I was Betrayed then Reincarnated as a Kitsune

Chapter 294: Talking with the Parents

[Luna POV]

A few days later, we had finished up just about everything we wanted to do in the dwarven country.  Finding orichalcum was the hardest part of it since we had to jump through several hoops to purchase any while finding a volcano was the easiest part.  Right now, we were standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the inner part of said volcano.  I was overlooking the lava that was about a kilometer down from where we were standing and holding the ring that I enchanted to hide my tails.  Next to me, Soleil was dragon shouting rocks and other things off the side of the volcano and into the distance.  Once she ran out of things to launch, she turned to me with a satisfied expression on her face.

That was way more fun than I expected it to be.  I just hope I didnt hit anyone with that stuff. (Soleil)

Are you done with whatever you were doing, Luna? (Velvet)

Just about. (Luna)

I looked into the volcanos caldera one more time before tossing the ring inside.  I watched the ring fall until I could no longer see it, though I did hear it bounce off some rocks a few times before feeling the enchantment get fully destroyed.

Im done now. (Luna)

What was even the point of that? (Skadi)

Ill show you guys later, for now, lets get out of here. (Luna)

Where are we going nya? (Mio)

Back to the shrine for a few days, I have some things I need to talk to my parents about.  After that, were headed back to the Demon Empire and from there, to visit the merfolk. (Luna)

Luna, can you send me to Savanna?  I also want to talk with my mother. (Velvet)

Send me with her please. (Soleil)

Then off you two go, you know what to do when you are ready to be picked up. (Luna)

Im taking Skadi to the Celestia Kingdom. (Ophidia)

Have fun then. (Luna)

Ophidia and Skadi teleported away and I teleported Velvet and Soleil to Velvets home before I turned to Mio.

And then there were two. (Luna)

Indeed nya. (Mio)

I placed my hand on Mios shoulder and we teleported back to the shrine.

{Oh, hello Fenrir.  Come to take Mio away for a bit?}

Yes.  Seeing as Luna is going to be taking some alone time to talk with her parents, I feel like this is a perfect time for me and Mio to spend some time together.  Otherwise she would just be sitting around doing nothing for a few days. (Fenrir)

Have fun, Mio. (Luna)

I will nya. (Mio)

A glowing doorway then appeared in front of Mio which disappeared after she walked through it.  Now, I was all alone.  I walked in the direction of Moms office and once there, I walked in.  As expected, she was sitting behind her desk though unexpectedly she was sipping some tea with no sign of paperwork to be seen.

Welcome home, Luna.  Done in the dwarf country already? (Amagi)

Yeah.  Only difference is that I didnt get my eighth tail yet. (Luna)

Broke the pattern? (Amagi)

Yeah.  Not that there was much that I needed to fight there really.  We did kill what could be considered a country of orcs, but other than that, not much happened.  Though I did get a pet.  You can meet her some other time. (Luna)

Sounds interesting.  Where are the others? (Amagi)

Velvet and Soleil are visiting Velvets mom, Ophidia and Skadi are on a date in the Celestia Kingdom, and Mio is with Fenrir.  Anyway, where is dad? (Luna)

The usual place. (Amagi)

And Ana? (Luna)

Shes teaching some of the new shrine maidens and priests the ins and outs of the shrine.  There have been a few newcomers recently. (Amagi)

Its been a while since new people came to work here. (Luna)

It has.  So, what did you need? (Amagi)

Theres something I want to talk to you and dad about. (Luna)

Mom placed her cup down and sat up straight when she heard the serious tone in my voice.

Give your father some time to get here.  I just told him to come here with telepathy. (Amagi)

I nodded my head and went over to pour myself a cup of tea while we waited.  A few minutes later, dad burst through the door.

Whats wrong, Amagi?  You dont call me like that unless something is wrong. (Deacon)

Sit, Luna wants to talk to us about something and it seems serious. (Amagi)

Dad nodded his head and sat down on next to mom who had moved to one of the couches in the office.  I was sitting on the one facing them.  For about a minute or two we all sat in silence before I decided to get the conversation started.

