeda said. Another short-fuse response. It was starting to annoy her. She didn’t want to be rude. But it felt like her mouth was talking before her brain was set on it.

“Right, well, you’ve been… Well, out of it… The last few days.” Argo said. Out of it? How did he mean that? She was asleep for several days? That might explain some things, but not why.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“You’ve been absent of mind the last few days. You weren’t speaking, you barely ate, and you never left the room we left you in unless you used the bathroom. I’ve been taking care of you since Argo brought you here three days ago.” Catherine said. Andromeda sat there. She heard the words and understood them. But her mind was doing a flip, and it was hard to parse them.

Her last memory was walking out of Rhys’… Clinic…

“Where’s Rhys!?” Andromeda asked suddenly. The change of subject caught them both off guard, but Argo answered.

“He took off after I woke up after the blast, he told me to take you back here. He also said to just not head back up to King’s Grove. It’s not like you could anymore, but he said, don’t bother.” Argo said.

“Was he alright?” She asked.

“He seemed fine, we were all banged up pretty bad. My head has been killing me the last few days and it's been hard to sleep. I can’t say how he’s faring, though.” Argo said.

That was good at least, the last thing she remembered was them arguing about whether to help at the estate, after that it got fuzzy. She remembered a really loud noise, then she woke up here.

“I’m guessing King’s Grove is up where we were before?” Andromeda said.

“Yeah, the whole region’s called that, but we just call the town that for short.” Argo said.

“What happened?” Andromeda asked. She remembered the first two shockwaves, they felt like explosions with a lot more carry. If there was another one bad enough after that to knock her out and injure Argo, it must have been devastating.

“We’re not sure, they locked the town down and aren’t letting anyone in. Only people who already lived there. I’m not allowed up there, and I’ve worked in the estate for years.” Argo said.

“Was it an attack of some kind? Maybe a terrorist attack?” Andromeda said.

“Maybe? I’m not exactly sure about the specifics. Military types were swarming the place by the time I got us a ride back, but I haven’t heard much more besides that. I don’t think it's that dramatic, if it was, then someone would have gone around and warned everybody.” Argo said.

They didn’t know much beyond the basics, so she wanted to change the subject to her.

“Alright, can you tell me more about… Me? What was I doing?” Andromeda asked.

“I wish I could.” Catherine said.

“What do you mean?” Andromeda asked.

“You were awake, you could speak just a bit, you used the bathroom. You even ate some food when I brought it to you. But besides that… It felt like you weren’t really awake. Do you really not remember anything?” Catherine said.

“No, and I’m starting to notice a trend of me clocking out and not remembering things.” Andromeda said.

“Not everyone follows up nearly dying to sickness with nearly dying in an explosion. So give yourself some credit.” Argo said. They chuckled for a moment. Then the reality of what he said sank in.

She reached down for the necklace she was supposed to have, but it was gone.

“Did I have a necklace with me when you brought me here?” Andromeda asked.

“I don’t think so. You had the two rings on your fingers, but not a necklace.” Catherine said.

Andromeda was about 5 seconds from panicking, then she thought about it some more. She was being told that she was up and about for several days, she just didn’t remember it. Rhys said she would die without it. Possibly anyway.

“Have I been sick at all?” Andromeda asked.

“No, you’ve been fine. Just quiet.” Catherine confirmed.

Andromeda looked down at the ring. Rhys said that was a backup that wouldn’t last very long without the necklace. She was fairly sure she wasn’t dying. Not 100% sure, but she had a good feeling that wasn’t the case. Dying was a pretty clear signal she found.

“I take it that what I did isn’t normal.” Andromeda said.

“You would be correct.” Catherine said.

Throughout the conversation, Andromeda kept seeing both Argo and Catherine looking up and behind her. Andromeda turned around to see a portrait on the wall. It was a picture of a young girl in a blue robe.

They didn’t wait for her to ask, and told her.

“That is a painting of our daughter.” Catherine said.

Andromeda was taken by the quality of the artwork. It was lifelike. It felt like the girl could crawl right out of the frame at any moment.

“It’s incredible.” Andromeda said. Despite not knowing the girl, her focus was drawn to the painting, and it was hard to look away.

“Thank you. I just completed it the other night.” Catherine said.

“You painted it? That’s incredible!” Andromeda said. Her heart fluttered in her chest. She was excited to hear that. There was a sense of awe in knowing that a master was sitting right across from her.

“It’s wonderful. I’m sure your daughter is ecstatic about it. It’s a masterpiece.” Andromeda said. The moment the last word left her lips, she felt a pit develop in her stomach that made her want to throw up. She looked back to see that Catherine had clasped her hand and looked down, while Argo looked away. Both seemed upset.

