Chapter 26: Sibling issues
It took Nick a long while to console Luna, alongside having to hide his pain from his lungs.
He explained things as simply to Luna as he could, for her own sake. He left out all the things like the level of beast he went out to hunt, or how much danger he was in.
He kept the details vague, for both her sake and his own. He didn’t mention the Radiant Beast. Didn’t mention how close he’d come to death. Didn’t mention his gains, or basically anything that had happened during the fight. Only that he joined an expedition headed by the strongest force in the Sanctuary, which should have given her some comfort knowing he was with quite literally the strongest people.
Instead, he said he’d ventured out far beyond the Sanctuary, which was the reason for him taking so long to return.
And Luna, perhaps because she didn’t want to know the full truth — or perhaps some small part of her already knew — didn’t ask further.
Still, the fear in her eyes hadn’t gone unnoticed.
After hours of tense silence and cooled emotion, the two of them reached an unspoken understanding.
Luna, though still young, was nearing the age where independence would stop being a dream and start becoming a necessity, especially now that Nick would spend more and more time in the Beast Domain.
Less than four years remained before she turned sixteen and became an adult. School was already ramping up in preparation. Training exercises, survival camps. Observation trips visiting facilities studying beasts and beast corpses, etc.
It was only going to get worse from here.
Nick knew it. So did she.