"The family that slays together, stays together." - Saying attributed to Reinhardt Edelstein, Captain of the Free Lances Mercenary Company, Circa 20 FP.

Two weeks later, in the last month of autumn, Cal led her nieces towards the royal castle, where the teleportation gate in Eyjafjord was kept. They had an extra companion for the trip, as Kino the wandering bard mentioned she'd tag along since she wished to go back to Paradise as well.

When they reached the castle gates, guards crossed their spears and barred their way as they asked for identification. Cal was about to bring hers out for inspection, but Kino beat her to it. The bard tossed what looked like a signet to the guard, who grew wide eyed at its sight, and hastily bid them to go through.

Cal didn't ask. She had long suspected that the young-looking half-therian woman might have been an unliving as well, so this had not surprised her in the least. Anyone who called the Silver Maiden a "friend" was unlikely to be simple.

The guards stationed at the gate chamber itself gave Cal's nieces odd looks - both girls had their dogs hugged close to their chests - but let them through without a word after a similar showing of signet by the bard. The four of them walked through the gate without a hitch, and reappeared in the gate hub room in Paradise.

Today the gate room was mostly empty other than a couple of guards. Cal recognized one of them as one of Magnus's descendants and waved at him while she walked out. She didn't know whether her family had already arrived in Paradise or not, so she led the group towards Aideen's tower first.

They ran across Aideen as she gave Unitia and Idania a tour of Paradise halfway there, and both groups quickly greeted one another. Kino enthusiastically hugged Aideen, and they exchanged kisses to the cheeks before they chatted like old friends with one another, while Cal went to her family.

Elaina and Sidonie had let their puppies down, and the little dogs trailed their owners as they panted and grinned with their tongues out, and tails wagging. Both Unitia and Idania were visibly quite smitten by the cuteness, and crouched to pet the dogs while the sisters told them their story, which got the dogs' tails to wag even faster.

Elaina's pet was a white, fluffy ball of fur, a Samoyed if Cal remembered the name of the dog's breed right. Whereas Sidonie's grey and white wolf-like pup was called a Malamute, and while it looked the same size as Elaina's at the moment, would end up a size or two bigger once it grew up.

It turned out that Idania and her mother had also arrived only two days ago in Paradise, and the news they received is that Khal-Est should arrive as well by next month. At that point it would be simplicity itself to invite Vark and his family over since it was holidays for the institute and he was but a gate hop away.

For the first time, her whole extended family would meet each other. It was just a shame that her father was no longer around to witness it.

After she had that thought, Cal broached the topic and asked Idania and Unitia if they would like to visit her father's grave together, after the reunion. Ideally together with Khal-Est and his family as well, but that was a topic to broach later when her half brother had arrived.

Needless to say, Unitia dearly wished to pay her last respects to her erstwhile husband, even if it was half a century late. Idania also wished to come with them, and so did the sisters. As if to echo their agreement, the two little dogs yipped happily as they ran around their owners' legs.

Cal bid her family good bye for the time being, as she went on to look for Ying Xiao. Xain had entrusted the girl to her, and she would gauge the girl's progress, and adjust her training as needed. A quick query with Aideen told her that the girl should be at Shi-Huang's place, so she went there as told.

After Shi-Huang's half-therian wife opened the door and allowed her into the house, Cal quickly found Ying Xiao in bitter combat with the older blood mage. This time, he didn't use a training spear, but a weapon from a bygone age Cal recognized as a Ge, or also commonly called the Dagger-Axe Halberd.

Cal was quite familiar with the weapon, as it was after all an ancestor to the Fang Tian Ji halberd she used, of which Ying Xiao's Fang Tian Hua Ji was a derivative of.

The ancient weapon shared the same long, double edged spearhead, but instead of a crescent blade mounted like an axe, it had a dagger-like single-edged blade mounted almost like a scythe, but at a slight upwards angle. On the backside was a thicker bit of metal that served as counterweight, with two spikes extending from it, one pointed straight along the tang, and the other pointing towards the shaft. The spikes allowed the weapon to be used in a backstroke, or to hook an opponent with.

The old Blood mage was clearly an expert with the ancient weapon, as Cal could see that he had not went anywhere near serious yet, whereas Ying Xiao had given her all already.

That said, Cal was pleased to see that the girl had improved a lot in the months she has been away. Both the girl's skill with her weapon and her ability as a mage had improved by leaps and bounds, and the fresh cuts on her body showed that Shi-Huang also understood the need for harsh training for a fellow blood mage as well.

More than that though, the girl had grown noticeably taller in the months she had been gone. While still short for her age - and she likely would still end up rather short when fully grown - Ying Xiao had filled up well, and where her limbs used to be slim and malnourished, they now sported hard, well trained muscles that were evidence of her hard work.

Cal chose not to interrupt their training, and instead stood by the side as she watched with some pride at the young girl. It would have been difficult to find another student who took to the harsh and grueling training like a fish to the water the way she did.