(The next day...)
"So you did it?" Tholin prompted me as he leaned forward in his seat: "That's astounding! Incredible! Wondrous!"
I chuckled: "When I get excited, I usually jump for joy."
After my team was done in Crisos, we went back to Myren Thalor to celebrate. My team and I then blinked to Rhys Vadia this morning after we had eaten breakfast. Unfortunately, Seon couldn't come with us.
"Sorry Helix," She had told me: "I have a job to do here in Myren Thalor, so I cannot accompany you back to Rhys Vadia. Perhaps I'll be able to join your team in the foreseeable future."
I had understood of course. Ben was bummed out, but he too understood.
When we had blinked to Rhys Vadia, we went straight to King Tholin.
"Well, at any rate," He continued, "I am a man of my word." He looked at Ana: "One of my servants are getting your parents from their cells. They should be here momentarily."
A few moments later, a well-dressed high elf entered the parlor room we were in with two blood elves dressed in simple tunics and trousers trailing behind him.
Analise stood up instantly and waited for her parents to speak. At first, they were confused as to why there was a nervous woman standing before them, but realization dawned on them a few heartbeats later.
"A-Ana?" Her mother asked in a small voice.
Tears streamed from her eyes as she nodded: "Yes mother, it's me."
Analise's parents embraced her fiercely, and I noticed that Dorrian was gnawing on one of his arrow to help distract from the fact that he was crying.
"We haven't seen you in years," Ana's father whispered: "We-We thought you were dead..."
"I will explain myself later, father." She told him, "But for now, we have to go free our people."
Analise's father looked at Tholin, "So you've finally mustered the courage to stand against your nobles, old friend."
"I have," Tholin replied with a fond smile: "If it weren't for my friend Helix, I wouldn't have been able to stand up for myself in the first place."
Knocking was heard at the door, followed by a female's voice: "King Tholin? Why are the blood elven king and queen not in their cells?"
Tholin's face paled, "Oh shit...Olivia..."
A shrewd-looking female high elf's face appeared in the doorway a few moments later, only for a knife to thud in between her eyes. The woman named Olivia fell backward, and Analise huffed out a sigh.
"That bitch had it coming to her," She breathed, looking at Tholin: "I hope you don't mind being one noble short, Tholin."
"I honestly don't care. I have enough as it is," He grumbled.
Analise's father chuckled before turning to face me: "My name is Zerrick, and my wife is named Andromeda. I thank you for teaching my old friend how to stand up for himself."
I nodded and bowed my head: "Of course. Just to let you know before you ask, the king of Alysia has offered you and your people an abandoned settlement near the capital city of Helios to inhabit and refurbish if you would like to claim it."
Zerrick's eyes widdened in surprise: "I will gladly accept your king's offer of kindness, and I look forward to meeting him."
Tholin looked at me again: "Well, I suppose this is farewell for now. Don't worry, relations between Ilfhannin and Alysia are still intact, if not strengthened after the feats your team have accomplished. I cannot thank you enough for what you've done."
I smiled, "Don't worry about it Tholin. Everyone is still recovering from the Dread Decades, so I'm just doing what I can to help those in need and punish those who deserve it."
The high king of Ilfhannin smiled: "That sounds like quite a goal, Helix. May you have safe travels."
I bowed my head and motioned for Analise's parents to follow us. After we left the parlor room, Serafine and Miras bade me farewell.
"We must go back to our planes," Serafine told me: "There will be another council meeting in a few weeks to make up for the one that Azrael crashed."
I chuckled, "Hey, at least he's nothing by dust now, right?"
She embraced me: "Thank you Helix. You've saved a lot more people that you think you have. I also owe you for helping Miras-he means the world to me, and I'm relieved that his brother is gone from this world."
I caught her meaning and smiled: "I understand completely. I'll see you in a few weeks then, Sera."
"Farewell," She replied with a nod of her head.
When the two lords were gone, we left Tholin's castle and piled into the two carriages I totally remembered to blink back to Rhys Vadia this morning. (At least I remembered to blink them over in the first place...) The ride to the blood elven village was mostly quiet, but my daughter asked me questions about the flute my mother gave me when I was a child, and I played a few songs for her when she asked me to.
Thankfully, Tholin had sent a few open-top carriages with us to help transport Zerrick's people to Alysia. As far as I could remember, there were about forty blood elves left, so Zerrick only needed three carriages to transport everyone.
It took us about an hour to get over to the blood elven village, but thankfully the main gate was instantly opened when we did reach the village. When the carriage stopped, Zerrick stepped out and took a deep breath.
"My people!" He called: "Heed my words and come to me!"
Before we knew it, the entire village had assembled before their king and queen: they parted to allow Hadyn through, and he hugged his parents fiercely before standing beside his sister, who stood beside her mother. True to what I thought, there were about forty blood elves presently standing before us.
"Today, we have been freed-pardoned of a crime we never committed." Zerrick began in a solemn voice, "While we must leave our home, we have been given a second chance to live freely in the country of Alysia. Now, let us leave this prison of a village and start a clean slate."
The people before us cheered: some wept tears of joy, others drew their beaten up swords and raised them in their king's honor, and others merely cheered because they were too overjoyed to do anything else. I looked at Analise to find that she was crying freely, and that she was embracing her brother.
After the cheering had died down, King Zerrick informed his people to gather their belongings and get into the carriages Tholin had given us. As everyone hurried about, grabbing old heirlooms, clothing, and other essentials, my team chatted amongst themselves.
"Whew, this mission took for-fuckin-ever to wrap up," Nova complained, only to squeak in surprise as Erron ruffled her hair.
"Hey, at least it's over," He told her.
She blushed as Erron started scratching her ears: "H-hey, what do you think you're doing, dragon boy?"
He shrugged, removed the ornate mask from his face, and smiled: "Ah, the benefits of being tall."
"What's that supposed to mean, you wanker!" My sis snapped at him as Analise chuckled.
"I'm honestly amazed we're all still alive," She commented.
Dorrian laughed and kissed her. "Aye, the gods must really love us, huh?"
Now Ana was the one to blush: "Hey, I thought I was the one who did the teasing..."
Luna chuckled as Sylvia played with her tail: "I guess I wasn't the only one to learn from Analise's pool of knowledge-ow! No yanking on my tail, Sylvia!"
Our daughter giggled evilly before she stopped messing around with her mother's tail.
"Analise's pool of knowledge?" Sylvia echoed as she looked at the grinning red-head: "I mean, I suppose you'd need to know a lot to accurately tease someone, but I digress."
"Oh, I'll teach you in due time, my young student," Analise told her happily, shooting a wink in my direction.
"Yeah, and watch as I steal Dorrian from you," Sylvia retorted with a sweet smile.
I snorted, "Oh dear...is this a good idea?"
Luna shrugged, "I don't know anymore. How about we roll with it?"
"Works with me," I replied as I watched Analise attempt to tickle our daughter, only to howl with laughter as her plan backfired spectacularly: "Our little angel."
"Don't forget," Luna began as Sylvia relentlessly tickled her aunt: "Lucifer was once considered an angel."
"Ah yes," I said fondly: "Our little Lucifer."
- - -
-H- Well then, that was one hell of a ride, wasn't it Dorrian?
-D- Geez, tell me about it. Even if our adventures through Ilfhannin were more than a little chaotic, I still had a blast.
-H- Me too, my dude. Me too...
-S- Surprise!
-H- Ack! Sylvia! What are you-?
-S- I'm the captain now! I have the pen!