Lana was so happy to see the books she gave him a huge, passionate kiss. Caser and Griddlebone returned upstairs to their bed.
Lana whispered in his ear, "before we have some fun, I have noticed a few things, my love." She pushed herself away a bit to look into his eyes. They were dilated and moving swiftly side to side. His foot had been tapping the whole time he had been home. She had noticed some odd twitching.
"Did you take my energy bars with you to vampire world?"
Sil nodded with a huge grin, "they were very tasty and it helped me feel like you were close."
"How many are left?"
"None. They were really good…."
"Sil, I'm a little worried about your consumption of those energy bars. You've eaten too many. Look at how you're twitching!"
"Then come here so I can twitch in all the right places…" Sil grinned as he pulled her toward him and kissed her with intense passion.
Lana chuckled at his antics but there was an inkling of a worry in the back of her mind. She decided to hide the energy bars.
She broke off the kiss after a few moment, "I missed you while you were gone."
He held her tight, "I missed you, too. I'm sorry I'm such a terrible husband, a terrible person…"
She hit him lightly on the arm, "in that case, I insist you exhaust yourself in passion with me."
Sil grinned and spent the next four hours ensuring his wife was the happiest person alive.
They lay in bed, Sil was exhausted. "I really am sorry I'm so useless." He held his wife tightly to himself.
"Why do you keep thinking your useless?"
"You fought that demon-tier on your own. I should have gotten you out of there or at the least, been at your side."
"Sil," she looked deeply into his eyes. "You were exactly where I needed you to be. I was able to focus because I knew where you were and you were safe. I got hurt because I was overconfident. I caused myself to get injured. What happened to you in the vampire world? Why did you eat all those? Don't tell me it's because you missed me."
Sil held her tightly and closed his eyes. They started to well up with tears again and soon they were falling. "Because I was useless. Your energy bars make me feel… funny… They make my vision change. I can't help Quinn and he's not helping me find a way to get Vorden and Raten back. I feel like a helpless child."
"Have you told him how you feel?"
Sil shook his head, "he rescued me. He has extended his friendship to me even though I have never given him reason to. I don't want to become a bigger burden to him but I still want to help him. I still consider him my best friend."
"Sil, do you understand the complexity of your situation? It's not like Quinn can snap his fingers and find a person with the correct ability."
"I miss my brothers. I feel so alone…"
"Quinn is creative. He'll think of something. Military school is starting back up soon. I have to register Fiza. I think there's another of age as well. I'll have to double check. It's either this year or next year. I plan to go at some point and talk to Oscar. I want to see if he knows anything about what happened on this planet. For now I'm just going to study. You brought me some amazing books. I have also put a request on the marketplace for a specific book I need."
"See. You have so much to do and I have nothing."
"My thought was, there may be a student there with the ability you're looking for. Also, have you used the soul weapon machine yet? We have one here as well if you want to try it. Also, you need armor which means you need to go hunting and get some crystals. Your beast clothing is in your closet."
"You are so good to me," he traced his fingers along her arms as he spoke.
"You deserve it. You will see it one day. Get some sleep My Love." She traced her finger along his chest and he was asleep in minutes.
She quickly got up, dressed and ran to her lab. She wrapped up her energy bars and found 4 missing. She stashed all the remaining bars in her lab area. There was a cabinet that was locked so she figured they'd be safe there. She then returned to bed to sleep with her husband for the rest of the night.
When Sil woke the next morning, Lana was still asleep. He kissed her on the forehead and checked on the babies. Owen was awake but Olivia wasn't. He changed his son's diaper and went to the lab. He noticed the energy bars were no longer on the counter. He inhaled, looking for the smell. Using olfactory location, he discovered they were behind a locked cabinet door.
"Mommy is playing a game of hide and seek with daddy!" Sil told his son who smiled broadly.
He decided to go to the Traveler's Center. When he got there, Almin and Kattie were having an early breakfast with a few travelers. Sil didn't know the names of all Lana's family members. He did know Almin and Kattie. He walked up behind them and placed a hand on Almin's shoulder. "I'll be heading back to the ship today. I wanted to thank you and Kattie for looking out for my wife. I don't know what I'd do without her. Please keep her as safe as you can."
Almin and Kattie looked touched. "Of course. We love her very much," Kattie responded.
Sil smiled and went back to the lab. Having copied Almin's metal manipulation ability, he opened the lock and stole the rest of the energy bars. He placed them in a container he got from the vampire world that would block the scent of his wife's culinary genius. Proud of himself, he relocked the cabinet and returned home. He set his bag by the front door and went into the bedroom.
Lana was still sleeping but he heard a sound in the other room. Sil put Owen on the bed with his wife and went to get Olivia, changed her diaper and brought her to her mother who was now awake due to her son crawling on her.
Sil leaned in and kissed his wife. "I need to be getting back. I didn't tell Quinn where I was going, though he can probably guess. I like your suggestions. I'll try."
Lana looked deeply into her husband's eyes, "okay. I'm proud of you!"
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