[Thunder]

After all that had just passed, the last thing Xane expected was for Tiki to fling herself on him and hug him. He flinched, but it was not because he didn't want to be held. He perked up a little at the gesture, in fact, and he felt his heart skip a beat. It was simply because the embrace had come so unexpectedly. Despite the heavy conversation, the Manakete managed a small smile and returned the hug. It had been a while since he got a hug from, well, anyone. As a traveler, he wasn't accustomed to being particularly close to people. The warmth of Tiki's arms was welcomed.

"I hope that you'll never do something you regret," he murmured. "It's not a nice feeling to live with." Before today, he certainly didn't have any regrets, but he had started to wonder if he should have visited Tiki earlier. If he did that, then maybe he would have been able to have a chance. At what, exactly, he didn't know. But he would have been able to be with her more.

Xane stopped his thoughts for a moment to purely enjoy the hug. That tactician was a lucky man if he got this from Tiki often. After a bit of quiet, he sighed and looked down at the Manakete woman. "Are we gonna get goin', then? I don't suppose your home is too far, is it?" Even as he spoke, he still held her rather tightly, as if he didn't actually want to go and wanted to stay like this under the tropical tree forever.

[Jaykobell]

The hug had a different feel to each of them. At first, Tiki felt bad for latching on to Xane like that when she felt him flinch, but fortunately the Manakete returned the embrace in the end. It was a strange feeling, one that reminded her of the time when she was younger. It had a certain warmth that felt akin to sisterly and brotherly love, which was different from a usual hug from a significant other. Still, it was a beautiful feeling nonetheless, and it had a certain nostalgic feeling, considering who she was hugging right now.

There was also the fact that she was happy and relieved that Xane hadn't reacted too badly to the news. She had made her fair share of regrettable decisions, especially after one had lived for three thousand years. Regardless, that was one decision that she'd dwelled on for a long time, and in the end, it had been worth it. "You don't understand how happy I am that you understand," the Voice said, saying it again to emphasize what it meant to her to have Xane's approval. Even if they hadn't met in so long, she still considered him to be one of her most precious friends. It would have broken her heart if he had stopped talking to her because of all this.

After his last question, Tiki pulled back a little from the hug so that she could look up at Xane as she spoke. "Do you want to go now? We still have a few hours to go, if you want to spend more time together." Because she was married didn't mean she couldn't meet up with her friends. Even male friends weren't excluded, and her husband felt no jealousy at her meeting up with them. Considering Xane was pretty much her brother, she was certain that her significant other would have no objection at her having spent time with him. "So long as I buy all the things I need, nothing prevents us from spending time together. It's been so long." Still, if Xane preferred to simply do the groceries with her and then head straight to her home, that was fine too. There would be many more opportunities to spend time together; Tiki only figured that, even though she was married, she wouldn't just put Xane aside.

[Thunder]

Just as Tiki was glad to still have Xane as a friend, Xane was happy that she still valued his thoughts and feelings after so many years of being apart. The tension in the air seemed to have dissipated slightly, and now he had a more genuine smile on his face. He just hoped that things wouldn't go downhill again when he met the tactician.

He let her out of his arms and blinked at her. "Well, it's up to you," he replied. "I'll follow you wherever you wanna go, even if you're just shopping for food. I'm guessin' that you still have some groceries to get though, considering that I kinda interrupted you while you were doin' that."

He smirked mischievously. Perhaps he should pull some sort of prank on Tiki's husband too, though he wasn't sure how much she or the tactician would appreciate it. It would probably be best only to do that after they had gotten to know each other; there were, after all, some folks who got extremely upset at even the most harmless of jokes.

[Jaykobell]

Tiki did have groceries to buy, and she hadn't had time to look at every single stand earlier. She had been rudely interrupted by Xane's prank, so to be honest, the Voice still had some shopping to do. "I haven't had a chance to look at every stand, and what they have available. ... You interrupted me earlier," she pointed out, but the words weren't said maliciously or even angrily; one could almost say she was just teasing him about the whole incident. "If you don't mind, we can just talk on the way while I'm looking for what I need." If she didn't buy everything her husband had asked her, he would probably have a hard time preparing dinner. There was always a reason why he requested certain spices and ingredients, so Tiki always made sure to do her best to find what he needed.

