Reincarnated as the Only Human

Astra PoV

The instant that they left our view I immediately felt a little emptier inside, the lingering scent of mint and lavender tickling my nose before the soft breeze swept them away, causing my heart to pang uncomfortably.

My eyes found themselves on my eldest daughter, searching her expression and posture since I knew that out of everyone, she was technically the ’most’ affected; it was both her Dama and the Dama of her child leaving her, whereas it was just my wife and our daughter, though comparing that was meaningless.

Still, I couldn’t help it as I saw how stiff she was and how she was mechanically bouncing Melia in her arms, the tired baby staring at the closed gate before looking at her Mama for answers; they never came, but that was because her Mama’s eyes were glued to the gate as well.

Everyone else had varying degrees of sadness to this as well, with Kalia and the children being rather unsettled with this departure while Sari, Yiksa and Heila being the next set that were somewhat saddened.

After that everyone was just kind of... accepting of it and quick to move on, though it wasn’t out of malice or anything like that; they just knew they would be back and decided to move on instead of dwell, which was shown by them meandering back inside to go do something else.

Approaching my eldest and patting her shoulder, I was surprised to hear her murmur ”Is... Why do I feel guilty..?” before I could even speak, and that line immediately gave me pause as I wondered how to reply.

Taking a few moments to weigh it over I eventually settled with ”You two didn’t exactly part on wondrous terms, yes, but it isn’t something to feel guilty about. She knows you still love her, and you know she’ll be thinking of you the entire time.”, which got a slow nod from her.

”I know that, I do, but I still wonder if I should have waited for her to return before having that talk with her... What if she can’t focus because of it? Or what if-”

”Your Dama is there with her too, Camara. She’ll be made to focus on the immediate threat, I promise, so don’t worry too much alright? It’ll be picked up on by Melia; she needs you to be strong and your usual self.”

To a certain extent I was somewhat relieved that I had created such a intricate framework around myself so that my worry was shared and support was readily available, to the point that I never had to feel just like Camara did in this instant.

I suppose it was my more... controlling nature to be so on top of these sorts of things even though my entire life was based on going with the flow, allowing me to spread my emotions amongst many instead of hugging them close to just myself.

Being able to share in my worry for Rhefia’s departure with Heila and Sari while also having Camara here to share the worry for Aethisia was less taxing on me than it would have been when we had been in the forest; if it was just the four of us again in that small house and two of us were gone...

I mean, the last time I had done it a certain Dark Elf had found me and compounded the soul crushing fear even more, which was probably why I was the way I was now... though thinking of it only made me feel cold.

”Look, she’s studying your face and isn’t sure if she should cry or go back to sleep; she needs you now, Camara, for when her Dama really isn’t here.”

That last part probably made Camara feel cold as well, but my eldest just nodded and rubbed her nose against her daughter’s, making me smile softly as I gently hugged her from behind, remembering all the times I had done the same for them.

”They’ll be alright... Rhefia promised me that, and she’s yet to- well, she has broken a promise once, but hey, it resulted in Heila~! Not that I think Aethisia brings someone home of course, I think your Dama might kill her if she tries...” 4

My eldest chuckled at that, imagining the sort of anger that her Dama would display at her sister attempting to do something so stupid; rarely did Rhefia ever get stern with any of our children, but it had happened here and there.

Amplified by genuine anger I would imagine it would be quite the sight to behold, but it would never happen because Aethisia wasn’t that stupid; now I wasn’t going to promise that they wouldn’t ’cheat’ on us while they were away, but I don’t think Camara cared about that, just like I didn’t care either.

If Rhefia came back and told me she had fucked a dozen different women on their adventure I wouldn’t care, but if she told me she brought one back that would be a different story... which goes to show the priorities, doesn’t it?

”Well, they’ll be back soon enough, promise. Let’s head on inside and have some tea, hm? I bet Kalia could use some as well...”

We both glanced at the pink haired Dark Elf nearby, and sensing our gazes she turned towards us with an adorable pout that made us both chuckle as we beckoned for her to walk with us, meaning we had a Hawkkin to deal with too...

Not having the ever ’looming’ presence of the oldest Deerkin of our family definitely made things feel ’empty’ as we entered the home, and not hearing the banter between Aethisia and Inik as the Hawkkin grabbed ahold of Kalia’s shapely ass was immediately missed.

But what could we do besides accept that they were gone and get along with the rest of our day, right?

We had things to do, and for Renna and I that meant we needed to reach the city before noon so that we could open Domus Stella and begin operating our business for the first time ever, so having a heavy mind was not going to be of use. 1

That didn’t mean that the random waft of mint that tickled my nose didn’t make me sad though, and I imagine that was going to be the case for the next few days no matter what.