"So that's pretty much what happened. They captured me and took my memories. Then I got them back thanks to Alkekengi." He nodded towards the woman, who, like her companions, was staring at him with her mouth open.
"You don't want me to believe this now, do you?" Alkekengi blurted out, although judging by her face, the woman didn't really realize that she had spoken. She looked more like someone who didn't even know that she had spoken and had just wanted to ask the question to herself, not out loud, but the words accidentally slipped out. This happens to even the best of people.
"What now?" The danovus woman suddenly looked around when grunts were heard from several directions. And her face really showed complete loss.
"Don't worry Alkekengi, they just don't understand the situation." Wandi chuckled, then closed his eyes and leaned his head forward. "I'm grateful to you." He said honestly, causing the danovus woman to open her mouth. However, before she could react to the scene, Wandi's palm met the back of her head with a loud bang.
"Hey, why now?" Physalis Alkekengi immediately reached for her neck to squeeze it, as if the blow had hurt her, although Wandi even held back.
"First, I thanked you for bringing back my memories. You got this because it was your fault that they were able to take them from me at all." The oldest danovus announced.
"Why would it be my fault?" The woman gasped, and Wandi just raised his right eyebrow.
"If I remember correctly, you bragged to the others that you invented the nails, right?" The young-looking danovus asked.
"Right..." Alkekengi confessed, making a face that showed that she knew she was digging her own grave.
"If it weren't for the nails, then my entire capture wouldn't have happened." Wandi explained in a calm voice.
"It's not my fault what the Karabatta idiots use my work for!" The woman spread her arms, trying to indicate that she didn't want to hide anything and that she had nothing in the world to do with the Karabatta idiots, as she called them.
"Don't tempt fate, Physalis." Wandi lowered his voice, but his statement didn't exactly have the result he had expected.
Physalis Alkekengi, instead heading his warming, just rolled her eyes. Of course, Wandi understood that the woman had grown tired of everyone over the years, but that didn't mean that she didn't have to maintain at least a little decency. That might be why the very first danovus gave the woman another slap.
"Hey, I didn't do anything now!" The danovus woman grabbed her by the neck again and looked at the ancestor of the race with flaming eyes, who, however, just grinned widely, like a wild apple.
"You get this, dear Alkekengi, because I let you beat me up every day for the past few months, when I could have torn your arm from its place with one move." Wandi grinned broadly.
The faces of most of the danovuses present completely paled under the influence of his words, but Alkekengi just narrowed her eyes and looked angrily at the leader of their race. Then the female danovus's face changed in a split second, the grimace becoming a broad smile, her narrowed eyes sparkling with playfulness.
"I want to see that!" The woman flashed her teeth. Her statement, however, caused several people in the room to gasp in fear.
"Let me guess, I walked right in the trap, huh?" Wandi smiled faintly, and Alkekengi grinned broadly at his words.
"With full chest!" The woman declared, causing the oldest danovus to laugh. For long seconds, only the young man's laughter could be heard in the silent palace before Wandi shook his head.
"Okay, I accept my fate." The hegin finally said, then pulled his lips into a half smile. "You can try to stand up against me." He offered it to Alkekengi, who rubbed her palms together like those who are preparing for some great evil.
"So what will happen next, Holden? Will you finally return to us to take over the leadership in your rightful place?" The questions came from Virdar, who looked at Wandi with almost sparkling eyes.
"First of all, I think it's time for a name change. My original name has become too attached to our race, and the new one is not entirely mine." The oldest danovus began. "So from today on I will be Wandi Holden. I expect you to call me that." He looked at everyone present, who also began to nod nicely. "And secondly." He raised his index finger before turning to Virdar. "No way! I'm fine where I am. You lead our people perfectly, little Virvir. And I finally have friends, so I want to return to them." Wandi looked down at his palm with a faint smile.
"The lord has gotten friends. We must celebrate this!" One of the members of their audience said enthusiasticly. However, Wandi's gaze immediately turned in the direction of the voice and he looked angrily at the ones watching him.
"I don't want my friends to know who I really am. They don't need to know anything about what happened here." He announced in an icy voice. He was about to continue speaking, expecting that no one would react to his words anyway, when another voice spoke from the opposite side.
"We'll have a peace ceremony!" The voice suggested, and that was enough to get the entire palace excited.
"I don't think you can say no to that Hol..." Virdar began, before closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Wandi." He tried out his leader's new name, which still sounded a little strange on his tongue, but the kind smile that appeared on the face of the ancestor of the danovuses was enough to make Virdar feel that it was worth it.
"So be it. You can have a peace ceremony." Wandi shook his head, a kind smile on his lips, and his words made the people of the palace stir again. However, before the horse could run away with them too much, as was the custom to say among the hegins, Wandi raised his left hand high. The movement caused a silent silence to fall on the room again. "Just tell me, how did you imagine it will happen? You make peace with ghosts, they cannot eat like the living." He folded his arms in front of him.
"From our soul energy storehouse, which is in the back?" Came a weak question, the questioner of which was pointing towards one of the closed doors of the room. "Isn't that why the ghosts attacked us in the first place? They feed on soul energy, right?" The danovus blinked in confusion. Wandi turned suspiciously in the right direction, as if waiting for the door to tell the answer to his questions.
"Given that we talk about grandpa, I don't think that was the reason." Wandi whispered, forgetting that he was among the danovuses and that his words would still be understood. "Okay. So be it. Prepare for that feast. And we will tell the good news to the Ghost King with Alkekengi." Wandi stood up and adjusted his clothes. Then, without a word or conversation, he set off towards the palace exit.