Rain and Kain unexpectedly met their wives at the gates of the mansion. The two women hugged their husbands and sighed tiredly.
"You've been working too hard. Take a day off." Rain mumbled as he kissed Varin's head. "I'll think about it." She replied as they walked into the mansion. "The children are staying in the palace tonight." Soria said to the butler as he approached.
"Dinner is ready for you." The butler said as he smiled at them. "How were the young ones today?" Kain asked. "Very energetic." The butler chuckled. "You seem happier than normal today. Did something happen?" Varin asked as they followed him to the dining room.
"Nothing in particular. Today just felt like a good day." The butler responded, giving nothing away. They entered the room the servants were placing the dishes down.
"These are all mother's favorites." Soria said as she sat down. "It's my first day back, so I suppose you can bear with me." Opal's voice came from the opening door.
The four sat in shock and silence as they watched Opal walk in. It was as they also forgot how to breathe as no sound could be heard. Only when Opal stood by her seat when someone took in a sharp intake of breath.
"Mother?" Opal looked at Rain with a smile. "Hm?" She answered. "Something wrong?" Opal was immediately pounced on. Rain grabbed her tightly and Kain squeezed in. She could feel their bodies shaking even though they didn't make any sound.
Opal sighed soundlessly but didn't say anything. Varin and Soria pulled them away from her and hugged her tightly. Everyone but Opal was crying but she was trying her hardest not to.
"Alright. Let's sit and eat. I'm hungry." She said as she gently pulled away from her daughters-in-law. Opal sat down and everyone sat while watching her like moths to a flame.
Opal was three bites into her dinner when the questions started. "When did you get back?" Varin took up Opal's bowl to serve her some soup. "Before lunch."
"Why didn't you call for us?" It was a simple question but to Opal, it felt loaded. She put down her utensils and looked at them. "I spent some time with the babies, walked around the mansion and slept. I needed it." She paused, trying to decide if she should say it.
"The day of the banquet when you didn't want to go, I hadn't regained all of my memories. They were fragments here and there but not everything. Going to the banquet was a choice that needed to be made because things would've been worse. I hadn't expected him to be like that in the end, but my goal was always for you to be able to leave. With or without me."
Rain opened his mouth to say something, but Varin grabbed his hand and he closed his mouth.
"I was poisoned at the banquet. When I fell unconscious, the fragments became a bit clearer but there was nothing else. From King Kasian slightly crazed state, I knew that I had to take drastic measures so that he would know that I'm not his wife." Opal sighed.
She's usually straight forward with her sons but she also knew when to hide the truth from them. Hence her choice of speaking to Varin before the banquet. Now wasn't the time to hold anything back from them. Even if the truth hurts them, they needed to know.
"I tried to swallow my tongue but failed." Soria gasped softly. "Kasian tried to trigger something in my memories by truly putting me on death's door and giving me the same poison that his wife researched just before she died. I was unconscious for five days When I woke up and asked when I could leave, they immediately understood that I wasn't who they thought and I left two days later."
Opal smiled at them and Varin furrowed her eyebrows, she caught the casual change from King Kasian to just Kasian. She replayed Opal's words in her head. "Mother." Varin broke the silence. "Hm?" She looked at Varin.
"You've regained all of them, haven't you?... Your memories." Opal didn't reply to her, picked up her utensils and began eating again. That was enough of an answer for them and dinner continued in silence.
"Will you go back to them?" Rain suddenly asked Opal after dinner. She had just gotten up from her chair when he asked this. It made her sit back down and the servants quickly cleared the food and plates away before leaving.
"Coming back here wasn't enough?" Rain looked at her, his eyes red. "Did you come back because your strength wasn't what it was or did you truly want to see us? Are you going to back to them?"
"Will you?" Kain asked her. "It made my heartbreak when you two were begging me before. I couldn't remember anything, but it broke my heart. I made feel as though I didn't deserve to be your mother." Opal stood up again.
"When I left Regila territory, I cried. This time I cried because I remembered. I remembered that I couldn't keep you by my side. I remembered that I couldn't spend time with you. I remembered that I clearly kept two of your siblings by my side but none of you. I remembered that you knew everything, but they didn't. I remembered that I didn't give you everything you deserved."
She walked to the window and looked out at the sky. "Then I remembered why you weren't kept by my side and they were. Why you knew everything and they didn't. Why I couldn't spend time with you. Why I couldn't give you everything you deserved." She turned to face the table.
"War was rampant and people were out for my life. I couldn't be by your side constantly because I was in Heln army as a hired mercenary in the war. I couldn't give you everything you deserved because I was building something that would hold firm in the future. I was always planning for the years ahead of us, never the moment, never the present."
She smiled. "To answer your question, my answer is yes. I will go back but not on my own. I will go back with my sons, my daughters-in-law and my children to meet their grandparents, father and siblings properly. Not now, not in a year but it will happen." With that, she walked out of the room.