It had already been getting dark when Velvet and Laphicet left northern Hyland, but the sun was still up in Rolance. The cold remained however, seeing how the path to Lastonbell and the city itself were covered in snow. Children played in the streets Velvet traversed, the sight slowly driving away her lingering melancholy. She could not really keep brooding when life continued to flourish around her like that. It was loud and full of people, the same as every other city during the day. Few, if any, would even know that something had changed or was taken away in distant lands.

Some of the locals recognised her soon enough and she exchanged greetings with some housewives and even a few guardsmen walking past. She returned the waves of children when they passed by her, but made for the marketplace instead of her actual destination. Someone would carry the news to Margaret and give the girl some advance warning of her return. Laphi wandered off to talk to the other seraphim nearby.

Unfortunately, Velvet's plan did not work out as intended; she did manage to sell the few things she prepared since leaving Ladylake, but ran right into Margaret when she left the store. Both of them stared at each other for a moment, the older one taking note of the wicker basket and coin purse the younger one carried. Velvet stepped past Margaret and held the door open wordlessly, then waited outside while the local girl made her purchases. When she emerged a few minutes later, basket filled and purse lighter, they stared at each other for a moment longer. The girl's face was calm, but Velvet did not miss the tensing in her body. She offered a weak smile to Margaret then. "I'm back."

Some part of her still worried about their proposal being rejected, but she shut it up; there was nothing they could do about it now, only accept whatever happened. Margaret had begun to relax at this point, gaze averted. "You were gone for a while." Her words were almost inaudible under the constant thrum of conversation, but the arms she wrapped around Velvet's waist a moment later made her feelings clear. "I was worried about you."

It was only the third time they had actually shared an embrace. Velvet stood stiffly for a moment before leaning down and hugging her back. "You know I'm tough. You don't need to worry about me, but I appreciate it."

The bell rung in the background, reminding them of the world. Their arms loosened and both of them let go, then Velvet took in her student critically. "I can tell you kept up your training."

For Margaret's muscles were more defined now and she held herself upright and straight, with confidence she simply lacked when they began; outside of that however, she had also gained some more height since the last time Velvet saw her. The girl herself nodded with a grin, one hand at her hip where she could readily draw her sword if need be. "I did! Every day, just like you told me to. The cold is actually kinda nice to wake me up in the morning."

She received an approving nod, though Velvet decided against testing her immediately; this could wait. Instead she motioned toward the direction Randgriz Inn lay, prompting Margaret to start walking back home. She tensed up a little when the taller woman fell into step with her, though. "We shouldn't have too much to do right now, so we can probably get Mom away and have that talk."

Velvet cast a careful glance at their surroundings before turning back to her student; she doubted that anyone would listen in on them. "So you decided?"

"Yeah." The tension faded as Margaret took a deep breath, then smiled up at her. "I trust you both. Mom does too, in a way. She was just really worried and unsure, but I convinced her." A weight dropped from Velvet's chest while the young blonde grinned up at her. "I was always good at being reasonable while arguing, but I never thought I'd have to haggle with my mom of all people."

Now with an easier smile, Velvet huffed and ruffled her hair, to an indignant squawk which she ignored. "Good job. I just need to, ah, there he is." She left Margaret's side for a moment while the girl righted her hair, moving as if she was looking over a stall's contents but actually taking Laphi's hand and pulling him along. Her brother quickly said goodbye and followed back to Margaret, who eyed them with an easier smile.

Upon reaching the inn, Margaret guided both Crowes up to the family's private living room and sat them down; it was the same table they initially discussed the matter at. Then she flew back down the stairs to fetch her mother from the kitchen. Neither sibling spoke as they waited; Velvet found herself almost completely relaxed by now. Laphi, who did not know it yet, remained somewhat tense.

The Randgriz women returned a few minutes later. Margaret's expression had turned into a mask of calm while Cynthia greeted them with a nervous smile; the two humans settled down while Laphi projected his domain. There was no big leadup, Cynthia simply eyed Velvet and then her brother for a moment before sighing. "We talked it over for a while, and we're both willing to work with you."

Laphi relaxed while Velvet allowed herself a smile, the last bits of anxiety fading away. "Glad to hear it," she told the older woman. "Then we should start talking about the details now. There's a few things we have to prepare and plan out."

Cynthia nodded slowly; she did not try to make any conditions beyond what Velvet already laid out months before, which the older Crowe appreciated. Laphi took over from there and motioned for their surroundings. "We want to build an attraction based around seraphim, so I will be the key piece in any such plan. My domain can do it easily, but I don't really like the idea of being bound here all the time. So I will see about putting something together to project it here while I'm away; with some luck, it's ready by the time everything else is." He then gave them all a sly grin. "I actually tested a few things in that direction over the last month, they just need some more work."

