Rising Shards

Evy and I had been giving Zeta some driving lessons, but it had been a bit since our last attempt, so she was a bit rusty. And a bit terrified. I sat in shotgun of my car while Evy was in the backseat, with Zeta's hands clamped tightly on the steering wheel.

"A-are you sure you want me to drive?" Zeta asked. "Can't you two...?"

"Consider this a lesson," I said. "And your reward for somehow convincing Tik Moonheart not to tell us what was going on until we got back."

While we were on our vacation, Zeta and her friends ended up in another trapped in the void situation, but this one didn't seem too emotionally harrowing for her for once. She did have to run into our newly-found-out-about sister Anastasia, who had to keep reminding us that she hated us, but that seemed to be the worst of it.

"That sounds more like you're punishing me for making Tik not tell you," Zeta said.

"Kay, it does, but it'd be bad to make you think driving lessons are a punishment in any way," I said. "But! When we get to the mall we'll get you whatever you want. Within reason!"

"OK..." Zeta said.

I couldn't find enough good souvenirs on our trip that Zeta would like, so I told her she could get something at the mall to make up for it. Then the drive reward idea came up so I ended up promising her I'd buy something bigger than a usual reward of a Raina doll or a Tower of Hate and Love shirt.

"You get to pick the music when you drive, you know," Evy said.

Zeta didn't respond.

"You can also let go of the wheel to pick your music, we're in park, it's not gonna go," I said. "You haven't even turned on the ignition yet."

"Well! You see I am doing things in a super secret 'Zeta-style' order, heh, so..." Zeta trailed off. She tended to ramble when she was anxious and trying to pretend she wasn't to look cool or something.

Eventually, she managed to get a playlist from a music app up and actually started the car.

"O-off to the mall we go..." She said. "We're not going to Twin Wolves, right?"

"That's a bit far, we're just checking out one in town," I said. "I'll tell you where to go, don't worry."

"Kay..."

It was a rocky start once she pulled out of our alley, but when she was on a stretch of road without any big turns for a while she stopped yelping.

"What if there's a blizzard?" Zeta asked. Unfortunately the yelping was replaced with panicked thoughts of doom.

"Then we'll pull over, Evy or I will drive us home," I said. "But there isn't snow on the forecast. It's almost spring, you know."

"Hm..." Zeta didn't seem too pleased by her answer.

As we drove, I kept looking over at her, making sure she had her hands on the wheels in the right spot, that she was turning fully when she had to change lanes. It struck me though. I had been her sole main caretaker for most of her life, so teaching her to drive carried a bittersweet air to it. I was her big sister, but I was also basically a parent, too. I used to put her in a baby seat to drive her around. And now my girl was grown up enough that she was driving me.

I sniffled.

"Huh? What's wrong? Am I doing this wrong?" Zeta asked.

"No, you're fine," I said. "Just makes me emotional."

"What? My driving? Is my driving that bad?"

"I said you're doing fine! Just...growing up can be sad, in a way," I said.

"Oh," Zeta said. "That whole thing."

Zeta saying something in such a blunt tone while I was crying had Evy concerned.

"That whole thing?" Evy asked.

"Stella gets sad when she thinks about time moving or whatever," I said. "She used to sing this song that made her ugly cry—"

"I still sing it!" I said, sniffling again just thinking about the song "Time is Time for You, Kid."

"It's pretty corny," Zeta said.

"You just say that because if you make fun of it, you won't cry as hard," I said. "Don't make fun of me for this, it's actually sad, you know. You're really growing up."

"But happy, too, right?" Evy asked.

"Yeah, happy too," I said. I grabbed the wheel as Zeta started to drift too far to the right, almost hitting the curb. "Watch for that."

"Fine," Zeta said. "I still think it's corny, though."

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