Morning Vacation

I was enjoying my breakfast while everyone was eyeing me and Cirilla with curiosity. Ruby was the first to ask the question on everyone else's mind.

" Silva, who is she?"

She asked as she gestured toward the Witcheress, who was clearly enjoying her breakfast with gusto as she worked down her French toast with sap from Forever Fall forest. I swallowed my food and answered casually.

" She is a relative of a friend of mind that I am going to look after for a while for them as a favor."

" Oh, okay. Is she not from around here?"

The Little Cookie Monster emphasized the last part of her sentence to ask if Cirilla is from another world indirectly, and I nodded in reply. Ruby's curiosity about my guest increased, but she saved her questions for later. Weiss then asked sarcastically.

" So she isn't the newest member of your harem then?"

" We just met today, Weiss, so no."

I bluntly answered the snow princess, ignoring the sarcasm. The Witcheress then looked at me as she asked with a questioning expression.

" You have a harem?"

" Yes, and proud of it."

I shamelessly admitted, and Cirilla then asked.

" How does that work exactly? The harem, I mean."

" Well, it's mostly based on honesty and being clear with everyone that is interested in me and the other way around that I am involved with multiple women and that going to give anyone up. Plus, I am a hypocrite who expects any woman to get involved with me alone and not other men despite the unfairness of it. However, I love and care for each woman who chooses to become lovers with me despite all this."

Weiss openly gaped at me; Ruby looked lost in thought; Yang had a complicated expression; Blake was blushing while avoiding eye contact, and Pyrrha was the same. Emerald looked happy at me, expressing how much I cared about her in particular. Ren and Nora did not care, as it was not their business. Neopolitan smirked as she ate her French toast. Luna and Argint took it in stride, and Ilia gritted her teeth as she saw her crush was not against the whole thing.

Summer had the most interesting reaction; in my opinion, she eyed me with an interested look. The Witcheress also gaped at me and then said.

" And I thought Dandelion got around."

I felt slightly insulted at the comparison, as Dandelion might have several lovers, but they weren't a harem, and he often got chased out when he got caught, which has not happened to me. Breakfast then became a fairly quiet affair, and everyone, aside from Emerald, Neopolitan, Luna, Argint, and Cirilla, got ready to pack and leave my home. I then offered Ren and Nora.

" You know you two are welcome to stay during the break."

" Thank you, but we don't wish to impose on you, Silva."

The Quiet Guy politely refused, and the Thunderous Girl added.

" Besides, me and Renny want some quality time together."

I grinned as I asked.

" So you two are together, then?"

The two blushed as they avoided looking at each other, and I teased.

" Remember to use protection, you two."

They did not retort as their blush deepened, and my grin widened. I was a bit surprised they got this far more quickly than in the canon, but I guess a single drunken night can kickstart some things. I left them alone as I went to check on Summer since she would be heading back to the Rose Xiao Long residence to talk to Taiyang about well everything. I asked her out of concern.

" Nervous?"

" More than a little... It's been years since we last talked, and I have been dead to him all the while. Then, there is the fact that he has moved on, which makes things more complicated."

I nodded in understanding that she had a heck of a talk ahead of her, to put it mildly. I wished her luck at meeting Taiyang after all these years, and as time went by, everyone went to their respective destinations. I helped with my portals, except for Weiss, who flat-out refused my help, but what can I do? The only people left in my home, not counting myself, are Neopolitan, Argint, Luna, Emerald, and, of course, Cirilla.

I focused on the Witcheress and told her.

" Get ready to leave soon; we got a bit of travel ahead of us before heading back to your world."

" Okay then, but where are we going?"

" It will be easier to show you."

I answered vaguely as I went to get packed and set up some alarms in case the Wild Hunt did follow Cirilla's trail to Remnant. Hopefully, I am just being paranoid, as while I can send those half-frozen elves packing, they might be able to slip past my detection methods and start raiding Remnant to enslave who they can get their mitts on. For now, I will focus on my trip and help Cirilla gain actual mastery over her gifts.

Not how I expected to spend my time traveling through the Multiverse.

***

" Well, Mom, you ready to meet Dad?"

Ruby asked her Mother, and Summer was as nervous as she could be. As the elder Rose took a breath and replied to her daughter.

'I'm as ready as I can be, Ruby."

"Don't worry, Mom; Dad is going to be glad to see you."

Yang assured Summer, but it did nothing about the butterflies in the elder Rose's stomach. The three came up to the cottage, and Summer's eyes got misty at seeing her former home. She remembered Taiyang building this place by hand when he found out he got Raven pregnant with Yang and married her. The elder Rose remembered all the memories within this house, holding Yang for the first time, pulling Taiyang out of the abyss Raven tossed him into after leaving without a word, finding out she was going to be a mother, spending time with her daughters, and everything else before she went to confront Salem.

"Mommy?"

"Mom?"

Ruby and Yang asked respectively at seeing the tears in their Mother's eyes and got worried. Summer assured her daughters.

" I'm fine; I'm just so happy to be back and seeing... This place again."

The elder Rose felt it was not appropriate to call this place home since she knew she would not be staying there for a prolonged period of time. She left after lying where she was going and went through h*ll for years, knowing that her family had moved on without her presence. She was not there to see her girls grow up into women and caused Taiyang to shut down once more with her being declared KIA. 

Summer followed Ruby and Yang to the door, where the younger rang the doorbell to get their Dad to answer the door. It was not long until Taiyang answered the door and saw his daughters first.

"Ruby, Yang, why did you ring the... Door... Bell..."

The question died in his throat as he saw Summer and asked with a mix of hope she really was here and despair that he might be hallucinating.

" Summer?"

Summer answered, feeling awkward and guilty.

" I'm really here, Tai..."

Taiyang reached with shaking hands and cupped the elder Rose's cheeks. At touching her, the elder Xiao Long realized she was real and demanded with a quiet tone.

"Where have you been...?"

" I'll tell you everything, Tai, but later, okay?"

His attention went back to his daughter, and he figured some things are best said behind closed doors, in private. Taiyang then said to Summer sincerely.

"Welcome back, Summer."

" It's good to be back, Tai.'

The elder Rose said back as she knew the hard part had yet to come as she still needed to explain everything to her... Former husband.