With the menace contained, the journey out of the city was quiet. Out of curiosity, I jostled her around a bit to see if she was really sleeping or just relaxing. After Velris helped roll her head back onto my shoulder, I finally sighed in relief.

          She was out- well, not cold. Thinking back on it, I don’t know if she’s slept at all since she got cured.

          “She was bound to run out of energy eventually.” Velris grinned. “So, what do you have to teach me about here? Are the plants different? Are there any fun unique ones?”

          I could always appreciate a brat that’s willing to learn, though part of me wished I could’ve had a moment to revel in the bliss of silence that wasn’t also accompanied by the overshadowing dread of not having Aena in the immediate area.

          “As I mentioned before, this continent tends to get more rainfall and consistent weather than the Southeast. Though not as old or diverse as the Northeast, it still has a number of biomes that cannot be found anywhere else. That pine forest we were in before I had to drag us across the continent was one example. Fitrees are the lesser cousins of the Helgrif from the Northeast but can only survive in that specific forest.”

          “Will that be a problem?” the boy frowned. To be fair, it was a big fire.

          “No, they burn it down every few years when the trees die. It was time, which is why it burned so quick. Your mother just sped things up.”

          “Why do I feel like that happens a lot?”

          “…I wonder.” I chatted idly with the boy as I thought about the recent events. Not the fire, before that.

          Why were the old monsters there? Can all the half-brats change colors, or did Grakle luck out? Will ours-

          …for that matter, did she want to have children with me? Or does she believe in that old prophecy and plan to just keep adopting brats from off the side of the road?

          For that matter- why do I care?

          “Hey, is everything alright?” Velris tugged on my sleeve gently, much like she normally does.

          “Fine, what did you say?”

          “I asked about how you and Mo- the old lady met.” His face turned a little red.

          “It’s rather simple really, I’d just retired and sent several brats that owed me, or were owned by me, to scout out places in the human world. Some of them came back crying saying a white-clad angel was tormenting them. I went to say hi, maybe pick a fight, and there she was.”

          White in a dark world. Gold eyes similar to the ones that appeared 3 times in my memory. The first from a distance in pools far too hot for me to get anywhere near. The second on a hopeless battlefield where no angel should have been able to leave alive, yet somehow he and a select few managed to save countless other. The third a girl that bounded across the chaotic battle on wings outfitted with blades. Each a stubborn, pure light.

          It was so easy to forget what she was. Chaos in white, as if she didn’t care for the world she lived in at all. Yet she cared very much. Especially children. That was not a line she’d let me cross twice.

          She was heavy. Yet, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let her go.

          Not without the leash.

“and she followed me home. A week or so later we met you. Any further questions?”

          “If you two split,” his head was directed at his feet, “can I go with you?”

          “If we split one of us will probably be dead, so I don’t think you’ll have a choice, but otherwise sure.” I didn’t plan on letting those eyes leave me.

          Velris looked at us, his eyes pacing back and forth between us.

          “…why do you stay together when you’re so different?”

          “Because we aren’t.”

          He clearly wasn’t satisfied with the answer, but I wasn’t going to give him the other ones. Somehow I think mentioning the eye-thing wasn’t appropriate.

          Boney slept for a few days. It took a bit for the boy to adjust to quiet, the first day he was always on edge. After letting the silence settle we managed to hit a balance of questions and learning with the natural peace of the world.

          “When is she going to wake up?” Velris asked, again.

          “When she wants to.” I replied, again.

          At least, that was what I wished had happened.

          “Do you really know of a way to remove someone’s heart and put it back in without killing them? How does that work? Doesn’t the body need blood to circulate or it will die?”

          “Yes, it will. Eventually anyway, but I never bothered with that study. There were a few cases of success that I never took seriously since the demons that claimed to do it were also necromancers.”

          I waited in the quiet, knowing it wouldn’t last. 3, 2, -

          “Are there any tricks for amputations that you know of?”

          “You already asked that.”

          “…right.”

          We kept walking, like we had the day before. Quen’s brat was still trying to catch up, and with a few normal days of walking she was getting closer. Still a few days behind though.

          “…so do you have any hobbies?” I sighed, the boy’s nervous twitching getting to me.

          “…you already asked that too.” Velris grumbled back.

          “..

          “So they’re gone? Gone, Gone? Not here?” Gabriel growled at the 2 Archangels in front of him. A similar, albeit louder scene was happening with the demons in another area of the island.

          “Other than an incident-” Tavliel calmly started.

          “Or two.” General Lyciel, also very calm, interjected.

          “The tournament proceeded as planned and brought our races a tactic understanding.”

          “Shared torment really helps the bonding process as it turns out.” The two men smiled with all the relief of dodging a nuclear bomb drop while knowing the fallout might reach them eventually, today was not that day.

          “Why did they leave? Knowing Aunt, I could have sworn that she would never left the place intact after a group of demons pulled a stunt like this. An angel was injured,” He selectively ignored the 3 dead demons “but the criminals escaped? We only got one half-breed who murdered a fellow demon while the others escaped and she left?”

          “Did we mention that we recovered the lost medallion?” Tavliel held to his calm with every fiber of his being. The two old-old monsters made it very clear that they were dead, and dead people couldn’t be here now or involved in any way now could they?

          “Yes, five times. Are you hiding something? Did those money grubbing, murderous fiends threaten you?” Gabriel the 18^th, had a bad habit of being right at the worst times. A trait that many of his predecessors had, along with a tendency to have children early, and die quickly.

          “No.” Yes, but not the ones you’re thinking of. Tavliel sighed at the boy who was barely 200. “Look, Gary. You have your suspicions about the demons, which is very fair. We have been at war with them for a long time, but this is an honest- albeit crude, attempt on both sides for peace. There were rebels who wanted to stop that, and the Old Generals stepped in to help and left before things got troublesome. Unless you would prefer to ask Mother herself what happened, I dare say we can call this closed.”

Gabriel had some rather vivid flash backs of his childhood lessons, and coughed neatly into his hand, “Well, safe to say we can call this a resounding success!”

IReadWhenBoredSoWhat

Yo, this chapter was ready? while ago but then it was only a little longer till I hit the year mark since the last update and then I forgot!

I'm sorry people. I'll proof read later, cause otherwise I'm going to forget again and it'd have been another month knowing me. So if you spot something or have questions, lambast me without mercy.