The mother's fingers ran on Gisella's blond hair. Both of them were on the floor, leaning on the wall and tangled in a sideway hug for the last half an hour. During the time, nobody spoke.

Not even Nortze.

Old Calajhan was in the world of his own. But even there, he had lost a son. The mourning father, for a while, forgot he had a wife and daughter to take care of. He remembered them only when his eyes mistakenly found them.

Their eyes were red and tears pooled underneath their floor.

Calajhan kneeled on the tears, watching the demented women.

"Look, we stopped Great Invasion." Nortze lifted Gisella's chin by his finger.

A warm bead of tear trickled to her finger from her chin.

"Wutke will not come again." Nortze forced a smile, "I won't tell my identity again, no matter what."

This time Gisella noticed him. She pushed his finger off her chin and leaned back on the wall.

"Rikilda!" Nortze filled his voice with joy, "Rudolph will teach you sorcery, again. He – he is a phenomenal sorcerer. He surpassed my expectations."

Rikilda looked at him with a smile. But he knew it was fake.

"Haha." Nortze touched his wife's cheek, "We did it. We can live happily now. Haha…haa..ha."

Gisella didn’t match eyes with him.

"Hey." Nortze pulled her head up, "Why don’t you smile?"

She moved her head sideways.

"You, my daughter. Will you smile for me?"

Rikilda gulped and closed her eyes to the point her forehead wrinkled. The reddened girl sobbed, trying to hold back her tears.

"WHY DON’T YOU SMILE?" Nortze thundered.

He also broke down before saying anything else. Nortze hugged both of them while he cried loud. Their hands crawled to his back and the surviving family wept together.

Nortze's cried were the loud whereas the two others shed tears in silence. Even the tender patting on his backs couldn’t calm Nortze. Soon, Gisella felt her husband's tears.