Enoria is preparing for war with Irithara, and the team sans Kaleth are doing the best they can to put a stop to it before it progresses even further.
Their plan? Find Mereria, get her help with killing Relioth, and save Kaleth in the process. They...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Mel was confused. He'd thought Nef and Alor being reunited with their mother would be a happy occasion, especially since none of them had been sure she was even still alive. They hadn't tried contacting her because Kara had said that it was possible a text or call could be traced...or something. Mel didn't understand any of it, but it wasn't his place to question it.
At first Orina Arithar had been incredibly relieved to see both of her sons, especially Nef, but once the conversation had become about what the two brothers had been up to, it had quickly turned into a fight.
Orina seemed to put the blame for Nef's involvement solely on Alor, who didn't seem to want to disagree with her that much. That wasn't surprising, though, given that Alor had already blamed himself for pretty much putting a stop to Nef's studies.
Mel hadn't wanted to look into Alor's mind to find out why he'd looked so sad during most of Nef's training, but the Eternal couldn't have helped it. It was hard for him to see someone unhappy and not try to do something about it.
When Mel had tried to comfort Alor, the man had told the Eternal to mind his own business and refused to talk to him for the rest of the day, so Mel hadn't tried it again. But it was clear it was still bothering the former Luxarx agent, so hearing his mother voice what he'd already been thinking couldn't be easy.
Nef didn't seem to agree with this at all, though, clearly annoyed that both his mother and his brother were treating him as if he were a child and had no say in any of this. He was currently yelling at Orina, who looked so angry Mel wanted to run out of the room.
Unfortunately, there was no escaping an Umbra hideout without being spotted, so all he could do was hide in the corner while looking pleadingly at Rayni, hoping that she can put a stop to it. He would have directed these looks at Kara, who always had less patience for these situations than anyone else, but the woman had stayed behind in the hideout she and Alor had checked out.
Mel wondered if Kara had known how Orina would react and wanted to avoid listening to the three shout at each other. He supposed it was possible—Orina used to be a member of Luxarx, so the other members should know her, right?
He quickly stopped thinking about all of that when he saw Rayni had finally noticed the looks he'd been giving her. She nodded at Mel, rolling her eyes slightly when she looked back at the arguing family.
"Okay, enough!" Rayni said as she approached them, waving her arms. When she was ignored, she sighed, and then screamed, letting her eyes glow: "Shut up!"
That seemed to do the trick as Nef, Alor, and their mother all fell silent, looking at Rayni with shocked, almost identical expressions.
"As fun as this Arithar family drama is," Rayni said, her voice very sarcastic, "we have bigger problems here. Like a war, for example. And you know it's bad when I'm the voice of reason."
Alor glanced down, looking ashamed, and Mel fought the urge to hug him. He'd tried before, and none of those times had Alor appreciated it, so it would probably just make things worse. Mel didn't like it when he was yelled at.
