Arriving In Luxor

Gowther looks at the copycat in the holding cell. She refuses to look at anyone, rejected the meal offered to her, and hasn't said a word. Azarath and a couple others arrive and attempt to interrogate her again, she only smirks. Margaret, Jericho, and Guila soon arrive. They had tried the early morning coffee in the cafeteria, but it tastes like mud. The fruit was spoiled, and pastries were burnt and stall. While not "as bad" as Meliodas's cooking, it was hardly edible, that is if you could bite into it. Brunch is supposed to be catered today, as it is every Saturday, so they'll just have to wait a little while. While many of the monks and priests no longer volunteer to step up for the actual cooking and baking (they'll pay for catered food and clean), there's a few whom, like Meliodas, can't help themselves and keep trying, but they have yet to produce any positive results.

Gowther attempts to read the copycat's mind again. He can sense her emotions, which are calm, but not her actual thoughts. Thanks to Azarath enhancing his magic, Gowther can now translate the language of the person's thoughts into his own, but her mind seems to be blocked by a barrier. After several failed attempts, Gowther's own head actually hurts, which is rare. Azarath decides to resort to a more "old school" approach. He goes inside the barrier, takes out a feather, and starts trickling her. The copycat turns out to very ticklish. She still doesn't reveal anything concrete, but she reveals her language. She's speaking Transylvanian Saxon, a German delict used in Transylvania in the far eastern Hungarian Empire. Azarath ask her if she's from the Transylvania Alps and if she knows the goddess Artemis. She only hints that she might. After a while, Azarath gives it a rest. Afterward, he appears to be in deep thought.

"Pardon my asking, who's Artemis and what of these Transylvania Alps?"

"Who cares Gowther?" says Jericho.

"I'll explain later;" says Azarath; "Let's get you four to Luxor. My granddaughter should be up there soon for market day. My transport powers are still being affected by this radiation still lingering in the air, but it should work once we get outside of the city.

"Finally!" replies Jericho.

As they prepare to leave, Azarath wonders why Artemis would send a spy, if she did send one. Artemis and Azarath aren't currently on speaking terms after a disagreement 25 years ago but remain respectful towards each other. It doesn't make sense for her to send a spy, even if they didn't always see eye to eye. Artemis, however, is a stubborn old goddess who hates to ask for his help or to admit when she's wrong. While she has a good heart with good intentions, and really cares for the people who have come to depend on her as a leader, she overestimates her own abilities, as well as having a bad sense of judgment at times.

Suddenly, they hear an explosion. It came from the kitchen. Word reaches seconds later that the kitchen's on fire, again. Azarath wonders who could possibly be fooling around since brunch was being catered today. The Britainnians follow the old demon to the cafeteria and discover that two of the apprentices actually took some of the already cooked cater food thinking they could "improve" it.

"Don't tell me they took already perfectly cooked food and tried to cook it again!" says Jericho.

It turns out that's exactly what happened, just because one of the lady monks hated the catered meal (but everybody else likes), and a foolish young apprentice who has a crush on her wanted to impress her. Gulia and Margaret are in disbelief, while Gowther thinks not even his captain would mess around with good food, or has he? At least they only ruined a small portion of the catered meal and there's still plenty left. Azarath gives the apprentices a stern talking to and makes them suit up to clean the kitchen from top to bottom. Then he gives a brief lecture to everyone else for not stopping them.

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Cleo is busy in her personal kitchen making baked goods for the bizarre in Luxor. She's been up since early morning and Scout has been helping. Scout has very small appetite and only needs less than half what normal humans need, and certainly no foodie in general with little passion for the kitchen outside of obligated duty. However, she does know cooking basics and always loves to help and serve regardless of how. Her food is edible, just generally bland. Cleo believes Scout is much better at cooking then what she believes, if she'd just put more effort and heart into it rather than just getting by because she has too.

Scout has on her full-face hijab, exposing no part of her face whatsoever.

"You know you don't have to cover your face around me;" says Cleo; "Please take that thing off in here. I haven't seen your face in over two years now."

That is true. Cleo's seen her face about a hundred times. Still, what if somebody else comes in and starts staring at her. She really hates that kind of attention. Cleo then realizes she needs more ingredients. Scout agrees to go to get some from the village. Cleo's icing fresh cinnamon rolls when Marks comes in with his notepad and clears his throat.

"Marks, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be off duty."

"Sorry for the interruption your Majesty but I'm afraid the Turkish ambassador is here to see you."

Cleo's surprised; "What?! He's not supposed to be here until Monday morning."

