"At least the inside of the castle looks the same as when we left."

The brief relief which had the standing fur and feathers on the Griffon Commander's bendy neck relaxing flat as it leaned through the opened glass door was not for long for the world. It only took him turning his head to the side before his neck sank down dramatically as if it was a length of rope pulled down. His wings, body, and tail rustled in annoyance, but wasn't visible through the large windows facing inwards towards the Royal Garden.

They were stained, in the untended-to meaning of the word, with a thick, obfuscating layer of green mixed with brown. Whether or not Aajja knew that such was the case was not clear, the same as the windows were.

But that worry was quickly shunted down the priorities for Cter as the loosely hanging neck gave way for her to see what it was that Aajja's grumbling purr rumbled for.

While hers wasn't as dramatic or as dynamic, the reaction to seeing the group of humans approaching in a coordinated group had the Monster Mage pouting to the side with a long inhale to steel herself for what she was surely aware of would come soon for her. The Mediator brushed against her cape as he squeezed himself past her to be the first to address the approaching humans. He could tell that it was for the better if that was the case.

"Greetings, Caretakers of Jarasevo," began Huvett with a bow of both of the monster's heads towards the group. "I trust that the word got to you about the first of the Royal Messenger's arrival?"

An obvious question to ask to the group standing a conversational distance away from Cter and Aajja, but a necessary one to make sure that the tone was set properly, even if only in the beginning.

"Yes," nodded Rasliela in response, smiling with an overly courteous stretch to her lips. "We heard it through the..." She threw a glance out the stained glass filtering the soft, overcast light into a slightly colored hue which gave the hallway a rather bitter air to it, although that could just have been from Aajja and Cter. "Heard it through the vine, you could say."

With a fold of her arms behind her back akin to how Sir Gerson did it, albeit further up her back than his, the Royal Mage of Noitaidarr took a step forward. "And I in return trust that you have done your duties as Royal Messengers properly? You have been away for so long, but you've not spent all that time on your mission, have you, Cter?" One of her arms massaged at her lumbar. "Carrying all those wooden caskets up all those flights of stairs into your study was not something I expected my duties as a Caretaker of Jarasevo Castle would be."

Rasliela's laments Cter let filter away without a single care to her mind. She only heard that her wooden caskets had arrived, and that was all she was going to take away from the Royal Mage of Noitaidarr. That must have been quite noticeable in her aura, for it prompted a few attention-seeking coughs from Huvett and Huvtvao.

"I have been given their scrolls and will be going through them with you at your earliest convenience," Huvtvao assured Rasliela. "Their auras did not hide any lies when I asked them about how their mission had progressed for them, so I have good confidence that they have succeeded their mission." He moved the conversation to the Royal Mage of Ice stood abreast to Rasliela. "Since you are a Hjearta native I think it would be best if you and I go through the scrolls together, yes?"

Terri agreed with an acknowledging smile. "I'm afraid that I won't be of any good when it comes to going through the Xoff villages so that might be for the better, yes." His attention was more occupied on Cter though, but with Aajja bowing out of the conversation quite literally by retracting his neck back out into the Royal Garden, the Royal Mage of Ice was left standing with his mouth half agape and his fog-flowing arm half raised to talk.

He was left hanging for a few more seconds as Cter turned to Aajja making his way back through the thick shrubbery. "I'll just feel claustrophobic inside," he explained with his head turned away. "I feel that my time would be better spent finding my subordinates." Softly, as to not be too obvious, he angled a thankful nod to Huvett and Huvtvao before folding out his wide wings. "I'll be back later today."

A pour of loosened leaves rolled through the opened glass door as the Griffon Commander took off into the air. The hallway whistled from the rush of air forced through the door, and the echo of the rattling from the windows had the hallway busy with sounds for a handful of seconds. Once it died down, what was left behind in the Griffon Commander's wake was a rather heavy silence which needed a few more seconds to clear away.

"He's confident that he won't be shot at by arrows," commented Rasliela before Terri was finished massaging away the tension from his half-agape expression he had held for a the better part of a minute. "And also confident in that he will find his subordinates."

