Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Though they was somewhat difficult to track, and would invalidate their identities and passports back outside, things like birthdays obviously couldn't be overlooked. This was especially so for the younger generations that would reside in the castle as it was important for their development to have a day where they could quantifiable mark their growth. A person's perception of themself could change considerably with each of their successive birthdays, forcing them to 'act' their age, at least if they had others to compare themselves to. This was one of the reasons School was important in the outside world, one of the few things Vahn found somewhat acceptable in the current system.

Sakura's birthday was usually in March but, after having been in the Projection for more than two months at this point, it wouldn't be long before her status reflected the change in her age. Rin had been dutifully keeping track of each and every day that passed for herself and her daughter so it wasn't difficult to know when the exact day was. As this would be their first time celebrating Sakura's birthday, she wanted to make sure everything went without a hitch. She always had a bad feeling that Sakura would one day recover her erased memories, even though it should be impossible, so Rin wanted her to have as many happy ones as possible before then...

As Vahn obviously wouldn't just leave the matter laying, he helped to plan a small event that should leave Sakura with plenty of pleasant memories. His idea was to have a small family gathering with just the three of them, and perhaps Mordred. Since Sakura was clearly still a little uncomfortable with the knowledge that he had people other than Rin in his heart, Vahn felt that spending a day together would make her happy. As for her gifts, Vahn intended to give her a new set of ribbons to tie up her hair and a few 'wish talismans', simple hand-drawn charms that Sakura would be able to exchange for small wishes directly from him.

Vahn knew there were a number of things that Sakura wanted to do with him but, as she was rather shy by nature, giving her a bit of an incentive would go a long way. There was always a small fear in a child's heart that they would be refused if they said something that upset the other party. With the wish talismans, however, Sakura would be able to think about what she truly wanted before gaining courage from the small paper charms. This would help her to break out of her shell and, much like Mordred, Vahn felt she could become a lively and outgoing girl with a gentle push...

With such thoughts, interspaced through several other small incidents, the time within the Projection passed much like a blur. During this time, Da Vinci had dutifully finished a system that was capable of analyzing the internal structure of the body, including getting a basic layout of the Magic Circuits. Then, using a set of mechanical arms that had been integrated with the system, they were able to use Magical Energy in a manner similar to laser engraving. Though it would need to be finely tuned, it had the capabilities of carving any seal or rune that had been stored within Ark's databanks.

More complex rune systems, such as [Primoridal Rune]s and [Fairy Rune]s, were currently beyond the scope of the system, but the Ouroboros Seal was actually rather simple in its structure. The hardest part was properly linking it with the Mana Circuits of the person receiving it but, with the ability to map the internal structure of the body, combined with the mechanical precision of the system, Da Vinci had reduced the time for each seal to less than a minute. As for why it had taken her so long to complete, Da Vinci had tried to replicate the process of Vahn applying his Familia Crest. Much to her frustration, she was met with a seemingly endless string of failures so, while Vahn was applying the Familia Crests, she had several instruments analyzing the process and had even spent a few days at his side observing with her own eyes.

Ultimately, Da Vinci realized that, even if she were to be able to emulate the structure, her system would be unable to replicate the process without Divine Energy and the 'intent' of a God. As the Familia Crest was a link between a God and its 'children', it needed to be applied directly by the God in question to have any effect. Otherwise, even if she was able to break down and interpret the runic hieroglyphics that represented Divine Words, the only effect that could be drawn out from the crest was the ability to read a person's parameter values. This, however, wasn't all that useful outside of simply collecting data as, without the 'blessing' of the God who applied the crest, Da Vinci suspected it would actually 'prevent' them from growing any stronger, much like a curse.

