The week of festivities was almost at an end. Rori had tried to bring everything to an explosive end, as the week was getting to drag on and the festivities were dragging on too. It seemed as though everyone was itching to return to work. Ares made a mental note of making most celebrations around three days, he felt as though that would be the perfect amount of time, or have them work half the day and then celebrate the other half.

Lana seemed to spend quite a bit of time with Emerli, and would often be drinking something in the morning that Emerli had made for her. The smell of it wasn’t terrible, so Ares thought it couldn’t have been too healthy for her. Still, Lana was her own person, and if she wanted a smoothie that had too much sugar, then that was her choice to make.

Ares spent a little bit of time throughout the week with the Reptai, who had revealed to Ares that they preferred to eat every few days rather than everyday, so Ares made it so the shipment of dead bodies would come by every few days since that was what they preferred. It was quite liberating to have a group of people who spoke their mind about things, Ares could respect that.

He also spoke with Abdan and the humans, even speaking with Jiaga who had been there during the fight waiting for his time to shine. Ares couldn’t help but feel bad for Jiaga, who had done so much to try and help Ares out, and yet had been stopped each and every time, in some small part due to Ares’ antics.

The humans were getting along quite well with the Riveans. They had shown so much good faith in helping out when the rebellion occurred and also even now, when they had sent almost every single soldier to work, and their own citizens began to help around. Ares could appreciate such a thing, and indeed he had.

In fact he had gotten some of the smiths, masons and carpenters to work about creating some items that would pertain to showing his thanks.

Finally he was alone with Lana in the evening. She had been cordial to Ares, but there did seem to be a small rift between them. Ares did not like that, not one bit. He had no idea how he could fix it, so he did what any man would do.

He tucked a flower into her hair and then kissed her neck and then her cheek. “How have you been?”

“I have been well,” Lana said as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. She gazed at his face for some time, trying to figure out what he had done wrong, and what he was going to apologise for.

“I’m glad…” Ares said as he brushed through her hair. She turned and then climbed over him, pushing him down against the floor and then laid on top of him. Ares wrapped his arms around her and embraced her tighter. “Are you mad at me?”

“A little, of course,” she said.

“Right…Is it because I almost got myself killed?”

“Yes.”

“And more?”

“Yes.”

Ares nodded his head. “I am afraid of death, I wasn’t lying about that… I just hadn’t expected them to be so…”

Lana smiled up at him and Ares furrowed his brows in confusion. “What?” he said.

“So there are things you cannot plan for?”

Ares scoffed. “Of course there are things I can’t plan for, I’m not go-” Ares raised his brows, rocked his head slightly, “well I kind of am a god, but you know…”

Lana kissed his lips and then brushed his chest. “You can’t die.” Her voice was clear and threatening.

“I won’t.”

She stared into his eyes. “I have to punish you in some way…”

Ares cleared his throat and then tried to shift away the conversation. “Well… you should probably be mad at something else I did.”

“What?”

“Well… I did promise you a dowry and well… I didn’t really find anything I could bring you… well… there was one thing…”

“Yes?”

“I could have tried to take on the Gorro.”

Lana’s eyes went up in alarm and then she brought a hand as though to slap him. Ares caught her wrist, though she hadn’t made to slap him. Ares smirked at her and then leaned in to kiss her lips, catching her slightly unawares.

“Don’t worry, even I’m not that stupid…”

“That can be debated.”

“It could.” Ares nodded and then he chuckled. “Still… I want to get you something… name it. You’re my first wife, and though I am expected to take multiple, I do want it to be special for a short while at least.” Ares leaned in to rest his head into her neck.

Lana relaxed into his body and then wrapped herself around him, like a blanket made of thick oxwoman, the best kind of blanket. She remained silent for some time, trying to figure out what she wanted.

“You don’t have to bring me it before we marry, but I would like for my ancestral axe.”

“Your ancestral axe?”

She nodded her head. “My ancestor, Razzana, he once split the mountains into two with his axe. It was lost a few generations ago, to the humans.”

“Say no more,” Ares said as he kissed her jaw and then trailed his finger along her leaf shaped ear. “I will bring it to you.”

“Don’t die.”

“I won’t. I will bring you the axe, even if it…” Ares paused. “Even if it won’t cost me my life.”

Lana looked up and glared into his eyes. Ares just smiled in return and then embraced her tighter.

“Tell me more and Razzana and his axe,” Ares asked as he grabbed the blanket and pulled it around the pair so they could sleep in warmth.

So Lana began to regale the tale of Razzana. He seemed to be a decent enough fellow, though of course considering his life a few hundred years ago, he wasn’t quite such a great guy to some people. Still, that is a story for another time.