This is a multi-chapter work. Please start the adventure with Part 1. I will assume you know what's going on and won't tolerate comments from those who can't be bothered to start at the beginning.
~~~
With the success that we'd had in the trades with the Missouri miners, Xill had quickly become addicted to the special attributes the silver offered him.
At breakfast, he told the girls that he was planning to send me to Arizona. He'd heard there was lots of silver there.
Liss expressed concerns about me traveling alone and grumbled about how long I would be away. Xill countered that - while he'd had quite the adventure traveling with me to deal with the hag - he would much rather remain in his lab. He reminded her that he was still working on her special project.
Everyone was quiet for a moment and then Liss asked if there was anything to prevent her from going with me.
Kuss started to open her mouth but her mother promptly said, "Don't tell me I'm too old - or that I have a family waiting at home who'll miss me. You and the boys wouldn't even know I was gone. You never visit."
I turned to my lover to intervene on Kuss' behalf but Kuss answered first.
"I can't live with you anymore, Mother. I have a husband. We've visited more in the last couple months than we have in years and yet you throw guilt at me for how little I care about you?"
Liss looked at her and got silent for a moment or two
"You're right. I'm sorry," Liss told her.
"What witchcraft is this?!" Xill exclaimed. "The dragon doesn't apologize!"
The absolute certainty of his words told me that it was the first time he'd heard his mother-in-law respond in that manner. I couldn't help it, I started laughing. The three of them stared at me like I was crazy but then finally joined me.
I got out of my seat, collected my fiancΓ© in my arms, returned to my chair, and set her on my lap.
"Your daughter loved our gift, my dragoness," I told her.
After a moment, Kuss said, "I did. It is beautiful."
"You told me," her mother responded softly to her child. "It is not nearly so beautiful as my baby girl."
"I love you, mother."
"Then let me travel with my husband," Liss asked, softly.
Kuss' eyes shifted to me - then to her own husband - and back to her mother.
"To be quite honest, Mother, two months ago the boy was lying in a pool of his own blood because of his poor choices."
"I'll help him choose better."
"He's reckless ..." Kuss told her.
"Fearless ..." her mother countered.
"Dim-witted ..." Kuss said.
"Hey!" I interjected - both of them completely ignored me.
"Stout-hearted ..." my lover replied to her daughter.
"Ignorant ..." Kuss continued.
"Observant ..." her mother countered.
"Inexperienced ..." Kuss said.
"Powerful ..." Liss stated.
"Mother!" Kuss exclaimed in exasperation.
"I'll use the boy's logic on you then - as he did me. Do you think me incapable, senile, or unintelligent?" she asked her daughter.
"No," Kuss moaned, dropping her face into her palms.
"I have fire in my blood, again, for the first time in years," Liss told her, "because of this boy. I protected you, taught you, and nurtured you when you were his age. If he is willing, let me train him. Please. When he is away from me, I spend hours distracting him from his work just so that I can hear his voice."
Kuss went still.
After a moment, Liss turned to her son-in-law, and said, "Make the flying-machine fireproof and teach me to operate it."
"I will obey, mighty dragon," Xill said, lowering his head to her.
"Daughter?" she said, turning back to Kuss.
"Mother?" Kuss replied, not looking up.
"Make me a few healing potions, please, so that I can patch my reckless lover back together when he rushes headlong to his own oblivion. I'll pay you handsomely."
Kuss' whimpering sigh turned into a fit of giggles. She stepped forward to wrap her mother in a hug. I threw my arms around them both and held them as the rest of their pent-up emotions spilled out through their eyes, running down their cheeks in rivulets.
As we separated, Kuss looked at me and quietly began an apology, "My words were inaccurate ..."
"Not entirely," I said, kissing her cheek. "I still owe you so much."
"Less and less each day," she said, glancing at her mother.
Liss kissed her daughter's forehead and gave her another squeeze.
~~~
By the next day, Xill had upgraded the flying-rig and Liss had mastered operating it with her magic. After lunch, the four of us began making our way to the Prius. The plan was that my gnome lover and I would drop Xill and Kuss off at their home and head off to Arizona. Along the way, we'd collect up more foodstuffs, chocolate, and honey-mead. When we stopped for the mead, we'd check on the hag.