"I-" Tista's mouth remained open, but no words came out. As much as it bothered her to admit it, Rena was right. Her brother was her hero, so she had always taken Lith's words at face value and assumed he was the best of the best.

Doubting either thing would have been heresy for her younger self, so she had never connected the dots.

"What does be an Awakened imply?" Kamila asked. She didn't believe in free meals and suspected there was a reason why not every single being on Mogar was an Awakened. There had to be a catch.

Protector explained how becoming an Awakened worked and revealed the existence of the Council to them, going into detail of the internal power struggles that now involved Lith.

He told them how despite their small numbers, Awakened could greatly affect politics and that they obeyed no law but that of the Council.

"Let me get this straight." Between the rollercoaster of emotions and the long explanations, she was getting a headache." You must keep the fact that you are an Awakened from the Kingdom and the fact that you're a hybrid from everyone, correct?"

"Correct." Lith nodded.

"Also, after meeting other Awakened, you got dragged into their squabbles and now you need Faluel's help to withstand the pressure they will apply on you through their connections with the upper echelons of the Kingdom."

"Correct again." Lith said.

"Oh, I'm an Awakened as well, if anyone cares." Tista grumbled while releasing her cyan aura, hoping to get a reaction.

"I'm so proud of you, pumpkin." Raaz kissed her head before ruffling her hair, making Tista feel like a kid who had mastered the multiplication tables rather than the secrets of magic.

"Is there anything else we should know?" Elina asked.

Lith looked at Solus's ring for a split second before answering:

"I'd say it is more than enough for one birthday."

'I'm sorry, but I don't want to introduce you as a thing. I want them to meet you as a person.' Lith thought.

'There's no need to apologize. I feel the same.' Solus enveloped his mind in the only embrace she could offer him. 'Besides, if they see your ring come to life, they'll never wear any of the jewelry you've gifted them again.'

The thought made them both chuckle.

"Actually, there is." Selia said, making everyone turn toward her.

"I was wondering if I could come to visit you from time to time. Maybe I could bring my children along to play with yours. Lilia and Leran would love to make some friends of their age. They are respectively six and four years old."

"Of course you can. You'll always be welcome here. Feel free to come whenever you like." Elina smiled at her old friend, glad to have her back. The fact that Selia had named her kids after Lith was a big plus in her book.

"Thank you so much. I'll make sure to bring their nanny along. He's great with damage control."

Everyone laughed at what they assumed was a joke, unaware of how serious Selia was.

After getting the kids back from Zinya and saying goodbye to the Fastarrow couple, Lith entered his bedroom feeling like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Everything looked more vivid and beautiful.

The only sour note was that Kamila had been silent most of the time since she had learned about Awakening.

"So you gave your family a beauty treatment." She said while changing into a nightgown.

"Yes, why?"

"What about your friends? Are you also the secret behind Friya's beauty?" She casually asked.

"No, she's a natural. I only treated Phloria a bit because she had problems with her hair."

"Ah." That monosyllable held the coldness of an ice age, making Lith wonder if it was time to stop being sincere for the night.

"Sounds right. Your ex had long hair as well, so you know how hard and tiresome is to take good care of it. What about your other ex-girlfriends?" Her voice was calm but distant as if they were talking about work.

"I wouldn't call them girlfriends. I never spent enough time with them to consider them more than flings." Lith diverted all power to the frontal shields to block the passive-aggressive laser beams.

"What about me? I think we have spent together quite some time and you know I'm always on the clock. Yet I didn't get any mysterious Lith's blessing to make my life easier." She pointed her finger at the feminine products she always had to bring along.

"I remember that a few months ago, someone told me that she's my girlfriend, not my toy. Also, she asked me to not use magic on her without her consent. Since I really care for that someone, I took those words at face value and respected her will." Being cornered, Lith pulled the old switcheroo trick, putting Kamila against herself.

"Right." She suddenly remembered having that conversation. "This someone sounds like an incredibly smart and strong-willed woman."

Kamila's smile finally extended to her eyes, raising the temperature in the room of several degrees and thawing the ice formations between them.

"Now that you know everything about me, is there something you would like to ask me?" Lith could almost hear the all-clear in the air.

"I'd like to apply for one of your beautification programs." Kamila snuggled up to him, feeling very tired from the last two days.

"No problem, but we have to take things nice and easy, otherwise people would notice and ask too many questions."

"Don't worry. Even not having to untangle my hair anymore and avoiding split ends would be great." Her voice was already sleepy, but she managed to emit a low purring sound of pleasure before dozing off.

"Sure, no need to thank me. You're welcome." Lith sneered, whispering to himself since Kamila was already snoring. "Would you like me to treat Zinya as well?"

"Yes, please. At her age, she needs all the help she can get to find a decent companion." She opened one eye while answering. She ignored the high-density sarcasm layer coating Lith's rhetorical question and dealt the finishing blow.

"What? How? You were supposed to be asleep!" Lith stopped whispering in surprise.

"I'm part of the military, baby. I'm always vigilant." Kamila said with a smirk.

***

Lith and Solus spent the rest of their leave splitting their time between family and work. As promised, Solus led the research for the tier five magic holding ring while Lith assisted her.

By the time he resumed his service, they had consumed all the purified Orichalcum they had. One ring turned out to be a failure because they couldn't handle a sudden spike in the Orichalcum's energy amplifying effects that didn't manifest for its smelted counterpart.

The prototypes they had crafted worked as tier four rings and their production went without a hitch, whereas the real deal required the purified Orichalcum that made the experiment go haywire.

'The silver lining is that as soon as you learn how to control your Origin Flames, we can recycle the ring. Also, after harnessing the power of the purified Orichalcum, we obtained a ring that can store two spells instead of just one.' Solus thought.

'Yeah, but remember what Orion said. Until we don't start our apprenticeship with Faluel, we better not use War nor our latest creations. Or at least we have to take care of not leaving witnesses.' Lith replied.

Solus agreed with him, but she was actually worried by War.