“It wasn’t just me. Mom commissioned the tapestries and Dad had the p aintings drawn after noticing how much the t0wer‘s decorations m eant to you. I just put in the money and cooked a lot of food.” Lith s aid, returning Solus’ embrace.
“Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad.” She hugged them as well, but this time s he carefully controlled her strength. “Isn’t it a bit overkill for just the t en of us? I mean, even if Granma brings a few people like the last t ime, it’s still too much.”
“No, dear. We invited all your friends.” Elina replied as the door o pened and from the Mansion’s gate arrived Selia, Nalrond, Protector, a nd their kids.
Then, it was the turn of Kalla, Nyka, and Nok.
“Happy birthday, Solus. I hope you don’t mind if I brought several plus o ne.” Salaark wore a comfortable emerald evening dress to give her s wollen belly the space it needed.
“Happy birthday, Elphyn, Solus, or whatever you call yourself now.”
Sinmara looked stunning in her emerald green evening dress that b rought out her flaming red hair and matched the color of her eyes.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for your invitation. It was rude o f you to keep me hanging until now.” The tall Phoenix of Darkness l eaned forward to hug Solus, drowning her in a pleasant flowery smell o f her hair.
Solus had to admit that Sinmara was really pretty as her eyes followed t he cute little fleckless that went from her eyes to her nose. Then, she f ound herself staring at those on the generous bosom of the Phoenix’s human form that such position left exposed.
“Did we know each other in the past?” Solus asked, suddenly u nderstanding Lith’s reaction upon their first meeting.
‘1 guess l do like women as well.‘ She thought.
“Menadion had a lot of Phoenixes as her apprentices. There was a l ong queue, but it was worth the wait.” Sinmara handed Solus a r ectangular present that was clearly a painting, making her squirm w ith joy.
“Always nagging at your friends, dear sister. It’s no surprise that no o ne wants you around.“ The most handsome man that Solus had ever s een walked through the door.
He looked to be in his early thirties, about 1.84 meters (6′) tall, with w heat blonde hair and blue eyes as clear as the sky. His tight-fitting e ven clothes emphasized the confident grace of his movements and t oned body Solus’ jaw fell to the floor, along with those of every woman in the r oom but his relatives.
“Who invited you here, Surtr?” Sinmara snarled more than spoke.
“Hey, I resent that!” Raaz, Senton, and Protector said before their eyes f ell onto the woman who walked by Surtr’s side and was easily his m atch.
Rethia looked to be in her early thirties as well, as tall as her husband t hanks to the heels. She had hair of the same tinge of red as the s etting sun and silver eyes that shone like stars.
She wore a silver evening dress that matched her eyes and e mphasized her hair and her rosy skin.
The v neckline of her dress wasn’t deep, but enough to show how s hapely her figure was and draw the attention of anyone who a ppreciated female beauty. Her slender limbs moved with a grace that f urther amplified her beauty and her smile was so bright that it could b reathe new life into a corpse.
Lith hadn’t stared at a woman like that ever since his first meeting w ith Nalear as a kid, but there was little he or anyone else could do. It w as as if Faluel’s grace had met Tyris’ beauty, giving birth to an i rresistible allure.
It took Lith a second too long and sheer willpower to stop ogling at h er while the other men needed a few nudges from their respective c ompanions. SuItr’s charms had lost their effect once the women had n oticed the stupid look on the face of their husbands.
“Mom invited me, dear sister.” Surtr said while shaking Lith’s hand.
“After all, I knew Elphyn as well. I was also an apprentice of Menadion a nd l was eager to meet this famous couple that you often compare t o our young selves.”
The Dragon of Light turned toward Solus.
“Happy birthday, Elphyn. Or do you prefer if l call you Solus?” He a sked.
“Thank you, and I prefer Solus. Elphyn is just a name to me.“ She r eplied.
“So it’s to me.” Surtr nodded. “Whatever you choose to call yourself, m y present doesn’t change. Feel free to open it now.”
He handed her a thin rectangular package, clearly another of Threin’s p aintings. Solus removed the wrapping, revealing a picture of her m other working in the forge. Beside Menadion, there was a cradle w here a small figure slept.
The title of the painting was “Lullaby.”
“Thank you so much.” Solus said, her eyes veiled with tears.
“No problem. Your mother kept working even when it was her turn to t ake care of you and soon the sound of her hammer became your cue t o sleep.” Rethia said with a laugh.
“l hope that you two are grateful enough to compensate us with a few o f those delicacies that my terrible mother and my bossy sister give t o our children but refuse to us.” Surtr said while looking at the tables filled with ice cream and the other Earth sweets that Lith had r ecreated.
“They are just food and their ingredients are far from expensive. Why d o they do that?” Lith asked.
“Because they like to spoil our kids and they want to rope us into the n est.” Surtr replied with a grumble. “Where are my manners. Lith,
Solus, allow me to introduce you to my better half, Rethia the Wind Griffon. Rethia, these are Lith and Solus.”
“It’s an honor.” She gave them a perfect curtsy that required them s heer willpower to not stare into her cleavage.
“How long have you been together?” Solus asked.
“We manied a little over one thousand years ago and we’ve been h appy ever since.” Just the thought of all the moments they had s hared made Rethia spark with joy.
“What? I thought that Awakened had issues with long-term r elationships.” Lith failed hard to contain his surprise.
“That’s because Awakened grow insensitive and egotistical with age.”
Surtr replied. “They want their space, their own time, to take care of t heir own experiments, and put everything else on hold.
“The trick to make it work is to put your own stuff on hold and r ecognize when your loved one needs you more than you need that p articular piece of knowledge.”
“l understand, but there is a crisis-” Lith felt guilty at those words.
Not only had he yet to help Solus with her own breathing technique, b ut he had even forgotten about her during that very same day in the g allery just because he had been too taken by his work with Aerth.
“There’s always a crisis, a breakthrough, or any excuse that c onveniently comes to mind. If you don’t learn when to stop, no r elationship will ever work.” Rethia cut him short. “Another issue for Awakened is their children.
“At some point, they need to decide whether to Awaken them or not Non—Awakened have a short life and seeing even an obnoxious brat d ie can break the most solid union, because it’s still their obnoxious b rat.
