Guild members arrived in a steady stream, apparently having forgotten about everything else in the world. Seeing how quietly and carefully they filed in, Rhodes decided to be a generous host. Nobody was interested in his hospitality. Every single person wanted to see the baby.
He held out as long as he could, then gave in. "Elfman. Bring the cradle down."
Health wasn't a concern. Jewel was not an ordinary child. Porlyusica had taken one look at her and told them not to underestimate her daughter's constitution.
Elfman went upstairs and returned carrying the cradle with steady, careful hands. For someone his size, the movement was remarkably smooth.
Then the foot of the cradle came to within about a centimeter of the floor.
Every hair on Elfman's body stood up at once. The sensation was of being fixed in the sights of something extremely dangerous. He looked up slowly and found Mirajane, who should have been fast asleep, had turned her head to look directly at him. The killing intent radiating from her half-open eyes was not subtle.
"Sister? Sister?"
Mirajane didn't answer. She seemed to have been operating on instinct, registered that it was her brother, and closed her eyes again. The pressure vanished completely.
Elfman was still sweating when he carried the cradle safely out of the room.
The crowd gathered immediately. Makarov's hand expanded, scooped up the two people who had pressed closest, and deposited them outside the door in one smooth motion.
"Give her room to breathe," he said quietly.
"He's right, she needs air."
The remaining people stepped back by unspoken agreement, leaving a respectful gap, and a round of low-voiced appreciation followed.
Makarov smiled at the baby for a long while, then drew Rhodes outside for a word.
"We've already discussed this. Once the baby was born, you were going to..."
Rhodes arranged his face into an expression of genuine distress. "There's no need to rush, is there? She was just born. How could I leave now? Mirajane needs looking after too. How could I possibly abandon my wife and daughter at a time like this?"
Makarov's expression darkened. "Abandon your wife and daughter? The guild is a five-minute walk from your front door."
"You could bring Mirajane and Jewel to the guild. Everyone would help. They'd be well looked after..."
Rhodes gave him a look that said: are you certain about that?
Makarov became less certain as he spoke. He had grown up in the guild himself, but times were different. Taking a newborn into that environment did seem somewhat questionable. Though Asuka had turned out fine.
"The worst troublemakers aren't around right now," he admitted. "Which does make this awkward." He sighed. "Fine. We'll wait until Jewel is a little older."
"After the full moon, perhaps?"
"After she's one."
"No. Five years minimum. You can manage five more years. They'll go by quickly."
Before Makarov could respond, Happy came streaking down from above in visible distress.
"Guild Master! It's terrible! Natsu dried up an entire fish pond and someone grabbed him for it!"
Makarov's posture sagged. He looked at Happy with a deeply tired expression, then looked at Rhodes. "Did you say I only have five years left?"
"It's not quite that dramatic."
Rhodes waved Happy down and got the story. Natsu and Happy had been hungry during training and wanted fish. Natsu didn't want to go into the water and found fishing too slow, so he had resolved the situation by drying the pond up entirely. Short-term thinking, magical edition.
Makarov exhaled with the weight of a man who had carried this for decades.
He also glanced sideways at Rhodes to check his reaction.
In terms of actual damage, this particular incident would not break into the top hundred of Natsu's all-time record. The timing was simply convenient for other purposes.
Rhodes relented slightly. "Three years?"
"One year. Final offer."
"That's too soon."
They went back and forth until they landed on one year, at which point Rhodes gave in with a sigh and privately began planning alternative strategies for when the time came. Such as, for instance, having twins.
Happy, who had been waiting patiently through all of this, asked in a small voice: "So. What about Natsu?"
Makarov snorted, then brightened immediately. "Natsu can wait. Happy, come inside. Rhodes and Mirajane's daughter was just born. She's adorable. Come and see."
Happy's eyes went wide. "Mirajane laid an egg?! I want to see!"
"I already told you, humans don't lay eggs."
Happy forgot about Natsu entirely. A few days in custody wasn't going to kill him. Seeing the newborn came first.
Over the following days, word reached the members who had been away and they came to visit one by one. Lucy, Erza, Warrod, and Gray all came by. Rhodes also let it be known that a proper one-month celebration would be held at the guild.
Natsu was eventually sprung from custody by Happy's guilty conscience. Despite being held for two and a half days, he appeared completely unaffected. He walked in, took one look at Jewel, and immediately announced he wanted to challenge Rhodes and Mirajane.
The noise woke Jewel, who had just fallen asleep.
Mirajane smiled at Natsu warmly, took him by the head, and sent him out the window headfirst into the guild hall.
She dusted her hands off in the backyard and came back inside. Rhodes had already gotten Jewel back to sleep.
He looked up as Mirajane returned. "You shouldn't be doing anything strenuous right now."
Mirajane rolled her shoulders lightly. "That didn't count. That was a warmup."
Happy bristled. "That's outrageous! How could you treat Natsu like that!"
"Then go and check on him," Rhodes said. "We're having steamed fish for lunch."
Happy's expression cleared immediately. "Who is Natsu? I don't know anyone by that name."
The one-month celebration went ahead on schedule. The guild gathered, and even Mavis and Warrod came. Mavis made straight for the cradle and stood beside Warrod looking down at little Jewel, feeling unexpectedly as though she were seeing a newborn Makarov all over again.
Rhodes had also sent word to Hades through Ultear, but there had been no reply. What they didn't know was that Hades was currently on the western continent.
Since his last meeting with Rhodes, Hades had been tracking Zeref's movements and gathering what intelligence he could on the Alvarez Empire. But the distance between Alakitasia and Ishgar was vast, and the information reaching Ishgar was badly out of date. After some deliberation, Hades made his decision.
He crossed into the western continent in secret.
Along the way he quietly observed two members of the Spriggan Twelve. One was Ajeel. The other was Brandish. Based on magical output alone, Hades assessed both of them as close to Makarov's level. But the empire's true strength, he was certain, resided in the capital.
Today, he had finally arrived at Vistarion.