Almost as if responding to Astrid’s hopes, the fighting tapered down day after day. Once the dust had settled and truces were made, not much had changed either. Territory boundaries mostly stayed the same and, like most conflicts in Marcen’s Cliffs, no one died. 

It was just too hard to kill anyone. Given how even the sides were, much more than a couple days of fighting were needed to kill anyone. Deities had too much vitality. Even for non-deities, these people were at the peak of mortal hood, they were tough—not to mention their slight natural regeneration or each organization’s mountain of resources dedicated to healing. 

Casimir, however, managed to change one border. With his hellish training paying off for his subordinates, they managed to pry a neighborhood away from the Dynasty during the truce talks. 

For the common citizen, however, none of this mattered to them. The Library of Truth ensured the benefits provided by each faction were equal and fair. Therefore, beyond some different logos showing up around the neighborhood, nothing else in their lives would be affected. 

Astrid, living in a whole different area of the city, one away from the fighting, couldn’t care less after a couple days. She should’ve but, well, she had other things to worry about. 

Like her art gathering! It went well! After enjoying the first, she was bursting with anticipation for the next!

Having signed up for one during the ‘war,’ Astrid counted her lucky stars when the war calmed down the day before the gathering. Of course, it didn’t matter too much since each gathering was free anyway... 

In the end though, because Valencia was what some considered ‘artistically illiterate,’ Astrid attended alone. Safety though, was still a priority because the city had just been at war. Thus, Astrid let Valencia know where it was. It didn’t hurt to have a powerful person nearby in case a fight broke out or some terrorist group attacked... 

So, with Valencia passing time in a coffee shop, Astrid attended the little artist gathering with full confidence! 

And, as said earlier, it went well! She was so glad she had fought off the shy and nervous demon clawing at the back of her mind! 

She had even met and made a handful of friends! 

One was this really nice lady, she was sooooo good at art!. It was as if she had been drawing for hundreds of years! Astrid was in AWE whenever the lady’s pencil swept across the canvas. Astrid felt like a kayaker the moment they went off a waterfall, amazed at the view and a little scared and intimidated with the situation. 

...Perhaps a kayaker would be much more scared and intimidated... 

Anyhow, Astrid had gotten her name: Tatiana! 

She was another “business person,” but the artist gathering had a rule to not talk about work too much to avoid real life from getting in the way of the art too much. 

With Tatiana, Astrid had also met her husband, Jarace. As another artist, Astrid admired his ability to work with charcoal, but... didn’t care as much... Charcoal just wasn’t a medium she worked in because she didn’t like it. Therefore... Well, she didn’t care as much. 

He was still amazing though! No doubt about it. 

The last person she had met was, well, someone she knew already! Eugene! 

She had NO IDEA Eugene did art in his free time! Plus, unlike when Eugene had previously come to the shop, conversation flowed much better for some reason! 

Probably because there wasn’t money involved... 

Of the three artists though, Astrid definitely had different opinions about all of them. Tatiana was amazing and she wished she could learn from her. Jarace was... alright. As a person he was hilarious and as an artist he was still great, but his art wasn’t her style so she couldn’t learn much from him. Finally, Eugene was... interesting.

Some reason he only drew in an anime style. It was a little bit of an uncommon choice because he drew nothing in any other genre or medium. Only a stylus, drawing tablet, and... anime...

Sure, Astrid had gone through a similar phase, but that was back in middle school! She didn’t have anything against anime, but for some reason she felt it was just funnier in Eugene’s case. 

Having gotten all their phone numbers though, Astrid invited them to check out the cafe when they were free and met up with Valencia. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Astrid grabbed Valencia’s hand. Lacing her fingers with Valencia’s, Astrid turned back to the others and waved to them from across the street as they walked in the other direction. 

Both Tatiana and Jarace seemed closer to middle-aged while Eugene was still young, but it seemed they were all going drinking.

“Have fun!” Astrid called out as the others waved back. “Hopefully, see you soon! Whether it's at another gathering or at the cafe!” 

Sending a signature sunbeam of a smile towards them, Astrid turned back towards Valencia as they began walking back to the store. “They’re all cool, especially Eugene. He’s so funny! Unintentionally though... just like... the fact he exists I find very amusing.” 

“Really now?” Valencia chuckled while looking over her shoulder at their disappearing figures. “Tell me about them, I want to know about your friends too.” 

“They’re pretty cool,” Astrid tapped her chin as they made a turn and crossed a small bridge. Regurgitating as much information about them as she could remember—which, admittedly, wasn’t much—Astrid shrugged as she wrapped up. “Honestly, I know more about their personalities than anything else.” 

“That’s fine,” Valencia shrugged with a laugh, “Well, I hope they come to the shop sometime, I’d love to talk to them. Or well, ‘again’ for Eugene, I guess. Hopefully he can loosen up a little if he comes by again.” 

“I hope so too...” Astrid murmured, “He seemed to become a lot more comfortable with me over time which is good! Maybe he’s just shy!” 

“Perhaps,” Valencia chuckled, brushing her short purple hair back as it began drizzling, “On the topic of meeting friends though, I managed to coordinate with everyone, they’ll all come over around like... what... 12:30 p.m.? They’ll come over for lunch in a couple days. I’ll check my calendar once we get back to give you the exact date and time.” 

Giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up, Astrid leaned against Valencia as they meandered through the rain. “I’ll look forward to it. Any reason all together? Just a reunion of sorts?” 

“Yeah, I was thinking I might as well have a bit of a party, you know? We don’t hang out much anyway, so why not invite everyone over and have some fun.” Valencia waved her hand, stopping a chunk of rain midair for fun. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them bring alcohol either. Even if none of us really get drunk.” 

“It’s fine either way,” Astrid remarked as she and Valencia entered a covered walkway. “It’s been a while since we’ve both drank anyway.” 

Murmuring an “mhm,” Valencia looked up into the sky as she and Astrid continued their way back home. 

It was nice to be out and about... 

Those new friends of Astrid seemed nice too. 

Tatiana and Jarace. Jarace and Tatiana. 

Taking a minute to ponder the names, Valencia raised her eyebrows as a lightbulb went off in her mind. 

The king and the queen. Both had power at the peak of mortal hood and ruled some country the Cerulean Dynasty managed. It was a matriarchal country so Tatiana had the final say but both were getting up there in age... 

Valencia wondered what they were doing in the city. Perhaps the Dynasty wanted to train them or help them become deities? They were, after all, not the best of the best among mortals, the cream of the crop—like Eugene and Adelyn—still had them beat.

Shrugging off the thought after a couple seconds, Valencia leaned to the side and kissed Astrid. “So, lovely, what are you thinking for dinner? Any requests? I can cook whatever you’d like, my dear.” 

Esiyx

I hung out with my writers conference friends todayyy!! for 5.5 hours :O it was amazing

I'm quite zonked from all that socializing though... Maybe next time i'll propose we throw in a 1 hr break in the middle to do some writing :)

Anyway, GO CHECK OUT MY PATREONNN I've started to post a new story there!! The Luminary Institute!! It's a pants'ing only story, gonna be quite slow paced and stuff, but I'll be posting a chapter every day!!

I'll start posting it on all the other sites starting... uh... idk a week from now maybe
I'd appreciate the support though...

Thanks for reading~!!
Take care reader friends~!!