There was a loud crash, followed by a loud scream. There was the sounds of scrambling, followed by another set of crashes. Lewis sighed, flipping through the catalogue in the front of Raile’s shop.

“Oh, there’s a new dagger here. Kalina has outdone herself with this one.” He showed Simone the design as there was another scream from the room behind the counter, followed by another, more serious crash. “Simone, you think we can commission her to make one? I think this would be a great toy for the basement…”

After the next series of crashes, Kalina came storming from a different room, shouting expletives as she threw the door open and charged in. There was an exceedingly loud crash, one that shook some of the wares on the counter, and then silence. Moments later, Kalina stepped out of the room huffing, and disappeared once more to her own room.

“I wonder how much longer this is going to take,” Lewis said, sighing. He glanced to the stairwell in the corner, where a strange blonde haired girl had been staring at him for the last thirty minutes. The girl was wide eyed, as if waiting for Lewis to make any move. What a weird one… He sighed.

Simone and Lewis had made it to Jayou just in time for their appointment. They had brought all of their little ones with them for their check-ups. Lucas was the first main priority. They had come in with the quite now decently sized family. Leilah understood the situation and carted off Lucas. Simone gave a gentle smile to Aaya and waved before turning her attention to the babies in the carriage.

Everett was fussing up a storm and kicking his feet which was causing his sister to cry. “Awww Everett.” Simone picked him up and immediately Alshaya calmed down. The little boy was still crying up a storm as Simone bounced him, “I know~ I bet daddy can calm you down. I bet he can~” The mother-baby talked him softly as she kissed his white hair filled head before passing him off to Lewis. “You know he only likes you when he gets like this,” Simone chuckled a bit.

She picked up Alshaya and looked back at Aaya, “It’s been a while. We’re sorry for th–” There was a scream from the office as Lucas no doubt was trying to not have Leilah touch him. “Oh no… Poor kid.”

Kali couldn’t take the screaming anymore as she slammed her workshop door open and then Leilah’s, “Sedative now,” the buff half-elf asked before manhandling the teenager and administrating the sedative where her meeker half could not. “There, fucking finally.” She came out and looked at Lewis and Simone, “Find some normal kids… Can’t ya?” There was a chuckle before she got back to work.

Simone waved her hand, “Lucas is fine. He’s just… skittish.” She bounced Alshaya. “OH RIGHT. Aaya, you haven’t seen us for a long time! I barely recognized you! These are all of our children even the screamer. We decided to adopt. These are our babies Everett and Alshaya. Our sweet toddler with the white hair is Fiori and the feisty one giving Raile attitude over the seashell– Mira, no. We’ll buy you one later okay?” Mira looked back at her and nodded. “Is our daughter Mira. The boy in the office is Lucas.”

Ayaa had heard them when they came in. It was too many to be a normal customer, so she went down to try and investigate. Surely enough, it wasn’t normal. It was them. Lewis. And Simone. But more importantly, Lewis. The man had grown in the past year, and it showed. But the gaggle of kids that seemed to follow…that was more surprising. The woman couldn’t help but stare in disbelief, when finally Simone noticed at tried to speak.

“Oh…don’t worry about me,” she said with a smile. “I just…didn’t realize you has some many children.” Ayaa was shocked when Simone handed off the youngest boy to Lewis, who seemed to take it in stride. Ayaa knew full well that Lewis could handle a knife, but to see him handle a baby was something that was almost incomprehensible. The emotionless child that he had grown up with had changed drastically.

“Poor…boy,” Ayaa said as Lucas’ screams stopped finally. “What happened to him?”

Lewis sighed, “Women. Pirates. It’s…a whole thing. Just…” He bounced Everett a bit, who started to giggle and laugh. “I honestly don’t know how he’ll react to you. I’d just…not take it personally.” The assassin thought back to the guide, and internally sighed. “Anyway…” He turned his attention back to the catalogue, and started to show off some of the more mundane pictures to Everett, who seemed to enjoy them.

Ayaa gripped the bottom of her green dress, pulling it down out of a nervous habit. Now what? “Oh! Did you here? There’s been a rumor going around Jayou that the river is haunted! People say there's a ghost! Others are saying they’ve been sprayed with water at times when the river is calm. I’ve wanted to check it out myself, but honestly Raile keeps me busy with work…” She stuck out her tongue to the shop owner, who was still arguing with the little girl, Mira.

