BXBX NOVEL Chapter 160: Dr'ul; The Untamed.
"It\'s just breakfast though, I don\'t want to laze around and do nothing all the time, this much is the norm." She answered with a bounce to her step. "I made enough for the four of you, but, where are they?" She asked looking up the stairs behind him, and Sol smiled and scratched his chin gestured again to the stairs.
"Ah, good morning everyone!" Eris grinned when she saw Ikaris leading Arla and Dina by their hands down the stairs, unlike the usual common getup they would have worn they all chose something a bit more formal, and looking at Sol again Eris realised that he too was dressed to partially impress.
"Good morning, Eris." Ikaris answered first and then turned to Sol, kissing him on the cheek. "Good morning, husband." She smiled and walked over to the table taking a seat as the maids gathered and pulled them out.
"Good morning, Lady Schneider," Arla smiled sheepishly and then turned to Sol blushing. "Good morning, Master." She reached for him and pulled him to her height and kissed him as well on his cheek."
"Hi Eris." Dina nodded at her and then looked at Sol, blushing up a storm and punching him in his ribs. "G-good morning, Master." She sheepishly greeted him as well and then kissed his cheek and went to her seat.
"Good morning ladies." Sol seemed to beam with pride after his morning greeting.
"Ah..." Eris who had observed all their interactions held her cheeks and swooned dramatically. "It is so good to be young~" she commented causing Dina to snap with rounded eyes.
"What do you mean young you\'re only five years older now." The mage hero pointed at Eris, but the healer in response scoffed and held her other cheek playfully.
"Twenty six is practicallly an old woman though~" Eris playfully swung her hips causing Arla who was only a year older than that to laugh out at her antics. Never mind Ikaris, she completely missed what they even meant by that. In actuality Sol was still the oldest among them with thirty years of experience, and she was literally ageless.
"Hah~" Eris sighed, taking her seat opposite of Sol who had Ikaris and Dina at his sides while Arla sat next to Ikaris. "It\'s like seeing ghosts." She admitted watching as the maids served their dishes.
"Seeing you all, unaged, unchanged, the only difference is how much closer you all grew, it\'s so bizarre to think that the time here and origin had such a huge disparity." She leaned on her palm and smiled sadly. "It\'s really, really, amazing that I met you all before dying, I never stopped worrying." She chuckled, sobering the mood quite a bit as they let the reality of those words sink in.
Only 17 days on Hāl, 9 days on Zola-Prime, and they had missed five whole years of Arkadian time, the difference was heartbreaking, had they been gone for a year they wouldn\'t have come back and found her alive, or anyone else aside from the gods that they knew for that matter.
"Mmm, it hasn\'t been that long, but I missed your cooking, Eris." Dina smiled solemnly staring down at the plate before her, further sobering the atmosphere as her words brought the healer a strong dosage of nostalgia.
"Ahem* On another topic." Sol spoke up, bringing back the joy from earlier as he rested his hand on Ikaris\'s and smiled at Eris, while Arla and Dina also smiled. "Here on Arkadia, with you and everyone else, Ikaris and I decided to get married." He stared.
Eris closed her mouth and swallowed slowly, and then clasped her hands before her lips as her eyes sparkled and her cheeks reddened.
"I totally forgot that you had only been lovers, you\'ve lived like husband and wife since the first day!" She squealed. "When, where?" She asked, and Sol scratched his chin. "How many guests?"
"Here on D\'ol, and the when is a bit of a hiccup, you see, Ikaris wanted to do it immediately and with as many visitors and guests as possible, but I wanted a more traditional wedding, an Arkadian wedding to be exact."
"Oh?" Arla leaned and smiled at him. "The custom\'s forbid the groom and bride from seeing each other for an entire week before they tie the knot." She stared at him expecting his reaction to be along the lines of impatience, but Sol smiled and nodded while Ikaris nodded as well.
"We previously asked the gods about this, and they pretty much gave us a debriefing of all the customs, Dr\'ul even offered to host itt in the heavens but I refused, it has to be here on the moon of hope." Ikaris answered.
