(SPOILERS FOR C2E107!)
(Turn back lest ye be spoiler masochists!)
(Final warning before the broadside!)
Vilya stepped across the threshold, the air growing chill within an instant as she shifted not only locales but elevations.
She spotted a motley group of strangers staring at her from across this amphitheater-like space, but her eyes immediately went blind to them as her eyes fell on the woman standing before them.
Keyleth.
Her Keyleth, a grown woman, her mane of red hair just as untamed as when she was a willful teenager, wearing the Mantle of the Tempest across her shoulders.
Her little girl was grown up, and she wondered for the briefest of moments if her daughter even knew who she was.
That fear was dashed aside immediately as her daughter gasped and rushed towards her, mantle and hair whipping in the wind as her bare feet pounded a frantic tempo against the earthen floor beneath their feet.
The embrace is ferocious, hungry for an affection long left to starve and Vilya holds on for dear life as if expecting her girl to turn to smoke in her grasp.
"Mom?!" Keyleth cries, her head buried in Volta's shoulder, her voice choked by a bitter yet joyful sob.
"My girl." Vilya returns, tears welling in her own eyes and her voice cracking with a relief filled grief, "I missed you."
Keyleth buries her head deeper into her shoulder, and Vilya winces slightly as her daughter's antlers crown nearly pokes her in the eye.
"Watch the antlers." she jokes, eliciting a tear-madden laugh from her daughter.
Keyleth pulls away, clutching to her mother's arms frantically, "How...how are you here?!"
Vilya chuckles, even as tears drip down her face, "That's a long story."
She draws her fingers through the Mantle on her daughter's shoulders, "You've grown so much. My daughter the Tempest! I...I am so proud of you!"
She grasps Keyleth by the cheeks and kisses her forehead, eliciting and joyful gasp from her daughter, "That's a long story too."
It is then that Vilya becomes aware of the crowd standing around them, a host of wide smiles and tearful gazes standing waiting in the wings.
"Guys," Keyleth says, turning to look at them with that big dorky grin Vilya swore was drawn straight from her memory, "My Mom's alive!"
"We can see that Key." a tanned Half-Elven woman with long dark hair states, her eyes filled with a smattering of unshed tears.
"Mom this is Vox Machina." Keyleth said, gesturing around the crowd with a wide smile, "My other family."
"Vex'ahlia de Rolo." the Half-Elf woman stated, a wide but slightly imperious smile crossing her face, "But darling, you're family, so call me Vex."
Vilya nodded, turning to look at the man beside Vex who extended his hand to shake.
"Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the 3rd." he offered, grinning slightly at the baffled look she gave him even as she took his hand.
"O-oh." Vilya stuttered, blinking several times.
"Call me Percy." he finished.
"You're Keyleth's mum?" another voice interrupted and Vilya found her eyes drawn further and further upward as she stared up into the face of a doleful bearded Goliath.
"I am." she returned, gasping as he suddenly surged forward, dragging her off the ground in a bone-cracking hug.
"Welcome to the family!" he roared excitedly.
"She's already family Grog," Keyleth stated, fighting a smile at her mother's increasingly bewildered expression.
He froze for several moments, "Welcome back then!"
He set her down as she was able to draw breath back into her body and turned at the sound of an elated chuckle.
"You get used to him." a gnome man stated, dressed all in purple with a sort of smirking grin on his face, "Scanlan Shorthalt, at your service as is my wonderous, and beautiful wife Pike Trickfoot."
He gestured next to himself, where an admittedly adorable gnome woman with stark white hair rolled her eyes and gave Vilya a wide smile.
"It's so good to meet you," she stated taking Vilya's hand in a surprisingly strong grip.
"You're right to be proud of Kiki." Scanlan stated, "She's a world-renowned hero."
Vilya started, turning and looking at her daughter.
"Like I said." Keyleth said with an awkward shrug of her shoulder, "It's a long story."
"It's can't wait to hear it," Vilya stated, "But first is like to find your father."
"Korrin should be here in a bit if the twerps don't keep him anymore," Scanlan stated.
Vilya turned and stared at her daughter, noticing her face becoming slightly wane in older grief, "Twerps? K-kids?
"Not mine," Keyleth stated softly.
"She's an Auntie." Grog stated.
"Sorry, that took so long, I couldn't find any ale Gro-."
Vilya froze, as a familiar voice touched her ears, followed by a clattering of wood and shattering of clay cups, as she turned to see Korrin staring at her with a befuddled, but joyful expression.
She found herself caught in another sudden crushing hug, and as she melted into it she looked up spotting an overly large raven, who cocked its head as their eyes met. At that moment she swore that she saw a grin cross its beaked face as it winged into the air.
And she swore that carried on the breeze a voice whispered in her ear, "Welcome home."