Though Vahn had reached the conclusion before her, his thoughts were just speculation based on his understanding of the Familia Crest and living alongside Gods for such a long period of time. He was curious about what conclusions she would reach so, without minding the somewhat intrusive nature of her 'assistance', he provided her with all the data she needed. This, of course, wouldn't be much of a setback for Da Vinci as, now that she knew how it was 'supposed' to work, it was only a matter of time before she developed a method to modify the crest's structure and develop one of her own. In the end, a Familia Crest was just an advanced form contract magic, obviously graded at Tier 4, so you only needed the combination of Divine Energy and a proper understanding of the logic behind its structure to make your own.

---

In the blink of an eye, a little less than four days had passed in the outside world, translating to a total of twenty-five passing within the Projection. A lot had happened in this short-but-long period of time but, without any major hiccups, the day for Sakura's birthday had arrived. Vahn had already talked things over in secret with everyone in the residence so, by the time Sakura awoke to prepare for her morning training, she was surprised to discover a pair of aquamarine eyes staring at her from the side of the bed.

Before Sakura could recover from her shock, Vahn smiled in an affectionate manner before gently stating, "Good morning, my little cherry blossom..." This caused her to pull the blankets to cover half her face before realizing that her mother was no longer in the bed with her. Since she always felt a little 'scared' whenever she was alone with her Otou-sama, even though such feelings had started to fade away, Sakura began feeling nervous. However, when Vahn's expression softened even further, followed by him saying, "Happy birthday..." in a gentle tone, she felt a great deal of relief and a small amount of excitement.

Since he planned to pamper her quite a bit today, Vahn helped Sakura pick out a brand new dress before having her clean up. Then, after patiently waiting for her to change, Vahn marveled at how cute she was before helping brush and braid her hair. Recently, Sakura had been assigned a duo of Maids, named Leeanne and Monet, to help her prepare for the day, but she greatly enjoyed having her Okaa-chan and Otou-sama help out instead. Though she had been developing a growing desire to be independent, especially as she continued her Knight training, such thoughts were never at the forefront of her young mind.

While tending to Sakura, Vahn explained her itinerary for the day, softly musing, "Your training for the day has been canceled. Today, your mother and I will be accompanying you until the end. If you wish, Mordred and Momo can also accompany us..." As Sakura, much like everyone else, had grown rather close to her Companion, Vahn felt that the adorable little dog-type humanoid wouldn't be excluded from the festivities. Meeting his expectations, Sakura didn't even seem to consider it before happily exclaiming, "I want to bring them! Onee-chan will be happy to get out of her training and I can't leave Momo-chan behind...!"

With Sakura having made the decision herself, it wasn't long before Vahn politely opened the door to allow his daughter and the well-groomed Momo to exit. Since Momo had been designed for Sakura specifically, it was modeled after a type of dog breed known as a Shiba-Inu. This gave it golden brown fur that was soft to the touch, pointed ears, and a small tail the curled into a loop that was always happily waggling as it followed behind Sakura. With its tiny legs, it struggled to keep pace but, rather than showing any signs of difficulty, it always had a 'happy' expression on its face, especially when Sakura led it by hand or carried it along with her.

As Sakura usually awoke much earlier than Mordred, as she was a very earnest young lady, the latter was still sleeping rather slovenly within her room. Outside her door, two Maids, named Natasha and Mila, gave polite bows before quickly departing after Vahn had dismissed them for the day. With him having completed most of the treatments, combined with the fact that the Homunculi had started to seek work of their own volition, the Inner Sanctum was now rather populous with a rotating staff of 130 people. They had completely replaced the Golems that had been present previously and, as it seemed to be work they 'wanted' to do, Vahn had nothing to say against it.

Even after entering Mordred's room, the tomboyish princess didn't show any sign of vigilance at all. Instead, she was wearing nothing but a loose t-shirt and a pair of panties as she sprawled out atop her bed, loudly snoring as she scratched the area where her seal was located. This caused Vahn to rub his temples while Sakura, used to such sights, just giggled before musing, "It doesn't suit Onee-chan to be ladylike. Don't let it bother you too much, Otou-sama." Then, without further comment, Sakura shimmied into the bed before 'pouncing' on the sleeping Mordred who had awoken around the same time the former invaded her bed.

