“How are you guys doing, pops?” I asked, meaning his and mom’s relationship.
He understood me.
“You know, son,” dad answered. “A marriage built on feelings alone is like a character with the wrong build. I had a friend who played a mage. He put everything into intellect to increase his damage, crits, mana pool.
As you can imagine, he was screwed when any mob at his level so much as sneezed on him. Balance is important, Alex. It’s important for everything, but especially for family. Your mom and I loved each other so much that we figured everything else would figure itself out. But love alone isn’t enough. You need a lot more than that. A good family isn’t a onetime craft. You have to work on relationships your whole life. It’s a shame I didn’t realize that until I’d almost lost Ellen.”
“What do you need apart from love?”
“Decide for yourself. Your relationship with Tissa…”
“Is over.”
“Let’s say it is. You like each other, you want the same things. That’s great. It’s a foundation you can build a long-term relationship on. But it’s also important how you both see the path to your shared goals. For you, that means leveling up like you know how, and Tissa saw her path the same way. But life gave her other opportunities, with a shorter and easier path. You too, actually. Just remember that offer you got from that big shot at Snowstorm. Even if you quit playing today, you’ve already got what you wanted. An education, a high citizenship status, your friends, the clan—you won’t lose any of that. But you’re like me, you’re bold. The high stakes have their grip on you, and now you’re playing your own game, and a million gold isn’t real phoenixes for you, just chips in a casino. How much money have you spent in Dis in the last few days?”
“Millions…”
“See? Your paths to your goal forked, but don’t blame the girl. She has what she could only dream of before. You didn’t stop wdien you got comfortable. You strive for more. You don’t just w^ant happiness for yourself. You want to do more for your friends, for the noncitizens that believe in you. That’s commendable, but sometimes you have to be ready for your partner to walk their own path. And that’s when couples break up.”
“Dad, I still don’t get it. What does this have to do with you and mom? Are you sure you’re both alright?”
“Oh, we’re doing just fine!” Dad winked and smiled broadly. “Like before. We talked about our goals and the paths that we see leading to them. And you know what we found out? We want the same things. Ellen wasn’t confident enough that she was more important than anything else to me—I was always showing her otherwise. I thought that since we were married, she’d always be mine. I thought of her as an integral part of myself, and so I let myself be distracted by other things.”
“So you’ve found a balance now?”
“Yeah. And in no small part thanks to you. I don’t just mean the money you gave us. I mean your achievements. I’ve been watching the news, Alex, and I know what my son has achieved. I’m afraid I’m never going to want to play Dis again. No matter what I do there, it won’t be worth a fraction of what you can achieve in a single day. And that means I want to do something else: live with your mom, so w^e can rebuild our careers together, restore our name, and of course, raise our grandchildren. Hurry up with that, you hear?”
We talked a while longer, then said goodbye. Dad had registered for a weekly poker tournament at Silver Harbor, where he planned to ‘knock it out of the park’ with mom.
I went back to the boys. They were busy; delivery drones were flying through the open window one after another. Thanks to Hairo, our part} had alcohol—it had taken time for Hung to convince him, plus a promise that we wouldn’t get drunk, but he eventually placed an order. All kinds of food arrived along with the beer, and by the time the first guests arrived, we were ready.
“I’m the DJ!” Malik announced and started making a playlist and giving commands to O, our household assistant.
The apartment shook as cray-jungle beats boomed through it, a new kind of dance music that got the blood pumping and made feet move on their own.
Rita “Overweight” and Karina “Goosebumps” were the first to arrive. Rita had always been athletic and shapely, and now her blonde friend had filled out too—she was as tall as me, and with high heels on, she reached Hung’s height. Ed livened up when they appeared. He immediately took Rita away to a corner to discuss the clan’s trading operations and future plans. Rita held her eyes on me as she left. I answered with a nod—we’d have time to talk later. The night was young.
Karina immediately asked me to show her my room, but we didn’t have time before more guests arrived: Piper and Alison. Hung introduced us to his girlfriend and dragged her away to make cocktails from my parents’ liquor supplies. Piper and I exchanged glances—it was clear she wanted to talk alone. Maybe she had a message from Pecheneg-Polotsky?
Tissa was late. Finally, we all got together in the same room and drank a couple of rounds of cocktails and beers, shouting to each other over the music. Then there was a ring at the door. I went to open it and swore when I saw on the screen that Tissa had come with company.
She was there with Liam, nephew