That explained what he was doing with his domain those days. Velvet gave her brother a nod before bringing up another point: "We'll need to expand, too."

Now she had Cynthia's and Margaret's attention again. The mother made to speak but stopped thoughtfully, which allowed the daughter to do it instead: "Why is that?"

"The obvious answer is that we need space," Velvet returned with a faint smile over Margaret's immediate pout. "I thought it over before, but this place is mostly an inn with a small tavern attached to earn some extra money. If we want to create something big in the way we're thinking of, we need to expand the tavern part."

Laphi made a thoughtful noise at that and considered the women he shared the table with. "We could split it up," he offered as a solution. "Separate inn and tavern a little, then have the inn portion under Cynthia, and us in charge of the tavern."

He received nods from both of them and Cynthia lowered her head in thought. "Well, it's not like I mind that much. It might actually be for the best; we ran ourselves ragged to keep everything running ever since my husband died." There was nothing any of them could say to that; Margaret averted her gaze. Velvet tried hard not to sigh; she had figured something like this.

"My condolences. I'm fine with this, too. We will do it this way... but let's talk about how the earnings are distributed later."

A faint nod came from the older woman, who then sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't have the money to expand the place outward, so you will have to break down some of the inn to make room for the tavern. Will this really be fine?"

Laphi chuckled quietly, which drew her attention first. Then Velvet huffed and reached into her backpack. "Just give me a moment," she told the confused pair before reaching deeper inside. "Where did I... okay, I have to go inside. Laphi, where did you put our funds?" Now he was laughing at her instead of the situation. Velvet sighed and pulled out the few other things she kept on the outside of their storage. "One moment."

Then she hopped into storage, head-first so she could make a quick roll on the inside. It was still mostly empty, but a few of the pockets were starting to fill up. Velvet still had to run around, seeing how the money she was looking for was not where she thought it was. By herself, she figured they really needed to install a safe or something similar. A ripple went through the arte's walls while she rooted through a small pile of neatly sorted, floating clothes; turning her head back, Velvet found Cynthia and Margaret stumbling into the storage, gaping at its. Laphi followed a moment later and waved at her, but Velvet just sighed and got back to searching. When the others approached her, she threw a glare at her brother. "There is a reason we divided who takes care of what and where, you brat! Did you hide it on purpose to mess with me?"

"Uh... whoops? I think I did a count and then forgot to put it all back, or something like that. Sorry?" He did not sound apologetic. Velvet crossed her arms and stared down at him until he caved and quickly darted into another pocket she had not yet examined.

Cynthia, meanwhile, took Velvet's arm. She was shaking a little. "This is, Velvet, what is this?! How does it work?"

She barely stopped herself from babbling and Margaret fared little better. Both looked to her for answers, but Velvet could only shrug. "Storage. Don't ask me how it works, it's all Laphi's doing. And, uh, please keep this one to yourself; it's supposed to be an old and lost arte."

Cynthia slumped a little while her daughter already began to analyse their surroundings critically. "Couldn't we use this to make the tavern bigger?" she asked after a moment

Velvet eyed her and then the arte thoughtfully, but shook her head. Laphi returned with two sizable sacks at that point, but stopped to listen when she spoke: "As I said, it's supposed to be a lost arte. If we displayed it freely or advertised with it, that would get us too much attention from the people we're hunting. This will have to be done the old-fashioned way. Come now, back to the table; Laphi can give you the tour and explanations later." She then proceeded to usher everyone back out, knowing that their new business partners would likely take her up on asking her brother a thousand questions.

Back outside, Laphi placed both sacks onto the table with audible clinking noises. Velvet glanced at him and he smiled. "From my last count, we have half a million Gald at hand."

Two pairs of wide eyes fell on the money set up. Velvet whistled. "Surprising that it's so much already. I didn't really keep count."

Laphi just shrugged. "You can earn a pretty penny if you're willing to brave danger." He thankfully omitted the once-human hellions whose pockets they went through. "But almost half of that was actually a donation from our friend in Pendrago, both to aid our cause and because I brought her news of her sisters."

"You, you earned that much in half a year? While maintaining your clothes and weapon, and with lodging and food?" Margaret just stared at her in amazement and Velvet felt herself fidget a little under the unbridled admiration.

