"Alright gang," Matt said, clapping his hands together and turning to face the assembled mob. "Sundown should be in about five hours. Which means we've got four hours to strip as much gear, equipment, furnishings, construction materiel, and anything else you think would be useful to have out of the Dilligaf."

The family once again stood in the shadow of the Mrs. Dilligaf, the big luxury yacht that had once upon a time been Matt's pride and joy. The yacht would never sail again, of that he was certain. If the keel hadn't been broken by its catastrophic entrance into this world, if it's hull hadn't been stove in in a dozen places, and if Matt himself hadn't cut a dirty great hole in the side of the curved fiberglass to make an impromptu sled for hauling things back to the home clearing, if all of that had been untrue it was still a hundred yards from the water with no way he could see of dragging it there.

"I want everything we can get," he continued, glancing over his shoulder at the boat. "Take it down to the ribs and studs. Paneling, wiring, old electronics that don't work anymore, stuff you think might just be junk, everything."

"Wait, junk?" Luc titles his head to the side line Hoolio and blinked. "Why junk? Won't that just take up valuable space?"

"It's 'cause of the crafting table, dummy," Olivia said, rolling her eyes. "He wants to check and see if anything has some kind of special component that can upgrade our gear or make rare items and stuff."

Luc visibly mulled that one over for a second, then shot his sister a skeptical look.

"You coached him, didn't you."

"Well duh. He wasn't gonna think it up on his own, was he?"

"Hey," Matt raised an eyebrow at them. "I could have thought of it on my own."

He paused for a second to count the number of skeptical looks directed his way, got to "seven", and decided to drop it.

Around them, the jungle rustled and swished to the time of a warm breeze. Overhead, the sky was starting to go gray with clouds cover, and the damp feeling in the air spoke of impending rain, though not soon. Here and there around the Dilligaf's clearing Matt saw the yellow/amber eyestalks of Billy turning this way and that, examining the new piece of land Allie had just added to their…

His mind hiccuped and shied away from the word "empire". He thought for a second, and decided "home turf" was a decent replacement.

"Dinah, you already got a decent start on sorting stuff out before all of… Y'know, this happened," he waved at the jungle and world in general. "Keep going with that. Heavy stuff goes on Harry's sled. We'll use Onesie to carry the more fragile stuff back." The big Bargalest had proven to be surprisingly delicate with its long-fingered hands when carrying other stuff back at the home clearing.

"Luc, Liv, Bel, belowdecks. Take everything that isn't nailed down. Allie," he turned to his wife, who already had a knowing smirk on her face.

"Guard duty," she said, not bothering to ask.

"Actually," he said with his own gentle smile, "I was hoping you'd come up top with me."

Allie blinked, clearly not having expected that. "But… Who will keep watch?"

Matt gestured at one of Billy's amber eyestalks, turning this way and that barely thirty feet away. A half-dozen others had grown all around the clearing as well.

"I thought that was the whole point of cuddling up to the tree," he said, grinning. "Get his help to keep us safe while we take care of other business."

A complicated expression crossed Allie's face, and Matt waited with only a little bit of held breath to see what her response would be.

"I… Can do that," she said finally, seeming to relax a little bit. He let out his breath and did some relaxing of his own as well.

"Perfect. Oh, uh, and Seeker…" he turned to look at the elf girl, and blinked. "Uh, you okay?"

The elf didn't acknowledge him. She was staring, eyes wide enough that he was surprised they didn't fall out of her head, at the Dilligaf the same way he had stared at Isabel the day she'd been born. Reverence, awe, and sheer delight were written large on her sharp features.

"Hey, Elfie!" Olivia leaned over and hollered right at her. "Wake up!"

The elf jerked and spun around, eyes whipping from one Albright to the next before her cheeks colored and she let her gaze drop.

"Liv!" Luc squawked and ran over to stand beside the elf, putting a hand on her shoulder and turning to glare daggers at his sister. "That was really mean."

"I mean, I could have thrown water on her I guess," Liv said with a shrug. "But then we'd probably have to fight crabs again. You back with us, Tempie?"

"Apologies. I was…" the elf started to stammer, eyes still downcast.

"Ogling the ship," Liv said, rolling her eyes. "Come on Luc, you and me can hit the bedrooms while Bel and Tempie go to the kitchen–"

"No," Bel stepped in between Seeker Tempest and Olivia suddenly, crossing her arms and squaring off with her little sister–who had two inches of height on her easy. "We'll take Seeker Tempest with us. You can help us all raid the rest of the kitchen," she added, glancing back at the elf. "That work for you?"

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Matt raised his eyebrows and glanced at Allie, wondering if he should step in on this little scene that had suddenly developed. Allie was watching the girls with narrowed eyes, and when she caught Matt's glance she shook her head just slightly.

"What?" Liv blinked down at her older sister. "Why? We should split up, we'll cover more ground that way."

"Because this way you and Seeker Tempest," Bel enunciated the elf's name clearly and with emphasis, "will get a chance to work together."

"And you can stop being a butt about her," Lucas added from out of arm's reach. "Hey that's a good idea Bel. C'mon Temp–uh–Seeker? Tempest? Uh… Do you guys shorten your names at all, like for familiarity's sake or anything?"

"Wait, I've been a butt to her?" Olivia asked, incensed.

