For a moment, a gentle smile tugged at Robin's lips. She knew, even with her affections, that some things couldn't be avoided or put off... Would Christian forgive her, for her deception? Robin felt troubled, and hesitant. She longed to know, yet was afraid of the answer.
"It isn't time yet, for me." Robin sighed. And, with a good-natured grimace, she shook her head. "So I will be humble and admit my loss this time."
Liam smiled merrily as Chelsea burst out laughing. "What sort of humble person says that they're humble?" Chelsea wiped away the tears of joy gathering at the corners of her eyes. Robin pointed at herself.
"This person, that's who. And you..." Robin turned to Liam, who straightened up in a military fashion. Robin's voice became stern as she warned. "If you don't take proper care of her, and allow her to get hurt, then you'll have me to reckon with!"
"YES, SIR!" Liam barked out a stiff reply, before puffing out a laugh. "You can rely on me." Liam reassured, his gaze instantly once more upon Chelsea.
Briar smiled, recalling a certain couple she had also made a similar promise to. At this point, Chelsea and Liam noticed the blue haired addition to the group.
"Pardon my manners. I am Sir Liam Drago, and this is my betrothed, Chelsea." Liam introduced.
"...Briar Rose Moonbow. Well met." Briar placed her hand over her heart and nodded in greeting. She had paused and blinked upon hearing Chelsea's name, briefly. Her glance carried a momentary question, which was answered in the next moment upon seeing Chelsea's face. Briar's eyes narrowed pleasantly as she smiled.
"Ah, that's right, you haven't met the rest of my friends!" Robin realized as she hurried to introduce the others. "This here is Skye, my familiar. Skye is a flying cat."
"Nyaa~" Skye mewed pleasantly as it waved its cute little paw. Briar smiled at Skye, pleasantly. She always did like cats…for the most part.
"Next, is my teacher, Magi Jasmine." Robin introduced. Jasmine nodded.
"Magi?...Oh! From the Council of Magi?" Briar blinked before she recalled the information. While Briar didn't know the ins and outs of every kingdom, the council's reputation preceded itself. The Magi had done much good in the human's corner of the world, and were praised as the true pillars of humanity. "Your reputation precedes you." Briar nodded a greeting in return.
"And this here, is my uncle Keith." Robin smiled. "I recently discovered our relation, but he's not bad for an uncle."
"Hey!" Keith joked. "Whatever happened to respecting your elders?"
"Oh, so you prefer I introduce you as the Prince's Official Babysitte-" Robin teased.
"Come to think of it, 'uncle' has a nice ring to it." Keith interrupted with an enthusiastic nod. Briar laughed. Keith reminded her of an old friend.
Well met." Briar nodded merrily.
"Then there's my student, Ponzu. I'm teaching him recipes from my world." Robin admitted.
"How…envious." Briar raised a set of mischievous eyebrows with a rogue-ish flair. "Is it too late to apply as your student?"
"There isn't any need to apply, I can just-" Robin's voice was cut off when both Jasmine and Ponzu put their hands over her mouth.
"The recipes, Robin! The recipes!" Jasmine scowled.
"You can't! Don't even think about it! Are you saying that I am not skilled enough to be your student?" Ponzu insisted, visibly pouting. Robin could never have imagined that she would see Ponzu jealously guarding his place as her 'only student'.
Robin rolled her eyes at the both of them, and waited for them to remove their hands.
"What I was trying to say is that considering you are now family, there's no need to be calculative. So long as you don't start selling these foods as part of a business in human lands, I can gift you the recipes." Robin explained. She narrowed her eyes at Jasmine and Ponzu in case they tried to stop her from talking again.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Briar laughed. "I just happen to enjoy baking as a hobby is all. Discovering good food is also a hobby of mine."
"Sounds like you are quite the foodie." Robin nodded. "Just like me."
Robin didn't see the gleams that suddenly shone from the eyes of her comrades behind her. Nor could she have guessed that, for the rest of their journey, her party members would be scouring the remaining towns for the best foods to gift her.
