You know..." was postulated between a spoonful of porridge and a spoonful of jam. Dense chews followed, causing the golden-rimmed glasses to undergo heavy waves from the dark-skinned cheeks bobbing up and down like half-storming weather. "In a way I feel that I can talk more here than I can in Sir Gerson's office.

It had been less than a day since what was said less in his office than was hinted at when the turtle monster called everyone together for it. He was barely attentive with the catching-up that Frioke had given the returned Royal Messengers. Not much was needed as much of which she told Kry, Kurant, and Cter, they had already heard before.

Things at the castle and in Jarasevo were too important to wait until the returning Monster Mages had settled back in their home they were to leave sooner rather than later. It was all repetition for the three, reminding them, if even needed, about how it was the humans that ruled Jarasevo, its castle, and its Castle.

And soon enough the entirety of Monster Country as well.

If it was repeating for Kry, Kurant, and Cter then it must have been even more repeating for Sir Gerson, so Cter understood why he would be feeling like he could kick up his feet on his desk. That he did though she still did not fully understand. Was it that he did not care for it no longer? That he had given up on it all?

Or did he kick up his feet because without his title as Leader of the Royal Guard he did not have any responsibilities left? Surely that could not have been the case though, as then he would not have continued to defy the humans the way he did by leaving the castle to help with monsterkind down in Jarasevo.

Or could it be that the spite against the humans really was that deep with him?

"Cter? Your arm?"

A small clump of jam-mixed porridge dropped off the cuff of Cter's right sleeve, landing on the rim of her wooden bowl with an embarrassing plop.

"Dammit."

A few wrinkles surrounded Kurant's narrow eyes as she chuckled at the groan in Cter's voice. "Don't worry," she offered while Cter pinched off what she could off the porridge she had dipped the cuff of her robe into. "You're not the only one who's having trouble readjusting to having to have manners again."

Noticeably she slipped her elbows off the long table the three were sitting at the end of the same as they had done before they went out on their respective journeys. "Never have I had someone recoil at how much I smell, but when that Custodian one greeted me he became the first one." Kurant raised a brow against Kry, waiting.

When nothing came of the First Monster Mage despite him having just expressed that he felt that he could talk more, Kurant decided for him in his silent stead. "And the longest-serving Monster Mage threw his bags onto the ground as if they were to roll themselves over to where they were supposed to be!" Kry blocked the nudging elbow Kurant gave him with his own. "They were about to walk away too with how well-worn their contents were, no?"

A few sharp daggers were thrown from Kry at Kurant before he gave up with a sigh. "Stasis magic to then wash out the clothes with boiling water is how I found to be the most efficient way to make use of the sparse water we had at time." He took another altering spoonful of porridge. "After some particularly grueling journeys between some of the more remote villages the stasis-held water around the bag almost became like mud. I made sure to look presentable at the villages through."

The next, altering spoonful of jam he kept still just before his stretching lips. "I even rationed out some of the water I needed to drink to make sure that I would be able to wash my robes. There was not a lot of water left after the villagers had emptied their well, wells plural if lucky. Less so what with the halting of the ice transports. They were back to surviving after having prospered, and then I would arrive to let them know that they would have to make sure to stretch that water across the vast stretches of Xoff."

The spoonful of jam seemed to taste bitter for Kry.

"Sorry," he said with a lack of energy in his voice and aura.

"It's just...you two are the only one I feel I can talk to about this." Kry's spoon tapped gently on the rim of his wooden bowl. "I had to look presentable. I had to look proper and at my best to make sure that the villagers would listen. To show that despite everything, they could still trust in the Monster Royals, of whom I was acting as an extension of. If I showed up looking tattered and exhausted then that would have told the villagers that the Monster Royals' blessings were not enough for me, so how would it have been enough for them?"

Finally he let the head of his spoon sink into the less-dense jam as he let go of it to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "Again, sorry."

