ALL NOVEL Chapter 24: Fare Thee Well
In the midst of the children's grand adventure through the palace, the parents were nowhere near the premises. They had instead gathered in a lavish tavern and seated themselves around the centermost table; their faces painted with deep concentration.
So too were their spectators. Nary a soul whispered or made a sound. Even the barkeep, renowned for his silky-smooth and subtle techniques, stood stiller than the drinks he just poured.
At the table, the parents faced off with sharp gazes of unprecedented levels. 'Twas as if one of them had eaten the last cookie in the cookie jar and refused to tell the others. In their case, however, it was more like all three of them had secretly taken samples from a freshly baked batch of cookies until no cookies remained, but everyone pretended to have not eaten any, so everyone's just trying to interrogate each other as an alibi!
But perhaps the most telling detail of the sheer intensity of the match lies on the mother dragon, specifically, the state of her clothing.
The top button of her blouse was...UNBUTTONED!!
Grab your kids, run for your lives! THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!!
"Hm, I win again." [Corinna]
"NOOO-" [Bird Mama]
"Good try, honey." ["Lio"]
Ah, never mind. False alarm. 'Tis just a very close game of cards.
The river held a 5 of Hearts, 6 of Spades, 7 of Hearts, and 6 of Hearts.1For the record, I only somewhat know how to play Poker correctly. If there is any mistake, please let me know.
The round started with a series of checks. Once the third card in the river was revealed, the mother dragon went all-in! Nary an emotion could be sensed from her forever-stoic face, but the mother bird took the bait anyways.
Since a bluff had happened many times before, the mother bird also went all-in since she did not have enough to check. And the dragon father, he simply folded with his less than adequate hand of a 2 of Spades and 5 of Diamonds.
Because the two remaining hands were all-in, the round proceeded without interruption, and the two players' hands were revealed.
In the mother bird's hand was an astonishing 8 of Spades and 9 of Clubs, completing the Straight! Now for the final reveal...
The mother dragon paused for dramatic effect and swiftly revealed her hand. A 2 of Hearts, and...a Jack of Hearts! She hits the Flush and takes home the pot!
The now-defeated mother bird deflates into nothingness, and the two dragons face off. Rounds go by with many checks, calls, and raises filling the blanks. And don't forget the persistent folds sneaking in. Such cycles continued until finally, one fateful round, the mother dragon went all-in.
By that point, the dragon father had slowly lost enough of his bank to the point where paying the blind for next round would result in an all-in. He had to make a choice: all-in and hope for a bluff, or fold and pray for the golden hand next round.
The river was a 3 of Hearts, 2 of Spades, and a Queen of Diamonds. The dragon father holds a 2 of Clubs and a King of Hearts, nothing more than a pair.
"Hmmmm..." ["Lio"]
"Hm~? What's the matter? Having trouble deciding~?" [Corinna]
The smuggiest of smug smirks made its way onto the mother dragon's face. The other dragon was all too familiar with that face, and he hated it. After all, the couple had fallen victim many times to the mother dragon's bluffs, and each time, she would wear the same exact face afterward.
Now, logically, since the mother dragon only did that after a successful bluff (which was every bluff she made), it would make sense to think that she is attempting yet another bluff. However, that is only what she wants him to think, and he knows it.
He knows it, and he hates it, but he has to do it.
"GAHH, FUCK IT!! FUCK IT ALL, YA FUCKING FUCK!!!" ["Lio"]
He did it. He done did it. He went all-in.
He slammed his hand face-up onto the table and slouched back into his chair, becoming one with it. It mattered not if this battle was even won, for he had lost the war long ago.
As a consolation prize, the mother dragon made her reveal quick and easy by flipping them around while they were still between her two fingers. She had a 2 of Clubs and a 3 of Spades. The pair of 3's takes the round, and with that, the entire game.
Now that it was over, the rest of the crowd finally let loose. The lucky betters celebrated merrily with drinks. The unlucky betters celebrated dejectedly with drinks. And the rest of the patrons who were there just for the drinks celebrated indifferently with drinks.