She got a smile from Laphi as well. "We're used to living frugally," he told the other two. "Velvet is amazing at getting as much as possible out of every Gald she spends. And, well, we have superhuman strength and speed, among other things." He then clapped his hands. "Anyway, we should have the money to buy the buildings next to this one. Our next problem is the, well, building." He paused for a moment over the awkward phrasing, but got back to it immediately: "Which, this I can tell you, will not be a problem at all. We have a few capable earth seraphim among our recruits."

"Um." Cynthia glanced between them. "How does that help with construction?" Margaret appeared just as lost as her mother, which reminded Velvet just how little ordinary people actually knew of the world hidden to them.

She smiled at the two and folded her hands in her lap as she explained: "Seraphic artes are incredibly potent when used the right way. Have you ever seen the shrinechurch in Pendrago?" Margaret shook her head, but Cynthia nodded. Velvet's smile diminished a little as she thought back to the place she had in mind. "The shrinechurch was built over centuries, purely by human hands. But long ago, generous use of seraphic artes allowed people to build a temple several times as big in less than three years."

"Wow." Margaret appeared to try imagining it while Cynthia seemed dazed. The younger of the two then gave Velvet puppy dog eyes that failed to work anywhere near as well as Laphi's. "Can you take me there? Can we go see it?"

"Heh, maybe one day. The Empyrean's Throne is in enemy hands at the moment."

"Oh..."

"That aside," Laphi ended the little tangent and drew the others out of their thoughts, "we also need a new name. We can hardly keep calling the tavern Randgriz Inn when that part is more or less separated." Velvet nodded and, after a moment, Cynthia did, too.

They all considered this for a few seconds, though no good name presented itself at first glance without being too obvious about what they were hiding. Velvet had never been good with names. Then however, a giggle distracted her. Margaret was trying hard not to laugh, hands pressed to her mouth and sparkling eyes alternating between them. When she found herself having everyone's attention, she giggled again and blurted it out: "How about 'Crowe's Nest'?"

A beat.

Velvet's lips curled up into a grin while her brother groaned softly; Cynthia chuckled as well. "It sounds apt enough and its clever," she commented, to a nod from Velvet. "But it could be a bit misleading, couldn't it? It sounds more like an inn than a tavern."

Margaret mulled it over for a moment. "We have both anyway," she told her mother with a shrug. "So it should be fine even if the name is a bit misleading; we can just put up both signs next to each other." Then the girl grinned slyly. "And now that I think about it, it has this nice double-meaning nobody will guess because this is supposed to be the Bloodwing's main base."

That reminded Velvet that they had to show them to Innominat someday; they never mentioned anything about their 'hidden' base so far. It would have to wait, though; at least one of them would faint from all the new things if they did it right now.

"I like it," she finally declared before winking at her brother. "And you are overruled unless you have an actual complaint."

Laphi just shook his head. "I don't, as long as you don't start stealing clothes to make an actual nest."

Velvet had to roll her eyes at that while Cynthia chuckled at them. The older woman leaned back a little, far more relaxed than she had been earlier. "I'm starting to believe that this was the right thing to do," she admitted softly. "Now, how about we have a toast to this new partnership? No, I insist we have one!"

She was already up and out of the room before Velvet even considered complaining. Margaret leaned back a little, smiling happily. No one spoke until Cynthia returned, carrying a tray with four glasses, a carafe of freshly pressed orange juice, and a bottle of wine. Velvet, noticing that there were two of the bigger glasses, turned her gaze to Cynthia. "I don't think I'm old enough to drink yet."

The other woman peered at her dumbfounded. "Really? How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"More like twenty," Laphi commented from the side; he was right, too. Quite some time passed since she was nineteen. Velvet nodded at him to agree with his point.

Strangely though, this earned them befuddlement. Margaret eyed them with not just visible but obvious confusion. "But, the drinking age is nineteen. And I think I heard some merchant say it's eighteen in Hyland." Now she had them both stumped. Things had changed where she did not expect them to.

"Huh." Velvet peered at the bottle again before deciding it did not really matter. "Alright then, my mistake." The confusion did not last long as drinks were distributed and soon, all four of them clinked their glasses together. It was oddly peaceful to do so, exchanging smiles with what were actual business partners. Much had changed indeed, with Velvet herself as well as with the world. She did not dislike it.

Similar could be said of the wine she sipped; it had no taste, but a velvety texture as it ran down her throat. A faint trail of warmth remained in its wake. Velvet did not say anything about her lack of taste to keep the mood up. Looking around at everything around her and the possibilities of the near future, she began to truly believe her own words. It would take a while, but they had time; time to act, time to work. And in this time, she and Laphi would build a new home for themselves. Together.