Then it hit her. Parents don’t just create paintings of their young children and put it above the mantle.

“She… She isn’t with us, is she?” Andromeda said.

Catherine closed her eyes, holding back tears.

Andromeda’s stomach dropped even farther. The queasy sickness had gripped and she felt faint. A fact that was starting to draw her suspicion. But that was something she needed to leave for later to think on.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Andromeda said. Catherine waved her hand and shook her head. She rubbed the tears from her eyes.

“No, no, no… I painted it so I could remember her. Don’t be sorry for talking about her.” Catherine said.

“Still, I didn’t want to bring up bad memories.” Andromeda said. Catherine wiped away the tears again and smiled.

“There is no such thing as a bad memory of my daughter.” Catherine said.

Andromeda wanted to drastically change the subject to prevent the situation from getting any more depressing, and because her stomach was doing flips, and she wanted to distract herself from it. Fortunately, a distraction came running through the house just in time to save the mood.

“I’m back! Nibbi had to eat lunch. What’re-” Milo said.

He was surprised by three things, the first was Andromeda sitting in the living room, the second was seeing the tears falling from his mom’s face, and the third was the painting sitting above the mantle.

“Uhh?” Milo said.

“Oh, Lolo, come sit down and introduce yourself.” Catherine said. He walked wide around Andromeda and sat down between his parents.

“Andromeda, this is our son Milo, Milo, this is Andromeda.” Catherine continued.

Milo gave a weak wave and averted his eyes instead of saying anything. Catherine frowned at her son and that was enough to make him want to give it a second try

“hi…” He said.

“Hello.” Andromeda said. She sensed hostility.

“Sorry about him, you accidentally scared him the other day when you first got here. He’s normally a bouncing ball of energy around here.” Catherine said.

“I don’t remember that, but I’m sorry for it.” Andromeda said. She must have scared him pretty badly to get a reaction like that. Andromeda didn’t want to be a bother more than she already was, so she wanted to smooth this over as quickly as possible. He was a young boy, so the low-hanging fruit might be the best option here.

“Hey Milo, did you know you can fart with your hands?” Andromeda asked.

The question caught Argo, Catherine, and especially Milo off guard.

“What? Really?” Milo said.

“Yeah, watch this.” Andromeda said. She brought her hands together and blew into her palms, then rubbed them together. Then with a twist of the wrist, the sound of a fart erupted out from her hands. This shocked all three of them, but Milo stood up and ran over to her like nothing was wrong a minute ago.

“Do it again, show me, show me!” He said. Argo and Catherine watched their son look intently at Andromeda’s hands. He tried it with his own hands and failed, a few more tries, and he got it. Then he ran around the room for a bit, making fart noises with his hands until he asked to head back over to his friends. With permission, he ran out the back door.

“Good with kids are ya?” Argo asked.

“I mean, not really, I just wanted to try to smooth things over with him.” Andromeda said.

“Give yourself more credit, I didn’t know how we were going to set that straight,” Argo said.

“If you say so…” Andromeda said.

-----

They spoke a bit longer, more practical things like what Andromeda wanted to do from here. She didn’t have an answer, so everyone agreed on a temporary living arrangement. She would help around the house, doing some light chores, and keep an eye on Milo. In return, she would be given room and board.

There was something that caught Andromeda’s interest as she was given the proper tour of the house. In the room next door to hers was a large pile of books.

When she asked about it, she was told that it was prepared for their daughter Reine before she passed. They never had the heart to move anything. It contained everything that a novice mage would need to understand the basics, as long as they had a teacher to coach them through it. She lacked a teacher, but she was still interested.

It was a golden opportunity to expand her knowledge about magic. She had developed a morbid interest in magic after being told it was killing her. Whether that was still the case wasn’t clear, but the interest remained.

The collection they had wasn’t terribly large. From what she understood, this was gathered before they were flush with cash. But it was still considerable.

She had a faint feeling of familiarity with this room. It was sparsely decorated, with just a few tables and a bookshelf near the window. There was a couch in the corner of the room, presumably for resting between bouts of research.

Andromeda looked through the stacks of books for something that she could read as a primer. She knew that all this was gathered for a child, so she had a lot of choices in what to learn.

She thumbed through several books, but none of them seemed to reach her. They all either read as too complicated for her understanding or as aids to others. She was fairly sure that some books were missing from a series, and others were journals rather than research books. Then she found one that did catch her eye.

“The Fundamental Guide to Mending” by Entai Algoer.

She opened it to the first page.