Chapter 703: Simple Dinner. Selene’s Questions

Moon, Yara, and Selene made their way out of the plaza together.

Everything around them was still shut, the district silent and empty. Even with the gate cleared, it would take a little time before the evacuation lifted, the businesses reopened, and the eastern commercial district returned to the bustling trade hub it had been before the gate opened at its center.

Halvern had arranged an orbital for them, a comfortable VIP shuttle to carry them back, and once they’d settled into the private cabin and lifted off, Selene and Yara turned their full attention to Moon.

He told them everything, walking them through the frozen wasteland, its beasts, two spires and the commanders of the north and south.

He told them about the fight, dying and respawning, feeding the second heart to his Beast Soul and discovering that souls could evolve through catalysts, and about the final duel between the two ascended elves that had ended the whole thing.

Selene and Yara listened with wide eyes, hanging on every word, breaking in with questions throughout.

Yara wanted to know everything about the archer Elsa who she viewed as a strong competitor.

Moon told them about the cores he had found in both trapdoors, and the two marveled at the hoards, shaking their heads in disbelief at the sheer scale of what he’d walked out with.

By the time he finished, the two of them were staring at him with a mixture of awe and exasperation.

"Only you," Selene finally said, shaking her head, "could walk into a gate like this and come out having killed such beasts, and made a few hundred million on the side."

Moon just smiled tiredly and leaned back into his seat.

"So, can we see that Beast Soul of yours? I’m dying to know what it looks like." Selene leaned forward, her eyes bright with curiosity.

Moon nodded and summoned the Lesser Elf with a thought.

The spirit materialized in the cabin in a shimmer of pale light, both blades in hand, waiting for instruction from Moon.

"I’ve never seen a lesser elf in person before," Selene murmured, studying it. "They really do look like the true elves. And more intimidating up close than I expected. There’s something about the way it just... stands there, watching."

Yara stared at the summoned elf with a different expression entirely.

Her eyes were shining, filled with stars and hopeful light.

As the Savi Maiden, her blue skin had marked her as other from the moment she’d arrived on Earth. It had made her feel small during those early days, made her shrink under the weight of every stare, because so many of the people around her had looked at her the way people looked at a monster. Something to be feared, contained, and despised, never respected or seen as a person with feelings.

Seeing another humanoid creature standing there, one that was clearly not human, and yet radiated strength and presence rather than shame, stirred something embedded deep in her chest.

It reminded her that the world was full of races that weren’t human, and that some of them were respected precisely because of what they were, not in spite of it.

The lesser elf stood tall, a warrior of a proud bloodline.

Yara had come a long way. She was no longer a slave registered under Selene’s name, bound by the paperwork that had defined her worst days.

Her life had changed, and it would keep changing.

An Ascender had chosen her as a disciple and she would always be grateful to Moon and Sierra for that.

But the old wound hadn’t fully closed. She still remembered those eyes, the ones that looked at her and saw a monster, and more than anything, she wanted a day when nobody would ever look at her that way again.

She didn’t want their pity, and she didn’t want their fear of the ugly kind.

She wanted to be strong enough that when people looked at her blue skin, they saw something to be proud to stand before, not something to recoil from.

Watching the lesser elf stand there, she thought, One day.

Yara’s hands unconsciously moved to the white bow at her side, Sierra’s gift, the mark of a disciple.

One day they’ll look at me the way they should have from the start.

"So..." Selene muttered as she picked at the hem of her sleeve. "You know that girl, Nina?"

"Yeah, what about her?" Moon responded, turning his gaze towards Selene.

"Isn’t she the same girl from the S-rank gate a few months back? She was on your team this time too."

Moon nodded, not thinking much of it. "Yeah, it’s a small world, isn’t it? Turns out we both got recruited for the same gate. Ran into her on the orbital on the way there."

"Mm." Selene nodded slowly, then glanced at him sideways. "You two seemed... very friendly earlier. When we were all standing around."

"We fought two gates together. You get closer to people you nearly die beside, i’m sure you know that feeling well. But I wouldn’t exactly call us ’Close’. " Moon said, a soft smile forming on his face.

After all, this was how he and Selene had gotten close.

"Right. Of course." Selene’s fingers kept working at her sleeve. "So she’s, what, a good friend now? You get along well?"

"She’s alright now. She apologized for how she acted in the first gate, which took some maturity. She’s grown a lot in the time I haven’t seen her." Moon shrugged, oblivious. "She was really helpful in there, stopping the team from internal fights that could have destroyed the harmony."

Selene was quiet for a moment, and Yara, watching from the other seat, hid a small knowing smile behind her hand.

"And what was that about dinner?" Selene asked, her voice climbing just slightly in pitch, a little too quick. "I heard you ask her to dinner." She crossed her arms, then uncrossed them, then folded her hands in her lap. "Are you going on dates behind our backs now? Is that what this is?"