It hadn't been long since Ceraunius and Gamelia had left Orario. They'd had lied about their travel speed before, for the express reason to keep the location an actual secret, but not so much of a lie that would be seen as such. Either way, Ceraunius' travel speed was utterly insane. When there was nothing else to worry about, he could fly straight, nearly anywhere on the surface, in a matter of seconds. Carrying a goddess was a little harder, so it did slow him down, but not by much.
In a matter of half an hour, Ceraunius & Gamelia had picked up Hera, and landed just outside the mountain village Zeus was raising Bell and Zaria in. They walked slowly at first, but then Hera burst out in a bit of impatient energy, arriving at the door, her knocks on the door sounded like excited thunder.
Zeus knew exactly who it was and waited to answer just a little while longer, giggling as he slowly walked to the door. Bell and Zaria were each sitting on the table's bench seat, facing away from the table, towards the door, eagerly waiting to see who it would be.
"Who is it?" Zeus called out in a teasing tone.
"Don't play with me like that, Zeus. You know it's me."
"Me who?"
"Hera, let me in. I've come all this way, I want to see them. Let me see Meteria's babies!!"
Zeus opened the door, wearing a smile. "Welcome to my humble home, Lady Hera…"
Hera looked around, her eyes instantly finding the twins, she ran right up to them, and gave them a hug, teary eyed, and everything. Trembling, she spoke.
"Finally, finally, I get to hold you in my arms. I'm sorry, so, so, sorry, I should have come sooner."
"You're Lady Hera…" Bell asked curious as to who the beautiful woman currently hugging him and his sister was.
"Y-yes!" Hera uttered through the tears of reunion.
"Then.. That means you're grandma!" Zaria smiled and hugged Hera back.
Ceraunius and Gamelia entered the house after, and Zeus shut the door behind them. "Welcome, Hera, children. Gamelia, are you here for a level up?"
"Zeus, we're here for more than that." Gamelia stated plainly, looking at Bell and Zaria.
"I see… So you really did find someone. I had a feeling that was the case, but Astraea is a good one, I'm sure you'll be treated well there, and they will too." Zeus said with a simple smile. "You're doing a lot for us this time."
"No need to worry about it. We want to do it. Thus we will do it." Ceraunius said, looking at the twins up and down. "But first, let me use your kitchen." He said disappearing to his place, and soon the amazing smell of food began wafting through to the other room.
"Huh? What is that? It smells yummy!" Bell asked, cutely sniffing the air, as his stomach, despite having eaten already, grumbled.
"It really does. It smells delicious, I'm getting all hungry again." Zaria added, her hair practically waving with expectation.
Hera put a hand to her mouth, shedding tears, as the memories of Meteria began flooding her mind. "Oh dear, she's just like her mother, such a beautiful girl." She tearfully cried, sitting down between the twins, lending their head against her, now stroking her hands through their hair.
Zeus sat down across from Hera, with Gamelia sitting across from Zaria. Then, out from the kitchen, Ceraunius brought a stack of plates, with utensils, and a huge bowl, then left, and brought back another couple of bowls full of food. Once he finally sat down, there was enough good food to feed a small adventuring familia for a day.
"Eat up everyone, especially you two, you need your nutrition to grow up big and strong." Ceraunius said, serving Bell and Zaria a plate full of food, their eyes sparkled, and lit up as they devoured everything.
"Grandpa made good food, but this… It's AMAZING I love it!" Zaria cheered, taking more food for herself, with a great big smile.
"T-thank y-you sir. You're an amazing chef." Bell said timidly getting more food for himself as well.
"Ahahaha! It seems you've learned a lot from Zald's tutelage, haven't you, Ceraunius?" Zeus laughed, putting an arm around Ceraunius' shoulders.
"I'm still a far cry from the stuff he could make up… I wish I'd had more time to learn from him." He said with a bitter sweet smile. "I did surpass his ability in making dungeon rations though. He often said to make more of them for his brutal training." He added with a giggle.
"That's impressive, he had a hidden benefit thanks to his skills. Even reaching half as good as him is something to be proud of." Zeus smirked, and released Ceraunius.
Bell and Zaria knew his name now, and while they weren't in the know of who these two people were, they knew to trust their grandpa, and if he liked them, then they were good people.
"So, Gamelia, have you and Ceraunius had that baby yet?" Zeus asked, knowing full well she hadn't, but he liked to tease.
"Not yet, but once we return to Orario, and join Astraea's familia proper, we're going to make sure it happens, as long as it takes." Gamelia said with a clear blush on her cheeks. She wasn't embarrassed so much as excited.
"Grandpa?" Zaria spoke up with a curious eye.
"Yes, Zaria?"
"Who are these two? He sorta feels a little like you, and she feels sorta like Grandma." She asked.
"Oh oh! They're heroes!!" Bell shouted raising his fork to the air like a sword, he had bright expectant eyes, and a big smile with a bunch of food crumbs lining his lips…
"Really?! Is that right, Grandpa Zeus? They're heroes, like the ones from the stories?" Zaria asked, mirroring her brother's expression.
The overwhelming cuteness of the two was enough that Ceraunius and Gamelia had a spit-take and then giggled together in unison.
"You've filled their heads with the tales of heroes quite well, Zeus." Hera said, with a slight twitch of her brow.
"Well, of course I did. They loved stories at bedtime, so I turned them into picture books. All original copies made by yours truly, a loving grandpa." He snickered.
"Well, I'm sure they'll have no trouble when Astraea sees them." Hera smiled. "Though, I'd really like to spend some time with them before starting our search."
"In that case, Mother Hera." Ceraunius began. "Let us bring a copy of the chronicles with us for the familia library, it'll take time to finish copying it, I can help with things around here, and get these two started on their training."
"I like this plan. There's something we have to do around these parts anyway. And it would be cool to try out our Spirit side powers a little bit." Gamelia added.
""SPIRITS!"" Bell & Zaria sounded off in unison.