"Honey, I'm home!"
As he bellowed, Alois pushed the door open to the house. Byleth squinted into the light that poured out from inside. Despite riding hard to his house, they still hadn't made it before nightfall. Alois had been too eager to get home to stop for dinner.
"Dear, is that you?" a woman's voice called out, but was quickly overshadowed by a "Daddy!" Complete with the scurry of little legs.
An eight or so year old child vaulted herself from across the room at Alois. With a soldier's precision, he scooped her out of the air. Spun her around above his head. Her ecstatic laughter filled the entire living room.
A lovely, though with heavy bags under her eyes, blond woman appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. A little boy no older than one struggled in her arms. She put him down and he did his best to toddle across the floor to Alois. He put his daughter down and scooped the toddler up in similar fashion.
"Oh, you must be Byleth." The woman smiled as she followed the toddler across the room. "Please, do come in! I'm sure Alois has told you this dozens of times, but please, view us as family. You are always welcome here."
Byleth nodded. Alois loved to tell stories of his family, and so far, everything seemed to match what he said. As strange and different as it seemed from life with Jeralt.
Alois set his son down and swept his wife into a spin across the living room floor. Their steps were so familiar and graceful they practically danced as they spun. At the end of the spin he pulled her into a long kiss. "We still need to stable the horses, my love, but I just wanted to let you know we're home."
"Daddy, can I help?" The girl child asked, dancing from foot to foot.
Alois beamed down at her. "Of course you can, my little butterfly! You can help me and your Aunt Byleth put away our horses."
She basically bounced out the door toward the horses. Her little brother tried to follow, but Alois' wife snatched him up. He immediately started fussing again.
Ignoring him, she turned toward Alois once more. "The soup from dinner isn't put away yet. I'll put it back on the fire for you two once you're done."
"That sounds delightful! I'm famished. We shouldn't be too much longer." He turned and followed his daughter outside, waving Byleth along after him. "You'll love her stews, they are the heartiest I've ever had! Welcome home, Byleth. Like I said before, you'll always be welcome here."