Once the two agreed to get on with whatever shopping Tiki had left to do, the oracle got up from under the tree and offered her hand to Xane. "Maybe you can tell me some stories from your travels. Surely you got yourself into a bit of trouble in all those millennia of traveling? I would be surprised to hear otherwise." The carefree prankster, Xane, not getting into trouble in about two millennia of roaming and traveling? Unfathomable. The Voice would hardly believe it if the chameleon said otherwise. Of course, so long as the trouble wasn't anything serous, such as getting captured. That had happened to Xane back in Tiki's childhood, and really, she didn't wish for it to happen to him again.

With their plan for the afternoon figured out, the two headed back into Nabias.

~*~

The actual shopping trip hadn't really lasted that long, but the time was well-spent. Xane and Tiki shared some stories of their time apart, and for the oracle, it had given her to opportunity to connect with the Manakete again. She realized how little she had appreciated his company, in retrospect. She had been too busy staying with Prince Marth to really pay Xane the attention he deserved, and she had gotten angry and sad at him more often than anything else. That really sent her back: had she really been that difficult when she was younger? She could remember being an eccentric, if somewhat ignorant, child in her youth. In this present time, she was grateful for Xane to have stuck through her sometimes aggravating, childish behavior.

While shopping, Tiki had taken a few liberties. Not only that, but she offered some free foods now and again from a few stands, as they thanked the Voice for coming to their market. She offered some of that to Xane, saying that it was too much for her to take, since she already had plenty of food at home. After a plentiful afternoon of shopping and taking a trip down nostalgia lane, Tiki was ready to go back home, and Xane was ready to follow her.

Just as Xane had assumed, Tiki's house wasn't all that far from the market. It was maybe a good fifteen to twenty-minute walk through a peaceful neighborhood. It was a relaxing area of town, away from the busy shops and markets.

Tiki's home wasn't the biggest house in the neighborhood, but it also wasn't the smallest, by far. It was a two-story house of a very decent size, and from the looks of it, there was also a basement. It was a bit isolated, but that was mostly due to the fact that they had a huge backyard, so the houses had to be separated; they couldn't be stuck to each other like apartment buildings.

With an easy and quick turn of a key, the oracle unlocked the door and stepped inside, inviting Xane to follow behind her. With Tiki staying at home and not working a job, she had plenty of time to take care of the house, and that certainly showed in how pristine and organized the place was. "Here we are: this is my home. It's permanent, too," she said, the last part being a bit of a joke. After so many years of living here and there and never really staying at the same place for long, this was finally a permanent roof. Ever since the end of the war, Tiki had lived her, and the couple had no intention of moving or otherwise.

Adjusting her groceries, Tiki turned around to face Xane and to put her hands on his shoulders. "I'm so excited for you to meet him. I know you don't like humans, but please give him a chance. You'll see he's one of the exceptions." She was beyond delighted that Xane was willing to meet her significant other, even though he couldn't care less about humans. Even during the darker ages of their history, Xane had sided with the feral earth dragons — the powerful dragon family rivalling the divine dragons — in order to get revenge on evil and despicable humans. Still, the oracle hoped the Manakete would take her word for it and believe her when she said that her husband was different.

"He's probably in the kitchen. Come this way," Tiki guided as she turned around and lead Xane deeper inside the house, past a few doors and rooms. It didn't take long to reach the kitchen, and even before they were there, the smell of delicious food was in the air. As they approached, the sounds of gurgling soup and boiling food could be heard, and as they stepped in, Xane finally got to see the human tactician who had swayed the oracle's heart.



... Well, from the back, but at least that was something, right?

