Waking up in the foreign room felt weird and the feeling didn’t change regardless of how often I had gone through it in the last year. As I stretched out my arms I could feel Sam still asleep next to me. Yesterday had been a long day that went even longer with the welcoming party. I was so tired that I didn’t have any problems sleeping in a new house, not only that but the beds Ajax got us were really well made, much better than any we had previously had.

As I woke up however more and more things started to come into focus from yesterday. It wasn’t a weird dream and I really had come back to the capital after my parents sent me away. Not only that but my own daughter was doing business with them, and the shock I had the biggest trouble coming to terms with was the fact that I was about to become a noble.

Sure Ajax was the one receiving the title but not only would a noble title be passed down to any and all generations of the person it was granted to as it followed the line of succession but it would also be granted to one generation up should the parents still be alive. It would be very much a title for show as Ajax would be the head of the house but it would still be a title.

As I got out of bed to wash I felt a strange feeling walking through the house. I knew most of the furniture as we had brought it with us but the layout was all different. The house Ajax had prepared for us was smaller than the one he had gotten ready for Tom but it was still half again as big as the one we had back in Lessis which gave the furniture a whole new feel with so much more space.

One thing that had remained the same from all the way back in our small nameless village however was that my house still had the big, after a deep and thorough cleaning that I very much needed from the time on the road I started getting breakfast ready. Ajax had made sure that we had plenty of everything in the cellar and by the time I was halfway done I could hear Tom had gotten up and proceeded to clean himself as well.

Much as had become common of late, Fluffy stuck her big head through a window next to me as the food was almost ready, the smell enticing her as she licked her fangs.

“Go bother Ajax.” I told her as I threw her a small bit of bacon. “Knowing him he probably has a bag full of cores already saved up for you.”

The shadow cat snapped the bacon out of the air before her eyes got big and she darted away back towards the other house. Ajax had clearly known that Fluffy would grow as one of the windows was big enough for Fluffy to leap through as she made her wait inside. He had already shown us where the three replacement frames and glass sheets were in case Fluffy ever tried to jump through the window when it was closed.

A predictable side effect of sending the hungry feline back was that no more than ten minutes later the entire family was now awake and taking a seat around the breakfast table. It had been a long time since all of us had gotten together like this and I had missed it greatly.

“It’s nice to see everybody so relaxed but what is everyone doing today?” I asked more to make sure that Sam, Ajax and I could go see my parents alone at some point, even if I hadn’t fully made up my mind on what decision we should make regarding them.

“We have to go down to the warehouse and start sorting everything out, by mid afternoon some of our bulk items that we already have contracts for are going to be picked up.” Alana said.

“I still have a while before I am required to report in but it's expected that I at least show up sometime today,” Tom said. “More so since I have a bond.”

The showcat in question was chewing on a core as she purred loudly.

“I’ll have a check-up scheduled with the healers for the afternoon.” Kate said as she protectively lowered her hand to her belly.

“I actually have something else I want to show everyone this morning.” Ajax said as he finished the food on his plate.

I wasn’t sure what other surprise Ajax could have up his sleeve and at this point I was too afraid to ask. The knowledge of how to interact with the System as well as the noble title that came with it were enough surprises for me, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing and that would always come to bite us in the ass at some point.

As Ajax took us on the outside of the city my imaginations started to run wild. If he found a secret third dungeon and was keeping a secret from the king this was something that could quickly mark us for execution.

I finally started to relax once he pointed out the slightly slanted hill area filled with trees and flowers that he brought us to. With the amount of bees I was seeing he had also gotten lucky enough for a hive to have formed on his land and that was something that I would want to grab since the jar we had at home was only half full.

“Ajax, what are those?” Judy asked as we started at the dozens of wooden wardrobes spread out throughout the field surrounded by trees as well as the multitude of bees that were buzzing around us.

“Those are hives.” Ajax said, slightly distracted by the fact that all the bees kept well clear of us. It took me a second to realize that Fluffy’s monster aura was the reason for that, though if those wooden things were actually hives the bees would quickly attack Fluffy if he got any closer regardless of the power difference.

“Fluffy, I think it's best if you stay here.” he said as he handed all of us large hats that had a thing see through mesh drop down and cover us. “Let me show you.”