First of all, the reason Im here and want to talk to the two of you is due to some advice Tamamo gave me a while back.  While we were in the dwarf country, I got a bit stressed our since the entire country is underground which messed with my head a bit.  At one point while we were making our way to one of the cities, we stopped for a break and during whatever the conversation we were having, something came up that made me realize something.  Im scared.  Of the future and what my future entails.  There are some other things that came up with that as well, but for the most part, thats it.  What do I do?  While Im excited to join Tamamo, I also dont want to leave my life in the mortal world behind.  Im having so much fun adventuring here that I dont want to stop.  I have no idea what to do and its driving me crazy. (Luna)

Mom and dad sat there in silence for a second before dad spoke first.

Luna, there are some things that we should tell you as parents.  Some are comforting, and some are realistic.  To start, well go with the realistic. (Deacon)

That is a selfish thing to want, Luna.  All of us here know that you know better than such childish things like wanting everything.  Its not reasonable and you should give up the want of living with your wife and freely traveling the world when you will have other, more important responsibilities to take care of. (Amagi)

And with the response that is supposed to be said, now we can say what we actually want to say. (Deacon)

Its understandable that you are feeling this way.  Everyone feels like this at one point or another in their life.  Sometimes even multiple times depending on the circumstances.  Yes, your journey is almost over in one sense, but that just means that you are close to taking the next step on the path.  We went through this as well.  For the part that everyone goes through, its when you move away from home on your own, or you go out into the world without the presence of your parents looking out for you.  Personally for me, I also went through what you are feeling when I started working here and again when I took the position of head shrine maiden.  I felt so scared about what was to come that at one point I even wanted to run away from here. (Amagi)

For me, it was when I took over for my father, when I went to the fiendlands, heck, even when I came back from the fiendlands to and met you for the first time.  This is just the recent things too; Im leaving out all the other things that I went through when I was young.  This is a completely natural feeling for you to have and there is no need for you to stress yourself out over it.  Just take a deep breath and step forward. (Deacon)

I felt tears rolling down my cheeks.  Seeing this, the two of them got up and moved to sit next to me.  They wrapped their arms around me and we sat like that for a while until I calmed down enough to talk again.

How do I take that step?  I mean, like, how do I prepare myself for it?  I know what I need to do, but I just dont know if Im ready to. (Luna)

Thats the thing, Luna, you cant really prepare for it, you just have to do it. (Amagi)

Its hard to do, sometimes it even feels impossible to, but in the end, you will almost always be better off when you take that step.  And think about it, you ARE ready to take that step, its just that you need to get to the point where you are standing at that line.  I know its not really something I should say right now, but you are kind of doing this out of order.  We knew wed have to have this conversation one day, but we kind of expected to when you had either eight tails, or were like level 99 or something. (Deacon)

Fufufu.  Sorry for being weird then.  And who knows, we might have this conversation again at that time.  But I do feel better when it comes to this topic now, or at least a little bit. (Luna)

Thats good.  Now, Im curious about something, what where those other things that came up? (Amagi)

I mean, if you think you can help with that.  I know its not really the same, but how do you deal with family that you will never see again? (Luna)

Oof.  That is a tough one.  I know that you never met your grandparents, so you obviously arent talking about them, so Im assuming that this is about your past life? (Deacon)

Yeah.  I mean, at this point, almost everything about them has faded.  I cant remember their voices and can barely remember their faces.  Those are some things that just dont clear up, no matter how much I remember or think of my past life.  I mean, whats the point of being able to remember so much if some of the most important things dont come back to you?  And I know that I cant see them again and even if I did, they wouldnt recognize me in the first place, but it still hurts.  Back then, I never lost a family member, so I dont know how you are supposed to grieve about this.  I try not to think about it for the most part so that I dont worry everyone, but when this does pop up in my head, I cant help but feel depressed about it. (Luna)

