“I’m surprised you didn’t cancel today,” Doctor Mantis said, eating a small plate of dumplings.

“Yeah well, I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

I dully watched the doctor chew her food. Eventually she took notice that I was waiting for her to finish, and she held out a piece of food with her chopsticks.

“Dumpling?” she asked. I shrugged and took it with my hands. I had to admit, humans really did know how to make good food. “How is it?”

“Good,” I nodded. “I dunno what’s in it, but it’s not bad.”

“Oh, if you like that, you should try some-”

“Doc,” I interrupted. Maybe she forgot I was banished to The Living for a while. I had to eat a lot of human food there. “The appointment. Let’s get it over with.”

“You’re weirdly eager today,” she noticed.

“I’ve got something to show,” I said.

Doctor Mantis put like three dumplings in her mouth at once and threw away the paper plate they were on. She came over and put her hands on my head like she always did, and what she always did at our therapy sessions.

After going through most of my memories of the past week, and checking up on a few old issues and topic points, she looked around my mindframe, satisfied. There were a few things I blocked her from peeking at, but she was used to that now, and trusted I wasn’t withholding anything vital.

“Well Gryft, you are doing almost mentally stable,” Mantis remarked. “Which is surprising for you.”

“No need to shower me with those compliments, doc.”

“Is there anything else you want to show me?” she asked. “If not, I think we’re done for this week.”

“Well, there is something I want you to see,” I said. “But I can’t show you myself.”

“And we were doing so well in getting mentally stable,” Doc sighed. “You have to take a step back to take some forward though.”

“You’ll understand why you have to find it, just trust me.”

Doctor Mantis sighed with a smile and lit her hands up with magic. She was used to my odd requests sometimes, so this felt more like a game to her. She looked through some memories of the last week again, looking for something she hadn’t seen before. Then at last she looked like she got a stroke of insight.

“I found it,” she said smugly. “Now let’s take a peek at what you want me to see then.”

*   *   *   *   *

After she saw what The Temple told me, the doctor ended the therapy session. She was writing some things down on a clipboard while I anxiously rubbed my arm with The Temple’s mark on it.

“Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me,” I thought.

“According to your memories, The Temple said not to show me,” Mantis justified. “And since I found it myself, you can’t be accountable.”

“That won’t stop The Temple from letting me go on a bad day anyway.”

“That… is true,” she agreed, writing faster.

“Doc, are you sure you can’t come with us to find Mina?” I asked. I had asked Mantis this a few other times, and she’s only given one answer.

“Gryft, I’m a doctor,” she sighed. “I don’t help people fight. I do the opposite.”

“But your mental magic could be used against her. If you were there, we could-”

“Gryft,” she said sternly, putting down her clipboard and looking serious. “I’m not going to help potentially hurt someone. This isn’t something I can do. I can just be here in my office, waiting for you after the fight when you need my help.” She showed me the clipboard, which had the events of The Temple and Mina written on it. “Here, give this to your friends who are coming with you. I’m fully booked and can’t get a break to do it.”

“You’re killing me here, doc,” I yawned.

“Stay safe, Gryft,” Doctor Mantis wished. “Should I double-schedule you for next week?”

“Probably.”

*   *   *   *   *

“So, how many people do we have when we confront Mina?” I asked.

Sona was taking a break and sitting on a park bench, watching the children carvations playing together. They were just running around and chasing each other, but she seemed to enjoy watching them run. I had taken a seat next to her to talk.

“Hardly anyone,” she reported. “Moon and Iris have work, Mantis won’t join, we can’t ask random carvations in The Village to fight, the ones in New Village won’t take arms against their mother, and all my men but me are being assigned by The Temple on specific duties at the time.”

“So… who does that leave us with?”

“You, Adam, and I.”

“Oh that’s just… great.”

“Were you thinking about bringing an army to her?” she asked.

“I don’t like taking chances.”

“Even with your own sister?”

“Would you?” We saw one boy get tackled to the ground by another. “Do you remember when we were kids?” I asked. “And we used to be best friends?”

“I remember you used to sneak up behind me to yank my antenna,” remarked Sona as we saw a girl pull on another girl’s fish tail. 

“I remember how hard you used to punch me when I did.”

“Bugged the shit out of me,” she growled. “Pun unintended.”

“I know it did,” I smirked. “I just wanted to annoy you.”

“Of course you did, chimera,” she groaned.

“Lighten up, back-clicker,” I teased, flicking her antenna. 

