Chapter 19: Can’t Make A Salad

Nate watched as his new men learned the ways of the gray cloaks. He had 600 hundred new men added to his army. When he first saw them up close, they were skinny, not strong enough to fight the gray cloaks. In fact, the plan was to have the black cloaks hit them from behind, but they didn’t need to. It wasn’t even a fight. But after 2 weeks they have improved a lot. They still don’t have a lot of muscle or strength, but the best thing they give us is archers. Only 150 but that’s all you need.

Nate watched as Autumn showed new moves to her men, making them repeat her actions. Nate walked over to talk to her.

“Autumn, is it possible that I could talk to you in private?” asked Nate.

“Of course, lord ward.”

They walk on a pathway on the outskirts of the village.

“You know, the more this place changes, the more I realize how important everything is.”

“Nate, what did you want to talk about?”

“Autumn, what was your family like?”

“Well, they were nice, but I didn’t know my dad that long. In fact he was only in my life for the last two years and my mom.. she was hard on me. She wanted me to be a lawyer, but of course that didn’t happen. Why do you ask?”

“Because I need to know. What do you think of me?”

“Well, you are my leader no matter what. You have proven yourself to me. I look up to you and you have taken care of me like I am one of your own, and I thank you for th-”

Nate cuts her off before she can finish.

“Join my family. I would like to adopt you. But don’t worry about calling me dad or anything like that.”

“You want me to take your name, don’t you?”

“Yes. Ever since I found you, I have thought of you more and more as my family and I would like to make it real. Not only that, I need you. I can't do anything without your support and strength.”

“What would you need from me?” asked Autumn.

“To fight for my family. You will be the captain of the royal guard, and you will choose 2 of my family members to protect them from any danger. You will also be my wife’s guard. I only trust you or Will, but he has a different role to play in everything.”

“What will he be doing?”

“Taking over the black and gray cloaks. He will be named general of my armies.”

“Wow Nate, this is a lot.”

“Well, you’ll share this with Levey. I will be asking him to join my family as well, as my son.”

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“Does that mean what I think it means?”

“Yes. He will take over as king when I die or retire.”

“I’ll do it. I like the front lines, but I know this new job will be more important,” said Autumn.

“So, Autumn Pine Ward,” said Nate.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Don’t feel like I’m pushing your family away. In fact we will tell stories of them. Your sons and daughters will know about their grandparents.”

“Nate, I can’t thank you enough for what you have done for me,” said Autumn.

“Don’t thank me, you know I love you like you’re my child,” said Nate.

Nate looked at the woman before him. She has seen a lot, but now he knows she’ll be safe along with his wife.

“Now I must go to see Levey.”

“I understand, see you soon.”

“Ash is making Chicken Stir-Fry, so don’t be late to dinner,” said Nate before talking off to his house.

When Nate arrives at his home, he walks through the door to find his wife making dinner and Levey and his dad working on school work.

“Hello everyone.”

Everyone greeted Nate as he walked in the kitchen. He saw Will was helping Ash by making a salad, and his brother was at the dining room table with a map.

“Tommy, get that map off the table, dinner will be ready soon. Nate, we really need a rule of no war at dinner.”

“I’m sorry it’s just that something didn’t seem right with the information I got, I’ll look into it tomorrow.”

“Autumn should be here soon,” said Nate.

“Good, cause if she’s late again I’ll start getting a little upset.”

“Well she was right behind me, so any minute now.”

“Oh, did you guys have the talk?” said Will.

“Oh yeah, how did that go?” asked Ash.

“It went very well. She said yes to everything,” said Nate.

“Every single thing?” asked Will.

“Yes, everything.”

“So does that mean..?”

“Yes, Will. When tomorrow comes you’ll be the general of my armies, only answering to me and Tommy.”

“Nice,” said Will with a big smile.

The front door of the house swings open to reveal Autumn with a jar of lemonade.

“There was not a lot of time between me leaving you and me getting here, so how did you get lemonade?” asked Nate.

“I broke my record,” Autumn replied.

“Your speed record? That would make you the fastest person on the planet.”

“Yes, but I learned that my body can’t handle it.”

“Oh, you hit your body level limit. Me and Nate hit that a month ago,” said Will.

“What do you mean by that?”

“No no no more talking, it's time for dinner,” said Ash.

Everyone takes their seats at the table. A family full of people powered by gods.

“Can we just say how weird everything has been for the past 9 months?” said Will.

Everyone takes a second to look at each other in armor with weapons by their sides.

“Yeah. Will, you still can’t make a salad right,” replied Tommy.

Everyone fights the urge to laugh at the joke and goes back to their meal. Will looks at Tommy.

“And yet, you still eat it,” said Will, laughing.