It was several hours later and Xenith was close to tears. She was forced to sit on her knees on the table, while Alv continued to question whether or not she was worthy of being the wife of his precious son. During that time, Lyn also found herself sitting next to Xenith, wondering how she got there, not even Amie, who already went through this, was safe from another berating... all three had their heads down with a look that begged for death rather than deal with this…

Even Agnès was not exempt from this, though she was given a small pass due to her situation of also being soul awakened and sharing herself with Luna alongside Van.

Finally, after what must have felt like forever for the girls, his father seemed to have run out of complaints about their actions, much to their relief.

“Alright, I suppose we are done for now with the problem of the war you all caused. And since you all are married to Van, I'll overlook it and take care of this problem you caused ourselves…” Alve said.

A wave of relief fell over the group.

“Now… let me speak with your mothers…”

All three paled… except Lyn quickly remembered her mother died and felt a strange mix of both relief and sadness…

Van did as he was asked and brought both Xenith’s and Amie’s mother’s out.

“Kids… can you please leave us for now? We have things to talk about that concern the forest and a few… other things…” Alv said, looking over to Gloria and Zartashia.

“Hey! We are the leaders of our respective nations now!” Xenith exclaimed. “If you are going to talk about stuff like this, it should be with us!” now taking a stand, refusing to back down with the pride of the wasp horde at stake. To dismiss her like this was wrong, she was now the leader of her people, she had a responsibility to them. This was this, that was that, and she had to be there for them.

Even Amie stood up to stand beside Xenith and Lyn followed suit.

“Well… if you three want another five-hour lecture… I suppose I can oblige…” Alv said menacingly.

The three gave one look to each other and immediately fled the room.

“Sorry mom, I was just recently crowned anyway, you have more negotiation knowledge than I do at the moment so you can handle this, right? I also assign you as the wasp horde’s ambassador at this moment, good luck!” Xenith said as she zipped out.

“Ya, same to you mom, we have queenly duties to attend to. Good luck!” Amie said as she followed Xenith close behind.

“I just remembered…” Lyn sniffed. “I need to talk to my sister about mom’s grave!” looking like she was going to ball her eyes out. Following close behind Amie.

Gloria and Zartashia blinked at not only being suddenly summoned but also being abandoned, confused as to what was going on.

“Van, I think you should go too, I’ll call you and your friends once our discussion has ended,” Alv said.

Van was surprised, wondering what his parents were going to discuss with his mother in inlaws… but decided to leave the questions for later, he already had an idea that it probably had something to do with what was going to happen to the forest.

Taking his leave, we quickly caught up to Lyn and the others, who were discussing how rude Alv was to them. They obviously did not enjoy being talked down to or dismissed like they were.

“Ah-hem… that’s my dad you're talking about…” Van said from behind them.

““AH!”” The three shouted in unison, turning around and looking at him as if he purposely tried to sneak up on them from behind.

“Don’t scare us like that!” Amie exclaimed, then quickly apologized after she realized he probably heard some of what they said. “And… sorry…”

“Ya, sorry…” Xenith added.

“Should I try and go back now? But maybe it’s too late… Oh, mama… I'm sorry for leaving your grave behind…” Lyn said, talking to herself, still hung up on her mother’s grave for the time being.

Everyone turned to quirk an eye at that but figured she would get over it soon since that was just how she was and then turned back. Though still feeling a little bad for her, but not knowing what else to do. All of them inwardly planning to come by to comfort her later.

“Anyway, sorry about my dad, he can be a bit… overprotective… but he’s not wrong you know,” Van said, trying to sound understanding but also being a little defensive on his father’s behalf.

Amie sighed, “we know… the problem is, what he said we already berated ourselves over with plenty of times as is… though a few were new to us… still doesn’t change the fact we didn’t like hearing it once more by someone else… it also doesn’t help this wasn’t the way I wanted to meet your parents…” she admitted sadly.

“Ya… I was hoping for something a little happier myself…” Xenith added. “Don’t get me wrong, I figured we wouldn’t be just suddenly welcomed with arms wide open but…” she paused, losing her train of thought, wondering how to word this right without sounding a little petulant.

“Don’t worry, I understand…” Van replied in a soothing manner. “Trust me, I didn’t want you to be introduced like this either. But a lot is happening and you have to look at it from his perspective. The entire forest that provided a little more than a quarter of our territory's revenue is now going to have to be put to the torch. So to speak. And the ones that caused it all, in a manner of speaking, forcefully married his precious son… I think anyone would have a bit of a low opinion of such people…”

All three looked downcast, sad at the part they played in the destruction of their own home.

