“And so that’s how it is,” Gaius explained to everyone in the house.

“A honeymoon, eh?” Xanadu, who was already walking around the house with ease, nodded her head. Dinner was slightly later than usual, since everyone had things to do, but to Gaius’ surprise, Xanadu was playing with the two kids when he went downstairs with Isabelle.

Nexus, along with his team of sentient artefacts, were still working hard at something inside Nakama’s spare room for artificing, so Gaius still hadn’t gotten a peep of what they were up to. More than once, he had wanted to peek in on them, only to be stopped by either Nakama, Isabelle or both.

“Are you sure you should be cooking?” Isabelle asked. “You’re still a convalescent.”

“The Human God’s passing has done lots of wonders for me,” Xanadu replied. “I feel more alive than I ever have been for the past few years.”

“That’s good,” Isabelle replied.

“More importantly,” said Nakama, “what’s a honeymoon? Is it the moon, but with lots of sweet food? Can I come along?”

Her wide eyes nearly made Gaius agree, but the things he was planning on doing while travelling were too dangerous for Nakama.

“You can’t, Nakama.” Xanadu rubbed her head. “A honeymoon’s a trip for two people, for them to enjoy their time together. Your presence will turn it into a family trip.”

Nakama furrowed her brows. “Hmm. Okay! I’ll take care of La-Ti and Nexus while you two are gone!”

She twirled twice on the spot and then ran up to Gaius and Isabelle, a ‘praise me, praise me’ expression on her face. Gaius obliged heartily, rubbing her violet hair while Isabelle squished her puffy cheeks. Soliciting a few giggles from Nakama, Gaius led everyone to the dining table, where a rather impressive spread of food had been prepared.

“Didn’t know you could cook,” Gaius commented idly. “Hmm. Pasta, Chicken fillet, chicken soup, chicken meatballs, seaweed chicken…”

“Do you have, by chance, a craving for chicken?” Isabelle asked. “There’s so many chicken dishes here. Weren’t there other types of meat? I think there was some fish and mutton, right?”

“I just like chicken, okay?” Xanadu rolled her eyes. “First time I cook for you guys, and I get all kinds of comments from you two.”

Isabelle’s teasing smile faded. “Sorry. And thank you for cooking for us!”

“Yeah, well, if I didn’t take the stove, La-Ti would.” Xanadu picked up the little boy, whose soul was occupying a sculpture of Nakama’s making. “Did someone teach you how to cook? Do you not know that it’s dangerous?”

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“But Gaius did cook when he was just a bit taller than me.”

“Ah. Ah yes. That did happen, while we were in Cybral.” Gaius sat down on a chair, an action that prompted the others to follow suit. “But did I teach you how to cook?”

“No,” La-Ti replied. “But I learned it by watching.”

“Well, aren’t you a smart one. And I suppose it’s time for me to stop being this protective. Nakama, La-Ti, if you want to do anything dangerous, just make sure that either me, Isabelle or Xanadu are supervising.” Gaius closed his eyes. “Yes. You should learn to be independent.”

He felt Isabelle’s gaze fall on him, and a warm hand squeezed his own under the table. It was good that Isabelle understood his intentions, but at the same time…

Gaius, in recent days, was beginning to think more and more about the future. An unlikely future, given the strength of the demons arrayed against the Five Lands, but it was a future he had to give proper thought to. After all, if he didn’t plan for the future post-demon invasion, that would mean that he had written off the possibility of survival.

It was a psychological trick, but it was empirically better than nothing whatsoever.

“Is that okay?” Xanadu asked.

“Well, if nothing else, it’ll provide a good distraction around lunch and dinnertime,” Gaius replied. “Of course, the two of you must do it together. That alright?”

La-Ti and Nakama looked at each other and exchanged fist-bumps. It was a heart-warming sight. La-Ti had been growing more sociable ever since he arrived at Orb, unlike the first time Gaius had seen the little fellow. It would serve him well in the future.

“Alright, let’s dig in,” said Gaius. “Thanks, Xanadu.”

The others followed along with their own ways of expressing gratitude. Nakama’s idea of gratitude was to heap a small mountain of side dishes onto her plate, which, unfortunately, was an idea shared by her apprentice. Within five seconds, her plate full of pasta had turned into a plate full of side-dishes, prompting laughter from Isabelle and Gaius.

“Like master, like apprentice, I guess.” Gaius stifled his laughs enough to force out some words.

“Making a mountain out of side dishes.”

Xanadu sighed and tried to place some chunks of chicken back into their plate, only to pause when she saw La-Ti and Nakama’s teary face. Forcing a smile onto her face, she placed them into her mouth instead, directing a helpless expression at Gaius and Isabelle.

Gaius rubbed his temples, hoping that this non-verbal conversation would be relayed as-is to the Phantom Blade. What do you want me to do?

Isabelle nodded really quickly, which Gaius interpreted as an unwillingness to make the two kids sad.

“Nakama, La-Ti, thank you.” Xanadu’s forced smile widened under their shiny eyes, and then, under everyone’s eyes, she began to demolish the small mountain of food. Making a mental note to tell the two kids to not go overboard with their gratitude next time, Gaius began to dig in before they decided that he needed a generous helping too.

It didn’t take all that long for the plates to be cleared, by which time Xanadu was muttering something about the need to lose weight. Carrying the emptied dishes to the sink, he began to wash them while keeping an eye on the two kids, who were suddenly embroiled in a mock battle between their two little Mechams.

Xanadu, on her part, had created a small arena by materialising a dome of qi one metre wide.

“Right,” said Gaius, “what happened to the toys and things I brought from the South?”

“I think we placed them in storage. Didn’t have much time for them when we began attending the phrontistery.”

“Well, we can bring them out, so that Nakama and La-Ti won’t go bouncing off the walls when we’re not around,” Gaius replied. “We should also encourage Nakama to bring La-Ti along when she meets with her…friends too.”

Isabelle chortled. “Is that some jealousy I sense?”

Rubbing a plate squeaky-clean, Gaius sighed. “Why are you always this perceptive?”