Leon stared back at the Forest of Black and White from the mountain pass that lead back to the Brown Bear’s vale.  Everything had worked out in the end, but he couldn’t say that his time being back home had been particularly pleasant.  The ice wraiths, the Gorgon, Nestor, Justin, all of it ran through his mind as he took some time to reflect on everything that had happened over the past week.

His power was considerable, especially considering where he’d been when he’d left the Forest of Black and White four years ago, but he couldn’t let it go to his head.  He wasn’t invincible, and his power wasn’t unlimited, two things he had to keep in mind.

Perhaps more importantly, he thought about Nestor and his reaction to learning that a member of his Clan was still alive.  He’d been hopeful and excited, both of which had clouded his judgment and caused his defenses to be lowered.  He’d tried to stay vigilant, but he’d wanted so badly for someone else to help him in rebuilding the Clan.

Maybe he was even hoping in some strange way that someone else could take a more leading role in that rebuilding process and leave him to those things that inspired more passion in him, like fighting, training, studying the runic arts, and Elise and Maia.  He knew he wasn’t much of a leader, so having someone else to lean on as he grew in power and influence was something he wanted, even if he was never consciously aware of it.

Now, however, after Nestor’s betrayal of his trust and excitement, Leon knew that he would never find that kind of help.  As the Thunderbird had told him, there were no others around who bore her power, he had no family hiding in the woodwork just waiting for him to find them and enlist their aid.  Even if there were any enclaves of people left from the Thunderbird Clan, any hopes he had for them were dead.

If he wanted a family to help him, then the only place he could look was to his lovers.  Elise, Maia, maybe Valeria.  This was his family.  Not Nestor, not any of House Raime’s insignificant branch families who were so far removed from him as to be no different from anyone else in terms of familial connection.  He didn’t know these people, and if they were in any way similar to Nestor, then he wanted nothing but the worst for them.

If he wanted a family, then it would have to be one of his own making.  He couldn’t leave openings for anyone else as he did for Nestor.  Even now, with his ancient kinsman trapped in his soul realm, Leon couldn’t help but shiver as he remembered the feeling of overwhelming powerlessness, vulnerability, and violation that came with Nestor stealing his body.

But he pushed those feelings out of his mind as best as he could.  Dwelling on them even for just a few seconds already had a strong acidic taste building up in the back of his throat, threatening to have him lose his breakfast.

At the very least, though, he was leaving the Forest of Black and White having made some great gains.  He had Justin and Valeria with him, and Nestor had given him a brief glance at what a master of the runic arts could do.  Leon already had ideas about how far he might be able to take that knowledge, and how far it might be able to take him, in turn, if he was willing to push himself.

But thinking about those implications would have to wait.  Already he had enough to think about when he got home that he felt like he’d have to take a few months off, doing nothing but training and thinking until he got his head back on straight.

As his eyes drifted across the sea of rainbow colors that made up the forest, Leon’s gaze eventually drifted past the Divine Scar.  His father had once told him of a legend that an immensely powerful mage had carved the thing with a terribly powerful attack, but the truth of the matter was impossible to guess.  Leon had long ago resigned himself to never really knowing why or how the Scar had come to be.

An aura of great power emanated from its abyssal depths, though, so Leon figured that there had to be something down there.  He even remembered on their way west it had even piqued the interest of the Thunderbird, though she hadn’t seemingly found it interesting enough to tell him anything about it.  Regardless, after the week they’d had, Leon wasn’t about to give it a closer look.  He considered himself lucky enough to be leaving as victorious as he was.

With that, Leon turned his eyes away from the Forest of Black and White.  It was the resting place of his father, so he knew he’d be back at some point, but for now, it was time to look ahead.

His attention fell upon Maia, Valeria, and Justin all looking at him, watching as he took the short break to look back.  Leon couldn’t help but smile at them.  On their way west in pursuit of Justin, he hadn’t seriously thought that this was going to be the outcome, but he was happy that the deal between himself and Valeria still stood.

