Fate Weaver's convergence

C19

It had been five minutes, and Hatsumi managed to drag all of us into the living area of the house. Avery was cleared to break while the other Arachne behind the carving counter took the lead. Callum sat in a chair barely a meter to my side, and Stanis and Chessa were seated on a couch just opposite of myself and Avery. The silence was astonishing compared to the noise in the main guild area we occupied just earlier. We all sat in waiting while Hatsumi and Maria were making tea, and while apparently, the other two opposite of Avery and me were quite talkative of their intent to make a better impression, they were silent with troubled expressions on their faces. Chessa attempted to speak up a few times but each time shrunk back down slightly as if rethinking what she was going to say.

They wouldn't be like this if they didn't mean it. Have they all been like this the whole time?

I was shifting uncomfortably, the mood of the situation making me feel tense. As I did so, Avery looked at me and smirked before bringing a hand to my head and patting it. After a few moments of her head pats, I felt myself calm down. I was not forcing it to, yet I could feel my tail shifting freely through the air at this point. Removing her hand, Avery nodded in Chessa's direction. Looking back to Chessa and Stanis. Stanis was smiling weakly ad Chessa seemed to be smiling as well, yet hers was much brighter.

At their sudden change of demeanor, I smiled back. I felt like I needed to set the mood with my response.

Hopefully, this will make things easier.

I thought to myself.

Chessa and Stanis did not shift expressions. My hopes for their relaxed mood met and exceeded. With this, I decided to speak up, hoping my position as the child reaching out would make me easier to talk to.

"I'm sorry that I was so nervous leading up to this..."

I said apologetically.

"I feel like I may have come in at the wrong time..."

I continued.

"But...I hope that I'm not-"

"-A burden? Kiyomi, never."

"?"

Stanis suddenly finished my sentence. I was surprised that they would actually speak so soon, granted I was hoping they would.

"We're sorry...-"

Chessa suddenly began speaking next.

"-We had...a friend...we saw you taking their place."

Chessa said, looking to the floor with an expression of regret.

Ah...so that's what it was...no one was telling me.

"I'm sorry..."

I said, suddenly recalling a feeling similar to what Chessa expressed.

"Don't be! You're just a child; none of us could expect such a thing from you. If anything, the feelings should be reversed."

Chessa's sudden bout of talkativeness threw me off. Compared to the week before, the Elf was fairly silent. I had made a few attempts to speak to her in the following days after our introduction but gave up after the second day when she continued to glare at me with hostility.

Yet this change in mood was more extreme than if someone suddenly urged her to say her thoughts. She was doing so clearly. She was not trying to deceive me; somehow, I could innately feel this.

"I hope you'll be able to forgive us for being mean to you when Hatsumi introduced you as her child. There was no excuse for that..."

Chessa apologized further.