Aerion was still processing the small figure standing in the doorway when Soka gently picked her up and turned to face the room.
Soka: "Everyone — this is my daughter, Suika. She's two years old."
Suika looked around the room with the specific unhurried curiosity of a two-year-old — the kind that doesn't feel the need to rush because everything is equally interesting. Her soft black hair was tied into two tiny uneven ponytails, which gave the impression that she had participated in the arrangement and had strong opinions about it. In her arms was a stuffed rabbit of the well-loved variety, missing one eye and slightly flattened in ways that suggested it had been carried everywhere for its entire existence.
She looked at everyone.
Then she blinked.
Soka pointed gently toward Aerion.
Soka: "Suika, this is your Uncle Aerion."
He pointed at Reno.
Soka: "And this is your Uncle Reno."
Then at Arora.
Soka: "And this is your Aunt Arora."
The little girl studied each person with careful, serious attention. Then she pointed her rabbit at Aerion.
Suika: "...Uncle Aerion?"
Aerion: "That's me."
Suika: "Daddy talks about you."
Aerion: "Does he?"
Suika: "Mmhm." She nodded with great conviction. "But when he does, he looks like this."
She made a face — eyebrows furrowed, mouth pulled down, the earnest imitation of genuine worry that only a two-year-old can produce without meaning to be funny.
The entire room went completely silent.
Soka froze.
Tanya turned to look at him slowly.
Reno put both hands over his mouth.
Aerion stared at the small person who had just described his best friend's expression when thinking about him for two years, in mime, without having any idea what she'd done.
Then — without any warning — Suika let go of Soka's hand, tucked her rabbit under one arm, and ran.
Soka: "Suika, don't—"
Too late.
She crossed the room in her small fast way and arrived at Aerion with the specific momentum of someone who had made a decision and was following through on it.
Then she climbed him.
This process took approximately four seconds and involved his knee, then his thigh, then somehow his lap, in a sequence that defied easy anatomical explanation.
And then she grabbed both of his cheeks.
And pulled.
Suika: "You're real!"
Aerion: "I — yes—"
Suika: "Daddy said you'd come back!"
Aerion, cheeks still being stretched:
Aerion: "H-hey — little one — your uncle's face is — this is a very specific kind of hello—"
Suika released him. Looked at her hands. Looked at his cheeks.
Then she reached out and gently touched them.
Suika: "Did it hurt?"
Aerion looked at her. At the completely sincere concern in her expression.
Aerion: "...A little."
Suika: "Oh no."
She hugged him. Arms around his neck, rabbit squished between them, with the total commitment of a child who has decided a hug is required and is providing one at full capacity.
The room made various sounds of people being emotionally affected.
Suika, still hugging:
Suika: "Sorry, Uncle Aerion."
Aerion sat with this for a moment.
Then he smiled — small, genuine, surprised out of him.
Aerion: "It's okay, little one."
Suika pulled back to check his face.
Then she gasped.
Suika: "He smiled!"
She looked at the room.
Suika: "Uncle Aerion smiled!"
She puffed out her chest with the pride of someone who has accomplished a difficult task through their own determined efforts.
Arora pressed her hand over her heart.
Arora: "I was not prepared for this."
Galaria: "None of us were."
Mother Goddess smiled — quietly, warmly.
Mother Goddess: "I can see why."
· · ·
Reno walked over with the energy of someone who is not going to be left out of this.
He leaned down to Suika's level.
Reno: "Excuse me, little miss. Are you only playing with Uncle Aerion? What about Uncle Reno?"
Suika turned to look at him.
She tilted her head.
Suika: "Are you funny?"
Reno blinked.
Reno: "What?"
Suika: "Daddy says I should play with funny uncles."
Reno stood up straighter. Placed a hand on his chest.
Reno: "Then you've just met the funniest uncle in existence."
Suika stared at him.
Very seriously.
For a long moment.
Suika: "I don't think so."
Silence.
Then Reno looked at Aerion with the expression of a man who has been reduced.
Reno: "A two-year-old just told me I'm not funny."
Aerion: "She's a good judge of character."
Reno: "You're not helping—"
Suika: "You can still play, though."
