Noctave talking strained the relationship between her parents in her calls with Dia.

"They used to love each other so much, but now they don't even look at each other. What went wrong?"

"It's been almost 400 years...a lot can happen then..."

"My mother has refused to divorce him, but I'm not sure why...again, the love seems to be lost..."

"Hey, don't be so defeated. I'm sure you can help their troubles."

"There's no magic spell that can fix this. Do you have any ideas?"

Dia was glad to help."Well...I have one..."

The Eventide Zoological Gardens were a beloved attraction that Urainia nor Umbrum ever went to. Urainia funded most of it out of her own finances, but she never had enough time or a good enough reason to go to it. Umbrum had been in self-exile while the zoo was being built, and had never even been to a petting zoo before. Noctave was often brought there by light spirits like Astera when she was younger, and practically knew the place by heart.

"Let's go see the mini elephants!"

Umbrum was surprised. "There's mini elephants?"

Urainia rolled her eyes, but didn't respond. Noctave was confused why.

"Yes, and they're adorable."

"I need to see them."

The mini elephants' enclosure was right next to the non-mini elephants'. They were about as big as an average housecat, and a lot friendlier. Noctave was happy to see them again, but then she noticed that her parents weren't interacting at all. Urainia didn't look at Umbrum, and Umbrum didn't look at Urainia. They both just looked at the mini elephants, several feet away from each other.

This was not going as Noctave planned. But all was not lost.

She went to her mother. "I brought Dad here for a reason."

"Yes, I know, to show him the zoo."

"That, and to try to talk to Umbrum for once."

Urainia turned to Noctave, shocked. "I talk to him a lot."

Noctave crossed her arms. "Yeah, like when you argue with him or tell him to take his pills."

Urainia sighed. "It's been years since I've been close to him...I'm not sure if we'll ever be the same..."

"I'm sure you can!"

Urainia found Noctave's optimism encouraging. "Thank you, Noctave."

She then went to find Umbrum, but he was nowhere around. After much searching, she found him at the centipede enclosure, trying to convince the keepers to allow him to pet the giant centipedes.

"I've been out on the velt, I've wrestled and fought them before."

"With all due respect, we can't have them escape from their enclosures."

"I won't let them escape."

"Please stop asking."

And then he spotted Noctave. She looked at him as if she was insane. Maybe he was insane.

They both left the arthropod house.

Noctave asked why he avoided her mom.

"She doesn't want to see me."

"I thought you still loved each other."

"We don't. We just don't hate each other."

"Don't you want to love each other again?"

He looked away. "I don't think that's possible."

"Of course it is! It's not like you hate each other!"

Umbrum wasn't convinced. She dragged him to Urainia anyway.

The former couple just looked a each other awkwardly.

Noctave was frustrated. "Do you really not have anything to talk about?!"

Urainia came up with a conversation starter.

"What's the favorite animal you've seen-that isn't the centipedes!"

"The tiny elephants, I guess."

Noctave dreaded another awkward pause, but there was none.

"I like them, too. Have you had ice cream yet?"

"No...I don't even know what that is."

"How about we get some?"

Umbrum nodded, and Noctave celebrated a victory.

Chocolate and vanilla ice cream were still very uncommon due to inter-sea trading politics, but the people of Noctaria were perfectly happy with cookie dough, cloudberry, mint, and Cheesecake.

They both got cloudberry, but Umbrum's ice cream pathetically dropped on the ground before he could even taste it.

Without a second thought, Urainia gave him her ice cream before buying another one.

Umbrum was surprised that his ice cream was cold. Urainia couldn't help but laugh.

"You didn't say it would be cold!"

" It's called ice cream! I thought you liked cold!"

"I don't like to bite into something cold!"

Urainia was shocked. "You bit it? You're supposed to lick it!"

He cursed his ignorance. Urainia put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's OK, at least now you had some nice ice cream."

"...."

"If it makes you feel better, I did the same thing."

"But you can't feel cold."

"I still prefer licking it."

He held her hand. Things looked like they were going back to normal.

"Umbra?"

She hasn't called me that in a while... He thought.

"Sorry if I haven't been talking to you lately..."

"Oh...apology accepted. Sorry for avoiding you."

She smiled behind her veil and resisted to urge to hug him right there, or his ice cream would. "I'm so glad you're here with me."

Umbrum silently agreed.