Lunch had been delayed, what with the drakes attacking in the morning and all, and the mood was grey. A somberness fell through Rivea like a fog, as the people waited to be handed their lunch. The light drumming was sad and

The King and Queen were given their lunches first, though a routine had been established. Pregnant women, then children, then the adults.

Ares bit into the meat first whilst his people were still being served, allowing them to eat the moment they received their food. Runar was standing next to him, holding onto his arm. She babbled and rest up against his arm, half laying across it.

"Yes princess?" Ares asked.

Runar continued to babble as Ares nodded. "Perhaps next time we can, but first daddy needs to finish his food."

Runar leaned in and blew a raspberry against his shoulder before giggling and then slapping it.

"What's with her and slapping me?"

"It's because you leave so often," Lana said.

"Well I'm back for now," Ares said as he pulled Runar carefully onto his lap and then let her head. He rubbed along the tiny nubs that were her horns. “How long will it take until her horns are fully formed?”

“They will grow to their maximum length when she becomes a woman,” Lana said.

That made sense, for many of the children that were oxfolk were rather… Ares paused for a moment to think.

“I see that the children grow up quickly to about this height, but… most of the children I see, they’re all about the same height and weight?”

Lana nodded. “Oxfolk grow large as children, and then stop growing for a few years, and then during the course of a year they will grow to their adult size.”

“Oh…” Ares wondered what that would mean for their psychological development. He would need to take more care in taking notes about his children’s growth. He should probably start a journal and take notes about his child’s growth. He had already missed so much though, and he would need to go and lead the army later too.

Ares rubbed his forehead. Had he taken the worst role possible? He had promised to help Levi with the situation between the beastfolk and the humans, but that was something that would probably take many decades. A life free of exploration and fun was not something he could currently explore, not with what he had promised to his friend, as well as the promise he made in order to help Levi find out how his kind procreated. Reneging on a promise like that was non-negotiable.

“You’re thinking,” Lana said with a frown. “You should at least eat.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Ares smirked and then went back to eating food, noting the looks of the people. Many were looking around, as though a ghost would pop out and assault them. Ares could see that the people were jittery, and he thought about what Lana had asked of him. Runar slapped has cheeks to take him out of his thoughts.

“Fine, fine.” Ares chuckled and then let Runar go. She looked at him confused and tried to sit back down on his lap when he stood and so she looked up at him, astonished by such a betrayal. She grabbed onto his trousers and tried to pull him down to sit down. He took the hint and picked her up, hoisting her between an arm and his chest before he kissed her forehead to get her to settle down.

Ares cleared his throat, and the drums began to pound harder in order to gain everyone’s attention. “Good afternoon, I hope that I am not disturbing your lunches. I can understand that you may want to eat in peace, but I suppose I should address the concerns that many of you may possess about a certain matter that has occurred.” Ares wondered perhaps if he should make a joke, but he decided that he should at least show the refugees that he was a decent fellow.

“We were attacked by some drakes, a threat we had not anticipated. We should have, but we didn’t. We take full responsibility for that, though luckily we had a few systems in place to deal with the matter quickly and efficiently. We are currently working together to create a new system in place to deal with such threats even quicker, as well as discussing potential steps we can take to decrease such actions in the future.”

Ares wondered if he sounded convincing enough. Should he have been more vague, as politicians were ought to do, so that he couldn’t be held to account? No. Such a travesty would not sink into Rivea. He would bear the brunt of the responsibility, for the mistake could have caused much death to his people. He wouldn’t have blue blood running through his veins.

“As many of you know, I am gravely injured, and I am currently still healing from both a curse and a new wound that seems to have caused it to spread. There will be a great many days that I will need to rest in order to deal with my wounds. It is good idea to mention that I am weak, much weaker than before, and I am uncertain of how quickly I will be able to heal in order to find help in dealing with the curse.”

Ares hid the smile on his face, though he could notice that many within the crowd seemed worried He tried not to get too embarrassed about the situation.

“I tell you this because I know that there won’t be any rebellions and such,” Ares said, disarming his people with his bluntness. A few of his peoples gasped, which caused him to break a smile. “Many of you have seen what has happened when we were turned upon by the Horns of the western plains, many of you were once part of them, and yet you are now Riveans, and as Riveans, you dealt with the threat. Outnumbered, we beat back our foes. Sure we lost a great deal of Riveans, but we won. Then immediately after, at our weakest, we were besieged by an alliance of boarfolk, rhinofolk, and buffalofolk, and again, we beat back our foes.” Ares smiled wide.

“If any of you have thought so rebelling, perhaps you should, just so we can put it down and then we can get rid of you. If you want to rebel, though, I suggest you just leave instead.” Ares finally laughed.

“Anyway,” he said quickly, “let us be rid of such dark talks, hmm?” Ares then raised a hand and then looked around. “I’m going to need a large space to show you what gifts we have brought back from our little escapade when we met with the rhinofolk and buffalofolk. Not even Boranran has seen what we had defeated.”

The peoples shuffled away, waiting for Ares. Ares raised his brows and then motioned with a hand, causing them to continue to shuffle around. As the people moved to make space, Runar let out a squeal and then clapped her hands, looking down at everyone.

“Calm down,” Ares said, “you aren’t Queen yet.” He kissed his daughter’s head, and she head butt his chest.

Ares had been standing for too long, he could feel the deep ache of his stomach as he winced. He formed a chair to sit down on. The hard stone wasn’t the most comfortable thing, but then he just summoned a pillow and a blanket to make it more bearable.

Eventually there was enough space for Ares to summon the roc.

The creature filled the space in an instant, shaking the ground with its arrival. Riveans gasped, shouting and screams filled the air for a moment, and then babies began to cry. Runar jolted upwards, seeing the new item appear ahead of her. She stared at it dumbfounded.

“A roc,” Ares said. “We had defeated it together, and though it was a boring fight that hadn’t taken long, it was quite the sight. Remember, this was done by less than ten Riveans, but the victory of one Rivean is the victory of all Riveans. We will part out the creature, with our Queen taking first pick, followed by each of the warriors that were about, as well as the kindly dwarf who had been with us when we slew it. Then we will use the rest of it for Rivea, for a heart meal in the evening, and then weapons, armour, and whatever other items we can receive from the bounty.”

“How did you defeat it?” Lana asked, staring at the creature.

“Well…” Ares smiled and then began to regale the tale of the creature to the awaiting Riveans, making it seem a little less boring, adding splashes of drama to make it seem like they did much more than they actually did.

After the story the mood within Rivea shifted, for the people were now celebrating the bounty that had been brought back.

Rori looked to Ares, eating the last of his flat bread. “I hadn’t heard that you had defeated a roc,” he said.

“Sorry, it sort of slipped my mind. I suppose I should tell you what happened, shouldn’t I?”

“I would prefer it if we could speak after lunch about another matter, and then you could regale us the story tomorrow over lunch, if you have the strength.”