49 On the way

I awoke only to find that our carriage was unmoving, looking around I found that my Sister was in the seat infront of me and was laying peacefully on her sleep. The carriage had two doors, one in the left and one on the right; both had windows that lets you see outside. Moving the curtain aside, I saw that it was already deep into the night as snow fell gracefully. At the corner of my eye, I found a light of a flame presumably a campfire. Seeing as to how my Mother is currently not in the carriage with us, I can only assume that it is her.

Rubbing my still sleepy eyes, I got off the backseat and opened the door. The winter winds chilled me instantly the moment I got out of the carriage. I forgot to take my warmer clothes with me causing my body to be exposed at the cold more quickly. Just as I was about to re-enter the carriage, Mother seemed to have heard the sound of the door opening as she called out to me.

"Dear, you're awake already? You'll be cold dressed like that" Mom said before gesturing that I should go to her

"Mom..." I said before sitting next to her, but I still felt pretty chilly.

Mom was sitting at a slab stone a safe distance from the campfire she set up, dressed warmly. She had her coat, her winter boots, as well as a scarf wrapped around her neck. Snow continued to lightly fall from the dark night sky and it was already deep into the night, the light of the fire illuminated Mother's beautiful face as she looked at me lovingly.

"No dear, I meant here~" Mom giggled seeing me wrap my arms around myself, before making me sit between her legs. She then leaned forward before she gently wrap her arms around me.

"There~ All warm." She let out a chuckle as she said so

Truly I felt warm as well as Mom's warmth seeped into me. She took off her scarf before wrapping them around me. Not to mention, in my current position the back of my head was resting against her soft chest causing me not to only feel warm, but very comfortable as well.

I felt like if I didn't force myself to stay awake, I could accidentally slip into a slumber due to how comfortable I felt. It truly felt like I was at the safety of my home despite us stopping in the middle of nowhere. Mom's gentleness and softness as she hugs me and the safety she brings, eased me so much more than the hard seat of the carriage earlier.

It felt nice and liberating being around my family lately. Unlike before, when I was on constant guard and alert. 'How much should I show?', 'Am I supposed to know this by now?', or 'How can I get them to do this' such thought would always be on my mind. I do not think I was acting when I acted more comfortable with Aerin than I did with my family back then, for it truly felt that way for some time. But now being around my Mother and my Sister felt like actual… family. As weird as that sounds. It was like that feeling of taking off your stiff uniform after a long day in school or work, it just felt liberating to be in your home.

"How long till we get there Mom?" I asked and since she was behind me, I had to tilt my head backwards as I looked up to her

"Around a day or two" Mom smiled as she answered

Seeing me look up to her like that, she smiled before she played with my cheeks like it was dough. She pinched and kneaded my face, trying to make as much funny faces as she could whilst she giggled.

"Dear, when we get to the city, don't just show your vegetable magic to everyone, okay?" Mom said

"Vegetable magic?" I found it funny that Mom just calls it as 'vegetables'

"Yes, your vegetable magic" she chuckled

"It's dark magic afterall, dear. You can use it at home though, Mom doesn't mind it when you help me sort out vegetables" Mom said, before continuing as she lightly shook me

"Dark magic?" I frowned for a second, before I thought back to elemental magic.

If I remember correctly, anything other than that would be classified 'dark magic'. So technically my magic is lumped together with the likes of necromancy and the like.

"Is teacher, okay?" I asked

Celine has already told us of how her sponsor is Aerin's family and of her noble status. I remember that Aerin has read my notes before when she visited us and asked me to show her my 'Nature' magic.

"Really? Well..." Mom thought about it for quite some time

"Well, if she knew and didn't do anything about it, she shouldn't mind?" Mom finally came to a conclusion

"She taught you for years by now after all, she should know that you're not someone bad" She added

That seemed fairly reasonable as well. She watched me grow up just like Mom and Sis, so she should have a grasp of my 'personality'. Not to mention, my notes not only contained about my ability to use nature magic but my thought regarding dark magic in general. To which when she read, only claimed that it was 'Interesting' to say the least.

I remember the human poachers I killed, which deemed me as a heretic back then. So I can assume that there are people like that, with extreme religious faith or those blinded by ignorance, and there are others that are more 'open-minded' to say the least.

"But don't let your guard down, okay?" Mom told me

"I see" I replied

"What were you doing outside Mom?" I then asked

"Just watching over us." Mom replied as she patted the sheath of her sword laying diagonally against the rock

"But it looks it was all in vain. We're alone in this area after all" Mom said just when a cold breezed passed us by

The wind caused some of Mom's hair to get on my face. I moved them away with my fingers and by doing so I got a good luck of our surroundings. Though I've been out for a few minutes already, most of my attention was directed towards Mom. So when I finally paid attention, what greeted my eyes was the picturesque scene of a vast snowy grasslands. Looking around I finally realized just how alone we truly were in this area. Other than the unmoving carriage, the sleeping horses next to the flame, and us sitting at the stone, there wasn't any trace of a single soul as far as my eyes can see.

Seeing my wonder for the fantasy-esque landscape infront of me, Mom giggled like she was looking at a country bumpkin.

"It's your first time leaving the forest right? Look, the outside world is truly beautiful" Mom said as she presented the beautiful landscape infront of me.

