Chapter 90

Chapter 90

In the end, Pelenia agreed but said she would need some time to decide what would be appropriate. Once that was settled she would have it sent to Sonya's home to collect.

Once that business was complete Ben spent the last of his time updating the enchantments on Theras brace, while continuing to make more for any people of status who needed access to some. It seemed that many of the embassies he’d already produced some for had learned he would be leaving soon, and due to the terms of his patent wouldn’t be called upon to make more as he was expecting to remain anonymous, even though he’d done a poor job in keeping his identity to himself.

Still, now that the queen of the nation had essentially claimed him as her own, they wouldn’t be able to get more made themselves unless they were able to negotiate through her to make time, or else raise up their own enchanters enough to do the same. Since neither was guaranteed to happen very quickly, that meant that anyone in enough authority in one of Anailias allied nations wanted to get one made while they could, for the convenience of not needing a cloak every time they had to travel or work in a different country.

Ben was happy to accommodate. Even though it kept him busy for the remainder of his time in the country he’d managed to grow past his concern for how much he was making through his work, and as a result of his level up in enchanting was able to get the braces completed even faster.

While all of this was going on, Thera was still trying to squeeze in as much training with Funa as she could. Though the dark spirit had been right that she wouldn’t be able to achieve much in that time, what mattered was that she learned the information to put to use and continue her training when she returned to stonewall.

With what little time they had between both their tasks, Ben made time to paint the family portraits he’d been asked to when they first arrived, a greater task than he’d expected when he’d seen just how big Pelenia wanted them, as well as explored the city with Thera, taking advantage of the size of the city and his newfound wealth to pick up numerous books on the various disciplines he was practicing as well as anything else that caught his interest.

Once they’d accomplished as much as they’d hoped to, it was finally time to say goodbye.

Ben looked to Pelenia and Abrus. “Welp, mom, dad, thanks for having us. Gotta say it’s been interesting at least.”

Oh come here you,” The queen said, pulling him into a hug with her and her husband. “Make sure you look after Thera, I know she can be a handful but she’s a real softy on the inside.”

“Okay enough of the tearful goodbye,” Thera said, grabbing Ben and dragging him away from her parents. “I didn’t think you insisting on calling them mom and dad would have this sort of effect on them, I would have stopped you if I’d seen this coming.”

“Well make sure you give them my regards. Let them know if they ever get the time they should stop in at Falk's shop in Stonewall, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to make anything as good as what a nation could prepare, but I’d be sure to give them some hospitality.”

“Will do, maybe I’ll even visit myself.”

After walking through the gate, they didn’t spend as much time searching around, both feeling ready to return home to Stonewall. In that spirit, they got on the first cart they could rent and made their way home.

“So you okay Thera? Gonna miss your family?”

“The opposite. After all of that, I’m going to be looking forward to having some time away from them again,” She hesitated a moment before continuing. “Though it was nice seeing them while we were there. At least when they weren’t acting too crazy and getting us wrapped up in whatever dumb plans they made.”

“Ha, well you know what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Still, it looked like dad was having a tough time saying goodbye.”

“Do you really have to call them that even when they aren’t around?” It wasn’t a custom of her nation for a husband to accept the bride's family as his parents. Accept them as family of course, but one would normally never hear them being addressed as casually as Ben was. Not to mention it just felt weird.

“Ha, okay I guess I can stop for now. Your mom seemed happy with it though.”

“She was probably taking it as a positive sign that you would actually marry into the family with the way you’d been treating them for the last week.”

“Hey now, she’s the one who put me in the position, I’m just playing my part. Not to mention it sounds like she’ll send the dowry to Sonya's once she figures out something good, gotta make sure she gets her money's worth of the son in law experience.” He laughed it off as Thera rolled her eyes under her hood. Seeing her parents really was too much, it would be good to be home.