As expected, he was taller than both Tiki and Xane, but of average size for a human. His long blond hair was tied in a ponytail, which was actually something he didn't do very often, but he tied it when it came to cooking. He was managing the kitchen with no effort, one hand stirring the soup that was currently cooking, and another sliding along the pages of what seemed to be a cooking book. He seemed to be focused on the words, and he was mumbling to himself as he cooked and read. In fact, he was probably so focused that he hadn't heard anyone coming into the house, since he didn't turn around when Tiki and Xane stepped in the kitchen.

"I'm glad I'm not a thief," Tiki pointed out, speaking a bit louder than usual on purpose so that the chef just a few feet away would hear her.

And hear her he did, because the man jumped just slightly as he turned around. "What?" he said confusingly, but he quickly caught on when he saw who had called out to him. "Ah, Tiki! Sorry, I was trying to figure out how to fix this... I didn't hear you come in," he explained a bit sheepishly, scratching the back of his head with his free hand, the other still taking care of the soup that was cooking. He would've asked if she had managed to find everything he needed, but Xane certainly wasn't invisible, and the tactician noticed him fairly quickly. "I'm guessing this is... a friend of yours?"

Now that the two men were facing each other, Xane would notice the somewhat fancy clothes of Tiki's husband, akin to officer workers; the only thing that stood out was the fact he was wearing just one glove on his left hand. He had a few visible scars as well, one going through his left eye, and another going across his throat. The last noticeable thing was his glasses, and beyond that, he looked like your average human.

"Yes," Tiki confirmed as she put the groceries on the counter so she could finally have her hands free. "This is Xane: he's a Manakete that I would call my brother. He watched over me when I was younger, during my time with the Hero-King," the oracle introduced, trying to pull Xane a little closer to her. "And Xane, this is Akakios, the tactician I was telling you about."

At the mention of Xane being one of Tiki's oldest friends, that seemed to spark Akakios's interest in the boy. "You knew Prince Marth, then?" the tactician asked, taking a few steps closer towards the two Manaketes. "I'm always a bit envious when Tiki tells me those stories." He then extended his right hand to Xane for a friendly first-meeting handshake, his gloved hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He didn't look or sound intimidated or disgusted at the prospect of meeting a Manakete; the habit was actually from being just a bit timid at meeting new people. "I... wish I could've met the Hero-King himself, too, to be honest, heh," he added with a sheepish smile, his voice sounding more timid than one would expect from a supposed tactical genius that could send another army's troops packing.

As they spoke, Xane would also probably feel something peculiar from Akakios; a very curious power, something not unlike his own or Tiki's. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what it was, but if anything, he didn't have the same feeling or power of a regular human.

[Thunder]

The shopping had indeed been pleasant. Xane and Tiki got to chat a lot, and the chameleon was impressed by the amount of freebies she received for simply being the Voice. He entertained the thought of one day transforming into her again and going around the market to get some free foodstuffs from unsuspecting vendors, but he had already caused trouble for her by taking her form today. He was grateful for the food she handed to him, though, and he munched on it all the way to her house.

The area Tiki lived in was quite pleasant and peaceful, and from the outside, her house appeared cozy and comfortable. Xane was sure that the inside was equally nice, and he felt the setting fit her quite well. He was sure that she would stay here for many years to come.

His earlier trepidation had been mostly alleviated by their chats and the delicious food, but as he stepped into the house, he grew a little nervous again, and his anticipation only grew as they neared the kitchen. When they arrived, the mood was killed slightly when Xane could only see the man's back, and the fact that the tactician was currently cooking seemed like a ludicrous contrast to the the idea that this fellow was willing to sacrifice himself for others' sakes.

The chameleon couldn't help but feel amused when Tiki had to call her husband's attention to their entry. When the man finally turned around, Xane examined him closely. The single glove was a bit odd, and he couldn't fathom how the man acquired those scars on his eye and throat, though if he had to guess, then he predicted that they were gotten over the course of the war. He a little surprised at how shy Akakios seemed to be; he supposed that it was comforting to know that he wasn't the only one who felt awkward.

Xane hesitated for a second, but then grasped Akakios's hand and shook it. "I-it's nice to meet you," he greeted shakily. "Yes, I did know Princey- errr, Prince Marth way back in the day. He was quite a guy. I never met anyone else like him in all the world. Or over all these years, for that matter."

