Chapter 166: Reunion

Chapter 166: Reunion

"Hmm?" Ameliyn looked up at the angry empress. "Are you angry that I called your daughter average? I didn't mean it as an insult."

"How could you possibly mean it any other way?" The empress asked. Her frown hadn't receded and she hadn't taken back her seat.

"As a mother I have to make the right decisions for my son, Reivyn," Ameliyn said.

The silence continued to stretch as the empress and everyone else stared at Ameliyn. Ameliyn noticed recognition in their faces when she named her son, but their reaction was not what she was expecting.

"You're Reivyn's mother?" The empress asked.

"Yes," Ameliyn answered.

"If you're Reivyn's mother, then why are you looking for Sophia?" The empress asked.

Ameliyn was taken aback.

"Didn't Sophia sponsor him to transfer to the Magic Academy?" Ameliyn asked.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

The empress looked at her daughter. Sophia took a step forward.

"Yes, I was the one that interceded with the Headmaster on his behalf, but I did it at my sister's request," Sophia explained.

"Your sister? Kefira?" Ameliyn asked.

Things were getting more convoluted in her head. She had already met Kefira, though she had introduced herself as Fira, and she had used that as an excuse to meet with Sophia, the girl who had initiated the transfer for Reivyn. Now she's finding out that it was Kefira who was responsible to begin with.

"I think maybe we should speak in a more private setting," Ameliyn said.

The empress scanned the crowded room. She noticed that everyone was paying attention to the conversation. She turned back to Ameliyn and nodded her head.

"I agree," she said.

She stepped forward and headed for the exit. Sophia fell in line behind her, but her husband remained where he was seated. He had an amused look on his face. Ameliyn turned with Refix and followed the empress out of the petition hall.

The empress led them deeper into the palace. They weren't followed by any of the Imperial Guards, but that wasn't necessary as Ameliyn spotted several of them posted in various locations throughout the building. They finally reached their destination, and the empress led them into a cozy sitting room.

There was already tea on the table, and several maids were in attendance. The empress indicated for Ameliyn and Refix to take a seat, and she followed suit across from them. Sophia took a seat next to her mother.

"Summon Kefira," the empress said to one of the attendants. She turned her head back toward Ameliyn after the maid set off to complete her task. "So you're Reivyn's mother? My name is Silfa, and you already know my daughter's name. How should I address you?"

Silfa picked up a cup and took a leisurely drink. Her eyes never left Ameliyn's. If it had been anyone else, they might have been intimidated by the gaze of the other woman, but Ameliyn was made of sterner stuff. She simply returned the gaze.

"Oh, my, where are my manners?" She said. "My name is Ameliyn, and this is my husband Refix. To answer your first question, yes, we are Reivyn's parents. Considering the response, I'm guessing he's here? Where's my boy? Why did you summon your other daughter but not my son?"

"I did summon him," Silfa replied. She calmly set the tea cup back down. "He's most likely with Kefira right now, so if she shows up, so will he."

"Well, that's acceptable," Ameliyn said. Silfa raised an eyebrow at the imperious tone. "Care to explain what's going on, now?"

"You'll have to ask Reivyn for the specifics, but I can give you some of the answers," Silfa said. "Sophia, if you would."

"Yes, mother," Sophia said. She smoothed her skirt before looking Ameliyn in the eye. "My sister, Kefira, was in a lower Region for her Life Experience Expedition. We kept in touch more than the rest of our family, and one day she sent me an unusual request. She asked me to set up the paperwork for the transfer of someone she had run into on her adventures.

"She had a good impression of him, and the things she said convinced me to help her. I did what she asked, and the Headmaster took care of the formalities. That wouldn't have taken care of everything, though, and he would have had to sign a request on his end, as well.

"So while I have a good impression of your son, and we've met and conversed on a couple of occasions, I don't really know him all that well."

Ameliyn studied the younger girl for a few moments.

"Are you resentful that I called you average?" She finally asked.

Sophia was slightly taken aback at the straightforward question, her eyebrows rising in surprise.

"Yes," she said, matching the straightforward nature.

"I apologize," Ameliyn said, inclining her head slightly. "I actually didn't mean to say that out loud, and I wasn't intending to insult you. I was under the impression that you were involved with my son more than you are, and I have a tendency to judge such young ladies harshly."

"Does that mean you're going to give my other daughter a hard time?" Silfa spoke up. She had an unreadable expression on her face.

