"Twice I have sealed your memory of me, and this place, and yet you still come back." Her dusky voice drifted in the dim twilight.

"I'm not able to remember you, or the island, once I leave. However, when I think about my vacation, I'm caught up with a feeling of longing so strong it wants to break my heart."

"Foolish mortal." She sighed, sending a tingle down his back. "I do this for your own good."

"I know," he whispered, knowing it was true, but not quite knowing why. "But I miss you, even when I can't remember you."

She blushed, so beautiful, his heart wanted to burst.

"I can only get enough vacation to visit every two years. I save every vacation day I get in order to come."

She hadn't aged a day, he was sure, despite her claims that he shouldn't remember.

"d.a.m.n, you are still good with your words." Her eyes gleamed with sadness. "Too much exposure to our realm, as a mortal, is bound to cause consequences."

"Will it let me stay with you?"

She paused, fl.u.s.tered. "No," she said softly. "It ties our fates together. It can also cause you to die sooner in this life."

She paused to look at him, as he didn't seem phased by her words, she continued. "Even with my skill in locking memories, I can only do so much when you keep visiting."

"I'm sorry," he said, not able to stand the pain in her eyes.

"I am sorry, too. The next time you come, you will not be able to find this island. I'm worried it may already be too late."

Joseph woke up in a cold sweat. His chest hurt. Other memories came flooding back. Sure, enough, he had spent the rest of his life trying to find the island. He would go to the sea, and even after he retired, he moved to the coast of that country. He never found it, but he also never married. He couldn't fall in love with anyone else after her.

There were tears on his cheeks. No wonder he felt so terrified when he was thinking about taking his memory of Stella with magic. No wonder he felt such panic at Stella, his only friend, once again leaving somewhere he couldn't see her again. No wonder his attachment to humanity seemed so thin, compared to his dad's.

The memory seal she mentioned, may even be the reason he remembered that life, when his dad could only remember hints of his past life. Memories, with all of the emotions attached, a.s.saulted him. He experienced years of waiting at the sea, longing to see something he could never find. He died alone, waiting for her. Decades of regret tried to crush him until he could pull his way out of the sensations.

Even if he burnt out and died before he reached his goal in this life, he didn't want to die with regrets like that again. Stella was staring at him when he came to himself. She had woken up and seen him crying silently, lost in his own world.

"Hey, Stella. If you could do anything, be anything what would you be? If I had a way to make you powerful, would you stay with me?" He knew he should talk to his dad about this again.

(IF YOU GIVE ACCESS TO THE SYSTEM TO STELLA, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GIVE IT TO ANY OF YOUR CHILDREN)

Joseph knew he could look for missions later that would let his children inherit his traits, like magery, strongly. He could even train them himself or have the best instructors train them. He knew it was a hasty decision, but as he looked at Stella and thought about Silva again, the loneliness from his last life overwhelmed him again. He didn't want to lose her. He knew he wouldn't regret this.

He would have given up anything for just one more day with her. He refused to live his life like that again.

"I already said I would stay with you?" she was obviously confused.

"You don't understand. I don't want you to leave for any reason. I want you to stay with me. I lost someone once…" his voice trailed off, and Stella came over to sit next to him on the bed.

He looked at her, and sniffed. He was trying to keep the tears from falling, but a few slipped out anyway, and he wiped them away.

"But, Master, I'm only a little girl. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. It's supposed to be your job to tell me…" She was so confused at his break down. He knew he had been putting in long hours for months. Could this be what it was like to fall apart?

"I'm going to give you a gift. Something you can't tell anyone about, except my dad. But not until I talk to him. With this gift, you will be able to choose your own path. Be whatever you want. Just… just don't ever leave me, okay?"

"Okay," she said, nodding.

He watched as her eyes went out of focus, then she almost fell off the bed. He remembered what that was like.

"What do I do?" she asked. "It wants to know if I accept…the system?"

"Accept it of course," he said with a small smile. Now he knew why his father had reacted the way he had.

"Wow," she whispered, looking around.

"Just remember, that you can't tell anyone about it, okay? No one can see what you see, when it concerns the system. Also, it can talk to you, and answer questions."

"It wants me to choose a life goal," she said, looking at him.

"Then choose one," he said, smiling wider.

"Oh, umm, what should I choose?"

"I don't care, but you should really get photographic memory with your first ten points. It will help you learn everything way faster."

She nodded, uncertainly.

"You can spend an hour with me at breakfast, lunch, and supper, nine hours sleeping, and two hours for etiquette. Everything else you can spend training whatever you want. I'll tell dad in the morning so he can arrange batter tutors for you."

"Okay," she said, absentmindedly, as she explored the system, he had just gotten her.

Joseph really felt that this was right.