They were both wearing form fitting black clothes. The man had s.h.a.ggy hair that fell to his shoulders, and carried a six-foot black ebony spear. The weapon had a metal cap on the bottom that looked like no metal the guard had ever seen before, and a one-foot curved blade sat on the top, much like a scythe. Just seeing the weapon sent a s.h.i.+ver down his back.

The woman had long hair that was braided into an intricate design, that was both breathtaking and kept it out of the way if she needed to run. She reminded the guard of one of the elves that had been there several months back, but wilder. Watching her walk mesmerized him until they stopped in front of him and looked up.

"Halt!" he said, snapping out of the trance he had fallen into, "Who goes there?"

"It's us, Larry," said the man. The ghostly image of two children appeared before him, the Master's, no, the Lord's son and his servant.

"Master Joseph?" he asked in surprise.

"Yep," said the man nodding.

"Stella?" he said, glancing back at the woman, a blush climbing up his cheeks as he swallowed in surprise.

"Is that how you talk to me?" she asked, just loud enough he could hear her.

"Miss Stella!" he quickly corrected himself, all doubts gone as to who they might be, but more confused then ever on how they had grown to be adults.

He quickly had them open the gates, and watched, flabbergasted, as they proceeded down the road.

x.x.xxX

"It's so nice to be able to walk some. That bubble was only so big," said Joseph, nodding h.e.l.lo to people as they stopped to gawk. His brow furrowed as he noticed more and more people were stopping in their tracks when they saw Stella.

Turning to her, she seemed to realize what was going on, and quickly stepped into his shadow, hiding herself completely. Everyone who had frozen suddenly looked around in confusion. They were still gawking at him, but no longer seemed to be charmed.

"Sorry, it seems my fey ability has grown. I'll make sure to tone it down some," said Stella, from his shadow.

Joseph chuckled because he knew she hadn't noticed the people because they weren't giving off a killing bloodl.u.s.t type of vibe, so she had ignored them. She would have to get used to being around people again.

He would have to find better clothes, but these that he had made were so comfortable, he really hoped his father's workshops had made progress in cloth weaving. Stella liked how easy it was to clean the magical clothes, but he didn't like that they disappeared as soon as you stopped touching them. He really wanted some real clothes that could be enchanted. Unfortunately, it seemed like it would be a bit before the dragon dropped enough scales for armor, and he didn't think dragon scales would make very good underwear.

"It'll be good to see everyone and spend some time with them," he said, watching as the people got back to what they were doing.

"You were the one who didn't feel like leaving until you were certain every spell you could learn was learned and at a high level. I would have been okay leaving a few years ago."

"I know, but it takes longer to learn magic, then it does to learn fighting techniques."

"I only managed to get as far as I did, because you unlocked my full fey bloodline and made me my golems to spar with. With you healing me whenever I got hurt, I learned much faster than I would have otherwise."

"I wasn't going to just sit around and watch you get hurt!"

"Oh, I know. I'm just glad you didn't sit around on your b.u.t.t the entire time."

"After all those comments on how bad I was with a sword, I made my staff."

"You've always wanted a staff. It made you more mage-like," she said with a soft chuckle.

"The ESSENTIAL WOOD on the shaft made it strong enough that even you couldn't hurt it easily. I'm just glad you knew enough about spear fighting to teach me to use it."

"You had a small bit of talent before I started teaching you, so it wasn't all me. I'm just glad you agreed to put a blade on the end."

"I'm still not sure that it doesn't make me look like a death walker, or something."

As she chuckled again, Joseph noticed a few men they were walking by hesitated and looked around. The feeling of possessiveness that came over him was so odd, he honestly wasn't sure how to deal with it. On one hand, he was please she was his, and on the other, he didn't want to share her with anyone. None of his previous lives had prepared him for this, and it left him uncomfortable.

He paused outside the door to his father's office. It was right before lunch time, and he knew his mother would be inside, waiting for him to finish his morning tasks so that they could walk together to the dining hall. This was going to be incredibly unpleasant. Since all of his prior childhood memories had been shavist, he missed that this was taken from him. He couldn't spend that time with his parents, who actually loved and cherished him. But this time around, he had power. He was determined to do whatever it took to keep them safe. Whatever it took.

"Master William, there is someone here to see you," said the butler, Jerry.

"Who is it?" asked his father.

"Joseph," he blurted out, before Jerry could open his mouth to ask.

"Joseph?" cried his mother, rus.h.i.+ng to the door. "What happened? Your voice…"

She paused at the door as her eyes came to rest on him. His father was right behind her.

"I've missed you guys so much!" he said, a hitch catching in his throat. He had told himself he wouldn't cry, but the tears came anyway.

His mother blinked, then grabbed him in a fierce bear hug. "You better tell me everything," she whispered in his ear.

"I promise."