The group was discussing how Sophia should be telling Anna's and Ari's parents about their new magic and its side effects. Not only that, but the couple also decided that they were going to join the blonde's group on their travels in one way or another. They thought about telling the king about the portals to explain how the two would be able to do that. Chloe then also introduced the idea of making the portals public so they could be used as a general means of transportation. Sophia was interested in the idea, but she also feared it would be a massive pain to deal with everything around it.
“Soo… why are we all here?” Menzor found himself in a meeting room while he was staring at Sophia. It wasn’t just the two of them, though. Maya, Chloe, Ari, and Anna were also present next to her. The king also had the queen by his side, and two jaguar maids were sitting next to them. One of them was Daria, but next to her, a woman with a similar style but slightly darker blonde hair and a more detailed rosette pattern was sitting. As it turned out, it was Ari’s other mother, going by the name of Stella.
“Uhh…” The blonde tiger scratched her cheek before glancing at the girls next to her. "A-A little help…?”
“No, the stage is all yours.” Maya had no intention of letting her get out of this, and the others just gave her a couple of nods.
“Urgh… It was worth a try.” She hung her head. “Menzor, I will tell Ari’s parents about the age and magic connection… Everyone else here already knows about it, but they need to know about it, too…"
“Why…?” The king seemed confused.
“Well…” Afterward, she explained everything about the accident that led Ari to gain a part of her power and enabled her to use chantless magic. Sophia then also added some details about what this amount of magic does to your life expectancy.
“…” Ari’s parents had a rather complicated expression. “Is… Is that really true…?”
“It is.” The blonde confirmed it again. “Back when it happened, it was an honest mistake, but here we are now… Being able to become that old is rather frightening, but I think it’s overall a positive thing. You can use your magic in a much more versatile fashion, and it also has a positive effect on your overall health, as well."
“…” The two needed some time to let it sink in.
“Why are we here, too, though…?” Kira was looking for the connection. “We already know about the correlation of it… and with Ellie being even more powerful in the future, we had a lot of thought put into it, too. Oh, is it because the two are now together? Wait, with their magic now being so different, wouldn’t that mean...” The queen started to see the issue.
“Kind of…?” Sophia got more awkward again. “I, uhh... I might’ve done it again. This time, on purpose, though...” She stole a short glance at the princess. “Anna was envious of Ari's high magic and her ability to use it chantlessly now. Also, now that they're together, I didn’t want their life expectancy to differ that much, so... My birthday present was a little more special...”
"Y-You don't mean?!" Menzor jumped up from his chair. "I don't feel her being any different, though? Actually, if anything, I have the feeling that her power is a good bit lower than usual?”
“It takes a while. If she’s currently losing her magic, it means it’s working. Anna, how are you feeling right now?”
"A little tired, I guess?” She tilted her head. "A bit of muscle pain, maybe?”
"Yeah, it's the same for me..." Sophia gave her a slight nod. "Once your magic has completely emptied, I'll reactivate it again for it to regenerate to your new levels. Just like I did with Ari.”
“I see!”
“Are you serious right now?!” Menzor got louder.
“I always am!” The blonde gave him one of her standard replies. "Wanting to have her have more fun with magic, I didn't want her and Ari to drift apart over time. It would be kinda weird if our princess ages normally while Ari looks young for much longer..."
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“So... the two will have the same at the end of the day?” Kira just stared at her.
“Pretty much, yes.” She nodded again. "Just like her, she'll have around half of the magic Ellie will have once it awakens."
“Wow... I’m still in shock over Ellie that I’m probably much calmer about this now... I do agree that it’s a good thing, though. Things would probably get awkward with that much of a difference between the two.” Kira looked at Ari and Anna while saying so.
"A-Anna, can you promise me not to blow up the capital once your elevated magic becomes usable...?” The king had turned pale by now. He seemingly wasn’t the biggest fan of his chaotic daughter having so much power.
“H-Hey!” The princess raised her voice. “I’ll try to be careful...” She still saw his point.
“Don’t try! DO!”
“Okay…” She actually looked slightly disappointed.
“Now I really fear for the capital…”
“I might have a solution for that." Sophia faced the king. "I'm pretty sure I have a way to save the castle from the princess' inevitable fate."
