It was a glorious time, even for the normally highly active Beth; several weeks spent with nothing better to do than, well, each other. There was plenty of time relaxing in the suite, shopping in the concourse, going to the massage parlors, eating fine foods at the establishments that were extremely expensive but still within their budget, and yes, there was even some time spent on training and fighting. Sera insisted that they do as little of the last as possible, and Beth, for once, didn't really have it in her heart to put up a strong argument. She found the place just leeched her worries and troubles away, especially since she had the best insider possible with her, likely even more knowledgeable than the owner of the establishment. Sera knew everyone there, even many of the guests, knew their habits and tendencies, who liked who, who was good at what, who did what when and in the best possible way. She knew all the gossip, besides, which wasn't exactly more conducive to a good rest, but was very interesting.

Val had managed to squeak out a whole three days there, spending the entire time glued to Blood, though it was clear Tasha and a few others had also made an impression on the leader of the Young Scions. She left in a far greater flurry than she had arrived, having pushed her time there past what was perhaps prudent, but it was very clear she both liked the present company more than the company she was normally forced to keep, and that she liked a certain lupine woman far more than anyone or anything else she had ever liked. Beth wasn't going to complain at all; it made her happy to see Blood happy, though the wolf showed fewer visible signs of it than others. Having the leader or, by the time they got her as a party member, former leader of the Young Scions and the future heiress of the kresnik clan as one of her people wasn't going to hurt, either. The kind of connections and wealth Val had access to were even greater than Sera; not that the Black Dragon Clan was poor or weak, but Sera hadn't spent years and years networking and utilizing her connections. Val had actually made use of her family's fame and fortune to make powerful connections across the galaxy and beyond, connections that she could lean on at a moment's notice.

That was all dreams for the future, however, and the dreams for the now were just as sweet, especially with Sera leading the way. They spent longer than Beth had intended resting in indolent pleasure before she eventually got the other two moving, though even on the last day they took their sweet time in getting ready and heading out the door. An amazing amount of time getting ready, for people who had spatial storage powers and items, beyond which Sera lingered to talk to practically every person they saw. The walk to the teleporters should have taken them less than twenty minutes from the suite they had rented; instead, it took them almost two hours, by which point Beth was just about ready to throw in the towel and say they could just stay there forever. She didn't give up, though, and managed to get them to and through the teleporter, finally taking them back to the bar before getting them on the CRA network and heading back to Earth. She hadn't messaged Baelvyr or anyone, but she figured either he or Tazeen would be around and could help get them assigned. If not, worst case scenario, they could always ask Jaq, as Beth was pretty sure he was also a Platinum Emblem and could dole out assignments, though she'd rather deal with the prickly shopkeeper less rather than more.

The teleports themselves were uneventful, as they usually were, and they made it back to their 'home' Hall with little fanfare and in admirable time. Not that they were under the gun in terms of time or anything, but the trip was quick, quiet, and painless. Going back home would also give them the opportunity to check in on Beth's family, whom Blood also considered her family, and see how Neph was doing. Beth wasn't sure if her sisters or Sabs would be in residence, but it would be nice to get a quick progress update on them if they were. Earth was stabilizing a bit more in terms of mana at this point, though it wasn't fully done, and if they could swing serving as referees in one of the Halls on Earth, they might also be able to explore the still burgeoning planet in their free time.

Popping up in the final teleportation room, it was Jaq that appeared out of nowhere, though Beth could faintly detect hints of the movement skills he used to do it. His ability to pop in and out was based on more traditional, space-type skills rather than something more esoteric like dimensions or even Zane's use of gravity. He gave the three of them a heavy once over before demanding their emblems, which was good security practice and technically a part of the rules, but Jaq was strong enough and had enough authority to just hand-wave them through. Beth was pretty sure he was going through all the forms in a bit of pique because they had just suddenly showed up and it had fallen to him to stop what he was doing and check that they weren't some random invasion.

"So good to see you, too, Jaq," Beth said with faux-sweetness as he scanned their emblems.

"I can't say the same," he responded in a mild voice, belying the sarcasm of the statement.

"You really do just enjoy being an ass, huh?" Beth asked, though it was largely rhetorical.

"Don't start what you can't finish," he said shortly, handing them back their emblems before disappearing.

"What an ass," Beth muttered.

"He doesn't actually mean anything by it," Sera said with a chuckle. "He's just posturing."

"He can posture this," Beth said, making a rude gesture with her arms before Sera grabbed her, laughing at the motion.

"Enough, enough," Sera laughed, dragging her out of the teleporter room.

Beth maneuvered to turn the dragging into interlocked arms, Blood following along behind the two with a light snort. They walked up to the front lobby, finding Lyrissa and somebody Beth had not seen before at the counter. It was a bit of a surprise, but she supposed they would have to cycle some of the heavy hitters out at some point. That, and as the Halls on Earth got more and more traffic, they would require more help than what six or seven workers could provide. Beth walked up to Lyrissa, giving the new guy a nod as she approached the counter, getting a slightly nervous nod back, if she was any judge. The man was wearing CRA fatigues with two gold and one white stripe on the left side of the outfit, showing his rank and his Hall association.

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"Got some new meat?" Beth asked casually, getting a grin from Lyrissa in response.

"We have some new help coming in to all the Halls. We've got more people we need to cover, more people doing matches, and some of us are getting reassigned," Lyrissa said, basically confirming everything that Beth had thought.

"We're gonna be here for at least a couple nights," Beth said, handing Lyrissa a couple gold coins.

"Main building?" Lyrissa asked, but didn't wait for confirmation, simply assigning them a room in the building and giving them keys.

