The next day they continued telling Runa about their life on Söl. Slowly but surely, her opinion on Elora seed to improve, but they all knew the more important parts were yet to co—the parts related to Earth.
Although Runa was certainly fascinated by her son's adventures on another world, they all knew that the mont they returned to Earth was the ti that mattered most to Runa.
And, eventually, they reached that point.
"So that's how you returned," she whispered with a soft smile when he told her how he'd been forcefully dragged back during a job on Söl. She'd been completely engrossed in their story so far—it felt like listening to a fiction novel, and she loved hearing about her son's adventures.
Of course, Erik and Elora had cleaned things up just a little. No need to tell Runa about the intimate parts and every single brush with death, after all.
"Did you discover who was pulling the strings behind your return?" she then asked with genuine curiosity, wondering if they'd been to the altar where she once ca to charge her dallion. It was Eira who promised Erik would return, after all, although she knew nothing more than that.
"I thought you wanted the linear story?" Erik grinned slightly, causing Runa to pout slightly, but nod for him to continue.
Naturally, the next part involved their rough eting with Emily. Inside Erik's dinsion, watching their mother-in-law through the viewing screen, Emily groaned slightly and wanted to hide sowhere. "She's gonna hate ," the goth sighed reluctantly.
"You'll be fine!" Astrid chuckled as she patted Emily's shoulder. "How can she disapprove of soone so devoted to her son, regardless of how their relationship started?"
Emily sighed again, unconvinced.
As expected, Runa's emotions regarding Emily went through a bit of a rollercoaster, as they'd done for Erik as well. "I assu that Lian got what he deserved?" she asked, with narrowed eyes.
With a vicious grin, Erik nodded, "His screams echoed through the mansion."
For a mont, Runa looked at her son with a furrowed brow. Yet, she'd already realized he'd beco more callous, so she soon nodded with approval. "Good… But that doesn't excuse that girl completely!"
"Oh, don't worry," Erik smirked aningfully. "She got her punishnt. Several, in fact, and there's more to co."
Inside his dinsion, Emily's lips curled into a grin as her lower body began heating up and her hand slipped over to her collar, where she began to play with the ring.
Naturally, a suggestive comnt like that earned Erik a suspicious look from his mother, but he quickly changed the topic. "As for Emma, I've naturally taken her under my protection. She's suffered enough."
Runa quickly forgot about his dubious comnt and agreed with him. "Of course you did. I raised you right, after all," she nodded with satisfaction, as if anything he did was a reflection of her upbringing. "She sounds precious, I hope you take good care of her, assuming she's still with you?"
"She is," he nodded with a particular twinkle in his eyes. "Although she's far better at taking care of than the other way around."
Inside his dinsion, Emma blushed. A shy but happy smile spread on her lips as she played absentmindedly with her long white hair. Astrid and Emily, on the other hand, looked at her with a hint of jealousy. Runa's favourite so far was clear.
anwhile, Erik's comnt earned him another problematic look from his mother, so he continued the story before she could say anything. As they talked, they remained in the sa position, with Erik on his chair, Elora on his lap, and Runa lying on her side to look at them, her face pale from weakness.
He soon arrived at Seraphina, the events with Liam, the mont Katya showed up, and the strange dream he had. Runa had reactions to all of them, but they simply ranged from satisfaction to curiosity to caution. Erik's attitude towards Katya especially pleased her, but that was no surprise. The two of them truly were sowhat similar.
From there, it wasn't long before they ended up in Frostvik, where Runa got visibly excited at the reunion between Erik and Astrid.
"I'm glad you found her!" Runa grinned happily. "When you told about the change of leadership in the Dominion, I was becoming concerned."
But then she sighed, "Honestly, the way she kept following you around like a lost puppy disappointed just as much as when you did it with Edda, but I still preferred her for you! That girl has a warrior spirit!"
Erik's eyes twitched slightly when she once again reminded him of his past, while inside his dinsion, Astrid had much the sa reaction. She didn't know whether to be happy or offended.
"She's pretty frank, huh?" Alice giggled as she looked at the complicated expression of her three adoptive mothers.
Experience tales at empire
The story continued, quickly arriving at the ti where Elora planted a Gravewarden Bloom on his father's grave to protect it. Both Runa and Erik sighed as they took a mont of silence for the man they both loved.
To Erik, his father had been the gentle part of his parenting, the main source of his moral compass, and in general a good man. For Runa, he'd been the love of her life, and the chances of finding soone else seed impossible, even undesirable, to her.
Still, the both of them had already had several years to mourn him, even if Runa was currently missing so of them, so they didn't dwell on it long. "We should take a mont to honour him, when you're done with your story," Runa suggested with a shuddering sigh, to which Erik nodded solemnly.
Surprisingly, she then turned to look at Elora. At first, her gaze remained filled with suspicion about her… But she didn't doubt her son's words, so she finally sighed as part of her caution made way for gratitude. "Thank you…" she muttered, almost unwillingly.
Even if she found it hard to trust this person who'd clearly sunk her nails deep into her son's heart, she couldn't just ignore what she'd done for her late husband, Leifur.
Fortunately, Elora knew not to try and milk the mont, as she simply nodded without saying anything. Slowly, a thread of understanding had begun to grow between them.
After another mont of silence, the story continued…
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