Chapter 878: Happy Mom
The staging plain fell behind them with Pebble’s ground-whispering stride a low tremor at their backs.
Vespera walked close to Kaiden, her hands loose at her sides, her stride matched to his.
The composure she’d worn in the tent and with Pebble had loosened into quiet happiness, a mother content to walk beside her cherished son.
"You did well in there," she murmured, low enough that only he caught it.
Kaiden grinned at her. "Anything less would’ve been unacceptable." A wink followed. "Learned from the best, after all."
"..." Vespera paused, blinked once, slow.
When her eyes opened, the pride behind them was so warm and unhidden that many wouldn’t recognize her one bit.
The curve at the corner of her mouth stayed for the rest of the walk.
They found Eclipse past the cluster of the numerous command vehicles present.
Renoa ran the food line with a clipboard under one arm and a ladle in the other, plating servings, shouting for more rice over her shoulder, and redirecting a limping fighter toward medical without breaking stride. She’d been at it since before the meeting started, and the efficiency hadn’t flagged once.
Tessa and Talia sat with a cluster of Eclipse fighters at the far end, and the ease between the former guild leaders and their new guildmates looked fresh but growing fast. Tessa was in the middle of a story that had three veterans laughing, while Talia nursed a drink beside her, content to listen.
Alice had stationed herself at the end of the table with her chin raised, presiding over the camp cook’s work.
While it was true that she had only learned to make waffles last month...
"The rice is too mushy," Alice informed the cook. "You should use less water, Miss Agatha."
"???" Agatha had served the Ashborn household since before Alice was born, and was currently employed as Eclipse’s head chef.
She’d watched this girl grow from a silent child into one of the most dangerous fighters on the continent, and in all those years, Alice’s opinion on food had never gone beyond "It’s fine" and "Not hungry if big brother isn’t eating with me."
She stared at the critic, then at the girl, then back at the critic.
"...Since when do you care about cooking, young miss?"
"Since always." Alice’s chin rose.
Alexandra held a plate beside her, eating happily. "The food is great, Alice. You’re just critiquing to critique. Miss Agatha used the perfect amount of water, it’s not mushy at all." She smiled at the cook, apologetic.
The cook looked at the gentle girl standing next to Alice, the one who corrected the little Ashborn murder machine to her face and only received a ’Hmph!’ and instantly understood.
Alice had made a friend. A real one.
And the friend had somehow taught her to care about things like cooking.
The older woman’s expression softened, and she set her ladle down. "Well then. Since you have such strong opinions, little miss, how would you sear a flame drake’s flank?"
"Low heat first to render the mana pockets, then sear on high for the crust. If you go straight to high, the mana bursts and ruins the texture."
The cook’s ladle hand went still. Most professional cooks got that one wrong.
"How do you handle the mana sacs in a dire boar’s shoulder without the meat going bitter?"
"Pierce and drain before you start cutting. If you go straight to butchering, the membrane tears and ruins everything around it."
Agatha stared at the girl who had never shown a flicker of interest in food for sixteen years and was now rattling off monster butchery techniques like a field instructor.
Alexandra hid a beyond proud smile behind her next bite.
The cook folded her arms. She was fully invested now.
"Final question." She leaned in. "You have a freshly killed mana bear. Blood saturated with volatile mana. Thirty minutes before crystallization turns every cut to leather. Walk me through it."
Alice opened her mouth, and her eyes slid toward Alexandra with all the subtlety of a searchlight.
Alexandra chewed, watching her, and offered absolutely nothing.
"...Hang it and bleed it immediately," Alice started.
"Obviously. What solution do you flush the veins with to keep the mana from crystallizing during the drain?"
"...Cold water?"
Agatha laughed, warm and genuine, the first one she’d let out all day. "A nice try, young lady. But I’m afraid I’ll have to keep my role as head chef for now..."
"..." Alice’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits but their target did not budge.
Luna and Bastet had claimed a supply crate as their arena, legs swinging over the edge, handhelds locked in a death grip.
Luna was a near-pro gamer who’d spent years demolishing strangers online before her awakened reflexes made it unfair, and Bastet was a queen who had decided a few days ago that she would learn to use the strange human technology better than even humans knew how to use.
Calypso sat next to Bastet with a roasted monster thigh the size of her forearm, eating steadily as she watched their screens with lazy interest.
"GG~" Luna’s fingers blurred and Bastet’s character hit the ground before the animation finished. "You walked right into my trap, kitty." Her legs kicked against the crate in triumph.
Bastet’s tongue poked between her lips, the feline tell of total concentration, and her tail lashed once behind her. She didn’t respond.
Her thumbs moved in silence, reading the replay, memorizing the timing, and when the next round started she launched a counter that ripped through Luna’s opener and dropped her to half health in two seconds flat.
Luna’s smile dropped. "Impressive... You learn fast."
"You used the same opener two times already," Bastet said, eyes locked on the screen.
"I hear the smugness rising in your voice, Choco Kitty. I can’t have a noob get arrogant so quick." Luna’s thumbs were already moving, and the recovery combo she threaded through Bastet’s follow-up was so filthy it should’ve been illegal.
"What?!" Bastet’s character hit the floor for the third time in a row, and the defeat screen bloomed across her handheld in cheerful letters.
"How..." Bastet hissed.
She stared at the screen and refused to look up, because she knew exactly what expression was waiting for her on the gremlin’s face and she would not give it the satisfaction.
Luna’s victorious grin could’ve powered a small city.
"You need to upgrade your mana bar," Calypso offered from beside her, gesturing at the screen with her monster thigh. "It’s clearly too small."
The game did not have a mana bar.
"Calypso." Bastet’s voice was dangerously even. "You cannot even turn on a television remote. Please do not backseat me."
Then she grumbled, "And stop chewing so loudly."
"I’m a refined lady." Calypso sat up straighter. "I would never chew with my mouth open."
"I can still hear it!"
Calypso looked at the tanned felinid beside her, the tongue poking out again as a new round loaded, the ears pinned back, the tail whipping in competitive fury, every fiber of the queen’s being dedicated to proving she could master human entertainment.
"Look at this sore loser..."
She grinned and leaned over, resting her head on Bastet’s shoulder.
Then she resumed chewing her monster thigh directly next to Bastet’s ear.
Bastet’s eyes twitched as a throbbing vein materialized on her forehead.
Further out, Nyx and Scarlet stood apart from the rest.
Nyx was doing most of the talking, though Kaiden couldn’t hear what they were saying.
A camera crew at the perimeter filmed the whole thing in silence, their lens panning from the teenage food critic to the gaming trio’s escalating war.
The guild that had just bargained with the United States government did not appear to know or care that it was on camera.
Pebble’s controlled stride broke when the scent of roasted meat reached him, all six eyes locking onto Calypso’s monster thigh.
Half the food line froze.
"No! Mine!" Calypso shielded the bone behind her back without an ounce of shame, and the whine Pebble let out in response made an Eclipse fighter down the line offer his own plate on reflex.
Aria was the first to turn, silver hair catching the light as a pull deeper than sight brought her gaze to Kaiden before he’d closed the distance.
The smile that followed was serene moonlit adoration, her Kai back from the tent with everything he wanted because of course he had.
The warmth behind that faith was so quiet and absolute that Kaiden forgot, for exactly one heartbeat, every single thing he still needed to do.
But then he remembered the many things on his agenda. It was time to get to work.
