Author´s Note1: I changed the name of Ais´ and Bell´s son from Pius to Albrecht.
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It seemed to be a completely normal day in Orario, well at least as normal as days could be here. Things had changed over the last years, some talked about the return of the era of heroes.
The very start of it was the end of an Expedition of the Loki Familia and what came after that. As usual, the Loki familia went into the dungeon again and again, but this time without their golden princess and her husband.
Due to that, the others had to do more and fight more monsters.
And then about six months after that Expedition, a certain event had happened in the main plaza of Orario. Many prums were there, such a large number was seen rarely in the past hundreds of years. Luan Espel had kept his word and had spread a message among the prums of Orario and further out. He told them that something big was about to happen that would shake the very core of all the prums in the world.
When the day came, even the gods in Orario got curious, many of them came together to see what would happen, only one of them knew it beforehand.
Finn Deimne held a speech, talking about the past and how proud the prums were before. Then he showed them the ancient book that showed the deeds of Fianna. They were shocked, the one they thought about as false, wasn´t a goddess that turned out not to be one, it was a mistake of the prums to deliver the message wrong. Fianna was a saint, the leader of the knights of Fianna. He read for them about the great deed, that led to Orario being built, that led to pushing back the monsters fromt he lands.
He showed them his new spear, made from materials that were in the possession of the smithing god Goibniu and would only be used for worthy prums.
And he told them that prums could still reach heights like in the past. Finn introduced to them the very red Liliruca Arde, that had reached level three and wasn´t far away from four anymore. She wore a new armor and also had a spear, even when she was only a supporter, but Finn told her that the image was important.
And then...he announced that he had reached level seven.
An uproar had went through the ranks of the prums and the gods. His level up was more special than the one of Ais and Bell. Bell was treated like someone gifted by the gods for his rapid growth and Ais crazy strong to begin with, but a prum...that was really special.
What he had hoped for happened, the prums got hope again, some pride for their people. The prums cheered, as did many gods. Loki got swarmed by the other gods first, they wanted to know how long she had kept it hidden that Finn went up to seven. But she told them the truth, that she updated Finn´s status this morning. Ever since the Expedition ended, he was able to go up, but he had waited and trained like a madman to increase his status as much as possible.
There were even sessions where he got constantly hit by Gareth, Bell, Tiona and Tione. Especially since she was madly in love with him, Tione didn´t held back and helped her "hubby" to get as much Endurance as possible.
Ever since that day, much more prums than before moved to Orario to become adventurers, Loki got nearly swarmed with them. Thankfully Finn and Lily held speeches before, about the dangers and horrors of the dungeon, that this wasn´t an easy or funny adventure. Their growth went slow, but in not even five years, did Orario have the first level two prums in a long time, more and more familias accepted them happily.
And their most favorite weapon would be the spear.
Even when they were in different Familias, the prums held together and the message spread over the world.
More than one additional time got Orario shaken.
Since he didn´t wanted his Mistress to be outshined, Ottar the Warlord went into the dungeon again and again, nearly dying several times, until at his seventh attempt, he finally managed to slay the Monster Rex of the 49th Floor, Balor, alone.
The gods went crazy when Freya announced with a victorious, smug grin that not only had Ottar reached level eight, but Allen Fromel also level seven. The Freya Familia did their best to not get outshined by the Loki Familia and to keep the power balance in Orario.
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So, it was indeed a very normal day in Orario again. People had calmed down a bit after the current events of the "Heroes uprising."
While they were impressed before, when Orario had one level seven and a few level six, a few years go, now the three leaders of the Loki had risen up to seven, as well as Allen Fromel and Hedin Selland.
And then there was Bell Cranel...four years after Ottar had done it, he reached level eight too.
Freya couldn´t help but laugh so much that she held her tummy and cried, because Hestia´s expression was to die for. The tiny goddess had proudly announced Bell´s level up at a Denatus, but no one got really shaken by it. They were not really surprised, since Bell was like that.
More things had changed over the years than just the levels of the children, people were now sure that Loki´s and Freya´s children would get as strong as Zeus´ and Hera´s.
