After a long journey which was mostly just going from one cart to another asking the owners if they could help her reach her goal she finally reached it. She thanked the man who was driving her to her final destination paid her fee and left for the capital that was merely a couple of steps away. As she stepped foot into the capital she was greeted by the guards and asked to identify herself. Thankfully Lena was given everything she needed for travel before leaving kouko's house, so she was able to enter without any problem.
She walked around the capital for a bit taking in the peaceful life everyone leads here. Living in a capital is one of the most secure places in this world, having direct protection from the royal family making the only threat to this place the demon king's army which even then needs one of its higher ranks to threaten a kingdom's capital. Along side this kingdom's special with the public fully knowing of how kind and generous this king particularly is, which is probably a huge reason of why he lent help to people who weren't even his own people sheltering them to this day. Although this isn't the most advanced nor most prosperous place, it sure feels the safest. Lena heads to one of the food stores after taking a look at the sign by the side of the road, she heads in and takes a seat at an empty table as she waits for the waitress to ask for her order. After waiting for quite the while she hears a voice asking for her order, she looks around and then notices that the voice was coming from a low point. It was a little girl holding a notebook while smiling at with her eyes closed. "Hello ma'am, what would you like to order?" the little young girl asked. Lena realized that she knows the little girl, but doesn't spoil it so she plays along with her. "ahhhh, I would like a cheese pie, and a plate of well cooked meat." said Lena as she looked at the paper of a menu on the table. The girl who is staring at her notebook as she writes down Lena's order finally looks at her as she says "alright! please wait her--" she stops midway through her sentence and stares at Lena with one eye wide open. "is there something wrong?" Lena asked the little girl who's in deep thought. The little girl ignores her question and continues to stare at her intently. Then as if she had just made a shocking revelations she jumps and says "WE ARE!" which lena replies to, with a smile " forever sisters!".
A huge gasp enters the girl's mouth as she jumps around the room lively "LENA!!!!!" the girl says as she shoots herself onto Lena. Lena accepts the girl's embrace and hugs her back. "LENA LENA LEna lena lean..." she says as she slowly starts to cry. Lena confused by the girl's reaction starts looking around the almost empty store. There were only 2 other people who were calmly eating their food paying no attention to them. Lena looks down to the girl who's around her waist as the girl stares look back at her with teary eyes and says "m-m-mom s-savd i-i wobt gbt t-to s-sevv bov agaAHHHHHHHHHH". "h-hey calm down toto, I know we haven't met in a while but please calm down." lena said with a concerned look on her face. The girl nodded while rubbing her face on Lena and then took a step back and talked "1 y-year ago you *sniff* suddenly disappeared out of *sniff* nowhere along side Mrs kouko, everyone searched for you but no one could find you. We even asked Mr octan but he wouldn't say anything after a whole month mommy said that I wont be able to see you because you went traveling with Mrs kouko, and that you are in a better place now. I thought she was lying to me and that you were dead, b-but *sniff* y-y-you *sniff* a-are r-right h-h-here *sniff*" she said while trying to hold back her tears.
Lena tears up at the sight of the little girl and goes for another hug. Someone then walk's out of the kitchen and says "Hey, toto, how many times did i--" an adult woman said before she stopped midway through her sentence. "w-who are you, and what are you doing at my daughter!" the woman said in anger. Lena lifted her face that is still a bit teary and looked at the woman she fully well knows. "y-you.... L-Lena h-how? We all believed you were dead. how? does that mean..." she says as she looked around, but her hopes were raised for nothing for she only saw the 2 other customers enjoying their meal. She then lowers herself and pats toto on the back as she asks Lena to follow her inside.
Inside she gave Lena a chair and called her husband over. Lena sat down with toto on her lap while the two parents stood up. The man was having a hard time making eye contact with Lena as if hiding something. The woman says "Where were you?" holding nothing back. "haha... it's a bit complicated and a very long story so let's just say I was with kouko." Lena said while brushing the top of toto's head. The mother quickly asks lena "you were with kouko?! does that mean she is alive too?!". "yes she is alive and well." Lena replied honestly. the mother sighs in relieve and says "Is she here with you?". "No, she is living somewhere very far from here sadly.". Lena remembers that toto's mother and kouko were good friends so breaking the news to her was a bit hard on her. The man finally man's up and says "Lena there's something I must tell you." the man says in a panicky way "Octan... his dead." this leave's Lena in a state of confusion, why? why do they think his dead? do they not know? she immediately questions the man. "w-what do you mean?".
The man gives a more detailed version of what happened 6months ago to Lena and says "i-i really tried my best Lena, but he just wouldn't answer me or follow me. I told him that the village was about to get obliterated and that he had to run away with us but he just wouldn't listen to anything Lena. I even tried forcefully carrying him which he returned with a hard punch to my face. I-I'm sorry Lena I know he meant a lot to you, If only we knew you all were alive...". "d-did no one go back to the village?" Lena asks the man. "No... we were all too scared. Plus it is a very far and expensive journey all the way back.". Lena had thought they all knew about octan, but to her surprise they all believe his dead. The man starts apologizing again "I'm Really Really sorry I should've done more as his friend I shouldn't have left him back there to die even if he wasn't complying. I'm sorry Lena please forgive me." says the man begging for forgiveness. "d-dad..." says the girl on Lena lap. "d-don't worry about it." the man looks at Lena and thanks her.
"you can stay the night if you want Lena." the woman says. "Ah, don't worry about me, I wouldn't want to intrude now." Lena says flustered by the woman's suggestion, but then she feels a slight pull on her cloth, and looks down to see toto looking at her with a sad expression. "come on now lena, we would love to have your company for the night." Lena sighs and agrees to the mothers suggestion, which makes toto smile with joy.