Once Alvin and the soldiers left, leaving only a small retinue to lead them outside of the Domain, Blanc and his family began their final preparations.
Maintenance of their weapons and armor, counting their arrows, checking all their food and water supplies, and discarding whatever spoiled.
As they began dismantling their tents and resummoning their beds back in the marble artifacts, Allegra and Georn approached from the direction of the campsite.
"Allegra, Georn," said Blanc, acknowledging their approach, "What is it? We are busy at the moment."
"How are the preparations to leave faring for you?" Georn asked, "We are ready to leave."
"We are almost done as well," Blanc replied, before looking towards the campsite and seeing many makeshift tents still up, "Forgive me for asking, Georn, but looking at your campsite, it does not look ready to leave."
"We cannot carry the objects of the dead," Allegra answered in her father's stead, "Those are to remain where they are."
"Does he know?" Blanc asked, pointing with his head towards the leaving army, led by Alvin, back towards Kanat.
"He does," Allegra nodded, "Told him yesterday after questioning me for information."
"How did that go, actually?" Blanc wondered, "You came back late last night."
"You heard?" Allegra asked, surprised.
"I hear many things, Allegra," Blanc muttered, focused on putting everything into his bag.
"It went as well as it could," she said flatly, "I answered to the best of my knowledge everything he wanted to know."
"Since you are alive, I assume you were kept unaware of the real reasons as to why you attacked, which did not go against the deal made," Blanc assumed, facing the pair.
"Sharp," Georn nodded, his eyes narrowed, "Perhaps too sharp."
"Why, but thank you, Georn," Blanc smiled, now a little bit calmer after managing to get some sleep, "Or was that a threat?"
Georn gasped sarcastically, "Towards our own ally?"
Seeing this reaction while Georn's face remained just as cold as it used to made Blanc very uncomfortable, which in turn, made him change the subject.
"Either way, why are you here?" he asked, "Checking up on us does not feel like any of you would do."
"Calling our alliance weak would be an understatement, Blanc," Georn took a step forward, towards him, "And I assume that is not something you are happy with."
"My happiness was never a concern for you, Georn," Blanc sighed, turning back so that he could finish his side of the preparations, "And a weak alliance is expected. After all, many of your own are… hotheaded, which makes them unpredictable and dangerous."
"And you are fine with that?" Georn wondered.
"Of course not," Blanc shook his head, "But what can I do? Beat them all into submission? They can turn into beasts, but from what I see, they are still people. And people cannot be beaten into submission."
"My experience says otherwise," Georn replied, "Submission is required if one is to lead properly, and if beating them gets you there, all the better."
"Fear is as great a tool as any, I confess," Blanc nodded, "But submission only gets you so far. They will nod in agreement, do your bidding, and bid their time, waiting for the opportunity. And when that opportunity arises, they go all out. Take Heru, for example. He was beaten by me and humbled himself just so that he could live, and only tried again after he had more influence, and a good attempt at leveraging his failures for my head."
"Heru is a bad example in many things," Allegra sighed, "But you are not wrong either. Which is also why we see value in strengthening the alliance between us."
"Sounds interesting," Celine entered the conversation, carrying her bag near Blanc's, "Tell me more."
"Allow a Metamorph to join you on your travels," Georn began, "My daughter is now the current Chiefess of the Spirit Bear Clan, so she is unable to, but you can take another who, after a while, would be able to vouch for your value in front of the Metamorphs."
Blanc sighed, "I am aware that you do not know our past, but I say this to you now, at this time especially, it might be impossible."
"But why?" Georn asked, his coldness cracking for a second, allowing sadness to show for a fleeting moment.
Celine took a step towards the two Spirit Bears, "Because our destination has no place for outsiders, human or Metamorphs alike, which is also why, after leaving the Domain, we will go our separate ways, and contact you at a later time. When that happens, then we will receive you with open arms and work towards strengthening the alliance between us all, but until then, as my husband said, it might be impossible."
"I see," Georn muttered, "Well then."
With those words, they both turned on their heels and walked back towards the campsite, waiting for Blanc and his family to finish their preparations.
"I'm not sure what they expected from proposing this," Blanc shrugged, his preparations done.
"I may have an idea," Celine replied, looking at the two as they walked off, "But it's an interesting development which I did not expect, since their hate for humans is obvious."
"And that makes it even more fucked," Miyanna added, joining the conversation, "It gives me a bad feeling."
"Let's not delay further and be on our way. Not worth trying to guess what these people are thinking at the moment," Blanc said, "Our goals, old and new, have been accomplished, now we move on to the next."
"Well said, my love," Celine nodded, putting her backpack on, "Time to go home."
"Kael, Lune, are you done?" Blanc turned towards his siblings.
"Yes," they both replied in unison, waiting for Blanc to lead the way.
"Ready whenever, Hubby," Miyanna added, sheathing her curved sword.
"In that case," Blanc turned, facing the Silver Gardens in the distance, bowing lightly towards them, grateful for all the strength and knowledge it offered them.
After straightening his back, he took a step towards the soldiers waiting in the distance.
"Towards our next Domain," he said.