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    Touching down on the mother tree was an experience. The design of the whole place was very holistic and natural, and they’d clearly paid attention to the scenery. As we emerged from between a pair of giant leaves, golden sunlight from the undersides shone down onto a huge plains area dotted with cities and buildings.


    The grass was so green it almost hurt to look at it for too long, beautiful idyllic flowers dotted the landscape, and the rolling fields of grass were interspersed with what looked like hard wood roads, carefully fitted together from stained and polished pieces of intricately shaped lumber. The buildings themselves were all a sort of twisting wooden structure grown from the emerging roots of large trees that were themselves part of a forest under the boughs of the mother tree.


    It smelled amazing, the scent of the leaves carrying across the plains and even up to where our shuttle descended, and on the ground I could see crowds of people waiting, some familiar, some not, and some of them…green.


    Ok, I’d known they were dryads, but I hadn’t expected like…dryads. Greens of every hue and shade. Some dark emerald or hunter green, some so bright they looked almost gold. Every dryad had a unique pattern to their hair as well, some flowers, some leaves, some vines or branches like a weeping willow, but all subtly different and distinct to the dryad in question.


    As we approached, I got sick of waiting. With a strong flex of my wings I leapt out of the shuttle, catching the scented air to glide gently down toward a familiar dark haired form.


    I hit the ground at a graceful walk, folding my wings just in time to take a wife shaped missile to the chest that I swear almost dented my armor as Callie smashed into me, legs wrapping around my waist as she kissed me senseless.


    “Oh, gross!” complained my sister as she caught up. “You’re married now, all the passion is supposed to be gone from your relationship.”


    There was a throat clearing from behind her, and my mother’s voice rang out acerbically as she said. “You shouldn’t tease your brother. Especially not when I don’t see you bringing anyone home. You’re not getting any younger you know, dear.”


    “I’m in my early twenties!” snapped Chelsea, outraged. “Grandpa tell her she’s being crazy!”


    My grandfather snorted. “Obviously, my precious grandaughter isn’t getting married before she’s at least a century old. I won’t stand for it. Gods forbid she runs off with some shady ragamuffin like you did.”


    I pulled away from Callie, laughing at his wry tone. “I’d call my dad a lot of things, gramps, but I don’t know if I’d call him a ragamuffin.”


    My mother rolled her eyes as she plucked Callie off me, dropping my wife gently on the grass as she pulled me in for a hug. Once she’d successfully reconfigured my spinal column, she shoved me away, holding me by the shoulders as she looked me over. “Let me look at you. Everything is still attached, even your wings.” She paused. “Wait…those are new.” She shrugged. “That’s fine, extra pieces are allowed as long as you’re not missing anything.”


    “I told you he was fine,” said my grandmother as she stepped out from behind the slowly gathering crowd of my loved ones. “Sorana told me exactly what condition he was in and I passed it on. You’re being a…what was the word you children use these days? A helicopter parent?”


    Mom turned and gave her a flat stare. “Mom, when I was seventeen you had me kidnapped and put into a hyper realistic illusion so I would think I was taking a trip to a resort planet. You had the native fruits and some cultural knick knacks SHIPPED across the galaxy and filled my luggage with them. It took me two and a half years to figure out I hadn’t gone anywhere.”


    “Well, you weren’t listening dear,” my grandmother said patiently. “Dravorax the Unhinged had just declared war on your third uncle, and it was too dangerous to be in the Daliax Cluster. You got to enjoy all the high points of the trip with none of the inconvenience.”


    My mom threw her hands in the air. “I’m not having this argument with you again! I don’t know how to explain to you that abducting and mind controlling your child so they don’t have a beach weekend is not okay!” She whirled on my grandfather. “Dad can you talk to her please? She always does this!”


    Sighing, he shot me a long suffering look. “Celia personal privacy is important, Sasha your mother loves you and was just trying to keep you safe.”


    “Fine! Take her side!” The two of them spat in stereo.


    His shoulders slumped as he turned to me, gesturing expansively at the two of them. “This is my life. Jokes aside, I swear they do love each other. They can put aside the squabbling when its important, like the whole Black Sorrow thing, but when everything is calm they tend to fight. They’re too similar to get along well most of the time. It’s better now. When Sasha was a teenager their fights were SO much worse. They kind of became friends when she grew up.”The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    “We are NOT similar,” said my mother acidly. “I, for instance, have never traveled across a galaxy to hover over my husband because I’m threatened by his childhood friend.”


    My grandmother snorted coldly. “I imagine you’d have to know where he was first.”


    Despite their sniping, I’d seen their relationship before. When I was in trouble they’d both been willing to do almost anything to help. “Alright guys, this is the first time we’ve been together as a family in our whole lives. Can we take it easy with the jabs and just enjoy our reunion?”


    They softened, and my mother let out a long sigh. “Sorry, honey. We’ve been cooped up together for the last few months. I love your grandmother, but there’s a reason I only visit for short periods of time. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.” Both of them chuckled, and I let out a relieved chuckle of my own.


