Well, we're getting an omake that jumps back to the beginning of the story. Because Letha's been taking the revelations about Ludwig really hard, and I thought I should show some of how they had bonded in such a short period of time. Aaaand then randomly got an idea about Chase with his own foster family.

The song "Nada Sou Sou," sung by Natsukawa Rimi, has the kind of feeling I had in mind when writing these. If you're interested: www. youtube. com/watch?v =5F94TTa5kII&feature= endscreen&NR=1

x x x

Omake: Family Time

x x x

There are things that living in modernized America makes people forget about, or never have a chance to properly appreciate while growing up. Like baking your own bread.

Oh, you could if you wanted to, but how many of us really have the chance? Or even know how?

But Ludwig knew, and his bread was awesome! I was thrilled when he agreed to show me how he did it. If I could eat fresh bread every day I'd be perfectly content with life, I just love it that much. Well, mostly content with life. No matter how happy I am, giving Nevi a good punch in the nose would be guaranteed to make me happier. Ten times happier. At least.

I was all bubbly inside and had a bounce in my step as I danced to and fro around the kitchen, fetching the ingredients as Ludwig listed them aloud. He sat on a stool by the kitchen table, one arm resting on wood that had been polished to a shine by years of use. He could have told me all at once what I needed from a given end of the kitchen before I needed to move somewhere else, but I suspected he was doing it on purpose. A smile was starting to turn up the corners of his stoic mouth as he watched me dart from one end of the kitchen to the other and then dart back again.

Breathing a short laugh through my nose, I broke stride when passing right behind him in order to lean over and drop a kiss on the top of his head before spinning away again. The stool creaked and scraped across the floor, making me smirk to myself as I dug through a cupboard looking for the larger mixing bowl. When I closed the cupboard and returned to the table with my prize, Ludwig had straightened in his seat (or somehow sat up straighter than before, which was already like he had a iron pole for a spine) and pushed away from the table in order to turn in my direction.

"Did you just-" he broke off himself in order to cough into his hand, as if clearing his throat, but there was a slight blush just barely hidden behind his fist. "I mean to say-"

With an impish sense of mischief, I leaned over and pecked another kiss on top of the head of dark hair going white. "My dad likes to sit at the kitchen counter back home while reading. I've long been in the habit of doing that every time I walk by him," I explained. "He complains that I'm the reason why he's going bald."

The veteran coughed in embarrassment one last time before gamely joining the teasing. "Ah, so I've become your next victim. I suppose I must resign myself to the loss. And I had been doing so well with keeping it through my old age," he sighed.

I clicked my tongue against my teeth reprovingly. "Now now, you're only as old as you want to be." Eager to get on with the lesson, I went to fetch the yeast Ludwig kept for starting a new loaf of bread, "Besides, I do the same for my mother and her curls are still as thick as ever." Though with more silver than there used to be.

He chuckled, a warm and pleasant sound that seem to roll from deep inside his chest. "So you have your mother's hair."

"And her eyes," I added. "Dad has light blue eyes. The rest of us have brown. But she has said more than once that she's glad none of us kids got her nose." I smiled as that won another laugh from my new "uncle."

"Come," Ludwig said as he stood up from his seat, "The bread won't make itself."

He stood by and directed me through the work. I heated water and butter to his specifications, mixing the ingredients together, and vigorously stirring it all while hoping I pull a muscle in my arm or something. It would be embarrasing to hurt myself worse from baking than from the dagger practice. (And I wouldn't put it past myself to pull that off. I never would have believed it was possible to pull a muscle in your neck and back from playing ping pong until I did just that during gym class.) Ludwig dipped his hand into the bag of flour to sprinkle a bit more into the bowl a few times, until the dough no longer stuck to the sides or the spoon.

We kneaded the dough, him encouraging me to use the grip I'd demonstrated when I surprised him with my aikido earlier. But my own efforts were a far cry from the strong and confident motions of his own calloused hands. Eventually he covered the doughy ball with a damp rag and we left it to rise.

