Kuroyuri, Kingdom of Mistral.
A young Lie Ren ran around on Main Street, heading down the familiar path that he had gotten used to in his short five years of life. His heavy coat and thick clothing kept him warm on the snowy winter day.
The many residents of the area, used to the boy by now, simply smiled as they guessed the boy's destination.
Soon, Lie Ren reached a rather cozy-looking shop that sold all manner of things and hastily entered the store.
The rattle of the door being opened alerted the woman inside, who was busy arranging a few flower pots and other things on the shelves.
"Aunt Alex! Mother asked me to get some lotus seeds from you! She also asked me to ask you if you and Uncle Steve are going to come home for dinner tonight."
Looking at the happy boy, the Builder could not help but smile warmly as she took out a small pouch and crouched down to his level.
"Alright. Here you go. Tell An that Steve and I will be visiting tonight for dinner as planned. Run along now, you don't want your mother to be worried now."
Lie Ren nodded his head happily and ran out of the shop, heading straight home as Alex sighed with amusement.
Her thoughts were soon cut off by a call, making her open her scroll and smile fondly at the name displayed on the screen.
"Babe, didn't you just reach Mistral? Why are you calling so early?"
Steve gave her an annoyed look at those words.
"Am I not allowed to call my wife because I am worried?"
"Haha! Fine. So, what's up?"
"Nothing much. Just wanted to tell you that I've already caught the Bullhead heading towards Kuroyuri and should be home in a few hours at most."
"That's good. Lie just came in. An was asking about our dinner plan. We are still up for it, right?"
Steve simply nodded his head at those words.
"Sure. What have you been up to while I was dealing with politics in Atlas?"
Alex hummed as she moved towards the shelf and started arranging things again.
"Nothing much. Dust prices have gone through the roof just like we predicted after that mine collapsed near Mistral capital. Thankfully for the people here, they don't use Dust all that much aside from power generation and for weapons. That being said, I am still seeing an uptick in Dust purchases in Kuroyuri since people are hoarding what little supplies we have in case of an emergency."
Steve gave his wife a flat stare.
"....You are avoiding my question, Alex. What did you do while I was gone?"
This time, Alex could not keep the flich from showing, making her husband even more suspicious.
With a cough, she tried to cover things up.
"Like I said, I did nothing while you were gone-"
"You dug up the Dust vein we found near our house, didn't you? Selling it cheaply to the people of Kuroyuri."
"I don't know what you are talking about! How dare you accuse me, your wife, of something like that!"
Steve met her glare with his flat stare before speaking the words that broke all her resolve.
"Alright. In that case, dig up that vein before I get there. I have made a deal with the SDC for that Dust. I'll package it and have it sent to them when I get back."
Alex panicked at those words.
"W-Wait up! Why do you want to sell it to the SDC? Why sell it at all? Didn't we agree that we would leave that vein alone?"
"....I will find that vein when I get back, right?"
"Ehehe~ funny story. I think this world has some kind of magic. When I checked on the vein this morning, it mysteriously vanished."
Steve sighed with exasperation, knowing that his guess was right.
"Alex...We talked about this."
Suddenly, her face morphed into a pout.
"But they were running out of Fire Dust! The town council was planning on implementing scheduled power-cuts to conserve their supplies until trade with Mistral could resume, which will have to wait until winter passes. How are the people supposed to survive through these blizzards without heating!?"
"So, you decided to take it upon yourself and dig out the entire Dust vein for them. Please tell me you did not give it all away for free."
"I am not a fool! Of course, I sold it for money."
"How much?"
".....100 lien per Kilo."
Steve stared at his wife wryly.
"You do know that a kilo of Fire Dust, the most abundant and cheapest form of Dust, goes for 500 lien at the lowest, right? Not to mention that it is the price for raw, unrefined Dust. Refined Fire Dust, which you no doubt sold since Kuroyuri does not have a refinery, goes for 2000 lien a Kilo at minimum."
Alex looked away guiltily, making her husband sigh again.
She knew that Steve did not like attracting attention to their lives. Mainly because he worried that people would let their greed get the better of them, and would lead to destroying the peaceful life that they were slowly building for themselves here.
But she believed that Steve was just being his usual paranoid self. In the past four years they have spent here, she had seen that these people were not all as bad as Steve believed them to be and could be trusted. That is why she took such a huge risk.
And even if people were always selfish and cruel like Steve believed, she would still choose to do this since it was the right thing to do in her mind.
"...Fine. What's done is done. If this is what you want to do, I won't stop you. But please remember that you don't need to lie to me about this. Do not forget my promise to you that I made all those centuries ago."
Alex just smiled guiltily, knowing that the promise he made that day, all those centuries ago, was heavily skewed in her favor. But still, she could not help the feeling of warmth that flooded her heart at his acceptance of her actions, just like he always did.
She felt truly lucky to have found such a loving person who understood her point of view as her life partner, even if the circumstances under which they met were less than ideal.
"Alright. But enough with the heavy topic. What happened with your meeting?"
Steve sighed heavily as he remembered that disaster.
"No dice. Atlas is a frozen hellscape. The same goes for Mantle. I don't understand how those people are even surviving in such conditions."
"So, our plans for a vacation in Atlas are a no-go?"
"It's a no-go. However, I did find a promising lead."
Alex leaned in with interest, making Steve chuckle at her childish wonder.
"I hear that Vale is supposed to be extremely beautiful during spring and summer. Especially their Forever Fall forest, which is supposedly enchanting to look at."
"Ooh! Nice!"
"So, we go to Forever Fall after winter?"
Alex nodded her head enthusiastically.
"Yes! Another date in such a scenic location will be amazing!"
"Haha! Alright then. Our Bullhead should be ready to go by then, so we won't have to worry about timing, flight paths, and other such restrictions."
Alex smiled at those words as she already imagined that scene, with just her and her husband underneath the red canopy of the Forever Falls. With the broken moon hanging above their heads with clear skies showed the stars above.
A beautiful and memorable date indeed.
Soon, the couple devolved into their usual talks and playful bickering as the day slowly passed.
--------------------------------------------------
Author notes: Read 10 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Tiranus2