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And there was one thing that had changed, that had shocked most of the elves in Orario after words about it got around.
Riveria Ljos Alfr, their princess, had a child now.
And a grandchild.
Her child wasn´t related to her by blood, instead she had adopted one.
Both couldn´t hide this longing anymore and after a very, very long talk, Riveria had decided to adopt Ais Wallenstein as her own child. And the birth of Albrecht Wallenstein, Ais´ son, gifted Riveria a joy that she had never thought to be possible.
While she had growled at people before for calling her a Mommy, she now was more than happy to be even a grandmother.
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"Grandma!"
Riveria looked up and smiled when Bell and Ais walked into the living room of the Loki Familia, Ais held Albrecht in her arms.
She smiled. "Hey you three, finally back?"
Riveria got up and took Albrecht over from Ais, the small boy really loved his grandmother. And he was the only one allowed to call her like that.
"Did you had fun with your Mama and Papa?"
"Yeees! They showed me where they trained."
"Oho, this is a special location for them, remember it well."
"Yes."
As usual, Albrecht tried to pluck at Riveria´s ears.
"Albrecht, no."
"Mouh.."
"Don´t try to pout, that didn´t helped your Mama with me either."
"Okay..."
Since Ais and Bell were really bad at it, Riveria tried to be at least a little strict.
"You can play with my hair if you want."
"Yeah!"
Back when Ais was still a child, Riveria was way more strict, but Albrecht was her precious grandson, so he had a bit more freedom.
Loki said she nearly got blinded by how motherly Riveria became and that Ais was on the way to be exactly the same.
The goddess got shocked by Riveria´s answer.
"Of course Ais turns out like me, she is my daughter."
"B-But you're not going to dye your hair blond now or Ais hers green, right? Right?!"
"No Loki, we don´t."
Some elves like Alicia were more than a bit shocked at first about the situation, to think that the high elven princess had adopted a human child, not many of the Loki Familia knew that Ais was a half spirit. But slowly it had all changed, since Albrecht he had something very similar to his father about him.
The small boy managed to charm every female elf of the Loki Familia with his cuteness...actually all the women of the Familia, as well as all of the Hestia alliance.
The boy was just too cute and they couldn´t help but adore him. Whenever Albrecht sat on the couch and smiled to someone, all of the women made the exact same sound. It helped a lot that he was the first male child.
And due to the children, it had become pretty lively at the Loki Mansion. The twins of Bete and Lena were true blooded amazon children, which meant their father had his hands full so that they didn´t broke too much. Both were six years old now and like true amazons, they already started to train. Bete and Lena had a huge argument about that, when it came to his family, Bete got really soft and wanted his daughters to become real ladies.
But Lena argued that they were amazons and he had to accept what that meant.
In the end he gave in under one condition, his daughters would mostly wear more clothes than usual amazons did. Bete couldn´t know that in the future that would make his daughters even more appealing to some people, since they were so different from usual amazons.
"Mnnnyaahn..."
"Are you tired, Mina?"
"Nyes.."
Anakitty came into the living room too, carrying her yawning daughter. She looked pretty similar to herself, but the others hadn´t expected much difference since Raul was the father. She was the oldest among the children and still had her cat-like accent, a few young cat people tended to do that, Bell got to know that even Anakitty talked like that in the past.
Apparently now she only did it when she was drunk, which happened only rarely. Just like Ais, Lena and Anakitty weren´t in the dungeon since the birth of their children. But Lena trained together with her daughters, she intended to go into the dungeon again, saying it would be a soooo lovely family trip.
"Mina!"
"Mnyeh?...Al!"
Albrecht wriggled his tiny arms to the cat girl and she reacted in a similar way. Giving in, Riveria and Anakitty sat down on the couch and let the children play a bit, Albrecht always managed to wake Mina up again.
Ais couldn´t help but smile by the scene in front of her eyes, when...
"Unf...Aki...not so fast..."
Tione walked slowly and out of breath into the living room.
"Oh, sorry Tione."
"Hah, you would think being level six would help with this stuff."
