Cain waited patiently while Misha fed the two little ones and got them settled into sleep in the bassinet next to her bed.
"It's been too long," Cain whispered, cradling her in his arms and pulling her down into bed to serve as his little spoon for a while.
"Somehow, I suspect that we will actually have some time together after this. The Ancients have been hinting at the fact that we will get to spend time together, and it didn't seem to mean that they were going to tie you up, so you didn't wander off again." Misha replied, smirking up at him.
"Just telling you all the stories of what has happened since you left will take some time. But then, you've been watching, so I imagine you already know most of them, don't you? I'll fill you in on the other details instead.
You see, the quest that I was on was actually to get all my children in one spot at the same time.
Since you were here, that meant coming to you, but along the way, the System decided to keep adding people under the category of children in the way that a Sect Master calls their Disciples their children.
So, I had to bring all of them with me to meet the Ancients here, and then some things happened, and other things happened, but you have seen that part, and here we are, finally back together." Cain whispered back.
"I did see. Burning all of those Immortals to death with dragon fire and lava was a pretty cruel way to die."
Cain sighed. "If only it were that easy. Half of them are still alive. Their Guardian came and fished them out of the rock and resurrected them. But I think that they learned their lesson anyhow. At the very least, they didn't give us any more trouble after we left, and it can't have been that hard to find us."
"The girls have been growing up really well too. They're all chasing after Luna, though they had no idea she had gotten so far ahead of them thanks to the experience bonus."
"We should likely get a few hours' sleep. They're Ancients, so they will be up sooner than you expect, even as infants, and I know your human body can't keep up with two hours a day sleep schedules." Cain reminded her.
"The Ancients volunteered to help watch the kids. They love it, and they've been eagerly awaiting the chance for some time now. If I were actually up all the time, they would be heartbroken." Misha giggled but settled back against Cain to continue her nap.
Sure enough, only three hours later, the twins were up, and a victorious Nyarla came in to whisk them away before they woke Misha, who was still asleep in Cain's arms.
She did briefly wake up to the sound of movement and arguing from the twins, but they were gone before she was fully aware, and she settled back down without much trouble.
A few hours after the twins got up, Cain decided to let her sleep off the recovery period and refreshed the healing spells that were active on her body. They had been necessary all through the pregnancy due to the power difference between the twins and what a human was intended to endure, but she was almost back in top form now, showing no signs of her ordeal other than a sore chest where an overzealous infant had decided to test if breasts could be encouraged to provide milk at a higher rate.
Cain equipped his suit and stepped back out into the main room where the Ancients and most of the disciples of the Forbidden Treasure Sect were talking with a new arrival in the form of an older man with almond-shaped eyes and pale skin.
"And there he is. How was your nap?" The old man asked with a big smile on his face, and Cain immediately identified the voice of the Laughing God.
"It's good to meet you in the flesh, so to speak. I have heard your voice so many times before, but somehow it was never possible to put a face to it." Cain replied and reached out to shake the Elder God's hand.
He also noticed that Mariel seemed to be clueless as to who the guest was since she was still playing a board game with a number of the Ancients, and certainly wouldn't be if she knew that the God who had invited her here with a promise of new things to learn was standing right in front of her.
The old man's personality was well known to Cain, though, so he just let it slide and waited to see how long it would be before she became curious as to who the extremely powerful new arrival was.
[I'm cloaking my aura from her. I don't think she has realized I am here yet, even though she can hear me. She thinks you're talking to one of the Ancients.]
Cain shook his head and took out a handful of candies from his inventory. The commotion of the Lamia rushing over from all over the room to see him was enough to draw everyone's attention, and Cain smirked when Mariel did a double take, only now realizing they had a new guest.
Cain passed out the candies to the girls and turned to talk to the Divine Elder.
"Since I ruined the game by drawing attention, let me introduce someone to you. Divine Elder Mariel, meet the Divine Master Song of the Creators, better known as the Dark Librarian, or."
"The Laughing God." Mariel finished.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Mariel. Give me a moment to adjust my appearance. You've been around too long to be impressed by a noble and learned appearance." He replied.
The shift of forms was perfectly smooth, darkening his hair and the fu-manchu mustache to an ageless look somewhere before middle age. It made him look somewhat impish but still gallant and prideful, and Cain wondered just how long he had practiced that look to get it just right.