“Sorry Van…” Lyn said, still partially blaming herself for the war she believed she started.

“No, I'm sorry,” Amie said. “I should have worked harder to find a more peaceful solution to all this…”

“No, I’m sorry…” Xenith said. “I was all for the war… I wanted to so badly give back all the bad things done to the wasps and insect-kins in general ten times over to the fairies… that I didn’t realize that I was letting my own pride of being the wasp horde’s princess and my inner hatred cloud my judgment from the realization that war never really solved anything…” looking down, angry at herself.

The three then got into an argument as to who was really to blame, each blaming themselves over the others as the reason as for why the war continued on, finding holes in each other’s arguments and claiming to be the real cause of the war.

Van couldn’t help but look on amused, as he watched them trying to take the blame from each other to make their friends feel better. His amusement didn’t go unnoticed, they soon all turned to look at him, wondering what was so funny about all this.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Nothing… I just realized how truly lucky I am to have all three of you as my wives…” he said, making the three of them blush a little. His face softened at their slightly pink faces, “and if you think about it… since I’m your husband… I too share some of the blame…” the three immediately looked like they were going to deny that, but he raised a hand to stop them. “So let’s all work together to make this right…” he finished gently.

“YA! Let’s do this!” Luna suddenly exclaimed behind him. Making him jump a little. He forgot she also left soon after him.

“Indeed, the forest was our home, and we're all one big family now, let’s all work together to make this right!” Agnès added a little to the back of Luna.

Lyn, Amie, and Xenith looked touched and then looked happy and started pumping themselves up.

“Ya! We can do this! …whatever it is we're going to do!” Lyn exclaimed.

“We just have to put our heads together!” Amie agreed.

“And take the lead to make things right!” Xenith finished, putting fist to hand in a determined manner.

Then everyone started to pump each other up, making Van feel oddly out of place as he watched now from the sidelines as the group of five started excitedly talking about what they could do to fight or destroy the giant mushroom and rebuild the forest.

They asked to use a nearby room and then all sat down at a table to begin their discussion of what they could do to make things right.

“Alright, what can we do to destroy that mushroom?” Lyn began, asking for the sake of getting the ball rolling.

“Well… I don’t think we can actually destroy something that size and power…” Van said sadly, being pragmatic about this.

“And what about the people left behind? What do we do about them?” Agnès asked, she didn’t like the idea of all those poor fairies, insect-kin and basically every other intelligent tribe and people being left behind to die…

“Well, I think we should first start with figuring out how to fully evacuate as many people out of the forest first before we do anything like destroying that giant fungus thing,” Amie said, agreeing with Agnès. “We already did a pretty good job of it, and probably could have saved a bit more if we stayed a few days longer. But things have moved a bit faster than expected and we had to leave sooner than expected because the ranger group arrived early. I did make sure to leave behind a group of expert guides and technicians to help escort any refugees left behind, either through the forest or what is left of the fairy portal network. But I don’t know if that is enough…”

“I’m not sure we should completely dismiss investigating any and all methods of trying to destroy that mushroom,” Xenith said. “Alecto and Pepper were rather successful in developing a serum to help combat the foul corrupted thing. Which we could use to help those who are still trapped behind the few vines that still remain. Figuring out a method to combat the fungus and its corruption, can lead to saving more lives in the long run, and give us a chance to fight it should things go south and the thing spreads out further than projected.”

“I agree a little with Xenith.” Van said, “We could use that serum to help the guides through more dangerous areas of the forest. It may even be possible to reclaim abandoned fairy gates that have previously been corrupted.” he added.

“Umm…” Luna looked left and right, feeling a little out of place. “I think… we should also work with the… other residents of the forest, not just the fairies and insect-kin… I mean… we already made so many friends with kobolds and forest wolves and so much more… I don’t think it makes sense not to include them in thinking of ways to help each other. If we can all somehow coordinate together instead of everyone just running around trying to escape, we may be able to save more than just some of our… parts?” wondering if she was using that phrase right.

“That’s a good point.” Van said, “I was actually thinking of something along those lines myself.”

