Jeanne naturally saw the tears tracing down Talulah's face, thinking to herself that she hadn't even been gone for that long. How had this usually stubborn dragon turned so sentimental, welling up the very instant they crossed paths again?
Still, seeing Talulah reduced to tears by her return brought a wave of genuine warmth to Jeanne's heart. She had never imagined that she held such an exalted position in the leader's thoughts, to the point where half a year of longing could transform into physical tears.
"Whoa, you actually wept! Is it truly that dramatic?" Jeanne teased, giving Talulah a hearty pat on the shoulder as she greeted the rest of the gathered scouts. "I wasn't away for an eternity. Besides, didn't I maintain our voice connection throughout my travels? Your reaction makes it seem as though decades have slipped away..."
As she chatted, Jeanne harbored her own quiet curiosity: how on earth had these individuals anticipated her return along this exact trail? After all, even she hadn't been certain which path she would navigate back to the settlement.
For a traveler relying entirely on divine revelation to chart her course across the tundra, keeping track of specific paths was a zero-priority concern. The revelation simply illuminated a direction, though due to Jeanne's own shifting thoughts, the guidance often felt completely spontaneous.
Jeanne studied Talulah as they stood in the snow. Has this dragon actually grown taller again? she mused. You're already in your twenties; can someone even undergo a secondary growth spurt at that age?
As for Fafnir? Jeanne had left the sleeping youngster nestled in the passenger seat for the time being, reasoning it would be far better to introduce the child to Talulah in private, away from the prying eyes of the vanguard.
"Who on earth is weeping out of longing for you?!" Talulah shot back, her tone sharp with immediate, defensive irritation as her vision finally recovered from the blinding glare. "Why don't you stand out here in the pitch-black wilderness and let someone blast you squarely in the face with high beams? If a single tear doesn't drop from your eyes, I'll happily eat my own winter blankets tonight!"
Despite her grumbling, her gaze remained anchored on the familiar, radiant figure before her.
Jeanne hadn't altered a single bit; her stature, her frame, and her vibrant demeanor remained identical to the day she had departed the frontier. She still radiated the exact same boundless energy, looking thoroughly unbothered by the grueling hardships of the Kazdel campaigns.
It was glaringly obvious that her time away hadn't changed her core. She was still the very same Jeanne who preferred taking afternoon naps in fresh haystacks and completely folded the moment anyone presented her with a complex mathematical equation.
As they conversed, zero awkwardness or distance manifested between them despite their half-year separation. Then again, a six-month interval punctuated by regular audio updates was hardly enough to fracture a bond as steadfast as theirs.
"Whoa! I can't believe it's actually Jeanne! We received zero intelligence regarding your return!"
"Exactly! This expedition of yours was incredibly long. It's been over half a year since we last shared a meal!"
"How did the campaign treat you? The legendary tales filtering out of Kazdel are all anyone talks about! When the rumors first reached our ears, we honestly found it difficult to credit that you accomplished all those feats..."
Once the surrounding troops verified her identity, the entire scout detachment swarmed around their long-lost companion, eagerly shouting their greetings and expressing their profound joy at her safe return.
The young woman who had vanished into the wilderness for months—and single-handedly assisted the core leadership of Kazdel in resolving a brutal civil war—now found herself thoroughly pinned in the center of a chaotic circle, bombarded by a dozen questions at once.
Meanwhile, FrostNova remained stationary on the perimeter. Her gaze drifted toward the rowdy members of her Yeti Squadron, who were presently making an absolute spectacle of themselves around Jeanne. She silently resolved that the moment they crossed the threshold of the camp, she would orchestrate a thorough, agonizing discipline session to restore her squad's dignity.
Yet, the underlying anxiety within FrostNova's heart failed to dissipate. Instinct told her that this riddle wasn't fully unraveled. The presence of Jeanne alone wasn't a potent enough variable to reduce those ferocious lesser dragons to a state of absolute, trembling terror. This meant that whatever the beasts truly dreaded had zero connection to the silver-haired maiden!
Perhaps Jeanne's arrival at this precise hour was a mere coincidence, and the authentic hazard was still lurking somewhere in the dark... FrostNova scanned the surrounding timberline, her eyes searching the dense shadows for any structural anomaly, desperate to verify if a hidden adversary was currently tracking their movements.
The veteran Shieldguards shared her cautious mindset. After casting a few warm glances toward the shouting yetis, they deployed across the immediate perimeter alongside FrostNova, scanning the terrain for potential threats. Yet, their efforts yielded zero results.
Suddenly, FrostNova's sharp eyes caught a fleeting movement within the chassis of Jeanne's transport. For a fraction of a second, she discerned what appeared to be the distinct silhouette of a tail brushing against the rear glass—a detail that had entirely escaped the notice of the cheering soldiers.
Did my senses deceive me? she wondered, a thread of hesitation twisting her thoughts. She glanced back at the circle; Talulah and the yetis were still entirely absorbed in their discussion with Jeanne, while the Shieldguards maintained their defensive watch.