Kurant's bright mood had mellowed out throughout Kry's retelling. "No, I," she began before a sigh interrupted her. There was recognition flourishing in her aura. Similar memories to Kry, all the way down to the shape of the waves in the sand. It was more than Cter wanted to read from her aura, but once again she overreached without thinking or meaning to. "I shouldn't try and force levity."

She met Cter's eyes with a surrendered chuckle. "I'm starving for some, more than I've been starving for Barbeqa's cooking again." As well as her flames. "But...it's more that we have to talk about what we have done before that, no? Better that way, I imagine. Get the bitterness out of the way so that we can put that behind us, and all that."

The Second Monster Mage warmed herself up with some more porridge before continuing, deliberately pushing aside some jam before scooping the spoon.

"It did not take long before Kry and I agreed that we two were the lucky ones to be going on our quest together, if only for a small fraction of the entire journey that we planned to meet up and coalesce what we had achieved. We did so at the border of Xoff, and even after the comparatively short time we had been apart when covering our parts of Monster Country we could not help but fall into each other's arms." Kurant glanced over to the serving window to make sure what she said wasn't heard into the kitchen.

"Purely platonic," Kry felt that he needed to add. "It felt more than love though, I would say." Wrinkles behind his glasses and in his aura carved deep, moody crevices. "Not that I would..." Crevices that were unfilled. "Not that I would know." His voice was barely audible, but really, he did not need to say anything for Cter to understand.

Kurant returned from her glance unaware of what Kry had said. "The hug was so needed that I don't think that we even spared a single thought to you in that moment. I feel like I should apologize for that, but I'm not sure if that will make the situation worse or better." She pointed below the table.

"A bit like the dilemma I had whether or not to keep my knee brace on during the entirety of the journey or only wear it during the village visits. It is not an easy task taking it on and off, and each time I do it I can feel that I have one less time to do it before it breaks fully."

There was a slightly rusty sound from below the table where Kurant was pointing. "Flying with it though had the wind shearing at it. Barrier magic around it helped, but I only could do during the flights to the different villages." A pair of slightly smiling eyes blinked at Cter. "Not saying that you did not give us enough of your magic to allow us to be intricate with the barrier magic. I'm just saying that..." A small clench sent a quiet wave of light through Kurant's magical lines. "I've not really had the want to learn more about it."

As that would have muffled the faint sense she had about Queen Toriel's presence even further than the quiet it already was.

"No need to apologize for either," replied Cter before a heavy silence could form between the three Monster Mages. "We've all gone through it, so we are all three on the same page. If you don't feel like you want it to be apologized to you then I don't want it apologized to me either." It wasn't like Cter had been spending her days thinking about the plight of Kry and Kurant in the far, far distance whilst she had her own hands full. "I would still want to hear from you though, since I'm guessing that you want to tell."

And that they would.

With a few harsh blinks Kry removed his glasses from his face. "You see here?" he asked Cter as she took them carefully. "On the glass?" It took a few squinting seconds for Cter to see, and with how wide her eyes then became it was easy for Kry to know when to continue his explanation. "It might look like I managed to make your given barrier magic intricate, but in reality it's just it being applied as weakly as I can possibly make it."

As he dissipated it, thick scratches in the glass appeared, rough and long. "A sandstorm surprised us at one point, and all my barrier magic I focused around the griffon below me lest she would fall out of the sky with me on her. Had we crashed in the sandstorm I'm not sure either of us would have been found for ages."

A shudder ran through his body and aura. "And with how difficult it was to keep the barrier magic up against the windy onslaught I'm not sure if my portion would have been enough to withstand had the humans begun their siege on Jarasevo." Without his glasses Kry looked quite older with his forlorn furrow.

"We were both exhausted beyond measure once we managed through the sandstorm, and at first I did not realize that my glasses had been scratched that much. It took until the morning after a weary night's rest that I noticed. In a way it was a silver lining with me being so exhausted that all I could make with the barrier magic was a tiny layer of it to smooth out the scratches."

Cter could feel a tingle in the fingers on her left hand. "Do you..." She hesitated to ask, because it would be the same pity that she had just said that they all shared together all three, so it wasn't necessary for them to offer it.

