Giliath demands your power stones! Let's continue to try and over 500!
*****
Valflame Palace. 7AM.
After calmly looking outside seeing Heimdallr's people going about their daily business, my eyes wandered downward, only to see Renne, Emma, Fie, and Musse leave the palace altogether. I must admit, seeing that was a rather interesting group, considering these four shouldn't even come across until much later during the cold steel games. I was surprised to see Musse tag along with them, but Elise was not in sight. According to Princess Alfin, Elise left super early at Heimdallr's main station, departing northeast, shooting straight back to Ymir to spend a few days with Rean, considering it was still the winter holidays.
Princess Alfin also confirmed that St. Astraia students would return starting January 8th, so that meant we had a full week to indulge ourselves in leisure. More on her anyways, considering I'll be spending my time training a lot in the Vander Dojo. Presently, Princess Alfin was currently washing up inside her private bath together with Sherryl considering I could hear the water running. As they did that, I had one last glance outside, only to see an unexpected fellow approach the group of four girls. I was on guard originally, but Emma seemed to have noticed my gaze, and after exchanging glances for a bit, I retreated back in the room, only to proceed to enter a meditation session, letting my mana run freely throughout my body.
As for the person in question, while I was now in my cross-legged position, doing a round of Meditation...
Of the four girls, Fie's eyes especially lit up seeing the tall and bulky man arrive on the bridge. Seeing the man acquainted with the group, the guards of course let him pass.
"Dad!", Fie's voice happily rang around the three girls, only to have a swift blur of a shadow evade their eyes, causing them to blink. The moment they blinked once, Fie's figure was no longer there, and they then heard a low muffled bang reach their ears next. Musse's eyes were full of interest seeing Fie enter a dash, quickly wrapping her arms around the tall man. He was currently wearing his slick black and purple leather jacket, sporting a dark green shirt underneath.
"Oof. Ya know how to tackle as always, Fie. Sounds like ya had fun last night.", The tall man said. As he saw the twelve year old white haired girl before him give him a hug, his eyes wandered. His gaze landed on Emma's for a moment, considering that she currently had a tall, tightly wrapped large object over her back, hidden away by white cloth. The man was of Fie's adopted father, Rutger Clausell. He had been in Heimdallr since the night prior to celebrate the new year, and after catching wind that his daughter wound up here as well as a part of her current training, Rutger decided to pay a visit, only after coming to know when Fie would come out.
After all, Fie was nowhere to be seen during the party last night, for she had snuck out, quickly finding traces of where Rutger and Zephyr were the prior night. Thanks to that, Fie managed to come across Zin, Kilika, Walter, Leo and Xeno. She watched their poker match for a good while until the new years passed, realizing she was getting tired. They welcomed her as the daughter of the Jaeger King and even the likes of Walter expressed a desire to engage in combat against Fie, but seeing such a disparity in age, he knew he couldn't act on such a whim. Especially since both the Jaeger King and Kilika were present that night.
But now the night has passed, and Rutger found himself in front of Valflame Palace. He did feel a familiar gaze land on him for a brief moment and seeing that Naoto wasn't present, it wasn't hard of him to figure out who it was, just like how Emma glanced upward for a brief moment. Yet Rutger's eyes laid gazed on Emma, or more specifically, the large object that was currently hoisted over her back.
"Dad?", Fie couldn't help but look up at Rutger with large eyes. Seeing her do this, Rutger looked back down.
"It's nothing. I see some familiar faces here, and some new ones. Either way, sounds like ya have been takin' care of Fie, so I appreciate that.", Rutger said, welcoming the four as he reached down. Fie was surprised by this, but didn't deny Rutger's actions, letting him pick Fie up. Rutger was large enough with Fie's small frame to where he could still place Fie on his shoulder, so Fie plopped onto his right shoulder. Fie smiled happily and started to dangle her legs a bit. Seeing a moment for Rutger to do this, Emma took this time and approached him.