Driven by curiosity, FrostNova quietly drifted away from the main group, stepping toward the passenger side of the vehicle. She simply needed to verify whether her vision had suffered a lapse, sliding close to the glass to peer into the darkened cabin while everyone else remained distracted.
In the next instant, FrostNova's entire frame locked down in absolute stasis.
Her gaze darted from the interior of the transport to the dragon leader standing a few yards away, then snapped back to the cabin, and then once more toward Talulah.
A profoundly bewildered expression settled over FrostNova's features, her mind experiencing a literal structural tremor. A variable that defied every known law of biology and logic was resting right before her eyes!
Curled up comfortably on the passenger cushion was a young child who looked precisely like a miniature, scaled-down duplicate of Talulah, holding her tail tightly as she drifted through a peaceful dream. She was sleeping exceptionally soundly, to the point where a small trail of drool was steadily pooling on the fabric of the seat.
Fafnir remained entirely undisturbed by the raucous shouting echoing outside the chassis, her features locked in a serene expression that suggested a magnificent dream, her tail swaying with a rhythmic, lazy beat.
But the child's comfort was of zero consequence to FrostNova's sanity. Why on earth did this youngster share a near-flawless structural resemblance to their leader? Was this a long-lost younger sibling Talulah had somehow neglected to mention? But Talulah's sole sibling was a dragon of a completely different lineage—so what manner of riddle was this?
Furthermore, the age parameters made zero sense. Given the physical development of the child, concluding that she was Talulah's biological daughter was a thousand times more plausible than claiming she was a sister. What manner of bizarre enterprise had Jeanne actually engaged in during her time in Kazdel?
For a fleeting second, FrostNova felt her fundamental understanding of the world fracturing beneath the weight of the impact. Had she not deployed every ounce of her immense mental discipline to anchor her focus, her entire worldview would have dissolved into absolute ruin.
Dismantling a potential adversary was completely wiped from her agenda. Moving with the rigid, mechanical steps of someone weathering extreme shock, she drifted off to a solitary corner of the clearing, her mind entirely consumed by the staggering implications of what she had witnessed.
Amid the festive celebration surrounding Jeanne's return, the rest of the vanguard failed to detect FrostNova's erratic behavior—just as they remained completely oblivious to the fact that a miniature duplicate of their leader was nestled within the transport.
On the other side of the clearing, Jeanne finally deduced the authentic reason behind the sudden gathering of the scouts. She had completely neglected the presence of the lesser dragons she had stationed around the valley, and she had entirely overlooked how their instinctual tracking would respond to Fafnir's presence.
Even though Fafnir hadn't actively unleashed her full draconic heritage, the passive, minute ripples leaking from her frame were more than enough for the lesser beasts to register, striking them with a wave of primal dread that bordered on absolute despair.
"So that was the root of the disturbance?" Jeanne began, weaving a thoroughly uninspired falsehood to pacify the crowd, keeping her expression entirely level. "It is highly probable that my prolonged absence caused them to experience a strange reaction the moment they tracked my approach... Rest your anxieties, everything is perfectly secure."
She didn't dare reveal Fafnir's presence to the rank-and-file at this juncture. If she allowed that truth to slip out now, the sheer scale of the ensuing domestic chaos would be impossible to contain.
Contemplating the magnificent storm brewing on the horizon, Jeanne felt a sudden premonition that her return to the tundra would spark some exceptionally dramatic developments—though she couldn't quite discern whether the individual facing the brunt of that drama would be herself or... a certain dragon.
A sudden, icy shiver raced down Talulah's spine, as though an invisible architect were engineering a complex plot in the shadows. Her sharp instincts screamed that a major variable was about to collapse upon her.
"Alright, that is enough hovering in the freezing cold!" FrostNova commanded, her voice cutting through the chatter as she steered her Yeti Squadron away from the transport. Now that her composure was restored, she recognized that standing around the vehicle indefinitely was a terrible arrangement. "Since Jeanne has verified that the perimeter is secure, we shall chart a course back to the camp. We can conclude our discussions within the warmth of the hearths!"
The Shieldguards smoothly followed FrostNova's lead, even though they failed to comprehend why the white rabbit was suddenly hurrying them back before the two main leaders. They simply executed the command without argument.
Within a handful of moments, the clearing cleared out, leaving only Jeanne and Talulah standing beside the idling transport. They exchanged a long, quiet look before Jeanne finally reached out, grasping Talulah's sleeve and guiding her toward the passenger side door.
"Talulah, I brought back an exceptionally shocking souvenir from my travels. You must promise me to maintain your complete composure."
Jeanne carefully reached for the handle, pulling the door open before Talulah could formulate a verbal response. Right at that exact instant, a sweet, sleepy, child-like voice drifted clearly from the interior of the cabin.
"Mother!"
Talulah: "!!!!!"
Jeanne: "!!!!!"