A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

The next day they continued telling Runa about their life on Söl. Slowly but surely, her opinion on Elora seemed to improve, but they all knew the more important parts were yet to come—the parts related to Earth.

Although Runa was certainly fascinated by her son's adventures on another world, they all knew that the moment they returned to Earth was the time that mattered most to Runa.

And, eventually, they reached that point.

"So that's how you returned," she whispered with a soft smile when he told her how he'd been forcefully dragged back during a job on Söl. She'd been completely engrossed in their story so far—it felt like listening to a fiction novel, and she loved hearing about her son's adventures.

Of course, Erik and Elora had cleaned things up just a little. No need to tell Runa about the intimate parts and every single brush with death, after all.

"Did you discover who was pulling the strings behind your return?" she then asked with genuine curiosity, wondering if they'd been to the altar where she once came to charge her medallion. It was Eira who promised Erik would return, after all, although she knew nothing more than that.

"I thought you wanted the linear story?" Erik grinned slightly, causing Runa to pout slightly, but nod for him to continue.

Naturally, the next part involved their rough meeting with Emily. Inside Erik's dimension, watching their mother-in-law through the viewing screen, Emily groaned slightly and wanted to hide somewhere. "She's gonna hate me," the goth sighed reluctantly.

"You'll be fine!" Astrid chuckled as she patted Emily's shoulder. "How can she disapprove of someone so devoted to her son, regardless of how their relationship started?"

Emily sighed again, unconvinced.

As expected, Runa's emotions regarding Emily went through a bit of a rollercoaster, as they'd done for Erik as well. "I assume that Lian got what he deserved?" she asked, with narrowed eyes.

With a vicious grin, Erik nodded, "His screams echoed through the mansion."

For a moment, Runa looked at her son with a furrowed brow. Yet, she'd already realized he'd become more callous, so she soon nodded with approval. "Good… But that doesn't excuse that girl completely!"

"Oh, don't worry," Erik smirked meaningfully. "She got her punishment. Several, in fact, and there's more to come."

Inside his dimension, Emily's lips curled into a grin as her lower body began heating up and her hand slipped over to her collar, where she began to play with the ring.

Naturally, a suggestive comment like that earned Erik a suspicious look from his mother, but he quickly changed the topic. "As for Emma, I've naturally taken her under my protection. She's suffered enough."

Runa quickly forgot about his dubious comment and agreed with him. "Of course you did. I raised you right, after all," she nodded with satisfaction, as if anything he did was a reflection of her upbringing. "She sounds precious, I hope you take good care of her, assuming she's still with you?"

"She is," he nodded with a particular twinkle in his eyes. "Although she's far better at taking care of me than the other way around."

Inside his dimension, Emma blushed. A shy but happy smile spread on her lips as she played absentmindedly with her long white hair. Astrid and Emily, on the other hand, looked at her with a hint of jealousy. Runa's favourite so far was clear.

Meanwhile, Erik's comment earned him another problematic look from his mother, so he continued the story before she could say anything. As they talked, they remained in the same position, with Erik on his chair, Elora on his lap, and Runa lying on her side to look at them, her face pale from weakness.

He soon arrived at Seraphina, the events with Liam, the moment Katya showed up, and the strange dream he had. Runa had reactions to all of them, but they simply ranged from satisfaction to curiosity to caution. Erik's attitude towards Katya especially pleased her, but that was no surprise. The two of them truly were somewhat similar.

From there, it wasn't long before they ended up in Frostvik, where Runa got visibly excited at the reunion between Erik and Astrid.

"I'm glad you found her!" Runa grinned happily. "When you told me about the change of leadership in the Dominion, I was becoming concerned."

But then she sighed, "Honestly, the way she kept following you around like a lost puppy disappointed me just as much as when you did it with Edda, but I still preferred her for you! That girl has a warrior spirit!"

Erik's eyes twitched slightly when she once again reminded him of his past, while inside his dimension, Astrid had much the same reaction. She didn't know whether to be happy or offended.

"She's pretty frank, huh?" Alice giggled as she looked at the complicated expression of her three adoptive mothers.
Experience tales at empire

The story continued, quickly arriving at the time where Elora planted a Gravewarden Bloom on his father's grave to protect it. Both Runa and Erik sighed as they took a moment of silence for the man they both loved.

To Erik, his father had been the gentle part of his parenting, the main source of his moral compass, and in general a good man. For Runa, he'd been the love of her life, and the chances of finding someone else seemed impossible, even undesirable, to her.

Still, the both of them had already had several years to mourn him, even if Runa was currently missing some of them, so they didn't dwell on it long. "We should take a moment to honour him, when you're done with your story," Runa suggested with a shuddering sigh, to which Erik nodded solemnly.

Surprisingly, she then turned to look at Elora. At first, her gaze remained filled with suspicion about her… But she didn't doubt her son's words, so she finally sighed as part of her caution made way for gratitude. "Thank you…" she muttered, almost unwillingly.

Even if she found it hard to trust this person who'd clearly sunk her nails deep into her son's heart, she couldn't just ignore what she'd done for her late husband, Leifur.

Fortunately, Elora knew not to try and milk the moment, as she simply nodded without saying anything. Slowly, a thread of understanding had begun to grow between them.

After another moment of silence, the story continued…