Despite the fact that Sakura was in a dress, and Mordred had been caught off guard, the two had a short wrestling match, fumbling about and tickling each other. At the side, Momo and Neko just snuggled up with each other to watch the 'battle' play out. One of the things the Companions had taught themselves, without Da Vinci's intervention, was that they could pet and cuddle with each other to 'fulfill' their given purpose. This led to some rather adorable scenes as, after discussing the matter with Da Vinci, there were now several hundred Companions in the castle. As a result, when they were not being pampered by their Homunculi owners, it wasn't all that rare to find a group of Companions congregating together in one massive pile of fluff, hugs, and cuddling.

While feeling he should have brought Skoll along with him, Vahn walked over to the side of the bed before lightly poking Mordred's side. She had pinned Sakura to the bed and seemed to be enjoying her victory as she laughed wolfishly and continued to tickle her younger sister, despite the latter's protests. Since Vahn didn't want Sakura to have any accidents or get upset, he decided to interfere with their playing, causing Mordred to jump up like a cat with its tail stepped on as a small burst of 'electricity' spread through her side. Before she landed back on the bed, Vahn caught her with his Telekinesis, causing her to face him as he stated in plain tone, "Don't bully your little sister, Mordred. Today is Sakura's birthday. You don't have to go easy on her, but don't push things too far, okay...?"

Though birthdays weren't all that important more than fifteen hundred years ago, Mordred knew they were a bigger deal in present times. Thus, even though she had originally felt she had done nothing wrong, Mordred chased away such thoughts and simply nodded her head. Then, when Vahn set her back down on the bed, Mordred gave Sakura a spontaneous hug while patting the top of her head and stating, "Happy birthday, Sakura~!"

As 'headpats' had become a rather common sight in the castle, with Vahn's bad habit and the extreme pettability of the Companions being largely to blame, he wasn't surprised to see Mordred caressing the top of Sakura's head. The latter also didn't show any surprise at all and instead just hugged Mordred in response before explaining the fact that she wouldn't have to train today. This caused Mordred to jump up on the bed, happily spinning Sakura around while kissing her on the cheeks, now much more excited than she had been previously...

---

Having Mordred, Momo, and Neko come along ended up being the correct choice as, while Sakura enjoyed spending time with her parents, children were only truly comfortable around other children. After their family picnic, Vahn played hide and seek with the girls using the apple orchards as their hiding grounds. Though the orchards themselves had been set up neatly fifteen hundred years ago, it was a given that they would have grown wild and unfettered without proper care. Regardless of this simple truth, Vahn actually found it preferable for forests to grow wild like this and, knowing the Dryads would tend to them in the future, he had never sought to 'fix' them.

Fortunately, at least for the time being, all of the Fae were located outside of the Projection so there hadn't been any major incidents. Thus, without worrying too much about their safety, Vahn turned off his domain as he explored the forest comprised almost wholly of apple trees. It was quite the sight to behold, with only a few beams of light breaking through the thick canopies, giving it a somewhat mystical feeling. Since the presence of Fae could even be felt in the projection, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that the orchards of Avalon had become a magical land where Fairies and Spirits wandered freely...

Pretending not to notice the girls a few times, as even Mordred was surprisingly bad at concealing her presence, Vahn eventually exposed their hiding spots before snatching them both up. He had allowed them to move around and evade him a few times so they had enjoyed it quite a bit, even if the game had a foregone conclusion. Still, it was impressive to see that even Sakura could dodge through the trees with relative ease, albeit at considerable cost to her stamina and Magical Energy. As for Mordred, she was basically a monkey with how easily she could navigate the overhanging branches. She spent nearly the entire game in the canopies, only coming to the ground to hide in the underbrush after reaching an area with less tree density.