"There's been a scheduling conflict and he's returning to Turkey at noon. He demands to meet with you before his departure."

"Seriously?! RIGHT NOW?!"

"I'm afraid so your highness."

"Oh, good grief!" Cleo is covered in flour and her hair's a mess. She quickly washes her hands and face then takes off her apron.

"You're Majesty, you're going to meet him looking like that?"

"I don't have time to change Marks. I'm coming right back here anyway. He'll just need to accept that he caught me at an unplanned bad time. Oh, do me a favor, for goodness's sake take the rest of day off, that's an order."

"But your Majesty there's too much work to do?"

"Marks;" she looks at him firmly; "Hot springs, then spa, now!"

Marks huffs and reluctantly obeys. The hot springs and deep, hot stone massages are the only two things that will completely relax him. "You play hardball, don't you your Majesty?"

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Meliodas wakes up to the mouthwatering smell of something delicious. He leaps out of bed, throws on his clothes, and follows the sweet smells. It doesn't seem to be in the direction of the main kitchen, but from Cleo's chambers. He pushes open a door to find a small kitchen filled with all kinds of homemade goods. Giving no thought to the matter and completely forgetting that Cleo told him last night never to enter her private kitchen without permission, Meliodas immediately digs in, completely ignoring a note saying in both Arabic and Britannian (just in case) "Do Not Touch." He eats all kinds of delicious cookies, bread, donuts, brownies, several sweets that he can't identify, the whole batch of fresh cinnamon rolls covered in icy, and even a huge Egyptian hazelnut cake with caramel icy in the cold pantry.

Scout soon returns and is so shocked by what she sees that she gasps and drops the ingredients she had gotten. She tries to say; "Meliodas no;" but barely any sound comes out of her mouth. She flashes over to him and taps him on the shoulder. Meliodas notices this oddly dressed person, standing approximately 5'6 (Elizabeth's height), standing next him and waves.

"Oh, yo;" the dragon sin says with his mouth full; "Didn't see you there." He picks up about three sweet cookies and brings them towards his mouth. Scout slaps her hand down over his wrist. "No," comes a low, very scratchy voice. Meliodas doesn't understand and assumes she's speaking another language, then discovers that he can barely lift his arm from underneath hers.

"Man, you're a strong a one, aren't you?" He actually lowers his face towards the table and scoops up the cookies into his mouth, which freaks her out. "You should try these, they're so delicious." Scout shakes her head then points to the note, which is now covered in gunk. Meliodas sees the words; "Do Not Touch."

"Oops;" Meliodas's eyes bug out; "Sorry, but you can make more. They're for guests anyway and I'm a guest."

He reaches for a still untouched batch of sweet cakes called basebousa, but Scout manages to move it. "HEY! I'm still hungry!" Meliodas then takes does a double take and takes good look at the stranger. At first glance, he thought Scout was male. Her blue buttoned up shirt is about as long as his black vest is on him and very baggy, perfectly camouflaging any boobs she may have. Her jeans are relaxed fit and not figure hugging, and her long shirt helps hide her butt and hips. However, her neck and collar bone are exposed and look feminine, as do her hands, feet and even her movements. She then makes just the right movement that Meliodas sees at least a modest, if not real big, breast outline. There's one way to make sure of it.

Cleo heads back to her kitchen exasperated. She can't believe the Turkish ambassador's securities double booked him. Well, his business with her is done and it's time to get those baked goods out to the wagon for the transport to the surface. Suddenly, she hears a very loud noise, as if something smashed through the wall. She runs into the kitchen and sees a hole through the doorway to the outside. Scout has her arms wrapped around her chest.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Embarrassed, Scout briefly tells her in sign language. "He tried to do WHAT?!" She then points to the baked goods, or what's left of them. Cleo is clearly upset and runs out to Meliodas, kicking him hard in the gut.

"MELIODAS!"

The dragon sin looks up an angry demon queen. "Yo, Cousin Cleo, is everything ok?"

"NO! You ate more than half of the baked goods for the bizarre market today! It's for the children's home. You also ate the whole hazelnut cake I made for a 6-year-old girl's birthday party this afternoon, and all the other goodies for it too. On top of all that, YOU TRIED TO GROPE YOUR OWN..."

Scout puts her hand over Cleo's mouth, shaking her head, then urges the demon queen to take a few breaths to calm down, putting her hand on her shoulder. Onlookers have gathered, including Willie.

Meliodas sits up, taking in what was just said to him. "You mean I really wasn't supposed to eat those goodies?"

