The Spread

-----Yui's POV

We begin to leave down the hill from the mansion as Natalie has also decided to accompany us. It's still chilly outside, but after hearing that Undine and Ona have never tried swimming before, I feel like I can put up with this bit of cold.

Natalie: "Here."

Looks like Natalie was prepared as she wraps a jacket around my shoulders as it already starts to warm me up.

Yui: "Thank you."

Ona: "Ah, right~ You humans are more sensitive to the cold."

Now that she points it out, both Ona and Undine are wearing very light clothing as if we were walking around in the middle of summer.

Yui: "I'm guessing merfolk are used to the cold?"

Undine: "Yeah. We're ocean dwellers at our core, so we're born with a certain level of resistance to the cold."

Yui: "What about heat?"

Undine: "We don't fair well with heat."

Ona: "Mhmm! I much prefer the winter season."

Interesting. I was about to feel jealous, but seems like we both have our own advantages. Personally I love the summer, but I don't mind winter either.

We continue to idly chat, but we soon approach Kaede's place at the bottom of the hill just a little past the main gate. I proceed to knock on the door as I wait for an answer.

Yui: "You two can wait out here if you like? I won't be long."

Ona: "No, it's fine. We can handle it."

She picked up immediately what I was trying to do. I was trying to be considerate to them as they might still fear the "monsters" inside. But Both Ona and Undine look to be fine so I won't push them to stay outside. And a few moments later, the door opened up.

Lillian: "Yui?"

Yui: "Hey, is Kaede still here?"

Silly question as I know if Lillian is here, then the masked supervisor would also be here, and in turn, Kaede. Regardless, I like to ask anyways as it's just a habit.

Undine/Ona: "Yui?"

Yui: "It's my name from my previous life."

Undine/Ona: "Oh~"

Lillian: "Kaede's just upstairs with Mell, but I think their talking about something private. You guys can come in and wait though."

Yui: "Sure."

The 4 of us enter as Lillian closes the door behind us. With the warm atmosphere of the house, I take off the jacket around my shoulders and hang it onto a chair.

Sicily: "Afternoon, Yui"

Yui: "Good afternoon."

Faye: "Taking Kaede out again?"

Yui: "Yeah, but to the beach this time, along with Undine and Ona."

We take our seats on the couch as Fleur remains the furthest away from us. Seems as though she's still trying to deal with the changes to her body. The masked supervisor also stays nearby, watching over us.

Sicily: "Isn't today too cold for that?"

Yui: "Oh, I don't think I'll be going in the water. Just giving these two a chance to swim."

Faye: "Well we're not doing much, so I guess we can also join if you like?"

Yui: "Sure! But how long do you think Kaede will be?"

Lillian: "She's been up their for a couple hours now. It must be quite an important talk, we don't really want to disturb them."

Hmmm. A talk with Mell... I understand that she's Kaede's adoptive daughter, so maybe it's a touchy subject that she only wants to talk with Kaede about? One thing that comes to mind is her old parents, which in that case, I should give the two of them space to talk through all that.

Yui: "You two aren't in a rush, right?"

Undine: "Mom gave us 5 hours, but a carriage should be sent out for us."

Yui: "Okay, then you don't mind waiting around here?"

Ona: "Mhmm!"

Masked Supervisor: "I'll make us some tea."

Natalie: "Oh! I'll help as well."

I find myself staring up at the second floor, wondering how long Kaede will be. I can tell she's here as my body feels completely relaxed. I guess I should just make myself comfortable while I wait. The tea will also help warm up my body for the trip to the beach.

-----Kaede's POV

I'm not sure how much time has passed, but Mell's handling this very well compared to Faye, staying awake throughout the whole thing as she tightly grasps my hand. I did hear Yui come in, but sadly, right now I have to deal with Mell first. This whole situation is quite risky now as I didn't expect her to also bring the queen's daughters with her. When Mell finishes her transformation, I'm afraid that she'll completely lose it and try to kill them. So to keep that from happening, I must stay here.