She patted Reno's hand reassuringly.
Suika: "You can be the not-funny uncle."
Reno: "...I need a moment."
Soka: "Take your time."
· · ·
Arora walked over and held out her arms.
Arora: "May I?"
Suika considered this with the same serious evaluation she applied to most things.
Then she reached for Arora.
Arora lifted her, settled her on her hip, and sat down with her. Suika immediately found Arora's hair and touched it with the careful reverence of someone encountering something extraordinary.
Suika: "So pretty."
Arora: "Thank you, sweetheart."
Suika: "It's very long."
Arora: "It is."
Suika: "Can I have some?"
Arora blinked.
Arora: "Have some of my hair?"
Suika: "Yes please."
Arora: "It doesn't work quite like that."
Suika thought about this.
Suika: "Can I borrow it?"
Arora: "...Also complicated."
Suika seemed to accept this. She patted Arora's hair instead.
Suika: "Pretty aunty."
Arora made a sound that was not fully a word.
Reno, recovered slightly:
Reno: "She said the same thing about her rabbit and that rabbit's been through some things."
Arora: "I will take that as the compliment it is."
· · ·
Then Suika noticed the rest of the room.
The goddesses — eleven of them, arranged around the living room in various states of watching this with soft expressions.
Suika's eyes went wide.
She pointed.
Suika: "Daddy."
Soka: "Hm?"
Suika: "Who are all those pretty aunties?"
Tanya turned to Soka.
Tanya: "Yes. Who are all those pretty aunties?"
Every goddess in the room looked at Soka simultaneously.
Soka coughed.
Soka: "They're... with Aerion."
Tanya: "With Aerion."
Soka: "Yes."
Tanya: "All of them."
Soka: "...Yes."
The room absorbed this.
But Suika was already done waiting. She slid down from Arora's lap, tucked Bun-Bun under her arm, and walked toward the goddesses with the specific purposeful walk of a small person who has somewhere to be.
She stopped in front of the nearest one — Galaria — and looked up.
Suika: "Up."
Galaria blinked.
Then she picked her up.
Suika immediately examined her face with two small hands.
Suika: "Soft."
Galaria: "...Thank you."
Suika squished her cheeks slightly.
Galaria: "Oh—"
Suika: "Still soft."
Galaria looked at the room with the specific expression of someone who is being squished and finds it unexpectedly charming.
Suika then held up Bun-Bun to Galaria's face.
Suika: "This is Bun-Bun."
Galaria: "Hello, Bun-Bun."
Suika gasped.
Suika: "You can talk to Bun-Bun?!"
Galaria: "Of course."
Suika: "Bun-Bun never talked to anyone before!"
Galaria: "We have an understanding."
Suika stared at her with enormous eyes.
Suika: "You are my favorite aunty."
Lyria, from across the room:
Lyria: "I object—"
Nytheria: "You haven't been introduced yet—"
Lyria: "I'm still objecting preemptively—"
Suika looked over. Found Lyria. Pointed.
Suika: "You!"
Lyria: "Me?"
Suika: "You have pretty eyes."
Lyria paused.
Then melted.
Lyria, quietly:
Lyria: "Okay. I withdraw my objection."
Suika spent the next several minutes conducting a thorough tour of every goddess in the room. She patted Chrona's hair. She demanded that Sylvae hold Bun-Bun and then watched very seriously to make sure Bun-Bun was comfortable. She told Noctyra that she smelled nice, which Noctyra appeared to find genuinely affecting. She looked at Velmira for a long time and then said simply:
Suika: "You are very shiny."
Velmira: "That might be the most accurate thing anyone has said to me."
Suika: "Shiny aunty."
Velmira: "I'm keeping that."
When she reached Mother Goddess, she stopped.
She looked up.
Long pause.
Suika: "You're different."
Mother Goddess: "How so?"
Suika: "You feel warm. But also very big."
Aerion watched this exchange from across the room. Something about it settled quietly in him.
Mother Goddess looked at the small girl for a moment.
Mother Goddess: "You're very perceptive."
Suika: "What's 'perceptive'?"
Mother Goddess: "It means you notice things."