"NO!" replies Cleo trying to calm down; "I don't have time to make more either. We'll have to make do with what's left. And I'll just need to buy a cake while I'm up there, but they'll be able to tell the difference." Cleo's about to return to the kitchen when she looks back at her cousin; "Meliodas, don't ever enter my private kitchen, ever again. Your breakfast is in the dining room. And next time, read the note."

Scout signs an apology to Cleo, especially about the door.

"No don't. You didn't do anything wrong. We'll repair it. Please help me load the rest of the food onto the wagon."

Scout nods but looks back at Meliodas before disappearing into the kitchen.

Meliodas looks down in shame, cringing his fists. He can't believe he just ruined a little girl's birthday party and a fundraiser. On top of that, he didn't even get to touch that girl's breasts.

"Meliodas, what did you do?" ask Willie.

"Nothing;" the demon forces a chuckle, then explains what he did anyway.

"WHAT?!" Willie slaps his head; "Meliodas, what are we going to do with you?"

Meliodas slaps his fist into his hand; "I know exactly what to do. Willie, I'm going to need your help."

"Help with what?"

"With baking another cake of course."

The monk's sure he sees a red flag appear in front of him; "Are you out of your mind?! You've already told me what a terrible cook you are. Cleo's going to buy one anyway."

"Ah come on Willie. I really want to make it up to her. This is for a good cause."

"Forget it! And believe me you don't want my help. I don't know a teaspoon from a tea pot."

Meliodas laughs; "That bad? Even I can tell a spoon from a pot."

"That was a figure of speech!"

Meliodas grabs the monk by the wrist and drags him; "NO!"

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Jasmine has taken Elizabeth to the clinic for a checkup. They have a very unique spell coupled with a magical device, one that she's never heard of, that allows them to hear the babies' heartbeats as well as to see them inside the womb. Ban and Zeldris are allowed in to look at this part of the exam. The heartbeats sound very strong and healthy, and the double rhythm most definitely indicates twins. Next the doctor does the "ultrasound". The picture's far from perfect, but it does reveal the two embryos inside. Elizabeth is about 9 weeks along, further than expected. They can see their "big" hearts beating, as well as make out their "big" heads and stubby developing limbs, with "big" hands. While it's too early to physically tell the sexes of the babies, another spell shows their auras, confirming one to be male and the other female. In fact, the female one is actually very active, swimming around, playing with her umbilical cord, and already seems to be using her much calmer brother's space as a "punching bag", kicking his amnionic sag through her own with her lower body and developing leg stubs.

"Guess we know which one takes after the captain and which one takes after Elizabeth;" Ban chuckles.

Zeldris gasps, so glad that he and Meliodas aren't twins, or otherwise Zel would've been his brother's punching bag inside the womb. He then returns to being mesmerized by how the babies look at this stage. None of the three Britiannians had any idea what went on inside the womb, and now they're getting a real glimpse of it.

"Do we all look like that inside the womb?" asks Ban, curiously.

"At 9 weeks, yes;" giggles the doctor; "Well, almost all of us. My sister never grew a right arm, so she was born without one. She does exceptionally well though."

After the appointment, the boys chat about what they saw and ask Jasmine lots of questions. Elizabeth is almost in the twilight zone as she thinks back to 9 weeks ago. Her and Meliodas were in a village called Calendula, which is famous for its unique marigold flowers as well as it's sweet wines, ale (a legitimate rival to Bernia Ale), and sweets. During her 103rd incarnation, Elizabeth was the adopted daughter of a flower shop owner there and took it over as an adult. The shop was still there, but under new ownership and almost completely renovated, Meliodas mentioning that her shop was much prettier. They were staying at the tavern inn called Tristian's right across the street from the shop. It rained for days without hardly letting up, so they hardly left Tristian's (to the poor owner's dismay as Meliodas kept cleaning out his food and drink stocks, although his wife really enjoyed watching Meliodas devour everything. Bartra was definitely not happy with the tab) Tristian wasn't the name of the owner, but rather a character from his wife's favorite poem. They never had children, so they called the place what they'd always wanted to name a son, Tristian. It was also one of the rare times that Meliodas actually bought and gave Elizabeth flowers to brighten up their room, since they were practically stuck there for 5 days. The twins were definitely conceived that week!

Tristian. Meliodas did mention that it was a good and sturdy name, despite thinking that its poetry origin was cheesy. He will surely want to name their son after the place of conception, Elizabeth's sure it. What about the daughter? What would Meliodas want to name her? Elizabeth after her mother? Marigold after the town and signature flower she was conceived at. What about Isabella or a variation of it, after her grandmother? However, Zeldris mentioned that he'd like to name his daughter after their mother if he and Gelda have one.

