Father, mother, General Kron, and all the members of the Expedition to the Sixth Forbidden Zone who had been able to make it, had come to see us off. Isabella, unfortunately, had been too busy, but she had sent greetings and wished us luck. Even the husband wife duo of Aeryn Corvus and Zoya Canis were present.

‘I guess I should call them King and Queen Corvus now.’

Aeryn looked a bit ragged. I couldn't help but feel for the poor man. He hadn’t even been able to enjoy being married to the love of his life for a month before being sucked up into the centre of a political vortex and crowned King. And now, just a bit more than half a year later, he found himself the subordinate to the self-styled Empress of the newly formed nation of Caldera.

“Things had just started settling down into a routine when she popped up out of nowhere and turned everything on its head.” Aeryn said with a sigh. “After I left that volcano, I never expected to see her again. Can’t say I’m too glad I did.”

I briefly wondered how he would feel if he knew that the girl leaning against the train looking utterly bored was actually the clone of said Empress. Freak out probably.

It had been surprisingly easy to convince the officials to let her into our team. Hei Yang had gone the extra mile and prepared a background for her clone. She was officially Hei Lian’s cousin from her mother’s side of the family, making her royalty. She would represent Caldera in the Swayamvar and uphold its interests during the negotiations of the trade deals at the end of the whole competition. I should have known someone who was part Miyagi Vulpine wouldn't make any move without her self-interest in mind.

Zoya, unlike her husband, was positively glowing. It appeared that she had taken to the political life well. Now that the nobles could no longer ignore her words due to her status as a commoner, she seemed to enjoy making them listen.

“If it wasn’t for her doing most of the work,” Aeryn confessed to me in a low voice, “I might just have up and run.”

As her former superior in the army, and a fellow shadow mage, Zoya had chosen Phobos as her conversation partner. Whatever it was that they were discussing must have been amusing as they were sporting rather large smiles.

Everyone else from the Expedition had done well for themselves too. The massive merits they had accrued from that adventure meant that they had been placed on the fast track for promotion. Some, like Azure and Teal had chosen to retire from the army and taken up administrative posts in the newly conquered Crimson Coyote territory.

“Our families were so against our relationship that we had to run away to the army to get married. They even cut us out of the family tree afterwards. Now that we’re Viscounts in charge of a city, they suddenly want us back again. Hah. They wish,” Azure complained to me as Teal caught up with the girls, smothering Ceres in a hug and asking how Deimos’ training with her Raiment was going.

The blue-haired woman, walked up to me and thrust a magical herb in my hand. “Take this and show me you haven’t forgotten my lessons.”

“Yes, teacher,” I said helplessly. Blue light flashed in my palm, drawing the moisture out of the air and wrapping the herb in a glowing film of water. The water began to flow around the herb, grinding it down into tiny fragments that dissolved in the liquid.

Finally, I was left with a small sphere of emerald fluid floating above my palm. Taking it from me, Teal inspected it by drawing a droplet out of the sphere and placing it on her tongue.

“Hmm,” she said, smacking her lips. “Wind element herbs always do have that sharp taste.” Pulling a flask from her hip, she installed the solution into it. Patting my shoulder, she grinned. “Well, apprentice mine, you pass with flying colours. You lost less than thirty percent of the efficacy. With some more practice, you could hit eighty percent efficiency for your herb refinement. That’s the minimum standard for a senior alchemist. If you ever get tired of running around everywhere, you can get tested for the badge.”

Finally, it was time for us to go.

“Stay safe, son,” said father, as sparing with his words as always.

“And talk to me before you decide to bring back another wife,” joked mother as she leaned forward and hugged me as best as she could with her seven-month baby bump getting in the way.

“I will,” I promised with a laugh before hugging her back.

Before she released me and turned her attention to my wives, mother pushed a black stone box in my hand. “It’s the crystal with that damned cat in it,” she said, ill-humoredly. “I had to pay that greedy woman an arm and a leg in commitments before she agreed to give it back.”

Neera Tauros drove a hard bargain. She also put very little stock in goodwill as opposed to concrete benefits. She’d been testing and probing us with words to gauge how important the crystal was to us before setting a price for its return. The answer she had gotten? Very important. The price she had set? Astronomical.

“I don’t know if your theory about your missing bloodline is true…” said mother, concern tinging her voice, “but be very careful with testing things on yourself. You could end up doing irreparable harm.”

“I’ll be careful,” I promised solemnly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Deimos giving her grandfather a hug.

He had resigned from his position of authority after our triumphant return from the Sixth Forbidden Zone. He had put down his pride and accepted that his decision to marry Deimos off without consulting her, or to cut ties with her when she had disobeyed were wrong. He had realized that in his pursuit of authority, he had lost sight of what was truly important. Family.

After several awkward attempts, they had slowly rebuilt the bridges they had burnt. It might be a plank bridge, but the chasm that had grown between them wasn't uncrossable anymore.

Off to another side, Phobos was saying her goodbyes to her mother.

We had been looking for a more permanent solution to her problem so Phobos could travel with us without having to worry about her turning Feral again. It was mother who had come up with the solution. She had gathered all of us together and dropped a bomb.

"Well, Grace," she had said. "I know you won't marry a man again. I know how you feel... and in your situation, I would make the same choices. But, what about marrying me?"

Without exception all of us had gaped at her with open-mouthed shock. After a few minutes of silence, the logic of her statement had slowly started percolating into our shell-shocked minds. Mother didn't have her bloodline. She wasn't restricted to a single spouse anymore.

A Bestia was limited by their bloodline and mindscape in the number of spouses they could have. The mindscape restricted them to two bonds and their bloodline took up one of those slots. A Hominum, on the other hand, had no bloodline and a virtual mindscape - a patchwork of partial reflections of their wives' mindscapes. Thus, they could withstand a full set of six bonds that was the absolute maximum for a soul.

Mother still had her mindscape, but her bloodline had been sealed away. She could still form another bond.

"W-well... uh... I..." Phobos' mother had stuttered out.

Mother had walked up to her and held her hands. "You have always been my closest friend, Grace. More of a sister, really. Let me do this for you. Please."

Dumbstruck, Grace had only been able to nod with tears in her eyes. "Um."

I suppose she's both my mother-in-law and my aunt now.

After another round of hugs and goodbyes, all of us boarded the train. With the shrill whistle of escaping steam, it chugged out of the station.

I watched the platform grow small in my eyes to the tune of the constant rattle-jerk of the locomotive. We would be traveling to the western border of Regiis via rail before passing through Egypt on our way to the Caliphate.

I pressed down on the soft cushion of our seats with a finger. When I let go, the dimpled leather bounced back into shape. Each half of the journey was estimated to take a fortnight – we’d be on this train for nearly a month.

It’s a good thing they built the carriage with comfort in mind.