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They're here, they're here, they're here!
One by one, the heroes of Mana turn up in the Holy City of Wendel until the whole gang has gathered, greeting each other happily and sharing news.
A year ago, the six of them made a promise to see each other again, hopefully in a world more at peace.
Well... the world wasn't much more peaceful, but at least Wendel was still the least touched by it, returning to its traditional status as a place of neutrality, spirituality, refuge. People in doubt came here all the time to seek the Priest of Light's guidance, and the town had taken in crowds of people fleeing war, or inhospitable land, or monsters. Wendel's peace made it a natural place for reunion a year on.
And as the host (of sorts) of this reunion, Charlotte had snuck some bottles of spirits out of the monks' wine cellar before everyone arrived so that their first dinner could be a real celebration. But then after going to all that trouble, the others wouldn't even let her have any -- rude!
At dinner, Charlotte watched as Angela wasted no time in menacing Duran with her teasing. As far as Charlotte knew, things in Altena still weren't great, but for Angela, that was only more reason to take advantage of whatever opportunities she got for a bit of mirth, and she'd thrown herself fully into that.
It took Kevin a while to find his voice, but when he finally started talking, it was a stream of good news, at least: a manageable level of conflict within the Beast Kingdom, and mostly success in keeping the more restless parts of the population -- those itching for another invasion, a tussle -- in check; lots of doting stories about Karl and all the tricks he'd learned.
Riesz reminisced about the past, the moments of mirth on their journey and how she thinks of everyone often. Hawkeye agreed, although Charlotte suspected he spent more time thinking about one person over all the others.
The only person who would make the celebration complete was Heath -- he had come by Wendel a week ago, but mostly he now spent all his time in Astoria rebuilding and resettling people there. Charlotte supposed it made sense that he was uneasy in the temple and his interest in one day perhaps becoming the next Priest of Light had waned... But still. She missed his warm, reassuring presence in the temple.
"Hey, hey, Riesz, let's go to Laurent next year!" Charlotte said suddenly, grabbing hold of Riesz's arm.
"Hey, wait! What about Altena!" Angla protested immediately, quick to put in a bid.
Charlotte made a face.
"Altena's too cold," Hawkeye said bluntly.
"Laurent better!" Kevin concurred.
Angela burst into a theatrical, dramatic sob, while Duran, having none of it, took the opportunity to gloat.
Charlotte smiled, happy to be among friends once more.