She buzzed her wings, brought her elbow right now on my tail, and I yelped, grabbing it. I rubbed my limb and Sona laughed. It was just like we were kids again. It made me think of something old. 

“Hey, wanna come see something?” I asked. “For old times’ sake, while we’re just waiting around.”

“Sure, why not?” shrugged Sona. She looked like she was doing it just to humor me. “Where are we going?”

“Just down to The Living,” I said vaguely. 

I held out my hand to her, and she took it. We disappeared in a flash of light. I’m sure Sona would’ve been actually threatened if it was someone other than me. What am I saying? No, she wouldn’t have. She was probably waiting for an excuse to deck me over the head if anything. When we appeared, it was in the middle of a forest.

“Wow Grft, you outdid yourself,” she said sarcastically. “Real trees. We sure don’t have those in The Village.”

“I’m still working on my magic,” I mumbled, turning a bit red. “Come on, let’s go. It should be close.”

“What’s close?”

“It’s just a little house hidden away.”

“You’ve got a home down here?” Sona asked, brushing through some stray green in the forest trying to hit their faces. 

“I’d call it more of a safehouse,” I shrugged. “I’ve got a few of those down here. When you get banished somewhere for a couple hundred years, you need to have a place to sleep.”

We arrived at a small cabin in the middle of nowhere in these woods. It was still as dilapidated and abandoned as when I left it. Nostalgically, I smiled as I approached the door and pulled it open. Then it fell as I realized the inside was still one giant nest made of things I had gathered and stolen.

“Heaven, Gryft,” Sona wheezed, turning her nose away. “Could’ve cleaned up before you left it like that.”

“Shut up,” I coughed. “Don’t act like your nests wouldn’t get nasty after a decade.”

“What are we here for?” she gagged.

“Hold on.”

I walked inside and rummaged around. Things were tossed and turned everywhere, just laying around wherever. I picked up a beer bottle and looked at the label. Man, I remember drinking one of those things and I was out like a light; there was even that one time it made me sing at a bar with some humans. Makes you do weird things. Carvations can’t hold their alcohol well when compared to humans. They were pretty nice for getting drunk and doing stupid shit though. I know juvenile carvations liked to come to The Living and mess around with drinks. Their parents usually aren’t happy.

After a couple minutes of looking in random places, at last I found what I was searching for and came back out. Sona had a butterfly perched on her finger before it flew away when I walked out. She actually looked happy for a second before setting her sights on me and hardening her face again. I knew she had it in her to be sweet, but she was just too used to not showing it anymore. Once upon a time she was actually capable of showing she cared.

“What were you looking for anyway?” she asked.

“This,” I said, tossing her something. She caught it with one hand and looked shocked at what it was.

“You’ve had this?” she asked, not quite believing it. 

In her hand was a picture with cracked glass and a fractured frame. In the photo was Sona and I when we were young, along with the familiar faces of our axolotl variant and wasp warient friends. It was a picture of the four of us making The Village’s only martial force to protect it and discipline carvations who acted out. Yeah, we didn’t exactly do much, but we did it  more for the fun of being around each other.

“I thought this was lost forever,” she said.

“I needed something to keep home on my mind.”

“Home you couldn’t come back to?”

“I’m back now, aren’t I?”

“Well, I was promised you were gone forever,” she huffed.

“Forever is never as long as they promise.”

“You’re telling me,” she smirked.

We shared a long silence as I walked over and took the photo back from her. It was probably the only surviving proof of Sona’s old smile. The one that went away without warning one decade. The smile of a bright young carvation girl who looked forward confidently. I’m sure it was still there, behind the stone-cold exterior. But it’s been behind there for so long, it’s all some of the carvations have known.

“What happened?” I asked, dropping my smile. “You used to look so happy. You used to be the life of the group. Then one day you just… stopped.” 

Sona looked away and sighed.

“You wouldn’t get it.”

“Try me.”

“Fine.” Sona took the picture back and ran her thumb over her bright smile. “You know how when we started out our military group, we didn’t do anything?”

“Yeah, we just helped old carvations get places and helped with community stuff. Pretty much what I still do now actually…”

“Yeah, well, you and the others were fine with doing that, but…” She let out a sigh. “But I couldn’t take it. I wanted to really do some service and help carvations, but carvations didn’t need the help we were giving!”

“Well it’s hard to police a group of people who don’t do bad things,” I said. “Looking back, I thought we did it more to all be together.”

