The dining room attached to the throne room reminded Dimmetri more of something he might see in a noble's house back at the inn. It was a decent size room with polished wood walls and furniture that were lit by several torches and a series of large windows on the opposite wall from the doorway. Several tables lined the room with a longer, more elegant looking table sitting in the middle. The place had an air of home to him and he guessed that this may have been a more private dining area as opposed to a grand banquet hall. Tapestries lined the walls on either side and one in particular caught Dimmetri's attention as soon as he entered the room.
The tapestry depicted two women standing back to back dressed in brilliantly colored armor and what looked to be a halo of sorts over their heads. The woman on the left was none other than the queen with her shorter white hair and her almost pupilless golden eyes looking back at the other figure over her shoulder with a small smile on her dainty lips. The other woman was unmistakably his daughter, Violet. She was looking back over her shoulder at the queen with her own large smile plastered on her face. The art work on the tapestry had definitely been expertly done and almost looked just like the two actual individuals who had taken their seats at the head of the table sitting side by side.
Dimmetri looked across the table at the large feast that had been brought out just for them. Though he wasn't opposed to trying new dishes, thankfully most of the meals set out on the grand table looked familiar to him. He saw a few dishes on the table he didn't recognize and was a tad confused when he saw one of the butlers bring out a large plate of flowers out with the rest of the food. Another butler went around and placed a different colored flower on the plates of everyone seated at the table alongside the rest of their meals. Dimmetri had been to a few royal banquets before and had learned to wait till there was either some sort of blessing or speech made by the hierarchy before everyone was supposed to begin eating. However, As soon as everyone's plates were filled he noticed that both the Queen and his daughter had begun plucking the petals off the flowers and placing them into their mouths. Iris, who was seated right next to Dimmetri, smiled softly and began to follow suit before her eyes lit up gently with a look of wonderful surprise. Dimmetri had known some flowers were in fact edible; his wife had forced him to try them on a few occasions before. His confusion came from seeing them at a royal diner table, as they seemed very out of place compared to everything else. However, upon seeing his wife's reaction, he too broke off one of the petals and placed it in his mouth before he began to chew. To say the sensation was odd was a bit of an understatement. The moment he bit down on the petal in his mouth the entire thing began to break apart like water, turning from a solid into a liquid almost immediately. What's more, was the refreshing taste that was almost like a sweet chocolate. The others around the table soon followed suit and they too all had similar looks of pleasant surprise on their faces as well. Raz even picked off several of the pedals at once and tossed them into her mouth all together.
"These flowers are actually a special herb grown here in the castle gardens. They are supposed to refine one's palate a bit and allow you to further enjoy your meals." the Queen explained as she answered everyone's question they all had on their minds "Please, there's plenty of food so feel free to help yourselves to as much as you'd like"
"They are simply amazing. Would it be too much to ask if I could perhaps see these plants at a later time?" Iris asked as she held the flower between her fingers and gently rotated it as she inspected it closely.
"Of course! We actually have lots of cool different plants and such growing not just here in the castle, but all throughout the city as well. There's actually this super cool garden I'd love to take you too after dark sometime. There's a bunch of flowers there that bloom only at night and when they do they let loose these little glowing lights off into the night sky like little fireflies." Violet excitedly replied.
She seemed to be all too happy now that she had been reunited with her parents. There was a sparkle in her eyes of excitement as she told about the flowers, remembering how much her mother loved everything that had to do with flowers and nature. Dimmetri couldn't help but smile as he watched her have the same youthful excitement she had had when she was younger. His smile then began to fall a little, as he realized his own thoughts. 'When she was younger' was no less than a few days ago to him. She was just a child when she stepped through that gate in the woods and now, she was somehow a beautiful young woman. Dimmetri had already somehow come to accept this in his mind, but his heart ached for those years supposedly lost to when she had grown up to who she was today. He wanted answers, but he knew that this probably wasn't the right time to start asking questions just yet. He had to resign himself to waiting just a bit longer as he let out a quiet sigh through his nose.
There was suddenly a tapping on his foot as Dimmetri looked across the table to see his sister looking at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. Dimmetri squinted a little as he wasn't sure how in the hell she managed to reach his foot so far under the table with her short ass legs. Raz's expression turned slightly annoyed at him as she read his obvious thoughts. Dimmetri then felt a slight tugging feeling at the back of his mind and he allowed himself to give into the sensation as he straightened himself out a little in his seat.
"First off, fuck you. Second, fuck you and third, fuck you again asshat"
Dimmetri heard Raz's voice in the back of his head the moment he let the connection between the two of them be established. He looked over to Ezra who was seated next to Razgriz and was currently taking a sip from a glass of water. Ezra had clearly given into the will of his wife and made the connection between her and Dimmetri's minds so they could talk to one another more accurately than just reading one another's facial expressions.