"It's nice to see you again, Mister Claussell. Our previous encounter was brief but I do thank you for letting Fie accompany us during our training, even if it is mostly over for now. If you haven't been acquainted yet, this is Renne, and on my left is Musse.", Emma said, welcoming Rutger with a smile.
"It's a pleasure.", Renne said with a nod of her head.
"We sure did have a chat last night. Fie did mention about her being orphaned at a young age, but I didn't think her adoptive father would be such a handsome hulk.", Musse happily said as she clapped her hands, causing Renne to earn a deadpan look from her.
"Just ignore Musse. It sounds like some rather interesting business happened with you guys last night. Mind filling in the details?", Renne immediately retorted Musse, shifting the attention back onto Rutger.
"Haha. Seems you've made some mighty fine friends, Fie. The Direwolf definitely had a couple things to say about you to little missy, but it wasn't anything too important. Seems we'll be hangin' around in these parts for a little while longer at least.", Rutger said, causing their attention to become interested.
"Oh pray tell. Seeing our current location I do figure it would be best to talk about this behind doors, but you could keep it brief if you want, seeing as you'll be hanging around. Just keep in mind of open ears.", Renne said, causing her to look back at Musse. Seeing Renne do this, Musse simply smiled. Right now, Musse wasn't aware of Fie's and Rutger's exact relationship, apart from being a father-daughter pair, but Musse wasn't an idiot. She was the type of girl who could jump grades as if it was as easy as counting, and playing 4D chess in her head. She knew the girls she was presently with were not normal, but she couldn't figure out the exact relationship these girls shared. Eventually, she would likely learn that Fie is a Jaeger, and is the daughter of the Jaeger King, but in these parts, Rutger was just a normal person in front of their eyes.
Still, to go along with Renne's words, Rutger nodded his head, causing Fie's eyes to grow with interest.
"Did you get another contract, Dad?", Fie asked, looking downward since she was still on Rutger's shoulder.
"Sure did. Me and the boys will be providing security and escorts here in Heimdallr no less, for the next two months. So if ya want to stay here for a while, you can Fie.", Rutger said, explaining the situation a bit, obviously drawing the girls' attention again. Fie's eyes lit up.
"Sweet. That means we can hang around the palace some more, seeing as Naoto will continue to reside here for the time being. Caused a pretty big stir last night though.", Fie said.
"So I've been told. Would ya mind lookin' after Fie a bit more, Miss Ghost Tracer?", Rutger said, bearing a grin as he looked back toward Emma. Hearing this sudden name drop, Renne tilted her head a bit, looking at Emma with a look of interest.
"Ghost Tracer? That's new. Kinda makes sense though.", Renne retorted, seeing the large clothed object currently around Emma's back. Even Musse blinked her eyes at the unfamiliar name.
"Okay you got me beat. What is it that you exactly do, Emma?", Musse said in a more serious tone, only to have Emma smile after she asked that. After Musse asked that, Emma walked up beside Rutger and Fie, and turned around to look at Musse again. Seeing this caused Musse's interest to grow.
"It doesn't hurt if I tell you, though the name's a bit much. We're Jaegers. Always a pleasure.", Emma said, revealing a warm smile, causing Musse to stare right back at her as if she was trying to gaze right through her.
'Jaegers...', Musse uttered softly to herself while Renne just stared silently with mostly a deadpan look in her eyes, which made sense considering she already knew of Emma's situation and her relation to Zephyr thanks to residing in Grancel Castle for a while.
And as these five conversed while being on the bridge that connected to Valflame Palace, Prince Cedric could be seen standing at the entrance, still with a look of disdain in his eyes. He was far enough to where he couldn't hear most of the conversation, but still didn't ignore the fact that the girls present before him refused the invitation to stay for breakfast. Letting out a light scoff, Prince Cedric soon made his way back inside the palace, leaving the four girls and Rutger behind on the bridge...