TBATE: Let The Truth Be Known {Completed}

Chapter 13: A Hero's Welcome

"How about I make it every day so you don't have to leave," I quip back, but I wish I hadn't because Arthur and Ellie's beaming faces soon shift to disappointed and pained. "I didn't mean it like that, you two. I know you'll have to leave again, Arthur, but I-"

Arthur cuts me off, "I know Mom. You don't need to mention it. I'll be here for a while. Don't worry, I won't be going anywhere for a while. Cecil and I have 15 weeks in the Relictombs before we need to go back out," he explains.

My heart threatens to beat out of my chest. It's been so long since I've had my baby boy with me for more than a week. Just a few months ago, I didn't think I'd ever see him again. I thought we lost him. Of course, I had hoped he would return, but we all knew it was more likely that he died in the end. I've never been so happy to be wrong.

"Is there a dog bowl I can have, or do I have to sit here and just watch you all eat delicious food?" Arthur's shadow wolf companion speaks from the corner of the room. He's taken a liking to the few blankets I've been gifted by families for healing the injured around the encampment.

"Yes, Regis. I'm sorry, let me get you a bowl," I say going to stand up but am interrupted by a hand on mine.

"I'll get it, Mom. He's my responsibility," Arthur speaks up. His hands are incredibly smooth and uncalloused, completely unrepresentative of his inhuman work ethic.

"Are you sure, honey? I can get it," I affirm.

"Yes, Mom. Now that he mentions it, my emotions of happiness and satiation are leaking into him, so I feel bad leaving him out," Arthur answers.

"What he said, Mrs. Leywin. Goldilocks here can feel what I feel and vice-versa just like with Sylvie," Regis chimes in, slight amounts of anticipatory drool dripping from his mouth.

The mention of Sylvie's name darkens the mood even more than my comment about Arthur leaving did. Cecilia's face was the most shocking as her face contorted into immense sorrow before covering her face.

"I-I'm sorry, guys. I didn't think about it before I said it," Regis apologizes.

"It's okay, Regis. You were just stating a fact. That is how it works, Mom. He and I are bonded in a very similar way," Arthur comments while picking the ladle from the pot and filling a wooden bowl a little over halfway. He walks over to the corner Regis is still seated in, and places the bowl on the ground, giving Regis a slight tousling of his mane. "Here you go, partner. Don't worry about it. I'd be mad if she were dead, but we'll see her again someday."

Regis' vulpine face somehow contorts into a frown while Arthur's falls into that familiar fake smile he would always use when he was troubled.

"Aye, princess," the Regis replies before hungrily lapping up the beef stew in the bowl. "It's delicious, Mrs. Leywin."

"Thank you, Regis. It's a family recipe. My mother taught it to me and the same goes for many generations back. This was Reynold's favorite of my mother's. The few times he ever got to meet them, I'd make sure that my mother and I would make this," I explain as the mood in the room begins to dampen once again. "He wouldn't want us to be this gloomy. Let's just enjoy some joyous conversation."

"In that case, how long are you going to be here, Art?" Ellie asks. Her question was the one that Virion and I had been wanting to ask but had been too scared to.

"From today? Around five weeks. I plan on taking Cecilia on a proper ascent soon where she can use all of her abilities and get some real practice," he answers.

My heart aches at the mere mention of him leaving again, but five weeks is enough time for me to at least relish in him being here.

"Can I come with you?" Ellie asks. My and Virion's heads snap towards my daughter at her question.