"Luke, I know this may seem a bit out of left field to you, but I have something to request of you in return for creating Convergences down in Agartha."

"Yea, of course! Anything!" he responded enthusiastically, still riding the high of getting an amazing deal out of Perumah.

Dei winced, "You may want to temper your expectations, because this one is a little… cruel."

He looked pensive, cleared his throat, and donned a more serious expression. "What do you need?"

"How much do you know about Leven? My previous Identity."

"Everything. Likely more than the government themself."

"So you know how I died?"

Luke winced. "Yes, so this is about them?"

"Yea. Taj and his family. As much as I love my family, I will be honest with myself and admit that I wasn't thinking of them when I came back to Earth. I came back with the sole purpose of exacting revenge. Initially, I'd intended to kill them both, then take back my child but… Jenny was never mine. If I killed them, I would have no right to raise her. I… wouldn't have been able to raise her correctly, either. I live a far too dangerous life, and I have too much hate for my enemies. I wouldn't want to accidentally take out my anger of Taj on her, so I decided to remove myself from the situation entirely. I don't know where I'd draw the line in exacting my revenge. Would it be killing Taj? Crippling Emily too? I don't know, and I had to stop myself. When it comes to Rules of Wrath, I've seen my dad placing limiters on himself with them. I've heard of others focusing their Rage aspects with the rules as well, but that's never how it worked for me.

"To me, the Rules are a code of conduct. A way to present myself to society, a moral compass of sorts. I have five, though I don't know them all, I do know the first two. My first rule is that 'I will allow no harm to come to those under my care,' and I discovered my second only recently after arriving on Earth: 'Children must be protected.' I know for a fact that I have five, but only when I embody the Rule perfectly will it reveal itself.

"The further up a Rule is in my list, the more powerful I get when embodying it; this means that I am at my most powerful when drawing from my first Rule, and protecting those that I consider 'under my care.' There's a second clause to my rules and their pecking order though, and that is precedence. The further up a Rule is, the more precedence it takes over the others, so that if two rules clash, the one further up will always win, and I will follow that Rule instead. Based on how I've handled the whole Taj situation and my entire motive for returning home, I can guess that I have a Rule based around retaliating, betrayal, or something along those lines. I also know that it is weaker than the one I have for protecting children, and that I am unable to hurt Taj or Emily because it would ultimately damage Jenny's future.

"For a while, I convinced myself that the grudge was gone because I couldn't reasonably turn Taj and Emily into a bloody pulp; I just ignored it, because it was only causing unnecessary tension to keep it in mind. I know it seems I'd forgiven them or set aside my grudge after exorcising their house, but that was never the case. I needed the echo to complete my affinity, and the side effect was helping them.

"Now though, I have a new perspective. The echo in question provided it himself- a social side of Wrath. I don't need to break Taj or Emily down physically when there are laws in place to do it for me."

He took a deep breath. "Luke. In exchange for creating Convergences to grant more people magic, and a path towards containing its toxic effects, I want you to take Jenny from them and raise her in the Church of The Champion to live a better life than she would have before."

Luke did not scorn him, nor did he seem even remotely perturbed. This was a man used to magic and its effects on the personality; he knew Dei couldn't let it go, and this was more a cry for help than it was a favor. "On my name, it will be done" he responded gravely, making a vow of his own.

Dei stumbled backwards as a cold fury finally relinquished its vice on his soul, the ball of pain lodged deep within him finally dissipated as the goal he'd strived towards ever since his death was finally completed, and a new Rule made itself clear.

I will allow no harm to come to those under my care.

Children must be protected.

I will stand for no betrayal.

he sighed in relief.

'I'm free.'

* * *

Dei had to sit down while his soul adjusted to the change. He hadn't even known he was taking minor soul damage the entire time he was striving to resolve his grudge, but now it was obvious.

The pain was so minor that he'd simply tuned it out, and his soul's natural regeneration ensured it never left a lasting mark, but it had been there. He could only look forward to the day he went back to his mother and killed Iora, as that would be insane instant relief. Avium's laws seemed a lot looser with criminals and he could simply turn her to pink mist, as Justin had given him the go-ahead.

'One more month. One month to find Edit then return home and kill that bitch. I don't feel it, but I'm now positive I'm taking slight damage from my grudge against her as well.'

When his head stopped spinning and he went to stand, Perumah helped him up from the chair and he looked at her curiously.

"I don't really need help getting up because I feel better, but I appreciate the effort?"

"I know," she said with a mirthful grin, "But now I get to help you move around."

He chuckled, and brushed her off. "I guess I can look forward to you picking me up to carry around at some point."