He was looking forward to seeing what the result of it would be, and when Valeria gave him a glowing smile in turn, his anticipation grew.

“All right,” he said as he took the lead heading east, “I think we’re done here.  Let’s go home.”

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Leon’s group arrived back in Vale Town almost exactly seven days after they’d left it.  Things were blissfully unchanged about the city, even if much had changed for Leon.  Justin still couldn’t walk, though, so he and Valeria had been taking turns pulling him since they’d left his old home in the Forest of Black and White.

Justin seemed increasingly uncomfortable as they progressed through the territory of the Brown Bears, for they were walking through increasingly populated areas.  The past couple decades had him getting used to being one of the strongest people around for hundreds of miles, and being reduced to the level of having to be practically carried around by his daughter wasn’t one that sat well with him, to say the least.

He wasn’t particularly talkative to begin with, and Leon saw him trying to hide his face even as they passed through the various farming communities in the vale.  Once they entered the outskirts of Vale Town, Justin seemed to lose patience and tried to struggle off the litter and back to his feet—he’d insisted that hobbling around with help was better than being dragged like a corpse, but all he managed to accomplish was to fall off the litter when he managed to disentangle himself from the straps tying him down.

When he hit the dirt, Leon had been tempted to let him lay there in pain and unable to rise no matter how hard he tried, but so close to Vale Town and with Torfinn’s longhouse visible on its hill in the distance, he didn’t have the patience for that.  Besides, Valeria had rushed over, holding nothing back as she scolded her father for his foolish pride.

Leon could understand both sides, though—he didn’t think he’d handle being in Justin’s position any better, while he agreed with Valeria’s demand for Justin to set aside his pride and ignore anyone who stared at him—and so didn’t say a word, merely giving Valeria a hand as she got Justin back onto the litter. 

They attracted many stares as they made their way back to Torfinn’s longhouse, but that was hardly new for Leon, and he ignored it, only paying it enough attention to delight in how uncomfortable it made Justin.

When they reached the summit of the hill and the entrance of the longhouse, they were greeted by the sight of Torfinn sitting alone just outside, a wooden pipe in hand with something burning within.  This in and of itself wasn’t so unusual—Leon knew that the Valemen were fond of smoking several of the herbs that grew in the vale—but what struck him nearly speechless was the fact that Torfinn looked more tired and haggard than they did, almost as if he’d been the man who left for a week rather than them.  In fact, if Vale Town hadn’t been so peaceful, Leon would’ve been worried that they’d been attacked or something.

“Torfinn!” Leon exclaimed as he drew close.  “Dare I ask how you’ve been since I left?”

Torfinn gave Leon a quick nod as he took a breath of whatever he had in his pipe.  After exhaling a cloud of light red smoke, he replied, “That lady of yours, Little Lion… she’s a real predator…  One hint of blood and she goes for the throat…”

Leon chuckled as he glanced at the slightly-ajar doors of the longhouse.  He could hear a minor commotion inside, like a couple dozen people were having an early dinner.

“So, you and Elise have reached an agreement?” Leon asked, a smile of schadenfreude at Torfinn’s appearance spreading across his face.

“Wipe that damn look off your face boy and get inside!” Torfinn replied with as jovial a smile as it seemed he could manage.  He clapped Leon on the shoulder, took a quick look at Leon’s companions, and said, “Let’s get some food and we can make whatever arrangements you need.”  As he spoke, he cast a meaningful look at Justin, one tinged with both pity and suspicion.  Leon had told him before heading west that he was after his father’s killer, and here he was, returning with a horrifically injured person in tow.

“Everything’s all right,” Leon replied as he let Torfinn steer him inside.  “We had an eventful week, and I think we’re all looking forward to a few days of rest and recovery.  Some of us more than others, I think…”

“Very well…” Torfinn replied with some uncertainty.

