“Fenagar knows about you ever since your trip to Jiera while Inxialot is more likely to die for good that to take a walk. Even if he did, I bet white crystals against beans that he’d forget about you the moment he takes his eyes off you.”
“Makes sense.” Lith nodded. “I have a favor to ask.”
“Already?” The Guardian glared a bit until Lith whispered something in his ear that Leegaain Hushed with a Guardian tier spell.
“By the gods, I’d steal your idea right now if not for my precarious situation. Follow me.” The two men disappeared inside the lab again, leaving the three women alone.
“What did they say?” Kamila asked Salaark.
“Beats me. The bastard is good. Solus?”
“I don’t peek into Lith’s mind like that!” She blushed in outrage. “Also, he would instantly notice.”
“La.” Shargein caught a lock of Salaark’s hair and started sucking it.
Lith and Leegaain returned less than ten minutes later, feeling the palpable curiosity in the air.
“This is for you, Solus. A star that actually came from space and whose light traveled a long distance just to guide me in my darkest hour.” Lith gave her a star-shaped pendant made of silver extracted from an asteroid.
“Thank you! It’s beautiful.” Solus squealed with joy and hugged him with enough strength to crack his ribs.
Then, she turned around and moved aside her long hair, exposing her slender neck so that Lith could put the lock on her.
“Kami, this is for you, instead. To always remind you that I really love you to the moon and back.” Lith showed her a moon-shaped silver pendant, making her squeal as well and wiping out the scowl from her face.
“Nice save, jackass.” She gave him a sweet kiss and a slap on the forehead. “You got me real jealous for a second.”
She turned around and exposed her neck as well, demanding the same treatment.
“I’m not done yet.” He handed her a small jewelry box that turned out to contain a small sun-shaped silver pendant. “This is for our daughter and I want you to keep it until she’s born. The day when she’ll light our lives just like the sun.”
Solus and Kamila squealed even harder than when they had received their own gift, hugging Lith while drowning him in sweet words and compliments about his romantic gesture.
Salaark, instead, glared at Leegaain.
“Well?”
“Well, what?” He feigned ignorance.
“What about me?” She asked.
“What about you?” He furrowed his brows in confusion.
“Don’t play smart with me! Where’s my gift? Where’s the gift for our son?” She was furious, but her voice was low and sweet to not scare Shargein.
“Is this a trick question?” He replied. “If you want to propose, woman, just do it. I don’t see why I have to do all the job.”
Salaark pointed at Shargein and made the hologram of the number nine appear in the air as she pointed at her womb. Then, she slowly passed her thumb along her neck slowly while pointing at Leegaain.
“Point taken.” The Father of all Dragons disappeared inside his lab for a minute, emerging from it with a beautiful necklace with several pendants. At the center, there was a miniature full figure of Salaark and by either side small solar systems.
“What does this even mean?”
“That you are the center of my universe.” Leegaain scratched his head in embarrassment for being so cheesy.
Salaark squealed in joy while Shargein squealed because he liked that kind of noise and wanted to join the conversation.
Luckily, the child prevented her from displaying her affection and Leegaain had another move ready to change the topic before it was too late.
“I also have a gift for you, Lith. Since everyone thinks you are my son and shit pours on you on a regular basis, I thought you deserve as much.” He Warped them to a secluded area where a lake lay at the feet of a mountain range.
A plain, tall building was right beside the lake, surrounded by the silver grass and trees inhabited by small critters.
Leegaain opened the door, showing that the building was empty.
“Here you can put your tower and no one will ever notice. I cloaked the place myself.”
“Wait, what about the geyser?” Lith asked.
“In case you didn’t notice, the whole moon is a geyser. It will give you peace and Solus more power to recover.” Leegaain replied.
“What about the others?” Solus asked.
“I’ve already informed them and we have moved our laboratories so that we just went from a triangle to a square. Inxialot was actually happier than Fenagar at the idea. His OCD likes that now we each cover one of the four corners of the globe.” Leegaain replied.
“Thank you, Grampa. You are the best!” Solus hugged him with joy, making the tower appear from the ground and even checking if she could travel from Mogar and back at will.
“Dammit, Tower Warp doesn’t work!” She said.
“You have to align one of Mogar’s geysers with this one, otherwise you don’t have a clear path. You can bend it a little, but not too much. If it makes you feel better, Inxialot has the same issue. Only Guardians can Warp this far.” Leegaain replied.
“At the cost of sounding like an echo, what about me?” Salaark asked. “On the one hand, I’m happy that you are finally doing something for Lith instead of just lecturing him, but on the other I’m jea-” Leegaain put a key in her hand, cutting her short.
“That’s to access my lab whenever you want. This way, we can spend time together on neutral ground and-” The Overlord gently passed Shargein to Lith and then swept Leegaain off his feet, kissing him with the passion of a Phoenix.
“If you wanted to propose, old lizard, there was no need to beat around the bush so much.” She said once both of them had run out of breath and the others had turned around in embarrassment.
“Help!” Leegaain said with his first breath. “I mean, not in front of the kids.”
“You are right.” Salaark suddenly remembered about the witnesses and dropped the Father of All Dragons like a bad habit. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”
Salaark fixed her clothes while Leegaain repaired his own that she had almost torn to shreds.
“Indeed. We’ll resume this conversation never.” He panted more than saying.
Solus decided to leave the tower active, to fuel its power core even while she was in her human form.
“I suggest you to mark geysers in every continent of Mogar so that by Warping along with the moon’s orbit you can get here anytime you want.” Salaark said, trying to act like nothing had happened and failing big time.
“Thanks, Grandma.” Solus was still flushed up to her ears incapable of looking either Guardian in the eyes.
“It’s almost time for your appointment with Inxialot.” Leegaain said. “Solus, you have to choose whether to keep your human form or go back in your ring.”
“I’ll keep the tower and get back in the ring.” She replied. “Inxialot didn’t invite me and I want to avoid questions. On top of that, as a ring, I can use the Eyes to study everything I want without him noticing.”