'It's interesting to watch her form a rounded personality in real time. The joke is a bit odd, but it IS undoubtedly meant to be funny. I wonder if Perumah of last year would've even understood the concept, while this one is trying to improve her way of speaking with others.'

A curiosity struck him, and he asked "Hey, unrelated, but why haven't you made this body before? I'm sure there were times you would've liked to be independent of me."

"Hmm, true. It involves…" looking at Luke, she seemed to censor herself. "...What I did in The Mother's soul."

'What she did in the- does she mean building her body in the shape of a humanoid to trick The Mother into believing she was a chaos born? Did that have lasting effects, and helped her build a new humanoid body?'

"I think I get what you're saying, we can talk about it when we're off Earth."

Luke didn't even look remotely curious; Dei could almost hear him thinking 'Not my business, I won't ask.'

Perumah was already in her constellation-filled overcoat, so he felt she was decent enough to meet his family in her own flesh.

He still had to partially crouch down to walk through the house, and his entrance made them all turn.

When Perumah followed behind him, Sophie screamed at the top of her lungs; his dad tensed, looking ready to leap forward to attack; and Jack sunk into the cushion he was on before, seeming to try and avoid attention.

His mother had a different reaction as she cautiously asked "Are you Perumah?"

"Err, yes?" she rasped, "How did you know?"

"You have a unique magic feel about you, same as Oscar and L- Dei. It's a bit changed from the last time I examined you when you were on Dei's hand, but you're familiar nonetheless."

His mother's perception seemed to garner Perumah's respect, and his dad partially relaxed as he asked "This thing is familiar to you?"

"Yes," Dei assured, "She's been my traveling companion since the start, though normally she can compress herself down quite thoroughly. Everyone else saw her in sword form, though this is a new humanoid body she made recently."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Not to be disrespectful, but she looks like a mutated Elite or magical phenomena I'd usually be called in to squash. You're sure she's…?"

"Sane?" Perumah finished, and his dad hesitantly nodded.

"I'm positive. She's probably even more sane now than she was before, because she's gained a few human emotions."

"That is not as reassuring as you're trying to make it," his father grumbled.

"I'm sure she's lovely," his mother said, but he could still sense unease below the surface. Standing up, she went to greet Perumah's root body, but wasn't really sure how, as the cloak that Perumah wore didn't have sleeves or armholes. Perumah pulled back the front to present her with a hand to shake, and his mother gasped.

"You're naked."

Luke, reading the room, slipped back out.

Perumah shrugged, "I have always been? Environmental factors have not bothered me since I was very young."

"It's not about- you need to watch out for your decency!" she insisted, then looked at Dei accusingly. "Why didn't you give her any clothes?"

He raised his hands placatingly "Wooaahh woah. She made this body all of two minutes ago, and I'm wearing the only outfit I have. I figured the cloak would be fine for introducing her. Not to mention, the roots aren't even her actual body. The blade is."

"The roots are part of my body," Perumah threw in unhelpfully, "Is your mouth not part of your body?"

Again his mother glared at him, but it'd lost most of its bite. Still, he explained "Okay but I don't wear pants over my mouth."

Sophie had gained enough of her bearings to throw in "It's not about your standards, it's about visual decency! A guy can walk around without a shirt, but a girl can't! You don't need to cover your mouth to keep it appropriate, but Perumah certainly does!"

"I agree! I'm not saying she doesn't need clothes, I just didn't think it would be this big of a deal. I was naked last week in front of an entire city after my outfit was torn to shreds."

Oscar laughed, but the girls glared at him and he quieted down.

"Also did you say you have one outfit?" Sophie asked accusatorily, "ONE? You're traveling the universe and you have one set of clothing?"

"I mean, if it ever gets dirty, it has insane self repair enchantments. I'd just rip it apart until it came back new."

"That's not the point I'm trying to make! You don't even have shoes!"

"In my defense, uhh, I once had a power that was channeled through my feet and now I'm used to not wearing shoes."

"Again, not the point. Good lord, if Perumah follows your advice on how to be a person, she'll be feral by the end of the month."

Perumah stayed silent throughout all of this, but now she was giving him the stink eye. 'What did I do?!'

"Come on Perumah," his mother said, guiding her upstairs. "Let's see if we can get you some actual clothes from my or Sophie's wardrobes." Sophie quickly followed behind, and soon it was just him, Jack, and his dad.

He sat down on the floor next to the couch, and his dad reached over, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't take it personally. Sometimes, women just do that."

* * *

'I can't believe I've failed to exhibit human behavior because I was copying Dei,' Perumah tsk'd quietly. She was still workshopping her appearance and especially her voice, as roots did not vibrate as easily as flesh. She worked on lowering their density in various places to experiment with different or smoother tones, but the experimentation was slow. If she wanted to be seen as a person she had to, at the very least, get the physical mannerisms down.