Riveria and Anakitty made room on the couch when Tione carefully sat down, a hand on her pretty big belly. As they had talked about, Tione and Finn took their time until they were ready for a child, and now Tione was in her ninth month.
Loki had cried from happiness when the message got around.
"Hah...so many of my cuties become Mommies now. *Sniff*"
But Loki wasn´t the only one happy, Tiona looked really forward to meet her niece. And Ais was happy to be able to give Tione tips.
They talked for a while, but Mina got tired again and it was time for her nap.
"Papa."
Albrecht raised his arms to Bell, who picked him carefully up.
"Do you want to hear a story before your nap?"
"Mhm."
Bell carried Albrecht to their room and let him pick a book that Bell should read for him, while Ais sat down next to Tione and Riveria in the living room.
Tione smiled. "Hehe, it is still a sight to see you in a dress so often now, Ais."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you look so mature now."
"Well, I am married to a wonderful husband and have a son now."
"I will be there soon too."
"Tione, having a child is not as easy as it looks." Riveria smiled.
"Pff, you are the one that had it easy."
"Really? Do you think Ais was easy to handle?"
Ais looked a bit abashed. "H-Hey...that is in the past."
And then Riveria did something that she would never have done in the past so openly. She put her arm around Ais´ shoulders, pulled her closer and leaned her head against Ais´.
"It is, and you became a wonderful adult woman and a great mother."
"Mmh."
"Hah, the sight of you two really warms one´s heart."
"I am also proud of you, Tione. You learned to become patient, you make Finn so happy and the younger ones really look up to you. I´m sure you will be a good mother too."
Tione grinned. "If you say so."
"That reminds me, where is your husband?"
"Finn is out in the city, said something about the "Knights of Fianna"."
That was Finn´s genius again, he had started to reform the old knight order in a way. The strongest Prums from various familias came together to talk about important things. Since not all familias had experience with large scale battle tactics or were even fighting familias, they formed an order that could be very usefull in case Orario got attacked again.
The more they did and reformed the old knight order, the more spread the message of Fianna around the continent.
"He really became the shining light of his people." Her smile was filled with so much love.
Ais looked at Tione´s belly. "Are you sure your daughter will be an amazon? I mean Tsubaki is also a half amazon."
Tione shook her head. "Tsubaki is half dwarf, half human."
Ais looked shocked. "Really?!"
"Yes."
"Oh..."
Riveria smiled slightly.
Tione sighed as she changed her position to sit. "And Riveria, how is your protégé doing?"
"Lefiya is learning every day, I found a way to focus her completely on her studies."
"Oh? Which one."
"I told her she is only allowed to play with Albrecht when she studies honestly."
"Awww, that´s mean of you, I think she loves Albrecht the most of us all, right after you and his parents."
"Yes, but she loses her focus on her studies too often because of that. And she has to be a good role model as his "aunt"."
Bell and Lefiya had never stopped to treat each other like siblings.
"And how are things going in the Hestia Familia?"
"Lady Hestia cries as always when we sleep a night here, she loves Albrecht very much."
"For me it looked like all the women there nearly melted when they saw your son, Ais."
Ais smiled motherly. "I can´t blame them, he is really cute."
"Nothing else expected from his mother."
Ais´ smiled got more lovingly now. "It is amazing how fast ten years can go by, since Bell came to Orario."
"Time really flies."
Riveria cuckled slightly. "Ten years are not that much time."
Tione rolled her eyes. "We aren´t all ageless elves, Riveria."
"Ageless? I´m still pretty young myself, young lady."
"And still already a grandmother."
"So? One can be young and have a child."
Ais looked up as she rememberred something. "That reminds me, mother?"
"Hm?"
"Is it okay when Albrecht sleeps in your bed tonight? He begged me to ask you."
Riveria smiled happy. "Gladly."
Whenever Ais and Bell wanted a bit time for them alone, Albrecht slept in Riveria´s room or in case they were at the Hestia Mansion, in Hestia´s.