Unfortunately, there isnt something we can physically do except be close to you when you start feeling sad about this since everyone grieves differently.  And even then, its a sadness that never goes away.  I dont act like it, but there are times where I wish I could ask my parents for advice.  Like when you were first born and before we really knew about your memories, I was completely lost.  I didnt know how to raise a child.  Less raise you by myself.  Sure, I had Ana and the others that work and live here to help where they could, but still. (Amagi)

Its the same for me.  Yeah, there are times when I want to ask my father what to do in regards to my position or even just to have a fun conversation.  I want to ask my mother what I should do when there are things that I dont understand when it comes to you or your mother, but are too awkward to ask about with the two of you.  In my opinion, the best thing you can do with this is to accept that they were a part of your life and, while its ok to miss them, you need tonot move onwhats the words for it? (Deacon)

No, move on is apt.  Its a very blunt way to say it, but it gets the point across. (Luna)

Haha.  True. (Deacon)

They both went back to hugging me silently.  I enjoyed the comfort that they provided and thought over everything that they said.  When they both moved away from me a bit, they were both smiling at me.

Thanks.  I needed this more than you both know. (Luna)

We are your parents, so feel free to come and talk with us about this stuff at any time.  Even in the future, goddess or not, you are our daughter, now and always. (Deacon)

We might not be able to help with divine matters at that point, but if its life advice, then well be happy to help as much as we can.  And sure, Tamamo might have even more or better advice than us, she wont be able to help with everything. (Amagi)

{Its true.  I can give as much advice on divine matters and some limited life advice, but other than that, the most I can really do is be moral support and give as much comfort as I can.  When it comes to matters of family, I cant do much since the most familial interactions Ive ever had come from Atmos and watching all of you while Luna got to this point.}

And thats completely fine.  In fact, you can also come to us if you ever have questions.  You are a part of the family after all. (Amagi)

Indeed. (Deacon)

{Thank you both.  I will make absolutely sure that if I ever need help in matters like this, you two will be the first I ask.}

With all the heavy topics out of the way, we all started to chat about this and that.  I talked about the things that happened since the last time we left the shrine.  Dad was especially interested in the lizardman story.

No wonder my people couldnt find almost any trace of lizardmen in that area.  You wiped out nearly all of them. (Deacon)

I mean, its kind of late to ask, but is this going to be a problem? (Luna)

Not really.  Give them a year or two and theyll be back to an overabundance that needs to be quelled. (Deacon)

By the way, what level are you now? (Amagi)

Level 76.  Though some good news, my level demerit is no longer as big, so Ill be leveling faster now.  There still is a demerit, but Im no longer a largescale environmental threat, or at least not as big of one. (Luna)

Thats good.  Make sure that, if possible, you come and see us before you get your ninth tail. (Amagi)

That was the plan if it can be helped.  And if it cant, Ill get Ophidia to come and bring you two to wherever it is I start ascending. (Luna)

Mom nodded her head before she looked out the window.

Oh.  I didnt realize its become this late.  Shall we all have a late dinner before going to bed? (Amagi)

Lets do that.  Its been too long since it was just the three, no, four of us. (Deacon)

I smiled and we all left the office.

Chaos Realm:

Atmos: This in one thing that us gods can't help with well.  Sure, some of us have families, but we don't have the perspective that mortals or in this case, previous mortals have.

True. 

Atmos: Well, I think Grey could have helped Luna with this though.

Order: He could have, but this is something that is better heard from her immediate family I think.

I agree with Order on this one.  Through my own observations, things like this are always better heard from family than from a friend, even if said friend is practically family as well.

Atmos: I see.  I'll keep that in mind in case I ever need to give advice like this.

Order: Payto, come hold Astraea.

Coming.

Atmos: I think I'm going to go visit Tamamo, I'll see you guys later.

Don't start yelling when you show up.

Atmos: I wasn't planning on it this time.