"Holy sh-oe," Soren exclaimed, catching himself before he enacted the wrath of Luna.

Luna rolled her eyes, "Nice save Soren."

"I know right?" He chirped, flashing her a cheeky grin.

Dorrian chuckled, then almost jumped out of his skin when he heard his name being called by a certain blood elf.

"Gotta blast!" He shouted, throwing a smoke bomb at his feet and disappearing.

Everyone coughed out a lung, and Luna stalked off to find the dopey ranger so she could sink her claws into him.

"You okay Sylvia?" I asked her as she continued to cough lightly.

"Y-Yeah," She replied quietly.

Well, after that, my team began to introduce Sylvia to the finer things in life. In the middle of the stories being told and the jokes being cracked, I noticed that Sylvia's speech capabilities were improving slowly but surely. 

As I watched her stutter less, I realized that one aspect of my assumption about what happened to Sylvia was wrong: her speech capabilities weren't completely stripped away from her. Most likely, they were smothered by trauma. I've seen civilians and soldiers alike react differently to trauma: some become mute, while others lose their minds. It's hard to tell how someone will react to seeing their village being burned down and everyone they know butchered before them, but the reaction won't be beneficial to said person. Realizing that I thinking too much about this topic, I sighed and shook my head.

Sylvia looked at me curiously, "W-What's wrong?"

I looked at her and smiled, "Nothing's wrong Sylvia. I'm fine."

She nodded, then went back over to Nova and asked her about her creations. She poked Pip when the small automaton hovered over to her.

"Ah! Why did you do that?" he demanded as she continued to poke his screen.

Sylvia shrugged, and Nova chuckled.

"Cut the lass some slack, Pip." She chirped, setting her hand cannon on her work bench, "She's a curious little furball."

Pip sighed, and as if to prove Nova correct, Sylvia picked up Nova's invention and turned to face me: "Papa! Look!"

I jumped, Luna jumped, and Nova jumped toward her at the same time.

Sylvia yelped and dropped the weapon.

"Wh-What did I d-do, papa?" She asked nervously.

I realized with a thrill of joy that Sylvia just spoke her first full sentence in the time she's been with us. More often than not, she's responded in one to two word snippets, but nothing longer.

"Nothing lass, nothing." I replied quickly, kneeling before her and embracing her, "Sorry for the scare, Sylvia. I just ask that you please don't mess with any of Nova's inventions. They aren't exactly...safe."

She nodded, "Sorry..."

Dorrian appeared a few moments later with a few scratches on his face, "Heyo-."

He tripped on Nova's hand cannon, and Sylvia laughed as he ate dirt.

Luna's laugh made shivers of terror arc down my back: "Serves you right, Dorrian. I hope this taught you to never use a smoke bomb around my daughter again."

"I'm sorry!" He exclaimed as he scrambled to his feet.

For the next few hours, Luna and I re-taught Sylvia the alphabet along with simple words and sentences. When it came time for me to make dinner, Sylvia stood off to the side and watched me as I chopped up veggies and added in a slew of spices. All the while, I answered Sylvia's questions about the vegetables and spices I added into the stew. When I finished cooking, she even asked me for a bowl of food.

"M-May I have some?" She asked sheepishly.

I smiled, "Of course Sylvia." I made a bowl for her and handed it to her.

I then made a bowl of food for Tanis and handed it to her when she had approached the cooking cauldron.

"Thanks," She replied, smiling.

I nodded, "No problem."

I made a bowl for myself and Luna and walked over to the table she and Sylvia were sitting at.

"Oh, thank you Helix." She replied when I handed her a steaming bowl of food.

I grinned. "No problem. I wanted to spare you from having to deal with the dinner rush."

"Aw, how kind of you." Luna began, kissing me on the cheek.

After I finished eating, I caught sight of Grigori as he brewed a few potions, only for one of the brightly-colored vials to blow up in his hand. I then saw Stanford, Evelyn, and Isaac still eating and conversing with each other. I heard Stanford laugh, and I smiled: It's really nice to see him enjoy himself every now and then. I then heard Dorrian and Ben arguing as they took shots at a target. Thankfully, the bows Dante gave them could be used as regular bows without destroying the target.

