Maria did not try to persuade Solam to stay. Instead, she brought up something else.
"Have you decided where you're going?"
"No. I'm planning to wander around first, then decide." Solam truly had no plans. At first, he had intended to go to Icewind Dale in the far west of the Spine of the World to find one of his grandfather's old comrades-in-arms. But after wandering around the mountains for half a day, he got lost and somehow ended up in Cloudtop City.
Cloudtop City was practically a hundred thousand miles away from Icewind Dale. So right now, Solam really had nowhere in particular he wanted to go. Anywhere was fine.
"Will you come back?"
"Of course. No matter what, I'm still the king of Cloudtop City." Naturally, Solam would return. The Cloud Giants' profound knowledge still held great appeal for him.
The two chatted idly, one sentence here and another there. Near noon, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in, it's unlocked." Solam thought it was another Cloud Giant coming to see him.
But the one who entered was Milor. Solam had not seen the kid for some time. Lately, he had either been reading or accompanying the Cloud Giants on their campaign against the White Dragon, so he really had no time to fool around with Milor.
"Milor, you're here too." Maria greeted her son.
"I heard you're leaving?" Milor nodded at Maria, then asked Solam.
"Yeah. You know I came to Cloudtop City to find a guide." Solam found Milor a little strange. He seemed to have something on his mind, and his expression was very serious.
"Oh. You're not leaving because my sister bullied you, are you?"
"Huh? Why would you think that?"
"I heard people saying someone saw my sister chasing you with a sword.