"'Foodie' huh." Briar paused, considering the new word. "It's a proper title, straight and to the point." She nodded. "Yes, I rather like that. Mind if I use that title of yours?"
"Uh...feel free." Robin blinked, not understanding why Briar was asking her for permission.
"I'm Gerard! And this here is my contracted fairy, Elise!" Gerard said, showing off Elise the High Fairy.
"Oh! A fairy, you say?" Briar nodded, looking impressed. High fairies were not easily seen outside of the forest depths. For one to be contracted to Gerard gave away much about his abilities.
"Yes! And the is is Sir Grey, Sir Raymond, Sir Daniel…" Gerard introduced the knights he had gotten to know on the journey. Briar listened attentively, watching with a bemused smile on her face.
"And that's everyone!" Gerard announced.
"...What about me?" A gloomy voice sounded from off to the side. A visibly sulking Christian stood there, feeling very slighted.
"Ah, oops…eheh heh" Gerard chuckled awkwardly.
"This here is my good friend, Christian." Robin introduced.
"Good friend, hmmm?" Briar looked at Christian with a gaze that was both measuring and teasing.
"I'm also Robin's number one fan!" Christian asserted.
"Pffft!" Briar couldn't help but laugh at how proud he looked when he said that.
"...Ah, if you don't know what a fan is, then it's a-" Christian began to explain, realizing he might have said something confusing. But Briar cut him off.
"No, I'm fully aware of what a fan is." Briar shook her head. "Fan for 'fanatic' instead of fan for creating a breeze, right?" She looked to Robin to confirm.
"Er…right. True. 'Fan' and 'fanatic' do have similar meanings, don't they? I guess I never thought about it before." Robin had never realized that 'fan' was actually a shortened form of the word 'fanatic'. It had just always been 'fan' for her.
"But... doesn't that sound like I'm some kind of lunatic, now that we all know where that word comes from?" Christian muttered to himself. Unfortunately for him, most of those present had sharp hearing.
"Isn't that fine?" Robin patted Christian on the shoulder. "You should fit right in with those Lythari folks, where we're heading."
"Lythari?" Briar's ears picked up.
"Yes. We'll be heading their way eventually." Robin admitted.
"In that case, if you should happen to meet a Lythari named Cyto, tell him that you're one of Briar's adopted siblings. He should be able to understand." Briar paused. "I think I should warn you, that you've got a lot of siblings now."
Robin blinked in surprise. "The family reunions must be quite eventful." The words jumped out of her mouth before she could think to stop herself.
Briar laughed. "Haha! That they are, that they are. Sometimes even too eventful!" Her expression softened into one of fond nostalgia. "But it wouldn't do you a bad turn to meet some of them."
"Cyto huh…" The name sounded familiar… "Ah! You mean the one that set up the waypoint we used earlier? That Cyto?" Robin suddenly recalled.
"The very same." Briar nodded. "I think I'll join you in your journey up until we arrive there. I have something I need to talk about with him."
"Weren't you busy gathering scorpions?" Robin tilted her head.
"I've already gathered enough." Briar patted her small satchel, which Robin realized was a custom-made magic bag. "The delivery isn't urgent, so I have plenty of time."
"In that case, we're happy to have you!" Robin's eyes narrowed pleasantly. Their time together had been so brief. It would be a shame to part so quickly.
"Robin…I'm afraid that I…that Liam and I cannot continue with you on your journey." Chelsea corrected her words. The announcement came so suddenly that everyone was caught off guard.
"...It's your decision, of course…Is this…perhaps, due to this 'dual domain' that you have inherited?" Robin tilted her head, puzzled. Chelsea wouldn't decide to leave without a good reason, after all.
"Yes. But we're not leaving you right away." Liam placed his hand over his heart. "We will stay with you during your journey over these sands."
"The domains have been left for so long that even the stable areas may not last for very long." Chelsea glanced up at Liam. "So we can only accompany you up to the borders of the domain."
"I understand..." Robin's eyes lowered to the stone floor as she considered something. Then she looked up again. "In that case, it can't be helped. But, we will all miss you."
"Of course. Feel free to come and visit us at any time." Chelsea beamed her most beautiful smile.