Meredi opened the door wearing a loose housecoat over a tank top and soft shorts, her hair hastily tied back. Her face was drawn, tired, but the second she saw me, something in her shoulders released and she stared at me like the breath had been knocked out of her.

  “Hey,” I said.

  She stared for a beat, mouth opening slightly. Then, without a word, she stepped forward and pulled me into a tight hug. I could feel her shuddering relief through her outrageous muscles—goddamn.

  “Oh,” I wheezed. “Wow. This is... warm… I’d forgotten…”

  “You’re back,” she muttered into my shoulder. She pulled back and looked me over for any sign of something amiss. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere? You have more bandages on.”

  “Ehh, I’m alright. Maybe a bit sore. Not pnning on heading back out for a week or two, though.”

  Meredi let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the Saints you’re not that far gone.”

  She pulled me in one more time, gripping me like I could vanish at any moment. If I could move my arms, I would have hugged her back.

  Meredi’s hand on the back of my head then tightened. “Rav?” she asked.

  “Hey, Sis,” Rave replied, casually slipping past us into the house. “We came together.”

  Meredi turned on her with a nasty look. “Were you two together?”

  “Yup,” Rave replied. “Like I said, we walked over together.” She then chuckled. “Be careful there. The spawn didn’t kill him, but you might.”

  I just let out a satisfied sigh. “There could be no sweeter demise.”

  Meredi, gripping my arm, pulled me into the house and shut the door. “Rav, did something happen that you’re not telling me? Did you go out there with him!?”

  The accusation incensed Rave. Her teeth were already bared.

  Before the fight started, I walked past the two and toward the kitchen. “I didn’t miss dinner, did I?”

  Meredi kept her attention on Rave. “I left stew on the stove. Heat it up a little.”

  I chuckled. “I knew I could count on you, Meredi,” I said, already taking a bowl of stew to the table.

  Rave folded her arms. “I didn’t go anywhere with him. In fact, I didn’t even know that you gave him a weapon until I visited the shop! You’re the one who should be getting questioned right now!”

  Meredi’s eyes flicked to me, then narrowed at Rave. “Why do you care?”

  “Because he’s my family too, Meri!”

  Meredi shrugged and walked toward the kitchen table as I started setting up my alchemy station. “You would have gotten him a weapon.”

  “I would not have,” Rave snapped.

  “Yes, you would,” Meredi said calmly, scooping stew into a bowl for herself. “He would’ve asked enough times, and worn you down. And then you’d grumble and snap, then hand it over.”

  Rave threw her hands up. “I have standards.”

  “You don’t have standards with him. He’s your little accomplice! More than your daughter is.”

  “So?! I can be friends with my family too!”

  I stirred my stew and tried not to smile too hard. “Wow,” I said. “This is better than any dream I could ever have.”

  Rave threw a spoon at me. “Eat your stew and shut up.”

  I caught it and kept grinning. “Don’t worry. I can multitask.”

  Meredi sat at the table and kicked a chair out for Rave to sit. “Go on. Sit and stop kicking up a fuss.”

  “What the fuck, bitch,” Rave replied, disgusted. “I didn’t do anything. Don’t turn this on me. You’re getting mad because you thought me and him were out killing spawns together without you.”

  Meredi pouted and angrily scooped stew into her mouth.

  “It didn’t happen,” Rave repeated.

  “Then sit down,” Meredi growled.

  “I, for one, really enjoy the soup,” I said.

  Rave gave me a look that could kill a lesser man. “Eat your stew, Tim.”

  I kept pulling out my portable alchemy kit—tiny fme cradle, metal tongs, little case of starter reagents. “Joke’s on you. I like the way you’re looking at me right now.”

  Meredi’s head swung toward me while Rave went wide-eyed. Then Meredi turned to Rave again.

  “What the fuck have you been doing with my son?”

  That made me shudder. “Stepson,” I corrected.

  “Don’t look at me like that! The kid just likes yapping these days!”

  “Not a kid,” I corrected.

  Rave leaned in, her breasts resting on the table—what an illegal move. But then I noticed that smirk.