"What now?" I asked. I suppose I could get back to trying to "decode" Sophia's books... I think I've figured out which symbols are vowels. Hopefully that would be the breakthrough that would let me learn how to read Vesperian writing.

"We must leave it for an hour before dividing it, kneading the pieces again, and then leaving both to rise once more. But until then..." Rubbing his chin, Ludwig retired to the sitting room, with its more comfortable chairs, a low table, and windows showing the front yard. Once there he reached for a lidded bowl on one of Sophia's bookshelves, where it had been acting as an impromptu bookend. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to pass the time with a friendly game." He set the small pottery bowl on the table and removed the lid. Inside was a deck of cards, their edges worn and colors faded, and several mismatched dice.

Seating himself at one side of the table, the veteran gestured for me to take the chair across from him. "Sophia was a bright and inquisitive woman, always curious and wanting to learn more about everything. I never could understand how such an intelligent person could fail to realize how bad she was at games of chance."

"She liked to gamble?" I asked, curling up in the padded wooden chair.

"Not the gambling itself, mind you," Ludwig said while raising his finger to mark the difference, "She was simply enamored of the games themselves, but had terrible luck." He snorted and cut the deck of cards. "Visiting Torim became more interesting after I met her. If I had ten gald for every time I lost her, only to find her challenging the Dice Master, I could have bought Sophia a good shelf's worth of rare books."

I started giggling at the mental image I had of Ludwig finding Sophia (who appeared in my imagination as a librarian type with a lab coat) in the middle of a game and dragging her off. Dice, cards, and poker chips flying everywhere. "Well, in my case, I know perfectly well that I'm not particularly good at most card games. Could never remember the rules for them, other than the simpler games like Black Jack or Two, Four, Seven."

The cards snarled as he riffled them together, "I have not heard of that last one before."

"Some friends at school taught me," I watched him shuffle the cards, bridging and riffling them once more before he was satisfied. "We used to play between classes and during lunch breaks. Fun way to pass time, and easier to interrupt and hide the cards when a teacher was about to catch us." Study Hall teachers never minded as long as we stayed quiet, but the lunch room monitors were less lenient about it.

"Hmm," Ludwig set the well shuffled deck in front of me, "If you still remember how to play, we can see if this old dog is still up to learning new tricks." He flashed a charming smile at me. "Winner gets an entire loaf."

"Oh, it's on."

x x x

"Mom! Dad! I'm back!" It was always "back," not "home."

If someone were to ever ask, Chase would have to admit that he still felt strange calling the small house in Halure his "home." "Home" should have been on Earth, with his biological parents and sister in that brick house with ivy climbing up the back wall. Hell, even when Al dropped him off in Gaia for about a year, that house had still been his "home."

But standing in the doorway, a few stray luluria petals drifting in with him while he carefully hung up his trusted claymore on the peg provided for just that purpose, he couldn't deny that there was a sense of home coming. I have been staying here a good...five years? But I'm away as often as I'm here, if not more.

Mellie Lyall looked up from the stove top where she had a pan sizzling, brushing a stray lock of blond hair from her eyes with a smile on her round face. "Welcome home, sweetie," she returned the dutiful hug he gave her with motherly fervor. "We've been expecting you!"

"Really? I'm actually a few days earlier than I expected," Chase raised his voice to be heard as he ducked into the hallway for a minute, opening the door to his own room and tossing his travel stained bag and heavy leather coat onto his bed.

"A mother always knows," she chided. "Clean yourself up and set the table for four, would you dear?"

Obediently, he washed his hands (and forearms) at the sink before fetching a stack of plates. "Four? Who else is here?"

"You even need to ask?" a familiar voice came from the back door. Chase looked up and saw Alastor coming in with Arcas right behind him. The retired guildsman beamed, the expression softening the harsh impression given by the puckered scars left over from his career.

