Preparing for departure

[Lance]

Ciel nodded and walked back into the house, her expression one of regret, she had come to love her friends deeply, they were the family that she had never had...until now. When she entered the house, she saw her friends playing with Noire, who was being climbed on like a jungle gym. "Ummm, h-hey...guys?" The children turned and looked at Ciel, and immediately jumped off of Noire, running over to the girl. "Hey Ciel!" "How's it goin!?" "Do you really have a new mom!?"

Ciel smiled sadly. "Y-yes, that nice lady that found us offered to adopt me, and Mrs Tharja adopted all of you too." The eldest of the children, a young elven boy with sandy blonde hair named Rey, noticed the depressed tone in Ciel's voice. "Hey, Ciel...are you alright?"

Ciel was quiet for a moment, before tears started to well up in her eyes. "Ciel!?" "What's wrong?" Ciel tried to keep herself from crying, but it was hopeless, she covered her eyes and began to sob uncontrollably. "I-I-I can't take you guys with me! Y-you're all going to be without me, and I'm scared because I can't stay with you!" Ciel let out a wail and pulled Rey into a hug, sobbing into his shoulder. "Ciel...but, you're going to a home where you'll be loved, and so are we! Isn't that what you wanted?" Ciel nodded, "Y-yes, but...but..." Ciel's crying started up again, "I DON'T WANNA LEAVE YOU! I DON'T, I DON'T WANNA!" Rey just pulled her into a tighter hug, "Shh, Ciel...it's all right."

Lance ran into the house and saw Ciel sobbing, and he uncharacteristically began to panic, "Oh no, oh no...what do I do, cute kid bawling her eyes out, cannot just sit by and..." Tharja just walked up next to Lance and whacked him on the back of the head. "Calm down you bleeding heart, she's just overwhelmed is all...Let me handle it."

Tharja walked over to the children, several of the younger ones were crying now as well, upset by Ciel's behavior. "Noire, tend to the younger ones, I'll help Ciel." Noire nodded and ran over to the youngest children, pulling them into a group hug and speaking in a motherly tone. "It's alright children, just let it out..."

Tharja dropped to both knees and looked at Rey, the elven boy nodded and let Tharja take Ciel, pulling the girl into a hug. "NO! I DON'T WANNA LEAVE THEM! PLEASE DON'T TAKE THEM AWAY!" Tharja just rubbed the girl's hair, gently shushing the distraught girl. "Shh, Shh...No one is taking them away from you darling. They're with me and Robin, and you are always welcome here, no matter what, or when." Ciel's crying was beginning to die down a tad, she hiccuped and looked up at Tharja, her face streaked with tears. "Y-you mean it?" Tharja smiled, "Of course Child, you are just as much family to us as you are to Aria, we won't keep your friends from you..." Ciel turned and buried her head in Tharja's chest, sobbing. "T-Thank you! I c-couldn't imagine them being gone!" Tharja just patted Ciel's back, humming a soothing tune to try and calm the child

[Arin]

Arin sighed and relaxed the reigns, letting Celeste continue forward at a casual pace as they rode past the clock tower in the middle of the town "Sorry girl...I just want to get out of here without losing my temper again..."

Aria stood and watched from the sidelines as the guards were carrying out bags of coins that were taken by the former earl's increased taxes. Her mind then started wandering to Ciel, and how she felt it not right to just dump her on Arin and the others without seeing them off first. She approached the Lieutenant who was overseeing the entire operation of returning what was taken "I have some personal matters to attend to, are you able to finish this without me?" "Of course, Lady Aria. We will work on establishing a council for governing the town. We will also see to Alastair's integration into society, and make sure he doesn't cut corners in his punishment for his crimes against the people." "Thank you. I will check in from time to time, to see how things have progressed. Farewell!"

Aria opened a rift in space and exited the town, only to find herself back at Tharja's house to the sound of crying children. She walked around until she saw Ciel being comforted by Tharja, and smiled softly, shaking her head. She walked up and stood beside Ciel while she was being held by Tharja "Well, I seem to have missed out on quite a lot." Her voice was soft, and calming, as the silver haired beauty looked down at her new daughter with a smile "I come to check on you before I'm off to do my errands, and here you are crying. What's wrong, little one?"

