"Iâm really fine mom. Whatâs happening to me has been a bit unsettling, but it has been helpful for the most part. I can somehow see the flow of energy around me, and itâs gotten me out of multiple difficult situations." Avery said, trying to lessen his motherâs worries.
Naturally, he made sure to leave out how the latest time he had used the strange power it had sent him into a coma.
His mother still looked skeptical even after his explanation though.
From what Avery could gather from the bits and pieces his mother had already said, the process that had given her the power she possessed had been far from kind.
No doubt she thought that whatever her son had undergone must have been similar to herself. And either the people that had awakened his ability had some leverage over him, he was hiding it to keep her from being overly concerned, or his memories had been altered.
"Avery, would you let me send some of my energy through you?"
Unlike last time when she had done so forcefully, this time Serena asked for his consent to channel the glowing red aura around her into him.
Although Avery had no idea what she wanted to do, he trusted her and opened himself up freely.
Soon he felt like something foreign was worming its way through his body and almost instinctually rejected it.
Yet, knowing it was his mother, he tried visualizing this as her caressing him like when he was a child.
Eventually he felt her energy probing into his head, and had it been anyone else doing this, he probably would have cut the connection there since his instincts were screaming at him that he was in danger.
Of course, his mother had no intention of harming him, and once she had finished whatever she was trying to accomplish, her energy receded from Averyâs body.
"Iâm sorry, I know that was invasive. But I just had to be certain that your memories had not been altered." Serena said, an apologetic though also relieved expression on her face.
"So, Iâm guessing you didnât find anything wrong?"
"No, there were no signs of tampering. Your memories are wholly your own."
This seemed to have taken a weight off of his motherâs shoulders, so Avery directed her over to the couch pushed up against one of the walls.
They had been standing this entire time, but he wanted them to continue this conversation in a more relaxed position.
Since he had only given her an overview so far, Avery gave a more detailed account of the work Doctor Raiti had done on him, as well as Kasandra and Jasmine.
"I see. It sounds like you trust her. If at all possible, though, Iâd like to meet her before you officially welcome her onto your new ship. Just as a precaution to make sure she wasnât involved with the same people that experimented on me." Serena said, the look in her eyes offering no compromise.
Knowing well that he could not say no to his mother when she got like this, Avery agreed to introduce her to Doctor Raiti soon.
She should have been back in the Cocarro System by now to prepare the equipment in her personal lab to be moved or sold. That meant it would be easy to meet with her when Avery and his parents headed to Azade for the wedding
"Good, then I suppose that this is settled for now. We should head back to the others. Iâm sure that they want to talk to you as well. I know that your father and Urs have some things to discuss with you."
Serena looked ready to be done, but Avery still had his own questions.
She had gotten the information that she wanted from him, but there was still a great deal that he did not know about his motherâs own past.
Originally, he had been told that she had been brought up in an orphanage since she was a child and eventually travelled to Yuson II for work when she became an adult. Which was how she eventually met Averyâs father.
Obviously, all of her records must have checked out due to the fact that there had never been any problems, but now Avery was certain that they must have been fabrications.
His motherâs identity was fake. The time before she had turned seventeen, everything Avery had heard about was only vague accounts of her time at an orphanage.
After that though, his mother had told him quite vividly about her time on Yuson II, and how she had met and fallen in love with his father.
âI figured that she just never wanted to talk about being an orphan because it had been difficult for her and wasnât very exciting. But the real reason must have been that the memories were implanted in her mind and werenât very clear to begin with and held little actual meaning to her.â
Avery could tell that his motherâs past was very painful for her, but he could not help but want to know more about her.
There might have been more clues for why they were different from normal humans, or perhaps she even just had the answer.
"Mom, would you mind telling me about what was done to you? I want to know. Both for myself and yours. Iâm your son, and some part of what you passed down onto me has made me different. I want to find out about my origins and where this power comes from." Avery said, attempting to get his intentions across to his mother.
"N-Not right now! Later. Weâll get to that later."
Serena cut him off, the tone of her voice and the look on her face telling Avery that she had no intention of getting into her past.
Nevertheless, he was not going to budge so easily.
"Then shouldnât you at least talk to dad about this. Doesnât he deserve to know too?"
"No! Iâm never going to let him know about my vile past. These memories are a curse I thought would have been cast off forever. If it werenât for what is happening to you, then we wouldnât have had this conversation. Iâd have sealed my past away again and made sure it could never surface again."