Hera woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. It was so strong that she even had to ask Filigree to cast some healing spells on her. Not that she was expecting it to work since balm of life felt more like a physical capability, but still, there was a minor anesthetic effect that helped with what the Empress was feeling.
The reason for her struggle was Nereus. When Wild Born and the dwarf that he was talking to start drinking, specifically once they started singing, everybody begun to drink the liquor created by the Triton Sovereign. And the moments they did that, there was no one left standing. Nereus had not just created something that allowed high levels forward to get drunk, but he did it in a way that people didn't even realize how much they were drinking.
The liquor was sweet and lovely on all fronts. Of hazelnut and chocolate, although others were arguing that it was more citrusy or that it tastes similar to a bourbon. At one point, Hera overheard Nereus speaking with someone about how he was able to enchant the liquid so the taste would be always something that the people who were drinking would like. It had something to do with how the drink would connect with the taste receptors of the mouth, the ones that were able to trigger the sense of pleasure more often.
It was by no means a simple spell, but at the same time it felt like an unnecessary effort considering that there were already various drinks that could be enjoyed by everybody. People just have to order what they want. Then again, he was a Triton and his business was hospitality even though he was the equivalent of a king.
The aftermath of the party was rough for everyone. Even though the liquor was delicious, it also came with a killer headache. There were a dozen people who had to be carried to the various hotel rooms they were staying for the event. And Nereus was laughing his ass off the entire time. The Triton seemingly unbothered by the strength of his drinks. The worst part was that it wasn't a situation where he made sure not to drink anything, as he was one of the people who cleared out a couple of bottles by himself. But maybe he was so used to the liquor that it didn't bother him as much as it did everybody else.
The Empress was trying to gather her bearings as she had one more official duty today, not just as an aspirant hero but as the Ophidianite Empress. There was a meeting with the alliance Council that she had to participate. They wouldn't be talking about anything too important since the channels they had available were not as secure as the one they tended to use on other occasions, but they still had to give a superficial report about the events of the night. Even if some details were likely already available to pretty much anyone who keep an eye on the happenings of the MAZE.
Before even getting off of bed, Hera had already seen a couple of news articles on her phone titled "The Party of the Century" and another titled "The Alliance's Unhinged Booze Master." In one of the tabloids that was looking over the event. She could only hope that she wasn't responsible for causing any issues, as there were good parts of the night that she simply couldn't remember.
Still, she couldn't take the time to figure out what happened now. The meeting was supposed to take place in about half an hour, and she couldn't be late for it. Typera had stressed enough that tardiness in this situation would only cause a lot of problems. The members of the council that were not participating in the gala would be very on edge about the event. It was, after all, the first time where people who represented the guild would be interacting with people who represented the alliance in any formal way after the war.
If someone were to take too long to show up, the council could think the worst and start to gear up for some drastic measures. And if that would happen, things could be very complicated very quickly. Especially once the orders were given and troops have been dispatched.
The Ophidianite struggled to get up and slowly got dressed with the help of her Court who, somehow, were also able to get drunk during the previous night but, the moment they returned to the [Empress Palace], their drunkenness was gone. Which was something the Empress was really angry about, considering her current state. Still, she struggled to get out of bed, took a quick cold water shower, which felt really nice against her scales, and got dressed.
The moment Hera opened the door to leave the hotel, she met Blue on the other side, who was about to knock.
"Oh, Hera," Blue said with a smile.
"Hey Blue, are you okay?"
"Yeah, but," her face quickly shifted, "not really. I just came to say goodbye. I'm heading back to my house. Back on earth."
"Already?" Hera gasped. "I thought we would have more time to hang out. We haven't talked in a bit."
Blue frowned when hearing that. "Girl, we talk almost every day, what are you talking about?"
Hera chuckled. "But it's different. You know, one thing is talking to text another in person."
Blue nodded with a sad smile. "Yeah, but I," she paused and let out a long sigh, "I can't stay here. Staying in the MAZE is freaking me out."