    “Now, speaking of sniping, where is my idiot?” I grinned and looked around, easily dodging the rock that was whipped at my head from what would probably have been a blind spot on a normal person. I did NOT manage to dodge the tackle to the back of my knees, Benny’s enhanced density sending me ass over teakettle in a clatter of armor.


    My best friend pounced on me as I went down, trying to get his arm around my neck, but I got my own limb in the way, twisted around, and then rabbit punched him in the back of the head.


    “Ow!” he snapped, scrambling off me as I popped back to my feet with a grin. “Fucking beast! How did you get so much stronger?” Despite the venom in his words, his tone was appreciative as he rubbed the back of his head.


    Callie pinched her nose. “An idiot. I married an idiot.”


    “Love you too sweetie,” I told her cheerfully. “I guess you’ve never seen us separated long enough to see our ritual.”


    My mother’s face was disapproving. “Who exactly TAUGHT you this…ritual?” She asked suspiciously. Her eyes darted around, locking on a spot where my Uncle was casually trying to slip out of view. “Because it’s suspiciously close to how Ezekial and your father greet each other after a long time apart.”


    “Not last time,” Zeke pointed out sulkily. “I was dying from that stupid fight. Now he’s got one up on me.”


    I paused. “I…holy shit, Zeke DID teach us the ritual. He said best friends always try to beat each other up when they’ve been apart for a long time. You need to know that your friend can defend themselves or if they went soft when you weren’t around.”


    “What exactly were you teaching my child?” Demanded my mother waspishly as she rounded on Zeke.


    He turned frantically. “Tasha!” He shouted happily as he spotted someone from the dryad group coming over. “Look! It’s your old friend Nicholas!”


    My grandmother glared at him, but my grandfather just beamed, blurring over to scoop the tall, willowy dryad (no pun intended) up into a spinning hug. “Tasha!” he shouted happily. “I haven’t seen you in ages! Just look at you! How have you been? I hear you have a grandaughter now, congratulations. This is my daughter’s boy, Shane. But you knew that of course.”


    He set her down, laughing happily, and I saw my grandmother twitch slightly. Tasha was…impressive. Emerald green skin and long woven branches of hair that hung down to her knees. She radiated a sort of serene competence and surety that put everyone around her at ease. Or at least, it did for me and Callie. I didn’t see any actual signs of romantic interest from her, though I suppose I’d have no way to know what to look for, she mostly just looked like an old friend happy to see my grandfather.


    “Nicholas,” she nodded gracefully, her golden irises shining in dark green sclera. “It is So very good to see you, my old friend. It’s been too long. You haven’t been back to Verdenloft since before Drayla was born, nevermind her daughter. But yes, my grandaughter Alyssa is undergoing the ceremony as well. I hope your boy will help her as best he can. She’s already made friends with one of his companions, in fact.”


    Apparently Callie and the others had gotten here a while ago, because sure enough, when I looked around, I found Jessie standing with a short girl with moss green skin and purple flowers in her hair. When my healer spotted me looking, she squealed with excitement, breaking away from her friend and the pack of dryads they’d been standing with and barreling toward me for my third tackle of the day. “SHANE!” Shouted the tiny blonde. “This place is AMAZING!”


    The girl with the purple hair, who I assumed was Alyssa, approached a bit more slowly. She waved hesitantly. “Hello.” She said in a shy voice.


    “Lyss! Come meet my friend,” chirped Jessie. “Don’t worry, he looks like a big thug but he’s actually really sweet. Kind of dumb too.” She hip checked me fondly, then darted over to grab the girl’s hand to drag her over. “Shane, this is Alyssa Peridot. She’s been showing me around this place, and it’s been SO COOL!”


    Alyssa smiled wanly. “It’s been an honor. Jessica has truly awe-inspiring power for a D-ranker, and her gift with plants and animals is a priceless treasure.” Speaking of animals, I heard a tiny rumble and a small head poked itself out from over Jessie’s shoulder, Randall having been sleeping in her hood until she jostled him awake.


    My grandmother, who I was surprised to see actually DIDN’T look worried or insecure, (though she clearly didn’t like Tasha at all) cleared her throat. “My grandson is obviously exhausted from his trip, perhaps we might save the rest of the greetings until he’s settled in. I’m sure Natasha wouldn’t begrudge him a bit of rest.”


    That statement was…cold. But not in the way I’d expected. I was pretty sure my instincts had misread this, and my mom had probably done the same. Whatever was going on between those two wasn’t a romantic rivalry. Then again, that just made me all the more intrigued, I hoped I’d figure out what their deal was while I was here. Either way, she wasn’t wrong. I was a bit tired, and I’d love to find a place to rest.


    Tasha nodded regally. “Of course, let it never be said our hospitality is lacking. Alyssa, why don’t you and Jessica escort Shane to the Ordolon Oak. Our honored guest should have nothing less than the finest accommodations.” I thanked her, then headed off after the dryad and my friend. I had so much to get caught up on.