Birth

Two months silently passed, and within that time, Lily had become accustomed to the fascinating feeling of comfort and serenity in the crucible of her mother's womb.

She liked the feeling of listening to her mother's soft lullabies, the warmth in that gentle voice seeming to soothe away all twelve years of her pain and suffering.

She couldn't quite put a name on what she was feeling, but she knew one thing. She didn't want it to end. She didn't want to feel that all-too-familiar pain again.

The time had not been wasted by her, even as she found herself gradually relax at the sense of security she had found.

She focused on thinking about [Celestial Steps]. She would only be able to start training it when she reached the age of five or six as it required training the body to a certain degree before practicing the movements.

She did however circulate her internal energy at every chance she had, refining small impurities every day.

She only knew how to do this because [Celestial Steps] had stated that the technique would be easier to learn with a purified body, and it also outlined the way to achieve one.

Eventually, however, the day of her birth had arrived.

"Look, Rose! Our Lily is fine! The birth was a success!" Michael called out with joy in the bubbly recesses of Sabaody Archipelago's Grove 72.

Today was the day Lily was born.

After an arduous process in which she passed through the birth canal, and into the open air of the world, she felt herself being held by a pair of strong, robust hands.

Lily opened her eyes, and the first thing she noticed was the genuine smile of the man who held her. 

He cautiously made his way to the bed, handing her gently to his wife, as if both were the most precious treasures in the universe.

The second thing Lily noticed was the woman's smile. Her eyes and expression were unlike anything Lily had ever seen.

Sunlight passed through the window, finding the woman's rose-colored hair, pale green eyes, and fair complexion.

She was also the most beautiful woman Lily had ever seen in her life. That image of the woman's smile and the light in her eyes as she gazed at the child in her arms, herself, imprinted itself on Lily deeply.

For a reason unknown to her, her nose began to itch and she started to cry, and then her body's instincts as an infant exacerbated those cries.

"Waaah! Waaah!"

"Hush, hush. You're okay. Everything's fine," Rose gently caressed the baby, slowly rocking Lily back and forth to appease the baby's wails.

"Yes, you've a healthy child indeed, and there seem to be no problems," after conducting a basic examination and finding no issues with the child, the midwife dismissed herself.

Alone now in the room, Rose looked at her husband, and then back to her child.

"Then, just as we discussed, your name is Lily," Rose smiled, the light in her eyes becoming more gentle, and then continued in almost a whisper, as if her next words were only meant to be heard by the three of them, "Marshall D. Lily." 

—

Lily began to crawl not too long later, exploring the small house.

She was a toddler with curly rose hair and pale green eyes, all features inherited from her mother.

Her father seemed joyful at that, for in his opinion, there was nothing more beautiful than his wife.

Lily was subjected to their displays of affection every moment she was with them, and every time, she couldn't help but stare in fascination.

"Rose, are you feeling okay? Want me to bring you something?" Michael asked gently as he hugged his wife from behind who was preoccupied with some light housework.

"Mhmm, I'm sorta craving Graman…" Rose turned around after folding some clothes, and lightly kissed Michael with a smile.

"Graman, huh? Spontaneous as always, haven't had those in a while, Hahaha," Michael laughed after the kiss, pulling back slightly, and stroked a stray strand of rose-colored hair behind Rose's ear, the light in his eyes full of tenderness.

The interaction continued as the couple flirted with each other and Lily observed the whole thing in bewilderment.

'What… Is that?' Although Lily didn't know what she was looking at, for some reason there was an itch in her chest. She couldn't be certain, but she felt that she was missing a profound part of herself that would enable her to understand what was going on. 

After a while of uncontrolled curiosity, Lily ignored the two and crawled through her new living space. She wandered through a room of old dusty bookshelves, a small bedroom, and another room that was her father's study which was currently locked.

By objective standards, it was a small, cramped construct. No doubt shoddily built by contractors to dodge high costs.

But for Lily, who had never had a home, it was the warmest place she knew.

She also began picking up the language very quickly, already possessing the ability to hold conversations if she chose to. For now, she decided to simply behave as she thought a normal child would.

When her parents weren't looking, Lily would try to peruse the old books that were in her reach, attempting to siphon out their secrets.

But what fascinated her the most, no doubt, were the bubbles.

When she was taken outside for the first time, she couldn't believe what she was witnessing.

As her mother held her in her arms as she walked, Lily could not tear her eyes away.

Not from the tall striped trees, nor from the bubbles that would arise seemingly magically from the grass.

Nor from the bubble capsules, which her mother explained were hotel rooms, strung high in the air, overlooking the archipelago. 

Her eyes wandered about every small thing with fascination and wonderment.

She even had the illusion that perhaps the heavens had compensated her somehow for her first life in this one.

Everything seemed so idyllic. 

She felt no malicious intent from her parents, and for some reason, they smiled at her in a way that would evoke her tears.

Although not knowing why that was the case, she knew that those tears didn't come from a place of pain, but from something else she had yet quite to understand.

It was, in some strange way… a pleasant feeling.

 She lived in a fascinating, colorful area that seemed so far removed from squalor and death and poverty and starvation.

She was well-fed every day, even if her meals as a toddler were not much more than her mother's breast milk.

She had a comfortable place to sleep, and the house was always fragrant, the sheets always clean. It was not cold hard damp stone suffused with the stench of her own waste, nor the freezing outdoors that could take her life away whenever it chose.

There were so many things that were given to her so simply, and with every day that passed, Lily felt like she would not need to worry about that pain again.