The rest of the journey happened without incident. If anything, it was pleasant. Finn and Apollo weren’t done bickering. However now it was becoming clear that the tables had turned and Darla was the one who had a somewhat cute guardian.

Calling Apollo ‘cute’ was not exactly fair considering the kind of aura he emitted. How he managed to exude so much power and be so weak at the same, however, was another matter altogether, considering Finn couldn’t bring himself to fear the midget.

SwiftWind flew through the clouds, above them and below, offering the children brilliant views of the world from all possible angles. They flew past towns and witnessed the lives of various people as they travelled.

Alaric, seeing a few carriages every now and then, realised the stingray wasn’t making its rounds when it picked them up. SwiftWind really only visited Jack’s Fall and the Five Hills for reasons other than ‘to do his job.’

Other Aspirants weren’t as lucky as they were to have a caretaker whose friend worked at the Tower, so they had to make do with harsher means of transportation.

In other news, now that Alaric was off guard duty or rather, off secret-guard duty, his mission was to rest. The stingray flew slower and steadied its pace to an intentional one that gradually lulled the boy to sleep.

Silently, Garin left his place at the reins to adjust Alaric’s seat.

A few clicks later, the leather seat converted into a comfortable recliner. The man retrieved a thin blanket from a storage bracelet on his hand much like the one Alaric had around his wrist and covered the boy.

“The rest of you should get some rest as well. We used a powerful Search Spell. We should be safe this time,” the red-haired knight suggested.

Darla shook her head, “I’ll stay awake and protect Alaric like he did for us.”

“Suit yourself,” Garin shrugged and returned to his place at the head of the giant stingray.

***

The sun was starting its journey down the sky when Alaric stirred awake. The moon was already up in the distance, shooing the sun away.

To the boy’s right, Darla had her head in her hands, struggling against the sleep weighing down on her eyelids. To her right, Finn was comfortably sleeping with his arms wrapped around Apollo’s small frame. The little pixie didn’t seem to mind as he too had long since fallen asleep.

A small smile graced Alaric’s face as he turned his gaze back to check on the others. The two girls with Aiden had gone to sleep. Aiden, on the other hand, was wide awake and looking down on the world below them.

Following his gaze, Alaric spotted a town in the distance. Lanterns of ambient shades and soft colours filled the streets in beautiful hues, painting the town in a festive light.

Checking his aether reserves, he frowned in thought for a bit before using a little magic to enhance his sight.

In the distance, he managed to spot villagers setting up decorations while vendors, performers and traders went about preparing their various places of work for what appeared to be festivities.

And yet, Alaric found no memory of any festivities this time of the year.

“Did you rest well, Alaric?” Garin’s voice filtered into Alaric’s ears.

The boy nodded, “Yes… What festival is being celebrated at this time of the year?”

“Ah! You don’t know. Jack’s Fall’s Coming of Age Ceremony is today. You ready for it, Aiden?” the man asked.

Aiden shrugged his shoulders, “It’s not like I have a choice in the matter.”

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“You got that right, boy. I wish I could be there to celebrate though,” Garin chuckled, “I attended last year’s ceremony and it was phenomenal.”

Despite Garin’s attempts at talking in low voices, the children began stirring. Apollo, being the first, began to squirm out of Finn’s iron grip.

“Coming of Age?” Alaric asked.

“Folks of this little town hold a celebration for the brats returning from the Appraisal Ceremony. It’s a time to eat, drink and be with family,” Garin explained.

“Wow,” Alaric’s eyes went wide, “That sounds like… fun.”

At the same time, he remembered the fact that Garin had just mentioned ‘family.’ He was from an orphanage, so he knew well the difference between his family and what the word ‘family’ should have meant. Still, this didn’t get to him. There were more orphans than children with families anyway.

With a ceremony like this though, children were bound to be looking forward to their Coming of Age Ceremony. It explained, to some extent, the excitement Aiden had had at the start of the Appraisal Ceremony.

“You should see them dance,” Garin chuckled.

“Shut up, Garin,” the blushing blonde at the back yelled at the top of his voice.