“H-Hey!” Anna got even louder… “Oh… Wait, no, go on!” She seemed to notice her plan.
“I feel like I’m about to walk into a trap but go on.” Menzor got a bit wary of her.
“Ahaha… As you already know, I don’t plan to stay in the capital forever. The rest of fall and the entire winter is already set, but once it gets warmer in spring again, Maya, Fen, Aura, now Chloe, too, and I are going to leave again to explore the rest of the continent.”
“Yes, I am regretfully aware of that…” He still wasn’t happy with her leaving eventually.
“How about I take the princess with us? She won’t be a risk for the capital anymore that way.” Sophia smiled at him. “Actually… Both of them are dead set on coming with us… They actually went as far as blackmailing me into convincing all of you to take them with me as a means of taking responsibility for having messed with their magic and life expectancy without having told them first."
“H-Hey!” The duo glared at her. “T-There was no need to mention that part.”
“You never made me promise without my consent to keep my mouth shut about the circumstances.”
"A-Ah.” They went silent again.
“…” All of their parents went silent and exchanged some glances with each other with very different expressions.
“It’s the same as Nathan all over again, huh?” Daria was the first to speak up. “I can’t say I’m that surprised.”
“Yes,” The other jaguar maid and Ari’s mother next to her, Stella, followed after her. “Our dear princess always was even more of an active child than even Nathan is. It’s only natural that she’d want to follow after him and do the same.”
“She has been energetically pestering me about it since the day he left…” Menzor sounded a little tired. “I never was a fan of the idea, though…”
“Can we really deny her, though?” Kira smiled at the king. “We allowed Nathan to explore the kingdom. Not letting Anna do the same would just be unfair. Even before, she had slightly more power than him, and now it seems like she's going to be much stronger. Not being able to defend herself is not an argument. Not to mention the part where Maya, the wolves, and Sophia would be with her. If there’s one place where she’s safe, it’s within this group.”
“…” The king went silent again.
“Daria, Stella,” Kira then faced the jaguar maids. “What do you think?”
“…” The two also needed a moment before Daria spoke up. “No parent is happy when their kid leaves the nest, but this is a bit of a best-case scenario in that regard, I guess? I briefly got to know Sophia, and she's quite the girl." She smiled at the blonde before continuing. "I can also sense how much power each member of her group has. Because of that, the safety of our baby is guaranteed.”
“Not to mention,” Stella also looked at the tiger. “We know how much you helped Ari to come out of her shell. Our dear princess has been giving it her best for years already, but you helped give her the final push. From what I've heard, Maya also helped Anna greatly with her romance between our girl and herself. Ever since your group befriended her, Ari has been smiling sooo much more. If she has to leave, I am happy that she will continue to stay with the group that helped her blossom.”
“M-Mom…” The girl in question got embarrassed over all of this.
"I am sad that it would mean both of our girls are away from home, though…” Stella was happy for her, but it was a little bittersweet.
“Hmm…” Hearing that, Sophia felt a little bad about it. “I already told Menzor, but I have the ability to travel between places fast. Even if we're at the other end of the continent, it will take us minutes to return to the castle. We won’t be coming back all the time, but I don’t think I can go on without Ellie for much longer than a week, so we'll visit a lot.”
“Is that really true…?” Stella tilted her head. “How?”
“Magic~.” The blonde just smiled at her.
“And I still want to know the details about that!” The king raised his voice a little.
“Chloe did make me think about monetizing it, so…”
“You are the best!” Menzor faced her.
“U-Uhh…” The fox-girl wasn’t sure how to react to the king saying that to her.
"I'm still trying to figure out some details, and I'm not 100% if it's a good idea, but once I decide on that, we’re going to have another conversation.” Sophia gave Menzor a small heads-up.
“I’m looking forward to it!” He sounded quite excited.
“For now,” Sophia smiled at Ari’s parents. “All I want to say, even if she goes with us, in a way, she’ll never be further away than a couple of minutes.”
“That sounds great!” The two looked really happy about that.
Afterward, the group kept chatting about some more details, like when they wanted to leave and similar things.