—
"Dove, I know you're curious…"
"Hm?"
"About that photo you saw. I meant to tell you sooner but…"
She crossed her arms as she leaned on the doorway. Seemingly down about the topic at hand. Dante turned away from his packing and looked at her.
"It must've been pretty rough, keeping a secret like that for so long huh?"
Rita's face jolted into a reaction of surprise by his statement, but slowly turned into one of relief.
"Yeah, you could say that."
"When were you planning on telling me anything about my 'mother'?"
"She is your mother. Her name is Eleanor."
"Eleanor…kinda elegant if you ask me."
"She was like a flower in the wind. If only you could see her swordsmanship, she'd flatten me in a second."
"Wait, you!?"
"Yeah, there's a reason why I'm not using that sword, and that's just one of the many reasons for that."
"So why…give it to me…?"
Rita walked over before pressing her finger into his forehead. Twisting it as he flinched back from his luggage.
"Ouch! Why'd ya do that!?"
"Just a force of habit…but she left it for you to take."
"Why would she do that…?"
"I dunno, she was a weirdo of sorts in the time I spent with her…but she always had a good reason for doing what she did."
"Huh…I see…"
Rita sat next to Dante on the ground as she looked over his belongings, making sure he didn't forget anything important. But she picked up the photo from the small bookshelf beside Dante's bed and pointed to it.
"This was our party, after our first successful dungeon dive."
"You went to dungeons? I would've never known!"
"There's a lot you don't know about me, Dove."
"So…who are those two beside the both of you…?"
"Oh, that's Reggie actually and the kid is…"
"THAT'S HIM? He looks like a frickin' twig!"
The two shared a laugh before continuing on discussing the things of what his mother was like in Rita's memories. He shared a strong bond with Rita before as she'd raised him to be prepared for the world however she could. From learning simple manners, to being able to protect not only himself, but others. He appreciated everything she'd do for him, even though she wasn't his own mother. Though at times more than not, it felt as if she was.
—
A smile plastered over his face as Terra turned to him curiously; a chuckle was heard from him before he looked back to the moon.
"I want to learn more about the outside world and the people within it…but I also want to find out more about my own mother. She used to be a knight here in the kingdom…where better to look and find out…?"
He let off a wide smile, showing off his sharpened teeth, one of the features that didn't die down with the transformation spell the earrings gave off. Terra could help but smile and nod in agreement.
"A wonderful goal indeed."
The two then parted ways, promising to see one another at the entrance of the academy, the day was finally arriving…the one that he'd been waiting for this whole time.
"It's my new start." he said to himself as opening the door to the building and quickly closed it behind himself.