With that he beckoned us closer to the nearest hive. I could feel the slight wind Ajax was creating to make us a path as it pushed most of the bees away as well. After that Ajax quickly pulled up a panel from the box and explained to us in detail how the bees would create their hexagonal wax structures and fill them with honey only for us to come and collect most of it at a later date without destroying the hive and therefore having a constant supply from the same bees.

“I haven’t heard about this before.” Alana became interested as she watched how the wooden box worked. As the daughter of a village head she was someone who would have heard about such odd creations.

“I know, I even got a trailblazer achievement for beekeeping.” Ajax said proudly.

He then asked us to help and see if there was any trailblazing skill we could pick up from the craft before the discovery was picked up and spread across the kingdom. None of us took any convincing to try our hand at it over the coming months. With that we all returned to the city and everyone else went their own way as Ajax led Sam and I towards a store I remembered well from my memories.

The outside of the building hadn’t changed much from how I remembered it but that was no longer true once you stepped inside. They had clearly expanded the building, probably by buying the one behind it and uniting the two.

Ajax led the way and the receptionist welcomed us up the stairs once he saw him. While none of the floors were the same as I remember, the key concept of each higher floor catering to more exclusive clientele had remained the same.

As we entered the main office I was surprised how unchanged the room was compared to the rest of the building. Just like the entrance outside, almost all of it was exactly the same as I remembered, even my mother and father hadn't seemed to age all that much in the two dozen years I had been gone.

“Silvia…” Both my mother and father stood up as I entered the office and for the first time ever I saw my mother speechless as she looked at me.

I also froze up as all sorts of pent up emotions rose up again inside me. It was only Sam’s comforting hold on my hand Ajax’s stoic stance in front of me like a guardian that kept me from breaking down into tears of anger? Frustration? Yearning?

“Mother, Father.” I briefly nodded to them, my tone cold and low.

Mother went to come towards me but Ajax took a comforting step in between thankfully. He knew I wasn’t ready for anything like the hug she had intended to give. His action however cause the guard they leaning against a wall behind them to also stand up and put himself between Ajax and them.

“No, stand down.” My father directed him instead.

“I think this would all move along better if we all simply sat.” Ajax said as he pulled out a chair for me opposite my father. The move did a lot to put all of us more at ease by setting things up more like a business meeting, something both my parents and I were more used to.

“We’re so sorry darling.” my mother broke the silence as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. “It took us a long time to realize that we were wrong, and by that time we didn’t know how to approach you.”

“And what changed?” Sam asked, his anger very much justified seeing as him being unworthy of me was the reason we were sent away.

“We realized that you made her happy.” Father said, his words few as always.

“We wanted to reach out to you once we realized that your kids were grown and you would have to move from that small village you settle in if only not to hold them back.” mother explained further. “But then the attack happened and the man we had been looking out for you died. We had no news for months and once we finally found out what happened we had no idea where you were or how to go about looking for you.”

“Ajax showed up before I could make a proper plan for looking for you.” Father said as he indicated to Ajax who hadn’t sat down and instead stood behind me with a comforting arm on my shoulder.

“And what do you want now?” I asked, my tone no longer as cold. Was I hoping for them to welcome me back?

“We just want a chance to make up for the mistake we made.” mom said, the tears not stopping as she wiped them away but the smile hadn’t left her face following the shock of seeing me. “And we hope that eventually you might come back.”

I took a quick look at Ajax, he had explained how his truth telling skill worked and even if I suspected it wouldn’t be strong enough to work on my mother I still felt a lot more relieved seeing him nod that his skill said they were telling the truth.

I turned to look at Sam and found him looking back at me. A small shaky nod of my head was all it took for him to take over the conversation since he knew this was as much as I could deal with right now.

“It will be a while before we think of you as family again.” Sam said with a flinty voice. “But we are willing to give you the chance to make it up to her.”

“It would also be best if you were to wait before you approached Judy or Tom.” Ajax continued “A first impression like the one you made on me might be enough to bring everything crumbling down.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by that but I could clearly see shame cover my dads face and mom choked back a small sob while nodding her agreement.

With that the meeting ended and Ajax led us back to our home where I crashed into bed mentally drained and quickly fell asleep.