Home Sweet Dough
A Fluffy Oneshot
Lora couldn't believe she'd missed her house so much. Wayton had done an excellent job. As she walked in Lora still could hardly believe how large and nice it was. The Gormotti lumber had been polished until it's sheen absolutely glowed. And the windows! Oh, the windows Charlet designed were stunning and really brightened the place up.
Lora remembered worrying that the house would be too big, too empty. To her surprise, it filled up quick. Visitors stopped by with gifts. Some would come with express thanks, like the glorious new pottery set, while others would be excused with how they just happened to have an extra table and it'd be she'd be even more of a life saver if she took it off their hands. Lora quickly learned just to say thank you.
She also had new house guests. No matter how nice the things were, the children made it all worth it. There was always mischief afoot. She, Jin, and Haze definitely had their hands full.
"Lora," Jin looked up as she entered his kitchen. He was rolling out some kind of dough while something delicious smelling simmered on the stove. Mikhail sat on a stool in the corner fiddling with some gears he'd found. "You're back."
"Yeah," she went to the stove and poked her nose probably too close to the cooking stew. "This looks great Jin."
"Was everything ok?"
She pounced on him, squeezing him into a tight hug. She took a moment to just take Jin in and in a moment any tension he had rolled off his shoulders. He was still nervous when she went anywhere without him. Lora couldn't claim to be much better. Last night Haze had awoken her from a nightmare when she got home only to find everything burned and in a crater of glass. It was better when they were together. She turned to smile at him reassuringly.
"We had a nice visit. Haze is checking in on all the kids." She laughed, "Addam had the bright idea to get Mythra a new hobby. Apparently, she's created a new genre of music. I'm not certain what to think of it actually."
"Hmm." Jin barely nodded.
"It's not as bad as her cooking, is it?" Mikhail leaned forward, eyes wide.
"Her food's getting better," Lora decided not to mention that Addam had come up with this whole scheme mostly to get her out of the kitchen. His cook unfortunately was not one to handle her creativity. It was a shame really, since she had improved. Mythra's cuisine was edible half the time now. "And it's not entirely bad, it's just different. Innovative." It sounded like it was from a different planet. Maybe also a different time. It probably wasn't deadly.
Jin raised an eyebrow and turned back to his dough. Mikhail shook his head and turned back to his gear. By the look in his eye he had probably changed his plan for his invention for something noise canceling. No doubt he'd be prepared for even the loudest, most insane sounds by the time he went to see Milton.
"There was some news from Mor Ardain. Hugo has finally found another excuse to flee the throne for a while. There's some new gang, the Bloodier Lobsters, running around. They've left these strange lobster plushies all over and nobody is sure why."
"Green barrels." Jin grunted and Lora chuckled. That had been a merry scavenger hunt!
"Probably not, but we're gonna have to tell the kids if they find any not to touch them. I doubt they're anything good."
"Are you gonna help?" Mikhail's voice was bland. He was worried then. She twirled around Jin and squeezed her way to his corner. She bent down a little and put her hand on the kid's shoulder.
"You know if I do go anywhere, we'll be ok, yeah? But for now, I think Hugo has it handled. My job, and Jin's, and Haze's, is to take care of you kids now."
Mikhail grunted and rolls his eyes, embarrassed at being caught. Getting him to admit he cared even now was like pulling teeth. It's not like Lora could blame him. She got it. She still pulled him into a quick side hug and ignored the red in his face.
Jin rolled the dough into several like balls. He tilted his head at Mikhail.
"Don't doubt Aegeaon's ability to find fish."
Lora grinned as his joke succeeded in lightening Mikhail's mood. That Blade really was too good at fishing and they all knew it. Everyone missed him when they were out at the river, just like they wished Brigid could visit their garden.
Sometimes, Lora missed the freedom being a mercenary. After being knighted and saving Torna, life became surprisingly domestic in a way she'd never had before. It was fair strange to sleep in the same bed for weeks. Her adventure was no long filled with travel and fighting, rather it was playing with children and chasing away nightmares. It was an adjustment, however, that she was proud of. Plus, Jin was as happy as she'd ever seen him.
"Minoth wrote another manuscript." Haze had snapped up Addam's copy as soon as he'd mentioned it. Watching Addam's face had been priceless but Lora didn't know what else he'd expected by mentioning the new book around her. Recently, he'd begun a multiple volume series inspired by their journey. It was definitely a loose telling, with him changing names, mixing up histories, and upping the drama, but Haze adored it. Maybe because the main character Lady Nora seemed very familiar… Lora just wished the kids hadn't gotten their hands on some of them because the jokes never stopped. Minoth had definitely embellished a few campfire stories.
At this point it was impossible to convince the children that she hadn't singlehandedly taken down an insanely powerful gogol as a teenager and she'd given up trying. She wasn't sure she could thank Minoth for even passerby's on the streets of Auresco congratulating her for taking down the "great and terrible Rotbart," or if that was more of Leo's band's fault for creating a ballad of it. Either way, she would much better be known by her actual deeds. Too bad no one else agreed.
"I wonder what Lady Nora will do this time." Mikhail tried to hide a snort. "Do you think she'll escape from the bandits?"
Jin looked down, trying to hide how his lips twitched. "They'll name her their queen."
Mikhail's eyes bulged, his head whipping around to stare at her, "you were a bandit queen?!"
"No." She gave Jin a look. Traitor. "Mikhail, you were there when I told you that story. You know that's not what happened." It's not like the events couldn't be interpreted like that but honestly it was such an embarrassing incident. She still couldn't believe those bandits had fallen for that terrible disguise!
"Jin was there when it happened." He argued, "Jin would know."
"That I do." Jin nodded.
"Your highness," Mikhail inclined his head grandly. He must have copied it from when he was at the capital, the gesture ridiculously formal.
Lora huffed and hoped that really wasn't how Minoth portrayed the incident. Getting called "my lady" and "our legendary mum-knight" was enough.
"In that case, I just can't wait until Lady Nora's Blade freezes the whole fort and they bandits are frozen to the floor by their boots." She looks at Jin. "Perhaps he'll even have caused an entire blizzard."
Her Blade merely shrugged. His own legend rolled of him with grace as always. Someday, she'd find something in those books to tease him with as well even if she'd have to pester Minoth to write it first.
There was a knock on the doorframe. Haze peeked her head in and Lora waved her in. She found a crate and perched on it.
"The children have a surprise for us."
"Oh?" Lora glanced at Mikhail. His face betrayed nothing. "How interesting."
"Yes," Haze said serenely. "They're very excited to show you."
Lora glanced at Jin's rolls and he seemed to be ready to let them rise. He then met her eyes and nodded. It was good to be home. Lora's grin lit up the entire room.
"Then I suppose we'd best not keep them waiting!" She moved to take Jin's hand but realized too late it was still goopy from the dough. Oops. "Although, I suppose we can wash our hands first…"
A/N: This is entirely self indulgent fluff because after finishing Torna, dangit I needed some. That ending destroyed me. I just wanted everyone to get hugs and a happy ending. Everybody lives except Amalthus and it's beautiful.