"Mother, this is Luna. Luna, this is my mother, Vala." Cain brought his mother over to the couch Luna sat at patiently.
"It's nice to meet you, Luna, it has been a while since I've last met a Grey Wolf kin." Vala held her hand out as Luna stood up quickly to meet her.
Luna stuck both her hands out and held Vala's while looking at her with admiration.
"It is nice to meet you too, High Priestess Vala, I never thought I would get a chance to meet you."
Luna's tail wagged excitedly, just as much as when Cain took her first time.
Vala tried to smile to hide a scowl at that old title. She wanted no part of the Council anymore after learning of how they treat people in the face of danger.
"I no longer go by that title, you can just call me Vala or mother."
"O-Okay M-Mother..." Luna mumbled and blushed slightly as her ears twitched when she spoke.
"Even so," Luna came back more seriously, "I still think of you as a High Priestess. You have helped so many people and have been a guiding light for women of all species. Our love for you might not have reached you will all the cursed Council has put you through, but we all believe in your love for all people.
"I'm not sure if you're aware, but female council members have been declining in the Lailan council, by almost 80 percent in the Carvfall branch alone. You mean so much to this kingdom and it is a pity that the Grand Council is stupid enough to take you away from your child."
Luna went through many emotions as Vala almost matched her. While she did spend a lot more time talking with female council members or women in distress, it was so long ago and she hated the Council so much now, that she just pushed out all those thoughts, whether they were good or bad.
"I-I wasn't aware that had happened with the Council. Unfortunately, I haven't kept up on those matters since they sent me out here to live out my days in solitude."
"That's fine, I know they stole you away from Cain so it is only normal for you to hate them and want nothing to do with them. You'd be very happy to know that it is very likely the Carvfall branch will be no more and they probably won't get proper replacements for a very long time."
Luna smirked as she looked over to Cain who held his face with a sigh. Vala raised an eyebrow, confused as she looked to her son for answers.
"Did you do something?" Vala looked at him worried.
She didn't want the son she just reunited with to be taken from her again.
Cain glared at the wolf girl who looked away trying to whistle.
"It's nothing mama." Cain tried to brush it off but his mother only got more worried.
They went back and forth until Luna answered for him since he was such a wimp in front of his mother.
"They got caught in 4k trying to turn him into livestock." Luna snickered and Vala widened her eyes.
She continued hounding them about more answers, only to be pale by the end of it as she realized how her son gambled with his life.
"Why would you do something so reckless?!" She started crying again and checked her son over to make sure he was alright.
"I wanted them to realize they can't control me and I wanted to show all of Carvfall how the Lailan Council actually does things while telling the world and the Lailan Council that they were wrong in thinking they could control me.
"This is my life and I don't want it to go to waste chained to a bed. I'd rather help people of my own free will than at the Council's whim. You taught me to help others and I did just that, just a bit more than you would like."
Vala spent the next hour correcting his attitude before she grew exhausted and forgot about the dinner she started making. The three of them ended up helping make dinner, eating a humble supper before Cain thought of something, or rather, someone important.
"Is grandpa this here?" He asked and watched his mother's happy face disappear.
She nodded but didn't say anything as she led Cain upstairs. Luna followed carefully from a distance while Vala led her son to what was her father's room back when he was still a child.
As she opened the door, Cain could hear the intermittent beeps of a heart monitor, making his heart sink. In the bed, was a wrinkly old man that no longer held the same vigor 13 years ago. His breathing was shallow and he was mostly just skin and bones under the covers.
He had a tube in his nose to help him breathe and while he was still alive, he looked better off dead honestly. Cain started crying again, and Vala couldn't help herself either. Cain slowly went over to the old man's bedside while Vala waved Luna over.
The wolf girl wanted to be courteous, knowing that this was Cain's family, not hers while he was also in a very vulnerable space. She wanted to give him the space he needed with his family while also being there for him if he needed it.
