"Oh dear, you're doing it again!" She confiscated the plant's number one mini nemesis watering can.

"But, mom! The more we water the faster they'll grow." Little Jiya justified drowning the poor plants.

"I told you dear, it doesn't work like that. It takes some time." 

"I don't like waiting, I want to see them bloom now!" 

"There are some things you can't rush, you have to be patient." Her mom taped her nose, concluding her dream of the past.

Shortly afterwards the excessive wet soil attracted a liquid-draining monster to their garden, Jiya's legs moved without command and even as she selfishly fled the last phrase her mother said to her was 'I love you."

I should've… No, It isn't good to reminisce about old sorrows. I can't turn back in time, might as well not get stuck reliving old memories. I'll focus on what I can do in the present.

"Father, I love you!" His daughter hugged him, a demonstration of affection this abruptly…something's off.

"What do you want? Did you do something wrong?" The old man was beyond suspicious. 

"I don't say it much… I'll make sure to do it more often. " She rubbed her arm, a tad contrited.

Aww, my daughter is so sweet! Maybe I'm overthinking it, I suppose I'm not as sharp as I was.

"I love you too, little crow- Hold up, don't tell me you're that infamous candle thief?"

"No?" She made her best innocent face, precisely what incriminated her. 

"Apologize and pay back for the candles you stole. Or consider yourself disowned."

"Yes, father…" The daughter obeyed, there's no rebutting when one is in the wrong.

Good, she'll swallow her pride and apologize for her misdeed, that way she won't stray from the right path.

…

Kyro woke up to Hilda's nagging, helped the elders farming, stirred up some trouble with the local kids… his day went as usual, that was until this.

"Kyro!" Something about those tears was inorganic, her supposedly warm embrace corresponded to shackles.

His world used to revolve around following his mother's every whim. However, the need for her approval didn't linger within him anymore. 

She went through such lengths to find Ghazi, the sole difference from her back then and right now is a few gray strands.

"I rue the day we parted ways, my brilliant son!" She held him tighter, perhaps intending to discreetly suffocate him.

"Besides giving birth, what else did you do to earn the title of mother?" Repulsed by those empty words he pushed her away.

"You learned how to use that brain of yours? Impressive really." Tyra clapped, ending the good mommy acting. 

"Could you leave me alone? It's not for very long, just forever." No fake smile could hide his contempt.

"I will, when you give me that." She was as displeased as him about this touching reunion.

"All yours." He threw the sword at her, who examined it, dissatisfied.

"It's just a plain old sword. Nukpana, that insane liar… I'll have his head for fooling me!" She ungracefully walked at a speed that could culminate in losing her footing.

"Watch out or you might trip." He jinxed it, as the good son he is.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Tyra didn't simply trip, the matriarch rolled down on several traps until she got catapulted out of the village.

"Already? I should've added some more." He tightened the security since the incident with the whack job. Although it's a work in progress, it does the trick.

"You did well, child." Hilda complimented him, no sarcasm or backhanded comment, a real compliment. 

"...is the world ending?" From all the scary things he saw, Hilda being nice was the most terrifying.

"Rascal." Rude of this brat to think of her as some vicious warrior, Hilda has the heart of a maiden and goes without mention that she is the purest soul out there!

…

He would be lying if he said he didn't wish his mother had truly changed or as a consolation prize regretted even for a minute what she did.

It's depressing that he can count on people with no blood ties to him, while he can't even blink near his mother. What guarantees they won't follow her footsteps? 

Kyro was walking on eggshells, agreeing with anything and everything that Jiya and her father said. As a result of that, an emergency family meeting was called.

"Spill the beans, son! What heinous prank did you do that made you feel this guilty?" 

"You didn't mess with Madame Ju's wig again, right? She really knows how to hold a grudge, she might exile you." 

"It isn't because of a prank. You two are all I have, I don't have anyone else… I don't know what I'll do if I end up all alone again." The fox gathered some courage to voiced his worries.

"We won't abandon you, Ambarino." The old man was straightforward to ensure no misunderstanding would arise.

"Even if I only trouble you?" Most people are ok with him living in town, although there are a few old and bitter that hate the guts out of him because a fox shouldn't mingle with humans because they're born of evil mischief capable of no good.

"You're worth the trouble." Jiya's hand interlocked in his, their eyes gazing one another. 

"Your worries will prove to be needless, future son-in-law." The old man whispered to himself.