Chapter#05

Sofia scowled at him, so he took a step forward and threw his arms around her waist and hugged her. After a moment of resistance, the stubborn cyclops melted and hugged him back, her breasts pressing up against the sides of his face.

"I guess I'm not over how quickly she took the house down," she confessed, her voice bitter. "The house is adequately protected from the outside, but she reminds me that it would be easy for someone on the inside to turn on us, to ruin what we have here."

"Yuki would never turn on us. Not anymore."

"But you can't know that. Look at how much evidence we have that Emily turned her back on us, and she was the Caretaker. What's to stop anyone from doing the same thing?"

"Honestly? That's the real reason we have to look out for each other. If we push someone away, that's where those dark thoughts will find them. Even I'm not immune to temptation." Mike thought about the shadow figure who occasionally appeared in his dreams, tempting him with forbidden knowledge. "If you really want to protect what we have, you have to cultivate it, not guard it. Isolating yourself or others allows room for those darker thoughts to come pouring in. Suddenly, a rash decision makes complete sense, and you start thinking of everybody in terms of us or them."

Sofia sighed. "I don't think I'm ready to forgive yet."

"I'm not asking you to. But maybe if you found some common ground and tried to have new experiences with her, you may see her for who she is. Remember, she lived for so many years with all of you, but was completely forgotten. It's hard for her to find a balance when she's a stranger to her own family."

"Ugh. I hate that you're making so much sense right now." Her tone was sassy, but she gave him a good squeeze, firmly embedding his face in her breasts. "The idea that I would ever get good advice from a mere human..."

He tried to pinch her side, but she dropped her arm and casually slapped his hand out of the way. Her purple eye was still glowing with the magic of her future sight when she knelt down and kissed his forehead.

"You should stop by the Library more often. It could be... educational for both of us." She winked (or blinked, he really couldn't tell), and sashayed out of the kitchen. He tapped the counter with his fingers, wondering if he should maybe follow after her and see what she had to offer him now.

The cellphone in his pocket vibrated, and he pulled it out. It was a calendar notification reminding him that he was supposed to check in with the centaurs today.

Frowning, he put his phone away and rinsed out the sink real fast. A Caretaker's work was never done.

--

It would take nearly an hour to walk to where the centaurs had set up their camp, but Reggie and his rats had it covered. Shortly after the centaurs had moved into the greenhouse, a small structure had been built that was large enough to accommodate a portal in their village. An exit had been chewed into the perimeter wall of the front yard and surrounded with foliage for privacy. With Tink's help, a door had been built into it that could be bolted from the centaur's side to prevent any unexpected intrusions.

The door was wide and tall, and currently open. Warm, humid air greeted him, and he stepped through to the other side. The exit was up the hill from where the centaurs had been building their miniature barns. Without wild game, they had no fabric from which to build their yurts, so had been forced to improvise with a little help from Tink and some Youtube tutorials she had downloaded.

Nearby centaurs spotted him and waved hello, but continued on with their work. These people were refugees, centaurs who had been exiled from their herd for various reasons. Yuki had turned them all to stone when they had wandered onto her mountain, and kept them stored in her tower. Now, they were able to live freely under Zel's leadership without fear of retribution from their former tribe.

The centaurs had been instrumental in getting the front of his house repaired after it had been destroyed, and seemed very excited to have a large, unspoiled parcel of land to live on. After a quick ecological survey, they had cleared a plot of land rather quickly, taking care to only chop down trees that had no pharmacological worth. The whole jungle was full of extremely rare ingredients, and Mike imagined that this herd of centaurs would rapidly expand their knowledge. Zel had lived alone in this jungle since she was a teen, and was already extremely proficient in her knowledge of potions and other delightful concoctions.

"Caretaker!" A centaur with swirling tattoos and dark skin ran up to him, a spear in hand. "Welcome!"

"Well met, Leo. And it's Mike." None of the centaurs seemed comfortable calling Mike by his name, no matter how hard he tried. Leo was one of the younger males that was stationed as a guard. When he was younger, he had been exiled for questioning the teachings of the tribe. Though he appeared no older than nineteen, he had been exiled over a decade ago and had been turned to stone shortly after. "Have you seen Zel?"

"She is speaking with the shaman. Come." Leo trotted off, and Mike followed at a light jog. The shaman in question was actually Zel's aunt who had snuck her into the greenhouse through the use of a portal that Emily later sealed as a result. The two of them shared a family resemblance to the extent that they could be mother and daughter.