Riveria would sit awake a long time with her grandson, he leaned with his back against her and they read a book together. Or Riveria would tell him about the forest of the elves, a place he really wanted to see one day.
She wasn´t ashamed to admit that sleeping while cuddling with her grandson felt nice.
She even bathed together with Albrecht or accompanied Ais and Albrecht when they went into the bath.
Riveria had to promise to Albrecht that she would come back every time she went into the dungeon. For Bell it was the same, but he also had to promise Ais with a very long kiss that he would come back to her.
There was a strange feeling inside her, she didn´t wanted to go into the dungeon again, even when she trained with Bell now and then. But somehow, she just wanted to be a mother and wife for now.
Also, it would be cruel for a child to lose both parents at once in the dungeon, it wasn´t a peacefull place after all.
At first she had a strange feeling inside her, an urge, a longing. It got fulfilled when she sat with Albrecht on her lap under a large tree and they watched how Bell trained by himself.
Just like Ais did as a child with her mother and her father.
She wanted to protect this, protect her home and her peace.
For that, she had to always be in Orario and wait...wait for the day that she knew would come.
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It was a completely normal day in Orario, a day like many others...
Everyone went to sleep peacefully this night.
The small cat girl Mina slept between Anakitty and Raul, her parents hugging her from the sides. Tione and Finn cuddled as much as possible with her enormous belly.
Lefiya slept happily after she got her chance to cuddle and play lots with Albrecht.
Ais slept in her most favorite way, halfway on top of Bell, his arms around her and her face burried in his neck.
In the Hearth Mansion, everyone was sleeping quietly. Hestia was strangling her pillow. Miach slept with Nahza and Amid at his sides. Daphne squeezed the poor Cassandra a bit, like a pillow again. These two had somehow just ended up with each other over the years, realising at some point they just didn´t wanted to be separated from each other.
Everything was fine and good.
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About three seconds before it happened, Cassandra woke up with a panic filled scream in Daphne´s arms and jerked up.
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Karl Dorbins enjoyed the silence, it was rarely completely quiet in the Daedalus street. Since the day of his birth, fourty-eight years ago, he lived in the Daedalus street. Even when he got a stable job, he kept his house in this district. Criminal gangs, monsters, adventurers, everything had fought here before, but now it was quiet outside and all he could hear was the soft creaking of his chair.
Most people in Orario would be asleep at this hour, but his job would start in two hours while it was still dark, so he and his wife had gotten up and enjoyed the peace and a cup of tea.
"Take your jacket with you, dear. It is still chilly at this hour."
"I will, but thank you."
While Karl got slowly up from his chair with a grunt, the whole room got bright for a short moment.
"Wha-"
Confusion.
Light.
Heat.
Immense Pain.
Nothingness.
Their death took 1.2 seconds before their bodies and their house turned to ash.
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Cassandra screamed on the top of her lunges as it happened. "HE IS HERE! THE ONE EYED KING IS HERE!"
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Some say the most unpleasant way to get waken up is by loud noises, others would say it is by a titanic scream of the flying death incarnate that announced it´s presence seconds before unleashing a true inferno from it´s maw onto one of Orario´s districts.
In one moment, Orario was only slightly lit, most of the lights were in the Entertainment District and around Babel. In the next moment, the whole Daedalus Street was set ablaze. No one saw what did it, but fire just rained from the sky, cremating everything between the Colosseum and the abandoned church that was used as an orphanage.
Fire, screams and explosions filled the air, as something titantic flew through the sky, from the wall of Orario towards Babel, setting everything and everyone on fire beneath it´s path.
A scream that loud could be heard in all of Orario and the sudden brightness told everyone where the attack started. Yet no one saw the monster, it was night and even with the flames from the ground, the dragon was pitch black.
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Ais jerked up in the second before the dragon screamed. She knew that he had come.
"Be-"
The scream thundered over all of Orario, deafening the words she spoke. Everyone in the Twillight Mansion got woken up immediatelly. Their first reflex was to jump out of their bed and run to their son and Ais´ adoptive mother. All the doors to the rooms got pushed open, years of spending time in the dungeon made the adventurers highly sensitive and they didn´t needed orders.