"There you are, boy!" Arcas crossed the room with his rolling gait and smacked a hand across Chase back by way of greeting. "Fit as ever, the country air's done you good! Never would have guessed you're the same boy we found sick on the road out of Dahngrest." He went to his wife next, wrapping an arm around her waist so that their hips bumped together, kissing her on the forehead. She smiled before giving him a little shove and turning back to the stove, spinning a knob so that the flame went out. Arcas took his usual spot at the head of the table after snagging two extra chairs and pulling them up. Alastor took one of the provided seats as Mellie started serving a portion of the vegetable stir fry she'd made to both.

The redhead caught the hand she held a wooden spoon in and gave it a quick kiss. "Truly, my lady, you are a rare gem," he said with a roguish smile and a quick wink.

She laughed, "Oh, go on you! Dinner'll get cold if you start playing your little games now!" Shooing his hands away, she finished serving the rest of the table before replacing the pan on the stove. Chase rolled his eyes at what had become a customary ritual of compliments and coy play between the fairy and the housewife. He passed over the drawer with the usual metal cutlery for the special carved wood utensils kept for the odd fey guest.

"One of these days," Arcas rumbled while shaking a finger at Alastor in mock threat, "I'll come back to my home and wife and find that one of the two is missing. And I'll know where to look if it's my woman not here to welcome me back!"

"I'm curious," Al returned calmly while taking the wooden fork Chase proffered, "If it were your house you found missing, where would you look to place the blame then?"

"Same place, ever since that day you 'accidentally' made the front porch disappear."

Alastor pulled an innocent look, "What porch?"

Chase recognized the part where it would be best if he intervened, "So what brings you here today, Al?" He pulled his own chair up closer to the table and eagerly set into eating his own food.

"Oh, not all that much," the fairy man sedately went along with the change of topic. "I simply happened to be in the area, and thought it would be appreciated to inform your guardians that you would likely return soon. I quite lost track of the time when Arcas here asked me to take a look at the vegetable garden in back."

"Of course I'll use you and your green thumb," Arcas grumbled, "Blasted things never seem to grow right otherwise."

"I wouldn't say I have a green thumb," the other demurred, "Merely that I've had opportunity to learn some of the basics when working with a certain colleague of mine."

"'Basics'," Chase caught and grinned at his "father." "Don't tell me you were pulling up the radishes instead of the weeds again."

"Hmph," Arcas became overly interested in his own food, then redirected the conversation on his own. "By the way, son, there any cute girls you have your eye on?"

Chase could only sigh, having expected this question or one much like it to pop up at some point. "You know, it's not like I go on these trips to scope out possible relationships. I've got work to do."

"Nonsense, no reason you can't find a nice girl to settle down with while on the job. That's how I met my precious flower here-"

Mellie giggled, "You've been taking lessons from Alastor, haven't you? Maybe I should be the one afraid that you'll run off for a tryst with some pretty young thing."

"When I've already found the best lady in the world?" his praise made his wife slap Arcas lightly on the arm, clearly pleased. "Only want our boy to find the second best lady for himself. What about that black haired lass who worked in that cafe in Nor? She took a shine to you!" The man gave Chase a look that he'd realized before was supposed to come across as perceptive, "Drop by to see her on your way back?"

He couldn't help but duck his head, grabbing his glass of water and taking a gulp to cover his embarrassment. "No, dad, I'm really not..."

"Of course you're not, dear," Mellie soothed him, "But you never know when you'll find just the right girl."

Alastor popped a piece of carrot into his own mouth before pointing his fork in Chase's direction. "Wasn't there that cute little redhead back in Nordopolica who followed you everywhere? Maybe an energetic type like her would be better."

"Al, she was twelve." That should be all one would need to say. Usually. But when the other party is a fairy...

"So?" Alastor asked in honest confusion. "She'll grow up. Six or so years from now she'll be a proper adult."

