<Shaman POV>


    *Sigh* "I hope ra is okay." It had been about 30 minutes since we left the throne room and still no sign of ra. Currently, me, Silver and nor were sitting at a table in a small dining area, snacking on some fruit while we waited.


    "I''m sure she will be fine. She has been wanting some validation from ina for a while, hasn''t she?"


    ''I can never get used to Silver being this sociable.'' It still came as a shock whenever Silver spoke, as he was a very awkward kid 6 months ago, but now he was a lot more confident in his speech.


    "She has been, so I can only hope this is good news, or that she at least gains some new powers. She hasn''t admitted it yet, but I could tell she felt like she was falling behind." I reassured ra previously that she doesn''t need to push herself so hard, but no matter what I said, she still trained every single day with barely a break between.


    It pained me to see her push herself so much, but I understood that she didn''t want to feel like a burden to the party. Unlike Silver and nor, who have established roles, ra felt lost about where she belonged.


    So hopefully, whatever she is doing with ina, it will help her find her role in the party, as I truly hope we can fight side-by-side once more.


    "You should have said something mother, I would haveforted her." Silver pouted since ra was his second mother and I could see in his eyes the genuine concern.


    "Shaman probably wasn''t sure how helpful that would be, plus it might be a sensitive subject, considering she hasn''t said anything." nor jumped in, exining exactly how I felt about the situation. I knew that ra wasparing herself to me, which she shouldn''t be doing as I am in a rather unique position.


    I am technically a Tier 10 now from my soul merge, so it is unreasonable for ra to pressure herself so much to catch up. Besides, even if I said anything, I was worried that ra might take offence.


    "nor is right. I don''t know what the right thing to do is. Unlike Elysia I can''t bring myself to be so extremely honest." A part of me wishes I had Elysia''s abrasiveness, but at the same time it isn''t always a good thing to be 100% honest.


    "Hmmm, okay. I still think we should talk to her though." Silver still had a worried look, but he understood where I wasing from.


    "Don''t worry, now that you''ve brought it up, I''ll make sure to approach her tonight." Depending on how things turn out with ina, it looks like I''ll be confronting ra. I don''t know why I felt so nervous about it, as I''ve never really had this problem with Elysia.


    ''ra has always kept to herself and never reallyined about anything… She also has held herself back ever since Elysia left.'' Thinking back, both of us had been so absorbed in our training that we never really did anything together.


    ''I think I''m getting on to something, just need to talk to ra.'' I didn''t want to jump to conclusions just yet, as I may be overthinking this whole situation.


    "Let me know how it goes." Silver let out a relieved sigh and lowered one of his hands to the side. Looking up, I noticed that Silver and nor were sitting kind of close, with both their arms next to each other.


    ''Hang on.'' They said they were not dating yet, but I had my suspicions. So without warning I quickly ducked my head under the table.


    ''...'' My eyes couldn''t believe it, I wanted to refuse what I saw, but there was no doubt about it… They are HOLDING HANDS!!! Their fingers were interlocked with each other, which you just don''t casually do.


    I felt my soul leave my body, causing me to fall back in my seat. Unfortunately, the seats were closer to stools, and so I crashed directly into the ground.


    "My boy… hiding his secret lover…" Whatever semnce of a boy Silver had left vanished and no longer could I see him like a child. Well, he looks like a grown man now, but that''s besides the point!


    "W-wait I can exin. It isn''t what it looks like." Silver quickly kneeled down to my side with a bright red face. However, anything he nned to say or do was not going to change my mind now.


    "I thought I was ready for it mentally, but clearly that''s not the case." I nced at Silver, but quickly looked away, as I couldn''t bring myself to look him in the eyes. Was it too much to ask just to see that young innocent smile again?


    "Mum! W-we are not-."


    "Silver, there is no point in hiding it anymore." As Silver was denying their rtionship, it seems that nor threw in the towel.


    "Urghhhh, my sweet little boy. He is gone." I felt like sobbing upon hearing such confirmation, but I knew it wasing.


    ''Why am I like this, I should be over it by now.'' It was beginning to get childish that I was freaking out over Silver getting a girlfriend. It was going to happen either way, but I thought at least it would be years away.


    ''I never thought the system would force him to grow so quickly.'' If anything, the system was to me, as I was prepared to take care of Silver until he grew up naturally to be an adult.


    *Sigh* "You know I will always be your son, Mum." Silver looked like he was totally over it and I couldn''t me him. He was beginning to be more of an adult than I am.


    ''I''m almost 19 now…'' Reality was settling in and it should have long ago.


    "You''re right… I''m sorry, I shouldn''t be acting like this." Sitting up from the ground, there was a part of me that felt ashamed, but I was also relieved.


    "Now I want to hear it from you, are you actually dating nor now?" I almost choked on my words, as I didn''t want to hear the wordse out of Silver.


    "Yes… I was going to wait a bit longer to tell you, but we started about a week ago." Silver''s face waspletely red, but he steeled himself and confessed.


    *INHALE* I took the deepest breath I could and let myself process it.


    ''Don''t freak out, be happy for him. I am dating 2 women, which wouldn''t usually fly if I were back in my home world, but here we are.'' I was in no position to judge or control what Silver did with his life. I myself was already in quite a unique rtionship, so who am I to talk?


    ''At least it is with nor.'' If it was going to be anyone, I''m d that he chose her. Unfortunately, she hasn''t really gotten any closer to us as friends over these 8 months, but clearly Silver has.


    ''Now that I think about it, I haven''t spoken to Silver much as ofte.'' It was dawning on me that over thest 8 months, Silver and nor have probably been hanging out a lot. It almost sent me back into a panic attack, but I controlled myself.


    ''No, this is a good thing, they actually got to know each other… unlike me and Elysia, which, in hindsight, was basically a one night stand that stuck around.'' It really wasn''t looking good for me, but that doesn''t matter now. Everything turned out well enough.


    "Congrattions, Silver and nor. It''s still hard for me to ept it, but I am happy for you two." Having drowned in my thoughts enough, I needed to speak up. Wanting to be the best mother I could, I congratted them.


    "Thank you, Mum." As if a weight was lifted off Silver''s heart, he finally broke into a smile.


    *Hmph* "No showing affection right in front of me though, I don''t think I can handle that yet." That would absolutely shatter me if I saw Silver kissing nor. I need at least a year to be okay before I see that.


    "Are you serious? Then I don''t want to see you, Elysia and ra doing shit in front of me." Silver gave me the nkest stare, screaming, "Are you kidding me?".


    "I-I… of course." It was only fair, although I don''t know if Elysia can really follow such a rule.


    *Creak*


    Suddenly, the door to the dining area opened and it was ra who walked out.


    "ra! Oh my god, you won''t believe what I just found out." Finally, the only person I could vent to came, so I rushed over and hugged her tightly.


    "Ehh? What did you find out." ra looked very confused and taken aback as I don''t usuallytch onto her like this.


    "Silver and nor are dating! My beautiful boy has a girlfriend now!" I was being a bit dramatic, though by now I felt more happy about the news than concerned or worried.


    "Oh, I know." However, what I didn''t expect was for ra to already know.


    "What?!"


    "Yeah he told me as soon as nor said yes and has been asking for advice over text for a while." ra then dropped the massive bombshell, confirming that she knew everything that was going on.


    "..." I was left speechless. However, my attention quickly snapped to the fact that ra looked a lot different.


    "Wait, since when were you a dragon?!?!"