Vala could sense the young wolf girl's feelings but felt like she was already a part of the family. For her son to look at her with such eyes full of love, she wasn't just a fleeting moment for him.
Cain took a seat in the old rocking chair he remembered vaguely when he sat in it with his grandpa. He reached out carefully to feel his grandfather's cold wrinkly hand and carefully eyed him. He looked like he was in a miserable state, making him hate himself more for not doing something sooner.
All the times he spent with his grandfather started coming back to him as he choked up a bit and found it hard to look at him anymore. Just as he was ready to leave, he felt the hand in his move and looked at his grandfather's fluttering eyes.
He grumbled a bit and looked at the person holding his hand.
"You're not my daughter..." He mumbled.
His old age had gotten to him, making him forget many things. One of them unfortunately was that he had a family so there were many moments when Vala would cry in his steed as her one 'remaining' family member slowly forgot her existence.
She would have to remind him each day when she fed him and gave him his medicines. Her mornings started off with sadness each day as a small part of her died every time her father looked at her with teary eyes as he realized he was a father again.
This repeated each day for the last decade or so after her father crashed. He was hurt just as much as Vala in losing Cain and his health only went downhill after that.
"No, I'm not," Cain smiled and pointed to the doorway where his mother was.
"Father, this is my son, Cain. Your grandson." Vala came to his side as well smiling with tears in her eyes.
His grandpa looked between the two of them for a moment, trying to find the resemblance with his failing eyes before he started coughing. Vala thought he was having another fit but he waved her off as tears came down his face.
He held onto Cain's hand tightly, with more strength than he thought the dying old man could muster. His grandfather smiled at him like he used to smile back when he was a child, back when he was happier and healthier.
"To think I'm a grandfather," The old man choked up and smiled while his heart monitor sped up, "How old are you now?"
"18," Cain answered while Luna had tears in her eyes as well and made her way over to his heart monitor.
"Is this little lady your girlfriend? Heh. I knew my grandson would be a player just like his old man." Grandpa waved his other wrinkly hand that was attached to a heart monitor on his finger.
"Hello, General Alderman, I'm Luna. It's very nice to meet you." She tried to stay composed as his heart continued to speed up.
The other two finally noticed he was getting dangerously high and paled and cried more.
"Heh. General? I must have been a pretty strong guy then huh?" He chuckled which quickly turned into another coughing fit.
"Father relax and get some sleep, we will visit you in the morning." She hoped that by leaving, it might calm him down but her father was stubborn.
"No Vala, I know better than anyone about my own body," grandpa smiled, speaking his daughter's name in a very long time.
As people slowly moved towards the light, sometimes things came back to them as they saw their lives flash before their eyes. Grandpa Alderman was seeing his family clearly again for the first time in a long time.
They had finally reunited again after so long and maybe he held on for 10 painful years just for this moment.
"I love you guys. My daughter and grandson. Be strong or I'll kick your butts." He chuckled, making them cry harder as Vala fell by her father's side. Cain held the old man's hand tightly as his old man slowly lost his grip.
"And you little missy, it's alright," He reached for the terrified wolf girl as well.
Luna was also crying, not wanting to lose another person that her love cared about but even as a genius in magic, there was nothing she could do against the passage of time.
"Promise me you take care of the kiddo. I can see how much he loves you." Grandpa held her hand weakly as well.
Grandpa then slowly turned back to his daughter and grandson and smiled while closing his tired eyes.
"You two will be alright." He said with one last deep breath before exhaling for the last time.
The heart monitor went flat and all three of them cried for the lost family member. This was not how their reunion was supposed to go but fate was a fickle mistress. Luna looked at the two remaining Aldermans in sorrow.
Her lover just reunited with his family and now he was already experiencing loss. Her hate for the Council and this world only grew more after Cain lost this time to spend with his grandfather as he was slowly fattened up by the Academy and the Council.
The three of them continued to mourn deep into the night before leaving and prepping for a private funeral.
The opening of the clinic would be postponed.