43 Return to Firestone

Myra's nap on the rocking chair with lots of added pillows was rather short, as she could soon hear the excited voice of little Rae.

Having a happy child around, makes everything seem a lot lovelier and Myra was quickly giving the girl a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Welcome home darling. How was your day?"

It did not take long for the little girl to tell Myra all about her daily activities. From what they played, what kids were nice to her and who won during hide and seek. They also played with Brightpaws until the kitten was annoyed with all the kids trying to pet him that he fled back into the spiritual world.

"What do you want to eat for dinner Rae? We have more ingredients at home now and I can make you whatever you like."

"I can pick?" Rae was unused to just choose what she would eat. In the end during most of her life she was happy if there was enough food on the table, let alone being picky about it.

"Can I have something like chicken?" When Myra agreed she quickly followed her mother into the kitchen. She wanted to know how to make food as well.

Myra didn't want to hand a knife to a four year old child, but in the end Rae was just happy with helping her wash the vegetables and help selecting and preparing the ingredients.

It did not take long for a delicious smell to waft through the house.

"Aaron, dinner is ready! Come quickly before we eat all of it alone!"

The mentioned person quickly made his way into the dining room. While he was confident that Myra would wait for him and not start without him, the little chance that she might start when he wasn't even there and the devastation the food would suffer quite quickly, was enough to make him hurry up.

After a full day of playing and a sumptuous dinner, Rae fell asleep on Myra's lap before the plates were removed from the dinner table.

"She must have been really tired." Myra's voice was quiet, as she did her best not to wake the sleeping girl, but sleeping on her lap would be neither comfortable nor a really good idea with the clothes she was still wearing.

Myra gently picked Rae up, carried her into her own room and helped the little girl who was half asleep into her pajamas, before pulling the covers over her and giving her a good night kiss.

When the door to the little girl's room finally closed and she returned to Aaron's side, she was looking slightly unhappy.

"What's wrong Myra?" It seemed rather unusual for Myra to make such a face with Rae around. The little sunshine always brought a smile to Myra's face.

'Is the little girl sick, is there something wrong with her? Did her real family come back and want to take them away?' Aaron's mind was filled with lots of horrible ideas why Myra would look so sad and even though none of them seemed reasonable or likely, he was still slightly afraid.

"I just can't do this Aaron." she sighed. "I can't have her go through this every day, only seeing us when we come home, when most of the day is already over."

"I want to give her the best that I can give and this is nowhere near the best I can offer her. This is just an excuse."

By now Aaron already understood what made her worried and sad and he relaxed. Whatever she would decide, he did not worry about the outcome. When he saw her face earlier he was already afraid and worried, thinking of multiple horrible possibilities that could make her frown when coming back from Rae's room, but it turned out to be this simple.

The always stoic, unapproachable Aaron, that evaded girls left and right and would only see kids as something that other people should have, but who would never let any kid bother him, suddenly realized how important not just Myra, but also Rae had become to him.

'Did I turn into some softy who has lost his edge?' he could not help but to think about it for a moment, but quickly discarded the thought as totally unimportant. Even if he was called a softy, as long as he was Myra's softy, everything would be fine.

"I will leave the academy. I don't think this place can offer me much anymore and I'd rather spend my time here with Rae. I don't want to become some hero or some ruler, I just want to live a happy life."

Aaron embraced her and didn't worry about it at all.

"If that's what you want to do, that's totally fine. I already wondered if we would have to leave Rae alone for the week or two we would be gone while hunting that lindwurm beast and I didn't like it much."

"What will you do now that I decided to leave the academy?" Myra was curious about Aaron's plans and intentions. Only because Myra left, did not mean that he would have to leave the academy as well.

"Obviously I will leave as well. What am I supposed to learn there if you can teach me twice as efficiently as any of their instructors?"

It was an excuse with a slight bit of truth, but Myra did not call him out on it. In the end, she was really happy about his decision.

They would easily be able to deal with a shop with enough people who were loyal and skilled, but going to an academy left no room for them to spend their time however they wanted.

"I think we should still let Rae go to the school we're building. It's good if we are around, but it does not mean that she should just hang around us and lack any normal social contact. All these kids are about her age and they are already her friends. It just makes sense to let her experience a normal life."