However though, she did also feel that she wanted to fix the glasses, and if the shared pity was applicable, then so would her want to fix the glasses too, no? The want to help was stronger within her, so after a rub with her sleeved thumb on the scratched glass which only seemed to make things slightly worse, she finally asked. "I can fix it with some crystal magic, if you want?"

Kry nodded with a stoic bounce to his head. "Please, and thank you." The lines on his left arm grumbled slightly. "The glasses have helped me keep the weak connection still lingering with King Asgore throughout the journey."

He said it in the same way that Cter had asked, assuming that all three shared the experience. That Cter didn't have with her though. It wasn't something she brought up though. Instead she focused down on making sure that the tiny crystals she made grown in Kry's glasses were as close as to the surrounding glass as possible. Only function to them, and with no colorful aesthetics. Had it been the rims then that might have been another story though.

"More than ever did I need to see the world as he did, yet make my own decisions about what I saw. I was his additional pair of eyes looking at his subjects at their worst, and never did I avert away from his subjects that I condemned to leave their lives and be assigned a new one in the Underground assuming that they make it back home to Jarasevo." Kry looked out the large windows of the dining hall. "From what I have gathered though it seems that the humans have kept their word about helping the monsters on their way, so at least my mind and soul are soothed when it comes to that."

A few moments passed while Cter added the finishing, careful touches to the crystal magic she applied to Kry's glasses. A rub with her thumb using magic seemed to make things slightly better. "Hopefully this will soothe you as well." The First Monster Mage took the repaired glasses and perched them upon his strong visage, blinking harshly again to ease the transition between fuzzy and clear vision. His eyes darted around, looking at nothing in particular, and eventually came to a smile.

"Thank you, Cter," he thanked with a small bow of his head. Then, as if struck, his expression tightened, and he leaned forward with a hard squint to his eyes. His breath stopped, and his lips trembled. A deep cold rushed through his aura quick as lightning. "Wait, you're a woman?"

A blend of curses and breathy relief had Cter's exhale sounding like a deflating Froggit. "Oh you damn… I should..." She stopped just short of slamming her fist on the table as that would have her half-empty bowl of porridge jump up in a way that would cover her entire robe in its contents, and not just her cuff. "Singe my soul! You can't do that, Kry!"

Her whispered yell could not keep her angry composure, and instead it devolved into a snorted laughter as Kry pushed down his glasses down his nose and looked through them with an aged narrow to his look. "You can't..." Even if he had done so way back when when the war was inconceivable it would still have been enough of a violent swerve to risk neck injuries. "You just can't, Kry!"

Kurant too found it difficult to choose what it was she was feeling at the moment. Was it anger or laughter that she was about to throw at the First Monster Mage sitting next to her? Was it porridge? With how she looked at Kry it sure seemed like that.

"You..." she let drip as both a threat and a thanks at the same time, which was quite impressive. "Oh you absolute..." Her right hand gripped at the backrest of her chair, and with a heavy heave she lifted herself up on her legs, leaning her left leg onto the edge of the long table. "I outta..." The lines on her right arm began to glow as her grip on the backrest hardened. "And I shoulda!"

As if reupholstered, the dining hall chair turned a bright, lively purple as Kurant's magic ran through it. She gave it a push down, bouncing it up to hover next to her with a slight spin to it. Through the slits in the spinning backrest Kurant glanced to make sure that the dining hall was still empty. The three Monster Mages had gone for a late breakfast, the reason for which they were still waiting for.

It had been a bit later than they had planned, but that only had the dining hall even emptier when they arrived. As their far corner of the morning-brightened dining hall took on a challenging purple hue to it, Kurant concluded that she, Kry, and Cter were indeed alone apart from the smell finding its way through the serving window.

"I won't be generous with my seconds here, Kry," she then told the First Monster Mage beginning to stand up from his chair. "Same with you, Cter." Kurant touched another chair, stepping back with them hovering on either side of her. "Three," she began counting down. "Two." With only Kry understanding what was about to happen.