The mother dragon, meanwhile, was busy flaunting her winnings in front of the couple. In a realm that does not rely on currency, gambles do not include any money at all. Instead, the players wager items that hold actual value outside of mortal concepts.
In the dragon's hand was a large container made of glass. But that, of course, was not the main content of the bets. The real goods were within. Inside the comedically large jar was a bunch of...COOKIES!!
Lots of cookies, and all sorts of flavors, too! From snickerdoodles to chocolate chip to checkerboard to raspberry jam; she had them all! And somehow, despite the fact that the cookies were all ungracefully shoved into the cookie jar, not a single one lost structural integrity. All of them somehow managed to stay nice and whole until consumption.
Must've been magic. There is no other explanation.
"So, will that be all from the mighty Helios, or do you still have some fight left in you?" [Corinna]
"Guh...one more..." ["Lio" Helios]
"Hmm~? What was that? I couldn't hear you over your emotional-" [Corinna]
"ONE MORE! WINNER TAKES ALL!" [Helios]
The fire dragon unleashes his blazing flames!
"Now that's more like it." [Corinna]
In response, the spacey dragon stood up and plopped her rear onto the table with her back facing her opponent.
The fire dragon did the same.
As their tails met in the center, a cyclops came out from the crowd to serve as referee.
"Alright Your Majesties, I want a clean fight. No claws, no decapitation, and no explosions. I'm looking at you, my lord." [THE ALL-SEEING EYE]
"Ah, can it. I only did that once...maybe twice." [Helios]
"Could've been worse. Could've blown up the house." [Corinna]
"Hey, don't lump me in with your girls. I'm not that crazy." [Helios]
"You're not as cute either." [Corinna]
"She has a point, dear." [Bird Mama]
"Whose side are you on?" [Helios]
"The dragon's." [Bird Mama]
"...Haah, alright, back to quiet time with you." [Helios]
"Hey-" [Bird Mama]
"You know, you say you aren't crazy, but you're the one that married her." [Corinna]
"I never said I wasn't crazy. I just said I wasn't that crazy." [Helios]
"Fair enough." [Corinna]
"HEY-" [Bird Mama]
"And besides, aren't you the one to blame? You were the one who introduced her to me." [Helios]
"Your welcome~." [Corinna]
"For throwing her through my window? In the middle of the night? Right when I finished building my shack?" [Helios]
"It brightened your day, didn't it?" [Corinna]
"Oh it brightened it, alright, along with the rest of my damn shack!" [Helios]
"Eh, it was more of a shed than anything. I was more impressed only the window broke." [Corinna]
"Yeah? Well you better be impressed, or else..." [Helios]
"Or else what? The little fire dragon would've gone on a rampage to impress the little bird he just met~?" [Corinna]
"That's-" [Helios]
"Ah, but don't worry. As far as I know, she fell in love at first sight, too." [Corinna]
"I'm right here, you know!!" [Bird Mama]
""We know."" [Dragons in plural]
"Hmph." [Bird Mama]
As much as the audience would have loved to continue watching the free sit-com in front of them, the cyclops had to bring the attention back to the table before the tangent drags on even longer.
"Oi, your majesties. I'm enjoying the show as much as everyone else, but most of us gotta head home before dinner, including you, actually." [THE ALL-SEEING EYE]
"Tell that to them. They're the ones being terrible hosts and making their guest keep the conversation going." [Corinna]
"Alright, that's it! I've had enough with you! Victory shall be mine!!" [Helios]
"Go get her, honey!" [Bird Mama]
The fire dragon marched, er, sat with a fierce glint in his eyes and honor and glory in his arms. With the emotional support of his loved one, there was no opponent in the world that could ever defeat them. Except-
""WAAAAGGHH-"" [Bird+Dragon]
*CRASH exclamation mark*
"MREOOOW?!!" [Unfortunate and innocent, but 100% completely okay cat]
-this one, apparently.
