"Now that was a really long meeting" said Ollie as he laughed as he and Matt were walking through the Palace halls together.
"I have to agree Ollie" said Matt as he nodded.
"So, how did you like your first official High Council meeting?" asked Ollie as he looked at Matt and he smiled.
"Can I be honest?" asked Matt as he smiled.
"Of course you can dude" said Ollie as he laughed.
"It was very boring, and I mean very, very boring, I zoned out for a moment" said Matt as he laughed and Ollie laughed.
"I agree with you, the meetings are usually very boring, until we actually discuss current matters or something interesting for once" said Ollie as he laughed.
"But I appreciate you coming with me" said Ollie as he smiled.
"Yes, my Grandfather did want me to attend" said Matt as he laughed.
"Speaking of which, I wonder why Professor Sapiens wanted you to attend the meeting" said Ollie as he laughed.
"Well I think he wants me to be interested in High Council matters" said Matt.
"And are you?" asked Ollie.
"Not at all, I'm not just interested in it, I think he has the wrong person, if he taught Edward though, the two of them would be inseparable" said Matt as he laughed and Ollie laughed.
"I agree, your brother Edward is one intelligent child" said Ollie as he smiled and Matt smiled.
"Oh Annie is asking if you want to come have lunch with us?" asked Matt as he smiled.
"And by us she means Maddie is there right?" asked Ollie.
"Wait, let me check" said Matt.
"Maddie is there" said Matt.
"Well then I will just pass" said Ollie.
"You don't have to dude" said Matt as he smiled.
"I don't want to have problems with Maddie, she already has enough problems as it is, and I want peace" said Ollie.
"But you are our friend as well, you don't have to avoid hanging out with us just because of Maddie" said Matt.
"I'm not avoiding hanging out with you guys, I am avoiding Maddie, huge difference, besides, it's not a big deal, I actually have to go back home right now, I promised to have lunch with my mother, I can't keep her waiting" said Ollie as he smiled.
"Oh well, alright dude" said Matt as he smiled.
"Yes, see you, tell Annie I say hi, and that I'm sorry, I couldn't have lunch with you guys" said Ollie as he smiled.
"It's alright, she will understand" said Matt as he smiled.
"Oh and tell Curtis to send me the files I asked for" said Ollie as he smiled.
"I will" said Matt as he smiled and Ollie walked away.
…
That evening.
"Oh before I forget, Curtis Ollie asked me to tell you to send the files he asked for" said Matt as he looked at Curtis.
"I already did" replied Curtis.
"Alright" said Matt.
"Here you go sweetie" said Lisa as she smiled and she handed Maddie her dish.
"Thank you Aunt" said Maddie as she smiled.
"Thanks mom" said Annie as she smiled.
"Aunt you make the best meatballs" said Maddie as she smiled.
"Why thank you Maddie" said Lisa as she smiled and she sat down next to John.
"Which reminds me, why don't you invite your mom over to have dinner with us?" asked Lisa with a smile as John looked at her and he shook his head.
"I thought we weren't going to bring this up, we agreed not to ask Maddie about her mother" whispered John in Lisa's ear.
"Oh relax John, Maddie doesn't seem upset" said Lisa.
"Ahh well Aunt, I invited, I mean Annie did invite her, but she had to decline, she said that she had training tonight" said Maddie.
"Oh I see" said Lisa as she smiled and Maddie nodded.
"So how are things going with you two dear?" asked Lisa as she smiled and John looked at her and shook his head.
"Maddie, you don't have to answer that if it makes you feel uncomfortable" said John as Annie ate her food.
"No, it's fine uncle, I'm not uncomfortable" said Maddie as she smiled and John nodded.
"Things are going well Aunt, I'm still a bit… I don't know, I still have a lot of forgetting and forgiving to do, but it's better than before" replied Maddie as she smiled.
"I am glad to hear that dear, reconciliation is always the best option, for you and for the person you have to reconcile with" said Lisa as she smiled.
"Lisa, this is dinner and not one of your consultations" said Curtis.
"You don't need to be so mean Curtis, I get it" said Lisa as she frowned at Curtis and John laughed.
"Don't be like that honey, we all know that you miss working" said John as he gave Lisa a kiss on the cheek as she frowned, she could not lie that she missed working, but what could she say, they were here and they were here.
"Let's talk about something else" said Curtis.
"Annie, how was your day?" asked Curtis as he looked at Annie.
"Oh well it was fine, Uncle Capi and I worked on some potions" said Annie as she laughed.
"That's nice dear" said John as he smiled.
"And what about you Maddie, how was your day?" asked John as he smiled.
"Well very good uncle, I believe that I am almost done learning the old tongue" said Maddie with a smile.
"That sounds nice" said John as he smiled.
"Wait a minute, you are almost done?" asked Matt.
"Yes, yes" said Maddie as she laughed.
"Well then, I think I need to catch up" said Matt as he laughed.
"Well which chapter are you on?" asked Maddie.
"Chapter 5, I think" said Matt as he laughed.
"Well I'm on chapter 55 hehe" said Maddie as she chuckled.
"I will catch up to you, just you wait and see" said Matt as he laughed.
"What is with you two and being very competitive" said Annie.
"You don't get it Annie, you already know how to read the old tongue" said Maddie.
"Not by choice though" said Annie.
"But you still can, anyway, there is nothing wrong with a little friendly competition" said Maddie as she smiled.
"Well okay, just don't go too far" said Annie.
"We won't" replied Maddie as she chuckled and Annie shook her head.
…
"Oh hi girls" said Clove as she smiled and she walked into the room.
"Hi Clove" said Annie with a smile as she got into bed.
"Hi" said Maddie as she was getting into bed.
"How was your training?" asked Annie as she smiled.
"Well kind of boring, I don't know why it seems like everyone is going easy on me" said Clove as she removed her boots and they walked to the closet themselves as she sat down on her bed.
"You look tired" said Maddie as Clove smiled at her.
"I'm not tired, so how was dinner?" asked Clove as she smiled.
"Nice… you should come and join us sometime" said Maddie.
"Thank you for your invitation, I certainly will, when I can" said Clove as she smiled and she walked to Maddie as she tucked her in.
"What are you doing?" asked Maddie.
"Tucking you in, you always end up throwing your blanket away, there" said Clove as she laughed.
"Thank you…" said Maddie.
"What about you Annie, do you want me to tuck you in?" asked Clove as she smiled.
"Sure" said Annie as she laughed and Clove tucked her in.
"There you go" said Clove as she smiled.
"Thank you" said Annie as she laughed.
"Goodnight Maddie, have sweet dreams and see you in the morning" said Clove as she smiled and she gave Maddie a kiss on the forehead as Maddie was surprised.
"Goodnight" replied Maddie.
"Goodnight Annie, sweet dreams" said Clove as she smiled.
"Goodnight Clove, have sweet dreams too" said Annie as she smiled and Clove walked to the bathroom and she closed the door behind her.
"Goodnight Maddie" said Annie as she smiled and she looked at Maddie.
"Goodnight Annie" replied Maddie with a smile, she did not know what she was feeling right now, her heart was… she was just so confused, Clove's treatment was different.
She could not lie that she did not want that kind of treatment, she always wished to be treated like an actual daughter when she was little, but for her to start acting like a real mother now, it would take some getting used to.
Maddie just sighed, shook her head, she closed her eyes and decided to go to sleep, she did not want to overthink and start feeling bad all over again, she decided that she needed to try to forgive and forget, even though it was hard and it would take a long while, she had to try.