“We actually already tried talking to some of the more prominent non-fairy and insect-kin villages to help. Asking them to lead any of the many lesser tribes safely out of the forest.” Amie began. “But sadly we all just can’t come together and coordinate every little action to take. Which is why everyone is forced to delegate and trust that everyone is on the same page. At the moment, we already have a hard time getting our own people out of the forest. We can hardly spare time for others, and the same goes for them.”

“This doesn't mean we haven’t tried mind you. Just that things are a bit more complicated than you think. And to not worry too much about it, actions have already been taken to try and help everyone, not just fairies, and insect-kin…” Amie said, hoping it would soothe Luna’s worries.

Luna looked somewhat mollified and thanked Amie for her answer. After that, the group spent the next few hours trying to figure out the best course of action to follow, pertaining to how they could save as many people as they could and then deal with the mushroom. It was eventually agreed that they had to focus first on evacuation since they still couldn’t come up with a good enough solution to the red knife problem. In the end, they figured they should focus on what they could do now, and leave the things they couldn’t for later.

As their conversation continued, they were interrupted by a knock on the door. A maid was then heard on the other asking to come in.

“You may come in,” Van replied.

The maid then walked in and greeted the group with the due courtesy afforded those of their station and informed Van that his parents have asked him and his wives to come meet them in the strategy room. Where they will be told of the plans that were made on how to deal with the red knives and the giant mushroom once and for all.

The group then looked to each other with some worry, wondering what had been set into motion without their knowledge, and agreed to follow the maid towards the room where their parents were waiting for them.

Once there, they were told to sit down as their parents explained everything they discussed and what they were going to do next.

“You're going to blow up the forest!?” Van asked, unsure if he was hearing this right.

Alv nodded. “While not the exact words as to how I would put it… it is effectively the same thing… We have already been given permission to use tactical spell magic to deal with this red knife threat before it spreads out of control. We have three days before the operation begins.”

“But what about all the people still left behind?” Lyn asked, looking worried. “We still need to save them!”

“Unfortunately it might be too late…” Gloria replied gently. “Already, the red knives have retaken most of the forest it gave up previously and seems set to growing exponentially once it has fully formed. We simply do not have the time to save everyone… if anything… we have saved far more people than we know how to deal with…”

“It might be hard to hear… but our small barony can’t handle all those refugees… but, I have been able to arrange a few things on the Vespera network to find new forests that they can call home. It even should be able to help you, Van, since if what I heard is correct, your soul realm can barely contain all those who have entered it to seek shelter.” Alv said, looking worriedly at Van, wondering if his soul was able to deal with the burden of so many people.

“To that end…” Zartashia began with a sigh. “After some talks… We agreed that it might be best to split the alliance and the horde in two. Both for the sake of Van, whose soul realm is heavily overburdened, and to spread out our respective countries into new homes. Preferably far from each other… to that end, me and Gloria will be retaking our role of rulers… while our daughters, you and Evergreen, will take a portion to found your own nations within Van’s soul realm. For any who decided to stay of course…”`

“Do not worry and think that this means that you are not the heirs anymore though.” Gloria tried to quickly explain, in case of any hurt feelings or confusion. “Me and Zartashia will swear an oath to the both of you, proclaiming you two to be the true rulers of our respective queendoms. This way should anything happen to us, all our authority and power will jump back to you. You can even think of us as vassals if you wish.” hoping they would understand what she was trying to say.

Then Alvaroz began to explain a few things further.

“We’ve already set things in motion and talked to numerous guilds, such as the rangers, druids, and environmentalist guilds about escorting all those displaced by the red knives to other forests that might need a fairies or insect-kins touch,” Alv said. “You all can be assured that they will be taken care of and that a new home will be available to them, alongside a new lease on life and a brighter future.”

Van and the rest of the group were completely blindsided by this. None of them were expecting something like this to happen. Of course, it made some sort of sense… but it felt wrong that after all those hours of discussing what they could and could not do, that the decision of what was going to happen was taken away from them. It felt bad… to say the least.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much they could do… all those people inside his soul realm were giving him a feeling of indigestion… and it wasn’t like they had come to figure out a method to deal with the giant mushroom or anything…

The expressions and feelings of the group must have shown because Alv and the others gave a look and turned back to them. “Perhaps you all would like to sit down and we can explain our thinking of how we came to this decision… Maybe you will learn something from each other while we are at it.” trying to bridge the sudden gap between what was effectively the old versus the new.

In the end, everyone sat down, tea was brought, and discussions of the future began…