A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

After Runa and Ankhur released their respective children, they looked at them questioningly, desperate for answers and assurances.

Naeku and Erik glanced at each, while his other three wives suddenly discovered how interesting their surroundings were.

"W— We're fine, Dad," Naeku coughed, trying desperately to hide her discomfort. "I just took a little longer than expected."

Next to her, Erik scraped his throat and nodded, his brow sternly furrowed. "Y— Yes, what she said. At first we thought she passed all the tests, but it turned out there was a remnant soul of the city builders who had more tests! We, uh, we were only just able to pass them."

Naeku nodded rapidly, eyes wide. "Y— Yeah! And this remnant soul wouldn't let us inform you about anything! He was a real bastard about it!"

Inwardly, she shot an apology towards the dead Lemayian, as he'd been nothing but kind to her, regardless of the situation with Elora.

Although Erik was much better at hiding the truth than Naeku, Runa was also excellent at spotting her son's lies, and it was the same for Ankhur. Both parents noticed something was wrong.

Runa cocked a sceptical, imperious eyebrow at her son. "I see… And you needed Emily and Astrid for these tests at some point? This remnant soul or whatever allowed that?"

Ankhur glanced at Erik to wait for his answer while Naeku twitched nervously. Enkare Nkai's king was obviously sceptical as well.

Coughing, Erik nodded, his mind racing. Honestly, he didn't think Runa would be that upset by the truth, but he knew Naeku would be mortified. Even without going into details of what they'd done, just the fact she forgot about her father and had sex for hours, before sleeping for another few, while he worried about her was more than enough.

So, for her sake, he kept the lie going, despite knowing very well both Runa and Ankhur were sceptical. "Yeah… After passing a few more tests, he wanted to meet my other wives, claiming they were Naeku's closest family. He wanted to make sure he was leaving the city in good hands."

Ankhur scoffed and narrowed his eyes at both his daughter and son-in-law. "Your other wives are her closest family, but not her father?"

Erik glanced at Ankhur indifferently, and shrugged. "I don't presume to judge the standards of people who lived that long ago."

He liked Ankhur just fine, but he wouldn't treat him the same as he did his mother. Ankhur may be his father-in-law, but he was also supposed to be Erik's subject. He did see a prospect for the two of them to consider each other friends in the future, but they weren't there yet.

Ankhur grumbled and wanted to continue asking questions, but Runa chuckled and softly punched his shoulder. "Oh, leave them alone, Ankhur. Let's just be happy they're alive and well, huh?"

She turned to smile warmly at Elora. "And the same goes for you. I'm glad my son got you back, Elora. I know how much he loves you, and I could have done far worse for a first daughter-in-law."

Elora, no longer looking at her surroundings, beamed at Runa with a genuine warmth she didn't often show. "Thank you!"

Nodding, Runa turned to Erik before Ankhur could interrupt her. "Why don't you just tell us what happened, huh…?"

Naeku breathed a sigh of relief, and a smirking Erik started telling a somewhat re-imagined version of the truth. It was basically just what happened, but rather than research, sex, and sleep, he strained his mind to come up with a whole slew of fake tests Lemayian supposedly thrust upon them.

When he was done, Ankhur still looked sceptical, but Runa's prodding caused him to let it go, although he snorted unwillingly.

"Fine, let's say that's what happened…" he grumbled, before looking back at his daughter. Despite his skepticism, Ankhur's eyes remained filled with love and relief. Somehow, all his frustration at not getting the truth was shoved onto Erik, even though Naeku could tell him what happened just as easily.

Then he cocked an eyebrow and smiled proudly at her. "Regardless, I never doubted you'd be able to inherit our birthright, Naeku. Does this mean we can explore the place now, though?" He cocked a worried eyebrow. "We still need to plug this hole in our defences before that trio from Maghreb comes back."

Naeku smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, we can! But don't worry about them, they won't be able to get back again without our say-so."

"Oh?" Ankhur murmured curiously. "What did you discover?"

"We can show you!" Naeku answered, and looked at Erik. "Shall we? We can take the everyone this time, right?"

Erik nodded, but then frowned and glanced at a bloody but empty spot near the stairs leading down. "Yeah, but before we do…" He turned to look sternly at Ankhur. "What happened to Enkai?"

Ankhur became sombre and looked back at him. Their gazes connected, and a tense silence followed. Finally, Ankhur glanced away, knowing he was the weaker party. "I had a talk with him after he recovered…" Ankhur mumbled. "Enkai is… stubborn, and set in his ways… but I consider him like a brother."

He looked back at Erik again and sighed. "Still, I'm not so blind as to miss the fact that he was the instigating party in each of your conflicts since you arrived here. I told him as much until he reluctantly agreed. He admitted he might not see clearly when it comes to you, and so we agreed he'd leave the city for a while, to clear his head."

Ankhur looked into the distance and frowned with certainty. "Enkai's gone to Djibouti to oversee the reconstruction and fortification efforts there. With the threat of renewed invasion, it's not a bad idea to have one of our third-rankers stationed there permanently, anyway."

Once more, he looked at Erik, this time with a surprising hint of warmth. "His son has also gone with him. Apparently, they'll use this time to try and reconnect. I believe that was at your suggestion?"

Erik shrugged and nodded. He'd done that primarily for Neaku's sake, but results were what mattered.

Ankhur smiled a little. "Well, even if Enkai might never say it himself, I'd like to thank you on his behalf."

Then, he looked at Naeku with a sad warmth. "He also wanted me to tell you that he doesn't blame you, Naeku. He hopes to clear his head and come back to see Erik in a new light, and be your uncle again."

Naeku's eyes became a little wet, and she nodded rapidly, unable to find the right words as relief simply flooded off her in waves.

Erik took her in his arms for a moment, and silence followed. Then, it was time to enter the facility again…