Lenna finally finished charging the diamond with her aura in the late afternoon of the second day after the exhibition match proposal. She had the feeling that if she had been able to channel her aura properly into it then it would have only taken her a few hours instead of thirty. Either way, it was finished and the duo headed out to the Celestial Dawn for dinner. Madeline had been informed that she only had to make dinner for her family and not duo in order to prevent any wasted food. Even saying that, Madeline was going to make at least enough food for five people.

Isaac had become aware, one night when he was trying to distract himself and had run out of patience looking for his path to his next level up, when he was looking over the books for the household expenses. It didn't take him long to see that the amount of food that Madeline had been preparing had not decreased after Isaac and Lenna had left. It was decently easy to find out that Madeline had been feeding some of the homeless kids long after everyone else went to sleep. It was often cold and if someone like Lenny had been over, there would not be very much of it, but that hardly mattered to the street kids who made a living running from one end of town to the other with messages, letters, and small packages.

If Isaac was being honest, he probably wouldn't have said anything to Madeline even if she had been embezzling the funds. It was only enough to feed two extra people a few times per day and that amount of food, which was often purchased in bulk, hardly made a dent in the V'Nova Wexler coffers. When he had realized what she was doing, and after he had made sure that she wasn't actually embezzling by double checking the rest of the household expenses, he made a tiny note that just read: "Ask next time." in the margins of the last page of the food cost ledger. Madeline hadn't noticed it yet because she had not purchased any new food since he had made the note but he could already imagine the look of horror on her face when she realized that she had been caught.

Madeline's act of charity, with Isaac and Lenna's funds, was thought out about as well as any scheme of an early teenager who hadn't been forced to grow up alone in the slums. It was sloppy and done under the assumption that Isaac and Lenna would have both too much money and not enough time to care to go through the ledgers unless there was a major problem. Madeline may have been right in the assumption, if Isaac hadn't confined himself to Lenna's side until she was fully recovered, and then also been frustrated with his own tasks.

Back to another adjacent topic to the duo's trip to the Celestial Dawn, Lenna's crystal looked strange. It was supposed to look like her aura but this was not the brilliant orange that her old aura flames had been. This was a two toned black and orange fire that interposed over and through each other as if the other didn't even exist. The diamond looked like a clear crystal once it was full of Lenna's aura. The enchantments faded almost completely out of sight even though they were still working at full capacity. The visuals of her aura just drowned out the platinum strands.

The two flames were rounded on the bottom and looked like they were burning upwards, just like normal flames would have, yet seemed to completely ignore the presence of each other, even though their average center was always in exactly the same space. Her aura had become Hellfire, just like what Isaac had tried to make everyone believe she could make it. It was not really hellfire though, but its own thing. It was so close to what actually existed in the hells that only a specialist, or someone who witnessed both first hand, would be able to tell the difference.

It was perfect for the narrative, the story, the legend that Isaac had laid the building blocks of and slowly built upon. If only there was some way to grant her his Inventory so she could pull her own sword out of a ball of fire, or her chest like at the ball, then it would be perfect. Isaac couldn't wait to see what her aura flames looked like when they coated a weapon or her entire body. It was bound to be breathtaking for him and terrifying for almost everyone else.

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Isaac pushed open the doors to the Celestial Dawn and led Lenna inside. The tavern part of the building hadn't changed, which made sense because it had only been a few months since they had lived there. The smell of Leo's cooking hung heavily over the smells of sweaty bodies, from high class working men and women as well as adventurers with some money to spare, who flocked to enjoy the legendary cooking of the half-elf dwarf chef. Celeste's eyes lit up when she saw the duo enter and she waved them over to where there was only one seat available. The duo then heard her call down the bar: "Scoot down!" It was an order that no one who was permitted to sit at her bar hesitated to comply with.

