After walking in, Ais was greeted by the sight of a beautiful woman she'd only seen once before. And from her she felt a warmth akin to that of a big sister, from there she slowly walked over, and snuggled up next to her. Burying her face into the woman's side, and just crying with some mixture of pain, and relief.
"What exactly is going on here?" Royman, the guild master, asked, now tripling his stress load. "That girl's name is Ais, she is the Loki familia's sword princess."
Ceraunius shrugged, noticing that Riveria had just entered the guild herself, purposely leaving the door open just a little longer. He wasn't heartless, and could see the worry in Riveria's expression. "I have a few ideas why, Little Ais, came to see us." He said, which caught the elf princess' attention.
"And what might some of those be?" Royman asked, exasperated, though he also knew he had no right to ask, but also had no choice but to ask because of his position forcing him into it.
Gamelia was enjoying the hug, despite the obvious pain Ais felt, the fact Aria was right about how her daughter would feel the mark, caused her to giggle, and then she smiled, wrapping Ais up. "We were entrusted by someone important in this girl's life, to make sure she would live a good and healthy life. That woman had been exceptionally worried for her, for a very long time."
"I see, is that all you can say on the matter?" Royman asked.
Ceraunius sighed, knowing that Riveria was now behind him. "That's all of the information you'll be allowed to get. Consider it a very, very small part of the massive debt you owe us." He said with a twitching smile. The news that their inheritance had been raided by the guild after the Great Feud did not sit well with him, at all.
"Can you let that go already? At least consider the position we were in." Royman complained.
"Weak fatty, ought to be replaced." Gamelia stated, narrowing her glare temporarily at Royman, before softening again to look into Ais' eyes. "Come, my breasts are more comfortable to lay your head on. Cry it out…" She then whispered something else to Ais, for only her to hear.
"Apologies, it seems one of my familia has caused you some trouble." Riveria spoke up, finally unable to handle her own silence.
"It's no trouble at all. Little Ais here just recognized something familiar and came to see it up close. Seems she needed to let out a lot of emotion." Gamelia smiled, now firmly embracing Ais in her hug paired with a breast pillow.
"Hey, Mamastraea?" Bell wondered. "Who is that elf?"
"She's a high elf, Riveria Ljos Alf. Her second name is Nine-Hell. And is often looked up to by elves everywhere as their princess."
"An elf princess?" Zaria asked.
"Nope, she's the elf princess. Not just one of them. She's the highest one."
""OOOH!"" Bell and Zaria reacted with interest.
"Lady Astraea, please pardon the intrusion. I've only come for…"
Just then, an incredibly furious werewolf came running into the guild, on his back was the goddess Loki, using her aura to influence her ride to actually carry her all the way here to the guild.
"Where's my Aisepoo!!!!" Loki demanded in a drunken stupor, hiccuping after her words hit the air.
"Loki?" Riveria uttered, causing the goddess to jump off Bete's back and staggeredly run over to Riveria.
"Did ya find her, mama?" Loki asked, begging for an answer. "Did ya find my… Ouch! Who hit me and what for?"
"Quit making a racket, you flat chested goddess." Ceraunius said with a rather frustrated expression on his face. "Ais is asleep, in my wife's arms. It's probably the first time she's had any peaceful sleep in a while."
"You hit me."
"Would you rather me cure your drunken state instead? Making you waste all that money you stole from my inheritance?" Ceraunius grumbled at the infuriating goddess. "I can do that too ya know. Maybe I should, so you'll have to earn that money on your own. Damn vulture." He spoke, full of contempt for the annoying goddess.
"Let me see her, now." Loki demanded. "She's my girl."
"Loki, come inside and have a seat with Riveria. You can verify for yourself that Ais is safe and sound." Astraea said, from inside, sending a shiver down Loki's spine.
"Bete… huh?"
"If you're looking for that werewolf he left the guild immediately after you dismounted him." Ceraunius chuckled.
A few minutes later, Loki was sitting inside the room, along with Riveria. Both curious about the situation. Royman and all guild reps had left the room for what was to come next. So this was purely an impromptu meeting between two goddesses.
"So, Astraea, what's going on here?" Loki asked. "First you convince Ganesha to let Ardee join your familia. And then later on your whole familia levels up, giving you 11 first class adventurers. You're already close to my familia in power."
"Loki, you're mistaken. Ganesha let Ardee join me after she asked him to be in the same familia as all of her friends." Astraea giggled. "She was so cute when she asked about converting, talking about how it felt like her friends became her sisters, and how she gained a mother." She added. "And, no, I have 13 first classes now. Royman nearly fainted twice when he heard it."
Loki froze for a moment, and then gulped. Then looked at Ceraunius and Gamelia, then back at Astraea who nodded in the affirmative. "I see, I thought that might be the case now that they've returned so soon after leaving. Now tell me, what do you plan on doing with my Aisepoo?"
"That will be up to the young Ais." Astraea said, then gave the go ahead for Ceraunius to explain.
"The grand spirit of wind, Aria, is her mother. We were given Aria's mark when our power reinforced the wind barrier. It was her, Aria, who asked us, spirit to spirit, to do what she can no longer do, look after her daughter." Ceraunius explained. "Doing this would become significantly easier if she were to join the same familia we're in."
"Then why not just join mine?" Loki asked, and instantly received 5 distinct looks of disgust from Astraea, Bell, Ceraunius, Gamelia, and Zaria… As if she'd just said something equivalent to verbal sewage.