There's nothing quite like going home and then having dinner with your family, who in turn also decided to invite in some guests. I was seated in a very fine chair within the main dining hall of the second floor, still wearing my evening dress as that was the entire point to putting it on. To my left sat Shorty, who had been forced into a tuxedo that managed to fit him thanks to the skills of Diana.

We were seated at the end of the table in regard to where my father sat, who sat by himself on the short-side of the rectangle that the table created. My mother was to my right, while directly across from her were the guests. One was a general who worked for the Legion while another was the singular High General, the leader of the entire armed forces of the Empire.

Vandross Rose was a man that time had started to claim, his hair grown white while wrinkles had started to appear on his handsome face. Much like myself my father was garbed in formal attire, a dinner suit which had been carefully tailored to accentuate the muscles of his arms and chest.

Esmeralda Rose in turn wore an evening gown that was similar to my own, although she had opted for a shorter length. It went down to right above her knees and offered a nice glimpse of legs, if one was interested in those types of things. Her color was a dark blue, and she wore a necklace which had a sapphire crystal embedded on it. Somehow she was all smiles, even though my father hadn't spoken a single word since dinner started.

The general that was directly across from myself was apparently General Rudicus, a newly appointed one who was barely older than twenty-four. He had dirty-blonde hair, green eyes and an overall impressive look to his body. The outfit he had opted to wear was strangely enough his armor suit, thankfully not heavy platemail but instead a chainmail vest along with leg metal armguards and leggings. The gauntlets had been removed and placed on the table across from Shorty, along with the unbelted scabbard for his sword.

The High General was Sciroco, otherwise known as Rock or The Rock, or even Rocky if you wanted to get punched by him. He sat in his chair as impassive as always, a stern look on his face while he talked gently with my mother about the state of affairs. Given that I had little interest in how the northern expanses of the empire were faring economically my mind had wandered a bit. Unlike Rudicus he wore a regular dinner suit, black and white colors that matched the same type of outfit Shorty wore.

We had been served goose, which wasn't my favorite but most definitely was my fathers. A glass of wine had been granted to each, although Shorty had asked for a full glass rather than the usual half-filled glass most people take. He had no issue with acting as common as possible, as he ate the goose without using fork or knife and noisily slurped the wine down.

It was a refreshing thing to have him by my side, at the moment he served as an escort and bodyguard. The normal dinner in my house was all of us seated there, eating quietly while nobody talked. Sometimes my mother would say something to me, and then my father would merely grumble about how I wasn't a boy and how much of a failure I was.

To be fair it wasn't that my father hated me, if anything he hated how I was not a boy. All his life he had grown up expecting to bear some great heir to the God of War, and in turn he ended up with a daughter who to him was weak. If I was hurt he would care, but also blame it on myself and expect me to deal with my own problems.

When I took off from the house it seemed unlikely he had even noticed or cared, I was my own responsibility in his eyes. My mother was somewhat like that, though at the same time she cared enough about me to worry while I was gone. Bothering to ask the legionnaire to find and return me had probably cost her a bit of pride, which in turn made me feel guilty.

"So, Flower," Sciroco suddenly said as he looked toward me. The usage of his old nickname for me from our days of training made my eyes widen. "I've heard you were off training on your own, and trying to improve yourself?"

"I felt that it was better to get some fresh air and a fresh perspective," I responded with, while nibbling at a piece of goose.

"It's a pity too, while you were gone I brought Rudicus here so he could test himself against you, but then you weren't here at all," Sciroco said with that permanent straight face. His emotions never showed, he never flinched nor seemed to feel. He was the Rock and it was for a reason.

Shorty snorted at that comment, though he didn't expand on his response with words. "I highly doubt I could match up to one of the Legion's generals," was my own comment. In truth I had no clue how strong Rudicus was in regard to people like Skara, so I felt it was best to err on the side of caution.

"Ah, well...maybe you could try later anyways," Sciroco said, while he lifted up his glass of wine and looked at it. "My men told me you used my name to get out of some trouble in Vicna, six months ago."

My father's fork set down with a loud clink against his plate, and he looked toward me with curious eyes. In all my life he had very rarely ever shown interest in me, so it was an unnerving feeling to have his full attention directed at me. "I was merely passing through, I managed to get out before the Plague showed up."

"Lucky given how many there were," my father commented, before he almost disappointedly picked up his fork and started to eat again.

Shorty went to make a comment, to which I responded by elbowing him in the side before he could say a word. I had no interest in bragging about my current capabilities, nor talking about Taryn and our fight against Nixi. Rudicus was the only one who seemed to take note of that, though I knew better than to underestimate the gathered warriors present. Alise was at a level higher than my mother, who was in turn equal to Sciroco. My father was technically an unknown, though I could expect he was at least an equal for Alise given they both worked for Mathias.

An hour later the dinner was done, we had barely talked and Shorty had begun to understand my trepidation at returning home. It was not a fun place to be, if anything it was like a prison from which I had never been allowed to properly leave. While I loved my family at times I simply wanted to run far far away and never look back.

The first to leave the table was my father, he never bothered to look in my direction nor talk to me. Instead he calmly said his goodbyes to Sciroco before walking out of the room. My mother, as always, apologized for how untalkative my father had been before also walking out after him. She spent most of her free time trying to make up for his social inadequacies, something that made me wonder why she even bothered.

"I see your father is still the same," Sciroco commented to me while standing up. The maids had moved in to clear the table of all utensils and dirty plates, while the butlers stood behind each of us at the ready in case we needed anything.

