Ba'ul landed at Dahngrest, the sudden change in atmospheric pressure awoke Rita.

Rita yawned big and popped her ears. She walked out and saw Judith, still asleep on the deck, she was probably so used to flying that she didn't notice the change.

Rita stepped out onto the deck, and Judith jerked awake.

Rita shook her head, "You hear my steps but not the air whipping down around?"

"Well I'm just so used to protecting Ba'ul from people that may want to harm him." Judith replied.

Ba'ul landed the ship, Karol ran out, not so closely followed by Raven, who was still yawning and stretching his arms.

"Well I suppose it's time to say our goodbyes..." said Patty.

All 9 of them stood on the deck, then Raven and Karol got off. "There's no need to say goodbye." Karol told them.

"Yeah, we're gunna be seeing each other around a lot." Raven reassured everyone.

"We're practically family now..." Patty finally said what everyone was thinking.

They all said their goodbyes, and Ba'ul set a course to Heliord, which was not far away. Normally they would walk, but without their blastia, the monsters would leave a few scars.

Ba'ul landed the ship, where the remaining 5 said their goodbyes to Rita and Estelle.

Rita watched her friends, waving to them as Ba'ul slowly got too far away to see.

Estelle turned to look at her, "We'll see them again, right?"

"Of course," Rita told her.

Estelle looked down, "I hope so..."

"Estelle, we will see them again. I promise."

Estelle smiled, "Thank you Rita, I'm very lucky to have you with me, I'm not sure what I'd do without you."

Rita got butterflies, Estelle appreciated her, and making her happy made her feel so good.

It was still a fantasy to believe that Estelle would be in love with her. Even on the off chance that she liked women, she was surrounded by royalty all of her life and would likely never even consider having anything more than a friendship.

They walked through the cobblestone city, two more streets had been opened up since, and security was raised due to the lack of the Barrier Blastia .

Trenches were built on the outside, hoping to scare any monsters away. Thankfully, the destruction of the Adephagos had calmed them down a bit.

The city didn't just have knights protecting it, but guilds as well, mostly the hunting blades.

Rita and Estelle got to the inn, which had nearly doubled in size since. They entered, the place wasn't packed, but wasn't exactly sitting still. There was no line to the check-in, which was good.

"We need a room for 2," Rita told the man at the desk. The front desk manager checked his list, "You're in luck, we've got one left. But due to demand, the price is now 2,000 gald."

Rita was slightly agitated, "We stayed here many times while this place was nothing but sticks and rocks and it was only 200 gald."

The man stuttered, "I- Look I don't control the prices. It's just demand, we're still expanding."

"We were the ones who took down the sky monster! We should be able to-," Estelle stepped in front of her, "Rita, relax. I'm a princess, we have plenty of money, and we destroyed the Adephagos for the sake of humanity, not to get free stays at Inns."

Rita looked ashamed of herself, "I am so sorry, I'm just really tired." She apologized to the desk manager.

Rita sulked off to the room, followed by a concerned Estelle.

"Rita, is everything ok?"

Estelle always worried, especially about her. She followed her to their room closely.

Rita inserted the key into the door, but slowed down when she realized that she recognized the room.

"Rita," Estelle smiled, "This is the room where-"

Rita interrupted. "Where you stayed by my side all night... after saving my life from the malfunctioning blastia... also where-"

"Where we stayed up all night taking care of that baby..." Estelle finished.

Rita opened the door, the same old room they'd always used. It was unchanged, almost as if nobody had stayed in it.

Two queen sized beds, a dresser to seperate them, lamps on either side, three drawers. Beautiful walls with a wonderful sitting area featuring two chairs, a desk, and a lamp.

"Wow Rita, it's almost as if this room is calling to us."

"Well I mean scientifically there's no way a room could-" Rita started, but then looked at Estelle.

"You know what? Maybe it is." Rita told her.

The door shut behind them, "Rita why don't you go ahead and shower first? I'll stay here and read."

Estelle sat down on one of the chairs and pulled out a book entitled "beginners guide to blastia research."

Rita shut the door to the bathroom, a change of clothes in her bag.

She turned on the water and stepped inside, she could now think out loud, Estelle wouldn't hear her over the water.

"Why is she reading about Blastia research when all of the Blastia are gone?"

"What could possibly be gained by studying Blastia now?"

"Is she trying to... find something in common with me?"

Rita finished quickly and dressed herself, not wanting to take up Estelle's warm water, that and she was tired.

She tried not to cling to the idea that Estelle was trying to find something in common with her. She didn't want to get her hopes up.

Rita was ready to go to sleep, she plopped down on the same bed that Estelle had healed her on. She thought of all of the times she had stayed in this very room, and slept on the same bed.

The last thing she heard before entering the sweet embrace of sleep was Estelle turning on the shower.

The door opened, which jerked Rita awake. She had been a heavy sleeper in Aspio, but that changed quickly when they went on the adventure.

"Oh I'm sorry Rita, I didn't mean to wake you."

Rita shook her head, "No it's fine. Completely fine." Rita sat up, "I wanted to be up to say goodnight anyway."

Estelle smiled, "Aw, that's sweet of you Rita."

Rita had been blushing way too much today for her own comfort. She wanted Estelle to know about her emotions for her, but she was incredibly concerned about ruining their friendship forever.

Rita went over and sat down next to her to watch her read, it looked as if she was 3 or 4 chapters in.

"So Estelle, why are you reading a book about Blastia?"

Estelle looked slightly flustered, "Well I just thought it would be interesting."

"Lots of things are interesting, why pick Blastia when they're all gone?"

Estelle closed the book, "Because I wanted to have something in common with you, Rita. You're my best friend."

Rita blushed even harder, "Well that's... very nice of you." Her heart started pounding in her chest, as if the butterflies were trying to escape from her stomach.

"I feel closer to you than I've ever felt with anyone else before," Each word that came out of the pink haired' princess's mouth warmed her even more, she felt like she was going to explode.

"I-I feel the same way." Rita managed to stutter out some words without spontaneously combusting.

"You do? I'm so glad, I figured you would have tons of friends back at Aspio, since you were obviously the smartest one there."

"Yeah well... people didn't care much for me and that made me not really care about people..." Rita remembered her days of being a Blastia researcher, she barely had any contact with people until she met Estelle and her friends.

"Really? But you're so amazing, you created so many spells and you were so good with Blastia." Estelle's compliments always felt so genuine and she seemed to always want to know more about her.

"What I did was nothing special... compared to you..." Rita whispered the last part.

Estelle looked more confused than flattered, "Compared to me.? I've never done anything as amazing as you, and I'm three years older. Why would you think I'm more amazing than you are?"

This is your chance Rita.

"Well I..." Rita paused and looked at her innocent, cocked head, Estelle was desperate for an answer and Rita's heart was climbing up her throat and out her mouth to give her one.

"I- I love you..."

"Aw, I love you too Rita." Estelle responded, without a change in tone whatsoever. She didn't get it.

"N-no you don't understand... Estellise... I love you like in a relationship way, like someone you'd get close to at night and spend our live's together way..."

Estelle's expression changed and there was a slight pause. "Well Rita I-"

Tears ran down Rita's face. "God I knew it. I've screwed this up. I've damned our entire friendship and god I'm sorry!"

She dashed out the door with lightning speed, Estelle couldn't see her like this.

"Rita no, wait!" Estelle tried to stop her, but she was already gone.