"Get a room, you two." [Corinna]
If a large hole in the wall counts as a room, then they have gotten one.
"Anyways, thanks again for the cookies. I might be back sooner than later depending on how well my daughter likes these, so keep an ear out." [Corinna]
"Aye." [Barkeep]
The mother dragon bid her farewell to the tavern-goers and walked out the couple-shaped hole in the wall, large cookie jar on her shoulder. As soon as she passed through, the wall began repairing itself until it looked just like new.
The mother dragon then made her way back to the palace while dragging a dead dragon with a dead bird piled on top.
.....
Once she arrived at the palace, the mother dragon tossed the still-dead couple onto their bed in the master bedroom and headed to the garden, cookie jar still on her shoulder.
She eventually found the site of some napping children while two somewhat older children (to her, at least) were looking through a stack of photos.
"What in the world is going on here?" [Corinna]
"Shh! Quiet!! You can't disturb them!" [Solestia]
"I certainly can, and I will. Dinner's in an hour, you know." [Corinna]
"It's not working! Quick, give her the goods!" [Solestia]
"Right." [Gertrude]
Owing to the dire circumstances, the two older children made a desperate attempt to preserve the blissful visage by bribing the mother with the best angles and lighting. The mother instantly pocketed a handful of them, but continued regardless.
"Not bad, but not good enough to skip dinner. Speaking of which, you need to prepare for dinner." [Corinna]
"I need to prepare for dinner." [Solestia]
"You should go right now." [Corinna]
"I should go right now." [Solestia]
"Good. Now shoo, shoo." [Corinna]
The older children scurried away following the...revelation the sister dragon just received. The mother dragon was now left alone with the two still-napping children.
"Hmm, what to do, what to do..." [Corinna]
While her earlier words were true in that dinner was in an hour, the sight in front of her was just too precious to interrupt. She paused for a second to gather her thoughts and ultimately decided to replicate something her third daughter was fond of doing as a child.
She freed up her hands by simply levitating the absurdly large cookie jar. Were it not for her amazing crush strength, she would rather have used her tail to hold it instead.
Now that her hands were free, she gently plucked the children from the bench and held them dearly. When she did, the little ones' found their way toward each other, putting them in a lovely cuddle.
This particular sight brought back some memories for the mother, as the last time she held two children of the same age and size at the same time was when the twins were small and tiny. Much like the two currently in her arms, the young twins would rarely leave each other's company.
The young Lunestia was especially guilty of this because she would always be the first one to cry if the two were ever separated. And whenever they were sleeping, she would always initiate both the tail cuddle and the regular cuddle.
Such days are long gone now, and the children themselves may have forgotten. But the mother would never forget. Every moment of their lives will forever remain in her memories.
Unbeknownst to the girls, the mother keeps a personal collection of artifacts from those times. A particularly abundant artifact would be the many photos she has taken and stored. She may not need them due to her perfect memory, but it never hurts to be safe. In fact, she commissioned the maker of the photos himself to make these for the very purpose of preserving the memories of her children. It just so happened that the product was more popular than expected.
Regardless, the mother started her collection when the twins hatched, and she will continue to expand it until the day they and the rest of the universe die from the eventual heat death, which would be in an approximately infinite amount of time. Therefore, she would have an infinitely large collection by the end of it along with an infinite amount of memories of her children.
Back to the present, the mother made her way back to the palace, bird and dragon in her arms and a cookie jar floating behind her.
Dusk was setting in as the sunlight slowly faded away, signaling the other stars to come out and play. The coming and going of the many staff members dissipated as they went home for the day. Only the ones who lived in the palace were the ones to stay.
As dinner truly was just around the corner, it was unfortunately time to wake the children up, lest they miss their meal.
So, the mother decided to head to the dining room a bit early. Of course, 'early' is a relative term seeing as the other members of the table had already gathered there.
They were engaged in light conversation, mostly chatting about the mother dragon's antics of the day. Once they saw the still-sleeping children, however, they quieted down, leaving the room in silence.