  “Okay, screw this,” she said. “You should be thanking me, Meredi.”

  I clenched my jaw and braced. I wasn’t going to stop this. Stopping this would imply that Rave could do something wrong, and as a fan, I had decided that I would never imply that the goddesses could ever do anything wrong. I would not let the devs win.

  “Why should I thank you, Rav?” Meredi asked.

  Rave’s smirk turned into a toothy grin. “Because I found that little idiot beside you lying in a puddle of his own puke and piss.”

  Meredi, wide-eyed, turned to me.

  I, meanwhile, nodded. “Oh. It was just piss then. Not the worst.”

  “Tim!” Meredi’s jaw tightened. “What did you do!?”

  “Please don’t yell when I’m right beside you. My mortal ears can’t handle your mighty voice.”

  Meredi pulled back and looked timid all of a sudden. “Oh… Sorry.”

  I quickly ughed it off. “No, no, I’m fine.”

  God, I hated that. I needed to remember that Meredi needed someone who could match her, not someone she felt she was allowed to take care of.

  “But seriously, Meredi, don’t worry about it. A potion went wrong, and Rav helped me out.”

  I looked at Meredi with a bright smile until she sighed and calmed down. “Okay… Thanks, Rav,” she said.

  Rave rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

  Meredi tried to recim a calm mood by taking another spoonful of stew. “So, how was the weapon?”

  “Awesome,” I replied, pulling out one of my fsks. “I named it the Melody's Edge.”

  With an innocent smile, she tilted her head. “Why ‘Melody's Edge?’”

  Rave groaned. “Say your name and then say the name of the weapon, Sis.”

  Meredi did so, mouthing the words until her eye finally widened. “Oh.”

  She covered her mouth and looked over toward the stove.

  “It’s a pretty shoddy weapon. Hardly deserving of a name,” she mumbled.

  My grin only widened. “It’s the first weapon you made for me. That’s more than enough to warrant a name.”

  I saw Meredi’s shoulders jump and felt pure bliss flow from my heart. Curious, I turned on Mana Vision and saw that Meredi’s network was roughly as bright as Rave’s.

  “Hey, you okay over there, Sis?” Rave teased.

  “I’m fine,” Meredi quickly replied.

  Enjoying the atmosphere, I turned my attention back to my hands. I was sure of it now. They were slightly brighter than theirs, and I was sure, brighter than when I first unlocked Mana Vision.

  “So, Tim,” Meredi said, her voice sounding normal. “Why are you turning my kitchen into a b?”

  “Inspiration struck. Want to test some anti-spawn coatings with me? I noticed the fluids of the spawn do some damage, so I figured we could come up with a coating that better resists them.”

  Meredi lit up. “Whoa! That sounds great!” She turned to Rave. “Val would love that, Rav!”

  Rave rolled her eyes and rested her head on her fist. “Yeah, I guess she would.”

  The stew didn’t st long. Once it was gone, Meredi rolled up her sleeves and joined me at the table, eye bright and curious as I showed her what I was testing. It wasn’t much—just mixing bits of spawn ichor with various oils and metal scraps to see what seemed to get damaged and what didn’t. A primitive version of stress-testing coatings, but Meredi was enraptured.

  Watching her get swept up in this was addictive. Her tiredness melted away the second we started working. She seemed so happy, and her smile was so bright. Whatever shred of guilt I had was burned away. This scene was worth it. We were just a smith and an alchemist at the kitchen table, trying wacky new things.

  Rave, for her part, said very little. She took up her usual corner seat, swirling a half-finished drink, watching us over the rim with a look I couldn’t quite pin down. It wasn’t her usual smirk or sass. It was something softer—tangled up in confusion, concern, and something that might’ve been awe. Every so often, I’d gnce at her and find her staring at me. Was she trying to figure out if I was messing with her or hiding something?

  I would wink at her and chuckle. Why not, right?

  She would roll her eyes.

  The night rolled along gently forward until Meredi finally yawned, long and slow, and caught herself halfway through scribbling notes. She blinked blearily at the table, clearly fighting the urge to sleep.

  “Alright,” I said, rising carefully. “That’s our cue.”

