59 A heirloom

Just a few seconds later, the phoenix jumped off of Cecilia and tried to flap his wings in order to reach me. Luckily, I react in time and catch it in mid-fall and then put it on my shoulder. Apparently it wasn't able to fly yet, which is to be expected - considering that this bird was practically immortal and just entered it's life. I wonder how fast it will grow up...

Ce:" Awwww, little one. Stop crawling around this much or you'll fall!"

Cia:" Little one, huh?"

Ce:" Now that you say it, we don't have a name for him"

Cia:" Him?"

Ce:" This one doesn't have a horn, nor does he have a white stripe on his back. So yeah. It's a boy"

Cia:" What about... Opal then?"

Ce:" His egg did look like one, but it sounds weird to call out. We can call him Diamond, it isn't too far away and we can shorten it to dime for call-outs"

Cia:" Dime. Dime. Diiiiiiiime~"

The little creature on my shoulder looked at my face with his face slightly angled. I whisper to him:" I don't know what she is doing either. Do you like that name?"

It shook it's head. What else could I propose... Wait. I mixed up the species details! Males carried the younger ones on their white spot, males used their horn to scrap trees in order to make a nest. So this one was female, dime sounds a bit too masculine. True.

Ce:" Okay, I correct myself and formerly apologize for being wrong. Especially to her though. As she is female, what about... Saphira?

Cia:" Where does that name come from?"

Ce:" From Sapphires of course"

Cia:" What is that?"

Honestly a bit shocked that it wasn't traditional to use sapphires for wedding rings where she came from, I think about ways to explain it.

Ce:" Well... It's similar to diamonds, opals, rubies, emeralds and so on. It looks like frozen mana to some exte- Wait! I still have my family ring somewhere. There is one in it, we might want to get out of here anyway. The cave is getting uncomfortable"

A little excited to show the ring to her, I fidget even when climbing up the stairs. Well, I still reach the upper floors without harm and Cecilia didn't seem to have noticed either. Honestly, I have no idea where I put it after entering Götterfels. Did I even bring it in the first place? Wait, maybe Christian knows.

Ce:" Ah, I forgot where I left it - I'll just go and ask Christian. You can take her to our room in the meantime"

Cia:" Okay."

After hurrying around a bit I spot Christian right at the entrance - stretching.

Ce:" Hey, do you have a second?"

Ch:" I just wanted to take a run, actually"

Ce:" A short question! Do you know where my family ring went?"

Ch:" Yes, I do. It surprises me that you don't know though. How about we make a bet. If you outrun me, I'll tell you where it is. If I win, you tell me about a soldier I'm interested in"

In my mind I send a message to Cecilia, asking her to bring me running clothes. After I noticed that it seemed weird to ask for clothes while just looking for a ring, I send an explanation right after. Our apartment was quite far from the entrance, so I came into her direction a bit. Just to see a flying pant and shirt in front of me.

Ce:" You can levitate things with your Sonic Magic now? I never saw you training! You have to show me later"

My answer was the picture of a floating apple. Right, you can send pictures with your thoughts aswell - I forgot. Now I return to Christian and walk outside a bit before changing. While I change Christian warms up a bit, then comments a bit on my appearance-

Ch:" Were did that scrawny guy go? I swear I saw Cecil just a few seconds ago!"

Ce:" Right back at you. Don't feel ashamed, at some points all elders are outrunned."

Ch:" We'll see"

With that we start running. At first it felt a bit weird to do something I stopped doing a long time ago: running with a companion. Not for long, because it felt like a switch kicked in and reset the mood right to the time I still trained with Christian in the castle. My desire to win grew immensely, so I start to use a bit of my strength instead of relying on auto-pilot. As I step up my speed, Christian follows. A cycle of topping each other of started, leaving us at a speed and ground contact that moreof resembled flying than running. Our jumps got longer and longer, the track we took around Götterfels bigger and bigger. I didn't even notice, but sweat started touching my open lips. Open from laughing. It took forever until we started slowing down, even longer to make us stop jumping. I could've used my artificial leg of course, but no. I want to win this.

A matter of a few more rounds were due, before we saw the extreme we went to. A trail of our sweat was marking our track. This was also the end of our 'short' run, since I couldn't stop myself laughing after Christian slipped on his own sweat. While still laughing I help him back up and we take the trip inside together.

Ce:" So? Where is the ring?"

Ch:" You gave it to Laurin to smith some magic onto it quite a while ago, every time he wanted to tell you he finished you were back at the nursery."

Ce:"Oh, I'll just go and get it then"

Ch:" He is actually coming right now"

A small conversation about metallurgy process and rings started, until I excused myself to take a shower. I was honestly exerted for the day. Once back in our apartment, I take out the ring Laurin gave me and hand it to Cecilia. Slightly out of breath, I tell her:" That's a sapphire, try to remember it. Might be yours in a bit of time" I mumbled the last part and prayed that she didn't hear. I was just starting to shower as I heard whispers and gasps from outside. I admit, the ring was nicely made - but this was too loud for Cecilia. I hurry a bit with the cleaning and cover myself with a towel before entering our main room again.

Ce:" Ah."

In the time I went to shower, Christian appears to have gotten every of my generals to come here and look at how I gave Cecilia the ring. Too bad it was just about the crystal this time! Wait, why did I say this time?!