Chapter Twenty Nine - Part One: Naomi and Theodore Black

"Oh, honey! We were so worried…" Leta's mother sighed in relief at hearing her daughters voice before immediately turning into a raging mother bear, "What the hell have you been up to! Annika said you were in a street fight!"

Naomi Black, being raised among boisterous Irish American family, was by no means a quiet woman. She appeared and acted more like a woman just turning thirty instead of a woman pushing very close to fifty. She always described her mother as the Wesley mother from the Harry Potter films, but skinny, blonde, and a loud American professor.

Leta had grown used to her mother's flighty personality and wasn't even phased at how the switched from loving and concerned mother to cursing book goblin.

"It was a wrong place, wrong time. I was with two of the museum interns getting something. We just happened to be passing through the area when the fight broke out. The other interns got me out of the crowd and we're all safe."

Naomi took a deep breath as she did her best to rain her her temper. "I'm starting to think you should just come home."

"Mom, I'm not going home. If everyone in this field of work got scared after a local scuffle, we'd still be thinking the world was flat and the dinosaurs and unicorns never made it on the Ark."

"Letty." Naomi said in a clipped tone, "You nearly died during the excavation. You nearly got trampled to death in a mob. I'm already looking at flights for you to get back to Seattle. There's a flight out tomorrow night-."

"Mom." Leta interrupted, "If someone else on the team got stabbed by coral or happened to be on the same road as a street fight, would you be this crazy? Do you think I would be so stupid to put myself in danger willingly? Do you not trust Dr. Galloise?"

There was a pause on the other end.

"Playing the guilt card is a low blow."

"Trust me to take care of myself, mom." Leta chuckled. "Don't you remember the dig in Azerbaijan when I was thirteen?"

"Ugh… don't remind me." Naomi groaned. Her mother's focus was on Roman history and had taken the family with her to a dig in Azerbaijan of a Roman temple from around 100 A.D. However, the site was about 10 kilometers from the Armenian border. No where near the disputed land, but close enough to make people jumpy.

"Remember how one of the dig hands offered to take me and some of the interns to get food and I had said I got a weird vibe from him and didn't want to go? The dig hand ended up having something he wasn't supposed to in his car and all the interns got interrogated by the Azerbaijan police and had their passports taken away?"

Naomi moaned again just remembering the disaster of a dig.

When she didn't speak, Leta continued, "Trust my self preservation, mom, and my ability to keep myself alive."

Naomi let out a breath, throwing her hands up, "Fine. But one more disaster and you come home, yes?"

"Deal, mom." Leta chuckled, "It should be a lot easier to keep that promise if I'm at the museum for the rest of the summer."

"Small miracles." Her mother sighed, "Annika mentioned that you've lost a lot of weight."

"Yeah." she squeaked, knowing the minute her mother saw her she would absolutely flip her lid again, "The food here is super healthy and is really agreeing with me. Also, Koa and Hayoto - the two other interns - are really into working out and walk everywhere, so I'm seriously getting some steps in during the day."

"Well, that's great!" Naomi's smile could be heard through the receiver.

"Yeah, they're really into HEMA, so their workouts are like training in Lord of the Rings."

Naomi laughed, then she could hear her mother talking to someone on the other end. "Letty… Yeah, she's all good…Yes, dear. HEMA… Letty, you're father heard HEMA and his little LARPing heart came running. Here he is."

A crackling on the other end as the phone changed hands, then a British, "Hey there, Letty Love."

"Hey, Dad."

Theodore Black was the epitome of a gentle giant; tall and naturally muscular with an even temperament. He and Leta's mother had met in Oxford, her father famously asking Naomi out on a date while they were examining an ancient Roman trash heap near Bath.

"You're mum's been hard at work drilling a hole in the kitchen floor with her pacing." He chuckled, then shouted away from the phone, "Naomi, my love, you know it's true."

Leta chuckled. She admitted to herself that she missed the sickly sweet yet sarcastic interactions between her parents.

"But I'm glad you're well, Letty. I know how capable and independent you are, but you had me worried there."

"I'm sorry for making you worry, Dad. Trust me, I'd like to avoid these crazy situations myself."

"I'm sure you are."

Ever the scholar, her father asked her a ton of questions about the dig, the museum, Dr. De Mar, the artifacts that she'd been working on, if she was seeing anyone -so awkward- and the food to name a few.

She really did miss these mundane conversations with her parents. They made her feel like she was a normal human again, talking to her parents about her day while at summer camp.

She said as much, "I miss you guys a lot."

"We miss you too, darling. The little girl that used to chase me around sites and steal my dental picks for art projects is now a grown woman at her own site making history."

"Oh…" Leta sighed, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes. She felt like she was a child telling her parents about everything that was stressing her out. It was just as catharsis as it was when she came home crying because of bullies. "I've been so scared… scared that I'm going to mess up, that I'm making a mistake."

"What have I always said to you?"

She took a deep breath and repeated his famous saying "Airplanes take off against the wind, not with it."

"Good girl. You are the most clever person I have ever met. Whatever you are struggling with, you will find the strength to overcome." He chuckled, "She'll give me an earful for saying this, but don't worry about me and your mother; we know you're finding your way. Just know that when you need us, we are here to help you."

Leta worried her bottom lip as sadness bubbled up from her stomach to catch her breath.

She wanted to tell him everything.

She wanted to talk to him about what really happened at the dig and getting attacked by Loupgaru.

She wanted to tell him about the nanites and the Arisen.

She wanted to get his opinion on what to do next, but she couldn't say any without explaining what had happened to her.

Face pinched in sadness, she said "I love you, dad."

"I love you too, darling. I'll talk to you again soon. Be safe. There will be no living with your mother if something were to happen to you."

She was whipping her eyes when there was a rapid knock on the door and Koa peaked his head in.

"We're gathering in the main room. Atreus has news from the Governor."