Chapter 472: 472. Look Who’s Back! And They’re Engaged! (Another Good Shit~!)

Rex said nothing. He noted that Elizabeth did not look at him when she turned back around, which she had been doing naturally up until thirty seconds ago.

He noted the particular way she re-established her professional posture, the small, deliberate straightening, and that this time it was working harder than it usually did.

He did not know what was in the letter.

He did not need to know what was in the letter to have a reasonable working hypothesis about the kind of thing it contained.

I know that bitch is probably talking about me...

Elizabeth said, "We should keep moving," and began walking again. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

They kept moving.

They had nearly reached the Academy gate when a voice called across the plaza, and Rex looked up to see someone familiar at a distance of about forty meters, covering it with the energetic stride of someone who has been traveling for several days and is very happy to be done.

"Elizabeth!"

It was Elliot.

Elliot’s voice had the carrying quality of someone who had grown up using volume as a tool. "Diana! Lily!"

’Holy shit... it’s been a while meeting them again.’ Rex thought. ’I thought they were gone for ever because of the expedition, but it seems like they really came back with something exciting, maybe.’

He was moving toward them at a pace just below a jog, which polite public behavior suggested was the acceptable limit. Beside him, at a more measured walk, was Evelyn Astralight. She bore the expedition-return look that Rex recognized from his own recent experience: functional clothing, signs of several days spent outdoors, and the unmistakable expression of someone relieved to be back in the city.

Evelyn was also wearing something on her left hand that caught Rex’s attention before he had fully processed it: a ring, simple and clear, not a piece of practical jewelry but rather one intended for a specific purpose.

’Oh..? A ring...?’ Rex smirked. ’Now that’s something I look forward to getting to know.’

"Elliot," Elizabeth said, allowing the professional precision in her voice to transform into a genuine warmth.

This warmth was uniquely reserved for her nephew, differing in texture from her usual demeanor. She met him at the midpoint of the remaining distance, and he wrapped his arms around her with the unceremonious enthusiasm of a person who was not concerned with appearances when his sister was involved.

"You look tired," he said.

"The same goes for you to look like you slept in a field for three days," she said.

"We slept in several fields," he said cheerfully. "And to tell you what, it was excellent."

He stepped back and held her by the shoulders briefly, the way someone does when they want to look at a person properly. "Genuinely though, are you all right?"

"You have the face you make after review weeks."

"It’s true... I have a lot of review work," Elizabeth said.

"That’s not what I asked."

"I’m fine, Elliot."

He studied her for a moment longer, assessing her as a mother who had known her long enough to discern the subtle differences between "fine" and "fine." Then, he accepted her response as one does with matters they plan to revisit later.

"Okay," he said. "Tell me when you’re ready to complain about it."

"I don’t complain," Elizabeth said.

"You do complain; you just call it a debrief," he said with a smile.

She made a sound that indicated he had accurately captured her sentiment, though it was not quite a laugh. "Oh, come on now..."

He stepped back and looked at the assembled group, and his eyes landed on Rex with the particular attention he gave to people he knew he recognized but was placing in context. "I’m glad to finally meet you again, Rex, it has been a while."

"Likewise," Rex nodded.

"And I’m glad you’re back too. Did you go on the canyon expedition?"

"The same one," Rex said.

"And you’re all in one piece, which was good." He said it with the straightforward approval of someone who had decided Rex was a person he liked and was applying that decision consistently. "I know that you’re going to be the one protecting them all because I trained you back then, hahaha."

’What the fuck is this guy yapping about...?’ Rex thought. ’He teaches me nothing other than being a dumbass who almost got killed by the Goblin King.’

"The canyon was unpleasant," Rex said.

"The ones that are worth going to usually are," Elliot said, in the tone of someone who had been on enough of them to have an opinion. "What was the terrain like?"

"Elizabeth’s letters never have enough terrain detail."

"My letters have appropriate terrain detail," Elizabeth said.

"Not for someone who might need to operate in the same area," Elliot said, which was the logic of a person who approached all correspondence as potentially tactically relevant.

He looked at Rex. "Canyon or gorge system?"