She took a seat, the cookie jar still floating behind. The others simply watched on. Such a scene continued while the mother dragon thought about how to wake the children for dinner.
Even as the bell struck the beginning of the next hour, they slumbered away. The mother dragon decided to have the meal served preemptively in hopes that the smell of food would wake them.
And wake them it did.
The snacks they had earlier wore off, and their hungry tummies were craving for more.
The first one to move was the little dragon. While her eyes were still closed, she lightly shuffled in her mother's arms while sniffing around. Once she smelled the food, she sniffed over the table, sniffed some more...and went back to sniffing her mother.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing? I thought you were hungry, so why are you sniffing me?" [Corinna]
"Fwaaah~...Mama smells better." [Lucillia]
"I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not, but before anything else, why don't you wake up your little friend here." [Corinna]
"Hm?" [Lucillia]
It was only then that the little dragon opened her eyes and saw the other child taking up her mother's second arm. No wonder something felt off, as if something was missing from the usual Mama hug. It was because she was only hugging with one arm!
"Hmmm....." [Lucillia]
Even if they were friends, this little birdie was invading her territory! Her Mama!
Look at her, just stealing one of the Mama's arms and warmth all for herself! She's even rubbing her head and moving closer into the hug, all while mumbling 'Mom' in her sleep! This shall not continue!
"HMPH!" [Lucillia]
The little dragon's retaliation took place in the form of pulling on the little bird's cheeks far and wide and letting go. The fun part was that when she let go, the bird's cheeks went back with a nice *snap*.
"OWIE! Who did that?!" [Aurelya]
"Mine!" [Lucillia]
"Hweh?" [Aurelya]
The little bird needed a moment to observe her surroundings and process the information. When she did, she realized that the warm embrace was not her mother's at all! It was a different mother!
And the worst part was...it actually felt nicer! Unlike her own mother, this one was much cooler (in more ways than one), which meant hugging her was much more comfortable.
"My Mama!!" [Lucillia]
"Wahh?! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry-" [Aurelya]
"Hehe~, calm down, sweetie. It's okay. Look, she's with her mama now, even though she no longer calls me that *sniff*" [Bird Mama]
"Hmph!" [Lucillia]
"Hey, play nice. I'm not exactly going anywhere, you know." [Corinna]
Whether the little bird was apologizing to her new friend or to her mother, no one would know the answer, including herself.
After plucking her child from the other mother's arms, the mother bird plopped her child onto her seat while savoring their brief moment of physical contact. She would have loved to keep the child on her lap like the other mother-daughter pair, but it was unfortunately too much for either of them to bear.
At last, all members of the table were awake and seated, and the meal could finally begin.
Dinner for the day consisted of a whole, pit-roasted fruit boar wrapped in leaves2In real life, this is called 'kalua pig', a Hawaiian dish., grilled lobsters with garlic butter, a nice and smoky prime rib, a platter of oysters, and a beautiful rack of some sort of meat with bones. Was it pork? Was it lamb? Or perhaps it was beef? Who knows.
For the sides, the chef cooked up some loaded baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese, grilled vegetables, and breadsticks of the unlimited kind. Oh, and a bit of salad for the sake of...sakes.
"I swear, today's meals are a lot better than usual." [Helios]
"Really? Seems about the same as all the other times I've been here." [Corinna]
"Hmm, suspicious. Gertrude, go get your sister. We need to have a talk." [Helios]
"Yes, milord." [Gertrude]
The goat quickly exited the scene while the feast continued on.
"*CRAWNCH!*" [Lucillia]
"You know, the lobster's a lot tastier if you take it out of the shell first." [Corinna]
"*Crawnch?*" [Lucillia]
"Oh whatever. I am flossing your teeth later, though." [Corinna]
"*More crawnch*" [Lucillia]
The mother dragon attempted to correct the little one's eating methods, but to no avail. Since she was used to it, however, she was not bothered by it at all.