"A week is but a short time apart when we have a beautiful life planned, don\'t you agree?" She asked, and Eris nodded and stood, walking around and stopping before Ikaris and Sol taking a knee and holding their hands in hers.
"If you would allow me, I would be honoured to cover the entire event from my own resources, as a thank-you." Eris stared up at them, and Ikaris smiled and nodded. "Hm?"
"We were going to ask you to host, it doesn\'t need to be from your own resources but-"
"I insist!" Eris shook her head. "I will make all the arrangements and prepare everything, you need not worry about a thing!"
They would have responded, but from a financial standpoint they were currently pretty broke; Ikaris had been dragged away from earth leaving all her treasures and such behind, and according to Dr\'ul the survivors of the apocalypse had refused to incorporate another monetary system, opting for a stable trading system instead; D\'ol was a untopia where something as controlling as money had no place or value, the new system made trading fair, and the inhabitants had been on a steady path of evolution and enlightenment.
Eris was a prime example of this; even though the war was long over, she had continued to passively grow stronger, the point system had still been in place and her strength had reached a higher level than Han at his peak.
When she spoke about resources she was speaking of her overall influence and her ability to get others to do as she wished as the one who was recognised as the last hero of the war after Usami left.
"Milady, you have a guest." One of the maids came next to Eris whole she stood rubbing her eyes.
"It\'s still so early, who is it?"
"The Queen, Milady."
"Wh- you left her at the door?!" Eris snapped, ready to rush through the dining area but stopped when Darla walked around the corner, giving her a curtsey.
"Eris, good morning." Misty raised her head at the owner of the palace and smiled at her.
"Your majesty, good morning!" Eris curtseyed as well and then cleared her throat. "Why did you show up unannounced?"
"I apologise," Darla curtseyed again and then smiled widely. "I was busy all of yesterday and only received news of the return of our friends this morning, I came over as soon as I could.
"I can see that." Sol who was still seated chuckled at her. "You forgot a few buttons." He pointed at her blouse, and she looked down at herself and then blushed and spun around, adjusting her mismatched buttons and then turning to them nervously again.
"Master Vestic!" Darla broke character and rushed past Eris practically leaping into his arms, causing Dina, and Arla to stare shocked while Ikaris picked her up like a puppy by her waist and stared at her.
"You have not changed one bit, have you?" The goddess asked with a deadpan
"I have, I promise, but please allow me to greet him this once." She smiled. By now the girl had matured into an almost perfect copy of her late mother, down to the small mannerisms whenever she showed courtesy, the only notable difference was her being much younger and her hair growing quite longer.
"Greet him how?" Ikaris asked. "The last time I saw and communicated with you it was from you committing some very questionable acts-"
"I-I will be good, I swear if on the late queen." Darla stopped flailing and smiled at her. "I have matured beyond the girl you once knew, Lady Ikaris."
"Did you not admit to trying to court my fiance previously?" Ikaris stared at her raising her higher. "I do not trust you."
"I am happily married though, please excuse my discourtesy I am simply overjoyed-"
"You do realise that I am a goddess who can easily discern the truth from lies, right?" Ikaris lowered her to eye-level and stared into her soul.
"I have nothing to hide your holiness, I am truly a changed woman." She admitted, and Ikaris had to agree, not only did her soul and conscience exude clarity, but she was apparently already a mother.
"With your permission, may I informally greet master Vestic," Darla asked, and Ikaris scrunched her nose, staring at her fellow lovers and then looking at Sol who seemed interested in how she would handle the situation as he rested his head on his fist innocently.
All else was interrupted though with the appearance of Dr\'ul in their midst, her eyes were half-mooned and her sword clutched in her grasp tightly.
"Sol."
"You\'re relentless." Sol chuckled and sat forward again.
"I have waited for an entire day, Sol Vestic."
"I know, I\'ve been expecting this since sunrise, you\'re a formidable and relentless woman, I can\'t keep ignoring you."
"Fight me then!"