"It really is" I replied

"Look towards the east, dear" Mom put me on her lap as she pointed towards a certain direction

When I turned my head towards the direction we came from, I saw a vast mountain range standing proudly from the distance. It was so far away that I could see there were no clouds in that direction, judging by the fact that the Moon was shining bright just above the Mountains. The peaks were frozen with ice as a testament to their sheer height, and it was so vast that it spanned the entire eastern horizon.

"That's the Rosana Highlands dear, even though it's already pretty vast looking at it from here, there are still a lot more mountains behind what we can see. In fact it is so vast, it has more territory than some of the smaller countries in the continent." Mom explained

"Directly behind it are three countries" Mom added

I looked at Mom's lovely face full of excitement and glee as she told me about certain locations. It was the face of someone who had a lot of stories that they wanted to share. According to her, up in the north, were vast taigas and the Northern Sea. It was the only large body of water that our country bordered, and even then it was one that is in a constant state of ice, unusable and unnavigable. She then started talking about the south with excitement like a grandpa who wanted to tell of his adventures.

"Have you been there Mom?" Curious, I asked, looking back at her

"Hm?" Mom tilted her head

"The south" I clarified

"Oh..." Mom finally understood what I meant, and then her face had a proud look before she started to explain. Finding the highest point she could find, we left our campsite, leaving behind the horses and the carriage where Sister was sleeping. The highest point she could find was a large rock a few dozens of meters away from the campsite. Swiftly climbing to the top, we were then a dozen meters above the ground.

I still didn't have proper winter clothing other than the scarf Mom gave me earlier. Seeing me shiver, Mom put me in her embrace as she pointed to the south.

"Our country is now vast, Riel. In the south, we border three different countries. All of three them ruled by humans. But it didn't use to be that way. We were just a small kingdom, a few decades ago." Mom said

"You asked, if I have ever been in the south, right?" Mom continued

"Yes I have, dear. As far south as Valia and Belmaria, lands of fertility and harvest. We even reached the Southern Sea, you know? " Mom said with a proud face

I frowned at her words, especially the 'we' part. I already had a hunch that she was involved in the Military before, considering her uniform when she left and her ornamental sword. Not to mention, Celine must have inherited all her violence from someone. So to finally confirm what she meant, I asked

"Were you visiting?" and hearing that Mom's face became even more smug, so much so that it reminded me of Celine

"No dear, it was occupation." Mom answered before pointing south again

"It's pretty dark now, so you can't see all of it. But this rock we're standing on, this vast grassland where we currently are, and far down the horizon into the fields of wheat down south. We won all of these lands from those humans" Mom said as she reminisce of her glory days

"Ohhh, really?" I was surprised

"Yes dear and it was glorious. It's a long story but, after years of constant pillaging and enslavement, things finally changed for the better." Mom smiled as she thought back to it

From what I read from works of fiction in my previous life, granted I haven't read that much other than the ones I needed for school. But from the few works of fiction I've read that included elves, most depicted them as this peaceful nature-loving race, some they were even the primary victims of human enslavement. Atleast from what I can vaguely remember based on my ever-fading memories regarding my previous life. So it's nice that they got their shit together this time for once.

"Well… things kind of turned bad later on, but we still kept some of the lands that we took at our peak." Mom said while scratching her head

"What was your role Mom?" I was curious

"I was just a soldier, dear. But I was a good one, mind you." Mom said as we slowly descended the rock we were standing on earlier

As we walked back the campfire, Mom continued excitedly telling me of her stories. It felt like she was bragging to me about how great she was, and I was more than happy to listen seeing her charming face so happy as she proudly told me of her achievements. We sat on the slab of stone around the fire as she told me stories. It was only when another cold wind blew and I sneezed that she realized she's been talking for too long.

"Oh dear, I forgot you're still cold." Mom said as she pulled close and made me sit between her legs again.

Once again, Mom's warmth surrounded me as she wrapped her arms around me. I laid my head back so that it nestled itself between her two soft breasts, as I made myself feel as comfortable as possible. I looked up to her charming face again, she still was happy from earlier. The slight breeze made her hair flow with the wind as some of it got to her face.

It didn't tarnish her beauty in the slightest, as she put on a loving smile once she saw me looking at her. With my face looking up, she lowered her head as she planted a sultry kiss on my lips.

"Proud of your Mother?" She smiled as she asked

"I always was" I answered as I rubbed her thigh with my hand

Looking around, there wasn't anyone I could see as far as my eyes could look. Celine was sleeping deeply inside the carriage, and it was just me and Mom outside all alone. We haven't done it for days due to our travel and it seemed that Mom also had the same idea.

"Dear… we're alone" Mom said as she lightly bit the tip of my pointy ears

"I see..." I shivered lightly at the unfamiliar sensation

"Dear… Celine is sleeping" Mom said as her hands slipped inside my clothes

"I know..." I said 'weakly', but inside I was also excited.

"No one needs to know..." Mom said as she caressed my face

"Yes Mom, No one would know" I reassured her

Once again, I smiled inside as I felt firsthand the fruits of my effort. Such things would never happen, a few years ago, or even a few months ago. But now-

"Remember Mom… this is all your idea" I said like it couldn't be helped