"Excellent work, everyone. See you all tomorrow." Faluel said.
"Wait, how do I-" Lith said.
"Bye!" The Hydra Warped them to the barn before checking herself with Lifestream.
"That was an excellent workout. A few more lessons and I'll be back in shape thanks to my Awakened metabolism."
Meanwhile, in the barn, Morok swore like a trucker during a Sunday morning jam.
"Why did she send me here? I was supposed to go back to master Ajatar's lair! It will take me time and effort to get there by the city Gates network, unless…"
He looked at Quylla's lovely features. Fatigue reddened her lips and cheeks like no make-up could, also making her skin sparkle at the faintest light.
"Can I stay at your place for the night?" He asked while appreciating how her sweat and training clothes left little to his imagination.
"No!" Quylla jumped through the gate the moment she realized that Morok had been talking to her breasts and ass the whole time, turning to a bright shade of purple.
"Creep." Friya and Phloria said as goodbye while crossing over.
"It was worth a shot." Morok sighed deeply. "Bye, guys."
Once the Tyrant disappeared through the Gate, Lith looked down on Nalrond.
"And you wanted me to ask him for advice about women." Lith said with a sneer.
"Look at the time. I really need to go. Bye!" The Rezar pretended to have something urgent to do and ran away to avoid further mockery.
"Mom, we're back." Lith opened a Steps to the kitchen where Elina greeted him and Solus with a hug.
"Finally, I have both of you for dinner. I'm sorry I couldn't prepare anything special for you, Solus, but Lith gave me no notice and I thought you two would be staying in the tower again. Did you grow bigger again, dear?" Elina said.
"Don't worry, Elina. This is a pleasant surprise for me as well. I can finally dine together with the family." Solus returned the embrace, noticing that Elina was right.
After staying cooped up in the tower with Lith for days, her stone doll form had grown of a few centimeters.
"Please, stop making a fuss about this." Lith said. "We dined together for lunch and-"
"And it didn't happen ever since you returned from Lightkeep." Raaz rebuked him.
"First, we left you alone to grieve Mirim and recover from your breakup with Kamila. Then, you buried yourself in work so much that whenever we came to visit at the tower, we only met Solus.
"Do you realize that we've spent more time with her than with you?"
"Yeah." Solus nodded. "I hoped that after you introduced me to your family, we'd spend more time all together, not less."
"This is your family as well, Solus. You don't need that grumpy ass' permission to come here whenever you want." Raaz caressed her head, making memories of Threin, her father, resurface.
She only remembered the feeling of her father's touch while his face was just from the image that Lochra had shown her. Had Solus tears she would have cried, but her stone form allowed her to hide her feelings.
"Thanks, Raaz."
"Lith! Solus!" Aran and Leria brimmed with joy at their appearance, eager to spend time with their brother/uncle and impress their newfound friend.
Their respective parents had put time and effort to explain to them how important Solus was to Lith and why they couldn't speak about her with anyone else, yet they had just preached to the choir.
After having magical beasts for steeds, learning magic, discovering Lith's Tiamat form, meeting Phoenixes and Tezka, the kids had no problem adding Solus to the list of secret oddities of their life.
They had become so used to having strange guests that even if an elder Dragon appeared out of the blue claiming to be their long-lost uncle, they would take their word at face value.
The kids knew both about Solus and the tower, failing to grasp the magnitude of her existence but glad to have a new playmate nonetheless. Solus's stone doll was now barely 1 meter (3'3) tall, way shorter than them so they considered their duty to protect her.
Solus didn't like much being treated like a child while Lith was treated as a hero, but it still beat fear and mistrust.
"I'm sorry if I made you angry, big brother. Please, don't be like uncle Ryman and come back home." Aran said, making Lith feel like a monster and gaining him several reproachful looks.
"I'm sorry too, uncle. I'll be a good girl, I swear." Leria hugged him, sobbing a little.
The kids didn't know what kind of mess Lith's life was. Their parents had kept them in the dark to protect them, yet their ignorance made the children blame themselves for Lith's disappearance.
"It wasn't your fault. I was just very busy." Lith hugged them both, making them sit on his lap.
"Really?"
"Really. An Archmage has a lot of duties to attend. I'm sorry for making you worry." He said.
"Then why did aunt Kamila never visit as well? Was she busy helping you?" Leria asked, unwittingly stabbing Lith's heart.
It took everyone a bit of effort to reassure the children and make them drop the subject with the excuse that dinner was getting cold.
Solus's stone body could taste the food but not digest it. Elina's dishes would be stored inside her belly until she turned into her humanoid form and started doing whatever that body did to get rid of the things she ate.
Having her own seat at the table, eating with others, and taking an active part in the conversation with her own mouth instead of Lith's made Solus's voice crack several times with joy.
Everyone was moved seeing how things that they took for granted brought such happiness to the newest member of their family and made them scold Lith many times for having kept Solus isolated for so long.
During dinner, Lith listened to the most recent events in the Distar Region. The new Count Lark had moved back into his ancestral home after the Royals had rebuilt it to its former glory down to the smallest detail.
As for Brinja, she was the new Marchioness, and much like Lith, she had drowned herself into work to not let grief get the better of her.
Lith then told his family about what he had learned from Faluel, even offering the kids a small demonstration about his skills with gravity fusion.
"I was thinking that after dinner we should research a new breathing technique." He said once everyone was sated and relaxed.
"What?" Solus's happiness faded at those words. "I just practiced the whole day and you want me to do more?"
"Well, I already had plenty of rest today and you don't need to sleep to reset Invigoration, only to stand above a mana geyser." Lith shrugged. "There's only so much time in a day and now that I've reached the violet core, Invigoration is outdated."
"Not a chance!" Raaz put himself between them as if Solus needed his protection. "I didn't see you for almost a week and now you want to run away from your family right after a meal?"
"I'm not running away I-" Elina pointed at the kids and their eyes veiled with tears, cutting Lith short.
"Fine. What about a compromise? We'll stay until bedtime and then we are going to practice. You guys need to sleep."
Elina and Raaz exchanged a sad look before rolling their eyes.
"Deal." They said in unison.