Elizabeth looks down at her belly, she's not showing yet despite carrying twins, but she should be soon. Their wedding's supposed to be in eight weeks. Will they need to move up the date, so she'll still fit into her dress, let it out, or just wear a corset and be snug?

"Wait," says Jasmine; "Let's go this way, there's something I need to show you."

She takes them to a spot just outside of town. It's covered in dry molten rock. Doesn't seem very impressive.

"This is where it happened;" says the vulacish.

"Where what happened?" asks Zeldris.

"Where I became a vulacish." Jasmine explains that she was born an ordinary human child. When she was 7, a gang of three local older bullies targeted her due to her skin color as well as being an orphan. The bullies were so heartless that they actually pushed her into a flowing lava river, actually believing they had done their "race" and town a godly service. Jasmine's pastor father and many others looked all over for her. However, Jasmine didn't die. Instead, Mt Vesuvius accepted her, and she rose from the lava hours later. When she told her father what had happened, he advised her not to seek revenge on the bullies/attempted murderers, but that she could teach them a lesson, with his help. She did, not hurting them, but giving them a good enough fright that they not only quit bullying all together, but they also completely changed their viewpoints and are now some of Jasmine's biggest supporters, not to mention extremely kind and non-hostile towards visitors and people who are "different".

"Do vulacish live normal human lifespans, or longer?" asks Ban.

"We can naturally live three times longer than as we would as normal humans. However, many vulacish die young either from fights or loneliness." She takes a deep breath; "I'm actually unique because I live amongst society. Everybody around here knows my story and accept me, most everyone that is. Most vulacish, unfortunately, are oust by civilization and spend nearly their whole lives isolated and alone. They don't even trust their own kind and become extremely territorial and bitterly hostile. I was fortunate."

Zeldris then asks about when they're going to reunite with their loved ones.

"Actually, I was going to talk to you about that. As soon as they are recovered from their sickness, Gelda, Merlin, and Harlequinn are going to be transported here, along with Goro's sister Norberta."

"SERIOUSLY!" exclaims Zeldris.

Jasmine nods.

"What about the others?" asks Elizabeth.

Jasmine says that Scout will surely bring Meliodas back with her, along with the third phoenixgon sibling Kaida. Zeldris is a bit jealous that his brother may see her face before he does. Knowing Meliodas, he'll probably snatch her mask right off her face himself. Jasmine does have pictures of her sister without her mask, but Zeldris has decided to wait to see her in person.

"What about Elaine and Diane?" asks Ban.

Jasmine suddenly feels that something's off. She goes off to a hardened lava chamber and locates a black pearl. She has a feeling what this pearl is and that a certain trio is hiding out in there. These spells only last up to 72 hours. Assuming they activated it late Wednesday after the battles, it won't be long until they come out.

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A portal opens along the Nile in the middle of Luxor. Gowther, Margaret, Jericho, Gulia, and Azarath come out of it. They are amazed that Luxor is so much cleaner and more pleasant looking then Cario, even the people are smiling at each other and seem to be relaxed. Azarath explains that Luxor and Alexandera are self-governing territories hardly effected by the chaos in Cario. Many people here really don't even know who's currently, or supposedly, on the throne. It isn't long before someone recognizes Azarath and informs him that his granddaughter is there and where she's set up shop. On the way, Guila spots the Luxor Temple and thinks its pillars look magnificent. The others stop to look when Gowther looks at Guila and almost takes her hand but backs out when she looks at him. Even Jericho is mesmerized by the place before she snaps out of it and demands they continue their mission. Turns out, the market extends into the temple grounds itself and Azarath soon spots Cleo at her stand. He calls out to her, and she spots him.

"Grandpa?"

"Cleo!"

The demon queen's eyes light up; "Grandpa!" They run to each other and embrace tightly.

Azarath gives her a kiss; "How are you my little sun and stars?"

"Grandpa, when did you get back? I received messages from you as far back as two months ago, or at least somebody pretending to be you."

"Sweetheart, I returned three weeks ago, just like I said I would. Turns out we had a copycat spy whose been messing with our mail and transmissions and sending out fake messages."

"A copycat, a literal copycat? Like the one that was in the demon realm one hundred years ago?"

"Exactly, but anyway..."

"Grandpa, MELIODAS IS HERE!"

Those are the words the Britannians wanted to hear. "Where is he?" asks Gowther; "Meliodas is my captain."

