I enjoyed my time off, just relaxing in the city. I spent my few days wondering about, some of it were errands for mum and dad. They’d been catching up and well some bakery tasks had fallen behind, I didn’t know why, after all Athena was still around to help, though her and Brendan had gone out for the day, leaving them to run it.

I had to collect freshly ground wheat from the mill on the edge of the city, then to the herb merchant, but his stock was quite low so I went directly to the source, got stuck in the village of the Panthera Pardus far longer than I had intended, but it was good to see the ancient tree had recovered completely now and darkness was nowhere to be seen within the forests, can’t say the same for the city, wish the stuff would also disappear, but saying that big areas of the castle had become clear of the stuff, mainly the hallways dad had walked yesterday.

Lastly was the castle kitchens as dad had told me about them changing some of the orders for their usual delivery and had written a new list for him.

While I walked through the city I saw quite a few members of my unit, strange seeing them doing things on a normal day. Rex ended up helping quite a few of the older generations in the city, rumour was he had been an orphaned and they had raised him, he might have been of few words but at least he had a heart of gold.

Edge was on errands himself, he paused for a chat. “Dad has got me picking up all sorts of things.”

“Like what?” I asked curious.

“Um…” He pulled out his list. “Highly decorated chest, a few gemstones imbued jewellery and strangely a sword, table, chairs, flowers…” He let out a long sigh.

I had to think about the items he was saying, none of them seemed the normal items, unless. I remember Kiba mentioning he had asked Lin’s dad for permission; they were offerings to our clan. “Welcome to the family.” I patted him on the shoulder.

“Pardon?” He looked at me puzzled.

“They are betrothal gifts to my clan,” I mentioned. “Usually the males family give gifts, but I guess your father wants to make a good impression.” I shrugged, thinking it odd.

“No, not to Kiba,” he snarled.

“They say love is blind.” I let out a laugh. “I’m late, I’ll catch you later.”

“When’s the next mission?” asked Edge. “Don’t like this doing nothing stuff.”

“For starters you aren’t doing nothing, you are running errands, and I’ll inform you as soon as something comes up.”

“Alright,” he nodded. “I was wondering if you had seen Lin, dad needs to see her.”

“No,” I shook my head. “You’re her brother, you know all her hiding places.”

“Nope, I haven’t seen her since we returned from the mission,” admitted Edge.

“Weird, two days and no sign of your sister,” I shrugged, she was obviously spending time with Kiba after he offered her the betrothal gift. “I wouldn’t worry as long as she is with Kiba, she’ll be safe.”

“That’s what I am worried about.” He shook his head. “Later Fang.”

“See you later Edge.” I watched him leave and I continued to the castle kitchen. I retrieved the list without any further distraction. Today was going quite well and I’d gotten a lot done to help.

“Fang.” I heard King Alton. I gulped stopping and looking in his direction. I had expected him to be with Dumah, but he was alone, very little darkness around him.

“Your majesty.” I bowed.

King Alton quickly glanced around. “I need you to check something out for me.” He brought out a scroll. “A convoy from the Avem Empire were coming to the city, but they have yet to arrive, this location is said to be their halfway point. I want you to go there and see what you can find.” I stared at it, not sure if this was a good idea, but he had been purified by dad so currently had no influence from Dumah.

“Alright, what else can you tell me?” I asked, taking the scroll from him.

“The queen had requested a meeting with the high council members of the Avem Empire, due to the relations of what happened at the summit, after some discussion King Skyrus decided to send them along with their mightiest warriors.”

“What were they doing on land?” I asked a little confused, they were Avis after all.

“Some members of the high council are let’s say of the flightless kind,” mentioned King Alton. “So had no other option than to travel by land.”

“I see,” I nodded. “When do you want me to head out.”

“As soon as possible,” answered King Alton. “But make sure you are prepared for anything.”

“Understood,” I acknowledged his words and headed straight to the bakery to drop off the items from my errands. “Larana summon my unit.” I said unpacking.

“Understood.” She responded.

“What’s up?” Dad came from out back to give me a hand.

“King Alton asked me to check up on a convoy of high council members from the Avem Empire, which was supposed to arrive here, means my day off has been cut short,” I sighed, looking around. “Where’s mum?”

“She’s sleeping after a very vivid vision of an attack on Cathopia,” informed dad.

“What? I can’t leave,” I said shocked.

“Don’t worry I am here, and I have Link also, he has sworn to protect Princess Tigra, right,” grinned dad.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“Go on Fang, you have a job to do.”

“Understood.” I touched Larana’s bracelet. “Contact the others to meet me at the forgotten bridge as soon as possible.”

“Got it.” She appeared smiling. “Ibiki, Edge, Rex, Finn, Kiba and Lin. Report to the forgotten bridge.” Larana twirled around. “A mission, are you going to use our fused form again.”

“I doubt it,” I let out a little laugh, she hadn’t stopped talking about it since we fused. “See you later dad.”

“Good luck Alex.” He nodded and I quickly headed out, it wouldn’t be good if I was the last one to show up at the meeting point.