The Samhain Clan Estate on Glacia While Carter is Fighting on Ladwick

"Welcome elders, one and all, to the Samhain extended family meeting," Kyrina said, arms spread wide.

The Samhain family held these gatherings every ten years. For the junior members of branch families, this was just a modest party where everyone dressed up and visited some distant family branch. But for the high-ranked leaders of branch families, it was a time to discuss and guide the direction for the entire clan.

This year, it was Glacia's turn to host. Luthrin was head of the Glacian branch of the family, but this time her daughter, Kyrina held a seat of prominence. Though she was only a C-Grade, her marriage to the God-King of Glacia gave her status far above her level of power. And since Luthrin wasn't the most attentive of hosts, it fell on Kyrina to greet their guests.

"Little Kyrina! Seems yesterday you were just a girl growing up at the old family farm. How is the place back on Themyscira? It's been five hundred years or so since I was there."

"Great Aunt Malda." Kyrina embraced the much larger Amazonian warrior. "The estate is alright. It's smaller than you remember, I suspect. Back in your days all the great clans in the region paid homage to us, but nowadays it's mostly just Valkyrie's Watch and the surrounding farmland. Though rumor is my daughter recaptured Shadefall from rebels."

"Shadefall... that's where Lucillia had her little dalliance a few generations ago, didn't she? She left the city to her crippled daughter. The one so bad with a sword she cut one of her legs off twice over? Last I heard, she was trying to learn some of her father's magic tinkering stuff. Did her descendents lose control of the city or something?" Aunt Malda asked.

Kyrina wore a tight-lipped smile. "Something like that."

Great Aunt Lucillia wasn't happy about how things had turned out. But it was all in the past now, and the Samhain main family estate had survived another generation of young matriarchs coming of age.

"And what about your girls? Do they have little ones to pass the torch to?" Great Aunt Lucillia asked.

"Not yet, but I'm sure they're working on it. That's one of the things we'll have to talk about after dinner," Kyrina said.

After Great Aunt Malda, Kyrina greeted several more elders, most of whom were warm and friendly. One of which was distinctly not.

"Great Aunt Lucillia... nice to see you." Kyrina spread her warms for another hug.

"Hmf." Lucillia turned her nose up at Kyrina, ignoring her in favor of walking straight to the nearest ale tankard, where she grab a horn and started drinking without waiting for the family toast.

This was going to be a long night.

***

Hours later, after most of the younger clan members lay passed out in the grass of the family compound, the elders had recovered from their hangovers enough to to discuss the future of the clan.

"My damn head hurts," Great Aunt Malda groaned. "Luthrin, did you spike the ale again?"

Luthrin hiccuped and choked out a laugh.

There was a chorus of boos from the table where one by one the elders were staggering forward to the family table.

"We are gathered here today to discuss the future of the Samhain Clan," Kyrina began when it became clear her mother was too hungover to lead the family meeting.

"We need more fighting!" an elder said.

"Let's get the girls together and go raiding somewhere. How about we raid that Eternal Spring Sect place? The men are a bit twinkish for me, but the treasures are shiny enough," another elder suggested.

"I heard they went female only after our last raid," said another.

"You're all too drunk to raid anyone!" Kyrina shouted. When the A-Grades finally went quiet, she sat back down and cleared her throat. "Anyway, I wanted to discuss my daughters, the two members of the main family. Both of them got married recently."

"Well? Where are the grandkids?" Great Aunt Malda demanded, swaying on her feet.

"No grandkids yet. They only just got married," Kyrina said.

"Bah. You're supposed to get married at the last minute to save face once you realize you're pregnant. Not before!" Grand Aunt Malda waved her hand dismissively.

"But what about family tradition? The big important duel?"

"As if anyone cares about that hogwash. Do what I did, and if anybody hassels you about it, beat them up!" Malda laughed uproariously, as did several others. A few held a bit more closely to tradition, but it made Kyrina's eyebrows twitch. Had she wasted her time drilling tradition into her daughter's heads? When she was a girl, her Amazonian traditions tutor had said they were incredibly important.

Kyrina sighed and ignored her bickering family before turning back to the matter at hand.

"Anyway, the man my daughter's married is named Carter Smith. He's from a newly integrated world, but has already secured a sizable fiefdom to himself, along with a hefty collection of titles," Kyrina explained.

"Wait, both? You mean to say we're placing all the hopes on the Samhain main family line on one man?" Great Aunt Lucillia grinned maliciously, like a shark sensing blood in the water.