From what Huvett and Huvtvao had explained they had all been assigned to help transport food and other logistics to Jarasevo, so it was only really a matter of time before Aajja found them. It wasn't as bad as he had expected the case to be, but that did not stop him from huffing out in anger at them being given orders past him. "It is indicative of a change in the leadership of the Royal Guard," he had said to justify his angry huff. "I sure damn hope Sir Gerson did not sign over command of the Royal Guard without enough concessions to cover two or three royal weddings."

From the fact that Cter and Aajja were greeted by humans rather than monsters when first entering the castle after years of being abroad from it, that damn hope looked quite bleak.

Once Terri managed to massage away the tension in his cheeks he finally could say what he wanted to before being interrupted seemingly by everyone. "I'm glad to see you in good health," he let the Monster Mage know with a soft motion of his arm and magical fog. "It has been a long while since you departed, and I am afraid to let you know that there has been some changes in Jarasevo Castle as of late. If I am to be completely honest there have been changes as of early too since you and the rest of the Monster Mages departed."

Yes, she had noticed. To boot she had also heard Huvett and Huvtvao explain it all for her, so if Terri was going to explain it all again for her then he shouldn't bother and…

No, wait.

Actually, yes. Yes, he should bother. Not only because Cter had spent so many years without being petty, and also because if she already knew then she could ask questions which were sure to tell her more even if none of the humans answered her.

They all had aura to them, after all.

Well, all three of Rasliela, Terri, and Sarbor, that was. Manny was still hidden underneath the wide brim of his adoptive grandmother's green hat. He had grown since last Cter saw him. Grown quite a lot, in fact. The years that had passed by were not really visible to the other three, but with Manny it was quite drastic.

There was a real possibility that he had grown taller than Cter, but with the wideness of the brim of his hat and the tallness of its pointy top it was impossible to tell exactly. Had he had any aura she might have been able to, but again…

Cter touched at her cheek underneath her eye to feel for any wrinkles that she knew she had not worn when she set off on her mission, and sure enough there were some. She prayed that a good night's rest in her own bed would smooth them out. She should not be aging that...normally what with her powerful magic and soul, but quite a few years had been added onto her considering all that she had gone through, so maybe…

God, she had not seen herself in a mirror for so, so long. She had seen her reflection in the waters of the rivers and lakes she had bathed in during her mission through Hjearta, but they had never been still enough for her to notice any changing details of her. Most of the time it had been her floating in the world below the lake to help her get through condemning another village. Vanity was not really a luxury she cared for as the bearer of the news that she did.

"Yes," said Cter as her gently touching fingers slid down her cheeks like tears. "Things have indeed changed." A small hum passed by her lips.

"I will begin with the biggest change and work down smaller from there," Terri began with an apologetic simmer in his aura. "It will be throwing you into the icy water without letting you ease into it, but it is important that you have the longest to digest it." It looked as if he wanted to motion into the Royal Garden for a moment, but decided against it in the middle of his gesture.

Instead, he gave a motion to a few nearby benches placed to easier admire the art on the hallway walls. "Please," he asked, and it did not need much convincing for Cter to accept the invite to join him next on the bench. She might have been riding on Aajja for hours upon hours before the two landed, but that did not mean that she had been able to relax her legs.

She would need the blood in her head, Cter suspected.

"I am going to say this straight without any hiding," told Terri before the magical fog from his arm had settled. The rest of the humans bunched together on the other bench, at first not sure what to do, but eventually conversing between themselves and Huvett and Huvtvao while Cter and Terri spoke.

"Jarasevo, as well as its castle, were handed over to be in the care of the humans from the two Monster Royals. The reason for it was so that the human royals could return back to their own countries and still be confident that monsterkind would keep their promises. A tithe, if you will." A stroke of fog followed his hand touching at his chest.

"We," he continued the streak over towards the other bench, "are the Caretakers of Jarasevo, both the castle and the city. It is our duty to make sure that the treaties signed are upheld by both the humans and the monsters. King Asgore and Queen Toriel still reside within the walls of this castle, and so do the Royal Councilors."