Suika thought about this.
Suika: "Oh." She nodded seriously. "Yes. I notice lots of things."
Mother Goddess: "I can tell."
Suika held up Bun-Bun.
Suika: "Bun-Bun notices things too. But he is shy about it."
Mother Goddess looked at Bun-Bun.
Mother Goddess: "Hello, Bun-Bun."
Suika looked at the rabbit. Then at the Mother Goddess.
Suika: "He likes you."
Mother Goddess: "I'm glad."
Suika nodded once with the gravity of someone who has delivered important news and is satisfied with how it was received. Then she walked back to Aerion and climbed his lap again.
Aerion looked at her.
Aerion: "Back already?"
Suika: "I did my visiting."
Aerion: "You were very thorough."
Suika: "Thank you." She settled in. "Now I rest."
· · ·
⟡ The Warm Afternoon
Several minutes later, everyone had found seats around the living room table. The conversation moved easily — the specific quality of people who have a lot of years to cover and find they enjoy the covering.
Nytheria looked out the window.
Nytheria: "It's incredibly hot today."
Noctyra: "Summer feels like it's been running at an elevated setting."
Galaria pressed the back of her hand dramatically to her forehead.
Galaria: "I am perishing."
Reno: "We are literally sitting under an air conditioner."
Galaria: "I am perishing elegantly."
Reno: "Those are different things."
Galaria: "Exactly."
Then Suika raised her tiny hand from Aerion's lap.
Suika: "Question!"
Everyone looked at her.
She looked extremely serious.
Suika: "What do people do when it's hot?"
Reno: "Eat ice cream."
Soka: "Stay indoors where it's cool."
Aerion: "Drink something cold."
Suika turned to Tanya.
Suika: "Mama?"
Tanya smiled.
Tanya: "They go to water parks."
The effect was immediate.
Suika's eyes widened to approximately twice their usual size.
Suika: "..."
A slow blink.
Suika: "WATER PARKS?"
Tanya: "Yes—"
Suika looked at the room. At everyone. Back at Tanya. Then at Aerion.
Suika: "CAN WE GO?!"
Aerion: "Well—"
Suika: "PLEASE?!"
She held Bun-Bun toward Aerion with both hands extended, as if offering the rabbit as collateral.
Suika: "Bun-Bun also wants to go."
Reno: "She's using the rabbit as leverage."
Aerion: "I see that."
Reno: "It's working."
Suika: "Pleeeeease?"
She clasped her hands together. The stuffed rabbit fell to the side and she didn't notice, because both hands were now fully committed to the request.
Galaria: "That should be illegal."
Lyria: "I suddenly want to go to a water park."
Arora: "I vote yes."
Chrona: "Statistically the yes votes already have it."
Soka: "Suika, you don't even know what a water park—"
Suika: "It has water AND a park."
Soka: "Yes, but—"
Suika: "I like both of those things."
Soka: "That's... fair, actually."
Tanya was already smiling.
Tanya: "One day at a water park won't hurt."
Suika: "YES."
She threw both arms in the air.
Then she picked up Bun-Bun and held the rabbit up too.
Suika: "Bun-Bun, we are going to the water park!"
Bun-Bun expressed no opinion, being a stuffed rabbit.
Suika apparently received one anyway.
Suika: "He is excited."
Reno: "How can you tell?"
Suika: "He has the face."
Reno: "He has... he has one expression."
Suika: "Yes. And it is the excited one."
· · ·
Nytheria was already on her phone.
Three minutes later, several luxury cars pulled up along the front gate.
Reno watched them arrive.
Reno: "Nytheria. I need to understand something."
Nytheria: "What?"
Reno: "Do all of you carry unlimited money?"
Nytheria looked genuinely confused.
Nytheria: "Doesn't everyone?"
Silence.
Aerion sighed.
Aerion: "Stop asking questions, Reno. I gave up on this line of inquiry six countries ago."
Reno: "I need answers—"
Aerion: "The answers will only make it worse."
Suika, arriving at the door in her small shoes which she had put on by herself and which were therefore on the wrong feet:
Suika: "The cars are here!"