"See boy? Even your boss thinks looking for a girl is a good idea!" Despite his enthusiasm, Arcas eyed the fairy with some bemusement. "Though he might not have the best judgement."

"Isn't that an understatement...?" Chase mumbled.

Mellie delicately wiped her mouth with a napkin before coming to her son's belated rescue. "That reminds me, Alastor, is there any sweetheart of yours waiting for you?"

"Eh?" For a second, the redhead fairy was actually at a loss, and Chase savored the chance to see him put on the spot.

Especially when he noted the way his father was homing in on scent of another victim to his matchmaking hobby. "You may not be as handsome as our boy," Chase disguised his snort of amusement as a cough, and the corner of Al's mouth twitched, "but you're not too bad looking yourself. Pour on that charm of yours and you could snatch up almost any girl you wanted."

"Almost?" Al repeated with a raised brow, reacting now to the implied doubt than to the prying into his personal affairs. "You wrong me, my good sir, to underestimate my abilities so. If I were to become serious in my efforts to woo the feminine persuasion, I could melt even the coldest heart. It is out of consideration for the hearts I would break that I refrain."

"Or, maybe, you're afraid you'll get your head cracked open by a jilted lover," Chase sniped. Alastor tensed, gray eyes looking away.

"Oh ho," Arcas grinned, "So there is a girl, is there? A jealous one?"

"I've no idea what you mean," the fairy denied, but Chase smirked when with a flick of his wrist Al plucked his glasses out of nowhere (Chase still didn't know where they came and went from) and slipped them on. The action itself was telling, since Al's vision didn't need any correction and he wore the glasses only because of the whim of a certain superior fairy. "I am an entirely free man and bachelor, who has plenty of time before looking to settle down for the future. The very distant future."

"That's what they all say," Arcas stated, and clinched with a smug, "Luddie was like that too, but the last time he said that, he came back all smitten. Mark my words, you'll both fall head over heels one day sooner than you think!"

"And you'll be the last person they'll want to tell," Mellie scolded her husband fondly before reaching across the table to pat Chase's hand. "Now sweetie, tell us about your trip."

'How was your hunting trip with Jerry and his uncle, Chase?'

He shook away the memory from a dinner years ago, keeping himself rooted in the present. He missed his family, sure, but was there anything wrong with finding a new family to care for? "Well, I didn't have any trouble passing through Deidon Hold, but when I was about to move on to the capital I heard a funny rumor about the Quoi Woods..."

x x x

Fluffiness, a touch of angst, and funny family antics. And no, I don't know what adventure Chase got up to in the Quoi Woods or why he was going to Zaphias, so don't ask. Though if anyone is itching to fill in the plots there, be my guest!

And I suspect that the card game between Letha and Ludwig became a "best two out of three" thing without finishing the last game.

Rules for Two, Four, Seven as I remember them (It's very similar to Uno, if you've ever played that):
-Use a regular deck of cards
-At least two people needed to play, but (I'd say) four is ideal
-Everyone starts with seven cards (number may go down if the group playing is larger)
-Goal of the game is to have no cards left in your hand
-Bottom card from the deck is placed on the middle of the table, face up
-Players take turns starting with the player to the left of the dealer
-Discard one card from your hand, it has to match either the suit (spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts) or the number (Ace, King, eight, three, etc.) of the face up card on the table
-Discarded cards form a pile, the most recent being the card the next player must match
-If you are unable to discard a card (none of the right suit or number) then you must draw a card from the deck. If this card matches either the suit or the number, you may play it immediately. If not, it goes to your hand and your turn ends.
-If someone plays a two, the player to their left must draw two cards and their turn is skipped
-If someone plays a four, the player to their left is skipped
-Sevens are wild and may be played at any time, the player must declare the suit that must be matched (ex: even if you play a seven of spades, you may declare the suit to be hearts)

I think that's all. *Rubs head* I'm not sure if anyone else knows this game besides my circle of high school friends, but I think it's easy and fun.