endless path, infinite cosmos

chapter 170

When Vahn opened his eyes in the real world, not much had changed, which made sense seeing how only a few seconds had passed. Tina was still cuddled up at his side in her light-blue nightgown and she looked like an adorable little cat-eared angel. Once again, Vahn leaned over and kissed her on the forehead as he began to get up from the bed and stretch.

Though Vahn didn't normally use covers, Tina relied on them so they had both been underneath the heavy blankets. When Vahn sat up, the covers were pulled down and he could see Tina's bottoms had been revealed because of her sleeping posture. Without any hesitation, Vahn used his hands and fixed her clothing before he shook her shoulder gently to awaken her.

After she had lost Vahn's warmth, Tina had scrunched up into a smaller ball as Vahn kept gently shaking her shoulder and calling out to her. She didn't seem to be willing to wake up easily, and Vahn was worried that they would be late for the morning training if she slept in for too long. He leaned over the pinch her ears which would have immediately awoken her, but before he completed the action he heard her mutter in a sleepy voice, "Papa..."

Vahn's hand immediately froze as he looked down at the small girl curled up into a ball. He could see her brows were furrowed and there was a hint of tears emerging from her closed eyes. Vahn immediately felt a heartwrenching sadness emerge in his heart and he couldn't help but furrow his brows as he saw her tears. Instead of pinching her ears, he moved his hand to the top of her head and began to channel [Hands of Nirvana] to drive away her sadness. Without making any efforts to awaken her forcefully, Vahn just continued to stroke Tina's head to comfort her until she finally woke up nearly ten minutes later.

Tina felt a very warm sensation in her head and it felt like the bad dream she was having had been driven away by the calming energy. She opened her sleepy eyes and saw the face of Vahn looking at her with an especially gentle look on his face. Tina realized that Vahn had noticed she was having a bad dream, and now he was gently stroking her head and ears to help her feel better. Instead of just her head, she felt a warmth start to build up in her heart as she enjoyed his affection in silence for a few minutes.

Now that she had been awake for a little while, Vahn noticed that Tina's sleepy expression had faded and she was probably fully awake now. He removed his hand from her head and said, "It's time for us to get up, Tina. We don't want to keep the others waiting..." As his words finished, Vahn moved out from the bed and began to change his clothes while leaving the small cat girl laying in a daze. Tina continued to watch his back for a few seconds before crawling out of the bed herself. She trotted over to the secretary Vahn had bought for her and grabbed some fresh clothing and began to get changed without saying anything. Though Vahn could see her out of the corner of his eye, he repositioned his body a little bit away from her's as he continued to dress.

After they were both ready, they exited the room and met Anubis who had been waiting patiently. Vahn gave her a light pat on the head for a few seconds before the entire group made their way to the training grounds. The other seven children were already waiting, and Vahn apologized for being a few minutes late as they began their routine. As Tina also wanted to get stronger, she joined the other seven and was personally attended by Nanu. Vahn was a bit surprised with how deferential Nanu was toward Tina, and he realized that she had skipped to a high level in the hierarchy of the group overnight.

The other children also treated Tina well, and the entire group quickly began to get along with each other. Even though they had inhibitions, Tina never shied away from interacting with everyone and seemed to pay no attention to the 'hierarchy' of the group at all. Both Vahn and Anubis found this to be ideal since it was slowly breaking the constraints that would prevent the hounds from becoming functional adults in the future. It also removed a heavy burden from Vahn's shoulders, since it would make the children less reliant on him.