“Catch up with your family when you can. You never know when you’d return again if ever.” - Old mercenary saying.

“Huh. Didn’t know Sal could make that sort of face,” commented Elfriede when she felt Salicia welcoming an older woman and a couple of men in their thirties with a warm hug and an expression she had never felt the stoic archer made in their decades of acquaintance: a broad grin. While Elfriede naturally could not see it happen, since Salicia was within the range of her sphere of wind-sense she could feel the expression the one-eyed woman was making.

“Yeah, she only really showed it with her little brothers, really. Surprised those rascals grew up so well,” commented Grünhildr with a smile on her own face. “They used to be such annoying brats when they were small, and would only listen to me or Sal, because unlike Sal’s mom, we weren’t afraid to beat them up a bit if they got too annoying, heh.”

“I never had a younger sibling, but I can imagine,” noted Elfriede in stride as she took a drink from the tankard set on a low table near her. It had only been one day since the forces from Kolain had been routed near Aldenstadt, and they were still waiting for the arrival of the reinforcements from Levain to take the captives off their hands.

In the meantime, the Free Lances took the chance to rest and relax a bit after the battle, something the greatly appreciative townspeople of Aldenstadt were all too happy to accommodate. Throughout the night, the mercenaries had been received as celebrated guests in the town’s bars, pubs, and inns, and plied food and drinks for free by the establishments as a token of gratitude.

As the next day dawned, many of said mercenaries were sleeping in for once in a long while, many of whom were nursing hangovers when they woke up. Elfriede, Grünhildr, and Salicia escaped that fate since they had went to a more measured celebration held by the former Viscount instead, along with the other platoon leaders present, and had rested for the night in the Adenauer family mansion which had plenty of guest rooms to accommodate them.

That was how they got to watch the reunion that took place the next morning.

Bernd Adenauer had dispersed his children in an attempt to avoid the ravages of the budding civil war so as to preserve the family, or at least part of it. Out of those children, the majority left to other countries, with some even ranging as far as the southern continent of Ur-Teros. A few of them refused to leave and chose to stay with their father, though.

Amongst those who stayed was the former Viscounts eldest daughter and heir, as well as his third wife and the youngest two of his sons, the latter being Salicia’s mother and younger brothers. As for her older half-sister, the woman was more of an administrator, and had been acting as the mayor of Aldenstadt since their father was mostly in Levain due to his duties as a councilor. As for the younger sons, both of them were part of the city’s home guard and had refused to leave, which made the reunion a possibility.

Salicia’s mother was a human woman who looked every bit of her age, likely in her mid sixties, while her younger siblings had similarities in their facial features compared to her, though they were more prone to smile and other expression of their emotions compared to their stoic older sister. The four spent some time catching up with each other since the company had at least another day to relax anyway.

They had not reunited sooner since the company was busy preparing the defense of the town in the days leading up to the battle, and neither of her brothers were particularly high in position amongst the guards, and thus weren’t part of the meetings, unlike Grünhildr who frequently met her mother since Daleeni was a constant presence in the meetings.

Salicia’s two younger brothers even called their respective wives and children to introduce them to the trio. In the two and a half decades that she had been away from her hometome, Salicia had unknowingly become an aunt to five nephews and nieces. Her sister-in-laws were more of the demure sort of women that were more common amongst the former Empire’s higher class, while the children – the oldest of which was barely fourteen – were quite curious about their mercenary aunt.

It was certainly not a common occupation for a noble’s daughter to take, but it was a path that Salicia was glad she took.

Grünhildr laughed out loud when the oldest boy, who was showing off the muscles on his bicep that he trained for, caught a glimpse of her thick, muscular arms, each of which was easily as thick around as the boy’s thighs, and gaped with his mouth open. Salicia couldn’t help but to find the situation amusing and joined in the laughter as well.

The good mood made Salicia decide to join the showing off as well, and just in time, a flock of geese happened to fly overhead in a V formation.

“Do you kids like roast goose?” she asked to the children, who looked at her questioningly before one of the younger ones replied that they do. At that point, Salicia brought out her bow – the same heirloom bow her father gifted to her decades ago – and nocked a single arrow before she bent her body backwards, nocked the arrow, aimed upwards, and let loose.

A moment later a goose crashed right in the family mansion’s garden, with her arrow piercing its head from bottom to top.

“Well, there’s the goose. Now let’s have the cook roast it up for us to enjoy,” she said nonchalantly, even as her young nephews and nieces looked in awe at the feat of archery she had just pulled off in the most casual manner. To the side, both Grünhildr and Elfriede laughed with amusement as they witnessed the situation play itself out.