Chapter 270: Integration Process

LUMINA   The morning after our return to Silver Creek had been surprisingly peaceful, all things considered. Xenois had somehow managed to convince the elders to postpone the council meeting until the weekend----four days away----which gave us a reprieve I desperately needed. Four days to get the boys settled, to establish some sense of normalcy, to prepare myself for the inevitable interrogation about where we'd been and what had happened to Riley.   Four days felt simultaneously like too much time and not nearly enough.     "Mom, do I really have to fill out all these forms?" Ollie complained from the passenger seat, clutching a stack of papers that seemed absurdly bureaucratic for a five--year--old's life.     "Yes," I said firmly, navigating through Silver Creek's downtown traffic. "All of them. Riley needs official documentation that he's back, and Lake needs identification papers so he can actually exist in society."     In the back seat, Riley was staring out the window with tha