There was something odd about the man. Xane could sense an aura around Akakios similar to that of a Manakete's, a sensation that a human would never be able to pick up. For a moment, he actually wondered if the tactician wasn't human, but Tiki herself had explicitly said her husband was. This detail left the chameleon confused, though he didn't really want to pry and ask about it either.

[Jaykobell]

Of course, Akakios had no idea that Xane had a certain dislike for humans, so he didn't understand the Manakete's hesitation at shaking hands, or his shaky greeting. As far as the tactician could assume, it could be because he was a bit socially-awkward and timid, so maybe that left Xane feeling the same. Even though Tiki had been working on Akakios for a few years now, the tactician still had a hard time being himself around strangers. He was often quiet and reserved, although that prevent him from trusting others.

Still, pondering on every single little detail from the Manakete's behavior wasn't going to help anyone any. "Heh, I can imagine. Tiki often speaks of him very highly when she shares some stories from that time," Akakios added, sounding genuinely jealous that he couldn't have been there, too. Who didn't want to meet a legendary hero? The only thing that always made him anxious was that he didn't compare to Prince Marth — by far. There were days when he felt so inadequate as Tiki's husband, but from the beginning, the Manakete had told him to not worry about such things.

"I hadn't seen Xane since my time with Prince Marth, actually," Tiki pointed out as she started to rummage through the groceries, leaving the two men to bond together. "Just as suddenly as he'd disappeared so many ages ago, he appeared today in Nabias. Oh, speaking of Nabias, Akakios, I found everything you wanted. I also got... some extras from the villagers there," the wife explained as she continued to look through the stock she had brought back, which was way more than what the tactician had needed.

"Eh? ... How much is 'some extras'?" Akakios asked, turning away from Xane for just a minute to look over everything Tiki had brought back. The folks at the market had the tendency of giving offerings to Tiki because of her rank as the Voice, and there honestly times when the food ended up being wasted, since the family just couldn't eat so much extra foods.

"Well, mostly they gave me fruits and some seeds," Tiki explained as she finally turned around to face the two men, a small bag of pears in hands. "These pears are especially good. Here, try one," the Manakete said as she grabbed a pear from the bag.

"Ah, I just ate, so I'm not hun— Hurph!" But before he could refuse his wife's offer, the fruit was shoved right into his mouth, leaving the tactician not choice but to eat it regardless of hunger. One would have probably expected the tactician to react to getting food shoved right into his mouth, but that wasn't the case. Akakios was taken by surprise just a bit, but in the end, he just grabbed the pear and went on to eat it. Either he was extremely passive, or he was just used to getting force-fed.

"See, aren't they good? I'm sure the kids would love it if you made a pie with them. And don't worry, I gave some of all that extra food to Xane, since he was tagging along," Tiki explained, putting the bag of pears away with the rest of the groceries now that she had forcefully shoved one into her husband's mouth without prior notice.

Akakios took a few bites from the pear, which was good, admittedly. "Another pie? You don't want a cake or something else?" He didn't mind making a pie, but... again? "But I'm glad you gave some of those extras away," he added as he turned to Xane again, one half-eaten pear in hand. "Please feel free to take more, too. Some of it ends up going bad, since there's no way we can eat so much food so quickly. Hm, speaking of food, will you be staying over for dinner? We have plenty for an extra person if you'd like," the tactician invited, taking another bite from the pear.

[Thunder]

Although Tiki had wanted Xane and Akakios to talk, the tactician's got distracted when Tiki started mentioning all the food they had gotten in Nabias. So the chameleon stood awkwardly to the side, watching the couple interact and inwardly laughing when Tiki shoved the pear into her husband's mouth. Their banter was honestly pretty entertaining, but even so, Xane couldn't help feeling envious. He wished that he could have this sort of relationship with someone. He wished that he could have it with, well...Tiki.

But as the pair spoke, one little thing that Tiki mentioned seized Xane's attention so roughly that he almost fell backward upon hearing it. Kids. She brought up kids. Did she mean that she had kids with this guy? Or was she referring to kids that weren't hers? Given the situation, however, the Manakete suspected that this was the former case...and hearing that made him immediately go sour on the inside.

