"Clyw fi, un Hynafol, could you imagine what that would be like for her?" she said with a chuckle. "I can, though I'm not sure how a purist druid would take to her… uh, approach to teaching," I stifled a chuckle. "Can't say I disagree with you there," she admitted, linking her arm with mine as we continued down the hallway.
As we made our way to the main hall, I noticed much of it had been repaired overnight, and while there were still a handful of signs of a battle, it was nothing like what I'd seen when Bernar and I first arrived. It was genuinely impressive to see just how quickly the palace had seemingly healed itself overnight.
I guess that's the power of a relay, I thought privately, just before a violet portal opened up in the center of the hall.
"Ahh, it's good to be back!" Vyra said, stretching her arms as she was the first out of the portal, quickly followed by Eirenne, Thorn, Haldir, Derion, Ed, Meliss, Irun, Athar, and finally, Kalia.
"Welcome home," I said with a bright smile, prompting them all to look at us with excitement and joy written all over their faces. "Thoma! Ysevel! It's good to see you!" Ed said, rather loudly for such a quiet hall.
Fifth stage, and with Wraith mana, huh? I mentally noted upon seeing Ed's and Meliss's eyes.
"Good to see you, too! How did it go?" I asked, clasping his arm firmly. He paused for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully before he spoke. "About as well as you might expect from getting your ass handed to you every day for two and a half years," he shrugged, prompting me to chuckle.
"Oh, trust me, I know. Two and a half years isn't a short time. I'm glad to see you were able to reach the fifth stage, after all," I said, punching his shoulder lightly.
"Ah, well, we had a lot of help from Vyra and Haldir for that. Derion was quiet most of the time, but I guess that's just his nature," he said, rubbing his shoulder lightly before Athar came charging between him and Meliss. "Thoma! It's so good to see you! Don't you dare leave me with these lunatics again!" he said, allowing his alternate's voice to fully come through.
"Aw, did you miss us that much? I thought you would have enjoyed having an entire new set of adoptive siblings," I chuckled, putting my arm around him. "Oh, believe me, it's nice to have them, but it would have been nice to know they were all battle-hungry maniacs," he sighed heavily, catching Ysevel off guard.
"More than us?" she smirked, to which he nodded promptly. "I think the Commander might have rubbed off on them a little too much," Athar whispered, covering the side of his mouth. "Ah, I see what you mean," I nodded, thinking back to my own training with her.
"In his defense, he and I were chosen for many of the combat drills," Irun said, tousling Athar's hair. "I'm just glad to hear everything went smoothly," I nasally chuckled, but I was getting a sense of guilt from Kalia as she approached, while Ysevel had gone off to greet the others.
"I'm sorry that we couldn't offer you and Bernar support for that fight in the ravine," she began, lowering her head a little. "You have nothing to apologize for, battle-sister. It's the very least we could have done," I replied, putting a hand on her armored shoulder. "Waaait, what fight?" Athar asked bluntly.
"Thoma and Bernar staved off a horde of Thran that were going to attack Tason'Gare while we were training," she explained loosely, earning a look of shock from the others. "A-And how many were there?" Meliss asked in disbelief. "Oh, I think it was about a million in total," I said, putting a hand to my chin, which caused all of theirs to collectively drop.
"A m-million? Thoma, what in the fuck did they do to you in Polarion?" Ed asked with no small amount of surprise in his tone or expression. "Well, we, uh… might have reached the sixth stage?" I replied nervously, unsure whether they were even aware that there were stages beyond the fifth.
Another collective jaw-drop.
"I-It's not what you think. It's a change, sure, but it's not like the jump from the fourth to the fifth! Which, I'm really proud of all of you for reaching, by the way!" I said, raising my hands placatingly as I tried to diffuse the situation.
They, uh, didn't buy into it at all.
"Once again, the Realmlords shit in my dinner," Ed sighed and shook his head. "Well, I guess there's not much to do except try to catch up once this is all over," he continued with a smirk as I felt a small tug on my core. "Sorry, buddy, but I don't think that's happening. Not unless you've got a dragon to give you their blood," Athar said, putting a hand on Ed's shoulder in solidarity.