"You guys are from Britannia?" asks Cleo.

"Of course;" answers Jericho bluntly; "Where is he so we can get the hell out of here?"

"Calm down Jericho;" says Margaret; "We're not in 'that' big of a rush."

"He's not here here;" replies Cleo; "He's in the demon realm. He sure did a number on the baked goods I made this morning, but I still like him. Wildelfredico's there too."

Azarath takes that in. Finally, after so long, he can see and embrace his nephew again. He's always felt guilty about not trying harder to retrieve him from his older brother, who only saw his own sons as pawns. When he learned he had another surviving nephew, he became even more distracted, but by that time was unable to enter Britannia no matter how hard he tried.

It was through stories of Britannian immigrants, as well as a few reports from spies/merchants/explorers that he learned of the events of the holy war as well as what had happened to Meliodas, Zeldris, even Barbatos and Caelestis. When he learned of the curses from Nuri, as well as from rumors, he couldn't believe even they would be that cruel. At least he was able to help the boys' mother, Isabella, and somebody else important, before she took her last breath.

Cleo then informs her grandfather that Scout is also here, and that she's alive and well. Azarath fights back tears.

Scout is taking a dip in the Nile, wearing all her clothes except shoes. She helped Cleo set up the booth, but the demon queen noticed that she was trying to fight off an anxiety attack by being around so many people. She also urged Scout to get wet since she noticed her skin was getting dry. Before doing so, Scout had telepathically called out to Kaida to update her, informing the phoenixgon that her brother's in Amalfi and they'll go there soon. She intends to return to the demon realm by herself soon.

She had tried using her voice. In the last two years, she's only managed to say Jasmine's name the other night, extremely imperfectly, and that missing little girl's name, Lola. Psychological and selective muteness has always been a struggle for her, even though she can talk.

Scout then feels another exceptionally strong presence arrive. She recognizes it as Azarath and is ecstatic to see him again. As she exits the water, she gets a feeling that something's seriously wrong. The feelings so strong that it paralyzes her momentary.

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Merlin's group is in a small village in the lower altitude region in Southern Tibet. Her and King are in medical beds having warm medicine fluids slowly being pumped into them. Gelda mostly just needed good, fresh Tibetan blood. Surprisingly, several good Samaritans donated. She's now almost fully recovered. They've had plenty of time to process everything that has happened. Soon, possibly tomorrow, they'll be transported to a place called Amalfi to reunite with Elizabeth, Ban, and Zeldris, and Norberta (who also needs treatment for a cold) with her brother Goro. Gelda, of course, is ecstatic to reunite with Zeldris, but King, while he'll be happy to see the others, he's not yet being reunited with his wife and sister. As far as he knows, they're alright, but he'll be further from them than he already is.

Merlin's in deep thought. While a very patient person by nature, she really wishes that this treatment would be over with already so she can keep an eye in her sister. Despite all her knowledge, she doesn't have enough to know exactly what's going on, nor what Nuri intends to do. She doesn't want Nuri to reincarnate again, she wants to save her now. Carmine said that there is somebody by the name of Iris who does have the power to break the curse, but Nuri has to want to break it. If she refuses, even Iris, who has The Gift of the Dove (Holy Spirit), something else Merlin's never heard of, can't destroy it if Nuri continues to refuse.

Nuri wonders around outside. Even though both Merlin and Norberta told her they'd take her to a volcano once their treatment was complete, she's trying to conjure up what's left of her volcanic powers to launch her to the nearest volcano region. All of the known volcanos in the region are currently dormant (although a vulacish at half power can bring them back to life depending on how deep their magma source is), but she can liquefy even centuries old harden lava to regain some power, although she needs to then launch herself to an active volcano to fully regain her powers.

She wonders a little way from the camp. Soon, she feels a presence, but then she hears what sounds like a baby crying. She runs there and does in fact find a baby, seemly alone. However, something doesn't feel right. Suddenly, she gets ambushed from the back by electrical lighting, then several other explosions. Six people jump her, including Ching Liang the Chinese demon slayer, who's leading the ambush. Six others soon join them, one grabbing the baby while 3 others place special restraint chains on the vulacish. Since Nuri's powers are so depleted, she can't overpower these people like she usually can. Even her physical strength can't out muscle this many.

Gelda, who was outside, hears the screams and rushes to Nuri's aid. She gets there just in time to see Nuri kicked through a portal. She attacks, but her attack is blocked by a barrier as the last of the red-hooded abductors goes through the portal and closes it.