One of the clauses for the signing-over was that the Monster Royals as well as any other monster that lived their life in the castle would be allowed to stay there for the rest of the so-called transitional period between the end of the Final Battle and the sealing of the Barrier, Huvett and Huvtvao had explained just before in the Royal Garden.

That which the humans had accepted, but they interpreted it as no other monsters were to be allowed into the castle, and if a monster was to leave the castle they would not be allowed back in through any of the gates.

Which then led to the monsters using the stationed griffon guards at the castle to ferry monsters out and in of the castle as that circumvented using the gate, or more accurately that it flew right over having to use any of the gates.

Since the glass doors around the Royal Garden opened outwards instead of inwards they were still under the jurisdiction of the monsters rather than the humans, so egress and ingress was easy enough into the castle despite the clauses. That in turn led to the humans assuming command of the Royal Guard and sending the griffons out to assist with supplying logistics far away from the city.

Both sides seemed to be quite petty on their own without Cter adding her own into the mix.

But what real reason did she have not to add her own pettiness into it?

"So why weren't I greeted by them first if that is the case?" she asked after a pretending to take the news in. An angled furrow and a slightly upset, but fake, perturbation in her aura Cter added to play along with it being the first time that she had heard the news. She guessed with confidence that Terri would not be as familiar with her aura as to be able to tell that she was lying with and through it. She had been away for years, after all. "Why aren't they greeting me? Why are you?"

Because Cter landed during the monsters' lunch.

That was the reason, simple as that, as Huvett and Huvtvao told. The reason around the lunch though was a bit more complicated, as it was the Monster Royals and the Royal Councilors dining with the monsters down in the city to ease tensions with the common folk which they had managed due to the fact that Jarasevo Castle also needed to be supplied from time to time in regular intervals.

That regularity led to Sir Gerson easily deducing the scheduling, and within just a few months he was able to set up communications with the griffons, and was able to come and go from the castle at his and the Monster Royals' wills rather than the humans'.

So Cter was curious as to how Terri would talk around the Monster Royals leaving on their own whim to and from a castle they had handed over to the humans.

"Because it is us humans that are in charge of the castle. We are the Caretakers of it."

That might have been the only way he could have answered Cter's question while still keeping control of the conversation. Cter was...well she wasn't impressed, because how could she against someone who was occupying her home?

She was reminded why he was the top of their class back at Soul's School though and that he had managed to become a Royal Mage merely by skill and not because he looked somewhere he should not have. "Right," was all Cter had to say to that. "So when will I be allowed to see them by the grace of you humans?" she then countered back with a slick of poison on her tongue that she did not have to fake. "Will I even be allowed to return to my quarters?"

Terri's icy fog thinned out slightly as he raised his palm defensively. "You have just returned from years out and away from the goings-on in the castle, Cter," he reminded in an attempt to calm while also trying to ignore that Rasliela was beginning to turn her head around.

"I am trying to make sure that we are all on the same page here as smoothly as possible. It won't be smooth at all, only as smoothly as possible." He wasn't stern with his voice, but he was firm with it. "I could tell immediately that you are different from when you set off, Cter, and for first I need to see how much you have changed."

Cter wasn't really in a position to argue that. "I..." She let slip before she bit down on her lip. So she had aged visibly then. That...wasn't really the way she wanted for it to be confirmed.

As if she wanted it to be confirmed in the first place…

"Okay," said Terri factually with his fog thickening back up. As he lowered his hands he pushed the fog down, spilling it against the floor gently.

"We are not here to make worse for the monsters. We Caretakers are here to protect the monsters. To make sure that the exodus to Mt. Ebott will proceed without any hiccups along the way. Much is being done on the road from Jarasevo to Mt. Ebott in order to facilitate the entirety of monsterkind moving there. You saw the newly built houses in the city as you flew over, you must have. We have helped keep the monsters busy and not sitting restless. There is still an economy within Jarasevo, and much of that economy is being made with the Underground in mind. It will be transferable, both the skills and the commerce, down into your new home, so that you do not have to worry about starting from nothing."