"That's right. They both chose the same man. As their mother, I wasn't going to tell them no." Kyrina shrugged.

"Bah! What if his dick doesn't work properly? The main branch might meet an untimely end. You said they've been married for months, and they still haven't squirted out a grandkid. Either of them!" Lucillia spat.

There were a few murmurs of agreement, even from elders Kyrina thought generally on her side.

"That is a good question. I couldn't get Cyra to tell me whether or not her new man is any good in bed. Granted, there's always time to train them up, but if he can't perform then that's a mighty loss. An unsatisfied Amazonian will only ever be a menace to society." Luthrin took another swig of ale.

"Carter has no problems performing." Kyrina assured her relatives. "Myrina is... ahem... less shy about bedroom topics. Their duel was quite explicit. Needless to say, I have witnessed Carter's ability to perform with my own eyes. On top of that, he's also highly intelligent, well connected in the Dragon Lodge, has many subordinates, is a skilled spellcaster and enchanter, and increasingly influential in the broader multiverse. He's a good catch, of this I swear."

"He's a good lad. Smart and skilled. Not quite as tall as I'd like, but he's got the right amount of wizardly bullshit going on. Could be regular bullshit too, I really can't tell the difference..." Grandma Luthrin cut herself off while her granddaughter Kyrina glared at her.

"Ahem. What I meant to say is... the young man has amassed an impressive number of accomplishments in so short a time. There's only a few shardlords among our number, let alone shardkings. He's one of them. But more importantly, the weapons and armor he can make are at a level I've only seen from Ted, little Kyrina's husband. He's a worthy addition to the family and has my full blessing. If any of you don't want to give him your blessing, wait until I'm sober so I can kick your ass until you do! I've still got to show you all my shiny new armor. I hear the kids these days are calling it Power Armor."

Everyone knew of Luthrin's so-called power armor. It had been purchased secondhand at tremendous expense from a traveling merchant from the Dragon Lodge, and Grandma Luthrin had painted it bright red. Though wearing it was a complete downgrade for someone of her level and stats, she liked how it concealed her level and allowed her to pulverize C-Grades in the local arena.

There were murmurs of agreement at talk of Carter joining the Dragon Lodge. Rumors had no doubt already spread now that Carter was on campaign fighting on behalf of the Dragon Lodge and the Samhain Clan.

Before he'd joined the crusade, the other elders might have protested him marrying into the main family twice over, but given his accomplishments past and present, there was only one thing anyone could criticize him on.

And in truth, Carter's accomplishments were impressive even to B-Grades and A-Grades, like the ones gathered at the Samhain family table. Kyrina had strategically given a few of the Glacian branch family members tools from Doomblade's Armory, which she'd learned was filled with items descended from Carter's handiwork. The results had been suitably impressive, winning over all but Elder Lucilla.

"But there's still the matter of no grandchildren," Lucilla said. "That's a serious problem."

And unfortunately many agreed.

"His accomplishments mean he's earned more than a little patience. Myrina wouldn't give me details, but she said he was improving his bloodline. Waiting until he has something they're satisfied with is reasonable, that way his children will have strong foundations. That's important, isn't it?"

But Great Aunt Lucillia pounded her fists against the table, repeating one word. A few other elders joined in. "Grandkids! Grandkids! Grandkids!"

Kyrina pinched her temples between her fingers. Hopefully, Carter, Cyra, and Myrina figured things out sooner rather than later.

<Note>

This was the top vote for shorts last time. Hope you enjoyed.

It was a little excerpt of the Samhain Clan behind closed doors. Carter has a lot of accomplishments that a lot of them are impressed by, but they really want those grandkids to continue the main line.

Also, yes, Grandma Luthrin bought some of Carter's Mark One Power Armor, painted it red, and is unknowingly spreading the legend of Feisty Redhead further than Myrina could ever have dreamed of. She has yet to learn Carter made it though, otherwise he would already have requests for modifications, much like Myrina has already put in.

Anyway, this was easy enough that I could probably do a few more while outlining book 6. No promises that they'll come out on a schedule, but I'll put another poll up for the next topic after you guys drop some suggestions.

Was this what you guys were expecting in terms of shorts? I know in the past I've done "shorts" that were 3-10 chapters long, but it seems like you guys would like a greater number of shorter single-scene shorts this time. If I'm wrong about that, let me know.