Pure took a small bit of time before they answered they would be there and the Cursed Faction responded in the affirmative last. The leader of the winning faction would be a world leader. Those who lost would abandon the factions they had and turn them over to the winner. The factions would then be able to choose if they wanted to be with the winner or one of the other leaders. They had to b under a leader, not independent.
The other big news was there was to be a hunt for a demon tier beast after the duel that the winner would be invited to as added incentive to win. Sil only had dinner with Lana once after the previous one to give her an update that the duel was to take place and where. Lana understood what he was saying. While he didn't necessarily mean to say it that way, it meant Mona Bree would be there. She might have opportunity to meet her and have that talk.
Sil didn't inform her when the duel would start exactly but she did get the day. To keep from mixing things, she decided to go through the teleporter then take her other ship out of the Cursed Ship and park it behind where it couldn't be seen. She watched the footage that was uploaded as a live stream to the video streaming platform by the reporter named Bonnie. She watched as Owen made a big deal about Sil not being allowed to participate in the duel because he was a Blade. Lana's blood boiled but she did understand. The wrath of Hilston was real.
The problem Lana had was the leaders making a big deal out of Sil made Bonnie put the camera on him with a question asking people to identify Sil. Lana went white when she saw that. After taking a few deep breaths, Lana enacted her plan. She asked Max to take to the skies and perform surveillance as best he could while saying invisible.
Once the first match started, Caser left the ship. Shalt stood guard outside it. Caser went looking for Mona. Normally people would get concerned about a beast but with a Bree present, it wasn't a big deal. Lana counted on that. Caser walked right up to the platform Mona was on and bowed to her. He respectfully asked her to come see Lana and where to go. He then returned to her ship. Sil saw Caser and followed him. Mona waited until the match was done then left her seat.
There was always a break between fights to heal and rest so Mona had about 20 minutes before the next match would start. When Mona got on the ship, she saw Sil holding little Owen and Olivia while sitting in a seat at the front.
"Mona!" Lana said from the other side of the door. She was standing toward the back so Mona wouldn't feel some sort of way about Sil being present.
Mona smiled brightly, "Lana, dear. How are you?"
Lana smiled brightly at her as well, "I'm well but tired," she chuckled, "but I have some artifacts that were found on my planet by your faction. I was wondering if you could tell me anything more about them."
Mona looked at the sword and crystals. "I was told the sword was found on the planet and it was supposed to come to me and never did. The crystals, I have never seen before."
Lana sighed, "the sword and crystals belonged to my mother. She arrived on planet with them. If you look at the sword, it matches my locket." She held the sword up to allow her to compare. "You weren't told anything else? Nothing about a woman being found with twin babies, the babies being taken to the military and then off planet?"
Mona looked aghast, "why would that happen?"
"The shelter was not set up yet. The excuse was they couldn't take care of babies and mom was too unwell to take care of them…"
"Mom?" Mona's jaw dropped, "Your mother was on the planet?"
Lana nodded, "do you have any records of the establishment of the settlement up to the following 5 years?"
"I'll look and see if I can find anything." Mona made a sincere promise.
Olivia started crying so Lana rushed to Sil's side. It turned out he had it under control as he pulled out some milk for the baby.
Mona looked at the two. "Are you guys… Do those babies belong to both of you?"
Lana and Sil locked eyes.
Mona's face turned a shade white. "Does…he … know?"
"NO!" they both said at the same time.
Mona turned whiter. Her first thought was to run away. Then she looked at their faces, the babies and then at Caser. This was a happy family that dared to defy a monster. She took a closer look at the young mother and father in front of her. She realized how tired Lana was from caring for her children. Sil was trying to get as close to Lana as he could.
"You need me to keep this a secret, don't you…" Mona said, barely audible.
Lana looked her in the eyes, "do you really think it's safe to make it public?"
Mona's bright smile returned, "in that case, I insist that I'm their godmother and I will take them to watch the next match with me so you guys can spend some time together."
Lana and Sil looked at one another again. Sil looked at Mona, "only if Caser goes with you."
"Deal."
Caser grabbed the diaper bag and Mona carried the babies to her seat on the platform. Caser told her their names on the way.
Sil closed the door, leaving Shalt at his post. He then was at his wife's side with his arms around her. "We don't get enough time together."
Lana smiled, "well, someone is busy getting into trouble with his best friend…"
Sil smiled and pulled her close. He kissed her tenderly then kissed down to her neck slowly. At her ear he whispered, "I'd rather get into you right now."
Lana chuckled and caressed his chest. "We don't have much time. You were recorded as being here by that news lady."
Sil looked alarmed for a moment then realized it would take a while to get to him. He picked up his wife and put her back to the wall and kissed her deeply while working on removing her clothes. While she had stated they didn't have much time, they still took an hour of enjoying their time together.
They cleaned each other up and got dressed. Sil decided to go inside the ship and shower before rejoining Quinn. His absence would be forgiven when told Quinn who his visitor was. Lana let Max know they were done and to tell Caser it was time to come back. She desummoned him once Caser was on the way back with Mona and the babies. The latest fight had just finished.
Mona smiled when she saw Lana to return the children. "I hope you don't mind but Owen insisted on holding Little Owen for that last match."
Lana chuckled, "that's fine. They have so many people wanting to hold hm, I'm used to it."
"I wanted to let you know I sent a message back home for them to look though files to see if they could find anything about your mother. They will contact you directly if they find anything."
Lana's eyes teared up a bit, "thank you so much. I … just need to know where I come from."
Mona nodded with a facial expression that made her feel like a favored grandchild being nurtured by her grandmother. Mona didn't want to keep Lana too long so she returned to her seat. Lana called Shalt in and they flew the ship back to their planet. This was her second ship and she realized she might need it at some point. She decided now was a good excuse to take it.
They traveled in stealth mode as normal. They monitored all the systems to ensure they weren't followed. Lana decided to nap in the bed with the babies after ensuring they were fed and clean. She didn't care about the duel. She knew the strength of the Cursed. Obviously, Quinn was going to win. She would learn any important particulars from Sil later.
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