As they entered, Leon found that the longhouse was filled with many of Torfinn’s warriors, most of whom had gathered around Elise and her Heaven’s Eye escort.  Whatever they were doing was utterly lost on Leon, however, for as soon as he saw her sitting at a bench, politely smiling with a look of rapt attention as a third-tier warrior told her of some fight he’d won or something of the sort, her gorgeous red hair cascading down her back, looking to Leon’s eyes like a goddess of beauty incarnate, everything else practically faded into the background.  She was all he could see.

He didn’t call out to her; given how the longhouse swiftly went silent as he and Torfinn entered, he didn’t feel like he had to.  He walked over, ignoring everyone else in the room, and wrapped his arms around Elise from behind just as she started turning around to see what the fuss was about.  He felt her stiffen in surprise for a moment, but as she recognized him, she practically melted back into his embrace as her hands came up to intertwine with his.

The two stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity, but was actually only a second or two.  They hardly needed to even say anything, as their joy at their reunion was conveyed almost entirely through their bodies.  It was only when the loud cheering from the watching warriors started to ring in his ears that Leon stepped back.

Elise then rose from her seat to pull Maia and Valeria into a hug, whispering words of greeting to both that had Maia’s face turning a few shades redder and Valeria’s normally stoic face breaking into a brief but wide smile.  Elise spared few such words with Justin, but greeted him, regardless.

When she turned back to Leon, she said, “It’s good to see you back, and victorious, too, by the looks of it.”

“It’s good to be back, especially with our objective completed,” Leon replied, having eyes and ears for Elise and his other companions only, the celebratory cheers and congratulations of the watching and listening warriors barely even registering.

“I’d love to hear all about it,” Elise said but as she smiled invitingly at Leon, she continued with only a hint of regret, “but there’s someone else, I think, that you ought to present yourself to…”

She cast a meaningful glance to a corner of the longhouse where Leon saw a great mass of snow-white feathers and fur, curled up into a sizeable ball and gently rising and falling to the beat of a sleeping griffin.

Leon grinned and practically skipped over to his sleeping buddy, greeting Anzu by running his fingers through the griffin’s feathers.

Anzu gave a low squawk of warning as his rest was interrupted, but as he unfurled his feathers and laid eyes on Leon, he sprang to his feet with enough force that he almost sent the nearby furniture flying, to the entire longhouse’s amusement.  The griffin then barreled into Leon, knocking the young man down with his head and enveloping him with his great wings, all while making little squeaks and chirps of delight.

For his part, Leon didn’t once stop petting the griffin as he laughed and hugged his griffin as best as he could.  It took a while for Anzu to let him up, and when he did, he stayed with Leon as if the two were joined at the hip.

“He’s been kind of depressed ever since you left him here,” Elise said with amusement as Leon finally got back on his feet.

“I’m sorry, little buddy,” Leon cooed as he pulled Anzu’s decidedly not-so-little head into a tight, brotherly hug.  “I needed you to stay here with Elise.  Did you do your duty and keep her safe?”

Answering as if he understood completely—and at the fifth-tier, Leon was starting to think that there weren’t many reasons why Anzu couldn’t understand him—Anzu happily chirped again and beat his wings, as if saying that he’d done his job well and expected some praise, which Leon was all too willing to give.

“Don’t go too overboard, he did little more than sleep and stare out of the windows wistfully in your direction,” Elise said as she stepped closer and ran her fingers through the feathers on Anzu’s head.

The griffin playfully glared at her, but with Leon still playing with him, he didn’t do anything more than that.

“Now,” Elise continued, “as much as we need to catch up, I think all of you need some baths.  You’ve been gone too long from civilization…”

Leon frowned slightly.  Maia and Valeria’s proficiency with water magic didn’t need to be said, and he was good enough with that element to bathe himself.  They might not have been as diligent as they would’ve been at home, but none of them were particularly dirty.

“Come, all you can tell me about the adventures you had without me while we wash up.”  Elise then gave Leon a loaded look, one that promised more than a little bit of passion, and anything he might have been about to say about their hygiene was forgotten as Elise led all of them further into the longhouse while Torfinn and his warriors could only laugh and cheer, as they’d been doing since Leon’s arrival.

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