Lamp's son was a quiet boy. He was already bigger than the other babies I'd met recently, such as Root and Copper, but that was because he had been born almost a year ago.

He had the same blond hair his mother had, but he had his father's eyes… and his nose also turned slightly to the left like his father's did too.

"How are the others, Lamp?" I asked the boy's mother as she sat back down next to me.

My human friend looked a little different. She had gained weight, likely the weight she had lost during her terrible venture here when a slave. She had also grown her hair out so long it now needed to be braided several times over. She actually looked really good, really healthy, and her huge smile only further proved how good she herself felt.

"Happy. Safe. A few we have lost, most to running away. For one reason or another, is fine," Lamp said, speaking slowly but surely. She still had a heavy accent, and obviously had a few hiccups in certain words she spoke but there was no trouble communicating with her at all.

"I'm… very happy to hear that. I've heard Merit's been keeping an eye on all of you, too," I said.

Lamp nodded, grinning a little as she did. "Little Merit is very kind. Even if sharp of tongue, warm of heart," she said.

Yes. She was. It was why she had left, even though she hadn't needed to. She had wanted to give us some time alone, as to catch up. I'll never understand why so many claimed Merit was heartless or cruel. She was far from such a thing.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded as I glanced back at the boy sitting between us. He was busy messing with a little stuffed animal, some kind of dog or something. He kept turning it around, looking for the best place to bite at it from.

He was too big to just hold easily, and was able to walk around… though more of a waddle than not. But he was also still young enough one had to be careful. A couple times I had needed to gently grab him, as to keep him from trying to roll off the couch we sat on.

"Quiet boy. Worries me," Lamp said softly as we both watched him go to gnawing on the stuffed animal dog's ears.

"Hm… he seems healthy and strong. You did well," I said.

Lamp smiled proudly, happily accepting the compliment in stride.

A part of me was very happy she had settle down with someone. It meant I'd not need to worry about her trying to catch Vim's eye, somehow. But another part of me… was a little sad, too. Though I wasn't sure how or why.

Maybe it was because it was validation of what she really was.

A human.

They lived so quickly. And died just as fast…

"Does Mark like his job?" I asked. He had been here when we had arrived, when Merit had dropped me off, but had left shortly after saying hello. He worked at the warehouse under Wynn.

"Very. Parents passed few months ago, so he's still grieves. But will be okay," Lamp said.

I didn't fault her for her strange way of talking, since I understood what she meant.

Mark's parents had died. He was sad over it still.

"How'd they die?" I asked.

"Father in the night. Old. Mother did not last long after, going to follow him," Lamp explained.

I nodded. That made sense. It happened often, supposedly. That when one passed… the other's heart couldn't take it and followed soon after.

I wonder if I would do the same for Vim?

Smiling softly at the thought, I bit back a tiny laugh. I had thought of the opposite. Me dying and Vim following me into the afterlife because he got lonely without me.

It was a ridiculous thought, yet still made me tear up.

The boy dropped the stuffed toy, and he frowned at it as it rolled along the floor away from us. At first I expected him to start crying or make a sound, but instead he just… sat there. Staring at it, with eyes full of sorrow.

"See…? Normal baby would cry. Or at least point and grow noisy," Lamp said as she stood and stepped over to the toy, picking it back up.

"Maybe he's just a stoic man. Like Vim," I said as I watched Lamp give her baby back his toy.

"Hmph. I could be no lucky, more like him I'd like Mark to be too," Lamp said.

No lucky…? She must mean so lucky, since she just said she'd wished Mark was like Vim as well.

I had walked in as Mark had been about to leave for work. So I had only gotten to see them interact for a short time… but they had seemed loving and happy. Mark had not just kissed Lamp goodbye, but had kissed his son and said goodbye to him too.

Yet I knew there was always something hidden behind the happy smiles. So maybe something was wrong…?

I didn't know this Mark. Not beyond the little I knew of him, since helping him join the Society after those events in the sewers. He had helped Vim and thus earned his place amongst us. Him and his family. But that didn't mean he wasn't, or couldn't be, a bad husband…

If he was mean or cruel to Lamp I'd do far worse than sic Vim on him.

"You seem happy, and he loves you," I said carefully as Lamp sat back down.

Lamp sighed and nodes. "Yes. Very love, lots of it. But… where I am from, men do not cry," Lamp said.

Huh…? Oh… I slowly nodded as I understood what she meant, or was likely hinting at.

His parents had just died. And he had likely wept over their deaths.

"Bothers you? Him crying?" I asked gently.

Lamp nodded, rather fiercely. "So much so! Why, Renn, does he weep? Still he does, at night in sleep. As if we are not happy. Yet we are happy!" Lamp asked with a gesture around us.