"Many more people staying here now?" Beth asked her.

"A few," Lyrissa said, waving a hand idly. "Not many willing to shell out for a main building room still, however, so you're not going to bump into basically anybody but us. Have any idea of what you're up to next?"

"We've got ref duty," Beth replied, laughing as Lyrissa's face scrunched at that.

"Not your favorite thing?" Sera asked, looking down at the beautiful woman with a grin.

"Well, there are worse things," Lyrissa replied. "Like getting another hole drilled in my head, or having a limb re-attached wrong, or having to regrow teeth the slow way, or-"

"We get it," Sera said, holding up her hands and laughing. "You don't like to do ref duty."

"Oh, did I make it obvious?" Lyrissa said, looking up at the much taller woman with a sweet expression.

"Not the only obvious thing," Sera replied with a grin.

"Well, if you're offering," Lyrissa said coyly, blinking up at the dragon girl.

"Just message me," Sera said, reaching out and tapping Lyrissa's cheek, exchanging contact information with the touch. Lyrissa looked a bit surprised, as if she wasn't quite used to her little flirts bringing such direct results, but she still smiled broadly as she accepted the information exchange request.

Beth led the way out of the lobby after that, taking them to the elevators and up to the third floor, where their temporary suite was going to be. It was interesting to see new people in the Hall, not just people there to train but employees with enough standing to work. Beth hadn't detected anything strange about the man, and she wasn't sure that she would, but she felt like he was from off-world. Likely they would be some of the first people to do any work at the Halls on Earth who were from Earth, though it wouldn't shock her if there was a person out there with even crazier opportunities that managed to survive and get to Silver Emblem, ready to advance to Gold, even before them. She still felt they were the quickest, and that it would be a little odd if anybody had gotten there before them, but it wasn't something that was totally impossible.

"I didn't think you'd be into Lyrissa," Beth said, as they entered the suite and assumed their typical slouches on the couches.

"She's very pretty," Sera replied. "Not like you, but quite pretty."

"And you talk about me seducing every woman I see," Beth said with a grin, leaning over and kissing Sera quite firmly.

"Well, it is true," Sera replied, giggling as Beth attacked her and kissed her furiously.

"We need to talk to Baelvyr," Beth said when she let up her attack.

"Let's rest for the night and then take care of that tomorrow," Sera said. "Do you want to go see your family?"

"We could," Beth said with a shrug. "It's not really urgent, though."

"I understand that," Sera said with a sigh.

"We'll have to take care of that eventually, too," Beth said.

"We've got time," Sera replied.

"I am kinda excited to meet your folks," Beth said then with a grin.

"You shouldn't be," Sera said, rolling her eyes. "They're all stuffy, boring, stodgy old timers that care about their pride and prestige more than anything else."

"Surely it can't be that bad," said Beth, frowning at her lover.

"Well, it sorta is," Sera replied with a sigh. "Dragons live a long time. Like, a long fucking time, and that's not even counting the Path or anything else. It means that the people that were alive and making decisions five thousand years ago are the same people alive and making decisions now. If it worked five thousand years ago, and it was good enough for them, it's good enough for us, regardless of what anybody else thinks. And, well, it's like people who are raised in that environment have their fucking brains melted. My parents used to be better, I know they were, but they're practically recordings of my great grandparents at this point. I don't know if my dad's had an original thought this century; certainly not one he's said out loud, in any case."

"That does sound pretty grim," Beth said with a sigh of her own. "Though, I'm just worried about how much trouble they'll try to make for us."

"A lot, but we can deal with it," Sera said.

"Maybe we should just get that out of the way," Beth said.

"No way," Sera said emphatically, poking at Beth lightly. "It's better to put it off; it's going to be a shitshow either way, and better that we're stronger and more influential when we go deal with it. If one of us makes it all the way to Platinum Emblem, that would be even better. Plus, we should try to get Blood and I to Enlightened; they'll listen to us at that point, no matter what they might say or even think. Power talks, regardless of people's views, and lots of power does all the talking."

"Well, I don't want to fight your family, but I'm not going to say no to getting stronger," Beth said with a light chuckle.

"I'm glad we met," Sera said, rolling on top of Beth and kissing her quite intently.

"You two still didn't get enough?" Blood grumbled from the other part of the couch.

"Never!" cried Beth, breaking away from the kiss just long enough to emphasize her enthusiasm…and to throw a pillow at Blood, which the wolf flicked out of the air without even looking over at it.

After a quick resumption of the kissing, Sera was eventually the one to break it off, getting them up and moving. It was early evening, the sun still up, but not for long, not that that would matter to them, but it was better they went out when it was still light. Despite how much Beth enjoyed pulling one over on the guards that Zack had protecting their hometown, better that there be no misunderstandings from the low light level. Given that, it wasn't hard to get them moving and out of the Hall, heading towards the neighborhood. Beth marveled at how much had changed in just a few years, not least of which being her, now able to make a distance that used to take up to twenty minutes when moving fast take just two or three minutes, and that pace was still sedate.

The wall around the town was the same as she remembered it from a year or so ago. Visually, nothing was at all different, and the gates still looked the same, but she could feel that the walls radiated a denser, thicker mana. It might not have been a large difference, but she felt some of the training they had done recently had really helped hone her senses to the general ebb and flow of mana around her, particularly in constructs and enchantments. The walls had clearly been boosted a bit some time since she last saw them, which was all to the better, as she'd rather they be safer than be sorry. The guards hadn't changed much, though, as it took until they were nearly at the gate before they were challenged, a challenge that turned into a squawk when Beth simply opened the main gates, the keys her parents had given her still working just fine.

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