“Well, I wanted to make a difference, but couldn’t,” Sona said, almost depressingly. “I was looking for some greater purpose beyond myself, and I think one night I just broke.”

“You were though,” I pointed out. “You always were. Helping other people is just that.”

“Don’t spout that at me,” she said bitterly. “A 200 year old with wings can fly an old lady home. I wanted to protect The Village. I wanted to defend my home.”

“That’s what we’re doing,” I said. “That’s why we’re looking for my sister.”

“Well, when you got banished for muder, it put people into a bit of a scare. Made them feel like they needed us for some security. Gave us some purpose, but it wasn’t real.” She let her hand with the photo fall. “They didn’t really need us. Nobody was going on a killing spree anytime soon. It was just a fake need.”

“They need us now, Sona,” I said confidently. “Because now, there is something that might threaten them. So now you can live out that purpose.”

She looked me in the eyes, but it wasn’t Sona’s facade anymore. It was someone who looked happy, bright, and proud. I guess that’s all she needed. She tried to hide how she felt, but all she could do was turn away and give me the photo.

“Just take it. I don’t need anything to remind me of the past anyway.”

“I’m putting this on my night stand,” I said with a grin.

“You need something to remind you that you were young once.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you have a nice smile,” I said. 

For some fun, I flicked her antenna and waited for her to give me a bruise on the shoulder. It never came though; instead I just saw her roll her eyes and look away with a sigh. It was weird to see her not do anything back.

“I’ll let you get away with that one,” she mumbled. Color me surprised.

“Are you getting soft on me?” I teased. She blushed, reeled her arm back, and gave me a monster punch in the arm. Yeah, that’s the Sona I remember. I think she actually left a fracture in my shoulder.

“I’ve got more where that came from!”

“Just making sure it was still you…” I groaned, knowing I had to stop by the hospital now.

“S-Sona!” called a familiar wasp carvation. It was clear that Keisey had been standing there for a while. Or at least long enough to feel uncomfortable.

“What is it?” snapped Sona.

“I-I found her, captain!” she chirped. “The woman we were looking for. I found her.” I couldn’t really believe it. 

“You found Mina?”

*   *   *   *   *

Only a day later, Sona, Adam, and I were getting ready in New Village. The carvation reported that Mina was apparently en route straight there, so we could easily intercept her. Sona strapped a knife sheath around her right leg and some light armor pieces here and there on her body. Adam and I spent most of the time saving up some strength though. Which is also to say that we ate and sat around while we waited for Sona to gear up. We sat on a bench together and watched the carvations play.

“Why do you think she’s heading here?” Adam wondered.

“Who knows?” I sighed. “Maybe she wants her science projects back.”

“You think I’m a science project?” Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t feel bad,” I said, patting him on the back. “I’m sure you’d win one hell of a blue ribbon.”

“Thanks, I was feeling real insecure about it.” 

We shared a small laugh about it. I think we were both nervous at least a bit. Adam was nervous about confronting the woman who took him apart and put him back together in a different form. I was nervous about having to confront my own sister, and knowing it was her. Some family issues are worse than others.

“What’re you going to tell her when you see her?” asked Adam.

“Oh you know, catch up on lost time,” I joked. “Grab lunch, head to the park, that stuff.”

“Mhm, and what are you really going to do?”

“Depends on what she does. If we fight, we fight. If not, we can take her to The Temple and it can do what it wants to do.”

“You really think she’s going to talk it out though?”

There was a moment of silence between us.

“And I thought I was the pessimistic one,” I cracked with a grin.

“Gryft, flirt with your boyfriend later,” Sona barked from behind us, now all geared up. “We’ve got a manhunt to finish.”

“Right,” I nodded. “We’re all ready?”

“I don’t care if you’re ready or not,” said Sona bluntly. “We’re leaving now anyway.”

“How did you ever stay friends with her?” Adam asked.

“More like tolerated acquaintances,” she mumbled from up front.

“She was madly in love with me,” I explained sarcastically. Sona’s acted like she hated me for a while now, but that just made it more fun to tease her. 

“I went through your stuff while you were banished,” Sona grinned, spreading her wings and getting ready to take off. “I think you had a lot more pictures of me than I ever had of you.”

She took off, and I soared after her as fast as I could, but she was also darting ahead far faster than I could. Adam was behind us, laughing hysterically and trying to keep up.

“That’s a lie!” I shouted forward. “A lie!”