Bakugou's PoV

The home director stared at me and pulled her eyebrows together a little before regaining her composure and bowing her head a little stiffly. "Dragonslayer Bakugou. What a coincidence."

Also the little girl stared at me and when she recognized me, her eyes narrowed to slits. I hadn't made a very good impression when we first met. Back then I had more or less promised to catch and kill Red. I swallowed. What did she have to think of me?

I cleared my throat as I covered the last few meters. "It ... surprises me to find you here," I said hesitantly. What should I say? I clearly felt that they condemned me for my work as a dragonslayer, even though they were smart enough not to say it.

"After the tragedy with the half dragon, we weren't particularly respected in the village," she said stiffly. "So we moved here."

"Why didn't you go to the Order?" I blurted.

She stared at me. "Excuse me?" she asked all of a sudden vigilantly.

I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes for a moment. "Much has changed since our last encounter. I think we should have a talk. Maybe somewhere where it's not so crowded," I said.

Miss Crownway nodded and grabbed the little girl's hand. But she immediately withdrew. "I am already old enough! I can walk alone!" she pouted.

The director of the home sighed and let her go. Together we made our way through the crowd, and I quickly went over to my horse to tie it off. I felt Miss Crownway's gaze and saw that she was frowning at the inconspicuous brown horse.

Finally she led us to an inconspicuous little house on the edge of the village. The home director told me to tie my horse in front of the door while she opened the door to let the girl in. As it was told, I tied the horse and made sure it could graze a little. Then I followed the others to the door.

Wordlessly, the home director instructed me to sit at the kitchen table. The girl sat across from me, swinging her short legs. Miss Crownway stood behind her and crossed her arms. The tension was almost palpable.

The director sighed. "Okay, what do you know about the Order? I've seen that you don't ride any of the royal warhorses anymore and I heard some rumors about you. I'm no one who pays much attention to such gossip. But I can't deny that I'm thinking about it."

I went through my blond hair. Fucking hell, how should I start? "First of all, the most important thing: Red's fine."

They looked at me in complete confusion.

"Uhm. I mean Eijirou. Kirishima is fine."

"Where's Eiji?" the girl suddenly asked me with sparkling eyes.

"We were together until yesterday morning. But by now he should be in the Dragon Empire," I said.

"You and him were traveling together?" Miss Crownway asked suspiciously. "I'm sorry, but I can hardly believe that. Why should you two make common cause?"

I sighed and opened the closure of my cape so that I could pull the fur a little to the side. I turned my head a little so that the home director could see Red's mark. She was of the Order, even though she had not served it directly for ages. Nevertheless, I assumed that she knew what such a mark meant.

Miss Crownway's eyes widened as she understood. "You are mates?" she whispered and the look she gave me suddenly became very soft. Without her strict facial expression, she looked like a different person.

"Yes, it's been a little over three years." I replied. "I have Red to thank for everything. My life and so much more." My voice became quieter.

And now I began to tell step by step what had happened since Red's escape from Nirakawa. How we had met for the first time, how he had saved me from my fall from the steep coast. Our time in Ariko. How we had fled together and finally how he had saved me from certain death on the battlefield by healing me.

"He fled with me to the mountains where we were found by Miss Farney," I finally said and looked into their smiling faces. "We built a home there and Red got lessons from the Order. A few days ago, we moved out on our first mission. But it didn't turn out as we had foreseen, and we had to separate."

A moment of silence followed when I had finished. "You care a lot about him," Miss Crownway finally said with a warm smile. I nodded seriously. "It's nice to hear that Eijirou had it good the last few years. I thought a lot about him and always hoped that he somehow escaped the King's henchmen. He has always been a good boy." At her last words I saw that she had tears in her eyes.

I didn't know exactly what to say in return. I knew she was an important figure for Red most of his life, but I didn't really know her. But the fact that she worried so much about Red made her sympathetic to me. I cleared my throat. "And how have you been?"

Miss Crownway sighed again and drove through her hair, loosening some of the grey strands from her stern bun. "As I said earlier, our orphanage hasn't been very well respected since then. The last children were adopted little by little," her gaze glanced down at the girl who had wrinkled her forehead at the words. "With Tomoko, however, we had our problems."

"Pff," made the girl, turning her face away.

"She told everyone who was interested in her what a good man Eijirou is and that half dragons are nothing to be afraid of. The people were shocked, to say the least," explained the home director, stroking the girl's long black hair with a little smile.

I laughed briefly and Tomoko threw me a little mischievous grin on her part. I bent over a little. "You know what, Tomoko?" I asked her with a smile.

She raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Red still has your stone lying on our bedside table. You know which one. The stone, with the red crystals inside." I leaned back again. "He often thought of you both."

The two of them smiled at me. It was amazing. Even when Red wasn't there, he managed to bring people together.

"What will you do next?" Miss Crownway finally asked.

"I must go to the capital city. And what about you?" The former director of the home smiled gently. "I think it's time for me to go back to the Order." She briefly looked down at the black-haired girl. "And I think Tomoko would like the environment, too." Then she clapped her hands. "But now I'm going to make us something to eat. It's already evening and you wouldn't get far today anyway. You can spend the night here."

I couldn't help but smile and I didn't know why, but I felt so incredibly comfortable. After all, I usually found it hard to trust people. But then I suddenly realized what a painfully familiar feeling it was. The feeling of having a family. It had happened in one second to the other when I had shown Miss Crownway Red's mark. She had accepted me as part of her family at that moment. Warmth flooded my heart as I looked at the slender back of the old strict woman.

Family. We were people who couldn't be more different and yet we were connected by a magical bond.