After everything that had occurred, it should not have been surprising for the next thing the four of them to be aware of is waking up in their beds late the next morning. Having been more than just exhausted, sleep had taken over regardless of whatever else they might have otherwise planed.
The four of them did however stir from their beds at around the same time. It was a very welcoming feeling, even if the beds were of much less quality than they had grown used to. Lwyn herself knew that the quality had seriously plummeted, and yet she still missed this feeling so much. It was the feeling of home.
Mhyl had actually fallen asleep during the escape while using her gift, the last of her stamina crumbling away, leaving the whole structure to manage on it's own natural design, herself still uncertain how the whole facility had moved there in the first place. Lwyn had faded next, barely capable of registering they were safe, before sleep overtook her. She was in fact fortunate she had made it safely to the floor, for once. Thanrie and Qheria had tried to bring the two elf-kinds to a more comfortable location, but sleep had overtaken them before their own successes. It was then Rhyde, who ensured that all of them had at least safely made it into bed.
Lwyn's first impulse upon waking up was to start tidying up. How long has it been since she was allowed to organize her own stuff? Even though it was yet another of her standard outfits, she took it out with pride in having selected it for herself. Finally, she felt free once again. The others tended to themselves as they watched Lwyn. Clearly, their rescue was all too successful, they had brought Lwyn back, and she was doing much better.
Once ready to face the day, the four of them left the room. There, they found Sxeiva being questioned by everyone else. They had totally forgot that there was someone else in the rescue team, and no introductions had been made. Lwyn rushed into the scene. "Woah, woah, woah, stop! She's with us, okay?" "Uh, okay. If you say so. She should really take some of that creepy stuff off though, it's weird." "It is not weird, she needs that stuff to stay alive. Don't insult mother that way!" Lwyn was being really protective of her mother, disliking how people were already judging her for being different. It reminded her too much of the hatred behind half-elves, another feature her mother also had. Ehryinae however had an awkward expression shift into utter shock.
"This.. wait.. how? Isn't... Wasn't... Wouldn't..." Ehryinae couldn't even finish a thought. She was stuck realizing the implications of someone being identified as Lwyn's mother, which would also be the Arch-Magus' daughter, who was supposedly dead. She looked like she had seen a ghost. It also prompted an opportunity to share with everyone what had gone on while the four of them had been away. It had been a long time, after all, a whole lunar cycle.
Another meeting was setup, giving the four of them the chance to discuss everything they had gone through. In return, Rhyde covered some of the things the four of them had missed. The hunting party that had tried to track the four girls down.. the bandits taken captive, who had spilled the beans on taking Lwyn to the Fortress themselves. From there, plenty of work to build up the facility into a true mobile base, while Xyithy tried to break into the Fortress and setup her own rescue. Xyithy couldn't even get into the Fortress, so had to return unsuccessful. Ehryinae had then compelled everyone into a rescue more of her own design.
Somehow, the idea that Ehryinae was the one who had thought of breaking through the fortress directly explained so much of what had happened. It was alarming to realize that, had the four girls not stepped in, the results would have been a disaster. However, in a pure reversal, had they not arrived like that, the four girls might have been hard-pressed for an opportunity to escape. You could say it was a wide round of good fortune. Thanrie however looked towards Sxeiva, finally blending in better with everyone else. Nothing about this was as simple as chance, Sxeiva had even been able to predict it.
The meeting came to a close soon after. The four girls were excited to simply resume a much more normal-feeling routine of just being home. They were, however, heavily missed by friends and family. None of the four of them were aware that Sxeiva had stood up in on their behalf, saying that they would need space before returning to their loved ones. She had eventually convinced the others that a day to themselves might be the best idea. Anything further could wait until tomorrow, they at least knew the four girls were alright.
Each of them had their own idea on how to spend their free time. Lwyn was eager to get some laundry done, her own outfits feeling musty after so much lack of use. There were a number of other chores she wanted to do as well, just to feel home again, but this was where she would begin. Thanrie looked at her like she was insane, but trusted Lwyn knew what she was doing. Lwyn had done laundry before and escaped unharmed, maybe she was just that good. Thanrie herself wanted to go for a walk. They had returned to their usual spot, so there were once again plenty of Amber-leaf outside. She wanted to go out and enjoy some of the plants and nature.
Mhyl looked at the blossoms Lwyn had given her, having been asked for a way to preserve them. She had brought them to Yuxzn, who had said that he would work something out with the smith. With that completed, she found a quiet room and just started humming a song. By the time Qheria wandered by, however, Mhyl was outright singing and dancing. Qheria smiled at Mhyl, knowing this was one way Mhyl found relaxation. She herself needed to find a way. She had been stumbling around and had found the deflated ball Mhyl had made her, and was herself off to the workshop to see if she could fix it, maybe even improve on it. She wanted an opportunity to practice some Footsphere, just kicking the ball around casually, where she could also lose herself in the moment.
