The Secrets of the Aorta Ruins

Chapter Twenty Five

As they had thought, dinner and many pairs of eyes awaited them as they walked through the front door still talking and laughing. They were out long enough that even Kris was there waiting for them too. Whatever Gwen had made smelled delicious as usual, and it was little Dora that left the table to greet them first. She ran over, hugging onto Becca’s legs. Becca laughed, hugging the small girl back.

“Did you two have fun? You said we were going to play after your date but now you came home too late,” she complained.

“I had the best day ever. And we will have a little time to play still after dinner. I just don’t know how much, ok sweetie?” Becca said, feeling Dare let go of her hand as Dora began pulling her over to the table to eat.

“So did you have a good day too?” Kris asked Dare first. It was very obvious everyone had been waiting for details. The two sat down with the rest of the family at the table, Gwen putting full plates in front of each of them. She tried to look like she wasn’t listening too but it was obvious she was.

“Yeah. Everything I said minus ice cream,” Dare said, purposely leaving off the part where they had gone to see his dad.

“What? No ice cream? We have the best ice cream here,” Kris bragged proudly.

“Well we kinda got free cake from The Basket,” Dare explained.

“Wait that’s actually what that place was called?” Becca asked.

“Yeah…with the snobby girl. That’s The Basket,” Dare told her.

“Snobby girl? Isn’t everyone there supposed to be nice?” Kyren asked.

“Supposed to be. Olga was working. She was…less than thrilled I had a date that wasn’t her,” Dare explained.

“Oh no. She wasn’t mean to Becca, was she?” Dora asked.

“No, it was ok sweetie,” Becca promised, noticing the little one’s plate was already cleared. So was Gwen’s. Barrak was almost out of food too. It was just Becca and Dare behind on eating.

“Alright guys, let the two of them eat,” Gwen said laughing.

“That’s really all that happened anyway,” Dare fibbed.

“Did you guys do the good night kiss thing outside here or are you going to walk her to Dora’s room to do it?” Barrak asked, curiously.

“Alrighty, that’s enough guys. Let the big kids eat,” Kris said, reinforcing what Gwen had already told them.

“Showers or baths, my little ones. Get started on that,” Gwen said, shooing them from the table.

“And then bed?” groaned both Kyren and Barrak.

“No, not this early,” Gwen laughed, “But one of you two make sure you run the water for Dora at least. Thank you.”

“Got it mom,” Kyren said.

“Thank you angel,” Gwen said happily. Neither of the adults excused themselves, but they didn’t have any more questions for them either.

“How was work today then Kris?” Dare asked. Becca nodded her head, curious about his day too, but had too much food in her mouth to say so.

“It was good. Same old, same old. Tomorrow should be interesting though,” He said, laughing.

“Why, what’s wrong?” Dare asked. Kris shook his head.

“Ah most likely nothing. But you never know. Tomorrow could be more interesting,” he said optimistically. Despite not being Dare’s father it was clearly where Dare got it from. Having cleared their plates, the two excused themselves from the table, both heading to different places.

“So what are you off to do while Dora and I go play?” Becca asked, walking with him up the stairs.

“I was thinking if you two were going to have some girl time, maybe I’d hang with the boys,” he said, thinking to himself.

“Sounds sweet,” She said honestly, giving him a gently kiss on the cheek when she reached Dora’s room. She tapped lightly despite not needing to before heading inside to find the bouncing child already there and waiting. She once again ran up to Becca and hugged her legs.

“Becca. I’m going to miss you when you leave,” she said sadly.

“I’m going to miss you too. But it means we’ll look forward to seeing each other again even more,” Becca promised.

“Really? Ok. So what do you want to play?” Dora asked.

“You pick. Just no hide and seek,” Becca near begged.

“Right. Its not a lot of fun with only two people…” She guessed.

“Yeah exactly, and its our time to play,” Becca said, hiding the real reason. The two ended up playing make believe princess games, including dress up and Becca having to do Dora’s hair like she had her own for the date that day. She really was going to miss little Dora when she had to go back to the castle. On occasion she could hear laughter coming in from the boys’ room too, and she was sure they could hear them on occasion too. Everyone was having a great time.