I gently brush Mell's hair with my spare hand, trying to soothe the pain even if its just a little. Her heart beat is weakening just like how Faye's went, signaling that the process is nearing it's end. Honestly, It's quite scary to think about. Like what if her heart just stays dead and I just end up killing her instead...

Kaede: "You're doing great."

Mell: "C-cold."

Yeah this is very much like a fever. She's sweating yet says she's cold. I didn't manage to grab some water or cloths to help with the sweat so I do the best I can with my hand, wiping the sweat from her head.

Kaede: "I know, just a little longer, okay?"

Mell: "...Okay."

It's entirely possible that she's holding all this pain in just to make me feel better. She's even smiling at me despite her heart weakening more and more as time goes on. I respond with a smile as well, encouraging her to stay strong.

But after a few more minutes, her eyes gently shut as her heart finally stopped beating, with her hand now limp inside my own. It feels like I'm frozen in time as I heighten all of my senses, trying to see if there's any sign of life in Mell. One second felt like an hour, One minute felt like an eternity, but just as I was about to lose hope with my eyes now filling up with tears, a single heartbeat could be heard. And in that moment, time flowed normally as I let the few tears that had built up in my eyes to drip down my face. The tears might have started out as sad tears, but right now, they're tears of joy.

Kaede: "Mell? Come on, wake up."

I gently nudge her body as her eyes slowly begin to twitch. And slowly, her eyes opened to reveal bright, scarlet red eyes as they slowly lock eyes with my own.

Mell: "Mom?"

Immediately, I wrap my arms around her, bringing her to sit up as she slowly wraps her arms around me in turn. Her arms are a bit weak, but now that we're embracing like this, I can steadily hear her heart begin to beat faster and faster until it's at a normal rate.

Kaede: "Thank god."

Mell: "Hehe, I'm here, mom."

For the first time, I can hug her and not have that intoxicating smell trying to take over my body. Just that revelation alone causes me to hug her even tighter as I breathe out a sigh of relief.

Kaede: "You can't ask to go back now, got it?"

Mell: "I know."

Kaede: "And you don't have a collar around you yet, so just try your best to contain yourself."

Mell: "Mhmm."

We then break away from the hug as I look into her eyes once more. The golden, auburn color is nowhere to be found as I begin to feel my chest tighten at the thought. I was jealous about her eyes, and now they're gone... But it was her decision, it's not like we could've traded eyes anyways.

Kaede: "So? How do you feel?"

Mell: "I feel, light."

Just then, Mell raised her palm up as strings of bright light slowly started to grow from within her palm. It didn't take me long to realize that this was most certainly light magic. Did turning into a vampire perhaps enable her to control her magic better?

Kaede: "Pretty."

Mell: "This is what I was trying to do for the longest time."

Kaede: "You were practicing?"

Mell: "Mhmm. When we fought those spiders that one time, I wanted to try and make web with magic, but I never could."

Ah~ So these strings of light are meant to mimic spider webs, pretty cool! I can't believe my daughter can now use light magic! I must be the best mother around!

Kaede: "Oh! Okay, now be careful. I'd like to try something before you get your collar."

Mell: "Hmm?"

I proceed to cut my finger with one of my nail, drawing out a little bit of my blood to create a small ball of blood.

Kaede: "Can you try?"

I watch as she tries to grow out her nail, but it stays the same shape. I guess for now I can just cut her finger myself until she gets accustomed to her new body. After drawing my blood back inside me and healing my cut, I carefully nick Mell's finger as her blood soon starts to flow out.

Kaede: "Okay, now concentrate."

It didn't take long as not even a second had passed as her blood soon started to form into a small ball just like I did before. I smile happily as I watch her draw back her blood inside her finger, but when she tries to heal her finger, she suddenly becomes stuck. I hop in to heal her finger really quickly as she also has a giant smile appear on her face.

Wow, okay. So at least in the case of blood magic, it seems to be transferable, so there's no doubt that both Fleur and Faye will be able to do the same. Also, Mell's weak level of light magic has now become somewhat usable, so I wonder if Fleur and Faye's other magic has also been enhanced? I guess we can only find out when the supervision ends.

Kaede: "Keep this a secret, okay?"

Mell: "Mhmm!"