She looked at her feet. Looked at her shoes. Made no changes.
Tanya: "Suika, your shoes—"
Suika: "They're fine."
Tanya: "They're on the wrong—"
Suika: "They're fine, Mama."
She walked to the car with the dignity of a person whose shoes are completely fine.
Reno looked at Soka.
Reno: "She's exactly like you."
Soka: "She is absolutely not—"
Tanya: "She is absolutely."
Soka: "..."
· · ·
In the car, Suika installed herself between Aerion and Reno with the ease of someone taking a position they've already decided is theirs.
She crossed her arms.
Suika: "I am the princess."
Reno: "The princess?"
Suika: "Papa said princesses sit in the middle."
Soka, from the front seat, not turning around:
Soka: "I said that once—"
Suika: "You say it a lot, Papa."
Soka: "...I say it an appropriate amount."
Aerion chuckled.
Aerion: "Then I suppose we have no choice."
He said it with the specific gravity of someone accepting an important responsibility.
Reno: "We protect the princess!"
Suika raised Bun-Bun.
Suika: "And Bun-Bun!"
Reno: "AND BUN-BUN."
Aerion: "And Bun-Bun."
Suika looked extremely satisfied with how this had developed. She settled back against the seat with the composure of royalty.
Then she looked at Aerion sidelong.
Suika: "Uncle Aerion."
Aerion: "Hm?"
Suika: "Are you happy?"
Aerion looked at her.
Suika: "You look happy now. But sometimes you look like Papa's worried face."
The car was quiet for a moment.
Aerion: "I'm happy right now."
Suika studied him.
Suika: "Promise?"
Aerion: "Promise."
She nodded.
Suika: "Good. Because Bun-Bun was worried."
Aerion: "Tell Bun-Bun thank you."
Suika held the rabbit up and whispered something to it.
Then she reported back.
Suika: "He says you're welcome and also he would like a cookie."
Reno: "Tell him we'll see what we can do."
Suika relayed this information very seriously.
· · ·
⟡ The Water Park
The park announced itself from a distance — towers of slides visible from the road, the specific sound of large amounts of water being moved, the cheerful chaos of somewhere that has organized itself entirely around the concept of having a good time.
Suika's face as they arrived was a document of escalating wonder.
Her mouth opened.
Then opened further.
Suika: "WOOOOOOW."
She pointed.
Suika: "Water!"
She pointed somewhere else.
Suika: "MORE water!"
She found the largest slide in the park, a structure that wound through the sky in several impractical directions.
Suika: "HUGE WATER."
Aerion: "That's a slide."
Suika: "A HUGE slide."
Aerion: "Yes."
Suika: "Can we stay here forever?"
Aerion: "They probably have rules against that."
Suika: "What if we ask nicely?"
Reno: "We could try."
Tanya: "We are not trying."
Reno: "We could definitely not try."
· · ·
After changing, everyone emerged into the park. Suika ran immediately toward Aerion, Reno, and Soka. Pointed at all three.
Suika: "My team."
Reno: "What about your mom?"
Suika looked at Tanya.
Suika: "Vice-captain."
Tanya: "I'll take it."
Suika: "And Bun-Bun is the mascot."
She held the rabbit up officially.
Reno: "Every great team needs a mascot."
Soka: "Where is Bun-Bun going to go during the water rides?"
Suika looked at the rabbit. Then at the water. A serious calculation happened behind her eyes.
Suika: "Bun-Bun will wait with Mama. He doesn't like water."
Reno: "How do you know that?"
Suika: "He told me."
Reno: "When?"
Suika: "This morning."
Reno: "...Of course."
· · ·
She found the biggest slide in the park within seven minutes.
It was enormous. The kind of slide that requires a specific state of mind to look at directly.
Suika pointed at it with conviction.
Suika: "THAT ONE."
Soka: "Suika, that's the largest ride in the park—"
Suika: "Yes."
Soka: "It's very high—"
Suika: "Yes."
Soka: "Are you... completely sure?"
Suika: "Papa."
Soka: "Yes?"
Suika: "I am brave."
Soka: "I know you're brave—"
Suika: "So we go."