"...thanks," he replied to Akakios. He tried his best not to let his emotions show, but he wasn't sure if he was doing a good job. What was he even feeling? Was he disgusted that Tiki had slept with this human man and produced children? He knew that rationally, what she did in her love life wasn't his business and was her choice to make, and yet here he was in turmoil again. Though the food had been good and Akakios had offered very politely, he really didn't feel like staying for dinner now.

"I, um, wasn't plannin' to stay for dinner. I didn't want to, uh, bother you with it. Yeah. Wasn't sure if it would've been rude." Xane really didn't want to be here right now, but he couldn't just ditch Tiki. He had promised to meet and spend time with Akakios, after all. And maybe she'd make him meet the...kids later, too.

[Jaykobell]

To be truthful, the meeting had been going well. Tiki would have expected Xane to be a bit more vocal and maybe a bit more problematic, but it sounded like the Manakete had matured over the years. He was seemingly capable of holding a conversation with a human without making a few rude comments in passing.

And then that thought got turned upside-down. Xane's behavior and tone quickly changed, all of a sudden, but Tiki couldn't figure out why. Akakios was still a bit socially-awkward, that was for sure, but she couldn't pinpoint anything the human had said that would have rubbed Xane the wrong way. Or perhaps she just wasn't as sensitive as Xane was? Clearly, Tiki had been able to move on from the whole dragons against humans deal, but maybe Xane was still having a hard time liking any human, period, regardless of politeness.

Akakios was just as confused by the sudden change of tone. He couldn't tell if he was the one making Xane uncomfortable, or if it was something else entirely. He wasn't the best at social interactions, so it wasn't unusual for him to put his foot in his mouth. Still, he didn't know what could have made Xane become uncomfortable. Was it because he'd been ignored for a few minutes? Or was it awkward that one of his childhood friends had shoved a pear right into someone's mouth? It was hard to say, since there were a few different possibilities, and the tactician didn't know the chameleon enough to tell for certain.

"It's not a bother, really. It's not rude of you if I'm the one inviting you over, either," Akakios answered, giving a sheepish smile as he tried to focus more on Xane. He could just observe and talk to the Manakete more, he would get a better idea of what kind of person he was. "That, and I'd love to talk with you more. If you're basically Tiki's brother, then it's fair to say you're a pretty great guy, right?" That, and Manaketes were always intriguing to him. The things they had seen, the legends they had met: those stories were always impressive and really, the curious couldn't get enough.

Seeing Xane being so uneasy pushed Tiki to action; the last thing she wanted was for the chameleon to lose his cool and to let his hate for human dictate his words and actions. "Yes, why don't you stay over, Xane? We barely talked about your side of the story. I'm sure you have tons of stories from your travels that you could tell us."

[Thunder]

Xane wasn't sure if Tiki or Akakios knew why he had gotten upset again. He suspected that they would have picked up on it, but based on the way they continued to talk so casually after mentioning children, they didn't know the cause. He mentally sighed to himself and leaned back on a kitchen counter, attempting to keep himself calm.

"I'd...hope that I'm a great guy?" he responded, shrugging at Akakios's question. He had gotten compliments from humans before, but thanking them was always a bit of a strange thing for him. Only Marth had ever received a completely sincere and relaxed "thank you" from Xane. "Though Tiki's probably a nicer person than me, honestly." She already got more points than him for being accepting of humans, and she was kind to all she met, so this was something Xane could say with absolute certainty.

Again, he was very uneasy now once the children were brought up, but he couldn't bear to disappoint Tiki and leave before dinner. "...all right, I guess I'll stay," he replied. "I do have lots of stories to tell you." He specifically looked at Tiki when he said the word "you". "I still dunno too much about the war with Grima, though. Maybe you could fill me in on that too?"

