"Lith, Solus, it's good to have you back in one piece." Protector shook their hands. "You two gave us a big scare. Especially you, Solus."
"He's right, you know?" Selia said. "At least we got regular reports about Lith's sightings around the Kingdom whereas not knowing what was happening to you worried us to death, Solus. Please, co in. There's no point talking on the doorstep."
Once inside, Selia and Protector offered them tea and biscuits while Lith and Solus told them their respective stories.
"Thank the gods that gods-damned Tree is gone now!" Selia sighed in relief. "Any news about ln?"
"None." Lith replied. "Did sothing happen to you during my absence, Ryman? There's sothing different about you."
"You have beco quite perceptive, Scourge." Protector said. "You are slowly adapting to your new senses."
Studying a friend with Invigoration or Life Vision was beyond rude. Lith had noticed small changes in Ryman's body language and the slight hesitation in his movents whenever her approached a non-Awakened.
"You are right, Lith. I have changed." He took Selia's hand in his own. "After the two of you disappeared, I felt truly helpless. Yet the final straw was when Kamila organized your rescue party and didn't take into consideration because I was too weak."
"I'm sorry, Ryman. I didn't an to offend you. It's just-"
"Don't apologize, Kamila. It only makes feel worse." Protector raised his hand, cutting her short. "It wasn't your fault, but mine. Ever since ln's destruction spell was released to the public, I got complacent.
"I continued my research for the violet core in na only, focusing on the kids and Selia while neglecting my own training. Being left behind while my pack brother needed the most was the wake-up call I needed."
"And you achieved the violet in just a few days?" Lith didn't hide his incredulity.
"Not alone." Protector admitted. "I asked Nalrond and Morok to help . They too had been left behind but at least they have reached the violet core on their own. I asked them to give as much advice as possible without revealing specific details of their personal techniques.
"Thanks to their guidance and the insights accumulated during my years of hard work, I succeeded."
"Do you need help with body casting?" Lith asked.
"I need it but I don't want it." Protector shook his head. "I have already taken one shortcut. Any more and I'll never learn my lesson. Whether I fail or succeed, I must do
this alone."
Selia was very curious about nadion but she kept her questions for herself.
'We've just t and I know that things with Solus weren't good long before both of them died. nadion needs to co to terms with her new reality and a world that went on without her. She doesn't need a nosy neighbor opening old wounds with personal questions.' Selia thought.
After a bit of back and forth, the Verhens took their leave.
"By the way, you should pay Garrick and Ryla a visit, Lith." Selia said. "Morok did his best to keep them company, but with your disappearance, they got really scared. They can't move from the geyser and were afraid to be forced to leave the Verhen Mansion in case sothing happened to you."
"Thanks, Selia." Lith nodded.
"I guess this is where we split up." Raaz said. "I need to reassure the guys I'm still alive and paying their salary. Maybe I'll bring them to the tavern for a post-work beer. Do you want to co along, Lith?"
"Thanks for the offer, Dad, but I'd rather not." Lith replied. "Aside from Bromann and a few others, your farmhands tense up in my presence as if I'm going to interrogate them for murder.""
"Put yourself in their shoes, son. You are the Magus about whom bards sing countless tales and your face is often on the Web's news." Raaz said. "It's normal for them to be intimidated."
"But it's not good for your relationship with your farmhands." Lith shrugged. "Also, I'm on Ripha duty. I have to follow Mom and her from a safe distance or they can't move around freely."
"Aren't you coming with us either, dear?" Elina asked.
"No, Mom. Otherwise I'd cause a commotion and everyone would ask about , ignoring Ripha. You can't introduce her to people if nobody is listening."
"Fine." Elina sighed. "Solus, Ripha, let's go."
"What about you, son? Fancy a beer with your old man?" Raaz asked Trion.
"With pleasure, Dad." Trion glanced at Lith who nodded.
'Not a big deal.' Lith thought. I just have to stay halfway between Lutia and ho until Dad doesn't co down to the city'
Once outside Selia's ho, Elina took the DoLorean out of her dinsional amulet.
"Do you want to give driving a go or would you rather walk, Ripha?"
"I admit that I've admired this thing from afar for a long while and I'm really curious to see how it works. Yet I've waited much, much longer to finally walk along Lutia's fields again." nadion replied. "I still rember the ti this area was completely
uninhabited.
"The village was small and mostly populated by farrs, with barely enough artisans to get by without having to travel to the nearest city for every little thing. Lutia was just a small dot on the horizon." She pointed in the direction of the city.
nadion took deep breaths, taking in the familiar scent of cultivated fields and fresh grass. Due to sumr and Elina's gardening hobby, there were plenty of aromatic plants and flower bushes that spread their aromas all around Ripha.
"Back then, there was nothing but open fields as far as the eye could see and only the trees of the Trawn woods covered the horizon." She felt nostalgia for what no longer was.
Now the space between Lith's house and the woods was filled with houses belonging to the families of his Demons and the Verhens' neighbors. On the opposite side, Lutia had grown into a city large enough to be visible from a distance.
"It wasn't much different until less than ten years ago." Elina shrugged. "You'll get used to it just like I did. Change is the only constant of life."
"I know." Ripha shook her head, dispelling the visions of the past that kept eclipsing the present. "Let's go, sweetie."
"Rember not to call Epphy, Mom. If the wrong people hear you, our covers will be blown." nadion offered Solus her arm and she took it. "By the way, I rember a wooden house where we lived back when I was really young. Was it around here?" "More or less." nadion turned around and pointed at the Trawn woods. "It was inside the woods to keep people from noticing our presence and bothering . I built it on a
clearing near the Philo River."
"You an our secret training spot?" Solus bead with joy.
"Yes." nadion needed sheer willpower to keep an edge out of her voice. In a way, Lith had taken everything away from Ripha. From her daughter to her tower and even the
places she held dear.
No matter how irrational it was, the idea of being replaced even in Solus' mories irked nadion to no end.
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