Chapter 601: Chapter 601 - A Soldier’s Son Is Done & A Consort’s Share Of Adoration

Their stop came near a bend in the route, a knot of residents that had been pressed close to the rope moving back respectfully. Most everyone knew of the Warden Patrician’s relation to the woman, not because either of them flaunted it, but because rumors simply spread. Besides, when you saw them both standing next to each other like now it was hard to deny.

Both were women who had trained martially, held taller statures, and had an intensity about them. Yet they were different enough that being siblings was very unlikely, even if they were similar enough in eyes and hair that their genes surely came from the same region’s peoples. Talva er Ryleon held her child’s hand, a boy of about three with a messy mop of hair.

The surroundings had seen Qatrand approach with wife still on her shoulders before letting her down for the talk. But Elua had actually left that enjoyable ride to get a closer look at the boy a while before that. Letting only Qatrand and Onya know by not inserting the illusion inside of their minds.

’Pretty child. I can see why my sister was taken in by him.’

Reddish-orange eyes and a sort-of blond hair that was almost brown. Clearly he had gotten a good dose of his father’s eumelanin production value, darkening what could have been the brighter strands of his mother’s into something in between them both, for now. Whether it stayed this shade or darkened even more as he aged was a question, but not one that the ancient cultivator was distinctly interested in modeling.

The boy was a cultivator - and one that would likely have a future continuing relationship with Onya. At least judging by how much his tiny spirit brightened on seeing the slightly older girl strolling along. If it was a positive friendship, El wouldn’t mind sharing some tips and suggestions... if she could work out what his Trinity of Aspects were.

Generally speaking, it wasn’t something that could be done at a mere glance. Especially when the individual did not yet begin their intentional cultivation. An Early Initial, if he could be called that, barely held anything to read into compared to a Mid... and the more time she spent with a person to catch unintentional deviations in flows that suggested the form or shape of the Aspect, the better.

That was how she was able to anticipate Qat’s Gravity before the then young swordswoman made it to Enchanter, as well as the missing parts of her disciples Trinity, that of the two brothers in the Exclave, and of course her troublesome sister. That being said... sometimes things really were quite simple. She nodded to herself and slid over into the spot where the illusory her was standing obediently to realize eyes were on her.

"It’s good to see you well, Elua."

"You’re greeting me first?"

"Well, I just saw this one a couple weeks ago. Do you think the weight of relief is the same?"

"No, it wouldn’t be for me." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Of course not, you’ve been gone-"

"I’d still be happier to say hello to my spouse. No matter what."

Shock turned to covering her face and snickering, before she crouched down to her son and rubbed his head. Something that he didn’t entirely seem to like, but also wasn’t choosing to complain about.

"You can go play with Onya for a few moments. Be good, alright?"

"-right."

The boy answered quietly and walked quickly to get to the youngest Goltbred. He didn’t have a real big sister, but his youthful brain didn’t see the difference. The reddish-blonde was friend, playmate, and someone he felt he could always talk to. Evidenced by the clumsy, clinging embrace on her side.

"Talva. You are being so very presumptuous. Maybe I’m the one that wanted to play with him, hm?"

"El. Don’t tease her and also wave your sister on behind your back."

"But she would be conflicted... and probably give him to me if I didn’t make sure she knew I was kidding..."

"Welcome home. Both of you."

What followed was beautiful to the brunette. Her ’fortress’ was friendly and warm in public to her cousin. Not to the degree that Ondua could be with people, but there was still no clear guard measuring against what was safely permitted between them. Her husband-wife had achieved a happy balance that let her talk to a relative on a noisy morning in a way she never would have, trapped inside the Yecine family.

There was plenty to regret and dislike about the way things worked out, but the swordswoman being fed up and finding her own way outside of that constraint entirely... might have been the best thing the ancient cultivator could have hoped for. And it made her feel just a bit cowardly that she couldn’t push her that way on her own, seeing the result.

Even if she knew that Qat coming to the self-realization and breaking point was the only thing that made everything end up this way. Knowing and feeling were two different things sometimes. That’s what she thought as she locked her arms around the strong forearm belonging to the blonde that had been gesturing while talking about something so mundane.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. Just happy for you."

Elua loved Qatrand quite unreasonably in that moment, she both knew and felt. So much that she let the knowing and feeling out without modulating her behavior for the crowd. In fact, the only reason that everyone in close proximity was not knocked unconscious by the magnitude of her Breacher spirit doing its flips... was because it was currently locked so tight around herself and her matured, but not withdrawn and jaded, spouse.

