"Please, let know when you make your decision."
"Don't be silly, Selia." Elina stopped the huntress while she dragged her yowling children away from the window. "You're a friend, and there will always be a hot al and a place for you in this house."
"Thanks, Elina, but-" The children's cheers of joy at the ntion of food made Selia wish Mogar would kill her on the spot. "I accept your offer."
Lilia, Leran, and Fenrir ran inside and grabbed a plate, filling it with the extra servings left in the pot and wolfing them down with the enthusiasm of a pack of starving wolves.
"What are you eating, Auntie Quylla?" Leran asked.
"Mutton." She replied.
"Chop or fillet?" Lilia tilted her head, confused by the many different cuts of cooked at piled up on Quylla's plate.
"She's being modest." Morok said, drawing Quylla's scowl. "She's not eating mutton. She's eating a mutton."
***
The Verhens' return to the Mansion was welcod by Garrik and Ryla with enthusiasm and followed by an improvised ga that the children played with the help of their magical beasts.
Aran and Leria used the Warp Gate to visit Zekell whenever they wanted, and Lith returned to his ho in Lutia when he needed peace and quiet.
Still, the Mansion had much more space, was better protected, and its mana geyser added the tower to Lith's arsenal. The situation turned for the worse as the weather turned colder and heavy rains stopped everyone from leaving the house.
"This sucks." Aran stared at the Trawn Woods, so close yet far out of his reach. "How did we spend so many months holed up at ho in the past?"
"Easy, we didn't have any other choice." Leria replied while using Accumulation out of boredom. "Wait until the windstorms or the snow arrives. Then we won't step foot outside for more than a couple of hours every few days at best."
"I like the company, though." Garrik said with a wide smile as he practiced with his bloodline abilities and wings under Ryla's guidance.
" too!" Lilia and Leran chased Shargein along the vast corridors of the Mansion while Solkar tussled with any shoe left unchecked he found.
"Sa." Selia extended her legs on a footstool. "I can sit down and relax again."
"I have an offer that should make everyone happy." Lith walked inside the room while the hologram projected by his communication amulet faded away. "I've just received Rem's invitation to take part in the inauguration of the rfolk's surface village.
"It's in the Blood Desert, so we'd have all the space the kids want to roam free, warm weather, and Grandma's protection. If sothing happens and the Royals need , I'd be still one Warp Gate away."
"This is an interesting proposition." Jirni had already grown tired of being restricted to the Mansion's park for her outings, and with the arrival of the bad weather, her prison had shrunken further. "I'd love a change of scenery. What about you, dear?"
"I have no objections." Orion replied. "I still have so work to do at the Ernas Household, but as Lith said, we have Warp Gates."
Orion had recently regained the bright violet and needed a secluded place to put his newfound physical and magical abilities to the test. Also, he could finally harness the full power of the Ernas Household's defensive system again and enhance its enchantnts with his newfound Awakened prowess.
Also, with Jirni in the Desert, the Gernoff's surveillance in the Kingdom was likely to beco laxer, allowing him to modify the array protecting the house without anyone noticing.
'By now, the Gernoff must have exploited our absence to collect all the information they need to storm the current Ernas Household.' Jirni thought. 'All their efforts and resources invested in reconnaissance will soon be for nothing.
'Even if the Gernoff notice the changes in our magical formations, they'll think twice before scouting them. Not only because we might alter them again in the future, but also because the Gernoff know I'll set traps for them.
'Losing a few people is nothing for a powerful Awakened Household, but with each round of this ga we play, I'd thin their numbers and they'd gain nothing in return.'
"It's an interesting idea." Friya stared at the rain pouring against the windows as if it owed her money. "I don't know if it's because of my pregnancy or the Hydra blood flowing in my veins, but the re thought of cold puts in a bad mood."
"rfolk?" Kamila asked, furrowing her brow. "The sa rfolk who welcod us at the end of the Wayfinder's maiden voyage and our arrival at Vladion's land?"
"Yes, but don't worry." Lith could see her objection coming from a mile away. "Their mainland village is a trade hub. The rfolk who live there have regular interactions with rchants and other Desert tribes, so they are properly dressed at all tis."
"Is there a mana geyser for… Ryla?" Solus asked.
"Of course." Lith nodded. "We didn't co back to the mansion just to leave our friends behind. Now, if everyone agrees, I'll inform Grandma and she'll make the necessary preparations for the trip."
"Warm weather, royal treatnt, and free food? What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Selia jumped up from her seat in excitent. "Why is everyone looking at like that? Am I not one of the friends Lith was talking about?"
***
Blood Desert, Starry Lagoon Village, a few minutes later.
"I have great news." Rem Shellshine, the rfolk representative, said to the assembly of her people. "Supre Magus Verhen has accepted our invitation and will join us soon. I want everyone to be on their best behavior.
"Do not bother him unless it's about sothing important. Rember that it's thanks to him that the Overlord offered us many favorable conditions, and our first settlent on dry land is safe."
Her words were t with several groans and complaints from the young won of the tribe.
'Poor girls. Thirty years and kilograms ago, I would have been as heartbroken as them.' She thought, slightly shaking her head and making her long sky-blue hair sparkle under the sunlight.
"I understand your disappointnt, but if you anger Lady Verhen and the baby she carries gets upset, you might anger the Overlord and-"
"You don't want that to happen." Salaark appeared out of thin air right next to Rem. "Trust on that."
"Overlord Salaark!" The rfolk representative fell to one knee, quickly followed by the humans and rfolk mbers of the tribe alike. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"I have co to arrange for a suitable residence for my Featherlings." Salaark didn't gesture for them to stand. "Yours is a lovely village, Rem Shellshine, but there is no building here worthy of my blood."
Calling the Starry Lagoon lovely was a gross overstatent even for an experienced diplomat like Salaark, but a necessary euphemism to avoid offending her newest loyal subjects.
rfolk were used to live in the depths of Mogar's seas and oceans. Water and high pressure played a significant role in designing their hos and defining the rfolk concept of architectural beauty.
The underwater cities had tall, slender buildings that, on the surface, would crumble under their own weight. rfolk ignored the concept of stairs or inclines since they swam from one floor to another.
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