That Huvett and Huvtvao had mentioned as well, and among all the pettiness that the humans and monsters had poured over the other, the Monster Royals quote unquote circumventing the rule about no monsters being allowed in or out of the castle had changed in context from when it was written down a short time after the Royal Messengers set off on their journeys into the surrounding countryside and countries on the side.

King Asgore and Queen Toriel were not only down in Jarasevo to spite the humans, but also to take stock of what would be available to them to build up their kingdom again down in the Underground. It had the monsters more at rest, and while it wouldn't be close to level of commerce and trade that the monsters had on the Surface, it would not be nothing down in the Underground, as Terri said.

"For some monsters, the prospect of the Underground is something they are looking forward to. It was rarer than five clover though at first, but over the years, as the preparation for the Underground began in earnest, in both senses of the word, this sentiment that the Underground is a new beginning rather than an end has taken root quite sturdy and steadily within the populous. It is by no means the majority opinion since with the constant influx of new monsters wandering into Jarasevo from months away from their home villages, but it is growing quicker by the month. I am both glad and afraid of it. Happy that people are accepting it, but also afraid that people are accepting it."

Huvett and Huvtvao had been conflicted when he said that. It was as if he was two minds about it, with both being the other's equal.

Quite strange coming from him.

"But I understand if it is all happening too much and too immediate for you, Cter." The addressed Monster Mage blinked out of her thoughts to Terri wearing a softly angled expression and a lowered pair of shoulders. "Perhaps it is better if you rest up first. I apologize for laying it on you immediately. Pray forgive, as I did it in hopes that it would be better if all the cards were laid on the table directly so that we could continue onward. I should have asked you first though."

The magical fog that was caught in his clenching hand formed into snow which crunched by the Royal Mage's glove. "If you wouldn't mind I would like to send with you Sarbor to check up on your health and–"

"I'll go too!"

Terri, Cter, and everyone else, flinched at the sudden yelp from inside the wide-brimmed hat. All six head present turned towards Manny, who felt the reaction of his flinch pushing down onto him. "I-I m-mean..." he began, not sure of where she should have begun. "N-Not t-to check u-up Cter, but...to ask..."

"About your presence?" asked Sarbor out of all people present. He asked it quite quickly, as if he–

"The Second Fusion?" added Terri with a raise to his voice which he only noticed he had raised afterwards. "Is something happening to it?"

"N-No," answered Manny meekly. "But I'd like to ask Cter something about it since she has one too. I think...I think I might know a way to return my magic, and I need her help for it."

Cter was unsure about it, but if it meant that she could have some time away from Rasliela while also talking to Sarbor and Manny, then that was fine by her. "I see no issue with that," she let the humans know. "We can head up to my study as I will want to have some time alone there afterwards." She made sure that there was a dramatic bounce to her loose apparel as she stood up. "If the Royal Councilors and or Monster Royals return though you be sure to let me know, Mediator?"

He nodded. "I will."

Good.

"And in the meantime we should get started with the scrolls then," said Terri as he too stood up, albeit without any dramatic flair to either his attire or his magical fog. "Would you join us, Rasliela?"

She would, as evident by her agreeing shrug, but not with a lot of enthusiasm, as evident by her agreeing shrug.

Before they split up though, Terri extended his hand to Cter. "It is good to have you back in the castle, Cter." She took it. "Let us work together to make sure that this all ends up with everyone happy."

"Yeah," she agreed, but mostly out of courtesy. "Let us."

The walk up her tower was easier than she remembered, in thanks due to her being on her legs much more than she had been while she was in the castle, most likely. The key to her study was in the lock, which put her at slight unease.

What she found inside though was just as she had left it. It had been cleaned regularly, and most likely by humans as Fang Shuey would not need to use the door for that. Her bed was freshly made. Her desk had the same accouterments on it. Her wardrobe was still just as empty as after she had packed for the journey, and–

"We want to follow you into the Underground."

...And…

O…

"...Okay?"