In the last moment, Cter's mind flashed a memory which she had all forgotten. Of a time before the war, where what the Monster Mage's biggest cares were about image and how to best make the humans impressed rather than respectful. Of Kry, Kurant, and Sund in the same far-off corner of the dining hall.

"One!"

Playing magical chairs.

"You too, Cter!"

And she did.

Not a second later did the air in the dining hall become thick with flying chairs spinning and turning like tops on unstable ground. Fittingly, as the chairs were flying in the air. The three Monster Mage's approaches to their stasis magic gave their thrown chairs their own flair to them. Kry's stoic, composed way had the chairs spinning in a rhythmic, orderly fashion as they assaulted his colleagues.

Kurant's more home-taught method had them jostling more unpredictably, with her colleagues having to catch the chairs at a safer distance than Kry's. Cter's stasis magic was closer to Kry's than it was Kurant's, but with hers stemming not from a monster's Cooperative Connection, the chairs had less predictable arcs to them. More intimate magic meant more that it did exactly how Cter told it too.

Faults and all.

And while she found catharsis in throwing around dining hall chairs using her magic, she did not feel as full of glee and laughter as her colleagues did. It was their game, something they had played before her time. A bit similar to how it was that Manny, the Fifth Monster Mage, wasn't eating breakfast with them despite him being one of them. It was something they did before his time. It was something that was theirs, and not his.

It was without a doubt immensely relieving to Cter seeing Kry and Kurant so carefree and so...young. The years-long journey they had all underwent had aged them more years than they had spent away from the castle, and that had been obvious just by looking at them. Kurant and Kry must have seen the same. Perhaps with a game of magical chairs they could smooth out some of those years? If anything to make sure that they had as many years to spare once the exodus from Monster Country was underway.

"The porridge!"

A wayward chair thrown by Cter in her absent thinking had one of its legs snagging on the corner of the long table, causing a loud tumble and a louder yelp from Kurant. As the chair clumsily crashed to a halt there emerged a dense silence between the Monster Mages. It hung as the three traded increasingly snorted glances.

Eventually Cter broke first, and the three friends descended into roaring laughter which echoed strongly against the marble-white walls and tall windows. It continued on and on, until the three had to find the nearest, closest-to-standing chair to sit down in to catch their breaths. It was a pleasant laughter, and one neither of the three had been afforded the luxury to for so, so long.

"Singe my soul..." sighed Kry after regaining some of his breath. His glasses looked to be about to slide off his nose where sweat had it glisten. "To think that we could do this one more time." Not the last time, interestingly enough. "I would wonder if this means that we've become the same as Sir Gerson and Priestess Frioke now?"

He abandoned his attempt to kick up his feet on the table the same as Sir Gerson had done on his office desk halfway through the motion, instead placing his feet back down onto the floor as if he did not mean for it to happen at all.

"Their roles are no more, so all they are now is what they once were before. No official appearances to keep up for the humans. Just another monster to be carted off to Mt. Ebott, soon enough." Kry wiped his brow as an excuse to pause for breath. "No wonder he's barely like himself. How could he be if he has no role to put all of his weight onto?"

His posed question did not have a lot of time to ruminate with the other Monster Mages as large, quick shadows passed them all by from outside. Three of them, to be precise. Three shadows which the Monster Mages were deeply familiar with. Three shadows they still were happy to see even if they had seen them each day for the past three or so years.

"Well..." said Kurant after following the speeding shadows behind the dining hall walls. "Best we eat up then." She skipped closer to the long table while magically rearranging the chairs she had used in their nostalgic game. With soft landings they slid back into their positions, with Kurant's chair joining them close as she neared her bowl to finish eating its jam-mixed contents. "So that we don't spill on their feathers the same some of us have spilled on our robes."

Cter scoffed. "You tell me exactly how you imagine me lifting up Aajja's foreleg in order to dip his feathery cuff into this small a bowl and I will do it."

That quieted the Second Monster Mage up.

"Good, so let now the food quiet the mouth."

Which it did, just as pleasantly as the laughter was.

For all three.