  “What? No, no, we can keep doing this, Tim,” Meredi protested.

  I shook my head and grinned. “We have our whole lives to work on stuff,” I said.

  Her eye widened like I had caught her by surprise.

  “We can pick up on this tomorrow… Right?”

  Meredi grinned and nodded, and started blinking a lot. “Yeah, of course. One hundred percent. Tomorrow. You can come during shop hours too.”

  To my surprise, Rave stood too.

  “I’ll walk him back.”

  That raised a brow from Meredi, but she didn’t say anything. Just nodded once, and walked us out.

  Outside, the streets were quiet. The ambient haze was thin tonight, and the mps barely flickered in the breeze. My feet still ached a little, but I was doing better. I stole a few gnces at Rave as we walked, expecting her usual saunter, but her hands were in her coat pockets, and she was unusually quiet.

  “Careful,” I teased. “You’re giving off the impression that I can actually mess with you.”

  That earned me a scoff. “Don’t push your luck.”

  But the edge wasn’t there. We reached my front door, and I paused to fish out my key. Rave lingered nearby, shifting on her feet.

  She didn’t leave.

  I unlocked the door but didn’t open it.

  “Something on your mind?” I asked.

  Rave tilted her head. “You’re just… not how I remember you.”

  I nodded. “I’ve got ambitions and I’ve decided to be serious about pursuing them.”

  She didn’t answer. Just narrowed her eyes a little, as if that made it easier to read through me.

  “Are you messing with me?” she asked, quieter this time. “Like, really messing with me? Because you’ve been saying some daring things.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not messing with you in the way you might think I am.”

  “But you are messing with me.”

  I smirked the way she would, which I could see immediately annoyed her.

  I opened my door. “Step inside here with me. I’ll close the door, and clear up any confusion.”

  She rolled her eyes and looked off to the side. I shrugged and stepped inside.

  Then I heard a groan and a, “Hold on.”

  She stepped inside, just a few steps past the doorway, and leaned against the wall. “So? You gonna clear up my confusion?”

  I closed the door, and then I came closer. I looked down at her, and she looked up at me.

  “You’re right. I’m taller than you,” I said.

  “But you’re one knee in the nuts away from being short again.”

  I ughed softly. “I appreciate that you never leave any doubt in your threats.”

  I stepped in closer. She didn’t move. Just leaned there, arms crossed loosely now, her weight shifted like she wasn’t sure whether to stand her ground or leave. Her gaze flicked up to meet mine again. “You’re not scary—”

  I cradled her chin. Her breath caught, just faintly, and I kissed her.

  It was as soft as it was direct. Just me and her. She didn’t move. I pulled away.

  She blinked at me repeatedly. “What was that?”

  I looked up and thanked that heavenly woman who sent me here. “A wish come true.”

  Rave stared at me, flustered, cheeks flushing even under the dim light. I met her gaze properly.

  “I thought you were into men,” she said, brow creased and eyes narrowing.

  “What?”

  “Are you not into men?” she asked, exasperated.

  “No,” I said. Firmly.

  I even searched my memories. There was no indication that Timaues liked men. Heck, the guy was borderline asexual according to the journals and the memories. At times, it seemed like he hated socializing.

  Rave just blinked at me. I nodded. And then she pulled me in and kissed me again.

  My heart thumped—twice in one night? With minimal pain? A miracle!

  It was rougher than I expected—fast and hot, like she was trying to assert dominance again. Her fingers tangled briefly in my colr before she shoved me back with a sharp breath and took a step away, eyes wide.

  “No, no, no,” she said, shaking her finger at me.

  I grinned. She opened the door.

  “This,” she said, outlining a shape with her fingers, “this can’t happen again.”

  She stepped out of the shop.

  “Goodnight, Tim.”

  And then she closed the door.

  I counted to five and cracked the door open enough to see her walking away. She looked over her shoulder once, and then hurriedly disappeared into the night’s fog.

  I closed the door, leaned against the wall, and looked at the ceiling.

  “The Rave Route is real.”

  I pumped my fists.

  “Yes! But I can’t slow down now! I’m saving those goddesses!”