Reno clapped Soka on the back.
Reno: "She's completely right. We go."
Soka: "You realize that means we're going too—"
Reno: "For the princess."
Aerion: "For the princess."
Suika: "FOR THE PRINCESS!"
· · ·
At the top of the slide, sitting in their inflatable tube — Suika between Aerion and Reno,Soka behind — Suika looked at the drop below.
A long pause.
Suika: "...That's high."
Reno: "A little."
Suika: "How high?"
Reno: "Brave-person high."
Suika: "I am a brave person."
Reno: "Exactly. So this is exactly the right height."
Suika swallowed once.
Suika: "...I am still brave."
Aerion: "You don't have to go if you don't want to."
She looked at him. Very seriously.
Suika: "Uncle Aerion."
Aerion: "Yeah?"
Suika: "I want to go."
Aerion: "Then we go."
Suika: "Together?"
Aerion: "Together."
She nodded once.
Suika: "Okay."
Then — before anyone could think further about it — the tube started moving.
Higher.
The world below got smaller.
Suika: "Still okay?"
Reno: "Still okay!"
Aerion: "Still okay."
Soka, from behind:
Soka: "Completely fine! Everything is fine!"
Suika: "Good."
Then they dropped.
The entire structure became sound and motion — wind and water and the specific terrifying joy of something that started and cannot be stopped.
Reno: "AAAAHHHHH—"
Soka: "I REGRET—"
Aerion: "—"
And Suika:
Suika: "WHEEEEEEEEEEE!"
She was laughing. The pure kind — the kind that doesn't think about anything else, that fills the entire space available to it.
Every twist of the slide, every drop, every moment when the tube went sideways and everyone screamed — Suika laughed harder.
The slide released them into the pool at the bottom with a spectacular splash.
Reno surfaced first.
Reno: "I saw things."
Aerion surfaced.
Aerion: "My soul briefly left my body."
Soka surfaced.
Soka: "I have reconsidered every decision that led to this moment."
Suika surfaced, hair soaked, still laughing.
Suika: "AGAIN!"
The three men looked at each other.
Then at the small human in front of them who was radiating pure happiness like a physical force.
Reno, sighing deeply:
Reno: "...Again."
Soka, also sighing:
Soka: "Again."
Aerion, the ghost of a smile:
Aerion: "Again."
Suika: "I knew you were brave!"
· · ·
The rest of the afternoon lived in the warmth of the same energy.
Wave pool. Suika held one of Aerion's hands and one of Soka's hands, with Reno's hand in her other one, walking through the waves like they were her personal escort service.
Suika: "I am safe."
Reno: "You are very safe."
Suika: "Because I have uncles."
Soka: "That's exactly why."
People nearby watched them and smiled. Several people took photos — the small girl being walked through the waves by three adults with the collective focused care of people guarding something very important.
Arora watched from the poolside.
Arora: "Look at them."
Galaria: "I'm looking."
Arora: "They've completely forgotten everything else."
Galaria: "Children do that."
Sylvae: "She's so happy."
The goddesses watched in silence for a moment.
Mother Goddess quietly:
Mother Goddess: "There is something extraordinary about a child's happiness. It has no agenda. It simply exists."
Nytheria: "She's made strangers feel like family in approximately one hour."
Mother Goddess: "Some people do that."
She looked at Aerion, walking through the water with Suika on his shoulders now, the little girl pointing directions with total authority.
Suika: "LEFT."
Aerion: "Left it is."
Suika: "FORWARD."
Aerion: "Forward, Your Highness."
Suika: "STOP."
Aerion: "Stopping."
Suika: "Wave is coming."
Aerion: "I see it."
Suika: "It's a big wave."
Aerion: "It is."
Suika: "Are we scared?"
Aerion: "A little."
Suika: "Me too."
She tightened her grip on his head.
Suika: "But together it's okay."
Aerion paused in the water.
Just for a moment.
Then:
Aerion: "Yeah. Together it's okay."
The wave hit. Suika shrieked with laughter. Aerion steadied himself and didn't let her tip.
The shrieking continued for a while. The laughter carried across the pool.
Arora watched.
She didn't say anything.