"Canyon, with a gorge tributary at the secondary level. The main corridor had collapsed," Rex said. "We entered at the second level through the tributary."

Elliot nodded with the focused attention he gave to field information. "Rope-dependent descent?"

"There were sections," Rex said.

"Iris handled those," Elizabeth added. "She’s very good."

"Nightwing unit training," Elliot said, as if this explained everything, which in his world it probably did. "They do a vertical terrain course that sounds genuinely horrible."

He paused. "Was Iris all right? I heard her boyfriend went in with the first group."

"He was," Elizabeth said. "He’s back, and, in fact, everyone came back safely."

Elliot’s expression shifted slightly into the specific warmth of someone receiving genuinely good news. "That’s the best possible outcome."

"I’ll take it." He looked around the group again, at Diana and Lily, with the broad satisfaction of someone who has been away for a week and is pleased to find things intact. "Ah~! My sisters~!"

"You both look well," he said.

"We’re very well," Lily said, and the speed of her response conveyed multiple aspects of the quality of the past week, none of which she intended to discuss in the street.

"Good," Elliot said.

"Always knew that both of you could handle the household by yourselves." He spoke simply and without pressing, as his relationship with his sisters was based more on the quality of their presence than on extracting information.

Lily immediately approached Evelyn, as she often did with those she truly cared for. Evelyn welcomed her with a warmth that contrasted with her usual perceptiveness, revealing the part of her that existed before her analytical nature took over.

"I missed you, Evelyn~!" Lily said, which came out with the direct sincerity she reserved for people she actually meant it for.

"I missed you too," Evelyn said. "You look like you’ve had a good long week, Lily."

"An interesting one," Lily said, which was accurate and complete.

"Interesting good or interesting complicated?"

"Both," Lily said. "But mostly good."

"I’m glad to hear it." Evelyn smiled at her, and there was something in it that was more than just warmth, the specific expression of someone who is noticing more than they are reacting to.

"I’ll want to hear about it," she said.

"You will," Lily said, her attention suddenly drawn to Evelyn’s left hand, causing everything else in her expression to fade away momentarily.

Then Diana’s gaze shifted to Evelyn’s left hand as well, and her expression transformed in that distinct way it did when she was processing something important while maintaining a composed demeanor.

"Whooooaaaa~! Evelyn!" Diana said while pointing at the ring. "When did that happen?!"

Evelyn glanced at her hand, and her expression mirrored that of someone who has been eagerly anticipating a particular person’s acknowledgment and is genuinely thrilled that they finally noticed.

"Oh... this is..."

"It happened three days ago," she said. "We were at the ridge viewpoint on the northern approach, and Elliot had apparently been carrying the ring for two weeks, and the right moment presented itself."

She paused. "He completely failed to be subtle about building up to it, which somehow made it better rather than worse."

Elliot, who was standing close enough to hear this, said, "I have my approach, and at least..."

"...my approach works," with the confidence of a man who had just conclusively proven his approach worked.

"He asked four separate questions that were all clearly introductory to the same question," Evelyn said, "and by the third one I was trying not to smile, and by the fourth I was just waiting for the actual question."

’Don’t tell me this fucking bum fumbles it... and oh wow, both are engaged like Alexander and Elizabeth, which is good shit.’ Rex smiles behind his calm expression.

"The actual question was very good," Elliot said.

"It was," Evelyn agreed.

"What did you say?" Lily demanded, looking at Elliot.

"It was private," Elliot said, his tone reflecting a man who was genuinely proud of his words but found the act of restraint more challenging than he let on.

"I want to know! Please..."

"It was private, Lily."

"Diana," Lily said, immediately redirecting to the sibling she assessed as more negotiable.

"I don’t know either," Diana said. "I’m as uninformed as you."

"You could have written," Lily said to Evelyn, with the mild reproach of someone who is not actually reproaching.

"It happened three days ago," Evelyn said. "I’m telling you now."

"You could have sent a message ahead."

"Lily," Evelyn said, using the particular patience she reserved for Lily during her more difficult moments.

"I wanted to tell you in person."