"So what the fuck is wrong with you?" Raz asked through the connection
"Excuse me?" Dimmetri replied
"You fucking get your daughter back and you look like you just got kicked in the balls"
"Just coming to terms that my eight year old daughter is now in her twenties. My how the days have gone by"
"Hey shit for brains, at least she's alive right? Who cares how old she suddenly is? You got your little girl back and she's seems to be doing really fucking good for herself. You should be happy as shit right now"
"Listen half pint, I am happy alright-"
"Did you wanna tell your face that?"
"If anything is making me unhappy now it's your short ass giving me shit from across the table while I'm trying to enjoy my dinner with the rest of our family."
"Mhmmm, keep living in a state of denial. But you forget, I-know-you"
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as the two stared daggers across the table at one another. Destin, who was seated on the other side of Raz, must have caught the hostile glances as he looked back and forth between the two of them.
"Jesus fucking Christ are you two really having it out at the table right now?"
This time it was Destin's voice that Dimmetri heard in the back of his mind like a yell, causing him to flinch slightly. He must have also connected to Raz as well as Dimmetri saw her flinch too.
"What would Mama do to the two of you right now if she knew what you were doing? Whatever beef you two now have with one another can certainly wait till-"
Just then Destin let out a pained grunt as his face contorted slightly. His eyes darted over to Raz who was looking at him with a shit eating grin on her face. He stared back at her before he realized that Dimmetri was also looking his way out of the corner of his eye and he too had the same pleased smirk on his lips. Realizing what had happened and what was going on now, Destin rolled his eyes slightly and sat up a little straighter in his chair as he tugged down on the edges of his leather jacket. Dimmetri and Raz both silently chuckled and shared a mental high five with one another.
It wasn't perfect, and to many others it certainly wouldn't have seemed healthy, but the Ioena siblings fixed each other's problems by berating each other mercilessly. Their logic was to let the other vent through anger directed at them, making sure they didn't blow up on anyone else they cared about in the process. Sure it was one helluva round about ways to fix their issues, but it worked for them. Destin, who had already known about the unusual sibling therapy, had misread the situation and walked into the mental minefield. He was soon reminded though of the due process that was going on when Raz had kicked him rather hard in the shin.
"Fucking Ioena's" was the last thing Destin said before he cut his connection from between the two.
The siblings smirked across the table at one another and shook their heads gently.
"No, but for real?" Raz asked Dimmetri again through the connection
"Fucking solid, thanks runt" Dimmetri replied.
He then received a mental image of Raz's middle finger before the connection was dropped between the two of them entirely. Luckily enough, Iris had continued the conversation with both the Queen and their daughter shortly after she had noticed the exchange had started, covering for the two siblings. Violet was explaining some of the other foods that were on the table when the connection had dropped and Iris reached under the table to hold her husband's hand. He gave it a gentle squeeze as thanks and looked back across the table. Raz was smiling half apologetically over at Destin as she was clearly holding her husband's hand under the table as well.
"I'm… sorry dad" said Violet just loud enough to barely be heard.
Dimmetri looked over to see her staring down at her plate of food before her. Her eyes looked slightly glassed over a little as she hung her head and there was a pause in all other conversations as all eyes fell on her. Dimmetri sat for a moment, staring at the woman his daughter had become before he let out a small chuckle.
"You know, I was starting to get a little worried that there was going to be things about you now that would be so vastly different from when we last saw you. I mean, to us it's only been a few days but… clearly it's been a lot longer for you. You've grown up so fast in our eyes but…I'm glad to see some things haven't changed" Dimmetri replied
"W-What do you mean?" Violet asked, sniffling a little and finally looking up in his direction.
"You still hate carrots" Dimmetri said softly and pointed with his own fork at her plate.
It was true. Violet had always hated orange foods, especially carrots, and she had purposely put all the carrots off to the side on her plate.
"Father like daughter" Raz said as she pointed her own fork lazily across the table at Violet in an attempt to lighten the mood a little.
"I'm pretty sure that's an Ioena thing dear. You've been avoiding your carrots too" Ezra chuckled.
The table broke out into a small chorus of laughter at Razgriz's expense, but Dimmetri remained focused on his daughter. She was still staring down at food on her plate, and wet streaks of tears ran down her cheeks, but she wore a smile on her lips as Dimmetri saw her silently mouth the words Thank you down at her plate. It was then that Dimmetri noticed the Queen leaning slightly over in her chair, her arm outstretched a little under the table in Violet's direction. She did well to hide the look of concern on her face, but Dimmetri had always been better at reading people's emotions than most. There was honest love and adoration in the queen's eyes towards Violet, which put some of Dimmetri's other fears at ease a little. He'd still have to have a talk with her highness later but for now…
"They male a cute couple," Iris whispered softly in his ear.
"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing," Dimmetri replied.
"This… is going to take a while to get used too, isn't it?" Iris asked as she gently squeezed her husband's hand a little tighter under the table.
"Maybe, but she's still our little girl, no matter how old she gets, and I will always do my best to be there for her," Dimmetri replied as he stared off across the table at his daughter who was looking back into the Queen's eyes with a smile.
Iris wrapped her arms around his and held him tight with a slight hum as she hugged him "I love it when you get that determined look in your eye."