Most adventurers never fell completely asleep even in a safe environment, most never completely calmed down. Even in the arms of their loved ones, they still were highly sensitive. For most there were three ways to fall deeply asleep, after training or fighting so much that they were completely exhausted, getting heavily drunk or being exhausted after a passionate evening of love making.
Before they arrived at Riveria´s door, Ais and Bell slowed down a bit, pushing Riveria´s door open with force would only scare Albrecht. But the door opened before they could knock, Riveria stood there in her sleeping robe with the crying Albrecht on her arms, he got scared by the loud scream.
"Albrecht."
"Mama!"
Ais took him into her arms while Bell gently rubbed his back soothingly.
"Shhh. Shhh. Everything is okay, Sweety. That was just a loud noise."
"*Sniff* Really?"
"Yes, don´t worry."
"Albrecht."
"Papa?"
"What do you say, do you want to have a small adventure?"
"Hm?"
"Come, we show you something special in the house."
"Okay!"
Since his parents were calm, Albrecht calmed down a bit too, even when loud noises came from the city. They told him it was probably just a loud party that some gods tended to have some times. There was no way they would tell their small son that it was a monster that attacked the city.
On their way to the basement of the Mansion, they met Anakitty and Raul with Mina. As well as Bete and Lena who each carried one of their daughters. Bringing the children to the basement, where it was safe, was the first priority for them.
Bell knelt down in front of his son.
"Albrecht?"
"Yes?"
"Papa and Mama will go up there and look what makes these loud noises, okay? So I trust you to have an eye on Mina, okay?"
"Yes!"
"Hehe, that´s my son."
Ais gave Albrecht a long kiss on the forehead. Meanwhile Bete made sure that Lena would stay in the basement with the twins. Even when they were true blooded amazons, they listened to their father. Raul gave Anakitty a long kiss and kissed Mina´s forehead, before he joined Bete, Ais and Bell to leave the basement.
All of them ran back to their rooms to get their armor and weapons. It was the first time ever since she got pregnant, that Ais armored herself for a serious reason and not only training.
"Ais?"
"Bell...I know it´s him...I can feel it."
"Then we will face him together and fulfill our promise."
"Bell..."
Instead of saying something, Bell went to her, pulled her with his arms around her in a tight hug and gave her a passionate kiss. She sighed for a moment when she felt his strong arms around her, that he held her, showed her his love.
"Let´s go."
"Yes."
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Fully armored, Ais with Zephyr at her side, Bell with Vesta and Olympus, they ran to the entrance of the Mansion. On their way they heard a quarrel.
"Promise it to me!"
"Tione..."
"Promise it to me or I won´t let you go, captain!"
Tione only called Finn captain when she was agitated or when they were alone and she was a bit silly. Bell and Ais arrived at the scenery, Finn wore his gold and blue armor and had his long, new spear at his side. Tione wore her nightgown, which showed easily how heavily pregnant she was.
"I will not raise this child alone without a father! I won´t give up my hubby! Since I can´t go with you, promise me that you will come back to us!"
"I promise, I will come back to both of you and our other, future children."
Tione´s expression immediatelly melted. "Captain~~~"
Finn wasn´t ashamed to kiss his wife in front of Ais and Bell.
"Now down with you in the basement where it is safe."
"B-"
"Now, Tione!"
"Y-Yes!"
She loved it when he was so manly. While she went to the stairs, Tione showed Ais a very special look. Ais only nodded, they were friends long enough to know what that meant. Tione soon got help by a few non combatant members to go down the stairs.
The Loki familia gathered pretty fast, they had often enough trained this. Certain members gathered around others, all the mages formed a circle around Riveria. Bell noticed that Lefiya slapped her own cheeks slightly to become fully awake.
"Everyo-"
Finn was interrupted by another titanic scream, everyone grabbed their weapons. Orario was much more lighted than usual, due to an immense fire burning. They didn´t really saw what it was that attacked the city, more like a glimpse of a shadow in the night that flew through the air.
That and the sheer aura of terror.