Aaron agreed happily. "Yes and we just pick her up earlier, then we can spend the mornings on keeping the business afloat while we can spend the afternoon with Rae."

'Oh and the evenings and nights together.' Aaron added in his mind, making him smile, but he did not voice his thoughts.

--

When the academy heard of 'Princess Myra' leaving they were rather unhappy, but there was nothing they could do to change her mind.

Nell and Liam, as well as Alyn would still stay at the academy, at least for a while, but they already told Myra that they would keep supporting Celestial Armaments and would meet the new family quite often.

Especially Alyn stopped by their place all the time, obviously smitten with the little girl, who had started to call her 'Aunty Alyn'.

It got to the point where Alyn outright told Liam that she wanted a kid of her own as soon as possible, which made Liam blush like a tomato and everyone else laugh, except for Rae, who seemed confused but in the end just joined the laughter because she found it funny how everyone else was laughing.

When it was finally weekend, Myra put together a lot of gifts in her dimensional pouch. She was dressed in an exquisite and elegant looking outfit that sharply contrasted with her usual gear. Normally Myra would wear something that was very practical.

This time she asked Aaron for help, because she wanted to wear something that looked more feminine. Knowing that they would meet her parents, Aaron picked something comfortable, which looked feminine, but also nothing too exposing.

It was fine if Myra would wear something sexy for him when they were alone, but he didn't want her parents to think badly of either of them. In the end, they found a comfortable looking blood red long sleeved kimono with black and golden accents.

There were designs of flowers on it and not only did it look conservative enough for even Luminos' standards, but it also fit her very well and looked wonderfully elegant on Myra.

Rae obviously wanted to wear the same, but as the red and black colors didn't fit her, Myra requested for a small kimono to be made for Rae in earthly and olive green colors, which would look exceptionally well on the little child.

Even Aaron was dressed up like some doll and even though he didn't enjoy this kind of attention a lot, he couldn't deny that his new outfit made him look rather dashing.

Their travel was extremely comfortable this time. Not only did the phantom cats agree to help bring Myra wherever she wanted to go, they even asked her to take along Brightpaws. The older phantom cats might appear just like big regular cats to some humans, but they were extremely smart in their own way.

They knew very well that Rae was able to feed Brightpaws an extremely concentrated amount of magical power. Power they would never be able to acquire so easily otherwise. If she brought the little kitten along, every day he spent close to the child, he would profit a lot from their journey.

The cats wanted only the best for their young, a habit that seemed not so unlike that of most human families. With Myra's power and her kind attitude, it was also obvious that she could ensure the safety of the little cat wherever they would go.

Two of their strongest cats were carrying Aaron and Myra. Rae just sat in front of Myra and held Brightpaws in her arms, while they sped faster than any horse through the countryside.

"Yipiiiee." Rae's excited shouting made many of the travellers, who barely had the time to look up at them before they were already gone, really impressed.

"See, I told you there were demonic ghost cats in these woods. There were even some dead people riding them, calling out to us wanting to drag us to hell!"

"Silly old man", a woman right next to him with a better understanding of the various strange creatures argued. "Those were not demonic ghost cats, those were just rich nobles with exotic mounts. Don't start rumors or you might cause their ire. How could you call such an adorable child a dead ghost?! Do you wish them dead, or are your eyes really this bad."

Many such scenes took place wherever the little group passed.

Even at a relaxed jog, these cats would be able to sprint at insane speeds making use of the spirit dimension to propel them forward. They crossed the distance of nearly 700 miles in just about eight hours and didn't even look slightly tired.

When the lands around her changed and she could finally see the mountain range in the distance, Myra quickly told Rae and Aaron about all the landmarks and different places where she grew up, pointing them out one by one.

She had her own home now and that would likely never change, but it was still hard for Myra to hide her excitement, returning to the home of her parents, where she grew up.

"Oh, look Rae, this road is new! It wasn't here before. They must have invested quite a bit of effort to make it."

When they finally arrived in Firestone, they were all nervous and excited at the same time. The villagers stared at them for a while, before they noticed Myra, but they all seemed healthy and in good spirits.