I had been with Travis for several days now. The imps and storms had stopped my leave for the moment. Travis and I had tried to come up with game plans and continued checking the ruins.
"Travis, what can we do to stop these storms? Or even the imps?" I asked as I stared out the window.
"Kill my dad.." He said calmly.
"We couldn't..." I said looking back at him.
"Yes we could. That demon is the root to all of my problems. I would've done it, but I haven't been able to defeat him," He continued to read his book, "With your help I could take him down."
"So we're?"
"Killing my father? Yes," He said looking up to me.
We were standing in what seemed to be a mini dimension. Before us stood a demon.. He seemed familiar to me...
"Travis... I see you brought a girl with you-" He stopped as he looked to me. "Y-Y-You brought her?"
Travis and I were shocked, "Lady Ereni.... I..."
I stood tall as I looked to him, "Sir, I don't wish to harm you... I just wish that you stop harming the people of this land."
"Y-Yes... Anything," He seemed to snap and we were back in the forest.
"What was that?" Travis questioned.
"I guess I must've helped his home?" I said unsure, "Let's see if the storm cleared."
Travis nodded to me as we went to the shore. The sky had cleared and I checked my ship. Travis came onto the ship.
"Y/n..." Travis called.
I looked back to him. "What is it Travis?"
"P-Please let me come with you!" He said looking down, his body stiff.
I placed my middle and index finger under his chin, lifting his focus to me. I smiled at him as he blushed a bit.
"Of course! I thought that was already decided!" I giggled.
He smiled back at me. We prepared for departure. I waved my hand as I had before and the ship started moving.
"We'll be heading to my usual check up on everyone," I said.
He looked at me questioningly when the boat stopped in the middle of the ocean.
"Why'd we stop?" He asked.
"You'll see.." I said smiling brightly.
I grabbed his hand and pulled out my staff. I twisted it and we appeared near New Meteli. Travis seemed shocked. Over the past year or so had been goin out to see Lucinda to work on simple magicks. So far the only thing I had gotten fairly good at was the teleporting which came in pretty handy... Though it did take a decent of energy still.
"Come on, we have a bunch of other places to go!" I said as I brought him to Cadenza's home.
I walked in to be greeted by a hug.
"Y/n!" Cadenza called happily as she squeezed me tight. "It's been to long since your last visit!"
"It's only been a month or two," I smiled.
"Still," She said as we pulled back, staring into my eyes seriously.
"Alright then, what have I missed?" I asked.
"Why go straight to buisness? Who's your new friend?" She asked.
"This is Travis." I introduced. "He's helping me out a bit. Travis, this is Cadenza, Lord of New Meteli."
The two shook hands.
"Well, I guess now that I've met your friend we can get to buisness. I know how much you care about your schedule," She said walking towards her desk, "Well we have added a few guards and the population is doing well. Other than that we have made sure to keep our treaties with the other villages of the Phoenix Alliance."
"Thank you. Now I'll try to be back soon for an actual visit," I said as we left.
I was about to teleport us when I saw that Travis had a troubled look on his face.
"Travis? Is everything alright?"
"Oh, I was just thinking... Y/n, I want to protect you... I don't want to leave your side," He said looking me in the eyes.
"Well... That would kind of make you my... Guard.." I said.
"Whatever I am to you, I don't want to leave you," He said.
I smiled to him and grabbed his hand once again, "Alright then."
We teleported to Scaleswind. Travis and I were standing outside the gate.
"Be careful, don't do anything stupid. Nicole is extremely strong," I said.
He nodded to me, "Yes Lady Y/n."
We both giggled after a moment of silence.
"You don't have to be so formal with me, it just sounds weird coming from you," I laughed.
"Would you prefer me to call you cutie? Beautiful angel?" He asked flirtatiously.
I blushed a bit but tried to play it off by continuing to laugh.
"I see you have yet another man running for you!" Nicole chuckled.
"Nicole, it's great to see you," I said trying to hide my even deeper blush by hugging her.
"No, no. You're not playing this off again," She said pulling away from the hug, "So who's the admirer?"
"Nicole, this is Travis, Travis, Nicole," I introduced.
"And what do you do for Lady Y/n?" Nicole asked as they shook hands.
"Nicole! Don't scare him off!" I said.
"I'm her guard," Travis said, sweat obviously dropping down his neck.
"You finally got yourself a guard! I've been telling you for years to get one!" She looked back at me.
"I can take care of myself! No offense Travis.." I said.
"It's quite alright. I haven't seen you fight yet, but I tell you can handle a sword, heck even a staff," He said.
"Come on Y/n, let's sit for tea," She said drapping an arm over my shoulders.
"But you hate tea."
"Yeah, but still, it's been to long," She said.
Nicole brought us inside. Travis went to make the tea for us. We sat down at a nearby table.
"So what's your excuse now for not going for it? I saw him flirting with you," Nicole asked leaning on the table to be closer to me.
"Well... I suppose I should tell you... I got another memory back," I said.
"Really!? What was it?!" She asked excitedly.
From when Nicole and I first met we wanted to be friends. Over the past years I had spent a lot of time here helping her with her Lord duties and taking care of Dmitri, and we had become close. She even helped with research on different things.
"Well... It was about Enki, and my relationship with him. He had visited me after I was banished and we were.... We had become lovers... I don't know what happened after that day... But I can only expect that was the last time I saw him before he died... I don't know... Every kiss I have had that I know of... The person has died not long after.." I explained.
"Kiss of death.... Guess they were just dying to be with you," She joked.
I punched her lightly in the shoulder.
"Yeah, I just don't know how to be with someone after having a memory like that..." I said.
Travis came back with our tea. He sat beside me.
"That's understandable, in that situation I would feel the same way," She said.
"Well, you are my last stop before Malachi. So we should probably get talking business."
"Can we in the morning? It's already getting late," Nicole asked.
"Fine."
"Has Travis met Malachi yet?" Nicole asked.
"No, not yet."
"Well, meeting the family... Tomorrow will be a big day for you," She looked to Travis, "Well Travis can take the guest bedroom next to your room. I should check with my head guard before heading to bed."
Nicole left and I started walking with Travis to our rooms.
"So you have a room here?" He asked.
"Yeah..." I sighed, "Nicole and I are pretty close and there's a lot of information out here. I tend to stay out here a lot of the time."
"That's good to know, now what's this about meeting your family?" He asked.
"You'll be meeting my son and nephew tomorrow," I said casually.
"Son?!" He questioned.
"Oh, sorry, he's my adopted son. At this point it doesn't feel like he's adopted though," I said looking up at the ceiling, "We've been through so much over the past several years."
I could only smile thinking about Malachi, "He was dead when I met him, you know?"
"Dead?!"
"Yeah, he was just a ghost.... But I took him in... He was all alone.. It was like I was doing exactly what I would've wanted after I was banished," I said.
"You really are one complex beauty Y/n," He said.
"Yeah... It's crazy how complex everything is.." I said reminiscing.
We arrived to our rooms.
"I'll be right here, see you in the morning," I said before heading into my room.