My team and I spent the next five days in Erisiir and traveled back to Helios on the final day of our stay. My father remained true to his word and revoked my title as exile. He then told me I was welcome to come back to Erisiir whenever I wanted to. I didn't realize it at the time, but my father wasn't only in charge of the guard, but he was also in charge of the town itself.

"Just ride in, and you'll be welcomed back as a citizen," He had told me.

Recounting what he had said, I grinned. He didn't want me dead anymore. Whew, that's a relief. I can now go home without fear of being ostracized.

My smile did falter when I thought of Ana. Luna told me a little more about what she had sensed when she had tried to get a feel for Ana's aura: she stated that she sensed a void in Analise's heart with something malevolent hiding in the chasm.

"We'll have to go talk to Virrius," I had told her. "If Ana's suffering, I want to help her in any way possible."

She's a member of this team: if something's up, I'll help even if she tries to stick me with one of her knives. Eh, I'm betting that'll happen anyway: Analise is a psychopath who loves pointy objects way too much.

On a surprising note, Analise has actually been helping Luna out. You may be wondering how Ana's doing such a thing since she mostly teases the shy kaitrit, but she's been giving Luna lessons on how to fight and defend herself for the duration of our stay in Erisiir. I've spotted them sparring in the morning followed by Ana giving pointers to Luna when they were done with their combat sessions. Analise told me that Luna was hers to teach, not mine, so I simply conceded and allowed the blood elf to do her thing. With each passing day, I saw Luna gradually become more relaxed around Analise, which was relieving to say the least.

On our final day, we stayed until lunch before beginning the short ride from Erisiir to Helios. When I say 'short', I mean somewhere in between four to six hours. When we did finally get back to Helios, we went straight to the Skag, our home away from home, to get a bite to eat. When we sat down at our usual table, everyone yelped in surprise when a simple cardboard box appeared out of nowhere and landed on the tabletop with a soft thump.

"What the hell..." Dorrian breathed. "Where did this come from?"

Our answer was in the form of a simple note attached to the top of the box.

"For Luna. I finished these today, so make good use of them. Please, don't 'accidentally' incinerate your robes like Helix did." I read. "Sincerely, Virrius."

I pushed the box toward Luna, who stared at it in surprise.

"Go ahead. Open it." I prompted her.

Luna opened the flaps of the box and removed a set of white robes with pale yellowish green detailing on them.

"Wow..." she breathed. "Virrius did a really good job..."

"He likes to hand-make his robes." I explained. "He also made me a set of robes, but yeah...they kind of caught on fire."

"Why?" she inquired as she folded the robes up and placed them back inside the box.

"Um...Ask Dorrian."

The short ranger laughed nervously. "It happened on one of our early missions together. We were exploring a stronghold that was rumored to house a gang of bandits. It was really freaking dark, so I had created a torch to light the way. While we were walking down one of the hallways in this stronghold, I spotted a gold mark on the floor not too far away from us. I told Helix to wait, and I bent over to pick up the coin without first checking that he was in front of me."

Luna was shaking her head at this point. "You set Helix's robes on fire."

"I set Helix's robes on fire." he echoed.

"Yeah, that takes the phrase 'pain in the ass' to a whole new level." I stated in a sour tone.

After everyone was done laughing, we migrated over to the bar to grab a drink. While I was talking to Warren, I caught sight of a hooded figure walking among the patrons of the tavern, asking them questions I couldn't hear.

I was able to catch this snippet though: "She has white hair and-."

I looked at Luna as she sat beside me. Warren had moved on to chatting with Dorrian, and Ana was twirling a knife in one of her hands as she sipped at her stein.

"Luna." I began, poking her shoulder.

"Huh?" She replied, looking at me, "What's up?"

I pointed at the hooded figure walking around the tavern.

"I think someone's looking for you," I pointed out as I saw Luna stiffen up.

Luna stared at the hooded figure, and the person looked back at her when they noticed someone was watching them. A strand of metallic grayish-black hair fell out of the hood.

Because she was frozen up, I walked through the crowd of people to get to the stranger.

"Are you looking for someone?" I asked the person-a woman, now that I was able to get a better look at her.

She nodded, every fiber in her being conveying anxiety, "Yes-please, I'm looking for my daughter."

She threw her hood off, and I gazed at a pair of metallic black cat ears. I then saw a tail of the same color behind her.

My brain crashed on me, "Daughter? A kaitrit like you, right?"

"Yes!" She replied, eyes gleaming worriedly.

I prepped myself for the next question: "Is her name Luna?"

Tears were now streaming from her eyes, "Yes-Yes! Please, where is she?"

