Early Evening - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

After dropping off Maria with Martha, I stopped by Oliver's office to tell him about the situation then went to the shelter to kill time.

In the shelter, Ilios and I roughhoused for a bit before Father came down the lift to call us for dinner.

"Vasilias, are you ready for dinner?"

Quickly changing to my humanoid form I looked at Father with a smile. "Of course!" I quickly moved over and cleaned off Ilios who had some dust layering his fur. "Shall we?" I looked at Ilios with a childish smile.

"Woof!" He jumped up and ran up to my side.

"Once we get home I'll get you a whole field bison." I reached down and patted him on the head before walking over to Father. "So is the whole gang gonna be here?"

"Yeah, we managed to get a hold of everyone so we will be having a little reunion before we go home." Father looked at me with an excited smile I had never seen on him.

I looked at him with wide eyes before shifting to a warm smile, it felt good seeing Father so excited.

"Well, they're waiting on us so let's not wait around!"

We walked over and hopped on the lift, quickly making it to the dining room.

*Click*

Hearing the door open, everyone looked over.

The table was full of familiar faces. All of Father's adventuring group was here as well as Lucy and Viviana.

There were two open seats on the side of the table with a cushion and plate set on the ground next to one.

-They even gave Ilios a spot!-

"He's finally here!" Sarah held up her glass of wine .

"Took you long enough." Lewis got up from his seat and gave father a bro hug before looking over at me. "Seems like the talk of the town has changed some since I last saw him."

"Haha, just a few changes." I awkwardly scratched my head after hearing him call me the 'talk of the town'.

"Well how about you two take a seat so we can talk a little more comfortably. We got Ilios a spot to sit by you as well Vasilias." Oliver motioned over to the two open seats.

"Thanks for that." I quickly pulled out my chair and sat down. "You can sit here, Ilios. You'll be eating with us."

"Woof woof!" He walked up with a happy trot and plopped himself on the cushion.

I looked back up to see Viviana staring at me in a trance. "Hm? Do you need something?"

Her face turned red as I caught her staring. "N..no, I just thought that your dog was really smart."

"Of course he is! He's a Fenrir after all."

She turned back to me, stunned. "Fenrir?! You mean one of those huge scary wolves?!"

"They're only scary if you make them scary." I looked over at Ilios whose head was sticking just above the table.

He moved some of his aura onto Viviana making her fall into another trance staring at him. -So he knows how to do that as well..-

It was always shocking to see how smart he was sometimes.

"See? Nothing to be scared of." I reached over and pet him some as she snapped out of her trance.

"R..right.. sorry.."

"Haha, you're fine. So how has everyone else been?" Starting the conversation for the night, everyone took turns talking about their days and favorite adventuring stories.

Dinner came out eventually and even though it wasn't to my taste, everyone seemed to be enjoying it and were engaging well in conversation.

Once dessert came out, so did the drinks and all the adults got totally wasted.

Viviana and Lucy left just beforehand and went to the garden to play as well so there was no holds barred on what they talked about.

Thankfully they left before Sarah really got hit by the alcohol.

She got up from her seat and stood up behind my chair, hanging her arms down over my shoulders.

"I thought your love for kids was innocent.." She was starting to get a little handsy.

"Oh shush, you dont look like a kid anymore, this is different."

"Mhmm.." I agreed with a palpable amount of sarcasm but it seemed like it went over her head somehow.

I reached up for my glass of water and took a sip. -Its gonna be a long night..-

After a few more hours of drinking and conversation, Sarah was so wasted she could barely walk, Oliver and Helen were still tipsy but seemed alright since they didn't drink much and Lewis and Father were practically still sober even though they drank the most.

The conversation finally started winding down but the dining room was a mess.

The maids slowly started coming in and cleaning up while we talked so the subject changed to things that weren't national secrets. (About Dragons and such)

"So you're still leaving tonight?" Oliver set down his glass of liquor.

"Yeah, unless Vasilias has other plans." He looked back at me.

"We will leave at some point tonight, yeah. I'd rather fly at night."

Sarah, who laid her face on the table, turned and looked at me. "How long is the flight?"

"If I want to get there fast I could do less than an hour, but I'd like to take my time tonight."

"Hm? What for?"

"I love space.. I'd like to take my time to enjoy it during the flight tonight."

"Space?"

"The infinite night sky, the endless beyond."

"I'm too drunk to understand what that means.."

"Well maybe I'll bring you up to see it one night."

"Make that a promise.." She looked at me with determined eyes.

"A..alright, I'll take you on a little flight at some point in the future.." I reluctantly agreed since I was too worried about what she'd do if I rejected it. -She's so drunk she will probably forget it, but I might as well stick to my word..-

Hearing me agree, an excited smile crept onto her face. “Hehe..”

Father quickly stood up from his seat after giving a disappointed look towards Sarah. "Well I think it's time we get going."

"Right, you'll come to visit us again before 10 years pass this time, right?" Oliver looked over at Father with a taunting smile.

"Haha, of course. I'll find time to visit every year." Father walked over and started giving everyone a hug goodbye so I followed suit.

"Thanks for everything over the trip everyone. You all made it a truly.. unique experience." I wore a warm and thankful smile.

"We would normally at least walk you to the gate but.." Helen set down her glass and looked over at Sarah who had fallen asleep and was drooling on the table.

"Haha it's fine, it's the thought that counts."

"Well, we will get going, thank you everyone again for taking care of us while we were here."

"Of course. Vasilias, please think of Kaelallan as a second home. You are always welcome here."

I gave her a warm smile and a confident nod. "I'll be sure to visit whenever I get the chance."

"Well, have a safe flight! Tell Zachari I said hi!" With Helen waving at us, we walked out and left the palace.

As we were walking I spent some time reminiscing about the trip and enjoying the nice cool breeze. -So much happened on this trip..-

I mindlessly and quietly walked with Father and Ilios all the way to the same forest clearing I landed in when we first got here.

"Well, shall we?" A childish excitement filled me as I put aside the memories for a moment. -Its time to go see mother!-