Merry stood in the doorway, in the midst of opening her mouth, she suddenly closed it. Blinking, she tried to form a sentence when an elderly woman's voice could be heard.
"Let them in Merry, you're letting in a draft!"
Looking behind her, Merry cleared her throat.
"O-oh right." Turning to smile at Lauri and Laurence, she stepped aside to let them in. "Welcome back."
Stepping through, Lauri stopped, but Laurence kept walking.
"You two have your moment." He chirped, "I just need to discuss something with the old bat."
Lauri and Merry watched Laurence walk further into the home, disappearing around a corner. Now alone with Merry, Lauri realised his mouth had gone dry. Licking his lips, he crookedly smiled.
'Why do I feel so anxious, isn't this what I've been waiting for, for a whole year.'
About to speak, Lauri was shut down as Merry caught him by suprise. Putting her arms around his chest, she tightly hugged him.
Stunned, Lauri's cheeks lit up bright red.
"M-Merry?
Pausing, Merry almost jumped back. Covering her face with a hand, she looked away.
"Ah, uh, sorry about that Lauri, it's just really good to see you again…" Trailing off, she looked back at Lauri, her eyes opened wide. "Lauri what happened to your arm!?" Grabbing his arm, Merry pulled back what remained of Lauri's sleeve, concern spread across her face.
Although his body had been healed when he became a Risen, scars from deep wounds remained.
Sheepishly scratching the back of his head, Lauri awkwardly smiled.
"Oh uh, this? I was attacked by a shadow and used strings of light to tear out its soul. To be honest with everything that happened, I had completely forgotten about my arm."
Lauri grimaced, looking at the scars running along his arm. Hundreds of small cuts covered his skin, the memory of the shadow's teeth, of Finger's In the Dark pressed on his mind.
Shaking his head, Lauri smiled.
"But I'm okay, and that's all that matters."
Eyeing him, Merry scowled.
"That Laurence knows he needs to take better care of you, or else Granny will have to have some dire words with him. I wonder what other scars you've picked up over the year."
Shaking his head, Lauri held his hands up.
"No, no, it wasn't Laurence's fault. It happened right at the end of my trial. Laurence has done a good job of dealing with the things I couldn't fight. Oh, I've got so much to tell you Merry and Rich and Granny. So much to tell all of you, really."
Putting her hand up, Merry silenced the excitable boy.
"Stop right there, you can tell us over dinner. No need to repeat your story three times when you could just tell all of us all at once." Finished talking, Merry began walking to the kitchen.
Blinking, Lauri, tilted his head slightly as he watched her walk away.
"You made enough dinner for two more? You make it sound like you knew we were coming."
Merry stopped, turning back to him.
"Oh well, I didn't." Touching her lip, Merry's brow furrowed slightly. "Although, I guess I did. I don't know, Granny told me to make more dinner so I made more."
"Granny told you?"
Suddenly a thought crossed Lauri's mind, of Laurence being uncharacteristically cryptic. Following Merry as she kept walking. Lauri rubbed his chin as he thought.
'He said, assuming she hadn't told them we were coming… Was he talking about Gran?'
Entering into the kitchen, Lauri's eyes immediately fell onto the two people talking by the window. The first person he saw was a strapping man, the hair on the top of his head almost brushing against the ceiling and the other an old lady sat in a rocking chair. A scar ran across from one temple to the other, her eyelids were untouched as the scar seemed to disappear under them as it travelled to the other temple. The older woman's long white hair was tied into a braid the same as the man stood opposite her.
Laurence and Granny seemed deep in conversation not acknowledging Lauri's entrance, as he was about to introduce himself a red-haired boy Lauri's age jumped up from the table.
"Lauri!"
Knocking his chair over as he leapt from the table, as it collided with the floor this brought Laurence's and Granny's attention from their conversation.
"You're back!" Slamming into Lauri, the red-headed boy tightly squeezed him. "When did you get back!? You're just in time for dinner! Lucky you guys, Merry's just made dinner and she made extra! What a coincidence!"
Rolling her eyes, Merry moved over to the steaming pot of food.
"Yeah, Richard, what a coincidence."
Smiling at his friend, Lauri's eye twitched.
"I'm so happy to see you too Rich, now," Putting his hand on Richard's face, Lauri tried to push his friend away. "Get off of me!"
Laughing, Richard let go. Almost hopping up and down, Richard's face had the same expression as the kids who Lauri had just been telling his story.
"Come on, do it, let's see what you've got. I've been waiting a whole year to see what you got, come onnnnnnn."
Rolling his eyes, Lauri raised his hand, but as he was about to summon a weapon from light, the voice of the old lady came from the window.
"That's enough kids," Granny's assertive voice caused both Richard's excited actions and Lauri's hand movement to stop. "Now Richard," She addressed the excitable boy. "Pick your chair up and sit down Richard, I'm no doubt sure Lauri would love to show you his Talent, but that is for later."
With Laurence's help, the elderly lady rose up from her rocking chair, a small cane served to keep her balance. Wobbling to the neatly laid dining table courtesy of Merry, Laurence pulled out a chair for Granny tucking her in as she sat down.
"For now let us enjoy this dinner Merry has prepared for us as our brave Awakened regale us with stories of fighting Fiends."
Pouting, Richard picked his chair up returning it to its initial spot.
"Yes, Granny." Plopping down into his seat, Richard's expression changed as he turned to Merry. "How excited I am for the delicious meal prepared for us by the beautiful Merry." He spoke with a gleaming smile.
Rolling her eyes, Merry retrieved a deep wooden spoon which she pointed at Richard.
"You're not getting a bigger serving, Lauri and Laurence are getting bigger portions. You've just sat on your ass for the last year doing the bare minimum."
Scowling, Richard shrugged his expression, returning to a pleasant smile.
"That's fair. So You two," He turned back to Lauri and Laurence. "You've gotta tell us everything, don't miss a single day."