Now sitting in the large common area, on a couch slightly lifted up from the floor, Astraea sat looking at Ceraunius, and Gamelia… Mostly Ceraunius, her eyes almost glued to the wonder of how muscles like that could exist.
Alise and the others were also struggling with their own issues from seeing such a figure practically carved out of marble. Ryuu and Celty were so far gone they couldn't comprehend reality, causing Kaguya to verbally jab at them.
"Wow, elves really are the most perverted race out there." She said, breaking the silence, as she stood to the left of the couch Astraea was sitting on.
"Don't be too hard on them, Kaguya. Cera and I are well aware of the effect we have on elves. It isn't just my husband's body, they're reacting too. Which by the way…" Gamelia stated and then jumped up to be held bridal carry in Ceraunius' arms, she kissed him for a solid couple of minutes before stopping, with a smile. "He's mine, and mine alone. I will receive all of his feelings, and he'll receive all of mine."
Astraea smiled, and decided to speak, lightly placing her hands together. "Alise, we're going to start with you, explain to me what you meant by "earlier", what happened?"
"Oh, yes, Ceraunius, and Gamelia were surrounded by Loki and Freya familia's members. They were intent on pushing them out of the city again, even though they have permission to enter the dungeon. Once he was ignored, and they began a confrontation… Ceraunius…" She said, trying to remember everything, but words were difficult to find for some reason.
"Don't worry, Alise, seeing that kind of power for the first time is going to be confusing." Ceraunius sighed. "Lady Astraea, when we left the dungeon, Loki and Freya's children had surrounded my wife and I. The idiots who pushed us out of our home once before, tried to attack us for being in the city. To avoid the worst case, I summoned a thunderstorm, paralyzed all but Finn and Ottar, then delivered unto them the painful lesson they should have learned 2 years ago. After I was done, we all left the scene, with both of those two in craters made of their bodies. Once we were far enough away, I freed their healers from their paralysis."
"So you beat them senseless?"
"Within an inch of their lives."
"Do you see a problem with that?"
"Absolutely, they still draw breath. But despite myself, I can't bring myself to kill those idiots."
"Why not?"
"It would just be bullying the weak without cause, and that wouldn't be just."
"So beating them all up like that is?"
"Why shouldn't I let their captains take the full brunt of my rage? They're the ones in charge of the familia, and made the orders to push the others around. Besides that, I saw many of them were reluctant to attack me. The only other one who did… Get this, he tried to attack me with lightning."
"Pfft, of all the things in the world to attack with, and they chose lightning." Gamelia giggled.
"I didn't beat him up, but I did force him into a mind-down state. I felt that should be enough punishment to learn not to insult me like that again. Like at least try something that would have a chance at working."
Astraea had heard their words, and mulled everything over for a bit. She was now struggling to figure out what to do or say. She had thought she knew what justice was, but… This case was unique, and thus would need a unique view as well.
"I understand why you did it. And when I consider what you said earlier… I'd like to offer you a place in my familia." Astraea spoke with a calm, and ethereal tone worthy of divinity. "Please consider my offer."
"To tell you the truth, we have known what you wanted. Ceraunius can read, write, and speak the language of the gods."
"Oh, is that so? I had a feeling you might, but that's really impressive."
"You can thank Lady Hera for that. She basically made it mandatory to learn how to read it." Ceraunius blushed looking away, embarrassed, knowing that being able to do that was no small feat. "Also, while Gamelia says I'm better at it than her, she's definitely lying. I always preferred trying to match Zald's cooking level, I'm still far off from his ability."
""You mean to say food can taste better than that?""
"Much, much better. He may have been a little weaker than I am now, but his cooking level was easily over 9000."
Astraea started giggling from what was clearly a reference to something only the gods would ever have knowledge of.
"Alright, tell me, there's something stopping you from accepting my offer, what is it?"
Ceraunius, and Gamelia looked into each others' eyes, they stayed like that for a few moments, having an entire conversation and then looked back to Astraea.
"We have something we want." Ceraunius said, starting it off.
"Two things, really."
"I'm listening."
"There's some cute twins in a village in the mountains. We love them dearly, and we promised Alfia, before she left us, that once we had found a new familia to take us in, that we'd go, pick them up, and start their training."
"What does Alfia have to do with them?"
"She is their mother's sister… Do not say the A word, she'll come back just to bop your head."
"A word? Aunt?" Alise said, and then instinctively felt an odd force, and she crouched, protecting her head. "Huh, how's that work?"
"I have no idea. She settled on being called step-mother." Ceraunius shrugged.
"Pfft, so Alfia was quite the fun person." Astraea put a hand to her lips.
"You could say that."
"So, these twins, what are they like?"
"Cute, precious, and raised with a love of heroes. I wouldn't be surprised if they already want to be heroes themselves. And that's why we'll train them." Ceraunius answered.
"There's Bell, he loves his sister with a powerful will. He's cute in how he wants to protect his sister despite him having such a slender frame. Then there's Zaria, she's the spitting image of her mother, beautiful… She's also got what I might call a slight brother complex, but it's a bit more complicated than that. More like she refuses the idea of any woman getting to her brother without her express approval. The way she declares it… I can't tell if she truly loves him as family, or as a potential lover…"
"Knowing Zeus, it could be either." Ceraunius chuckled, and he took out a small picture of the two. "Here, this is a painting Zeus gave me."
"They're so cute!" Astraea practically started swooning. "I'll accept them!" She smiled, handing the picture back. "What's your other request?"