After his arrival, Lynx had run out of knowing what to say. In the presence of relief, and the absence of sarcasm, he was at a loss. He had wanted to yell until the whole world fell apart, and there was no where left for his children to go, except the safety of home. He'd wanted to cry until he was empty and his emotions had evaporated. But he also knew that he couldn't do either, so he did nothing but turn to patience, and waited for the world to feel a little more familiar and for normalcy to resume.
Eventually, the two walked back into the hostel, abandoning the empty veranda for comfortable seating. Even though there were only two Miliners present, they somehow managed to drag with them the presence of the whole clan - babies and children, laughter and spit up, and cat, meowing and floating orange hair landing gently on clothes, and grandparents, garden and all. Maebe had gone from sulking loner to protected tribe member, and the mother hens and curious knight errants gave her and her father a blessedly wide berth.
"Yeah." Lynx shuffled his feet on the jute carpet, while surveying the assembled tourists, adventurers, and get-a-way starlets. "It was cruel and unusual to try to leave your family with no hint as to whether or not you were ok. I can't think of a worse thing to put a parent through."
