Many Years Pass
Around 50 years after Haalfrin began working with Jay and his team, a few unexpected things happen.
Other than the constant missions, Myra and Resburn end up getting married. Nobody really saw it coming, since Resburn is extremely unexpressive with his feelings, and Myra is nice to everyone.
Jay disapproved at first, since he didn't want complications in the team, but his worries are mostly for nothing. Myra and Resburn are professional enough to not let their feelings get in the way (most of the time).
---------------------
Eventually, Commander Fisco finally starts to believe that Fhulk is experienced and reliable enough to not be watched over by Haalfrin all the time.
So, Fisco starts to put Fhulk in his own, completely separate team – and far away from Faylin, much to his dismay.
Now matter how Fhulk complains about it to the commander, Fisco always has the same answer. "It's far more efficient to have 1 powerhouse per team. I already have one Haalfrin with an elite espionage team to enrich his abilities. It's better to have another team accompanying the dragon."
Despite having complains, Fhulk has learned to be restrained enough to not do anything rash.
---------------------
Several more years pass after Fhulk is separated from their team, and after Myra and Resburn get married.
Here, Haalfrin, Jay, Myra, Resburn, and Faylin are tasked with a new mission to protect the newly crowned Tiger monarch - the only one of his royal family that has favorable plans for the humans.
While the mission is going on, Haalfrin starts to feel a little angsty about being with the team. He's been with these people for about 80 years now, and by the time they're done, he'll only have one more mission left before his 100 year service in the Threshold is over.
Even more concerning to him is that with the Recording Stone he got from Freyya many years ago, he KNOWS a calamity is about to strike the Thresehold; this was also the designated time he and Frey had agreed to send her to the Crow Clan.
It… certainly feels a little strange now that all of this is coming to an end – both his life and the relationships he's built until now. It's very… depressing.
Still, everybody here already knows he won't be with them much longer, but none of them talk about it; they instead focus on the mission.
During the mission, Myra ends up taking a poisoned wine for the tiger. Since the poison was meant for the young king, there was naturally no antidote in those lands. The assassins were hoping to at least draw the king out as he sought a cure in another land.
However, since Myra was the one who took the poison, her companions manage to take her away safely; she's not the target, so the assassins don't care much about her life.
And thus, Haalfrin stays behind with Faylin to continue the mission while Jay and Resburn go to save her life.
Even when Myra arrives at the Threshold, she's taken away to the doctors, with nobody being aware what will become of her.
---------------------
Several weeks later, once they've caught up on their mission, Fhulk, Resburn, Jay, Faylin, and Haalfrin all meet together in one of the recreational rooms in the Threshold. Haalfrin has already paid for drinks, but nobody is touching any of it.
Being unable to bear the crushing silence, Haalfrin looks over at Resburn. "Is Myra really all right? She took a nasty bout of poisoned wine, and I heard it's pretty serious."
Resburn looks down and rubs the wedding band on his wrist. "Yeah. Her bones and muscles have grown so weak that the doctors said she can't use magic anymore without harming herself. I just heard from the commander that she just got sent back to her homeland on the other side. She's an honorably discharged veteran with a lot of merit stacked up, so she should be set for life. It won't be hard for her..."
"But what about YOU?" Faylin asks. "You guys literally just got married a few years ago."
"Yeah," Resburn smiles sadly, "I'm talking with my officers - trying to push up my retirement early." Once you get into the Threshold, it's not easy to leave, after all. "I'll go find Myra once this is all over with."
Jay and Haalfrin are oblivious, but Resburn is shaking with worry. However, the fear in his eyes doesn't slip past Faylin. "What's wrong?" she asks again.
"I…," Resburn answers slowly, "I just found out that Myra was pregnant when she left. I... What if it takes me so long to retire that my child is all grown up by the time I leave?"
"Oi! How 'bout I just cripple one of your legs?" suggests the scaley young dragon seriously. "You'll be sent home for sure if you can't walk."
Faylin frowns and jabs a pressure point in his arm - the cook of his elbow, to be precise.
Fhulk yelps in pain, but he refuses to meet her eyes out of shyness. With anyone else, he'd have ripped their heads off.
Feeling awkward now, Fhulk abruptly changes the subject, "A-anyway… yeah, Haalfrin! Didn't you say you were taking a trip soon? How badly did you have to beat up the Commander for him to allow one of his men to have a vacation?"
Haalfrin looks down at the Spirit Stone bottle with a sad look on his face. "It's important. Fisco knows this trip isn't for fun; it's completely necessary."
It's a little surprising to everyone that Haalfrin was actually willing to say this much; he's very private man that never talks about his personal business, and who always heads straight for his room and locks the door whenever they get back to the fortress after a mission. NOBODY knows what he does in his spare time.
So, Faylin speaks up out of curiosity, "Oi! What's this about, anyway? Is it some confidential mission you're not supposed to talk about? Why isn't the Commander sending all of us?"
Haalfrin closes his eyes and shakes his head. "No. I'm just saying goodbye to a… to somebody important."
With Resburn's ample Spirit magic, he's well aware of how upset Haalfrin is feeling right now, so he asks cautiously, "Is this something you don't want to talk about?"
"Not really," Haalfrin rumbles, "in fact, she said she wanted to say goodbye to all of you as well. I already talked to the Commander, and he said you're all welcome to come."
Indeed, despite none of these fellow soldiers knowing her very well, Frey knows THEM just as well as Haalfrin does; she'd been watching from the bottle on his waist this whole time, after all, and she's grown fairly attached to them.
"W-what?" Jay sputters out, "Who is this? Who are you saying goodbye to?"
Haalfrin looks down and thinks in genuine confusion as he tries to conjure up something he could tell them – something that would actually make sense. Is he supposed to tell them that a god-candidate has been silently watching them for nearly 100 years by now? Is he supposed to tell them that the mysterious woman they met once in Fheldin's dungeon is emotionally attached to them?
So, he opens his mouth and slowly says, "It's a surprise?"
Not wanting to be questioned further, Haalfrin stands up abruptly and says, "Anyway, just let the Commander know if you plan on coming." With that said, he leaves.
Once Haalfrin is gone, Faylin turns to Jay and whispers, "What kind of person would the Commander be willing to let us take a 'vacation' for?"
Jay crosses his arms and replies, "Someone very important, no doubt – probably some important figure in one of the Rehkin Clans?"