Realm Troubles | Fading Lights Season 2, Book 2

36: A little gift

I searched around for Hero, following his magic trail. He seemed to be pretty far away and I felt a smaller, weaker aura next to him.
Weird.
Red was really upset when he cleaned up their room, and I talked with him a bit. He didn't believe that Sylvie could've survived Nighty's attack, and when I mentioned that it was possible, he yelled at me and told me that this nightmare was over and Sylvie was gone, to stop spreading panic.
I slowly got the feeling that he's way too tense, so I left and searched for Hero.
Soon enough I found him with Lea by his side, sitting at the edge of the lake and crying. Lea kept him close, patting his back.
I slowly approached them and sat down next to Hero, rubbing his head gently. Hero flinched and glanced at me, clearly not expecting me.
Within seconds I felt him build up a thick wall around himself, not ready to talk to me. "Calm down, I know what happened. I don't plan to judge you.", I softly settled hin back down. Hero eyed me with this weird look in his eyes before he lowered his shoulders. "Good to know that someone at least cares. From the adult side. Even Lea managed to give a Fu- to care.", he grumbled, definitely not happy about how everything turned out. I sighed softly and nodded. "I know. I guess they just all hope it's finally over, but I have a feeling it's not.", I admitted. Hero looked at me surprised. "You believe me?", he asked, a bit unsure. I nodded again, humming. "Well, yeah. She survived way too many times, of course she'll try again. And there's no way in hell she won't come without backup."
Hero sighed weakly and nodded. "Yeah... But for some ungodly reason they don't believe me at all. I just want to keep them safe but they don't let me, and when they don't trust me I can't possibly protect them!", he complained, looking upset again. Lea snuggled up to him and took his hand, keeping him really close. Hero softly squeezed her hand softly, not wanting her to worry too much about him.
I watched them, realizing just how much Hero cared about his own little daughter.
Quite frankly, it was adorable. Seeing him care so deeply about a child is something entirely new to me, so I calmed down entirely.
After a good, long time I cleared my throat. "So, uh... Do you want to go home again?"
Hero eyed me for a little while, seemingly deep in thought. Then he sighed deeply. "I'm not sure if I want to see Red already.", he admitted, and Lea looked up at him. "That's okay Mom.", she hummed softly. Hero smiled and ruffled her hair before looking at me when I rubbed my chin a bit. "Perhaps we can head somewhere else for now.", I offered. Hero raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Maybe we can visit TWOR. I want to show you something."
Hero tilted his head slightly, agreed tho. Lea and him put their shoes back on, with Hero helping her tie them, before they came back to me.
I smiled a bit at their interactions. Hero is a much better parent than I expected, especially after this entire doll-dilemma.
We headed to the portal leading to TWOR, entering our realm like that. It was easier than teleporting with Lea on our side, I didn't know if it'd even work.
Additionally, I didn't know if Hero had any sort of safety measure against being teleported away. I wouldn't be surprised if he did, but at the same time, he might not have thought about that yet.
Either way, he and Lea followed close behind me, entering TWOR. The child was immediately excited, running around happily. We got out of the portal in the middle of a flower field, so I didn't judge her at all, smiling warmly when I saw her so playful. Hero kept a close eye on Lea, not wanting her to get hurt.
"So what are you gonna show us?", Hero muttered, not exactly thrilled to be here. He still remembered when Red went here and completely broke contact with him, and that Xander is from here. Even tho they sort of got along now, Hero still hated him on the inside.
I didn't really mind, realizing that I wouldn't be able to make them love each other.
"I wanna show you something.", I merely answered and headed towards a nearby little town. Hero and Lea followed me closely, with Lea excitedly saying everything she saw. Hero listened, sometimes nodding in agreement, sometimes just staying quiet and looking where Lea was pointing.
We entered the town and headed to roughly the middle, where a massive marketplace stood. People offering their wares like fruit, clothes, rare gems and trinkets. There were some shops around as well, mostly little pubs and restaurants, but also a shoe store and some more stores for clothing and decor.
And in the middle of all this, near the clothing shops, stood an empty store I bought a long time ago.
Hero raised an eyebrow and eyed it. "You wanted to show us an empty ship...?", he slowly asked, not really getting it. Lea looked confused too. "It's so dusty!", she complained. "And there's spiders!"
I chuckled softly. "You like baking, don't you Hero?", I asked. He frowned slightly, nodding cautiously. "Yeah, and?"
"Do you want to start a shop here? I bought this one a while back. I don't really know what I had in mind, like a library or a store for magical items. But I never really used it. So... Do you want to have it? We can set up a portal inside so you can fast travel here.", I offered.
Hero eyed the store a bit, sceptical. "There has to be something fishy, right? You wouldn't do this if there was no catch."
I shook my head. "No catch. All I want to do is offer you something where you can make money with things you create. That's all.", I added.
He eyed me a little more and was about to answer when Lea suddenly spoke up.
"Well if we do make this into a shop, I wanna help decorate it! And we need to get those spiders away, they're yucky."
Hero closed his mouth and let out a weak sigh.
"Fine.", he mumbled. "Fine. I'll open a bakery I guess."