85 Reunion

After they woke the next morning, Leo and Iris led the dwarves to the exit they found the day before. As the caravan filed their way out of the tunnels they started to cry out with happiness at leaving the labyrinth. It wasn't long until leo sensed someone approaching and looked to see several people dressed in leathers in the trees. He smiled and called out to the leader, a familiar woman with three eyes,

"NATALIE! We're home!" Natalie smiled at him and Iris when she walked over, and replied,

"Welcome home you two! We've missed both of you!" As the hunters made their way down from the trees they started surrounding Leo and Iris and welcomed them home. Agmundr made his way over and said in the human language,

"Well met miss, my name's Agmundr, would you do me the honor of knowing yours?" Natalie looked surprised for a moment, and Leo recalled that she was most likely raised in the village, so this would be the first time she actually met a dwarf. Natalie quickly composed her self and said,

"My name is Natalie, the head hunter of our village it is an honor to meet a dwarven chief such as yourself." Agmundr shook his head an swiftly said,

"The honor is all mine, these two saved our people in the battle, and from a fate of slavery. We could never repay this debt." Natalie looked at Leo and Iris with pride, then turned and barked orders to the hunters. A couple then turned and left for what Leo assumed was the new village. The hunters that stayed then helped the dwarves finish exiting the tunnels. After a few hours the couple that left returned, and a minute later Leo was tackled by something big, hairy, and slobbery.

"Luna- Luna get off please." Leo said while trying not to laugh. He looked at her and saw that she had grown even bigger than the last time he saw her. She was easily as big as a horse now.

'Father! Welcome home! I missed you.' Luna was the master at multitasking when she soaked him with her slobber while licking him, and shouting in his head. The surrounding dwarves looked uneasy when they heard her in their heads, but Iris started laughing until Luna tackled her and gave her a tongue bath as well. When Leo stood up he noticed that the dwarves were starting to get anxious, courtesy of the small army of high wolves surrounding them.

{calm down, they all follow me and Luna. They'll never hurt one of you unless they're ready to die for it.} though he still wouldn't like killing fenrirs descendants, he wouldn't tolerate them attacking those he was protecting. Though the dwarves eased up a little, it was obvious that they didn't trust the high wolves.

After a while more to ready the caravan, they started the treck to the ruins of Asdarge and the new village they built nearby. The high wolves formed a guard surrounding the caravan, and they didn't have to worry about any monster attacks. The sun was starting to set when Leo could smell the food cooking in the distance, and started to see the glow of the fires and homes. When the villagers saw them coming they rushed out and welcomed Leo and Iris back.

""""WELCOME HOME!!!!!!""""

They surrounded the two and bombarded them with questions about their journey. Leo and Iris tried to answer any they could, but soon gave up after repeating the same answers over again. They were herded to the center of the new village, where elder grandma and Hilda sat waiting for them. Iris stepped forward,

"We're back." Was all she said. Hilda rushed forward and wrapped her in her arms, and elder grandma stood and took her when Hilda released her. While Iris was reuniting with elder grandma and Hilda, Leo was looking at the floating ruins not far from them for the first time. He felt a sense of wonder and adventure when he saw them. He then looked around and wondered what this area would look like in several years when they brought more people here and developed it. He then turned his attention to the several beastmen nearby.

They looked at Leo with curiosity, as they heard about him from elder grandma and the others. As he walked over to meet them, a strong looking man with a wolves features glared at him, but didn't do anything. An elderly looking bearman walked forward and introduced himself in the human language.

"I am the elder of these beastmen, Kumen. I humbly thank you for the protection your people have offered us. We were quite isolated in our village ourselves, and both the beastman Capitol and the other northern villages were too far away to offer us protection." Leo nodded his head and said,

"It is only natural, I intend to meet with the beastmen eventually anyways. I hope we can all join together to fight this purge and remove Arthur." The elder widened his eyes at Leo's words and so did all the beastmen behind him. Leo realized that elder grandma might not have mentioned this, and wondered if he made a mistake. A moment later they seemed to calm down, and Kumen said,

"Please forgive our surprise, I have never heard of one willing to go against the sun gods champion before. If it will pave a better path for our children's future then we will support you in this endeavor." Leo sighed in relief and talked a little more with Kumen before returning to the others and discussing his travels with Iris.