“Alright kiddos, time for bed,” Gwen yelled up the stairs. Becca looked at the time. She must have known how much fun they all were having too with how much later she had let everyone stay up before telling the younger ones to head to bed. Surprisingly enough, none of the little ones groaned at her this time.

“Did anyone hear me?” Gwen asked confused.

“Yes,” Becca confirmed for the girls and Kyren said, “Yes mom” to confirm for the boy team. Becca tucked Dora in, and since she hadn’t heard Dare leave the boys’ room she assumed he was doing the same for them. She read Dora a story as he did the same before heading into her own bed.

The next few days were spent exploring Eruz, now including the kids and occasionally the whole family even went. Everyone wanted a chance to show Becca their own favorite places. And since they already had their date, neither Dare or Becca minded having everyone come along. The days passed by quickly, and Becca knew a chaperone would be by the following day to take her back to the boring castle. As much as she had enjoyed the few days away, she didn’t quite get the adventure she had been hoping for either.

Kris even took Becca’s last day there off from work. It was even more tear filled than Becca had imagined it was going to be. Honestly, Becca had thought it would only be little Dora that cried when the chaperone came to bring her back to the school but it ended up being everyone, herself included. Dora clung onto Becca’s legs again, hoping the chaperone wouldn’t notice and she would be allowed to travel back to the castle with them.

“You ready?” The large man asked with a  gruff voice. Apparently he was unmoved by the scene.

“Almost. Dora sweetie. You need to let go,” she said, gently trying to pry the small girl’s fingers off. She quickly replaced them as Becca moved to the next though.

“I don’t want you to go though!” Dora cried.

“None of us want you to go Becca!” Kyren joined in, still crying himself but trying to hide it. Even Dare nodded his head even though he would see her again once the break was over.

“Enough of this!” The chaperone demanded, out of patience. He removed Dora from Becca himself and handed her to Gwen. Poor Dora began sobbing even more, but the chaperone ignored it picking up Becca’s heavier bag. “Let’s go,” he demanded at her.

“Call us if you ever need anything Becca!” Gwen yelled at Becca’s back as they began the same hike down the mountain.

“I will, thank you Gwen!” she yelled back, over her shoulder. Becca walked, staring at the ground in front of her, tears still falling from her eyes. She used the chaperone’s boots to know the way, her mind lost in her own thoughts. It wasn’t until the man started to talk to her that she came back to reality and saw they were already halfway back to the castle. Becca had somehow missed even following him onto a boat.

“You. You alive in there? I asked you what happened. Were you bad and they sent you back already?” The man asked. He didn’t really seem to care what the answer was, and Becca didn’t understand why he would bother to ask then.

“No. Not my family, so I was only invited for a few days of the break. Time was up,” Becca answered, wiping a few tears from her eyes and trying to keep her voice steady so he wouldn’t know she was still crying.

“So you aren’t going to tell the truth to some stranger. Got it,” he noted, making sure the boat was still on the right track. Luckily for Becca, once they hit Shadefall, it was a rather quick walk the rest of the way to school. She wouldn’t not be missing Gruff’s company any time soon.

Unlike the chaperone that dropped the two of them off at Dare’s house, this one turned around and walked back down the hill once he had delivered Becca safely inside the castle. She wasn’t very surprised to see the Headmistress standing right behind the large heavy doors waiting for her either.

“Rebecca! Did you have a nice time with Darezot’s family?” she asked cheerfully before noticing the tear stains on her face, “Oh no, you’ve been crying. What happened dear?”

“It was a very sad goodbye. No one wanted me to head back.” She explained.

“But the only reason you needed to come back was because they only gave you permission to stay a few days,” Davina said. It sounded like there was a question in there somewhere.

“Right?” Becca said.

“Meaning if everyone there wanted you to stay, you could have. We only brought you back because that was the plan sweetie,” Davina continued.

“You’re saying I could have stayed if Gwen of Kris had told you or even the chaperone?” Becca asked.

“Yes. Well, maybe another time then. I will let you go unpack, but we do have things to discuss in the morning,” Davina said encouragingly.