“Maybe…I can take Lucas to see it after the checkup? Maybe it’ll help calm him down?”

Simone bounced Alshaya and nodded to Aaya, “Aye, we got the kids so fast before we knew it we had five. Lucas is the very last one we adopted. Everett was the first, he was only just barely two days old when he was given to us.”

Getting closer to Aaya she shifted Alshaya to Aaya so the purple-eyed girl could see her. The girl giggled at the blonde and Simone smiled. “When we found out I wasn’t able to conceive children it was around the time that Lewis got inspired to open an orphanage of sorts. To give good back in the world, ya know? A real blessing for our marriage. Little Everett followed a year after we bought our island. Brought to us by a goddess no less! Fiori was second, brought to us by a family friend. Poor thing was half gone by the time we got her. It took forever to get her up to proper weight.”

Simone sighed a bit and looked at Mira who was still arguing with Raile, “Mira stowed away on a ship back to our island and we decided she was a perfect fit. She has a hard time speaking common but we’ve slowly begun to understand her. Then second to last she looked down at Alshaya, “One of the trees we had transplanted was a dryad who was pregnant. She gave birth to little Alshaya here… Lewis found her in the middle of the night. Thank goodness he did because she was so cold and hungry.”

While she was bouncing Alshaya Simone nodded at Lewis. “Yeah, go do that. It might give you time to bond with him. If you take Everett you can have a boys’ day. I think that would be great. A father and his sons~”

“I’ll take him,” Lewis interjected as Ayaa tried to offer to take Lucas to the river. “No offense, Ayaa…I think it’s best if we let Lucas recover without women involved. Maybe you and Simone can go wander the town or something. I’m sure she’d love the company. Besides, I’m sure Fiori is star-” He looked to see Fiori, who had grabbed a stuffed animal off the shelf, and started chewing on it’s ear. “Ah…well, I guess I’m buying that…”

Fiori walked over to Lewis, and tugged his sleeve while still chewing on the stuffed animal. “Daddy.” She pointed to a snack on one of the shelves. The assassin smiled, “Here you go…” He grabbed it, and handed it to the girl. “I swear, you’ll eat me out of house and home if you keep this up.” Despite his words, he was smiling.

Ayaa was in awe. She had never seen him like this. Perhaps…he can change. Maybe he’ll give up killing…

The door opened from the back of the shop, and a groggy Lucas shambled out. “She said…I’m good to go…” The boy looked like a wreck, his hair all over the place. “I’d rather face the pirates again…”

“Hard to do, since they’re all dead…” Lewis replied.

Ayaa sighed. Or…not…

“Well?” Lewis asked as he looked to Leilah. “Anything wrong?”

Simone bounced Alshaya once Lucas came out and she smiled at Leilah. “He’s in good health aside from the mental scarring. We might be able to give him some herbal soaks to help relieve the stress since he’ll be living with three sisters and his mother. It will take time so don’t think he won’t be scared of you. Aside from that, he is massively underweight and I suggest you start him on a meat-heavy diet but don’t forget the vegetables so he can go to the bathroom. We don’t want him to die from that. Also, exercising you need to work on his muscles. He is way below what he should be for a boy of his age.”

Leilah put her arms out for Everett, “Let me see the little man if you are going to take him with you.” Once she had Everett she baby talked him. “You are going to be such a handsome little man~ You are going to grow up and marry Nyssa or Piper… OR BOTH if you want.”

Simone let out a sigh as Leilah disappeared with the baby, “We should put him in an arranged marriage so we don’t have to deal with constant proposals~” It was a joke as she walked over and kissed Lewis on the cheek. “Hey Lucas, Lewis is going to take you to the rivers. We hear they are haunted and you might like it if you get to investigate it. Just you, your brother, and Lewis. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

After a few minutes, Leilah brought Everett back out and grinned, “He is in excellent health you’ll have to thank that wet nurse of yours! Next! See you, boys, later!” Leilah waved as Mira reluctantly went with her holding her diamond ball.

Lucas perked up at the thought of visiting the river. He had never seen one up close, and had only been on the open seas and skies for the majority of his life. Lewis smirked, since it seemed to make Lucas excited. He must have missed the part about it being haunted.

Once Leilah finished with Everett’s checkup, the trio made their way through the streets of Jayou down into one of the many canals, finding themselves at the river in no time flat. The water was gently rushing by, and it had a unique smell compared to the sea and lake water that Lucas had come to expect.