Lwyn eventually brought back a finished set of clothes, all clean and ready to be put away. She pulled each item rapidly out from the basket and threw everything behind her. Instead of landing in a heap behind her, every single article had folded itself up and put itself away. She nodded, impressed, but went to double check things anyway. She discovered that over half of everything her gift had done was wrong, either folding things wrong, putting it in the wrong place, or both. It was a convenient idea, but she would have to get better before she could accomplish it properly.
Thanrie sat out with the amber-leaves. The heat of the sun was blazing, but it was still a feeling she had grown to miss. She went out to the river, got some water, and sprinkled it on the amber-leaves. They were honestly weeds, they didn't need any special care, but they were weeds Thanrie had came to respect. Thanrie then decided on a better way to provide water. She crossed to the other side of the river and found a small stone. She then tossed the stone into the river, which pulsed as a shock-wave on contact. A gigantic pulse of water surged from the river, coursing over a lot of the nearby Amber-leaves, ripping them apart. Right, that was a thing that happens, this wasn't how you bring water to plants. The flash of water over the tide of yellow had looked pretty, at least, leaving a rainbow settling in the air for a few moments more.
Qheria carried back the inflated ball, bringing it into the training room. She had made a few adjustments to the ball, temporary things that could really improve the experience. She set the ball on the ground as she backed up and approached it with a kick. Moments later, she had crumpled to the ground in pure agony. It seems increasing the overall durability of the ball hadn't just made it retain air, but had also made it impossible to kick. This was like kicking a solid steel ball. Qheria picked up the ball once more and brought it back to the workshop. It seems the more regular approach would be needed to ensure this thing kept its air. However, the ball was really as light as a normal ball, it wasn't like her efforts were a complete waste. The ball had suffered a lot through this, it's age getting the best of it, so she set about having a brand new one made instead of trying to repair it, using the old one as a template. The replacement didn't have any gift-given shortcuts to it's creation, it was just a simple ball.
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Mhyl continued her spiral of song and dance, completely lost to her own music. Still resorting to pre-planned songs, her movement was also as elegant and refined as usual, not a single motion was wasted. As her melody progressed, she suddenly found herself getting very exhausted much faster than expected. In the midst of her struggle to keep going, she stumbled upon one of her steps, and instead tumbled to the floor. She wasn't alone, the room resounded in countless, numerous crashes as all the elements of the room tumbled to the ground with her. She wasn't even aware that she was dancing with everything in the room, and unlike her own movements, her usage of her gift was very wasteful. Over-complicated approaches to over-complicated concepts, and it was all even subconscious. Having been brought back to reality, she set about cleaning up the mess she had just made.
All four of them had a lot of potential with their gift, but not much control. The lack of such was even a bit of a problem, potentially even a danger. For all of them, the gift was still a new feeling they weren't fully adjusted to yet, even after all of their training. They would need to put conscious effort in not using it until they could get some proper and safe training in its usage. Today was probably also a bad day for such, having just finally returned home, their minds were all over the place after all. It really probably didn't help.
Lwyn sat down to relax and sort out her own thoughts. A lot had happened over the past.. lunar cycle. It was like a month, though not exactly. Lwyn knew Mhyl would squabble the details too. Regardless, they were really gone a month, and more so hadn't been with their friends for anything close to as long. Even so, reflecting on everything in her life since leaving the Citadel Inn, she had far more memories being here than at the Fortress. Far nicer memories too, even though there was a lot of sadness and despair here back then. Somehow, the Fortress just felt.. worse.. and yet she had learned and improved so much from it. It left her with a feeling that she needed to invest more into the things she liked more.
Thanrie showed up with Mhyl, having helped Mhyl clean up some of her mess already. Lwyn nodded at their arrival, but noticed that both of them were also lost in thought. Mhyl was mostly ashamed at being caught in that mess, though Thanrie had been too shy to share her like circumstances. Mhyl seemed tense, focusing on an explicit nothing so as to not lose her own concentration. She knew Lwyn had just finished cleaning up in here, and didn't want to throw all the freshly folded clothes over the room on accident. Thanrie wasn't even near her weapon, having fully put it away.
Qheria finally walked into the room, passing into the thick silent atmosphere of the room. She had finally finished replacing that ball, though she wasn't as interested in practicing with it anymore, maybe tomorrow. A quick review of the room furthered this impression, physical relief didn't seem quite as important right now, compared to mental relief. "It's almost a shame this world doesn't have video games, you three look like you could use the escapism." Qheria was considering how games had proven to be a good way at relieving stress mentally when a lot had accumulated. She remembered the activity frequently from Earth, for this kind of situation.
