The two girls gazed at him for a moment. Ais.h.i.+n shrugged and Shrubbery replied, "I guess our rules are just um, not so extreme sounding. Always be respectful to each other, try to partic.i.p.ate in at least one of the guild specific quests per week, and members need to have at least three plant related skills."

"Oh," Danika said. "I only have two so far."

"Are you really not going to choose a path?" Shrubbery asked.

"Yeah, since it's possible to play an open character who can learn anything, I'm pretty sure I want to stick with this. I'm actually learning skills pretty quickly I think?" Danika replied.

"You really are," Shrubbery agreed. "Salty said you were only level 39 a week ago and now you're above me at 51."

Danika glanced at Ais.h.i.+n who had only gained 3 in his acc.u.mulated level since they'd met and asked, "Well, it slows down as your skills level up right?"

"Generally," Ais.h.i.+n agreed. "Plus it isn't like a higher acc.u.mulated level gains you anything, it just means it's more expensive to revive."

"Oh, that's true," Shrubbery agreed. "I've already had to revive 3 times. It's kind of amazing that your reincarnation level is still zero ZipZing."

Danika laughed and told her, "I've come really close to having to revive at least three times now." She admitted a bit ruefully, "I probably owe Justin for that apple."

"Justin?" Ais.h.i.+n asked.

"That high level wizard who likes cats so much," Shrubbery answered when Danika hesitated.

Danika changed the subject and asked, "Is your tree sick? Or injured? It said its health is good instead of excellent?"

"Oh it's fine, it'll recharge within a few hours. It's just because I was transferring energy to boost the growth of my new night blooming jasmine," Shrubbery explained and pointed to the delicate flowers that turned out to be the source of the sweet scent that dominated the garden.

Shrubbery sighed and made the motion of dismissing a screen. "I need to go again," she said bitterly.

"Um, I know this is another nosy question, and you don't have to answer at all! But um, is everything alright?" Danika questioned.

Shrubbery sighed again and said, "I'm sorry I don't want to go into a lot of detail, but I'm not mad that you're asking. It's just that my mom is dying."

Danika stared at her and struggled to find something to say. "Really?" sounded so disbelieving, "Sorry," sounded too short, and "Oh my G.o.d that's horrible," was too much.

Ais.h.i.+n replied first, "That's rough. Thanks for being willing to tell us even that much. Take as much time as you need."

"Yes," Danika agreed quickly.

Shrubbery looked at ZipZing and said, "I know this is an awful thing to say, but I feel like you were so lucky to lose your mom suddenly instead. I hate this horrible slow decline!"

Danika stared at her open mouthed for a moment, and then gulped and said, "I don't know. Maybe it was, I can't imagine what you're going through."

Ais.h.i.+n spoke up suddenly, "I can. I lost my mom to cancer when I was nine."

Shrubbery and Danika turned and stared at him. After a minute Shrubbery apologized, "I'm so sorry. I just, I haven't been able to talk about this and felt like I was the only one. I'm sorry."

Danika replied, "It's ok. I totally understand that feeling."

"It was a long time ago now," Ais.h.i.+n told Shrubbery, then he turned and looked at ZipZing. He flashed a sudden grin and said, "This is not what I was expecting us to have in common."

"What?" Danika and Shrubbery both asked.

"Losing our mothers," Ais.h.i.+n replied.

"Oh, yeah," Danika agreed.

Shrubbery winced and said quickly, "Thanks for listening. Sorry. I'm going to go look in on her again."

"Ok," Danika replied. She couldn't think what else to say.

Ais.h.i.+n said quietly, "Don't forget to eat and drink something."

Shrubbery nodded and logged off.

Danika stared at the spot she'd been, and after a long moment Ais.h.i.+n asked, "You ok?"

"I'm fine," Danika replied quickly. "I just wish I could have thought of something kinder to say. I feel like I haven't been a very good friend, I had no idea, I never even asked how she was lately."

Ais.h.i.+n replied thoughtfully, "She doesn't think badly of you ZipZing, just being yourself is enough. I'm a little envious. She obviously trusts you so much."

"What do you mean?" Danika questioned.

"She said something so horrible to you, without expecting you to snap at her, or unfriend her, or anything," he said quietly.

"She didn't mean it to be horrible," Danika protested.

"She did," he refuted. "She said it was an awful thing to say, and it was, and she still said it to you. Even if she's hurting, that's a horrible thing to do to someone ZipZing. Take it from this senior, I know."

Danika shrugged uncomfortably. She couldn't really deny it. Her wings were shedding muted violet and blue sparkles. "This senior?" she asked doubtfully instead.

"Do you think you're older than I am?" he questioned.

She gave him a firm nod.

He flashed her another grin and said, "I bet you aren't."

Danika sighed and replied, "I'm pretty sure I am, but that's ok, you're definitely my senior in this game."

"How old are you?" he asked curiously.

"I don't want to answer that," she said uncomfortably.

He tossed another short laugh at her. "Want to kick her from the party?" he asked suddenly.

"What? Why?" Danika asked.

"Because it hurt you," he suggested. "I'll kick her if you want." He looked at her face and added, "You don't even have to ask me to, if you don't answer, that's enough."

"No!" Danika protested. "Even if it's uncomfortable, I don't want to hurt her even more!"

Ais.h.i.+n smiled at her, and then reached out suddenly and pinched her cheeks.

"Hey!" Danika protested.

"You're really too cute you know?" he informed her.

"How can you even pinch my cheeks like that when you're playing on your phone?" Danika questioned.

Ais.h.i.+n laughed and replied, "Easily. It's just a targeted emote." He pinched her cheeks again and added abruptly, "This is fun. I wish I could keep you around forever."

She just stared at him for a moment. "Don't joke like that," she said uncertainly. "I'm not a toy."

"I'm not joking," he replied quickly.

Danika frowned at him, but then she grinned and asked teasingly, "Oh really? Want to be my familiar then?"

Ais.h.i.+n asked, "What?"