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"He's incapable of changing, he's too old," I told Sciroco, while also standing up. Shorty to my side joined me, though Rudicus remained seated while he watched all of us quietly. During the entire dinner he had barely spoken any words, and seemed more interested in absorbing information.

Sciroco stepped around the table and hugged me tightly, while he laughed. Rudicus could only stare in wonder at that, as the unmoving silence of the Rock had shattered in front of his eyes. "Flower, how you doing you little brat!" he yelled out while hugging me even tighter.

So tightly I had to protest it a bit. "Rocky, can't breath, let me go!" I told him while flailing a little at him with my hands. Obviously there was no real strength behind the hits, it would be bad for the house if that happened.

Carefully he put me back down, and then stepped back and looked at me from top to bottom. He grinned, then slowly let all of those emotions slip away from his face. A few moments later he was that same unfeeling boulder as always. "Seriously though, you seem to have turned out well. Guess all those years lightly training you wasn't for naught."

"Your training was more like hell," I reminded Sciroco, while making certain my dress wasn't too badly mussed by his hug. With one hand I motioned toward Shorty who was next to me. "This is Shorty, he's a good friend I picked up in the last year."

Sciroco's eyes turned to look at the small man, a flicker of recognition and then nothing more. "High General Sciroco at your service," he told Shorty while offering his hand to the midget.

Shorty shook his hand in response, though he remained quiet. If anything he seemed too quiet, as though there had been some sort of communication that went between them in that moment. The sound of a chair moving caused all of us to look toward Rudicus as he stood up, belting his sword back to his waist.

"High General, perhaps we should get to our reason for being here?" Rudicus reminded his superior officer as he walked over to join us.

"Ah yes, well it's simple enough," Sciroco started before pausing. He looked at me once more, and then glanced at Rudicus. "General Rudicus is being dispatched to investigate some odd happenings in the empire. He's taking a small group of legionnaires with him, but he feels they aren't enough."

It was easy to see where this was going, I even sighed. "So that's what mother meant about paying back the debt. You're dragging me along too aren't you?"

"Indeed, although I'm going to have to request that your friend does not participate in this," Sciroco commented. He looked at Shorty and nodded his head. "I'm sure you'll understand. This is Legion business."

Shorty looked like he was about to protest, so I headed it off. "It's okay Shorty. The Legion are like a second family to me, plus I'm certain the legionnaires know what'll happen if they try to do anything to me."

Rudicus adjusted himself a little at that, while he cleared his throat. "We know about how protective the High General is of you, so yes you'll definitely be in good hands."

"When do you plan to head out?" was the only question I could think of.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll meet up in the plaza of Scintallia and then head west, before swinging south-west. After a short bit we'll reach the other five. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to head to the guest room and start resting," Rudicus stated. Without waiting for any response he turned and walked from the room, his walk a rigid style that made him look almost too serious.

"He's trying to be like you isn't he?" I asked of Sciroco, before laughing at the thought of two of him.

"Probably. A lot of the younger kids try to emulate me," Sciroco admitted, before he slowly walked toward the door. "How about we settle down somewhere and have a talk about how you've been doing?"

With that Sciroco, Shorty and myself left the dining hall and went to a study on the first floor. While the maids and butlers continued their daily activities, and as the sun began to set on the horizon I told one of my oldest and closest friends what I had been up to since our last meeting. I even talked to him about how I had taken part in the Plague fight, though I didn't tell him about Taryn's lineage nor the soul infection he had done on me.

It was a nice night filled with laughter, happiness and good feelings. It was one of the few nights I had spent in my home where I didn't go to bed depressed, and it reminded me all over again why I found Sciroco to be such a wonderful person. Like a close uncle that you long to see since he always makes you smile, I hoped to talk with him again sometime soon.

♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪

The next morning I left the mansion with a happy look on my face, given that I was walking away once more from the home that tended to not feel like one. Shorty walked with me half the way to the plaza before he peeled off, though I gave him a light hug before he left. I would miss that short little man during whatever idiocy the Legion was yanking me into.

My clothes had shifted from the formal dress back to baggy attire. Pants that were far too billowy and a shirt that revealed nothing made a mockery of any attempt to deduce how slim my body might be, or how endowed my chest might have become. My ponytail was once more wrapped around my neck like an unusual necklace, and the two metal rings that represented the Shatterblade clicked almost musically on my left wrist.

The only oddity amongst it all was perhaps the large white hat I wore on my head, it was a gift that Maria had made quite some time ago and that I found pleasant to wear. It kept the sun out of my eyes quite nicely, and only required me to hold onto the brim when the wind gusted a bit too hard.

Rudicus still wore his ridiculous armor, when I walked up to him at the plaza he was the only person wearing a breastplate so it was easy to find him. He in turn looked at me with eyes of shock, he had expected me to look probably a lot more womanly and not so bland. Sciroco was nowhere in sight, he had explained during our conversations last night that he had business to attend to in town.

"You ready?" I asked of Rudicus while he stood there with that confused look on his face. He was a long ways off from being the unemotional rock that was Sciroco. "Or are you going to stare at me all day?"

The general snapped out of his daze and turned away from me, though he still seemed a bit shaken with how different I looked. To be fair it kind of was like seeing a majestic eagle turn into a run-down horse, so his confusion was warranted. "Alright, lets go. I have some horses held for us outside of the city. We should make good time with them."