Lwyn also considered the concept. Escaping from reality sounded just like what she figured her Terrain-self had done a lot, considering all that she remembered. However, she also remembered what her father had brought forward to her, an invitation for the exact same games she was used to, in Celese. However, ripping so much from Earth like that felt.. wrong, like a bad remake. Meanwhile, she actually had nothing like it in Celese. As Yhse, she ended up bored for that very reason, and back at the Inn.. relief didn't exist at all. It might be possible to come up with something using the gift.. but that was going back to their previous problem.
Still, it's not like technology or the gift were the only solutions they had. Even the idea of borrowing general principles that sorta worked in Celese might not be that bad. They had done so with not just their instruments, but 'Footsphere'. The later was a great example of how even their own earth experiences and ideas could be reshaped into something new. Thinking upon it further, Lwyn went and grabbed a blank report sheet and a writing tool. The writing tools around here were primitive, clearly based upon the feather quill idea more than an actual pen. It was an elven reed-wood branch, though even she didn't completely understand where the ink came from. Something about tree sap or something..
With minimal creativity, she set the paper in front of Qheria and drew a number sign. In the very middle of the number sign, she drew an 'X'. "Your turn." Lwyn passed the branch to Qheria, who stared at it for a bit before getting the hint. She put her 'O' and passed the branch back. A few turns later and they found themselves at a draw. Even with no clear winner for that match, Lwyn at least won on matter of premise.
Thanrie caught onto the concept of more mundane games, even board games. She went out to the workshop, got a large square piece of sheet metal, some paint, and a set of smaller chips. Eventually, having finished her idea, she returned and set up the 'Go' board in front of Mhyl, who was also catching on. "Is that supposed to be like chess or something?" Lwyn wasn't getting it, again. "It's a ... Japanese game like chess, kinda. Thankfully it's not the Japanese 'Mahjong' or anything, I've been really bad at that game." "Mahjong, isn't that a single player game like Solitaire?" "No, it's a very competitive game, almost closer to Poker." Mhyl tried to explain cross culture games to Lwyn, who was still having problems keeping up.
Qheria then got her own idea. "Oh, speaking of Poker, we could maybe try to make a card deck? Maybe play a game of Skat?" "Of what? What's Skat?" It was Qheria's turn to have her own culture go over Lwyn's head. "Maybe, but isn't that only for three people. We need games for four or two games of two, three people games just leaves one of us out." Mhyl, as usual, was their cross-culture guru, keeping up with both Japanese and German games.
Lwyn was starting to feel overwhelmed and left out, her own Earth knowledge feeling insignificant compared to what the others had. However, she knew better than to let that stop her, she had grown to understand such a lesson. It was obvious Mhyl had an advantage in this area, but she herself wasn't perfect. Instead, she was very lacking in more Celesi cultures, not even having been very social and active in elven cultures. Sure, Lwyn herself had avoided a lot of elven matters, but when she was little she had learned a lot of elven matters from..
Lwyn dashed off suddenly, an idea forming in her head. She returned later with a set of paint and numerous small chips of wood. Behind her, carrying some of the same supplies, was her mother. "Mom, my friends and I were trying to come up with a fun game to play together, and so I was thinking we could all play Daezhyn together. I remember you teaching me how to play when I was little. Could you teach my friends too?" Lwyn seemed excited as she was putting everything together.
"Sure, I would be happy to help!" Sxeiva started to explain the game to the others, making sure to use Elaethyx to explain anything Mhyl didn't understand. It seemed the game had elven origins, and was a very classic game. Four players compete with a set of decorated wooden chips to complete sets before the others could. As the description went on, Mhyl developed a look of dread. "Lwyn, okay, I came up with a better comparison. The 'Mahjong' I was talking about earlier, it's practically this. Slightly different rules, obviously different words and pictures for everything, really not far from the same game." Mhyl really was nervous about the way this was going.
Mhyl considered the game in depth, including her Terran comparison. With slightly less rules but slightly more combinations, Daezhyn was actually more strategic than Mahjong. Then it occurred to her, Lwyn herself was very good at strategy, maybe even because of this game. Meanwhile, Qheria did say she had a history of strategy gaming from Earth. If Thanrie was proficient in Go, she could possibly be skilled in this kind of game similar to the Japanese-styled variant Mhyl was comparing it to. That would leave her with the worst disadvantage. The biggest grief to her was that the game itself was elven, and she was the most elven person present. She didn't even know it existed until now.
It was a while more before they put the game away. Lwyn had by far won that one, and Mhyl had found herself doing the worst. Even so, playing with her friends and sharing the experience was fun enough, giving her a good first impression of the game. Maybe it was something they would have to play more often, learn to get better with, and generally have fun. Mhyl also knew she might need to find a better seat in the arrangement, sitting beside Lwyn like that was just setting herself up for a harder difficulty. It was almost intimidating how smart and clever Lwyn could be sometimes.
Though all of their fun mind games, all four of them had already forgotten about their stress from earlier. It had become a very good way to relax and escape from their inner troubles, to visit such again when they were better prepared for it.