As someone who had seen others changed for the worse by any number of compounding causes, the reincarnator was simply tickled that her Qat only got better and better from everything that came her way. Her head nodded low and her peripheral vision caught the boy whispering into a kneeling Onya’s ear. When he was apparently done, the older girl stood with her chin in hand.

’Considering a matter of great importance. Oh, she nodded and put on a brave face this way.’

"Taltal!"

Blinking at the soldier’s personal nickname called out so loud, the brunette turned her face to hide the look of her laughter from the watchers. Though it didn’t completely hide the shaking of her shoulders as the little otter-knight charged forth as envoy with a message. The boy had all but used the bottom of the white rucksack as reins, holding on behind her back until they were both back beside his mother.

"Tana wants to go home now, his stomach hurts. He just told me."

"...Did he, now."

"Yeah. He didn’t want to say it to you, ’cause you were happy to be here. You know how he is."

A complicated and tender look crossed Talva’s face as a strong hand smoothed little Feytana er Ryleon’s thick hair. Her boy was quiet and sweet, too good and not selfish enough. He shared with other kids and did without if it meant someone else would frown. She was sure it was not *only* because of the influence of Onya, who always tried to play and make others smile around him...

"Very kind of you to tell me, little one. I’ll take him straight home to rest."

...But it did concern her a bit that he could confide in the Goltbred girl and not his own mother. Mostly because she worried that it was an extension of her old ’curse’. Children finding her scary, even if that was happening a lot less since she gave birth. Elua had recovered enough from her spell of adoration to notice the mild distress, so she reached out a hand to Talva’s elbow.

"We’ll visit properly another time. My sister will be here with us a while."

"I look forward to it. We’ve held you up long enough anyway, everyone else is waiting."

"They waited to see me for *years*, what is a few minutes?"

"Let’s go, El."

Her fingers twitched, but Qat kept herself from grabbing the mischievous woman’s head and leading her along that way. Onya stood a few seconds watching the mother and son go with a faint, put-out frown on her face. Despite being the one that helped it along... one of her favorite kids had just left while her *other* favorite people were part of the spectacle going on.

’I didn’t even get to pick him up and hug him because he said he didn’t feel like it...’

She felt just a little lonely. And the adult with a hand on her back, urging her on track, was not really a big help with that. She didn’t hate her or even dislike her... but her personal servant was also *not* on the list of favorite people!

⟠ ⟠ ⟠

Uvraneht had been welcomed by crowds before, in many forms. There was the silence laced with fear as she strode among soldiers that she would be taking command of. Being bowed to under duress, when she had a rare reason to threaten the residents of an entire city. She had also, on one memorable occasion, been received as the crown princess of a much beloved king. A role she had performed on a strange request by that same man.

Crafting an illusion from descriptions and diaries so flawless that grown men had wept... when she ’died’ from an unfortunate accident, four years later. One that couldn’t be tied back to the next-in-line prince - unlike the actual princess’s death. Which was a situation which occurred shortly before she took on the role, but required the royal family to act in a way that covered it all up.

Remembering that experience sat oddly warm in Elua’s chest, given that she knew - without any sort of envious sting in her heart over it - that just like back then, these couple thousand revelers were not truly here for *her*. The long route they waited against did not run straight, but looped their leader and her returned wife through the heart of the city. So that there would be no quarter of it that did not get to do some cheering for Qatrand.

It was her first true sight of what had been raised here, while she held herself away in a bubble of separated space. She had left a number of plans that had been started back when she had been working at the competition grounds, further refined and entered into the large book sent back with Sevra. But her husband-wife had built the place up, with thoroughfares running larger than currently needed... exactly as written by her El.

Thus began the itch... that started small, the way it always did. Somewhere behind the eyes and underneath the fingertips. Finding, here and there, the gap between what was done good and what she could improve. The drainage along the avenue, sound as it was, that likely wanted one channel cut a bit differently. The essence-lantern spread on street poles that could be improved to cover more dark spots.

Nothing *wrong* that she would have torn out and built anew. Only a dozen or more quiet places and details where she thought she wanted to later ask permission to fix things up. Until the procession finally spilled at last into the open ground before the Clearer Skies Society, a place she was already scheduled to perform some important work on soon.

A place that belonged to her mother...

And proof that even if their eyes and smiles were 95% for Qat...

There was still *some* minuscule care allotted for making her feel welcome.

’Makes me feel like the spouse of a beloved royal~’