Cherreads

Chapter 197 - Just the Facts

Lana grinned and walked passed Sil and went to Olivia's side. "Daddy's only flying Owen huh…. Don't worry, Mama's got you…"

Lana looked at Sil and smirked then looked at the floor. She put her hands, palms facing each other and pictured a serving tray, for lack of a better description in her mind. "Vine tray" she said and the vines shot out both her hands and started weaving into a rectangular shape with handles at the ends. It was about 3 feet long and a foot and a half wide. She placed Olivia on the tray, tummy down. She wrapped vines around her daughter to fasten to the tray.

Lana picked up the tray that contained her daughter, "let's get your brother" and she walked quickly toward Olivia's sibling. Sil laughed as they all played while making sure to take the children's safety into account. They were only 3 months old after all.

Lana was getting tired and marveled at her husband's stamina, not for the first time; especially since her stamina was abnormally high. She set Olivia back on the floor and withered the vines that attached Olivia to the tray. The tray itself, she petrified for later use.

"It smells really good in here," Lana said.

"The ladies in the traveler's center brought us something to eat."

Lana started looking around as her mouth started to salivate. She found a plate of food on the counter and Sil nodded. She sat down and ate, appetite sparked by the love in the room and the scent that tantalized so many of the cells in her body.

As she was finishing, Olivia started fussing. It was late and daddy had kept them up to spend time with them. She fed both the babies and they both changed diapers. They weren't really hungry but she figured topping them off before laying them down would be beneficial.

As mother and father left the nursery, Sil held Lana's hand, "So, where did you go that you couldn't take the babies?"

"To the other side. I wanted to see if I could find any more information on Arthur."

Sil looked down at his wife's beautiful blond hair, "did you find anything?" Normally she looked up toward his face to speak to him. Her not doing so told him something was up.

"He came back then went into the vampire settlement and left again. Those who were waiting on his decision left as well."

Sil nodded. "Joined them or overpowered by them and taken away?"

Lana shook her head, "don't ask me to speculate on that," her voice cracked as she ended the sentence.

Sil swiftly picked her up and put her against the wall, holding her tight. "It will be okay. We'll get through this."

Lana nodded, "he's so strong and he's in this position. Our list of strong allies is shrinking."

"I'm here. I will always be here," Sil looked into her eyes as he spoke.

He also realized the wall her pushed her against was right outside the babies' room. He decided to carry her to another wall, further away.

Lana chuckled.

Sil smiled at her, "what?"

"You are your walls… How about we take a shower and use that wall…" she chuckled at him.

Sil's face beamed at the idea, "okay!"

An hour later, he carried her from the bathroom all squeaky clean and placed her between the sheets and crawled in behind her.

Sil wrapped his arms around her, "you were very tense. What else happened?"

"I met a little girl named Minny. She was waiting for Arthur to come out of the underground area. He taught her not to go there, calling it a bad place."

Sil nodded.

"I talked with her a bit about her father. Her mother Ruby runs the shelter. They have been here since the creation of the shelter. I learned things… Sil… I think the military has more fingers in my life than I thought."

Shocked, he sat up and leaned over looking at her face. She didn't look happy so he laid back down and held her closer. He didn't like it when his Lana wasn't happy.

"Fact 1: The military came to this planet after an energy spike."

"Fact 2: My mother, and the two of us, were found by the Bree a few days later. The shelter wasn't even built yet."

"Fact 3: Ruby and Roger didn't have kids and offered to take care of us until mom was well again."

"Fact 4: The military sent the most shady of their soldiers to have us adopted out."

"Fact 5: The area the energy came from was too dangerous to land a ship so they needed to send people in on foot."

"Fact 6: It's beyond the desert that surrounds this area."

"Fact 7: Minny was an infant when Roger went missing. It took him 10 years to get to the other side, if he got that far. They gave him a bunch of Rank A travelers for the trip. They kept dying."

"Speculation 1: The high-level military, meaning Oscar, kept a cursory eye on us. That would be why Dens came to the orphanage, to us."

"Speculation 2: Their catastrophic failure is the reason the military sold me this planet, though they said it was because of Mona Bree's negotiation skills."

"Speculation 3: The military is waiting for me to find what's there so they can steal it."

"Speculation 4: Mom crossed from there to here somehow. Whether it was across the surface or underground is unknown."

Sil asked, "are you thinking underground?"

Lana nodded. "Kinda hoping actually so it can't be tracked so easily."

"So potentially, you are not as safe as you thought you were."

Lana nodded and scooted closer to him as if that was possible.

Lana took a deep breath. "I think I need to figure out my soul weapon soon… I only figured out one of the items."

"Items? Show me." Sil sat up, curious.

She produced her items and picked up the metal circle. "This one, if I hold it so the circle's edge is fully in my palm, using my fingers to hold it in place but not down passed the rim, it acts like a cluster bomb. Or in this case, a cluster missile. It enters the target then splits into many pieces and makes the enemy into many pieces."

Sil looked impressed, "and these others?"

Lana held up the black spheric thing, "this looks like a seed of some kind but I have not played with it yet. I want the kids a safe distance from me before I start working with them."

"Is that why you commissioned the saddle?"

Lana nodded, "I needed them as safe as possible."

"This third thing, the drawstring bag is metallic and there are shavings inside. If I'm right, it's phosphorus shavings."

"WHAT?!"

Lana chuckled dryly. "yeah…" she focused on the items and they went away.

"I wish I had a soul weapon…" Sil sighed.

"Use Quinn's soul weapon machine."

"But the Blades don't have soul weapons," Sil responded.

"Since when are you a normal Blade?"

Sil curled up to her and kissed her neck, "I guess, never."

"So, what are your plans for your mother's lab and area the military wants access to?"

"I don't know yet…" Lana sighed, "I need time to think on it. I'll work with the sword for now, go on expeditions to practice my ability, get stronger once that saddle is ready."

Sil nodded. "Sounds sensible… But you'll be in a dangerous area, won't you?"

Lana chuckled, "I'll use my soul weapon if need be. But yes, I am a bit worried. It will have to be the party I had with me last time unless you are available. They know Shalt is a vampire so he can use his full power."

"Why do they know he's a vampire?"

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