I nodded back as I glanced around at her home. It was one of those apartment styled ones, here in the Animalia Company building. Outside the housing area for us non-humans. But even though for humans… it was a far cry from lesser.

Her home looked wonderful. It had many rooms, and even a second floor. She had her own kitchen, a huge bath similar to the one I had in my own room, and her house was full of items. Furniture, rugs, paintings even!

She was no doubt equating her happiness to how lovely her home was… and lovely it was indeed.

But I knew better than to think just stuff alone and clean home was enough to bring happiness.

However… Lamp was right.

He had her. And now their son.

He shouldn't be crying. Not even in his sleep.

"Talk to him about it?" I asked.

"Hard to. Although like baby, very prideful," Lamp said with a huff.

I smirked at that. I see.

"Give him time…? Sometimes it takes time to heal from wounds, especially those that hurt the heart," I said.

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"Feh… I slave. Lost. No home. Torture. Rape. No crying day after," Lamp said stiffly.

"Right…" I wanted to groan at that.

At least she had spoken of her past without any hint of pain or depression. Lamp really was a strong woman, wasn't she?

The boy then paused in his playing with the toy, and glanced over at this mother.

Lamp noticed, frowned… and then smiled. "Ah. Time to eat. Hungry he gets, more than me I think sometimes," Lamp said. She picked him up and went to undoing her clothes, as to reveal a breast.

Oh…? He still was breastfed? Even still? He was older than a year wasn't he? Plus he was big… Although a little surprised, it didn't stop Lamp from breastfeeding the boy. The sight of them sitting next to me as he ate reminded me of Pram and Copper. It was kind of neat to see such a sight again so soon, and that Lamp had the same tired and annoyed face that Pram had worn while doing so. Though Pram had smiled a little more warmly after a few moments, and Copper had still been small enough to not look as... odd...

Actually… I didn't know when you were meant to switch a child to normal foods… especially not so a human one, let alone a non-human one.

Lamp finally smiled at the boy as he ate, in a way only a mother could… and it made me a little jealous.

Shifting a little, I ignored my tail that squirmed along my knee and down my leg. It was out, since I didn't need to hide it with Lamp… but right now I wish it hadn't been.

It wanted to wiggle something fierce, since I was envious of what I was looking at.

"Almost time to stop this. Looking forward to it," Lamp said with a sigh.

I nodded; glad to hear that I hadn't been too wrong about my earlier assumption.

Lamp glanced at me, and gave me a small smile. One that curled a bit thanks to her scar. "How about you, Renn? Does it take long time? For your kind to have baby?" she asked.

"I… I don't know. Maybe. I think it does, yes," I said, deciding to just say that. I didn't want to admit to her that Vim and I hadn't even had the opportunity to have a child yet… especially since I was supposed to be pretending that I was pregnant right now.

"Hm… too bad. Hopefully I see before I die, yes? Please let me meet and see, if able, I bet very cute. Past reasoning!" Lamp asked.

I nodded. "Of course…! They can be friends…" I said with a smile to the boy.

"Aye!"

For a few moments I just… sat there. Basking in Lamp's happiness. She had a home. A husband, a family. A secure job where she was safe, and where the rest of her kindred could be happy alongside her. Compared to her… previous predicament this was genuinely a night and day difference.

Yet even with all that happiness it was clear she still had her own problems. Her own drama and worries. Like her husband's… issues, as she saw them. She worked, as he did, and was still struggling a bit with our language… and she worried over her boy's strange silence.

She had many problems. Just as we all did. As everyone did. Just in her own way.

But… I'd give anything for my problems to be like hers.

To be more… simpler. Not as traumatic. Not as terrible.

Plus…

Watching the way Lamp held her boy as he ate, and the way she lazily smiled at him… I wondered if one day my little pretending would become reality.

I'd not gotten a chance to really confront Vim about it. We… danced around it, since he was so terrified of prophecies. So bothered by them.

But…

Honestly… a part of me just wanted to fulfill it already.

Really… what was wrong with having children? Why couldn't I have a daughter? So what if she was going to be saint?

By Vim's parents, I'd be fine even with her becoming the leader of the Society and getting involved in all the chaos and drama! After all, it's not like she'd be alone. She'd not do it alone. I'd be there. As would Vim. We could help her. Protect her.

Cherish her…

"He will finish. Not even a burp. Then will sleep. Strange boy," Lamp said as the boy started to slow in his eating.

"I… I see," I said. I honestly wasn't sure if that was strange or not, as she said.

I'd realized it before, when holding the other children I'd met recently. That I sadly… have very little experience in such things.

To the point it worried me a little. What if the prophecy did come true? Before I was ready? Hopefully Vim had more experience in such things, and would be able to help me…

"See? Sleep already," Lamp then stood, carrying her boy away. I was a little surprised to watch her take him across the room, to lay him into a crib. One that was a tad too small for him.