"Back up, you wanker!" Ben snapped, "You're too fucking close to the target!"

"I am not!" Dorrian retorted, "So sod off! I'm only a few inches in front of you!"

"A few inches makes all the difference!" He shouted, "So back up before I whack you upside the head with my bow!"

"I don't want to stand beside you, old man!" Dorrian shot back, "Unlike you, I value my personal space!"

"Oh, you son of a bitch!" Benjamin exclaimed, and the sounds of a scuffle could be heard.

I sighed and shook my head sadly, "Mama-mia..."

"Aye," Luna agreed, "Here we go again."

I then saw Soren, Sasha, Tanis, and Stefan in the middle of a poker game: sounds of cheering and swearing could be heard as Soren won the round and everyone had to give up the gold marks they had thrown into the middle of the table.

I rolled my eyes, then saw Simon and Nova playing a game of chess. They were currently at a stalemate right now.

"Hmm..." Nova mused, "Most impressive Simon. I didn't expect you to be so good at chess. You freaking took my bishop."

Simon chuckled, "I've played this game against Soren before. He is the true master: It took me multiple games to learn the basic tactics used to best an opponent. You aren't too bad yourself. You just...took my queen. Curses."

Nova smiled triumphantly, then looked at Simon in disbelief when he put her in check a few rounds later.

"Excuse me, what the fuck?" She demanded, "I thought I had you backed into a corner."

Simon chuckled, waving a metal finger at her, "I made you think you had me beat. You didn't try to take the rook I had at the upper right-hand corner of the board, so I took advantage of the situation, claimed your knight, and put your king in check. Now it is your turn."

Nova huffed, "shit..."

A few rounds later, Nova barely managed to get a checkmate on Simon. She was able to get a pawn to the other edge of the board and reclaim a bishop she had lost. In the end, Nova used her queen to win the game.

She sighed deeply and leaned back in her chair, "Good game chrome-dome."

Simon rolled his pale blue eyes, "Aye, good game."

I then looked at Luna and Sylvia as they sat before me. They were currently going over some simple sentences, and Sylvia was making great progress.

I smiled. Even if the threat of Thaleous was on our minds, we were still able to relax and be at peace. Granted, it was peace through madness, but it was peace no less.

I got my flute out and started playing a few songs, and I unconsciously played the lullaby Luna had hummed. Sylvia looked at me, then started to hum along. Her mother followed suit, and they were both sleeping soundly in no time flat.

I chuckled, only to accidentally cracked a note in the process. I woke the two cats up, and they looked at me in bewilderment.

Luna grimaced, and Sylvia rubbed her ears: "Ow..." She mumbled.

I grinned sheepishly, "Sorry."

I resumed playing: Benjamin got his lute out. Soren also grabbed a fiddle and Simon had a cello by his side.

For the rest of the evening, we played music: No alcohol, just music. After Ana got Dorrian to his feet and started dancing with him, other people followed suit: Tanis danced with Stefan, Stanford tried to dance with Evelyn, I danced with Luna while I played my flute, and Soren danced with Sasha as he fiddled along. Simon was surprisingly good playing his cello: I felt shivers go down my spine as we all continued to play. Even Grigori halted in his experiments to listen to the music that was being played while Nova tapped her foot in time with the music and watched everyone dance.

We played until we felt like we were going to pass out and I felt like my lips were going to fall off. When everything was said and done, everyone retired for the night. I put my flute up and grinned as I looked at Sylvia, who was currently out cold. I had to give her a piggyback ride back to our tent since she was passed out.

Luna chuckled, "Geez, I think she had way too much fun."

I grinned, "Tis no such thing as 'too much fun.'"

She laughed, then laid her head on my shoulder, "Touche."

When we got to our tent, I laid Sylvia gently down onto the nest of blankets and pillows. I then let Luna lay down before laying down beside her.

I gently kissed Luna, and she returned the kiss.

"Goodnight," She whispered.

"Goodnight Luna."

I fell asleep with a content smile on my face.

"We can do this," I told myself.