Elois stirred and said, "But you definitely became a mother figure for him."
Amanda's brow furrowed, her hands rising in a half-defensive, half-confused gesture as she blinked rapidly. "Hmm?" she replied, her voice rising a pitch as she scratched her head and glanced between Elois and Suga.
She wasn't usually one to be caught off guard, but the question hit her like a misfired spell. The idea of her as a mother figure felt so foreign that it might as well have come from another plane.
In the Eldara clan, the word mother held an entirely different meaning. Their queen bore all the children, but nurturing? No. The queen led with authority, not affection.
There were no lullabies or bath times. Eldara children were evaluated, sorted, and trained. Amanda had been singled out by the Elders for her mana affinity before she could even walk properly.
She hadn't been hugged. She had been forged.
So when she thought about Leo and Claire, the warmth in the way Claire held him, the softness in her tone, Amanda had no reference point. Claire hadn't just raised Leo. She loved him in ways Amanda didn't fully understand.
Still, a memory bubbled up, vivid and uninvited.
"If you mean like Claire…" Amanda began, a flush already creeping into her cheeks. "I once offered to breastfeed Leo."
Suga choked.
Elois blinked.
Amanda shrugged, entirely serious. "He didn't find me very appetizing though."
To make her point, she cupped her chest briefly, as if weighing her credentials. The move was so casual, so sincere, it made the room freeze.
Elois leaned back with a gasp, her fingers halting mid-tap. "Amanda—!"
Suga turned away, coughing violently into his fist. "That's not, that's… okay, not the kind of guidance we were talking about."
Amanda, unbothered, scratched her nose, clearly still mulling over the difference. "So, not about the food?"
Elois collected herself, voice tightening but gentle. "It's not the physical side. Leo respects you. He listens to you. You support him. That's the heart of it."
Amanda went still.
"Oh," she said after a moment. "Then… maybe. I suppose I do feel a sense of responsibility for him."
She looked down, tapping her finger against the table softly.
"I'm not his mother," she said, quieter now. "That's Claire. Always will be. But Claire and Samuel gave me a task, a dying wish. And for elves," She looked up again, eyes clear and steady. "That binds us more tightly than blood."
Suga and Elois didn't interrupt.
"For me, Leo is a cherished party member," she finished. "If he ever needs me, I'll be there. Even if it costs me everything."
A respectful silence followed, broken only when Amanda's expression darkened slightly.
"There's something odd about Leo, though. Lately. It's like he's aged."
Suga, curious, picked up Leo's profile from the stack, reading aloud, "Eighteen."
From a nearby bench, an older adventurer leaned in without invitation. "That guy?" the man said, his voice a mix of amusement and gravity. "He's not eighteen. Feels older than I do."
Suga turned, startled. "Huh?"
The man stepped closer. He was tall, gaunt, with a long gray beard and crow's feet lining his deep-set eyes. His staff, worn smooth with time, glowed faintly from its runes. He radiated quiet power.
"Owen!" Elois lit up. "I didn't see you there."
The older man smiled, lines deepening. "I've been watching. You all talk loudly."
Amanda grinned, stepping toward him. "You've aged like wine, old man."
"You still talk like rum," he shot back. They both laughed.
Suga blinked. "Wait, you're the Owen?"
Owen looked him over, unimpressed. "And you are…?"
Suga opened his mouth, then paused. "I organize. World Tower raid stuff."
"Ah." Owen waved him off, gaze drifting back to Amanda.
Elois stifled a chuckle. "Come on, Owen. Be nice."
Owen snorted. "Even a broom's useful."
Amanda shot Suga a reassuring smile before turning back. "What did you mean about Leo being older?"
Owen's mood shifted. His brow creased, voice lowering. "It's his presence. His eyes don't move like a sprout. They see things. Past things."
Amanda nodded slowly. "That tracks. Leo's seen more than most seasoned adventurers."
"He's not just wiser," Owen said, voice distant. "He feels displaced. Like he's walked through too many lives already."
They all fell quiet.
###
Meanwhile, deep within the dungeon, Leo exhaled.
The cave swallowed the sound.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the world changed. It wasn't just quiet. It was watching. The walls vibrated with latent magic. Air pressed on him from all sides, cold and wet like the breath of something ancient.
The large stone slab ahead loomed like a forgotten monument. His boots crunched on bone fragments and shattered pottery. The moss underfoot glowed dimly, just enough to cast long shadows that didn't seem to follow physics.
Leo stepped cautiously, every sense sharpened.
The silence was total. Not the natural stillness of a cave, but an unnatural absence. As if the very concept of noise had been extracted from the air.
He rounded a jagged corner and entered a chamber.
Torches flared to life, without fire. They blazed with cold blue flames, flickering silently. At the center, a glowing magic circle pulsed with deep purple energy. Above it, dark miasma coiled like smoke underwater.
Leo raised his sword slightly.
Then—
Voices came in.
"Another adventurer," a girl's voice whispered, high and eerie.
"Has ventured inside," a boy added, voice flat and hollow.
They spoke like echoes, one just behind the other, weaving together phrases.
"We need to try him," the girl continued.
"Before he can go forward," the boy finished.
Leo turned, but no forms appeared. Just the magic circle, the swirling fog, and that thick, humming air.
"We hope," the girl murmured.
"That this adventurer," the boy intoned.
"Gets past us."
"Because the dungeon master…"
"Wants to play…"
Their voices melded in unison. High, smooth, and unnervingly excited.