"Oh," Hera nodded. She never really considered the fact that Blue might be struggling to be here. "Is there anything I-"
Before the Empress could finish her sentence, Blue just shook her head. "No, there's not. This is not about you. This is not about something you did or something you can do. Staying here in the MAZE keeps making me relieve everything that happened. Not just the things that happened to me, but everything that I did. I did my best to support you when you ended up killing that elf during the centaur attack, but honestly, I only get you now."
"Oh Blue," Hera reached out to touch her friend on her shoulder, but the moment her claws approached, Blue took a step back.
"Sorry, just don't do that. It's not you. It's me. Anytime someone reaches out to me, I get a bit snippy. And now, I think I've been here too long. I'm not ready to get back. I'm not ready to live in the MAZE again. I want to be, man, I really want to be, but I'm not there. I need more time."
Hera did her best not to show how upset she was at her friend's reaction. She understood that it wasn't something she could control, but at the same time, having someone flinch at your touch was never a pleasant experience.
"That's okay. Take as long as you need and even if you decide that you can never come back here, we can still talk through text. I'll give you some video calls and keep talking your ear off about whatever." Hera smiled, but she couldn't help but feel sad about the situation.
It wasn't fair what happened to Blue. Then again, she couldn't really say that anything that happened during the war was actually fair. On both sides, everybody was just doing what they could do in order to survive. The only people who could really be to blame or the ones in charge of the guilt and they were already paying the price.
"Anyway, I just came to say bye. And hope to see you soon. I just can't promise when that will be," Blue said.
Hera nodded. "Are you going back now? I think I have some time. I could take you to the doorway."
But Blue shook her head. "No. Alex and the girls offered that too, but I refused. I think walking alone a little will be good for me. But I will be with the group chat on speed dial if I need anything. So if I call, come pick me up?"
Hera nodded. "Of course. You don't even have to ask. I'll be there whatever you need."
Blue smiled, then took a deep breath before reaching out to give her a hug. The controller might be still struggling with some aspects of life in the MAZE, but as long as she was the one who initiated something like this, she could still manage.
"Thank you for everything."
Hera held her friend tightly. "Thank you. For being here. And you do know that if you ever decide to become an Ophidianite, you don't even have to ask. Right? You are already an honorary member. All you need is to go through the ascension. And not just you, your entire family already gets a free pass. I'm pretty sure we will start to figure out ways to speed up the process as soon as we get more people involved."
Blue chuckled. "That would be really funny. You know my mom's kind of scared of snakes, don't you?"
"I think you mentioned that," Hera smirked, remembering all the times that Blue's mother screamed when Hera was talking with her friend through a video call. That happened often enough that it should no longer be a surprise, but it was still funny every time.
The two of them took the elevator together and when they reached the lobby, the rest of the entire crew was there. Alex, Bonnie, Helena, Shane, Milo, even Adriel, who arrived late to the party on the previous evening much after people had already started to drink.
He talked with the group and was there to show his support to Blue. She thanked them all once again and reinforced her request of not to be taken to the doorway. She wanted to do that by herself. And everybody respected her decision. Still, that didn't stop the group from watching her friend walk away into the City and towards the doorway leading back to Earth.
With the exception of Adriel and Hera, everybody else had the option of going to visit their friend. But it still hurt to see how much the war had impacted her. Hera was still being called the aspirant hero when, in her mind, Blue had sacrificed much more to help end the war than she ever could have.
She also knew that this was only her own opinion. No one else would likely agree with the sentiment, especially considering that Blue didn't actively do anything to stop the war from continuing. She was, if anything, just another victim. One of ones that got the short end of the stick but a victim, nonetheless.
After that bittersweet moment, Hera just told her friends what she had to do and left to meet with Typhera and Nereus. The two of them were in a specific building that they had designated as a place for the council meeting, which had also been secured using the various spells and methods they had to guarantee their privacy. Even then, no one was willing to believe that this would be a perfectly safe place and for that, they had a warning not to talk about anything that was too sensitive during this next meeting.
