Choking Hazard

The afternoon went by quickly. By the end of it, Noble felt more and more at ease.

Her body relaxed, slowly believing that this wasn't just some beautiful hallucination that her mind had made up to escape reality.

She was back in the waking world. Back to her own life. 

While everyone in the room wanted her attention, it was because they loved her, not because they were trying to get something from her. The affection Noble felt from her boys and husband was better than any medicine.

'Home,' she thought with a small smile.

Noble looked down at her hand hovering above the couch. Fort had intertwined his fingers with hers as they listened to the boys' description of the most recent movie they had seen, "The Devil of Antarctica."

Feeling the tenderness of his touch, Noble's heart fluttered. 'I had almost forgotten the way it felt when he held out his hand for mine. I never want that to happen again.'

As long as he was with her, Noble knew everything would be alright.

In answer to her unspoken thoughts, Fort squeezed her hand. I love you, he mouthed silently.

She loved him too. Deeply and beyond measure.

So when he stood, she felt like the sun was leaving her behind.

Of course, he was just heading to the kitchen to heat up the meal that Lena had provided.

Noble used her aspect to set the table, much to Fort's objection that she needed to rest, and soon the meal was ready to be eaten.

"Rain! We are waiting for you!" Brock screamed from his seat at the table.

Resisting the urge to use her extra sight, Noble instead felt for Rain's emotional signature.

The teen had been in a restless sleep but was now slowly moving down the hall. Rubbing her eyes, Rain forced a smile and took her seat at the table.

"Sorry to keep everyone waiting."

Noodles with synthetic chicken were passed around allowing each person to serve themselves. The hearty broth was as delicious to Noble as if the dead gods had made it themselves.

Either because the twins had finally run out of things to say after hours of talking or because the food was just that good, the table went silent for many minutes.

Finally, the youngest member of the family broke the quiet meal.

"So, Mom, would you like to go and see The Devil of Antarctica with us next time we go to the movies?"

"I still cannot believe your dad took you to see that." Noble shook her head.

The boys were twelve now, but they were still her babies no matter what anyone said.

Fort shrugged. "It was your mother, not me. She said it wasn't overly gruesome at least."

The Director knew from reports how the real fighting was going. The film and reality were so completely different that Fort considered the movie a work of pure fictional entertainment.

"Mom has seen enough action," Rain chastised as she swallowed her soup. "I am sure she has no desire to watch more violence, no matter how exciting."

Brock's eyes lit with interest. "Is it true? Did you see as much action as the Devil during your Nightmare?"

Fort dropped his spoon into his bowl. "Brock…"

"It's fine," Noble took a deep breath and smiled at her elder son. "I don't know how much this devil of yours did, but I saw my fair share of action."

As much as Noble didn't want to talk about all she had been through, it was worse to make a habit of avoiding it.

If she waited too long, the topic would become an elephant in the room and put a barrier between her and the ones she had worked so hard to return to.

Blaze perked up at her words. "Tell us all the exciting parts so we can compare! You know…for purely research purposes…"

"The exciting parts, hm?"

Noble thought carefully as she savored the food in her mouth. What would interest pre-teen boys the most?

"Well, one of the first things I did was fight in a raging battle of humans versus Nightmare Creatures. It was only when the battle was over that they told me it was a hunt for meat! I was battling against Fallen creatures so we could have them for dinner!"

"Sounds like something I would enjoy," Brock slurped his broth with gusto. "What else happened?"

"Well, I battled a Queen in a duel to the death, and then managed to take over the kingdom." Noble skipped over many of the details.

"You killed a Queen?" Blaze's jaw dropped open.

"No…not exactly." Noble winced. 

"But you were ruler of a kingdom?" Rain asked carefully.

"Up until this morning, yes I was. Auntie Sarai and Ni—nice people," Noble saw Fort shake his head and realized that Nickel likely didn't want his involvement spread around. "—many nice people helped me to defeat an evil sorcerer, a Corrupted Tyrant and his horde of minions, and finally, I vanquished a Fallen Terror."

"Whoa!"

Blaze's eyes sparkled.

"That's amazing!" Brock stood from his seat and clapped.

"Sounds like an amazing adventure," Rain acknowledged with a slight dip of her head.

Noble pursed her lips. She could feel the hesitation behind her daughter's words. "It wasn't exactly easy or amazing. While exciting at times, it was not something I want to repeat."

Rain chewed the inside of her cheek. "Well, then I guess it is good you don't have to. I only hope we will be exciting enough for you now that you are back." Rain stared at her food, unwilling to meet her mother's gaze.

The words dug like a knife into Noble's heart. How could Rain think that?! Hiding how much the comment hurt, Noble smiled a little too brightly.

"I find all of you plenty exciting!"

"You know what would be exciting? A duel between you and the Devil of Antarctica!" Brock stabbed the air with his spoon. "I bet it would be even more Epic than that duel between Queen Bee and Mongrel!"

Fort choked on his food, causing the conversation to be mercifully cut short. The whole family looked on as the Director cleared his throat.

"I'm fine," he rasped after taking a sip of water. "Just went down the wrong pipe."

"Be careful." Noble patted her husband on the back gently as her eyes flicked toward Rain. The girl's face was paler than usual and her mouth hung slightly open. "What?" Noble asked her.

The teen looked away. 

"Uh, Nothing. I think…I mean I just realized…how late it is, I mean. May I be excused?" Rain pushed back her chair without awaiting an answer. "I'm going to bed."

"You are still tired?" Noble was suddenly filled with concern for a different reason.

Rain shook her head. "No, it's just, uh, regular tired not Nightmare Spell tired. Goodnight!"

The teen hurried to her room, leaving the rest of the family to watch her retreating form.

"What's going on with her?" Blaze scrunched his face. "She never sleeps this much."

"Never try to understand the female mind, especially the teenage female mind," Brock answered with a sagely nod.

"Teenagers," both boys scoffed, drawing an amused grin from their parents.

"You do realize you will be teenagers in less than a year?" Noble pointed out.

"Details," Brock waved his hand dismissively. "We will never be moody like that!"

Noble glanced toward Rain's room. The girl had acted strangely, but were her actions simply her being moody?

Somehow, Noble didn't think so.