Despite the fun they were able to have with him, it wasn't all that long before Sakura and Mordred were playing games on their own. This left Vahn and Rin seated together, overlooking the girls playing tag in the frost-laden meadow. Sakura was actually happiest just to see her Otou-sama and Okaa-sama together and, as she liked playing with Mordred, it had been her 'machinations' that resulted in Vahn having to keep his rather amused lover company. They both understood Sakura's scheme so, while not doing anything 'too' intimate, they still made a show of cuddling together and simply enjoying each others company.

By the time lunch had come around, Mordred and Sakura had worked up a bit of a sweat so Vahn interrupted their game with a thermos of hot chocolate before using cleaning magic to remove the sweat and grime from their bodies. Since it gave a pleasant and tingly sensation, which Vahn himself was rather fond of at times, both girls happily drank their cocoa while a small bed of brackish liquid formed at the tip of Vahn's finger. Then, after tossing it to the side, Vahn escorted the two girls back to the picnic site to enjoy some of his hand-cooked meals and give Sakura her presents.

Though not as 'magical' as Circe's, Rin, Mordred, Sakura, and even the two Companions, all seemed to enjoy his cooking quite a bit. In the past, Rin had even blamed him for using his cooking to 'tame' her so Vahn knew that his had a few unique qualities that Circe's lacked. Since 'intent' meant a lot when it came to pretty much everything, Vahn filled each of the dishes he made with a considerable amount of emotions. Not only did he genuinely enjoy cooking, but he sincerely desired that anyone he cooked for was able to be a little happier after eating his prepared meals. Seeing the smiles on people's faces as they happily ate his food meant quite a bit to him so, while his understanding was lacking, Vahn knew there were likely some Laws at work that amplified the effects of his cooking...

When the meal concluded, with everyone eating a little more than they probably should have, it was finally time to give Sakura her presents. This was the part of a birthday most children looked forward to and, though she was already more than happy with how her day had been going, Sakura was no exception. Though she had enough patience to unravel her presents without tearing the material used to wrap them, Sakura's eyes were glimmering with excitement when she opened the first small parcel. It was a locket that had been forged by Vahn but had been modified by Rin over the last three weeks. As a result, it had quite a number of protective properties but, what meant the most to Sakura was the fact that it showed the three of them together as a family within the locket...

After waiting for Sakura to finishing hugging Rin, Vahn handed over his gift, drawing the attention of his two daughters as it looked like a simple stack of paper that was adorned with gold leaf. He found their reactions rather amusing as he explained in a calm and casual tone, "These charms are known as Wish Talismans. I handmade each and every one of them. As for their function, you can use them to make any request of me. So long as it does not endanger yourself or others, I will always do my best to grant you wish..." As the stack had a total of thirty slips, Vahn felt it should be enough to help Sakura break out of her shell while also benefitting considerably, depending on how she used them.

Mordred seemed very excited to hear to explanation but, contrary to expectations, Sakura showed a thoughtful expression as she stared at the stack of charms. Then, with an innocent, almost pleading, look on her face, Sakura asked, "Can I wish for anything...?" Since he had expected such a question, Vahn dashed his momentary worry as he smiled and answered, "Yes, so long as you do not try and wish for more wishes..." This didn't seem to be what Sakura had in mind, however, as she held up one of the slips moments after hearing his response, stating, "I wish to give this present to Okaa-chan...!"

Though he had been caught off guard by Sakura's outburst, Vahn felt a sour sensation in his nose and, resisting the urge to tear up, he accepted the small slip before allowing it to dissipate into small flakes of gold. He already knew what Sakura cared about the most but, seeing her selflessly give away her present so that her mother could be happy caused him to feel a wave of emotion. It wasn't just him, either, as Rin had to cover her mouth to avoid an emotional outburst of her own. Following this, the atmosphere became rather awkward but, understanding Sakura's sincerity, Vahn managed to swallow the knot in his throat as he muttered, "This wish...I will grant it..."

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Da Vinci's determination','What do you call a group of Companions..?','Sakura is a little angel (T ^ T)...')

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