"Well yeah, Liv," Dinah said, getting in on the action. "I mean, you keep calling her the enemy, and keep giving her these weird looks when you think no one's watching. I mean, you could be a mite more welcomin' is all we're sayin'."

The elf was looking confused again, and Liv was looking just a little bit put out, so Matt decided it was time to step in.

"Alright, that's enough from everyone," he said, clapping his hands together and fixing his kids with his best Dad glare. "Olivia, Seeker Tempest is our guest, and you'll treat her like one. Got it?"

"Yeah Dad," Liv said, grumbling but accepting.

"And Bel?" Matt turned his glare on his eldest daughter.

Who heaved a deep sigh. "I know, I know. Sorry Liv, I didn't mean to jump on you like that."

"S'okay," Liv said, shrugging. "I guess I was being kind of a butt."

"Speaking of," Allie said, raising an eyebrow at Lucas. "Do you have something to say, Mijo?"

"Me?" Luc blinked. "What did I do?"

"Called your sister a rude name."

"What? I didn't call her a butt, just that she was being…" Luc trailed off as Allie's eyes narrowed.

"Mom, we do this all the time, why are–"

Allie raised one eyebrow.

Luc sighed and rolled his eyes, then turned back to Olivia.

"Sorry for calling you a butt, sis," he said in a resigned tone.

"Good," Matt clapped his hands again. "Now that we're all settled, Time for you to get off to work. Seeker Tempest, you're more than welcome to join in with the kids stripping down the kitchen and belowdecks if you want, or you can come with Alejandra and I up top. Or you can stay out here if you'd like. Do you have a preference?"

At least the elf's eyes were up off the ground. Granted they were wide and confused now, looking back and forth between all the Albrights and Dinah in turn.

"I… You are leaving the choice up to me?"

Matt exchanged a glance with Allie. The words were timid and unsure, but they both heard the trembling excitement underneath it.

"We are," Allie answered for both of them.

"Then…" She looked away from the Albrights and up at the Dilligaf, her eyes tracing the shape of the white hull from stem to stern as she mulled it over. "I… Will go below with–"

Her words cut off suddenly, and her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Matt was getting used to that reaction, so instead of asking her what was wrong, he turned to glance at what she was staring at. He supposed it could have been anything up on the fore deck, but–

"Arethosesolarpanels?"

The words came out in a fast squeaking rush, and it took Matt a second to decipher them. And when he did, it was his turn to stare.

"You… You know what solar panels are?"

The whole family was staring at this point. Olivia's eyes were almost as wide as Seeker Tempest's. Luc and Bel shared identical expressions of confusion, and Dinah's jaw was somewhere around her knees. Matt expected the elf to get flustered at the sudden attention and look away again, but this time her eyes were fixed firmly on the solar array on the front of the ship.

"Iwouldliketogowithyou!"

"Wait, wait wait wait," Olivia held up a hand. "Hold it. How in the heck do you know what solar panels are? We haven't seen any evidence of industry or anything. And Toraline would have told us if there was anything like that, right Tori?"

The sword on Matt's hip buzzed once but did not respond. Still deep in her own thoughts, probably.

"Uhm," the elf's cheeks colored again and she looked down. "I mean… I am not… That is…"

"You don't wanna say anything because you're still 'fraid we're the enemy and telling us too much would endanger whoever else you've got back wherever you came from, or tell us too much about how y'all work, right?"

Dinah's words seemed to strike a chord with the elf, and her cheeks colored even more. But, after a moment, she looked back at the other girl and nodded slowly.

"I… Please forgive me, I am overwhelmed right now. I beg you for time to get myself together. I promise, I will answer your questions, but…"

"But trust takes time," Bel said, nodding. "We get it. Take the time you need, figure out your own mind, and then when you're ready we'll listen. Okay?"

"Oh come on," Olivia threw her hands up in the air. "Are we really not even going to address this? She knows what solar panels are. That's like me recognizing a warp drive just by looking at it! Look, I'm not calling her an enemy or anything–I'm not," she repeated, shooting a glare at Bel as the older girl opened her mouth. "But come on," she turned back to the elf. "You're asking us to trust you, but not giving us any reason to trust you!

"Look," Liv blew out a breath and held up her hands. "I get it. You think we're bad guys. Or you're not sure if we're bad guys. Or something in the past made you scared of us. Or something. But we're not the people you're scared we are, and we're trying like heck to prove it to you, and you're not giving us anything. Does that seem right to you?"

It was a good point, and Matt mulled it over for a second. And as he thought about it, he realized that part of his child's frustration was that she was operating under incomplete information. He knew of the reason behind Seeker Tempest's reluctance–or at least, he knew of the terrible things that had been visited on her ancestors, but his kids didn't yet.

And if they were going to be interacting with the elf on a regular basis–a foregone conclusion by now it seemed–then they needed the whole picture. Otherwise it would just foster an environment of suspicion at best and hostility and resentment at worst as the elf kept making decisions based on age-old grudges and fear that his kids had no way of knowing about. He looked over at his wife, and saw her already looking at him. Probably she'd figured it out far before he had.

He raised his eyebrows in question, and received a nod in return. Yes, she had definitely come to the same conclusion.

Alright then.

"Guys, huddle up real fast," he said, beckoning to his kids. "There's something we need to talk about before we get going."

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