"Mother. It's been a while." Rivi turned to face the figure of her daughter whom she had failed so many years ago when she had let the kingdom entrusted to her protection fall.

"Evera," Rivi exhaled, her voice laced with pain. "How have you been? Are you still on the Continent of the Gods, have you been keeping safe?"

"Yes Mother," Evera sighed at her mother's overprotectiveness. "The gods don't take much interest in mortal affairs, and our merchant's guild has been quite prosperous for at least the past few centuries. Even if they wanted to uproot us, it would hardly be easy."

"Good, good," Rivi looked down, unsure of what to say next. After all her failures it felt wrong to play the part of the concerned mother. They hadn't even seen eachother in decades, and here she was pretending to care about her daughter's safety? Of course, she really did care, but after all she'd done, did she really have a right to?

Evera looked at her mother, pity and anger playing for dominance in her heart. Pity because she truly cared about her, and it hurt to see her forlorn, anger because she hated how ever since her other mother had died she had felt more and more like she was the mother and not the other way around. For once she wanted to be taken care of and protected rather than the other way around, was that so much to ask for?

"Um," Rivi bit her lip. "Sorry I haven't reached out these past few years. I don't—I…I know I haven't been a very good mother to you. Even after…So I'm sorry. I wish…" Rivi's mind flashed through the dozens of different times she had apologized to her daughter over the years. No, this time has to be different. She took a breath. "I want to be a better Mother. I…I can't change the past, but…" She closed her eyes concentrating. "And I know you're far smarter than me, and most of the time you can handle things on your own, but—"

She stopped as Evera rushed over and wrapped her arms around her. "Oh Mom," She murmured into Rivi's shoulder as she tightened her grip around her. "I'm sorry too," She said, the love in her heart suddenly winning out over the anger. She remembered that night millenia ago that Rivi had showed up at her side, and without so much as a word put her life on the line to protect her daughter, even though that very same daughter had been just so coolly discussing a way to go behind her mother's back to protect her own throne.

"I've never been a very good daughter to you either." Her voice quivered. "I…I've always been chasing after the memory of my dead Mom, never looking into the eyes of the one I still have." She wrapped her arms up around Rivi's head. "I'm sorry," She whispered. "Just because you're not as smart as Oelania or your sisters doesn't mean you're less deserving of my love."

Rivi choked, her eyes welling with tears. "E-evera?" Where had her cold ice princess gone? Her eyes always filled with judgement or scorn, never quite entirely pushing her away, but always maintaining the cold distance of superiority? "When did you become so big and soft-hearted?" Rivi choked out laughter between her tears. "And such a hugger, too, I don't think we've hugged since—"

"I…I, it's nothing!" Evera stammered, pulling back, her face flushed bright red. "M-maybe I-I've just changed a little, is all, not such a big deal, you know, millenias go by, people change." She gave a nervous laugh.

"Oooh?" Rivi's eyes sparkled under her tears. "Is that blush I see creeping up your face? Has my little ice princess finally met someone who could thaw that frozen heart of hers?"

"S-stop it," Evera's eyes darted around. "N-no, I just—"

"I'm glad." Rivi wrapped her arms around her little princess once more. "I'm glad you found someone who cares about you in a way that I can't. You've been alone too long, I've been worried." She murmured softly, stroking Evera's back.

They stayed like that for a long moment, each sinking into eachother's warmth. The distance that had remained between them for so long, slowly crumbling into the void underneath their feet as they both held eachother for the first time in millenia.

"So?" Rivi stepped back after a long while with a breath. She waved her hand, summoning a small table with a tea set prepared on top. "Tell me about her. How did you meet? Is she a mortal? How far have you two gotten?" Rivi sat down on a cushion and began pouring tea.

"M-mooomm." Evera complained, but still dutifully followed her to the table and sat down. "It's not like that we—"

"Oh, still in denial?" Rivi's eyes sparkled. "Ah how the ice princess has fallen! But no, no, continue your story, sorry."

Evera shot Rivi a dark look then continued. "W-well there is a girl, one of my aids," Rivi's eyes brightened at the mention of 'girl' but this time she said nothing. "And, um, well," Evera looked down with a long breath. "Gods, this is so embarrassing. Do we really have to talk about this? Can't we, I don't know, talk about refugee numbers, or guild revenue streams, or spy networks or something, anything else?"

"Oh come onnn," Rivi begged. "Your mother hasn't seen you in over two decades, and you want to skip the love life talk?"

"And who's fault is that?" Evera grumbled. "If you called I would have answered."

Rivi sighed, scratching her head a little. "Aya, it hurts because it's true." She looked down guiltily.

Evera lasted a moment before she caved. Ahh, her mother was just too cute. "Fine," She sighed. "She's one of the Verouth. Her family had a long history in the south of the continent, but her mother was abducted and sold into slavery further north."

"On her way to find her, eventually she got into contact with our people, and she soon started cooperating with us in our covert anti-slavery operations in hopes to find her Mom. That was the context within which I first met her, though naturally we didn't have all that much contact at first."

"But she proved herself a capable and trustworthy subordinate, so when she decided to stay in our organization after finally rescuing her mother, she quickly rose through the ranks and we began to be in more frequent contact."

"Evera, evera, please," Rivi interrupted. "I'm asking for your love story, not her business resume."

Evera stiffened. "I'm explaining to you the context within which we crossed paths, and the qualifications she had for first catching my interest," Evera said, a little aggrieved. "As you should know, I wouldn't let just anyone cross my eye."

Rivi laughed a little. "Fine, fine, you're right, go on then."

Evera sighed, eyeing her mother as she resumed her story.

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