"You ghoul-fu-.... Urgh, I can never seem to catch up to you in time," he cursed between a set of clenched teeth, then gave a relenting sigh. "I guess it can't be helped. After what I've seen in your core, it only makes sense," Ed continued, which caused Meliss, of all people, to eye me with pity.
"Ah, so you know about that," I said with reference to how Essentia helped me while I was still in the womb. Ed and the others nodded solemnly, but I immediately understood that Essentia herself had told them. "I'm sorry. I-I… I didn't know how else to process everything," Ed said with a dour expression, leading me to put a hand on his shoulder.
"Shit happens; you know that just as well as I do," I said, earning me a quick nod. "R-Right. Of course," he said, giving me a thin-lipped smile. "Anyway, we should head to the meeting room. Ryfon and Erumon will be back soon," I said, shifting the conversation so it didn't drag us all down.
After a quick greeting with Mom's team, we all sat in the meeting room, with Elhael, now fully recovered, at the head of the table and Aurae at his side. Ysevel, Mom, and I sat next to them on the right side, while the others were staggered between the left and right sides, leaving a few seats open near the opposite end of the table.
Within a few minutes of us sitting down, a portal opened near the threshold, and with it came a barrier put up that covered the entirety of the room's interior.
"Welcome, Duke Ryfon and Warden Erumon," Elhael said, standing up and offering them a bow. The rest of us did the same, as we knew this meeting wasn't meant to be held in any sort of informal capacity. "Greetings, everyone. I am glad to see you have all completed your training and have yielded excellent results," Erumon said, pulling out a chair for Ryfon before himself.
"Indeed, they have," Ryfon added, giving them all a knowing look. "However, we have no time to spare. I have gathered you all here today to discuss our next steps," he continued with an air that put the severity of whatever he was about to say on clear display.
"I will keep this short. The Benevolent Ring has been taken from us, and with its loss comes a plethora of issues we must address. The first being the security of the major cities here in Kavrass," he stated, folding his fingers together on the table, while the rest of those who didn't know that had happened offered him looks of shock and confusion.
"With that said, there is a very high probability that Mideia will send his forces to each capital in an attempt to salvage what he can of the relays that have remained here since the time of the Great Partition," he continued, though I could have sworn I'd heard a few dry gulps from the others.
"I understand that you have all just returned from either training or a major fight," he said, giving Bernar and I a glance. "However, time is of the essence. The sooner we prepare for an eventual attack, the higher our chances of success," he continued, regarding the others who began to look at each other nervously.
He allowed his words to hang for a few moments before letting out a tired sigh. "We've yet to find the traitor in Polarion, but we can infer what's going to happen based on our previous experience with Mideia. That said, we will need to split you all up into teams so we can adequately protect both the remaining relays and the people of this realm," he said, dropping some of his formality as he spoke.
"What are we looking at in terms of team composition?" Mom asked as a Commander of Myrdin's forces would. "That I will leave up to you all to discuss. I would have liked nothing more than to send a handful of Wardens to support you, but the ones I already have sent here have caused all but a riot within the Council," he sighed, slightly clenching his fist in anger.
His words hung heavily in the air, though I could tell through the multiple connections I had to the newest members of both Nightfall's Blade and Wraithborn that we already roughly knew the teams' compositions.
"I… I'm sorry that we cannot be of much more assistance. Please inform the leaders of Harut, Hjalfar, and Coltend of our inability to assist further. I pray that they will understand," he said, lowering his head, which came as a surprise to all of us, given his position.
"You have nothing to apologize for, father," Aurae began, earning a look of genuine confusion from Ed, since he wasn't aware of the fact that Ryfon was her father. "We will do what we must while you handle that side of things in Polarion," she said somewhat cryptically, though I could tell she was talking about the Eyes. "Thank you, daughter," he replied with a thin smile.
"In that case, we will do our best to stave off any negative interference from beyond Kavrass, but since we do not fully know the extent of Mideia's powers, we must all be on our guard. Is that clear?" he asked, earning a nod of agreement from everyone.
"May the Words guide you, and may the Realmlords smile upon your bravery," he said, offering us all a low bow from his seat.
This is about to suck, isn't it? I thought privately.