On the other hand, the mother bird watched the scene and decided to level up her motherhood by attempting to feed her child via fork. Of course, the slightly older child was rather embarrassed by the act, but at her mother's insistence, she took the bite anyway. Then another. And another.
The remaining two dragons simply enjoyed the show while enjoying their meal at the same time. Dinner and show as they say.
Once the table was roughly halfway through their meal, the goat maid finally returned with an older goat in tow.
"You called? I would recommend you make this short if you want your dessert to not burn." [Greta]
"Is that really how you talk to your employer?" [Helios]
"Why yes, yes it is." [Greta]
"Why do I even bother?" [Helios]
"That's just her way of showing her affection~, honey. Isn't that right, Gertrude?" [Bird Mama]
"I cannot and will not speak for my sister." [Gertrude]
"If this is all you wished to talk about, then I will take my leave." [Greta]
"Wait, stop. Hold it right there. Let me ask you something: today's meals seem different than usual. Any particular reason for that?" [Helios]
"Hm? Should I not show my respect to our esteemed guests?" [Greta]
"Mhmm...you worked for her before, you know." [Helios]
"That is correct. I must congratulate you for remembering my previous workplace." [Greta]
"And you always cooked like this for her?" [Helios]
"Yes." [Greta]
"You know, I'm still willing to welcome you back if you want." [Corinna]
"I appreciate the consideration, my lady, but I cannot accept at this time." [Greta]
"Hey, why are you so nice to her?" [Helios]
"Because she deserves it. Unlike you, she is not prone to burning down kitchens." [Greta]
"Oh come on. You burn one batch of cookies and suddenly everyone hates you, grumble grumble." [Helios]
"Now, if that is all, I shall take my leave." [Greta]
"Yeah yeah, go back to work." [Helios]
The older goat went back to the kitchen, and the table resumed their meal. Nothing significant took place from there, save for the little dragon's usual nomming. Though the little bird did end up eating from her mother's hand for a large portion of the meal.
Dessert was thankfully not burnt and served right on time, which the young children especially enjoyed.
And then, with the night settled in and moon shining bright, 'twas time to part ways, which took place still in the dining room as the children were too full to walk.
.....
"When are you coming back?" [Corinna]
"Next week. I can make it sooner if these two pack early." [Solestia]
"No need for that. Just focus on doing your job properly." [Corinna]
"Trying my best~." [Solestia]
"You better be. Alright, come here. *Mwah~*" [Corinna]
"Oh? You don't usually do this." [Solestia]
"I'm feeling generous tonight." [Corinna]
The surprise kiss on the forehead was followed by a nice, one-armed hug. And headpats. Headpats for the big child.
"Come on, sweetie. It's time to say goodbye." [Corinna]
"..." [Lucillia]
"Sweetie? You okay? You'll see them again soon." [Corinna]
"U-Uhm...I'll be looking forward to seeing you again. This time, we'll be visiting you, so it'll be your turn to show me around, promise?" [Aurelya]
"..." [Lucillia]
Rather than responding with words, the little dragon jumped down from her mother's arms and ran to give the little bird another hug.
The parents and big sis observed from the sidelines, partially because they did not want to ruin the moment and partially because it was a bit impossible to separate the two at the moment.
However, the mother dragon always comes prepared. In this case, it was the large cookie jar that was still floating behind her. She turned around, cut a hole in the fabric of spacetime, and started walking.
"Sweetie, if you don't come now, I'll leave you behind and eat all these cookies myself." [Corinna]
"!!!" [Lucillia]
The little dragon instantly broke the hug and zoomed toward the cookie jar, somehow attaching herself to it without breaking it. It proved more resilient than anyone in the room expected.
"MINE!" [Lucillia]
"Yes yes, they're all yours. But you'll have to ask Mira before you can eat them." [Corinna]
"Booo~." [Lucillia]
The two proceeded to head back home with the mother waving behind without turning around and the little one spinning the jar around to wave while facing the others.
Of course, the others waved back and shared their farewells.
The next time they would meet would be in a week.
