It took a full wind up to swing the garbage bag into the bin. That never used to bother me but today it took the wind out of me.

I felt tired and disgusting.

I could hear Sylus talking to one of the kids.

“I understand you had to leave everything behind, but we’ll figure it out, alright?”

“What if I never find anything my soul connects to?”

“You will. You just have to learn to live again and that takes time. You’ve got a good support system here so that’s a start.”

“Yeah I guess…”

“And you are not a burden. We’ll find your conduit eventually. Once your passion returns it’ll get easier. For now that doesn’t stop you from learning the basics and getting your sight under control.”

The young Dalafaem sighed. “I guess.”

“It’s getting let. You’re tired. Go get some rest. We’ll address this again in the morning if you want.”

“Yeah okay.”

I made my way around the restaurant. Sylus was on the front stoop with his tentacles just hanging out, something he never did in public for obvious reasons.

“Sy?”

“It’s embarrassing how many of these kids are here because they have nowhere else to go.”

I took his arm. “At least we can try to give them a home.”

“And if we can’t? What then? Half of them can’t go home. Half of them have no home to go back to. I swear if another child tells me how their parents evicted them over this I’ll start rampaging.”

“You won’t.” I patted his chest. “We’ll just keep doing the best we can.”

“I couldn’t even be a father to one child and now I have 20 kids looking up to me.” He forced a laugh. “Sucks.”

“Have you invited Dan out? He’s a Dalafaem, right?”

Sylus sighed. “If I got him any further involved with this Void stuff Dorry would kill me. Bad enough he can do spells and has zero scruples about showing them off.”

“Maybe give it a try?”

“I have no desire to fight with my sister. Just as I have no desire to throw my son into harm’s way.”

“Kids could use a role model though. Someone their age.”

Sylus sighed. “Ask me in the morning. I’m tired and emotionally drained right now.”

“Come on.” I pulled him back inside. “Let’s take a quick shower.”

“Jeron… I’m not…”

“Neither am I. It’s the utilitarian option to get it done together.”

He sighed. “It’s not like we have a water bill.”

“Would you rather shower alone?”

“Not particularly.”

“Then let’s go.”

I lead him back inside and upstairs to our shared bathroom. Just as there was a master bedroom there was also a master bath, but I was still hesitant to use either. Instead, we always used the adjoining bathroom between our rooms. It was smaller by far but we both fit.

I turned on the shower and kept it on the cooler side of things. I was a sweaty mess and Sylus was neither sweaty nor a mess but he was tired.

I stripped down and hopped in. It took him a minute but he did the same. I think he was waiting to make sure I wasn’t going to pop out and undress him. Usually I would. It’s fun to take his clothes off of him. But right now, like I said, it was all utilitarian. I wanted to be in bed.

Sylus lumbered in behind me. With the two of us there was barely any room to move around.

He could stand pretty much completely still and use his tentacles to wash himself off. Collect water in suckers, wipe them off on himself, lather them with soap, literally rinse and repeat. His hair was fine tendrils, too, which made cleaning them as simple as running water over his head. The cleaned themselves like antennae but in a level I couldn’t really see so no it didn’t bother me as much as it probably should have.

I was left to take the old fashioned route. Soak, soap, rinse.

Once we were done, Sylus tendrils reached out and squeezed the water from my dreads. Incredibly convenient. He was all I could see as the flurry of tendrils milked me dry. I have him a tired smile. He returned the gesture.

Tentacles wrapped around me and lifted me gently off the ground, carrying me to bed. He placed me gently onto the mattress before collapsing beside me, tossing me ever so slightly off the surface.

He laid there, face down, and I rolled over to put an arm over him.

“Good night, big guy.” I breathed before sleep consumed me.