My lack of experience in court is coming to bite me in the backside, Ameliyn lamented. I've kept up with my practice as much as I can, but there's only so much one can do out in the boonies.

"That depends," Ameliyn replied.

"Oh, on what?" Silfa asked.

"On if she's worthy of my son," Ameliyn answered.

"And what makes you think your son is worthy of my daughter?"

"I know my son."

"Well, I'll have you know that Kefira is the most talented person our empire has seen for thousands of years."

"That's a good first step. It really depends on how talented the local people are, though."

"Hmph, you're awfully arrogant, aren't you?" Silfa said, narrowing her eyes.

"I have the capital to be," Ameliyn responded.

"In case you didn't notice, you're sitting before the empress of a Tier 4 nation, and she just told you that her daughter, one of the Imperial Princesses, is the most talented person ever seen."

"That doesn't impress me," Ameliyn said, quirking an eyebrow. "I was born and raised in an Imperial Palace, too."

"Of course." Silfa didn't have any other reaction other than that at Ameliyn's revelation. Reivyn must have said something about our history.

The two ladies were sending out snippets of information to test each other. Ameliyn was a little rusty, but as they conversed, she found herself enjoying the back and forth.

"In fact, Kefira is known to those who know as the Septimus," Silfa threw out a tidbit, her eyes still watching for Ameliyn's reaction.

"What a cute nickname," Ameliyn replied, deadpan. She gave the other mother a look that said, "I know exactly what you're talking about, and I'm still not impressed."

"There are literally thousands of talented young men willing to marry my daughter. Not just from the locals, but we've even had inquiries from other imperial princes as to marrying into our family. No matter how high of an opinion you have of your son, he still has a lot to prove."

"So you say," Ameliyn replied. "I'll be the judge whether or not my son should have any connection to your daughter."

"Oh? You think so?" Silfa smirked. "I think you might have been away from your son a little too long."

"What do you mean by that?" Ameliyn frowned.

"Do you know what Reivyn said to me the first time we met?"

"How could I? But I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"He proposed marriage."

Ameliyn was shocked. Her body locked up momentarily, and she even felt Refix twitch involuntarily next to her.

"Doesn't your daughter already have a fiance?" Ameliyn asked.

"Who told you that?" Silfa inquired with genuine curiosity, tilting her head to the side.

"That Magus Farril's disciple. Whats-his-name." Ameliyn waved her hand, dismissing the young man who had accompanied them to the palace.

"So then what sort of obligations do you have?" Ameliyn asked.

She didn't mention that she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. With her son's mention of family and obligations, she had let her imagination run wild. She was happy to learn that she wasn't going to be a grandmother any time soon. The thought had never crossed her mind before, and she was slightly surprised at her own subdued reaction to her crazy thoughts.

"Kefira helped me force my Tier 3 Class transition," Reivyn answered. "I have a Mythic Class. It would be incredibly ungrateful of me to just drop everything and leave after what she has done to help me."

"A Mythic Class?!" Ameliyn shouted.

"Only Mythic?" Refix teased. "Knowing you, I would have expected a Pseudo-Divine at the very least. You've been slacking."

"I was close enough to see the options," Reivyn said. "Anyway, why do you think I transferred schools? Kefira took advantage of a loophole to help me 'graduate.'"

"I see," Ameliyn said.

"Come, let's go meet her," Reivyn said.

He grabbed her hand and led her around the chairs to stand in front of Kefira. Ameliyn knew that Reivyn knew that they had already met. He had just told her that Kefira was telling him about it. She figured he wanted them to get a new start.

Instead of taking his place next to her and introducing the girl to his mother, Reivyn let go of her hand and walked over to stand next to Kefira. Kefira looped her arm with his before looking back at Ameliyn with a bashful look.

"Hello... mother," Kefira said.

Reivyn nearly choked when he heard the words, and Silfa once more narrowed her eyes behind her daughter. Kefira glanced up at Reivyn with a mischievous glint in her eye that didn't escape Ameliyn's gaze.

"What did you do, Reivyn?" Ameliyn questioned her son.

"Me?!" Reivyn pointed at himself. "I didn't do anything! Why would you think that?"

"She's clearly teasing you more than she's teasing any of us," Ameliyn pointed out. "You obviously did something."

"I didn't do anything! Did I?" Reivyn turned a questioning look to Kefira.

"When you met my uncle," she said.