[Jaykobell]

Regardless of what was bothering Xane or making him uncomfortable, it became clear to Akakios that it had something to do with him specifically. Despite his compliment, the chameleon had answered pretty passively, and even in a sort of uncaring manner. Not only that, but his words seemed to be more aimed at Tiki moreso than at Akakios. While the tactician could figure that much out, it was still too early for him to guess just what it was about him that bothered Xane.

Of course, Tiki knew why Xane was being so passive. The Manakete's hate for humans started to show, and the oracle grew all the more anxious. Why had Xane started acting this way? Akakios was trying to make this less awkward for both of them by doing things like inviting Xane over for dinner, and even complimenting him. Not only that, but the tactician hadn't said a single thing about Xane being a Manakete, something a lot of humans couldn't commented on. Granted, Akakios was married to a Manakete, so maybe that point held little water, but regardless. Xane respected Prince Marth, but he obviously couldn't bring himself to respect other humans, and it was really starting to show.

If only because of his behavior, and the need to push him in the right direction, Tiki figured she could play this little game too. "If you really wish to hear it," the oracle agreed, though her tone was a bit dry. "But I'm afraid I joined the fray fairly late. If you really wish to hear the whole story, it would be better if Akakios told you the story."

Almost done with his pear, and still trying to figure out why Xane seemed to have something against him, Akakios snapped out of his daydream and turned to his wife, a little surprised. "What? ... I didn't see much of it before meeting you—"

"Oh, no, I insist. Don't be so modest; you saw the development of it from the very beginning with Prince Chrom," Tiki insisted, shooting Akakios a look that asked for him to listen to her. "Unless you would like another pear. ... Or any fruit, for that matter."

Tiki's forceful behavior seemed to surprise her husband, but the tactician just agreed to do as she said as he turned back to Xane. "Er... I don't mind telling you the whole thing, if you really want to know," he offered, although whether or not Xane would be interested now was a completely different question.

[Thunder]

Xane knew that Tiki was trying to get him to talk to Akakios more. But at this point, he was actually more nervous about meeting their children than being forced to speak with the tactician. He had already gotten a taste of what Akakios was like, and due to how shy the man seemed, he neither liked nor disliked him. There was only the issue of that strange aura about him, though the Manakete didn't anticipate that this would really affect his opinion of Akakios too much. He felt that they could obtain at least a neutral relationship, as long as he didn't let slip his disdain for humans.

The children, however, were the first half-human, half-Manaketes Xane had ever heard of. What powers would they have? What would they look like? There were so many questions to be answered, and he wondered if Tiki and Akakios realized how the tense history of humans and Manaketes would affect their children in society. At some point, they might feel pulled apart by their dual blood.

Tiki's threat of another force fed fruit lightened his mood up a bit, however. He almost felt bad for Akakios if the tactician had to endure this all the time. He looked back at the other man and attempted to answer as naturally as possible. "Eh, sure. If you know more about it, then why not? I've been traveling the world for years and haven't really caught up with the times here."

[Jaykobell]

Xane's more relaxed behavior relieved Tiki, but it mostly gave Akakios a small push in the right direction. Maybe it was just the idea of being with a stranger that made Xane nervous, and nothing that had to do with race or age or what have you. Him being more natural and comfortable with Tiki was normal, considering they had probably known each other for ages. ... Quite literally.

The tactician took another bite of his pear as he tried to think of a good way to tell the whole story of the war. Sometimes he included too many details, and that wasn't good, since he would eventually lose a lot of people that way. Then again, shortening the story and avoiding details would leave others confused as to what had happened, who the people were, and generally left listeners very disconnected from the story. It was all about finding a good med—

His thoughts were interrupted as the phone started to ring. While he had initially thought about getting it, Akakios was beaten to the punch as Tiki went straight for the phone herself. "I'll get it," the Manakete said as she picked up the receiver.

