~The Next Morning~
Lucianna hummed as she swept the ground in front of her tavern with her broom, pausing when she heard the boys making a racket with her father grumbling playfully. It was still early in the morning and they just finish eating their breakfast, just finishing a couple more chores then the boys will be leaving with their Grandfather again, this time heading to the Forest to hunt for some meat to sell, as well as, for their meal.
Though the boys are young, Laxus believed that learning how to hunt and fish at such a young age would ensure survival for them (Lucianna wasn't excluded from this particular activity when she was a child and it didn't fail her) which made them have this particular routine whenever her Father had off duties. Luckily for Lucianna's heart, her father is merely letting the boys watch and not really hunting the animals, especially the dangerous ones.
(Though it was still unavoidable on the days when her boys disobeyed their Grandfather, especially Asher, hunting a boar behind their backs a couple of months ago, so proud of himself despite the broken arm and wounds he had gained.)
"Mama!" Ashish shouted, making her blink and stopped sweeping and instead watched as her youngest twin run out of the tavern and then behind her legs, hiding. The midnight-haired lady blinked and looked at the door, waiting for her oldest twin child to run out as well but it was her father who came out, carrying a snickering Asher by the collar on one hand.
The Human mother snorted before giggling when she saw her father looking like a wet cat, his head dripping with water, wetting his clothes, and his face set into an angry frown.
"You brat... stop hiding behind your mom and come here!" The Dragon growled, eliciting a squeak from the said brat. Lucianna cleared her throat before eyeing the boys hiding behind her with a soft smile.
"What did you boys do this time?" Her Father growled instead and answered.
"Those freaking brats thought that it was funny to splash me with water when I'm drying the plates!"
"But you were on fire Grandpa!" the blond-haired twin snickered, hearing that response, Lucianna snickered again, remembering that her Father always had the habit to lit his hair on fire whenever he was relaxed, which then resulted in the boys dousing him with water. Laxus made a grunting sound before growling and then reached out for Ashish, who yelped and then they both began to round around Lucianna, who was holding Asher in her arms.
"Did you have fun?" Luci asked, looking at her oldest twin, who snickered.
"Yep! We're firefighters who saved the tavern from being burned again!" Asher declared and this made her laugh and look at her Father and Youngest Son, who was running away from them.
"So lively in the morning." A voice stated and this made Luci to turned and around smiled brightly upon seeing an older, white-haired woman, around her 30s, wearing a knight's armor, standing in front of them, smiling as she eyed Laxus, she managed to catch the young rascal. "What were the boys up to this time?"
"We're firefighters!" Asher declared at her question.
"Really?" The white-haired woman asked, knowing what he meant, especially when the young mother merely snickered. "Huh... your getting old, Captain!!"
Laxus paused from tickling his Grandchild and turned to look in their direction, scowling at the sight of the woman smirking smugly at him.
"Why are you here, Olivia?" He asked. Ashish breathed out heavily and reached out to the woman.
"Help me, awesome lady!" The woman, Olivia as Laxus called her, snickered and headed towards the two of them, while the Red-haired dragon, gaped in betrayal at his grandson's response, before pouting.
"So that's how it is, betrayed because someone is more awesome than me huh…" He mumbled before letting Ashish, who kept on snickering, go and watched in slight amusement as the blond-haired boy run towards her, and hugs her legs before running away and then towards his mother, who snickered and merely grabs the boy's hand and went back inside the tavern, the three of them knowing that both knights are going to talk about something serious.
"What brings you here?" Laxus asked, eyeing the woman who look at him seriously.
"Has your daughter told you about the guests yesterday?" She asked, this made him sigh.
"She did. She never hid anything, you know that."
"Of course, she won't. We taught her the ways of a knight and a dragon." Olivia said smugly, but then it was gone at her next statement. "I actually talked to the Captain last night, asking them how long they'll stay but…."
"They don't know because they are waiting for someone." Laxus finished and this made her nod in agreement.
"That's right, but Captain… we'll be heading to our next mission in a couple of days."
"How many knights are staying, Lieutenant?"
"Not that much… Ronux volunteered to stay but with how the boys and Luciannar are affected by his presence, I denied it."
"Thank you for that." Laxus nodded before suddenly snapping his head towards the tavern, where he can see through the window Lucianna leaning against the bar, slouching slightly and her shoulders going up and down rather heavily. The sight made him tense up and this made Olivia look in that direction as well and they cursed.
".... She told me that the pirates had legends about the island of the Phoenix." The Dragon stated, his hand clenched into a tight fist as his grandsons hovered over their mother.
"Do you really believe that?"
"It's been centuries since we last heard about Pheonix." She stated, nearly snarling at the sight their seeing.
"I don't want to… but they could be our hope."
"...Why don't you ask the king before resulting to trusting pirates," Olivia said, putting a hand on the Captain's shoulder. "They're the Askenair but they are still pirates."
"I know… I just hoped that we can find something soon."