Once they returned to the surface, the feeling in the air, the tension in the city could be felt by everyone, young and old, falna, or falnaless… No matter who you were, what background you'd come from, there was something drastically different with how the Hathor familia, and allies carried themselves.
The young who were either too young at the time to remember, or worse, not even been born yet, saw nothing but a fierce determination, the heroic determination. And so, they'd been thinking…
"Wow, he looks so cool and serious! The hero!"
"Right! He's so handsome! But look, his beautiful wives!"
"Do you think they've cleared some big hurdle in the dungeon?"
"Yeah! Oh, maybe they cleared it!"
An older woman, with a rather impeccable memory overheard the words of those children. And with the man she'd managed to settle down with after the great feud years ago, she gave a knowing and somber look, one he returned.
"That's not the look of success after the battle. That's the one prior to fighting a major one. It's the same one they had."
"Then it's almost time. I wonder when they'll set out."
"No sense in wondering about it. They'll do it when they are ready for it."
The older couple was right, there was no need for them to worry about it. For it was up to the heroes who would fight the dragon when the time came. However, it was important to realize, that despite the feelings, Hathor familia had only just recently entered the final stages of preparation.
In fact, many more months passed with nothing more than a few smaller expeditions to hone themselves individually, or in a group. Hathor and allies were laying out all of the ground work ahead of time. They were preparing for the battle as if Shurry wasn't going to be a part of it. And yet, despite their efforts to make proper preparations, a few people thought there might have been some small amount of cowardice involved.
It had been 14 years since the defeat of Zeus and Hera familias when a certain group made their temporary return to the city. It was their one chance they could take to relax while repairs were made. And better still, upgrades.
Who were they? Obviously it was the Tsugunai, and the two familias it carried. Loki, and Freya had actually managed to grow a little closer during their isolation from the world's center. But now they were back, and being escorted by a guard of their respective members, Ottar, and Riveria. The others were to remain outside of the city until they'd been given permission to enter.
"The city seems tense, like it's on edge." Loki uttered, looking around unable to keep her usual carefree smile. "What do you make of it, Riveria?"
"It feels like they're worried about our arrival, or perhaps something that he is planning." Riveria answered, doing her best to act as a guard, while also relaxing. It was a delicate balance, too aggressive and the wolves would come, too relaxed, and well… Meteria might come. She was still uncertain as to which she was more terrified of.
"And what do you think of this, Ottar?" Freya asked, not bothering to look at her strongest, instead paying attention to the child she carried, the one Heith bore for her.
"This is his pressure, He is preparing to overcome the hurdle." Ottar answered, with a completely relaxed breath.
"I can't very well blame him, he is about to fight the thing that killed his family." Loki sighed, and stretched, attempting to relax, finding it incredibly difficult to do. "We've seen a lot more now, and to werewolves, family is everything."
"I disagree, it isn't everything, it's more than that." A werewolf stated after having appeared from basically nowhere, even Ottar hadn't sensed his presence until he had made it known. "Now follow me, I'll be taking you to the guild, and keeping an eye on you. Don't try pulling shit, I'm not in the mood."
"Bete, is that you?" Loki's eyes went wide seeing the young werewolf, now a grown man, only slightly younger than Origin Wolf.
"The name is Bete Loga, the Northern Wolf. Now stop delaying." He ordered, clearly unhappy having his task interrupted, and before they could move forward, a golden-haired human appeared on the wind. "Damn it, you took too long to start moving, now you've got more to deal with."
Loki's expression widened once more, and her arms opened wide, running towards the young woman. "Ais! How I've missed you!!!"
It was indeed Ais, however, she'd been trained in ways that made it abundantly clear the loki familia really had broken their promise to properly teach her. Not wanting to be smothered by a woman she didn't like in the slightest, much less a goddess, she drew her rapier pointing at Loki, which stopped the goddess in her tracks. Bete clicked his tongue.
"Stay away from me, you lying goddess." Ais glared daggers. "You never really cared, you just wanted me because I'm cute. I'm level 7 now. Not that you'd care."
"Ais, calm down will you?"
"No!"
"Huh? Is that Bell I just saw?"
"Huh!? Where?" Ais turned around, sheathing her weapon.
"He was crossing the street over there." Bete pointed, and Ais practically flew off in the direction he pointed. Then he glared at the others. "That'll buy you about 5 minutes at the most, you'd better pick up the pace to the guild. Let's go." He said, with a half snarl. "Can't believe I had to play that card already this week. Damn it."
The group continued their walk to the guild, in relative peace, though, now that Ottar was on edge, he could sense the many pairs of eyes gazing upon him and his group.
"Lady Freya, Lady Loki. We are surrounded. The weakest among them feels like a level 7."
"Then we should probably just go along with it for now." Freya said.
"Mommy? What's wrong?" The child asked.
"Nothing's wrong, the city of heroes is just filled with people ready to protect from potential threats. Heroes." Freya answered.
"Hehehe, and booze, isn't that right Bete?"
"I don't remember telling you to call me by that name."
"Awe, don't be that way… You're a level 7. Tell us the story, how'd you reach it?"
"You're better off not knowing." Bete said as they arrived at the guild. "This is as far as I go. Others will ensure you don't act up. Bye." He left in a hurry, back to the kids he had with his wife, and the one dancer that'd been given mutual permission to join them one night.
…