In the end, Pelenia agreed but said she would need some time to decide what would be appropriate. Once that was settled she would have it sent to Sonya's home to collect.

Once that business was complete Ben spent the last of his time updating the enchantments on Theras brace, while continuing to make more for any people of status who needed access to some. It seemed that many of the embassies he’d already produced some for had learned he would be leaving soon, and due to the terms of his patent wouldn’t be called upon to make more as he was expecting to remain anonymous, even though he’d done a poor job in keeping his identity to himself.

Still, now that the queen of the nation had essentially claimed him as her own, they wouldn’t be able to get more made themselves unless they were able to negotiate through her to make time, or else raise up their own enchanters enough to do the same. Since neither was guaranteed to happen very quickly, that meant that anyone in enough authority in one of Anailias allied nations wanted to get one made while they could, for the convenience of not needing a cloak every time they had to travel or work in a different country.

Ben was happy to accommodate. Even though it kept him busy for the remainder of his time in the country he’d managed to grow past his concern for how much he was making through his work, and as a result of his level up in enchanting was able to get the braces completed even faster.

While all of this was going on, Thera was still trying to squeeze in as much training with Funa as she could. Though the dark spirit had been right that she wouldn’t be able to achieve much in that time, what mattered was that she learned the information to put to use and continue her training when she returned to stonewall.

With what little time they had between both their tasks, Ben made time to paint the family portraits he’d been asked to when they first arrived, a greater task than he’d expected when he’d seen just how big Pelenia wanted them, as well as explored the city with Thera, taking advantage of the size of the city and his newfound wealth to pick up numerous books on the various disciplines he was practicing as well as anything else that caught his interest.

Once they’d accomplished as much as they’d hoped to, it was finally time to say goodbye.

Ben looked to Pelenia and Abrus. “Welp, mom, dad, thanks for having us. Gotta say it’s been interesting at least.”

Oh come here you,” The queen said, pulling him into a hug with her and her husband. “Make sure you look after Thera, I know she can be a handful but she’s a real softy on the inside.”

“Okay enough of the tearful goodbye,” Thera said, grabbing Ben and dragging him away from her parents. “I didn’t think you insisting on calling them mom and dad would have this sort of effect on them, I would have stopped you if I’d seen this coming.”

“Hey now, my lovely bride-to-be, I just want to get along with the inlaws.”

Thera just sighed and shook her head. Over the past week she’d gotten pretty used to those sorts of comments from him, but she really hoped he’d stop having so much fun with it soon. She still felt weird about the whole thing and she’d have to make her mother announce it was a joke on her part one day anyway. Though that might be harder with the whole dowry thing. She was sure her mom wouldn’t go too crazy, but she could never be sure with her.

“Anyway, it was nice to see you both despite everything. If I ever come home again please act a bit more reasonably in the future, okay?”

“Now Thera, it’s good to joke around a bit, keeps life entertaining.” Her father said with a laugh. “Life is short after all.”

“Says the man whose long forgot how long he’s existed for.” She sighed, knowing her parents would never change. “Well, I’ll write to you about whatever happens, okay? Let me know about any craziness that occurs in the nation while I’m gone.”

“Ha well, maybe keep an eye out on the news for the next little while. You’re going to hear a pretty big announcement soon. Nothing to worry about, it’s actually very good news, I just can’t exactly talk about it yet.” Her mother told her, trying to come off as cool and mysterious.

“Okay?” She responded, curious but aware that her mother had an obligation to keep some information to herself as the queen of the nation, even when it was clear she wanted to be asked.

Ben was pretty much certain it had to do with the alliance with the greys, of which he had yet to tell Thera of his involvement in. He wasn’t sure if Quilith had told the queen about the part he’d played, but she didn’t seem aware of it at least.

Well, not my problem. He thought to himself, happy to ignore whatever politics were going on in the background of the world.

“So you’re really heading out to Karly?” He asked her, seeing her and Funa packed and ready to go on their own trip.

“Well you were right before, there’s really no reason I couldn’t take the time to visit some of our classmates after all of this time. It would be good to see them before preparations for the invasion really kick into gear,” His former classmate seemed more cheerful now that she was taking the time to see the people she cared about, and Ben wished her the best.

“Well make sure you give them my regards. Let them know if they ever get the time they should stop in at Falk's shop in Stonewall, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to make anything as good as what a nation could prepare, but I’d be sure to give them some hospitality.”

“Will do, maybe I’ll even visit myself.”

After walking through the gate, they didn’t spend as much time searching around, both feeling ready to return home to Stonewall. In that spirit, they got on the first cart they could rent and made their way home.

“So you okay Thera? Gonna miss your family?”

“The opposite. After all of that, I’m going to be looking forward to having some time away from them again,” She hesitated a moment before continuing. “Though it was nice seeing them while we were there. At least when they weren’t acting too crazy and getting us wrapped up in whatever dumb plans they made.”

“Ha, well you know what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Still, it looked like dad was having a tough time saying goodbye.”

“Do you really have to call them that even when they aren’t around?” It wasn’t a custom of her nation for a husband to accept the bride's family as his parents. Accept them as family of course, but one would normally never hear them being addressed as casually as Ben was. Not to mention it just felt weird.

“Ha, okay I guess I can stop for now. Your mom seemed happy with it though.”

“She was probably taking it as a positive sign that you would actually marry into the family with the way you’d been treating them for the last week.”

“Hey now, she’s the one who put me in the position, I’m just playing my part. Not to mention it sounds like she’ll send the dowry to Sonya's once she figures out something good, gotta make sure she gets her money's worth of the son in law experience.” He laughed it off as Thera rolled her eyes under her hood. Seeing her parents really was too much, it would be good to be home.