[Tetsuya]

Luna scratched her cheek at the sound of crying children, not actually having meant for Ciel to cry, and think she would never come back. '...I should be more careful with my choice of words from now on. I never meant to imply she wouldn't be coming back,' she thought to herself. Now she just felt bad she indirectly caused Ciel to shed tears. She wasn't very surprised to see Aria when she popped up out of nowhere... Again!

[Lance]

Tharja answered Ciel's question, the young girl being unable to answer due to her hysterics. "She was under the impression that she wouldn't be able to see her friends after you took her with you. Needless to say, she didn't take that well." Ciel looked up at Aria, her eyes now becoming bloodshot because of her crying. "S-she's not lying is she Ms. Aria? I can see them whenever I want, right?" The desperation in the young girl's voice had an incredibly strong effect on Lance, who clenched his fist. 'She's so used to being lied to by adults, so used to being betrayed...I should have killed that fat fuck when I had the chance. All of her suffering...it's because of him.' Lance's aura flared slightly, something that Robin, who had been trying to help Noire with the younger children, took notice of. "So he's the one..."

[Arin]

Aria knelt down and opened her arms, offering to hug Ciel as close and as tender as a mother could "Of course you can, Ciel, I would never tear you from your friends and family. And if anyone tries to do that, I'll send then into the forests to be punished by the scary monsters that live there. Now come and give me a hug, my sweet daughter." She then looked over at Tharja, a kind smile "If I may ask, do you have a scrying pool or a mystic mirror anywhere in your home? I may be able to have it so she can talk to the other children whenever she starts missing them, if we can't return right away."

[Lance]

Ciel let go of Tharja and ran into Aria's arms, hiding her face in Aria's abdomen. "Thank you mommy!"

Tharja nodded and snapped her fingers. "Accio Magic Mirror." Suddenly, a small, gold mirror shot through the air, weaving past Lance's head and swerving sharply around Aria, landing in Tharja's hand. "This is mirror is enchanted to never break, as well as to allow you to communicate with us, just say who you want to speak to, and it will open a magical window so you and the person on the other end can speak to one another." 

Tharja handed Aria the mirror, "Make sure this is kept somewhere she can't get to it unless given your permission, if she speaks to me while Robin and I are...intimate, it would be awkward for everyone involved, don't you think?" The deadpan tone in Tharja's voice made it sound like such an accident had happened before, and Noire's cheeks gained a faint tinge of pink.

[Arin]

Aria raised an eyebrow when Tharja summoned the mirror with an odd choice of incantation. She took the mirror from Tharja, glancing at Noire when she fidgeted after Tharja's warning, and immediately picked up on what happened, giggling with a faint red in her cheeks from the thought "I'll be sure to keep it secure, don't you worry." She swirled one of her hands around the mirror while another held it in place, the mirror levitating in midair before being swallowed up in a void of sorts "There, now if we ever need it, I will conjure it up and call you first, so everyone is spared any embarrassment...Though I do recommend that if you do that, you make sure the children are away with Noire, or sleeping. Speaking of the little ones, could you bring them all here for a moment, I wanted to give all of them a parting gift. Ciel, why don't you join them, this gift is for all ten of you."

[Tetsuya]

Luna looked around for a bit, figuring this might take a while as she looked for a place to sit. 'I know I'm not one to mope about, but today just got out of control. What should have been a simple task of leaving town turned into an activity filled day that's delayed us. I'm starting to wonder if the fates were messing with us,' she thought to herself.

[Lance]

Tharja nodded,  "Of course, I'm proficient in sound dampening spells as well as enchanting locks." At this point Lance raised his hand. "Okay, is there ANYTHING you can't fu-freaking do?" Tharja smirked, "Well, I can't stand by and let children suffer. I can't tolerate egotistical pigs with more money than sense...what else, oh yes! Tomatoes, I hate tomatoes." Lance rolled his eyes, "Oh great, a mage with a sense of humor."

Tharja rolled her eyes, "Don't you two have somewhere to be? It's going to be sundown sooner than you think, and if you're Ciel's chaperon, I will not stand by and let you travel after dark."

