UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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Ethan nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Do they execute the ruler, or do they have to keep them alive?" He probably had too many questions.

~~
"Oh, I know that feeling," Vestia said sympathetically. She watched Amari snooze. Aww.

Mourn cackled. "yes, good plan. I make sure you live long time so can share tales of how great I am!"

Ethan looked amused. "I used to think you did this as charity, but I guess it's in your own interests to help us after all. Gives you people to sing your praise."

Mourn shrugged. "Like fix robot, statue just extra. Like challenge. Like prove stupid terran wrong."

Sawna was still in her cafe, with Rigel and Amity there. She smiled and looked to Asher as he came in "Hello Asher."

~~~
Dawn shook her head then chuckled softly "Alright, it's your life, you can become a therapist if you want to." She said and went back to eating.

"Well whatever your reasons are, I'm glad you have reasons to want to help," Ethan decided.

~~
Asher smiled back. It looked kind of forced, oh well. "Hello Sawna, Rigel, Amity. How are you today?"

"Good afternoon Asher." Amity smiled.

---

Mourn nodded. "I be back robot, I go study code yes?"

---

"Well thanks for the support." Esk replied dryly.

"I am well" Sawna said and smiled at Asher.

Rigel nodded and waved a little "I'm fine" He replied

~~~
Dawn smiled again and nodded "I'm glad you want to try"

Esk shrugged. "I haven't decided for sure yet." He glanced up at the books, eugh, books.
"I'll let you rest."

Asher looked kind of shy, it was always odd to enter an eating place without an invitation. He always felt weird for not eating anything. "I had something I wanted to tell you guys about Amari," he said hesitantly.

~~
Ethan smiled oddly. "All right Mourn. See you around."

~~
Ellie wondered if she was allowed to peek in at Matt's therapy session. She sneaked toward the pool room to peer in. She was worried about him, okay?

"Amari, is that the name of one of the new guests?" Amity asked.

--

"bye robot!" Mourn waved and went back to his room to look at code.

---

Kay and Matt were indeed in the pool. Matt seemed to be concentrating really hard on what he was supposed to be doing.

Ethan went back to his US history book. It'd keep his way-too-clear memories quiet for a while, at least.

~~
Ellie watched quietly. Matt looked like he was concentrating! That was a good sign, probably. Ellie tried to resist the urge to go in and talk to them, since Matt was busy. Kay would probably hear her worrying silently about Matt though, she wasn't exactly telepathically quiet.

Kay glanced over, yeah Ellie couldn't be quiet. He smiled softly. He was hopeful that this was a good sign for Matt too.

Matt was concentrating on taking steps in the water so he was watching his own feet, not his brother.

Did Esk talk to him? Ellie tried thinking to Kay. She really wanted to know! She also wanted to hug Matt so much, but he was busy.

I believe so. Kay nodded reassuring to his brother as he 'spoke' to Ellie.

Matt made it to the side of the pool and grabbed the edge, looking tired.

Kay went to his side and patted him on the shoulder, looking supportive.
He pointed to the door where Ellie was.

Matt followed his brother's pointing, noticed Ellie and blinked, then waved. He looked a bit awkward. "Hey..." He managed. He sounded tired and deflated.

"I can come back later if you want," Ellie said. "I don't wanna like, intrude." She went further into the room though.

Dawn smiled at him again "Go ahead and take them, I have plenty of others to keep me occupied here."

~~~
"What about him?" Sawna asked. She liked the kid and hoped he hadn't done anything to upset anyone.

Rigel just listened curiously, since he didn't know what was happening.

Asher nodded. "Amari is one of the new people on board, yes."
He looked to Sawna, "He can talk, for one thing. Starr and I talked with him today, and he seems like a nice kid. He's also scared of Marcus, because he thinks of Marcus as his master, and is terrified of being hurt. I think we should let Amari stay here, he needs a safe home where he can start to learn to be free."

"I see no problem to the child staying here." Sawna said gently. She liked the kid after all, even if he hadn't yet talked to her.

"Wait, Marcus?" Rigel asked "Where do I know that name from?"

Asher smiled softly at Sawna. "Oh good." He looked to Rigel, "Marcus was one of Matthew's employees. We rescued Marcus and his son after their ship was damaged. We aren't going to keep Marcus here, don't worry about that."

Rigel frowned in thought and sat back in his chair, taking a sip of his drink "I'm not worried. I know you wouldn't let anyone stay here to hurt Danica when she gets back"

Asher frowned a bit at the mention of Danika. "Yes, the children's safety is very important. I don't think Amari would hurt them, but we'll keep him supervised whenever he's around them."

"It's fine Ellie... I think... we're done yeah?" Matt looked to Kay for confirmation.

Kay nodded and climbed out of the pool so he could help Matt out.

---

"Why do you have psych books anyway?" Esk asked, reaching up to grab them down.

Ellie came over in case Matt needed any extra help. Although with Matt being as tall as he was, she was probably going to basically be useless. "Man, this is a nice swimming pool. We really need to have a pool party sometime."

"Didnt' we already kind do that?" Matt asked.

Kay shrugged. Have another one?

"Maybe when there's something to celebrate...." Matt shook his head.

Kay managed to get him outta the damn pool, with a little help from Ellie but mostly help from Matt himself and brought over towels for his brother and himself.

Ellie helped as much as she could, which wasn't much, honestly. Matt was just so tall and heavy compared to her or Kay. "We'll have something to celebrate soon, and then we'll have the poor party of a lifetime," she said. "Well, sorta soon." It was still a long way to the Imperium.

Matt lay on the tiled floor and sighed. "yeah... " He didn't seem overly enthusiastic.

Kay looked worried. Okay so realistically Matt wasn't going to just come out of his depression in a few hours because someone yelled at him, but still, he'd kinda hoped he could pretend for just a little bit.

Ellie sighed and looked at Kay. Yeah, this really stank. Even Esk, with all his clever words and perception, couldn't magically fix her friend. She went and awkwardly hugged Matt where he was lying. "Hey man, things are gonna get better. Really." Did Asher and Starr talk to you guys about the slaver kid? Matt seems so gloomy still. She thought to Kay.