"Don't be too harsh on him," Kaylee said, "Men worry about different things, and appearances are not one of them. I'm sure he's well meaning, but a lady has to hold herself to a higher standard."

"Hm, I must agree. I did not know clothing was so important… I would have insisted we buy more. Back in Gate City, we had wealth to rival that of nobles."

Sophie seemed to choke behind her, "And he has one set of clothing? And zero for you?"

"I would've warned him to get me some if he'd put any emphasis on it for himself… though he is correct that he was unaware I could become this form."

They'd reached the top of the staircase and quickly entered the master bedroom, where Kaylee and Oscar slept. The woman went into her walk-in closet and started looking around.

"It's excusable, but I'm not happy. He should have at least been embarrassed to be in the presence of a naked woman."

"Fendrascora never wore clothes?" Perumah dug the hole deeper.

Kaylee immediately popped back out and asked "was that the water person?"

"Yes."

"Hmmm… Not sure how I feel about that one. She spent most of the time in his bloodstream anyway, so no real chance to be indecent"

"Like me, she was also only vaguely humanoid and did not understand clothes. I am attempting to remedy that though.

"And we're more than happy to help! could you take off that robe?"

"Cloak. Robes have sleeves."

Kaylee rolled her eyes, "Could you take off the cloak while I dress you a bit?"

Perumah shrugged and complied.

They went through one thing after another, and Perumah admitted she was quite fond of red clothing, but the other two refused to give her only red. They went through blue because it was a common color, but it didn't look good with her bark skin. Green seemed much more natural, but Perumah wasn't a big fan

It wasn't until she started altering her coloration into the more silvery look of her blade that things opened up more. She wasn't shiny, but the dull platinum look matched easily with a wider variety of looks than brown.

Eventually, she settled on a more black/red combination to go along with her bright "skin." Looking in the mirror, she considered it a threatening combination of colors that made her look vibrant or poisonous. 'I like it.'

Sophie hummed appreciatively. "It looks good, but is there any way to create hair? I think it would really tie it all together."

Perumah tried to form incredibly thin roots where she'd formed the head, but Sophie stopped her. "They still look like roots, too angular with those tiny hairs. If you can't get them to become more straight, how about the other direction and lean more into your plant self? How about leaves rather than roots?"

"Generally not possible. Flesh traps do not have leaves and typically do not bloom, would tiny blades be fine?"

"No," they harmonized.

"Typically don't bloom?" Sophie asked.

Perumah wanted to grumble at her idea being rejected, but explained "We are bulbs, we spread through roots, though we do have some vestigial characteristics, hence me being a female of my kind despite not producing any pistils. In order to bloom, I must create a severe hormonal imbalance to convince a portion of my body it is time to bloom, despite never achieving that state naturally anymore. They will, however, be sterile."

"Is that… damaging?"

"No? I could simply localize it and section off that part of my body. I do not see how this would be better than blades though, as it would more closely mimic actual hair."

"We don't want you looking like a human," Kaylee assured her, "We want you looking like a beautiful Perumah. Very different. Could you show us how it would look? Make some roots that extend down to your shoulders like hair, then bloom as many of those flowers as you comfortably can."

Perumah shrugged and did as told, creating the imbalance with her Heart affinity, then rapidly accelerating the growth of flowers with her Bulb affinity.

Immediately, they gasped in shock.

"Perumah, they're gorgeous," Sopia told her.

* * *

When Dei and the other guys heard the master bedroom door open, his father nudged him. "No matter what happens, tell Perumah she looks beautiful."

"Hm? I'm sure she'll look fine."

"Don't say that. Say she is beautiful."

Dei wanted to laugh, but honestly did not want a repeat of last time so he'd follow the advice.

When his family rounded out of the stairwell with Perumah behind them, he was finally able to see the difference.

It was simple and casual. She wore a loose red puff-sleeved shirt that tucked into black shorts going down to her knees and a black belt. Her skin was much lighter, now halfway between grey and white, but the biggest eyecatcher were the black flowers on her head with spotted scarlet patterns that brought one's attention to the yellow middles.

It wasn't a major difference, but he had to admit she was cute.

Her body language wasn't tense, but she was definitely hoping for a particular reaction. He was suddenly very grateful for his father, as he wouldn't have pieced together what she expected on his own.

"You look beautiful, Perumah."

Sophie and his mom smiled, but Perumah practically beamed.

'I need dad to give me a crash course on women. I feel like Emily was easier but maybe I was just dense. That would certainly explain the marital issues.'

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