[Arin]

Aria giggled and waved off Tharja's concerns of Traveling after dark "Oh relax, Tharja. It's only noon, they have plenty of time to cover some ground. Besides, Arin is very talented at traveling in any degree of light, he even has some degree of darkvision. Now, why don't we round up all of your friends, Ciel, so I can give you all a special gift before we all go our separate ways."

Arin approached the main gate on the west side of town, glaring at a sketchy looking gentleman who was prancing by with a cloth sack tied around his neck and draped over his back, he was bald, with a silly smile, and the man had a dirty white shirt and blue pants. The man simply kept jogging past, avoiding eye contact while Arin watched the man jog into town. As they made it to the main gate, Arin tugged lightly on the reigns, telling Celeste to stop "Woah girl, woah. We have to wait for the others now..."

[Tetsuya]

"We might need to teleport to the west gate just to have more time to cover as much ground as possible," Luna commented. She proposed a small plan of action whenever it came time to leave. Even though it was noon, it still would be better to leave as soon as possible.

[Lance]

Ciel nodded and called her friends over, and began to explain that she would be able to still talk to and visit them as long as she asked ahead of time. The youngest of the group ran over and hugged Ciel, glad that their friend wasn't going to be gone forever.

Robin spared a glance at Lance, still wondering if this new wind mage was somehow related to the royal family. He shook his head and pulled out some vials. "I can draw up a teleportation circle that'll drop you right next to your friend if I want."

[Arin]

Aria smiled and waved off Robin's offer, approaching Ciel and the other children "That won't be necessary, Robin, I can manage bring them to the western gate myself." She cleared her throat and spoke up to get the children's attention, speaking calmly so as not to alert them "Children, form a line please. There's something I want to give all of you before Ciel and I depart with my friends." She counted out all ten children and began to move her arms into an odd position. Both arms were bent in front of her waist, but her hands were potitioned one upright, with a flat hand, and the other upside down in a similar fashion. She then flipped her hand so they were clasped together, fingers folded together. "I must ask that you all remain perfectly still."

She opened her hands and there was a mild distortion in the air around her fingers, before she pointed all ten digits at the children. Nothing seemed to change, until they noticed that their raggedy clothes were starting to repair themselves. Holes and frayed threads became cleanly knit and smooth to the touch, and faded colors began to return to their original color. For those who had mere rags for cover, the fabric began to restitch themselves into proper articles of clothing, fitting comfortably around the children's bodies. Once their clothes were properly fitted and repaired, Aria used her materialization spell to summon forth a pair of bracelets with an opal gem inserted along the metal band. "Children with proper homes to live in need to have proper clothes to walk around in, not rags. And this." She held up the bracelet for the children, Tharja, and Robin to see

"This is a bracelet that is linked to the one in my other hand. I will resize one to fit Ciel, the other will be left in your care. All you have to do is touch the gem on the bracelet, and think of the person holding the other, it will glow and make a quiet ringing sound. Now, this must be handled with care, so I will entrust this to your new mother, and she will let you use it when you start to miss your friend or want to speak with her." She levitated the bracelet over to Tharja, before looking to Ciel and gesturing for her to come close, so she could fit the bracelet on her arm.

[Tetsuya]

Luna stared in shock and surprise when Aria used her magic to repair the children's clothing, which looked like they were falling apart at the seams. She could barely wrap her head around it. 'How in the world is she managing that!?' she fairly screamed inside her head. She was barely paying attention while Aria was explaining something to the children, trying to figure out how she repaired clothes like she did.

[Lance]

The Children looked at their new clothes and let out a peal of joyous laughter. They then ran at Aria and embraced her all at the same time, nearly knocking her off of her feet. "Thank you!" Ciel smiled at the sight, her friends were happy, she wasn't going to have to leave them forever, and everyone had a new family.

Tharja nodded and grabbed the Bangle, snapping it onto her wrist and examining it. "Hmm, excellent metalwork, not to mention the charm...thank you Aria, I'll be sure to not deny them their request too often, but I'm sure you'll be teaching Ciel some interesting things."