"Hmm?"
Swallowing the piece of meat that he had been chewing for the last minute, Queenie's father was just about to reach for another when he suddenly felt a force gently shake him from the side. When he looked up at the origin of the source, his eyes seemed to gain a semblance of emotion, but was still slightly off.
"Oh, princess dear, your back. You're… taller now."
He reached out his arm to pat his daughter's head while a small smile hung on his face, but instead, he just kind of rubbed the air in front of Queenie's face. It was as if he was a toddler who hadn't unlocked the skill depth perception yet.
Queenie, however, seemed quite confused. As the princess of this city, she had cultivated the habit of checking her height at least once a week since childhood. This would ensure her clothing was tailored to her body with a margin of error less than a few millimeters. In other words, she hadn't grown taller.
Moreover, what was he doing with his hand?
Immediately, she knew that she had been away for far too long. The uncertainty of never seeing one or even neither of his children again was something that could shake even the toughest of men, let alone her father.
Not only did he lose some weight, shown by the slight wrinkles on his clothes, but even his aura faltered here and there. He no longer had a ponytail, allowing his clumped and oily hair to hang freely; he even grew quite a bit of stubble as well.
And by his sluggish body movements and lack of eye movement, Queenie figured that he was a bit lethargic, which meant he hadn't been sleeping well.
As such, she held his hand that was waving in midair and tried to pull him up off his chair.
"Father, you've been waiting for too long. Now that I'm here, why don't we get you into a nice relaxing bath?"
Indeed, he smelled of sweat and anxiety, and we all know how much that smells, but he didn't budge despite Queenie's use of force.
"Wait, you just got here. Why don't we finish dinner together," and he pointed at the already decayed plate of food. Queenie frowned.
"Father, the food has already rotted."
"Is that so?"
Queenie's father couldn't help but rub his crust-filled eyes as he looked at the food. Huh, would you look at that; a single breeze and it would simply disappear.
He was convinced. At least, he still had enough mental faculties to realize what was going on.
Then, with the help of his daughter, they walked out of the kitchen, only to bump into the rest of the group. He was curious as he looked over everyone. He was quite surprised looking at this "rag-tag" group.
One was a greenish-skinned human with multiple pairs of ears in a black robe; one was brown skinned human, a rarish sight around these parts, wearing what seemed to be a maid outfit; the other was a black cheetah, which was probably the weirdest when considering the racial makeup of the whole group.
The last one was also a bit strange. They actually dared to hide their face behind a simple darkness spell.
Hmph, Immediately, with a little soul juice on his eyes, his now augmented gaze went right through the darkness spell, allowing Queenie's father to see the face of our beloved Ran.
"Eh? Torian… What are you doing here buddy? Did you find Mariana already? Well, in any case, it's good you're here now; we have some nasty spirit weather on the horizon."
As if surprised to see his old friend, he responded warmly as he nonchalantly patted Ran's shoulder before leaving, leaving everyone stunned silent. However, after taking a step, he abruptly stopped as a suspicious expression took over his face. Queenie's father once again rubbed his still crusty eyes, causing them to go red with irritation.
He looked back at Ran, realizing he had made a mistake.
"Eh? Lad, you're not Torian. Your nose is the right shape, but it's too small. No, rather, Torian's is too big!"
He quickly laughed his mistake off before waving his hand casually. He soon left with his daughter, leaving the rest baffled.
Ran and Ann looked at each other, wondering what just happened.
"You think he knows my father?"
"Oh? So who else is named Torian and has a bigass nose!? The only thing missing is mentioning how short his Holiness is."
Ann looked at Ran with a "duh" expression hanging her face, as if his question was barely worth answering.
"I suppose. Hey, what do you think he meant when he mentioned my moth—"
"Esteemed guests. The Mistress has commanded me to bring you to your accommodations; please follow me."
Before Ran could further discuss his mother with Ann, he was interrupted by a servant's timely appearance.
In the end, Ran decided he could just ask Queenie's father himself, and so he just followed the servant with the rest to their rooms where they spent the rest of the day in leisure.