By the time she arrived, Typhera was already doing her best to scold Nereus for his actions on the previous evening. At least, as much as one queen could scold a Sovereign. This was one of the strange patterns within the alliance. If someone did something really stupid, the council still wasn't technically allowed to berate them for their decisions. After all, they couldn't exactly punish the ruler of an entire species without repercussions. That was something that all council members understood and the Triton took advantage of that to have his fun without worrying about people complaining.
The Triton Sovereign walked into the meeting room while wearing a cocky smile, knowing that Typhera could only loosely complain about the situation and not go too deep into anything. However, The Harpy Queen only appeared to be bothered. As the moment they were setting up the Hologram video call, she sneakily changed her face to a smirk. All the council members appeared one by one, the Elven Prime minister, the Beast Man chieftains, and the Dwarven king. But there was a fifth hologram appearing. One that caused Sovereign Nereus's face to drop. As an older Triton woman with the same shade of blue skin that the Triton Sovereign had, a small nose and her hair cut in a short bob materialized in front of the group and stare daggers at Nereus.
"Mom?!" the Triton gasped.
"Mrs. Stofin, thank you for agreeing to participate in this meeting and I do apologize for the short notice," Typhera said in her most polite and caring voice.
The Triton woman gave a small bow and spoke up. "No need to thank me, Queen Typhera. I am the one who is thankful for you letting me know what my son has been up to. For it's been quite a few days since he last answered my calls and I was starting to get worried."
"Now hang on a minute," Nereus tried to speak up, but was quickly cut off by his mother.
"Nereus Mackerel Stofin! How many times have I told you not to experiment on official events? You are the Triton Sovereign, act like it! Stop thinking that everything is a joke. Honestly, I thought you were going to be better by now. And even after everything that you made your dad and I go through I can't believe you would do such an irresponsible selfish and frankly asinine thing."
Typhera slowly walk towards the Empress and opened a small bag of popcorn that she had prepared beforehand. The Ophidianite gave a confused look to The Harpy Queen, who just smiled and whispered, "Just because we are not allowed to scold our peers, that doesn't mean that no one is. And Trust me, not even a king's authority would stop an angry parent from reprimanding their children."
Hera chuckled then took a bit of the popcorn, noticing how all the other council members also seem to be chewing on something. It seemed like Typera not only called Stofin's mother, but also let everybody else know of her plans.
"Good to know. And if you ever need to do that to me, please call my dad. I don't think my mother would help anyone in a situation like that."
Typera nodded. "Don't worry. From what we know about her, if we called her, she would be the one being berated. But frankly, I don't see why we would waste time like that. We have better things to do."
Typera quickly tapped the Empress leg and gestures to Sovereign Stofin. "Let's see if we're going to hear the story about how he stole his dad's boat and got stranded for 3 weeks this time."
Almost as if on cue, Mrs. Stofin started to compare his prank at the party with the time that he stole a boat and spent several days stranded on one of the islands in his home room. Later he was found buck naked wearing a crown of palm trees and proclaiming himself to be the king of the waters. Demanding that the clouds started to pour down rain since he was thirsty and had nothing to drink.
Mrs. Stofin continue to scold her son for an hour and a half. Less than 10 minutes into the meeting, Hera created some proof barrier around Typera and her so they could talk to the other council members without interrupting the mother and son duo. About 30 minutes after Mrs. Stofin started, the rest of the council decided they had enough of the fun and continued with their meeting. Nereus, of course, wasn't as lucky. He continued to hear all the mistakes and ways in which he messed up not just now but through all his life.
Hera had to admit it was really surprising considering how many times the Triton Sovereign seems to have messed up. And he was still considered being the ruler of the Tritons. They did have a way to choose their sovereign and Nereus seems to have been chosen the last time they did that. Maybe in the future it will change, but for now, this man who was getting the scolding of a lifetime was the one responsible for their future. And while she wasn't really confident, Hera thought that maybe she wasn't going to suck at it as much as she thought she would.