Supreme Magus

"I'm sorry, Auntie Solus. I'm sorry, Grandma Ripha." Aran said.

"Apology accepted." Solus and Menadion said yet they were inwardly fuming.

Between Elina's lessons and their "friendly" competition with Aran, they soon became capable of preparing a decent meal at a moment's notice. Nothing to write home about, but perfectly edible and sometimes even tasty enough to be served as part of the dinner.

It was after one of such successful events that Lith summoned the female side of the family for help.

Elina had already gone to bed and he had moved the assembly to the tower not to be caught in the act.

"Thank you for coming." Lith gave a polite nod to Tista, Rena, Solus, Kamila, Ripha, and Selia. "The trip with my mother is around the corner and I need your advice on a pressing matter that has to be resolved before our departure."

"How to deal with the return of that little shit of Meln?" Selia asked.

"No. I have several contingency plans in place for that." Lith shook his head. "The issue is how to tell my mother to stop embarrassing me in public without hurting her feelings."

"Lith Tiamat Verhen!" Rena stood up, her outrage clearly written on her face. "How dare you say you're ashamed of Mom after everything she has done for us?"

"I'm not ashamed of Mom, Rena." Lith raised his hands with the palms out, gesturing for her to calm down. "I'm ashamed by Mom! Look with your own eyes."

He projected a hologram of the incriminated scenes that took place every time Lith accompanied Elina to Lutia to buy groceries, meet their friends, or just take a walk. There were lots of hugging, kissing, and cleaning his mouth with a handkerchief whenever they ate something together.

"I can see your issue." Rena nodded. "But that's nothing to be worked up about. Mom does the same with Tista and me."

"Rena, only a blind man wouldn't see the resemblance between you girls and our mother." Lith replied. "You have no idea how many times people who had just settled in Lutia and tourists mistook us for newlyweds!"

"And it was hilarious!" Kamila laughed her ass off while Solus stifled her own with a hand. "You should have seen his face. Priceless."

"My point exactly." Lith grunted. "I just want Mom to behave like she does at the Royal Court. She never goes overboard there or whenever we are guests in a noble household."

"That's because in those circumstances Mom is as stiff as a board and terrified of doing or saying something inappropriate." Tista pointed out. "I mean, just look at how different her expression is!"

She conjured two different holograms of how Elina acted at Court and in Lutia respectively. In the former, she had the relaxed attitude that Lith associated with someone undergoing their first job interview.

In the latter, instead, Elina was beaming with joy and never stopped smiling.

"Okay, point taken." Lith sighed. "But the issue still remains. We are going to tour the Kingdom for days and I want neither rumors about 'The Supreme Magus has a mistress' or 'The Supreme Magus is a giant baby' to spread while I'm at it."

"I could have helped you years ago, if you had asked me back then." Selia shrugged. "If I go talking to Elina right now, she'll ask me why I didn't speak about it sooner. She may not believe me or even get offended at me.

"Elina is very protective of her relationship with her children and might take my remark as a personal attack."

"As any of us would." Ripha shrugged. "How would you react if someone accused you of loving your children too much?"

"Depends on what weapon I have at hand." Selia pondered. "Best case scenario, they go home with black eyes and a broken nose."

"My point exactly." Menadion said with a smile while caressing Solus' hair.

'By my Mom! How can she see it in others and not in herself?' Solus inwardly whined. 'I'm not a baby!'

"Hence it's my turn to take one for the team." Menadion straightened invisible wrinkles on Solus' dress and swept her hair off her face. "I'm the newcomer so Elina will listen to me if I tell her that her behavior is inappropriate."

'Also, birds of feather flock together!' Solus blushed in embarrassment as the rest of the room had a hard time suppressing their laughter.

"Thanks, Ripha." Lith nodded. "Please, go easy on my mother."

"I will." She replied.

***

"Excuse my bluntness, Elina, but don't you think your behavior with Lith in public is wildly inappropriate?" Menadion said point-blank at the end of the following day's cooking lesson, after Aran and Solus left.

"Excuse you?" Elina felt outraged by the allegation and awkward just thinking it might be true.

"I know it's not my place to tell and that maybe my mentality is outdated for seven hundred years but this would have been unacceptable back in my day." Menadion conjured the same hologram Lith had showcased the previous night.

"Good gods, for a moment you gave a good scare." Elina said with a laugh of relief. "Thank you for worrying about my reputation, but in today's age that's normal. It's just how a mother pampers her son a bit."

"I'm sure of it." Menadion conceded but refused to drop the argument. "But how many people know Lith is your son? I mean, look at this scene from their point of view."

"Don't worry, you are blowing this out of proportion. This is n-" Elina's words died in her throat when Menadion snapped her fingers, switching Lith's hologram with Ryman's and keeping Elina's hologram acting the same way.

"Ripha, this is wildly inappropriate! I would never behave like that with a man who's not Raaz. Just looking at it makes me feel like I'm cheating on my husband."

"I know." Menadion nodded. "The fact is that anyone who doesn't know you two are mother and son reacts exactly like you do while looking at this hologram."

"Oh, dear." Elina flushed as the projection continued. "Oh, dear. Oh, dear! Why did no one ever tell me anything?"

"Because they got used to it." Ripha shrugged. "Were Lutia still a small city where everyone knows everybody, no one would bat an eye. Now, however, it has grown a lot and I've heard lots of weird rumors while I was in Lith's shadow."

"Oh, dear!" Elina hid her face behind her hands as she became beet red up to her ears. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"As I said, I'm still getting adjusted to modern standards." Menadion lied through her teeth. "I wouldn't have mentioned this to you if you weren't about to leave Lutia and travel through the Kingdom.

"I mean, sooner or later all Lutians are bound to recognize you and Lith but that's not going to happen in other cities."

"Thanks, Ripha." Elina cried in shame. "I owe you one."

"Don't mention it." Menadion offered Elina a handkerchief and did her best to console her. "After everything you've done for my daughter, I still owe one million to you."

***

Later, that night.

"How did it go?" Lith asked.

"Just perfect." Menadion gave him a thumbs up. "She got the message."

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