Psychic

23. Mom

The following morning, Rai, Kiyo and Lestat were taking some things from their homes and bringing them into their cabins on the ship. Ken and Debra loaded some things that Cliff and Lily insisted they take. Marlene already had everything she owned on the ship and was leaving her father behind in Korrik while she followed the others for an ending to the story she was writing. Reno had nothing to take with him.

Lily was in Rai's cabin, seeing it for the first time. "You have a lock on your door?" Lily wondered, checking behind it. "Have Ken put a lock on."

"Okay."

"Honestly, Rai, you should be more careful."

"I know but it's fine. I can kick everyone's ass. No one is a threat to me."

"Still. Put on the locks."

"Mom, I said okay," Rai repeated with a smile.

Lily wrung her hands together as she scanned the room. "What kind of milk does Ken keep in the fridge?" she wondered, gesturing out the door. "You know you can't be drinking no cow's milk."

"I don't like any milk, Mom."

"I know but... if you had to have some, you wouldn't be able to and you're already so skinny. No one should be denying you food. You better not be on no diet. Eat something once in a while."

"I eat."

"You walk around like that?" Lily pointed at Rai's bare feet on the wooden floor of the cabin. "You don't listen to me. If you did, you wouldn't always be sick. I always tell you, no bare feet." Rai stood quiet for a moment and Lily turned to her, "you hear me?"

"I'm just waiting for you to finish."

"Don't get your ass smart with me. You can't even cook for yourself so how are you supposed to get married, huh? I don't know how you stand on being on a ship. You hate water."

"I stay inside."

"And you're out there in the pitch black ocean at night with krakens and ningyo and umibozu and who knows what's hiding under your ship!"

"I don't really want to go to but someone has to bring the boys home."

"But why you?"

"Because I'm the strongest one here. I left to do this and I won't be too pathetic to do what I set out to do. At least if I fail and die, I don't have to come back and be a disappointment."

"Who cares about their kids? What about my kid, huh? Who's going to take care of you? You can't even feed yourself."

"I can cook."

"Oh, you can not."

"I can. I just choose not to because I'm too lazy."

"Ah, well then?" Lily said pointing at her. "Who's going to feed you? You'll starve of laziness. See? You can't go."

"Do I look like I'm starving? And it's not like we have a lot of food in Korrik. At least out there I get to try more stuff."

"You don't even like to try new foods!"

"Oh my god, Ma," Rai rolled her head back with a groan. "For real, just stop. I have to go. I don't think I'll be gone that long anyway."

"Maybe but maybe you will die and I don't know what I'm-"

Someone knocked on the open door, getting their attention. Reno stood there with a smile that seemed almost sweet. "Ken said to tell you that we're going."

"Okay, Ma, I'll see you later," Rai said quickly, turning to put her clothes into a dresser.

Lily touched her fingers to her lips anxiously. "Well, okay, I guess."

"It's not a big deal. I'll see you when I get back."

"Then I will see you later." Lily walked out of the hold with Reno not too far behind. She turned to him, "where do you sleep?"

Reno pointed at a stack of blankets at the front of ship. "There."

She nodded, "that's probably for the best."

"I'll, uh... make sure she's safe." Lily watched him, her head tilted slightly sideways. She took a paper from inside her shirt pocket and unfolded it carefully. There was a small mound of light brown powder in the middle and she blew it into his face. He shook his head and sneezed. "What's that?"

"A spell my sister made for me after I told her about you. It makes you sterile."

"What?"

"It's temporary and I put it everywhere in her cabin. Kiyoshi would make her a good husband and I'm not going to give you a chance to ruin that for her by blowing your load and then taking off."

Reno's eyes narrowed and he exhaled slowly, as if to calm himself. "I will never let anyone else have her."