The night air was cool, making every breath Ezra took puff into the air. The sky was scattered with stars, little white dots like splatters of paint across a dark canvas. Ezra watched them for a moment before swallowing.
"Ma, I—"
"I'm sorry." She interrupted.
Ezra paused.
"Huh?"
Ezra's mom turned to him, meeting his eyes.
"I'm sorry... for everything."
Ezra remained silent, allowing her to continue.
"Ever since your father died, I've been overprotective. This whole time I knew you wanted to be an adventurer, but I didn't want you to get hurt. I didn't want you to leave, so I knocked you down, set up expectations, refused to believe in you..."
She choked up on that last part.
"Refused to believe in my sweet boy, who only ever wanted to do good."
Ezra couldn't have spoken even if he'd tried. He didn't know what he was feeling.
"I saw you last week when you came home after saving everyone. I saw your face, and there was a spark in it I'd never seen before. A joy I'd never seen before."
She took his hands in hers.
"Ezra... I think both of us know what you really want. You don't want to stay here working in a mine... you want to be with them."
She tilted her head toward the window. Through it, Rion and Maria were fighting over the last dinner roll.
Ezra smiled before turning back to face his mom, his expression quickly reverting to a serious one.
"Ma... are you sure?"
She quickly shook her head.
"No, no. I'm not sure at all! I'll be stressing every day!"
She smiled.
"But this isn't about me."
She squeezed his hands. "It's about you, are you sure?"
Ezra paused, thinking over the past few weeks with them.
Then, with absolute confidence, he nodded.
"I'm sure..."
Ezra's mom smiled.
"In that case... give it your all."
Ezra beamed and took a few steps back before raising his fist toward his mom.
"Ma, I'm going to become the greatest adventurer of all time! Not even Noir will be able to stop me!"
She nodded.
"I know you will..."
A proud smile spread across her face.
"You're my son, after all."
—
As the two returned inside, Rion looked up from his third plate.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
Ezra scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, yeah. I just had to ask Ma what souvenir she wanted from Eliso..."
Rion and Maria looked at each other.
They lowered their forks.
Then jumped onto Ezra, hugging him so tightly that all three crashed to the floor.
"What the hell are you guys doing!?" Ezra shouted as he struggled beneath them.
His mom watched, laughing.
Lost keep was officially back together.
—
Early the next morning, the three stood at the edge of the village, packed and ready to leave.
They wanted to sneak out so they wouldn't distract the villagers from their work.
Ezra's mom smiled before pulling Rion and Maria into a tight hug.
"Take care of yourselves... and my son, of course."
The two laughed, thanking her for all her hospitality.
Then she turned to Ezra, pulling him into one final embrace.
"I love you."
Ezra smiled.
"Love you too."
They separated and gave each other one last, lingering look before Ezra turned away.
For a second, she saw the same little boy who used to follow her around, clutching her skirt so he wouldn't get lost.
Her little crybaby...
She wanted to reach out.
But she held herself back.
She couldn't keep him here any longer.
It was finally time for him to get lost.
With one pump of the fist Ezra shouted "Lost Keep, out!"
And so she watched as their backs disappeared among the trees and falling leaves, leaving no sign they'd ever been there.
(And thus, Lost Keep's adventure continues…)