Isaac and Lenna wove through the crowded tables until they reached the now pair of open seats near the end of the bar. "Hey, Celeste." Isaac greeted the woman who had first taken them in, under Izen and Sera's orders sure, but she had done so happily and willingly.

"Hello, Celeste." Lenna added. "Have you had any trouble while we were away?"

Celeste gave the duo a warm smile as she passed and poked her head through the curtain that blocked off the kitchen from the rest of the dining area. "Two of whatever Leo's makin'!" She yelled into the back so one of the waitresses would bring out food for the duo. She whirled back around and grabbed a pair of glasses out from under the counter and sat them in front of the duo. "Nope. We've been a bit busier than normal but nobody makes a fuss in here. Not since that one time anyway."

"That's good." Lenna stated.

"I was wondering how long it would take you two to swing by. I've been telling people about the arena fight you and Shamesh are going to have." Celeste went on. Her face fell a bit after that and she put her hand on Isaac's. "Isaac, listen to me, and listen until I'm done." Her words were spoken softly like a mother consoling her child yet her words were more like those of preparation for a lecture.

Isaac nodded. "Alright." He agreed. If there were any three people who he would sit down, shut up, and listen to, it was Lenna, Celeste, and Sera. Aria may or may not have made that list be four instead of three, well, before…

"The loss you feel is real. Do not try to hide it away or bury it along with the dead." She began in a way that Isaac was not expecting in the least. "Loss is two parts, one part is the sadness of not being able to spend time with your loved one again, not being able to make new memories or reminisce with them about the old ones. The other part is rage at what caused such circumstances. Keep them separate in your mind and heart. Both are real and both need very specific kinds of care and actions. Are you following me?"

Isaac nodded. "I am… I was just surprised at how you started."

"Good." Celeste stated. "The first part is what you can share here, what you share with your friends and family, what your piano shares with the entire city, what an eulogy shares with everyone else who went to the funeral. That is something that we can ease with a good song, a lot of alcohol, and reminiscing stories told well after the rest of the city has gone to sleep." She poured the pair drinks from a bottle of elderberry juice and then topped them both off with dwarven whiskey. "The second part is what requires a lot of self control and patience." She continued as she stirred their drinks. "That part you need to handle alone. You need to decide if you are going to seek revenge or if revenge will cost you more than the relief and satisfaction that it will bring. If you decided to let it go, then write a letter explaining why, seal it, and then toss it into a hearthfire to be delivered to the dead. Maybe it will get there, maybe it won't, but you need to make sure that your decision will sit right with both you and your memory of them." Celeste took a deep breath and stared deep into Isaac's eyes. "If you decide to avenge the fallen, to get your revenge for losing your friends, then be smart about it. Plan it out. Come up with a plan. Check it a hundred times. Make sure that every cost is measured and weighed. Do your research, set your trap, check your bait, and wait until the time is right. Once everything is ready, slam the trap shut and keep it that way until the screams die out. Treat it like your most cold hearted hunt against the most dangerous foe you have ever faced. But while you do all of that, don't let it take away from your time with the rest of those that you care about. Do not let your quest for vengeance lead to your loss of time that could have been spent with those who are still with you. Understand?"

Isaac nodded slowly while Lenna took a sip from her drink and nodded in thanks to the waitress who left a plate of food in front of both of them. "I think I do." Isaac confirmed. He mindlessly grabbed the drink in front of him and took a swallow. The elderberry was so strong that he could hardly taste the whiskey, but he definitely felt it going down. "I'll keep what you said in mind." Isaac promised her. "You are the first mortal who's given me the kind of advice that I need, want to hear, and is helpful."

"First mortal?" Lenna wondered and took another sip of her drink.

"Mannen called me a bitch-" Isaac began and Lenna spit out her drink. "-and told me to use my brain instead of turning into a vegetable." Isaac summarized what the fragment of Mannen that was dark mana had said to him. Celeste, on the other hand, was frozen in shock that someone had actually conversed with a deity who most people thought was myth and not an actual divine being.

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