“You know, the guys are over the moon about seeing the Mother of the Spirits,” Lay grinned, reclining next to Dahlia before heading out for their lunch break. “Even Kai, although he’s pretending it has nothing to do with you.”

“I can’t exactly blame him,” Dahlia hummed, brushing out her skirt as she stood and followed Lay out of her tent. “I know what he’s going through; I’ve been there. It’s scary to get attached to something when you know it’s only temporary.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?” Lay wondered. “That when we leave here we’re never going to see you again?”

“It’s not a crazy thought. I mean, you’re going to be off gallivanting with your tree and your chosen one.” She replied. “Besides, you’re not going to be on this planet forever.”

“Kris told us.” Lay told her bluntly. “This morning, once we had that hangover cure. Even though our tree has survived, our planet is gone. It’ll take a very long time for our Tree and the twelve of us to create a new one. A very long time.”

Dahlia gave a light snort, but what made Lay smile was the blush he saw creeping up her cheeks.

“What if you came with us?” Lay proposed.

“Came with you where?” She questioned.

“To the Tree,” he clarified. “Once we’ve gotten all this figured out, it only seems fair that you get to see it.”

Dahlia hesitated a moment before answering. “I don’t know if that would be appropriate. I mean, I’m not a guardian. I’m not the chosen one. I’m just some random, unintentional middleman.”

“You’re more than that, Dahlia, and you know it,” Lay huffed. “I want to find the tree and build a new planet just like the rest of them, but I’ll freely admit that it’s nice to just…live for once. Ever since we got to this planet we’ve been busy searching for the chosen one. Until now we’ve never had the chance to just relax. It’s nice.”

“So, are you hesitant about meeting the chosen one and restarting your search for your tree?” She wondered.

Lay shook his head, “I wouldn’t say that. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved this vacation – if you can call it that – but I’m a guardian. I was born and raised to be a guardian and I enjoy my duties. But I am going to miss this place.”

Dahlia nodded, unsure of how to respond.

“But, hey,” Lay grinned as they reached the food division. “Now that we’ve mastered interplanetary travel there’s no stopping any of us from visiting you from time to time.”

Dahlia couldn’t help but laugh at that comment. Lay opened his mouth, grinning as if he were about to crack another witticism, but he was called over by Xiumin and Chen. Dahlia’s arm was grabbed as she tried to follow and was pulled aside by Vasilisa.

“Okay, spill.” Vasilisa quirked and eyebrow. “I have thirty bucks riding on this and I will not give Manfred the chance to wear his smug face.”

“Wait, you two bet on me?” Dahlia gasped. “What even about?”

“He says that only three of the twelve have fallen for you,” Vasilisa grinned. “I say you’ve charmed the whole lot of them.”

“What?” Dahlia sputtered. “That’s crazy.”

Vasilisa rolled her eyes. “The whole carnival knows how much of a shut-in you are; they’re all talking about how close you’ve gotten with those twelve. Some would even call it flirting.”

“I don’t flirt.”

“Oh, so those were spasms, not you batting your eyelashes.” Vasilisa chuckled. “You can tell me – have you started developing intimate emotions? Have you got something going on with one of them?”

Dahlia shook her head, “Definitely not.”

“With all of them?”

“What?” Dahlia stammered. “What do you take me for?”

“An attractive, presumably consenting, young woman surrounded by attractive, presumably consenting, young men.” Vasilisa stated plainly.

“That…I mean, I guess that makes sense…”

“It’s not like relationships have to be confined to two people as long as everyone has agreed to it.” Vasilisa shrugged. “It’s the 21st century; polyamory is getting more accepted.”

Dahlia stared at the acrobat, “…you never fail to surprise me.”

“I just say what I think.” She gave another small shrug. “Also, they all have given you ‘the eyes’ at one point or another. You’d have to be blind not to notice it, or – I guess in your case – just totally unobservant.”

“I would hardly think all of them have.” Dahlia rolled her eyes. “I was wrong about Kris not liking me, but I’m positive Kai doesn’t like me – I mean, he practicall