3010 Overlapping Moments (Part 2)

Ryla used her eyes to snuff any spell that might have harmed one of the children while the handmaidens with their Awakened bodies could safely restrain the young Skoll when she threw a tantrum.

When Lith and the others arrived, it took one glance at their faces to notice that something bad had happened.

"Welcome back, sweetie." Elina got up to meet them. "Is everything okay? Are you done with the investigation?"

Lith was frowning more than usual but Solus worried Elina the most. Her face was greenish pale and her smile twitched like she could fall apart at any moment.

"It's a long story, Mom." Solus replied, not wanting to upset Elina and scare the children. "Sadly, we got our man but we failed. No new toy for me."

"Dya!" Before Elina could ask another question, Elysia recognized her father and took flight to reach him.

With her stumpy Tiamat form and her short wings, the baby girl's movements were clumsy and awkward. Yet her genuine efforts made her adorable in the eyes of the members of the family.

"Baba?" Elysia stopped midway, sniffing Solus' odd scent and feeling her distress.

The baby girl changed the target and landed between Solus' arms with the grace of a sack of potatoes.

"Not baba, sweetie. I'm not bad." Solus embraced Elysia tight, finding comfort in her warmth and the softness of her small body. "Call me Solus, auntie, but not baba, please. I can't take it. Not today."

"Baba?" Elysia grabbed Solus' shirt and wrapped her wings around Solus in what was the best hug she could offer. Elysia wasn't used to seeing Solus upset and wanted to console her like Solus always did with her.

"I'm fine, baby. Don't worry." Solus' voice broke with every word she spoke and soon she was sniffling.

She had kept it together until that moment, but the sight of the Mansion, her family, and Elysia's embrace were more than Solus could take.

'I went this close to losing all of them. I went this close to losing everything again.' The sniffling turned into sobbing as the feeling of the knife piercing her heart from the back overlapped with the memory of Bytra's horn killing her.

The two events were centuries apart yet the surprise, shock, and helplessness she had experienced while her life slipped away were the same. The Sealed Space had isolated her from Lith, making Solus think that she would have once again died alone.The old and recent trauma weighed on her mind, crushing Solus' spirit into fine powder.

Elysia giggled, smiled, and did everything that usually made grown-ups happy but nothing worked. Solus kept crying harder until the baby girl joined her.

Lith took a step back, gesturing for Bytra and Zoreth to do the same.

'If I get close, our bond will help her but also reinforce our codependence. Yet if I leave her alone, I'll feel like a jerk. There's no right move!' Lith was seething with pain and anger, wishing to find those who had stolen the Ears and give them an excruciating death.

"Are you sure you don't want me to leave?" Bytra whispered despite having already put a Hush spell in place. "My presence here can only make things harder for her."

"You're right. You'd better go. I'm sorry." Lith Warped them to the Gate and apologized again.

"Don't apologize, lil bro." Zoreth dismissed it. "Just let us know when Solus gets better and tell her that if there's something we can do, she just has to ask."

"Will do. Thank you."

Meanwhile, in the park, Elina was embracing Solus in an attempt to console her while Ryla and the handmaidens brought everyone inside to give the two women some privacy.

As soon as they were alone, Solus tried to speak, but her voice was a sobbing mess, and the few words she put together made no sense. She used a mind link to share with Elina the final moments of the mission and all the suffering that her near-death experience had inflicted upon her.

"It's alright, baby. It's all over now. You are safe here." Small tears streaked down Elina's cheeks but her voice remained calm and soothing.lightsnovel

Elina's pain was more than Elysia could take so she went all out.

"Dya! Mama! Gama! Masa!" She called upon those dearest to her for comfort.

The baby girl didn't understand what was happening and it terrified her seeing grown-ups cry.

Salaark's Blood Imprint brought her there from the Desert, Lith felt Elysia's distress through their resonance, and Kamila ran there because she could hear her daughter cry from a mile away.

Solus cried hard but Elysia was a close second.

Salaark's strength, Lith's bond, and the warmth of the group hug allowed Solus to pull herself together enough to ask a question that was nagging at her.

"Who is Masa and why didn't they answer?" She asked amid sniffles.

"And I'm your grandma too, sweetie. I should be offended that you've yet to call me Gama." Elina gave a peck on Elysia's head with a mock frown, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's you." Salaark answered Solus' question. "It means 'Mommy Solus' and Elysia was keeping it for a special occasion. And with special occasion I mean to get what she wanted from you the next time you said no to her."

"Like father like daughter." Solus half sobbed and half laughed.

"I'm sorry. I don't know who Lith takes after. We raised him better than this." Elina chuckled as well.

Kamila was a little upset by the new baby word, but she got over it quickly.

'It's normal. Solus spends a lot of time with Elysia and dotes on her. It's just like Tista called Rena mom when she was little and I thought that Zinya was my mother because she spent all her time with me.' She thought, yet a tinge of annoyance remained in the back of her mind.

"Say that again." Solus kissed Elisya. "Say Masa. Ma-sa."

"Masa." No one was crying anymore so the baby girl gave it another try.

"Thank you." Solus fell onto her knees.

She was still crying but now was out of joy.

lightsnοvεl "I'm home, baby girl, and I'm here to stay."

***

The next morning, Kamila and Lith woke up first, letting Solus sleep in with Elysia. After learning everything that had happened inside the Garden, Kamila had agreed to a family sleepover.

"I don't want to be here. I've better things to do than wasting my time sleeping." Leegaain had grumbled.

The sleepover included him, Salaark, Elina, and Raaz all sleeping in different beds in the same room.

"Adya." Elysia spoke the Dragontongue for grandfather that Leegaain had made the second easiest to pronounce for a baby of his Brood on purpose.

"I changed my mind." He said with a smug grin while Raaz and the Overlord scowled at him.

"So, I have to drag you here by force and she needs but one word to convince you to stay?" Salaark's aura lit the room in anger.

"Well, yes. Elysia is way cuter and kinder than you. No matter what form you take, you are a brute on the inside as much as you are on the inside." Leegaain shrugged.