"Mr. Finn."
"Bell, go. Check on your familia, Lefiya you go with him."
"Yes!"
Both immediatelly ran off, soon after they were out of sight, Bell pulled Lefiya up in a princess carry and dashed off, since he was much faster than she was. They had done that a few times in the dungeon, there was no reason to be ashamed of that. After making sure his family was safe, he needed to check on his goddess and friends, Lefiya was also worried about them.
The Loki familia soon moved into the city, at first they needed informations and help where it was possible. On the other side of the city, the Ganesha familia also moved, to help the citizens.
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Thrum...
Thrum...
Thrum...
The sound of these colossal wings being moved had something of thunder. He had smelled and sensed his prey. After he came from the north and flew over the mountains, he circled around the city, not wanting to burn his prey. But he had to lure his prey out, this delicious spirit.
There was a faint taste of other spirits in the city, maybe more to devour.
A mighty whoosh filled the air as the titanic black dragon once again filled its gigantic lungs. A split second before it happened, a high-pitched shriek filled the air, then a new inferno erupted from the beast's maw.
Flames over flames smashed down on houses and people alike, burning everything to a crisp. The whole Daedalus street was set ablaze. But the fire wasn´t set at random. The dragon flew to the south to spread fire there. It´s next attack set the Entertainemnt District on fire...and by chance turning the Mansion known as Folkvangr into an raging inferno.
Not one of Freya´s lower leveled children that were still inside the Mansion survived, it happened so fast that in just two minutes, three quarters of her Familia were dead. To their luck, Freya and Helun slept at the pub this night. Allen Fromel survived since he watched over the pub from a rooftop, having an eye on his Mistress and his little sister...he was a bit pissed that she seemed to see a guy lately, maybe he was just worried about her?
Non of her high executives were at Folkvangr, but her familia still suffered a big loss.
And now...the dragon turned his gaze towards Babel.
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A collective cry of fear rang out in Orario and every action came to a hold for a second. An enormous pillar of light shot into the sky, a god returned to heaven, killed by the fire breath of the dragon. In the sudden brightness of this pillar, all of Orario saw the dragon. Saw the enormous size of the one eyed king. This monster was way bigger than the giant hydra that had attacked Orario. The dragon screamed again, he really enjoyed the fear of the insects beneath his wings.
Everyone noticed the direction the dragon was flying, even as the light faded it could be seen as a dark shape in the sky, through the fires on the ground and the sparks from its maw.
Babel.
The dragon made his way undeterred towards Babel. He was up too heigh for every adventurer to stop him. With a loud scream, the dragon slammed into the side of the tower, a few hundred meters above the ground. Stone cracked and debris fell from the tower. He had created a hole big enough for his head. No one on the ground heard the fear filled scream of the female god that lived in this part of the tower.
But her scream ended when the dragon unleashed his fire breath a third time, much longer than the first two times. Fire, Fire and more Fire washed into the tower and followed it´s nature to shoot upwards, the tower acted like a giant chimney.
Not even screams of fear were heard, complete bewilderment filled the residents of Orario. Every person, mortal or divine, saw what was happening. Flames shot upwards, exploding the window at the top behind which lay the goddess Freya's chambers. Two dozen pillars of light shot up into the sky at the same time as all the gods that dwelt in Babylon were killed and returned to heaven. For a tiny moment, Babylon was brighter than the sun.
With a victorious, titanic scream, the dragon broke away from the tower and flew north, passed the wall and flew on. He didn't want to destroy the city, he wanted to lure out those who would offer him a feast.
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Five minutes.
It took just five minutes for the One Eyed Black Dragon to bring Orario on the verge of collapse. A raging inferno devoured the Daedalus Street and all people that lived there. The Entertainment District was set ablaze, Folkvangr was only ash. And Babel´s top burned.
Even when the dragon flew out of the city, a fight against the raging inferno awaited the citizens.
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Author´s note: Sorry it took so long, I had a few problems with Spirit Child lately, but I found my love for this story again. To make it clear, Freya was neither in Folkvangr nor in Babel, she slept at the pub.