The damage, however, had been done, “Aiden??? You know how to dance?” Finn asked excitedly, the sleep long gone from his eyes while he absentmindedly swatted away a buzzing Apollo.

“It’s none of your business!” Aiden yelled at the boy.

Finn beamed, “You’ve got to show me.”

“Never… GARIN, LAND NOW,” Aiden yelled.

Finn and Garin burst into laughter. Darla giggled along before Garin said through his chuckles, “You heard the boy, SwiftWind. Take us down.”

The gigantic stingray rumbled before banking into a gentle nosedive. Unlike earlier, they didn’t speed like a rocket aimed for the ground. The stingray glided to the ground in a gentle downward spiral, landing at the top of the hill with a well.

Alaric spotted a gathering of people approaching the well, their faces beaming with proud smiles. They were the kind of smiles that infected even the gloomiest of people—smiles filled with such pride and love that Alaric found himself instinctively smiling.

His smile widened even more when a little girl let go of the hands of her mother and father and came running toward the landing stingray, “Big Brother!”

Aiden was already jumping off the guardian before they were properly stopped only to be engulfed in a huge hug. The other two girls, Black and Red were met by their parents as well.

“No orphans?” Alaric wondered.

He knew the difference between an orphan’s welcome and that of a child who had a loving family. While he had no problems with the latter, he was also aware of the staggeringly large amount of orphans in the world.

In Valeria, an orphan was a lot more common than not.

He was also aware of the fact that the word ‘orphan’ was merely a title in this twisted world. Living in an orphanage and going by the title of orphan didn’t require one to have lost both parents.

Alaric knew of this… but the reason why still eluded him. Asking Sister Marla had yielded no results as well. As the caretaker of an orphanage herself, she was beholden to certain information.

“No orphans are coming of age in Jack’s Fall this year,” Garin answered with a shrug.

“I see,” Alaric replied, his smile still stuck to his face.

“You’re looking brighter. How are you holding up? You used up an insane amount of aether,” Garin observed, walking off the edge of the stingray.

Alaric checked himself, feeling for his slowly replenishing aether reserves. His body hurt a ton and he could do without any unnecessary movements. Other than that, he felt fine, “I’ll be fine.”

This time, Alaric and his friends would be the ones staying on the stingray while Garin delivered the Aspirants that had been placed under his care back to their parents.

He watched as Garin and the three Aspirants from Jack’s Fall approached the villagers, leaving Alaric and his friends in comfortable silence.

Alaric lingered, watching the happy reunion taking place in front of them. Aiden had a wonderful family with two vibrant parents and two siblings, a younger sister and a baby brother. The children all took on their father’s blonde hair, leaving their mother standing out with her black wavy locks.

The other two girls had much larger families welcoming them while Garin walked up to an older-looking man whose form radiated a calm yet powerful aura.

[That man has a strong guardian] Alia whispered.

[S-class…]

[I can’t tell. Perhaps a high-grade A-class] the guardian responded. It struck Alaric as odd that he hadn’t sensed the man at all during their arrival.

“He must have been a remarkable fighter in his younger days,” Darla muttered.

Alaric nodded in agreement, “I wondered how reaching the Gateway would ensure our safety. Now, I know.”

“You alright, Alaric? Really?” Finn asked, this time he too sounded concerned.

Alaric turned and gave the boy a tight-lipped smile, “Yeah… I’m fine now.”

Before the friends could proceed to more important topics, the stingray shuddered as something heavy landed on it. Alaric looked back to see Aiden standing not far from him with his hands tight on a leather seat.

Garin laughed while the other children giggled, “I didn’t think you’d want seconds.”

“Don’t you dare!” Aiden gripped the leather seats even tighter as he remembered his first time hoping onto SwiftWind… It had happened on this same exact hill.

“Did you forget something, Aiden?” Alaric asked, withholding his own laughter.

Aiden turned back to Alaric, stumbling all over his words for the first time since Alaric had met him.

“Yes… I… I… forgot to say ‘Thank you’.”