Reivyn stared at Kefira for a moment before recognition dawned on his face.

"Hey now, addressing your uncle as my uncle isn't the same thing," Reivyn said.

"It isn't?" Kefira questioned.

"Well, I'm not mad about it. Just surprised."

"Good."

"Does my opinion matter?" Ameliyn asked.

"No," Reivyn replied.

Ameliyn rolled her eyes at her son. She held her hand out to Kefira.

"Come sit with me," she said.

Kefira glanced at Reivyn and, after an encouraging nod, she took the hand to sit down next to her. Refix sat on Ameliyn's other side. Reivyn noticed that there wasn't room for him to join them on the same seat. He looked around at the open seats before shrugging and sitting down next to Silfa. Silfa snorted and rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything about it.

"I feel like we got off on the wrong foot," Ameliyn said.

"It's alright, I forgive you," Kefira replied with a cheeky grin.

Ameliyn was momentarily at a loss for words until Reivyn barked out a laugh. She frowned at her son.

"Anyway... tell me about the shenanigans my son has been getting up to since he's been gone. I'm sure you have a lot to say on the matter."

"Certainly," Kefira perked up.

"And then you'll have to tell us about your journey here," Reivyn replied. He didn't seem nervous that Kefira would embarrass him. That's a good sign.

"Sure," Ameliyn said.

---

The room was silent after Ameliyn and Refix finished their much shorter tale of their journey to Willowan. The other inhabitants of the room had grim expressions on their faces. Ameliyn had been surprised to learn that Reivyn and Kefira had had a run-in with the same group of people that had disrupted their teleport hopping, though they told a story of a much less vicious encounter.

"We already knew that there had been multiple instances of invasions," Silfa finally said. "Though we didn't know that there were some empires that hadn't sent out any serious requests before falling. I wonder how many more Regions are in turmoil right now?"

"Do you guys have a plan to deal with them?" Refix asked.

"That's one of Reivyn's obligations," Silfa replied. "He's mentioned that fighting people is a lot different than fighting monsters, and he's been spending his time training our soldiers to adapt to the changes. We're going to be sending them out as mercenaries to fight against the invaders on someone else's turf. If they ever show up here, we'll hopefully have built up enough experience in that type of warfare to not be at a disadantage."

"That seems like a sensible course of action," Refix said. "There's only so much one can learn through training. Real world experience is the best teacher, and what better way to get it in this situation than fighting on someone else's land?"

"Our thoughts exactly." Silfa nodded.

"Considering the scope of the invasions, are you even sure that the ones you guys ran into in Drallo are from the same faction?" Ameliyn asked Reivyn.

"Maybe?" Reivyn answered. "I wouldn't know unless you had information on their commanders. They might have been from a Tier 5 Region."

"Yeah," Kefira said. "That Jezebel had a 'six' tattooed on her neck, so we think they were from a Tier 6 faction."

"Tier 6?!" Refix exclaimed.

"Jezebel?" Ameliyn's concerns were on a completely different matter that was revealed.

She gave a sharp look to Reivyn.

"Is there a child somewhere out there?!" She questioned.

"There had better not be!" Kefira shouted, directing her own fierce glare toward Reivyn.

"No!" Reivyn shouted. "You saw that I was in the middle of fighting for my life when you showed up and rescued us!"

"Yeah, but that wasn't the first time you had met her," Kefira pointed out.

"The first time I met her she nearly stabbed me in the heart with some sort of death beam," Reivyn said in exasperation. "The second time we met she crushed me with a giant boulder, nearly killing me!"

"You were crushed by a giant boulder?" Ameliyn looked at her son with alarm.

"Relax, mom," Reivyn gave her a consoling smile. "Don't you see that I'm perfectly fine in front of you?"

"We'll talk about it later," Refix said, patting Ameliyn's hand in comfort.

"Ok, but I'm not happy about it."

"And you think I am?"

"You seem awfully nonchalant to me," Ameliyn retorted.

"We have other, more pressing, matters to discuss," Refix kept the conversation on topic. "We need to meet with Kefira's father, for obvious reasons, but also so that we can give him the information we just supplied."

"He should be done soon," Silfa said. "You can join us for dinner."

"That sounds like a good idea," Ameliyn said, absentmindedly patting Kefira's hand.

She didn't understand her own feelings, but she was warming up to this girl that had captured her son's heart much faster than she had thought possible. She was looking forward to meeting the rest of her family.