Chapter 561 561 Ella's Initiative
Chapter 561 561 Ella’s Initiative
In the small house attached to the Mariel Auto Repair Shop in Morgana Fortress City, Ella was doing her best to adapt to the smell of the city, while also trying to accept that fact that her childhood had actually smelled horrific.
The only bright point in the scent of this place was her mother’s cooking, which she had nearly burnt again in the woman’s excitement to have her daughter home.
“I told you Mom, the meetings are going to take some time. You don’t need to panic every time that I leave the house.” Ella reminded the portly older woman with an indulgent smile.
“But if you had stayed at the Academy, you would have been home to visit by now.” Her mother countered.
“That’s not true. With all that has happened, none of the students have returned home unless they failed out of the Academy, you wouldn’t have seen me for two more years. Now, if you slice the meatloaf, I will finish this salad, and we can have dinner ready before Dad locks up for the night.” Ella gently reminded her.
The meetings with the Crime Families had been slow. Nobody was willing to bring a strange mechanic into the presence of their leaders, and Ella wasn’t ready to reveal herself and start the chain of events that would inevitably follow the witches in the city realizing that there was a Rank Three witch among them.
With the war in the Frozen Wastes, many would assume that she was an enemy, and it wouldn’t help with some of these stubborn old men.
Her time wasn’t infinite, so it was time that she headed to the Noxus Family compound directly. She had the mark of the Inheritance, which contained the Noxus Family logo, as she was the Consort of the true Magi Clan leader.
That should be enough to get her in the door, and then she needed to make Wolfe’s Uncle see sense and agree to send the men with skills to be trained with them. After that, she would need to ask for a favour of him, and get the other leaders together so that she could explain that training the Magi descendants was necessary, and that they needed real teachers, which currently only existed in the Fae Forest.
Dinner was usually a quiet affair at her house, with her father too tired to talk much, but lately, her mother made up for it, and the three of them managed to maintain a fairly lively atmosphere as they ate.
“So, where did you need to go tonight? It’s a number of floors down, isn’t it? That big Family’s main house,” her mother asked.
“Yeah, the Noxus Family house is seven floors down from us, but I have plenty of time to get there before curfew. I expect that our meetings will likely take all night, so there is no need to wait up for me after curfew. They will send hopefully manage to arrange meetings tomorrow, so I won’t be around the shop at all. But after that, I should be back for at least one more night before I have to go home to the Forest.” Ella explained.
“So soon? Couldn’t you spare just a month or two for your dear mother? It’s not that much to ask.” The older woman complained.
“Mom, it will be winter soon, I can’t be travelling around the Frozen Wastes in the winter, and there are refugees and trainees to help move around. I really can’t stay longer. Even delaying this last week has been too long.” Ella replied with a sigh.
Her mother hadn’t wanted to let her go to the Academy in the first place. They had no other kids around, and having their baby girl away was too much for her.
“Alright, fine. Go do your important things that are so urgent that you don’t mind breaking your mother’s heart when you leave again.”
“Elanor, quit it. It’s hard enough for her living out in the Frozen Wastes without you giving her a guilt trip the first time she comes back for business.” Ella’s father reprimanded his wife, which earned him a glare that promised retribution later.
The rest of the dinner finished in silence, with her mother’s attitude getting colder and colder by the second, until Ella finally caved and tried to defuse the tension.
“You know, if you can’t bear to be separated again, you could come back with me. We can always use skilled cooks in the Forest. Then we would be together almost every evening.” Ella suggested.
“And leave this idiot here unsupervised with that deadbeat of a successor he’s chosen? No, my place is right here at home with my husband, as I’m sure your place will be once you decide to settle down.” Elanor dismissed her suggestion.
Ella hadn’t had the heart to tell her that she had a Consort Bond with Wolfe, as she was afraid it would be taken as cutting her mother out of the wedding planning, and that was a fight that she really didn’t need to have.
In fact, her mother knew very little about what went on at the Academy, and even less about what went on in the Fae Forest, other than the details about her friends and how the place looked.
She helped her mother with the dishes, and then headed for the door, planning to catch a cab down the floors.
“Ella, take this. You can bring it back when you’re finished with your work.” Her father called out, tossing her a set of keys that she immediately recognized as belonging to his old motorcycle.
“Thanks Dad. I’ll take good care of her.” She replied with a smile as she headed for the shed where the beast was stored away, waiting for the day it was needed again.
The modified street racing bike was hooked to the battery tender, fully charged and ready to go, so her father must have planned the gift in advance, a touching gesture that warmed Ella’s heart as she checked the tire pressures and rolled the bike out into the alley.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. Take care of yourself tonight. Mother isn’t going to let it go that easily.” Ella warned him.
“You let me deal with your mother. I have decades of practice. Just make sure that you’re inside before curfew. Things can get chaotic lately.”