Much to both Willow and her father’s frustration, they would not be immediately starting the binding as Maple was insistent they enjoy the meal she had made while nervously waiting for news. Meanwhile, her brother was happy to get a meal in him, as the young man seemed to be a bottomless pit for foodstuffs in recent times.

  While everyone ate the lovely savory porridge her sister had made, Willow was having an internal debate with her friends.

  “Come on! You should just do it!” Change called from his realm

  “No! It would be rude to ask someone to do that when I first meet them.” Willow sent back.

  “It would not be much of an inconvenience for them, child. If they are as powerful as your father made them out to be, then it will be nothing but a small exercise of power on their part.” Harmony tried to convince the girl.

  Willow was silent for a moment before she quietly sent to her friends. “I want them to like me. They’re Ma’s old friend, and they’re gonna be Maple’s friend. I don’t want them to think I’m needy when we first meet.”

  “But this is the perfect time to get your earth spirit!” Chimed Change, clearly unconcerned about appearances.

  “Brother, hush.” Harmony rebuked him. She then spoke in a more gentle manner to her human friend. “If they truly were a friend to your mother then they would be happy to give a gift on your first meeting.”

  “Would still be rude to ask for one.” The girl muttered.

  “What was that, little gnome?” Her sister asked from the chair next to her.

  “Nothing!” The girl hastily replied. However, on second thought she supposed she could ask the table's opinion on the matter. She was planning on coming clean about the spirits she had, and the spirits she was looking for soon anyways. Keeping secrets was less fun than she thought it would be, and since Li Wanyu had long since left with no hints that he or his clan would return she felt it was safe to reveal them.

  “Would it be rude to ask Ma’s spirit if they could make an earth spirit as strong as Eos?” Willow asked while summoning said spirit to her shoulder. The tiny candle flame was happy to be out, but surprised at the suddenness of it.

  Her father tilted his head in thought while her siblings just looked at her in confusion.

  Yew was the first to reply, impatient as always.“You mentioned wanting another weak spirit before. What’s up with that?”

  “Eos isn’t weak! They just haven’t reached their potential yet!” The girl defended her friend, with said friend flaring up a bit on her shoulder in pride. They’d show him one day.

  Their father intervened before the conversation could fully derail into an argument. “I don’t see the harm in asking, making an earth sprite, or imbuing a pebble wouldn’t take a lot out of them. I will admit to being curious about why you want a spirit of similar strength though.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Everyone stared at the girl expectantly and she squirmed a bit at being the center of attention. After eating some more of the tasty porridge to calm herself down she gave a cagey response. The full explanation could wait until later.

  “I need spirits of all the base elements to do a thing.”

  Maple looked at her sister with confusion. “Where did you get an idea like that? None of the stories we’ve told you mention anything like it.” She thought for a moment. “Also, don’t you mean the prime elements?”

  Their father chimed in with the answer. “Some people separate yin and yang out of the prime elements and call the remainder the base ones.”

  “Huh, I hadn’t heard that before. Well, little gnome, what’s gonna happen when you get all of the spirits?”

  Willow looked around a bit to try and think of an answer to their question. The truth was that she didn’t really know what was gonna happen when she got all the friends she needed. She just knew it was somehow connected to helping her and Eos get stronger, which was all the explanation she really needed from Change and Harmony at the time. So she supposed that was the answer they sought.

  “When I get them all we can all get stronger.”

  When no further explanation came from the girl, the two older siblings looked to their father for answers.

  Rowan shrugged. “It’s not a path I’ve heard of, but she seems dead set on making it happen. She’s too stubborn to be talked out of it anyway.” The siblings nodded in understanding, and the girl in question was offended. She wasn’t stubborn! She just knew what she wanted, and refused to budge on the matter.

  There was a lull in the conversation as they all finished their meal. Once finished they cleaned up, again at Maples insistence, and Rowan herded the children outside to their mother’s grave to begin the transfer of the inheritance.

  Their father started by kneeling in front of the grave marker and resting his forehead on top of the plinth, the large man looking small and vulnerable in the moment. He then got up and had the children pay their respects before beginning a speech, his voice a low rumble.

  “Alexandra, me and our children are gathered here today to pass on the spirit you entrusted to me all those years ago. I hope you can forgive me that it’s not the daughter you requested receiving the inheritance, but our youngest walks a path different from the one we imagined for her, and our eldest requires the strength your spirit can provide. She was offered the spirit, but rejected them so her sister could have a lifelong companion of her own.” He rested his hand on his abdomen, where his core resided. “I now unseal the spirit residing within me for all this time to give to the chosen daughter.”

  A glow could be seen coming from his hand, and Willow felt him do some complex movements with his qi. She didn’t know what each individual movement was for, but the end result was obvious as a shooting star burst forth from his core.

  The spirit couldn’t speak, but the exaltation at being free to move was blindingly obvious to the senses of the young girl. And move it did as it zipped around the group in circles, stopping briefly in front of each family member to get a good look at everyone. It finally settled on top of the grave marker between them and Willow finally got a good look at her mother’s old friend.

  Meteoros’ appearance was actually quite simple, they were a rough and pitted rock about the size of her father’s head with a corona of light around them. The concept she felt within the spirit was equally simple, if powerful.

  They move as fast as they can, travel as far as they can, and when they finally stop they make sure it’s everyone else’s problem. They were once the traveling star, the trailing tail in the night’s sky, people once wished upon their beauty and there was once a time when they could grant those wishes if they so desired. However their fall from the heavens irrevocably changed their nature from one of travelling benevolence to moving wrecking ball.

  They are Meteoros and they want to know their new master.