But something in her expression settled into a kind of quiet certainty — like something she'd already believed, confirmed.
· · ·
Later — ice cream, which Suika requested, then juice, then fries, then another ride, then another slide, then an argument with a water fountain that she was fully convinced had splashed her on purpose.
Suika: "It did it on PURPOSE."
Reno: "Fountains don't make decisions—"
Suika: "This one does."
Reno: "How do you know?"
Suika: "I looked at it and it splashed me."
Reno: "That's just how fountains—"
Suika pointed at the fountain.
Suika: "You are in trouble."
The fountain continued operating normally.
Suika: "Uncle Reno, tell it."
Reno, very seriously, to the fountain:
Reno: "You are in trouble."
Suika nodded. Justice served.
She walked away.
Aerion: "Did you just scold a fountain?"
Reno: "The princess needed backup."
Aerion: "She did."
Reno: "So."
Aerion: "So."
They followed her.
· · ·
As the sun began its slow descent, the water park warming into the gold of early evening, Suika finally ran out of energy — which happened all at once, the way two-year-olds run out of energy, without transition.
She walked to Aerion and held her arms up.
Aerion lifted her.
She rested her head on his shoulder immediately.
Suika, sleepy:**
Suika: "Today was good."
Aerion: "It was."
Suika: "I liked the big slide."
Aerion: "Me too."
Suika: "You screamed."
Aerion: "A little."
Suika: "That's okay."
She yawned — the full-body kind.
Suika: "Uncle Aerion."
Aerion: "Hm?"
Suika: "Will you come back? To visit?"
He held her a little more securely.
Aerion: "Yeah. I'll come back."
Suika: "Promise?"
Aerion: "Promise."
She seemed satisfied with this. Her head got heavier on his shoulder as she drifted.
Suika, almost asleep:
Suika: "When I grow up... I'm going to marry you."
The announcement arrived with the absolute confidence of someone who has made a decision and sees no reason to revisit it.
Silence.
Aerion froze.
Soka froze.
Tanya froze.
Every goddess within earshot froze.
Reno did not freeze. Reno sat down on a nearby bench because his legs were no longer reliable.
Reno: "HAHAHA — BROTHER — your FATE—"
Aerion: "She's — she's two—"
Galaria: "She knows what she wants."
Aerion: "She doesn't — she's not—"
Soka, baffled:**
Soka: "Suika, where did you even get that idea—"
Suika, half-asleep:
Suika: "Mama said I should marry a nice and handsome person."
Tanya: "I said SOMEDAY—"
Suika: "Uncle Aerion is nice."
Tanya: "Yes but—"
Suika: "And handsome."
Tanya: "That's not the—"
Suika: "So."
She was asleep before the sentence finished.
Reno was face-down on the bench.
Aerion stood holding the sleeping child and looked at Soka with the expression of a man who has been comprehensively outmaneuvered by someone who weighs twenty pounds.
Soka, trying not to laugh:
Soka: "I mean. She made a compelling argument."
Aerion: "Soka."
Soka: "Logically sound, really—"
Aerion: "Soka!"
Tanya covered her smile with both hands.
The goddesses exchanged glances — the specific glances of people who are filing information away.
Arora watched Aerion holding the sleeping two-year-old who had just staked a marital claim on him, and she started laughing — the real kind, helpless, the kind that finds something completely and purely funny.
Aerion looked at her.
Aerion: "This isn't funny."
Arora: "It's extremely funny."
Aerion: "She's going to grow out of it—"
Arora: "She might."
Aerion: "She will."
Arora: "She seemed very certain."
Aerion: "She's two—"
Reno, from the bench, face still down:
Reno: "Brother. A two-year-old just did what eleven goddesses have been working toward and she did it in one sentence. Show some respect."
The laughter that followed was wide and warm and carried across the water park without caring who heard it.
Suika slept through all of it.
Small and complete and entirely at peace on Aerion's shoulder, Bun-Bun tucked under one arm, having conquered the day entirely on her own terms.
Soka watched his friend holding his daughter.
Then he smiled — quietly, to himself.
This, he thought. This is what I wanted him to come back to.