Ron's uncle was impressed by Ron making his own decisions finally. Traveling alone back might be dangerous, but they hadn't seen any particular signs of danger on the way here Ron had made this journey plenty of times before and he had made sure he knew the safest paths. The only thing that worried him was what Isanna would say as he knew she wouldn't like it if he sent him away without asking, so he had told Ron to first meet with her and ask her permission.
Ron rushed back to Fiona to tell her the good news.
"My uncle agreed, we can go back to the tower but we'll have to go to my hometown to meet my mother first, I'll have to ask her permission, and uncle thinks it would be better if you talked with her once, don't worry it should only take a couple of days, " said Ron to Fiona.
"Do you know how to ride a horse?" asked Ron and she shook her head.
"Well then you can ride with me, I have Ash's horse with me, Uncle said I should take it with me since it will get boring in the stable as long as Ash is gone," said Ron.
Fiona nodded silently.
"Can you bring me some clothes?" asked Fiona.
"Umm sure, let me find something," said Ron and left.
Fiona didn't know what to do, Ash was away and even though now it looked like she would be able to find him soon it would still take some time. What will she do till then? Everything seemed depressed, she felt like she should take her life, only the thought of Ash was keeping her alive.
Ron came back with some clothes for her.
When the reinforcements from the Duke arrived they started back towards the South after talking with them. Fiona looked at her hometown for the last time, she couldn't believe in one hour it was all gone, nobody would live here anymore she thought.
Ron kept checking up on Fiona on the way South to his hometown, it was a city right next to the capital called Eren, and it was really important since the best academy of the kingdom was situated there. He made sure Fiona was all right all the way through he brought her food but she didn't eat much. They reached Eren by the next day, Fiona didn't talk much on the journey. They were all pretty traumatized by the incident so it was understood by everyone to not force the victims. He was worried what his mother would say, he hadn't seen her for over a year now and she was controlling.
They entered the city and Ron checked out the familiar streets and shops that he had grown up watching, for the first time Fiona looked out the carriage to watch too. Ron was riding on the River beside the carriage.
"Welcome to Eren, you will like it here, " he said.
"You grew up here?" asked Fiona, speaking a full sentence to him again after a while so he was really glad.
"Yeah, I only moved to the tower when I was fifteen, " he replied.
"Ron, you head straight home, I need to go to the headquarters, " said Ron's uncle and left.
"Come on, Fiona, we can walk from here, " said Ron, and Fiona got off the carriage. Ron got off River's back to give her company.
Ron wanted to say something to her but he had no idea what to say to someone who was going through what she was.
He finally saw a familiar house at the end of the street, some emotions rushed back to him upon seeing it. The front door of the house opened and out stepped a blonde woman, with impeccable beauty, even Fiona stopped in her tracks when she looked at them with a very serious look.
"Hey, mom, how are you? This is Fiona, Fiona this is my mother Isanna, " Ron quickly introduced them.
"Why have you brought a girl here?" asked Isanna looking at her son warily.
He moved close to her and whispered quickly a short version of the whole story.
"Oh, come in come in, you poor girl, let me get you something to eat, " Isanna'a eyes changed completely and she grabbed Fiona with a motherly affection and brought her inside.
"Tina! Come here, Ron's back" shouted Isanna, and Ron's younger sister came running.
Fiona felt like an intruder, in the family reunion, but they didn't let it show, they were all very nice. Ron quickly filled Tina in too. The mother-daughter fussed over her and made sure she had eaten plenty.
"I would have stayed longer Fiona, I need to talk to you, I once went through something similar and I think I can help you, but I have to go to the headquarters urgently, Urks this close in these numbers is a matter of concern, " she said and left.
"What does your mother do?" asked Fiona to the siblings.
"Oh she is the head commander of the 13th Battalion of Magical Swordsman," replied Ron.
"She is a commander?" asked Fiona surprised. Now she could imagine why she gave off such a powerful aura.
"Yeah she is a bit much to handle, that's probably why Ron was happy to work somewhere far away," said Tina, and Ron hissed at her.
Isanna rushed to the battalion headquarters, her battalion was one of the two biggest in the kingdom. She had become the commander about ten years ago, which was a surprise for everyone, that a woman had risen to such high ranks just by sheer talent and skill, even after having two kids. Her battalion had the most amount of women cadets then. The guards in the building saluted as she went to her office, she would have gone to the post house to send a message to the old man to get information but she didn't have to because he was here in the city visiting, had just arrived a day ago to her surprise and so had Michael another commandor with the only other magical swordsman battalion like hers and her constant rival, they must have known about the attack and nobody mentioned it to me. She entered her office slamming the door open, inside her brother Sedric and her second Vanessa were present.
"Why didn't you come along with Ron?" she asked.
"I thought you would be here, with the attack and all," said Sedric.
"Nobody told me about it," said Isanna.
"Ah then I guess Michael's handling it," said Sedric.
"We are closer, and I am not letting them handle this and not tell me anything at all while they are in my headquarters," said Isanna picked up her sword from the desk, and left. Vanessa followed behind her in a hurry.
"Where are they?" she asked Vanessa. Vanessa was a black-haired, serious girl, very young for her rank, she remembered Isanna of herself.
"In the same guest office, we emptied for them yesterday," replied Vanessa. They went a floor above and turned to a corridor where two guards were posted outside, two guards that were not of her battalion. She opened the door and entered. The old man, was behind the desk looking over a stack of letters and Michael was sitting across with his second standing beside them.
"Ah, Isanna, I was going to send for you," said the old man stroking his long white bears absent-mindedly.
"What for? You seem to have completely forgotten about me till now," said Isanna annoyed.
But the old man just smiled and motioned for her to take a seat.