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Early Afternoon - Early Winter : Home

"Are you alright? If the cold is getting to you just let me know."

"I..I'm okay Master.."

-Ahh while I'm thinking about it I should fix that..- "Look up towards the sky for me."

Reluctantly complying she looked up and closed her eyes.

*Clank*

Using earth magic, I shattered the collar she had on her neck.

-The new one needs to actually look good and be able to stretch..- After thinking for a bit, I came up with an odd idea. -I wonder if I can make a elasticity rune..-

I quickly made a thin but strong steel ring and fiddled with an earth rune on it.

Maria looked at me quizzically. "If I may be so rude to ask.. what are you doing Master?"

"Making you a new collar. One that wont kill you if you change to your dragon form."

"One that.. changes sizes?"

"Yeah.." After a short moment I figured something out that worked.

-Wow that's such a weird feeling..- It was a steel choker looking collar but it could stretch quite a lot, easily enough to handle her current dragon form. -Ill need to change it eventually though..-

The rune was incredibly inefficient since I just invented it in a few minutes but it did the job well enough.

I turned back to Maria. "What is your favorite flower?" I reached up and started making the collar on her neck, giving it a strengthening and elasticity rune.

"A.. rose.."

-Oh cool, didn't know roses existed in this world..- As soon as I finished the runes and base collar, I covered the runes with a little insignia I made of a black wolf with purple eyes and gave the collar a rosebush design.

-Its honestly quite pretty..- I sat there and looked at it for a moment, feeling quite proud of myself. "Well that's good enough for now, I'll let you look in the mirror once we get to Bahamut."

As Maria touched the collar, feeling its texture, I changed to my dragon form and let Ilios up on my back.

As soon as she noticed I changed form, Marias face paled.

"I'll be gentle on the take off, just tap me if you need to tell me anything because I won't be able to hear you."

She gave a nervous nod as she climbed onto my hand.

Spreading my wings, I gave a strong flap and lightly used thrusters.

Since I had to be cautious about my acceleration with her, the flight took a bit longer than expected. We ended up getting home in the mid afternoon with extremely overcast weather.

-Its not snowing yet though..-

After a few minutes, I descended below the clouds again and followed the mountainside to the ground.

*Thud*

"Welco-.. Who is she?" Krystallo called out as soon as I landed.

"This is Maria, she will be your personal maid or attendant or.. whatever you want her to be."

"She's quite cute.. what's this collar though?"

"Its a slave collar, I just figured it couldnt be ugly and went a bit overboard."

"Its.. quite beautiful.."

"You two go ahead and get acclimated. Maria, Krystallo is your other master so treat her better than you treat me." I gave an intimidating look and flashed my aura at her.

She quickly paled and gave a nervous nod.

Seeing she understood, I turned around and walked into the cave.

"Welcome back Vasilias. That didn't seem to take long." Mother looked up at me with a warm smile.

"Yeah, I made up time on the flights." I looked around the room and saw Mother making some kind of box to carry Fengari's memorial and Father in his humanoid form carefully placing coins into a small treasure chest. "What are you doing Father?"

"Just making sure we have all of our Royal gold in the chest.."

-Royal gold..- I slowly looked down at the chest. -WHAT?!- Although it was a small chest, no larger than a small keyboard, it was packed full of royal gold coins.

-How much money..- I stood there for a moment, marveling at the ridiculous sum of money.

"So what are you going to bring, Vasilias?" Father looked over at me gawking at the sight of the chest.

"J..just this little black artifact.." I quickly walked over and picked up the artifact from Kaelallan. "Do you think I should carry Maria or should she fly with us?"

"She probably won't be able to keep up so you'll need to carry her. Where is she?"

"She's outside talking to Krystallo."

"So you decided to make her a slave, huh?"

"Yeah, I figured itd be good for Krystallo to have a 'personal attendant'."

"She has a collar right? What owner insignia did you use on her collar?"

"I just made one for myself."

"Which is?"

"Just a black wolf with purple eyes."

Father looked at me with some surprise.

"Well anyways, is there anything else I can help you two with before we go?"

Mother looked over at me. "Could you help me for a second.."

"Sure, what's up?"

"I'm trying to make a container to carry Fengari's memorial but I don't know what to do to keep it from breaking.."

"Ah, well let me do it then.." I walked up to it and got a closer look. -I guess that'll work..-

I quickly made a small box around it of metal, using the metal to clamp and hold the stone pedestal still and filled the rest of the box with a general foam to hold the egg still.

Although it wasn't a ton of work, it took a bit to make since I had to be so careful about it. By the time I got the cover on it and made straps to make it easier to carry, the sun was nearing the horizon.

"Haah.. finally done.." -Its as secure as its gonna get..-

Finally, I picked it up and carried it outside.

"I finished, Mother."

Quickly setting down her things, she ran over and looked at the metal box. "So it's in this?"

"Yeah, this should keep it nice and protected during the flight, always be careful just in case though." I lifted up my hand I had weaved into the strap. "This is how you can wrap it around your hand to carry it a little easier as well.."

Seeing she understood, I quickly let go and looked over to Krystallo and Maria.

-They seem to be getting along well..- They were just chatting but even Maria was wearing a pure smile.

*Thump*

"So is everyone ready?" Father spoke up as he closed and locked the doors to the cave.

I looked around and noticed everyone seemed ready. "It seems like it!"

"Well let's not waste any more time and take to the skies!"