He was indeed already asleep. I hadn't even noticed he had done so.

"Least he doesn't cry often like some do?" I suggested.

Lamp though sighed as she shook her head. "Worry me. A lot. Baby should cry! Not like man," Lamp said as she shrugged.

I smirked at that. Had she just made a joke, or had she been utterly serious? It was hard to tell, since her speech was… kind of odd. She really had come a long way, but I wonder if she'd ever really fully adapt to this place and this language.

It made me wonder if I'd be any better. Even though many liked to claim I was smart, and able to remember things far better than most… had I not been speaking this language for hundreds of years? I bet it'd be hard to learn another. To actually learn it too, not just the words.

"How'd you meet him, anyway? Mark?" I asked, since I still didn't know.

Lamp tilted her head at me… and then gave me a rather bashful smile. The kind that told me she was now very embarrassed.

"Um… well…" she grabbed her own hand, and then went to twirling one of her long braids.

Oh my! There was the Lamp I remembered! One very adorable, almost to the point it was criminal!

"What? Don't tell me it was love at first sight, or something!" I said, happy to have love talk.

Lamp groaned and covered her face a bit. "No… I was just jealous."

"Hm…?"

She gestured at me, while still blushing.

Wait… "What?" I asked, what'd she mean? Of me? Jealous?

She nodded. "Of you and Vim. Lovely. So lovely. So I just… wanted the same," she mumbled as she shrugged.

Oh my…

Stunned at her declaration, I wasn't sure what to say.

She had fallen for Mark because she had been jealous…? Of me and Vim? Of our relationship? She went and got into one herself, because of that…?

I wasn't sure if I should be humbled or saddened.

"I see…" I whispered, since I felt lost and didn't know what else to say.

"Going great! Lovely! I am happy, very! If he'd just stop crying!" Lamp said, now sounding upset again.

Smirking at her, I wondered just how bad his so called crying was to make her so frustrated over it. She had basically said he did it in his sleep, so you'd think it'd be quiet. Where he just leaked tears or something. Yet she was acting as if he wept his heart out every night.

Maybe he did…?

"A man who cries and a baby who don't! Such is life," Lamp said with a sigh as she stepped back over to the couch, as to sit back down next to me. This time she sat rather close, enough so we were touching.

Giggling at her, I wondered what she'd do or say if I told her that Vim cried too.

I wonder why it was such a big deal to her? It seemed to be a cultural thing, I wonder why?

"I cry all the time, Lamp," I told her.

"We okay! Plus you cute, so it fine!" Lamp said.

Yet she herself had just recently said she didn't cry, as if to set the standard. Maybe it wasn't that big a deal and she was just… venting a little, since it was me she was talking to.

"You're cute too, Lamp. I like what you've done with your hair," I said with a small gesture at it.

Lamp blushed again and nodded. "Pact. With rest," she said as she lifted the longest braid, one that had almost been resting on her lap.

"Pact?" I asked. What'd she mean?

"With others. Family. To not cut hair, ever. Not again."

I blinked at that and slowly nodded. I see…

She and the rest of them. All of those that Vim had found on that slave ship, and rescued… they had agreed to not cut their hair ever again.

I wasn't really sure I understood the reason for it, since they were free now. Happy. Free to do whatever they wanted… but if that gave them strength, then…

"That's lovely, Lamp," I said softly.

"Mhm… you too! Look how long!" Lamp said as she reached out to grab my own flocks of hair.

Yes. They were… but well…

It was now my turn to blush again. "I want to cut it… but Vim likes it when it's longer," I said.

Lamp paused a moment… and then erupted in laughter.

Feeling silly, I sighed a little as I watched her giggle her butt off at me.

Yes, yes, I know. I was just as foolish as everyone else. Plus my reason had been hardly as lovely as hers…!

"Ah! See! Jealous again! Gosh!" Lamp's laughing died a little, but she kept giggling as she stood.

Wondering what she was doing, I glanced at the crib. The boy was still asleep, so she hadn't woken him with her outburst…

"I go get others! To come say hi!" Lamp said happily.

Oh…! I nodded quickly as I stood. "Yeah!"

I did want to see the rest. Though Lamp was the one I was truly friends with, I still felt like I had a bond with all of them. I wonder how many others were able to speak this language already?

"I be right back!" Lamp said as she hurried to the door, not waiting for me to follow.

Although I wanted to join her, I knew better than to do so. I glanced at the crib, and sighed as I walked over to it.

While Lamp left, to get the other eastern girls… I smiled down at the young lad.

"You're lucky, to have such a wonderful mother," I whispered to him.

The boy slept through my comment… and likely would never know I'd said it, but I meant it. Every word.

Hopefully one day someone else would say the same for me.

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