Well, that was a thing. Whoever it was, it probably wasn't important. With that over with, Akakios just let Tiki handle the caller as he turned back to Xane. "Well," he started with, scratching the back of his head as he continued to try to piece his thoughts together into something comprehensive, "the war started a few years ago. Mostly it was between two kingdoms: Ylisse and Plegia. They always shared a tense history, but it got worse when Plegia started to invade Ylisse with brigands to raise the tension more. The Mad King of Plegia was trying to start a full-out war in order to get the Fire Emblem from Ylisse, and it eventually did escalate to that. Ylisse teamed up with Regna Ferox, from the north, to help with the war, but Ylisse did lose their exalt — their halidom's royal leader, and Prince Chrom's elder sister — to the war. The exalt Emmeryn sacrificed herself for the Fire Emblem, and that was a turning point for—"

But Akakios was interrupted when Tiki sighed irritably and handed him the phone. "It's for you."

Blinking, the tactician turned to her as he grabbed the phone awkwardly. Although, judging from his wife's reaction, it was probably better for him not to question why or who. "Sorry, just give me a minute," he added to Xane as he put the receiver to his ear and started walking away towards the stove. "Yes? ... Oh, Negative! Hi," he spoke as he went back to the soup. "Ack, it's going to stick. ... Sorry, what?" There was a short pause as the tactician tried to give his attention to the person on the phone. "Oh, so you guys are back. Did the kids give you any trouble?" he asked nonchalantly, stirring the soup subconsciously.

And then it hit Tiki. The kids. While she had told Xane about her being married, she hadn't told him about the kids. The topic had probably slipped her mind because of multiple factors, like how they hadn't been home for a few days, and how she had been ecstatic to see Xane again after millennia. Only now did she realize that she had mentioned them just earlier as well, but it had felt so natural that that, too, had gone right over her head.

"Ugh," she complained quietly as she frowned a little. "I forgot to..."

[Thunder]

Ignoring the phone call, Xane crossed his arms and looked at Akakios, ready to hear about the war. His desire to learn more about what had happened these past few years wasn't just an excuse to please Tiki. He genuinely did want to know more about what he missed. He just wished that Tiki could have told it instead since he was much more interested in hearing it from her point of view. He recognized, though, that if all he got were facts and figures, they wouldn't differ between the potential storytellers at all.

The conflict between Ylisee and Plegia, so far, sounded a little simpler than the conflict Xane and Marth had been involved in. Back in those days, Marth's kingdom of Altea had faced four different threats- the countries of Grust, Gra, Medon, and Dolhr. All four had been intertwined in some way and were affected by the dark dragon Medeus's evil desires. However, the chameleon was sure there was more to the story. The wicked fell dragon, Grima, hadn't even been mentioned yet, and he knew that Grima played a huge role in the conflicts like Medeus had.

When Tiki interrupted the story and gave Akakios the phone, however, Xane became interested in a totally different way. There was mention of the kids again, and the name "Negative" (what an odd name) was brought up. He supposed that Negative was one of their friends, perhaps someone they met during the war. Deciding to leave the conversing tactician be for the moment, he turned back to Tiki and noticed the frown on her face. It seemed she had realized why he was antsy.

"...tell me about your kids?" he finished for her, giving her a somewhat unimpressed look. He hadn't really wanted to know about the children, but it was rather amusing that a mother would forget to introduce her little ones to an old friend.

[Jaykobell]

Hearing Xane finish off her thoughts, and the fact that he sounded fairly unimpressed, got Tiki thinking that the topic of the kids was probably what had thrown him off earlier.

"I'm sorry, Xane," the oracle apologized, although it meant very little now, most likely. "We hadn't talked in millennia... We talked about a lot of things, but it just never got to that point." Their travels after the war with Prince Marth, during the Grima war, and everything else in-between. Their talk hadn't been about Tiki's love life or even her personal life, really: it had been about the two of them, and what they had missed while apart. That, and perhaps her mind had been so focused on trying to find ways for Xane to accept Akakios had prevented Tiki from thinking of ways for Xane to like her kids as well. Regardless, it was embarrassing for a mother to... forget about her kids. Her mind had clearly been elsewhere: or in this case, it was probably the fact that it had been trying to think about everything at once. "I was nervous enough about you meeting Akakios, I thought... I didn't think to mention the children. And at my age, my memory is oft... lacking." It probably sounded weak, but that was all she could offer as an explanation.