“It’s…clear,” he said, kneeling down. “So much more clear than the ocean. It’s like the lake…”

Lewis smiled, and knelt down as well, getting close enough to let Everett touch the running water. “Water,” he said to Everett. The baby made a similar sound, trying to mimic Lewis. “Not quite, but close,” the assassin said as he stood up, pulling Everett up to his nose. “You’re such a good boy though for trying!”

Lucas pushed his face closer to the water. Something was…different about this water. He could feel it. “Hey…I think…there’s….”

She had woken up in the river three days ago. In a bed of sea kelp, a riverboat had startled her. She didn’t have a name and she had no idea who or what she was. She knew though that the water was her home and that she could disguise herself and become one with the river.

Ezili was in a panic since she didn’t who or what she was. People had been coming around yelling at her so she would disappear and cause havoc in her confusion. Crashing boats, splashing people, and occasionally they wouldn’t realize they were getting close to her face.

The water melded to reveal a cute girl just a bit younger than Lucas. Her eyes were like blue opals and she had a head full of white hair. Immediately she squirted water at him and immediately a gang of men ran down the line, “HEY! Don’t let that sea witch escape! SHE’S BEEN CAUSING TROUBLE FOR THREE DAYS NOW AND SHE NEEDS TO PAY.”

Panic filled her eyes as she disappeared back into the water becoming one with again. The river water went calm. “WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE GO. I’ll skin the little bitch alive.”

What was a bitch? Whatever it was didn’t sound nice.

Lucas saw her eyes first. It was a beautiful sky blue mixed with a spring green, and beautiful pink stars that seemed to dance. “Wow…” And immediately, water splashed in his face, and he fell back, sputtering and coughing. He was more surprised, though, at the sudden rambunctious men that came along, calling the girl who had appeared a witch, and much worse.

“But…I saw her,” Lucas said. “That wasn’t a witch…that was just a scared girl.” The boy stood up, looking at the much larger, imposing men. “Don’t yell at her, she’s probably terrified.”

“Oi, you with her!?” one of them said as he stepped in front of Lucas, towering over the smaller boy. “We can always burn more than one at the stake if we convince the Mayor…”

Lucas shrunk a little, but stood his ground. “N-no. But I don’t think….”

Behind him, there was the sound of a throat clearing. “Go on, Lucas…be confident. Speak your mind. I’m sure they’ll listen.” Lewis was simply holding Everett, staring at the three burly men. “Head up high, and with confidence…”

Lucas gulped, but stared the man in the face. “B-back off! She’s….she’s just a kid! I’m sure she doesn’t mean it.”

The larger man’s face was furious, but he noticed something strange. The silver haired man behind Lucas was smiling. But his eyes…the dead, hazel eyes that seemed to pierce through the man’s soul. They were the eyes of a ruthless killer. One that would not dare hesitate to cut them all down without a second thought.

“I-I’m sure you’re right kid,” the man said as he paled, backpedaling hard. “In fact…I’ll leave it to you to talk to her. R-r-right boys?” He looked to see that his partners were already running. “Right! Well, you…uh…have at it….”

Lucas looked at the scrambling men, and smiled. “Wow…I…I think I handled that great, right Lewis?” he said as he turned around.

Lewis nodded, “Good job. See what a good bout of confidence will do? Now…” The assassin walked over to the river, and knelt down. “Hey…you can come out. It’s safe, I promise. Lucas and I just want a chat.” He smiled warmly. “See…even Everett here wants to meet you.” As if understanding, Everett made happy baby noises.

The naiad could hear the commotion outside the water and popped her head up from the middle of the river to look at Lewis. It was just the top of her head so her eyes could see the baby. She moved quickly like she was part of the water because she was one with the water. She got up close and pushed herself up a bit to look at the tiny creature.

She watched Lewis’s mouth and mocked the motions at first. “…Hello?” The noise from her mouth spooked her as her arms came up and grasped at her face. It was the first time she had ever spoken. “I… can…” She looked frustrated and looked back on all the words she heard and how people used them. “Make noises too?”

After a moment, she blushed, “You’re welcome.” She said before she shook her head. “No, that’s a reply. It’s thank you?” She tilted her head questioning them both. “Chasing for three days. Who am I? Where? What am I?” She pulled herself out of the river and sat on the side looking with big eyes at her feet. “I! I HAVE LEGS TOO!” She was also naked.