I let this realization settle in my mind for a few moments before I sent a message to Luna: "You won't believe this, but I found your mother. Meet us outside so we can actually hear ourselves talk."

"Wait, what?" Came her reply.

I grinned, "Just meet us outside."

Outside, Luna's mother paced around impatiently while a cascading river of emotions flowed across her face: joy, anguish, worry, relief, and pure fear.

"Hey, don't worry," I assured her, "I found your daughter in a village called Brooksvale about two weeks ago. She's been with my team since then, and we've made certain she's been taken care of."

"Really?" She asked, turning to face me. "Thank you so much."

I nodded. "Yeah, it's kind of a long story...May I please have your name?"

"Isabella," She replied, "Isabella Tsuki."

I nodded, only for realization dawn on me like a frying pan to the face.

"Wait, so that means..."

Isabella chuckled. "Yes, that means Luna's last name is Tsuki as well."

"That's quite a lovely last name," I mused, only to pause as a thought dawned on me. "Wait again, doesn't Tsuki mean moon?"

Isabella nodded," I'm surprised you know that."

I grinned thoughtfully, "So that means her name translated is Moon Moon-."

Luna came running out of the tavern and cried out in pure joy when she saw her mother. They embraced and held onto each other tightly as if they might be split apart again.

This felt kinda like Déjà vu...I don't know, interpret it as you may.

Luna continued sobbing as she held onto her mother. "Mom...Where have you been? Why have you been gone for so long? Why-Why did you leave me...?"

Isabella returned her daughter's embrace, tears running down her face, "I'm so sorry Luna...I didn't mean to leave you. I was bought by a kind merchant that released me several years ago. I have been scouring the whole of this country looking for you since then."

They didn't say anything after that. They just stayed in each other's embrace to assure themselves that this wasn't a dream.

Finally, Isabella stepped away from her daughter: "Before you speak," She began, allowing a small smile to appear on her face as she regarded me. "Just call me Bella. My husband gave me that nickname...a long time ago"

"Where is dad?" Luna asked, eyes shining with curiosity.

"He used to be with me, but he disappeared a few years ago. He'd said something about going to another realm-that something was terribly wrong."

Luna looked troubled, but her response betrayed the expression on her face, "How strange. I wonder why he said that."

Bella shrugged helplessly, "I don't know. Forgive me, for he disclosed very little when he left me. Come to think of it, all he told me was to trust him..."

Silence. I then realized how awkward things now seemed.

Hmm...Déjà vu indeed.

"Anyway." I began, breaking the silence. "You can join us for dinner if you'd like to."

Isabella smiled. "That sounds lovely. I'll gladly join you for dinner."

Huh, who knew? She sounds just like her daughter.

Bella headed inside, and Luna bear hugged me. (Holy shit, she was strong.)

"Thank you." she whispered. "Thank you so much."

"Oof-no...no problem." I squeaked. "No problem at all."

She laughed nervously and released her hold on me. "Oh, sorry. I...Didn't mean to do that..."

"Whew." I breathed, inhaling and exhaling slowly. "I think you dented my armor a little...."

Yeah, she did. There were slight dips on either side of my chest plate. Luckily, with one single thought, it was as good as new.

Luna shook her head in wonder, "Wow, you really can do anything with magic."

"Correction, you can do anything with imagery magic. You used imagery magic to bend my armor, and I used it to put my armor back to normal."

Luna looked stunned, "Hmm..."

We walked back into the tavern. Dorrian was gnawing on a piece of mutton while Analise was idly stabbing at a piece of pork with one of her knives.

The minute Dorrian saw us, he dropped his food, drew one of his knives, and leapt to his feet: "Does anything need a good ol' helping of death?"

"You corny bastard," Analise retorted tiredly, "Sit down and eat your food. Nothing needs to die yet."

"Yet?" Dorrian inquired pointedly.

"You may be in an early grave before the night's over if you don't shut the fu-."

"A-hem," I cut in, "This is Luna's mother, Bella," I put emphasis on the word 'mother', "Please behave tonight, or I'll crack your skulls together and laugh as you writhe on the floor in pain."

Analise barked out a laugh, "You? Keep talking, string bean."

I glared knives at her, which shut her up right away.

Luna smiled brightly, and her expression screamed, "Thank the gods!"

Bella smiled, "It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

Dorrian smiled like an idiot while Ana nodded. For the rest of the night, everyone talked to each other. Luna sat in between me and her mother, who seemed to have bolstered her spirits significantly since she was talking more than she usually does.

After we finished eating, we all retired to the keep. After Bella took up residence in one of the guest rooms, everyone else went to their own rooms and crashed for the night. I myself flopped onto my bed with a content smile on my face, and it didn't go away even as I drifted off into a restful slumber.