"Ah? So they did; I'm glad to know that." While Xane and Tiki were discussing an awkward topic, Akakios was multitasking as he talked to his friend Negative on the phone and cooked at the same time. "Yeah, you can bring them back whenever you can. They can stay over if they're too tired to travel all the way home." And then there was a pause. "Er, wait, Negative, is Henry at home? ... I'm asking because I'm not letting the kids stay over if he's planning on being anywhere near them. ... ... I'm not assuming anything, I'm just saying I'm not comfortable to have my kids be around a dark mage who has a blood feti— ... Fine, a medical condition..." It seemed like whoever was at the other end wasn't being very cooperative, since the tactician was slowly starting to get irritated and agitated, but still in a passive way. You could hear it grow, but only faintly. "Just come on over, isn't that easier? ... And something that doesn't involve cursing anybody?"

With a sigh, Tiki tried to think about a way to introduce Xane to the concept of her children. Their story was convoluted enough to begin with. "Maybe you should know this first, before you meet our children." The term "our" was pretty obvious. "Akakios is sterile. Therefore, he cannot have children of his own. This was something I knew when we first thought about... courting," the oracle explained, finding it awkward to explain such things, but it was necessary for Xane to know this. "The children we have... Ah, the story is complicated. With Grima's resurrection near, several children were allowed to travel back in time thanks to Naga, in order to prevent the revival of the dark dragon. Two of those children... were ours." Both meetings had been awkward in every sense of the word. Tiki could hardly believe that she had kids, so one could only imagine what kind of reaction the two had gotten out of Akakios, whom had always told himself that kids were impossible. "They come from two timelines unrelated to this one. Our understanding is that the Akakios from those timelines could have children. That would be the only explanation."

That was the basic idea. So while the couple considered them to be their children and called them as such — and the children referred to Akakios and Tiki as their parents regardless — if one wanted to be technical, they were not related biologically. "So in that respect, they are not truly our children by birth, but we do refer to them as such. What we understand is that our whole army was destroyed and vanquished by Grima in those future timelines, which is the reason why those children came to our time in the first place: to prevent the resurrection of the dark God, but also to join their parents once more."

That was probably a lot to take in, and that was only the entrée. Xane still had to actually meet the kids. "It might be a lot to take in, but do you understand?"

[Thunder]

Though learning about Tiki's children so suddenly had been uncomfortable, Xane accepted her apology. They had discussed a lot after all, and even the biggest of topics could get lost in the maze of catching up after thousands of years. "Nah, it's fine," he told Tiki, chuckling a bit at her comment on her own age. "I...probably should've considered the fact that you might have kids since you told me you got married. But it never crossed my mind."

The chameleon didn't really pay attention to what Akakios was saying in the background. He did pick up something about the kids, a dark mage, blood, and curses, which seemed ridiculous and troubling out of context, but the human man didn't sound like he was panicking, so Xane assumed that things were fine...or at least relatively. Once Tiki began explaining the background of the kids, his interest was fully on her, though. The fact that Akakios was sterile left him utterly confused about how the kids were made, but the time travel aspect of her story was arguably even more confusing. He had never thought that alternate timelines would be possible. Now that he knew what happened, he found he was actually more eager to meet these kids and ask about the universe they came from, which didn't sound like a pleasant one at all. He was also relieved since quite frankly, he didn't want to think about someone who used to be like his little sister lying with a man.

"I don't really get this time travel stuff, but otherwise, yeah, I gotcha. Man, if you all died in that timeline, then I gotta say that I'm happy your kids found you in this one, even if you didn't expect them." Here, Xane paused and frowned. "I'd probably time travel too, if I were in that situation. I just...can't imagine a world without you there, y'know?"

The Manakete couldn't quite believe that he had said those words. He flushed a little and turned his head away slightly, not quite meeting Tiki's gaze. "D-don't get the wrong idea though!" he stammered. "I mean...yeah, you know." He rubbed his head sheepishly and glanced over at Akakios to make sure that he wasn't listening in and taking things the wrong way.