Selia had become as skillful as a professional tailor, but sewing clothes took days, whereas Lilia and Leran only needed minutes to destroy them. Not to mention how hard it was to wash them without tearing the stitches apart.
“Oh, gods! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Selia cried out in joy at the thought that her nightmare was finally over.
Being in the last trimester of pregnancy, she couldn’t jump at Lith’s neck, so she dragged him down by the collar of his shirt to give him a big kiss on both cheeks before forcing her kids to wear their enchanted clothes.
“They are no better than the academy’s uniforms.” Lith warned her. “They are no Skinwalker armor, so the degree of protection those clothes offer is limited.”
Lith only had so many prototypes, and after giving them to his family, the Ernas’s girls, and to the kings of the woods protecting his home, he had none left. Orichalcum was too precious and he had only a limited amount of it.
Sure, Lith still had to cash in his latest reward, but before filling a blank check, he wanted to be sure that he would not later regret asking for too little or for something he didn’t need.
“As long as I don’t have to patch them every other day, they are fine by me.” Selia said while preparing a strong tea and spiking it with an even stronger liquor. Kamila was already regaining consciousness and she could probably use a drink.
“Kami, are you alright?” Lith held her hand, giving her courage, and making the paleness of her face disappear.
“Yes, sorry. I was- I am-” Kamila kept tripping on her tongue as she couldn’t stop staring at the abnormal family in front of her eyes.
“There, there, dear.” Selia offered her a cup of hot spiked tea that Kamila gulped down too fast, starting to cough due to the liquor. The alcohol burned through her throat and stomach, but it also spread a soothing warmth that eased her nerves.
“Not so fast, or it will go straight to your head. There’s nothing to be scared of. I’m human, just like you. Do you think Lith would ever put you in danger? Does Ryman or my kids look scary?”
“No, and that’s the really scary part.” Kamila blurted out.
They weren’t normal, yet there was nothing distinguishing them from humans. The sudden realization that Body Sculpting wasn’t a prerogative of humans, that magical creatures could live next door and she would never notice was what was freaking Kamila out.
“Can I have some more? Pretty please?” She asked with lost, begging puppy eyes.
“Do you want tea in your Phoenix Plume, dear?” With its almost 40% alcohol content, it was Protector’s favorite medicine after a bad day.
“Yes, but leave the bottle, please.” Kamila replied while filling her cup with tea and liquor in equal parts.
“Do you want to stay for dinner or do you want me to bring you back home?” Lith was caressing her hand and looking at her with deeply worried eyes.
“I’m fine, really. I’m just…” Kamila didn’t know what to say without sounding incredibly rude to their hosts. “Overwhelmed. You told me a great deal about both of them, but never that they were together or that Ryman could change his form.”
“Because it wasn’t up to me to share it, nor does it change what they represent for me. My relationship with Ryman would be the same even if he was a wooden puppet come to life.” Lith replied.
“I really don’t get what’s so scary about me.” Protector furrowed his brows. “You surely have met plenty of criminals in your line of work and I doubt you fainted while looking at the evidence of their crimes. What makes me even worse than they are?”
“You’re not worse than them, quite the contrary.” Kamila suddenly felt incredibly stupid. Based on Lith’s and Friya’s words, Protector had been nothing but a good friend to them and a hero to the Griffon Kingdom.
Yet she was reacting as if she was in the presence of a man-eating monster.
“It’s just that I never expected that Emperor Beasts could take human form, nor that they could conceive children with members of other races.”
“Appearance might indeed be deceiving, but do your criminals wear a tag to warn others of their nature? Do undead flaunt their status when they mix among you humans in social events?” Protector’s words made Kamila remember about the vampire she had met in Othre.
Even then, she had been scared, yet she had managed to keep her cool.
“I’m not asking you anything but to give us the benefit of the doubt and to not judge my family just because of who I am instead of what I do.” Protector went to the bathroom, to wash and change his clothes for dinner.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset him.” Kamila said to Selia.
“Don’t worry, he isn’t angry. To be honest, I never saw him getting angry, not even once. I think Ryman is just sad. He cares a great deal about Lith and he was eager to meet you. He’s probably afraid that we’ll not get to spend as much time with you two as we hoped.” Selia patted her shoulder, preparing two shots of Phoenix Plume.
One for Kamila and one for herself, until she remembered that she couldn’t drink. The idea of living such a scenario every time one of her children brought someone home was already giving her a headache, but she had to bear with it.
Lilia walked timidly towards Kamila, holding a wet handkerchief. With her shoulder-length red hair, emerald green eyes, and her small face full of freckles, she looked like a doll in her small hunter suit.
“Thanks, sweetie. I appreciate your thought, but I’m feeling much better now.” Kamila took the handkerchief and applied it to her forehead, grateful for the fresh relief it provided to her.
“It’s not for the head, silly.” Lilia giggled like crazy and so did her brother. “Mom always says that it’s important to be clean, especially if we want to sit after we w…”
“There’s another bathroom on the first floor.” Selia cut her short, wanting to avoid making the evening more unpleasant by adding further embarrassment to the poor Kamila. “You can wash your head and freshen up a little.”
Only then did Kamila realize the meaning of Lilia’s words, becoming aware of her own little problem and assuming a deep shade of purple. Selia helped her to get up and accompanied her upstairs, just in time before the final blow could be landed.
Leran handed Lith one of his old cloth diapers while the two women left the room.
“Your lady friend can use it, uncle Lith. I don’t need it anymore, I’m a big boy now.” He said with a voice full of pride.
“Sure, thanks.” Normally, Lith would have never let Kamila hear the end of it, but the situation wasn’t funny in the least.
‘If that’s her reaction to a complete stranger, how big will her shock be when she discovers that Protector and I aren’t that different?’ He thought while storing the diaper in his pocket dimension.
‘It could be bigger, but it could also be smaller.’ Solus said. ‘She knows you, whereas she has never met Protector. Even Friya after the initial surprise couldn’t care less about his human form.
‘To her, it was the same person who had almost died to protect you all from Balkor and she knew how you risked your life to save him. Your shared past can make a world of difference in how she reacts to the news.’
