As Path sat at the dining table for Wednesday’s lunch, his wife Roseclaw beside him, he noticed Pif arriving with a grin on her face. He matched her smile and asked, “What’s made you so happy?”

“Hype and I have just finished working with the TESS to check on the progress of the Cosmic Lotus. They are there!”

With just over twenty-one years into the ambitious deep space project, Path did not have to ask what she meant by ‘there’. His smile grew wider. “Halfway to the Far Star! This calls for a party!”

Roseclaw added, “You know that your father has been itching to throw a celebration for this milestone for weeks now?”

Pif nodded. “Of course. That’s why I brought you the news as soon as we were confident of the answer.”

“I’ve even asked a number of guests to try to keep these weekends open,” Path explained. “We’ll have the celebration this weekend. I’m sure everyone will be glad to have a firm date for the party.”

“And for you to stop bugging them about it,” Pif added with a grin. “I’ll let Gidela know so that she can put the plans into action. After all, she’s only got two and a half days to get things done.”

“My granddaughter probably has almost everything ready to set in motion, if I know her well. She’s been as good a Lord of House Path as Lucida since the day she took over.”

Pif chuckled. “You’re probably right, Dad. I’ll go see her now. Catch you later at dinner!”

The couple watched the House’s eldest daughter leave as the staff brought in their lunch. Path turned to his wife to give her a kiss. “Are you as excited as I am, Rose?”

The elderly griffon smiled lovingly back. “It’s a major waypoint in your dream to expand the realm of Equian knowledge; how could I not be excited for you and the House?”

“Not just my dream, dear. If I have done my work right, it is the dream of all who join House Path. To extend the limits of knowledge and civilization is our very core purpose!”

“You’re preaching to the converted, darling, but it’s good that you have no less enthusiasm for your goals than you did when we first formed the House.”

Path’s attitude shifted to concern. “That was over a hundred and twenty-four years ago – that’s a long time for us to have been working for the benefit of the House. Are you sure that you don’t want to retire yet?”

Roseclaw smiled and nuzzled the stallion. “I will retire the same day that you do, love.”

He smiled apologetically. “You know that I can’t. Like you said, I still have enthusiasm for my work. With Lucida in charge of the House, I have been able to follow my dream, and I have enjoyed every moment of it with you by my side all the way.”

“And that’s why I won’t retire. I’m happiest when I’m with my handsome warrior-scholar.”

No more words needed to be said as the two embraced, nuzzled, and kissed. The staff quietly withdrew from the room, familiar with their lord and lady’s whims. Lunch could wait a while.

The grand ballroom was host to the ‘Informal Friday’ dinner every week as had been the tradition since the early days of House Path. Naturally, it also served as the venue for other major events, and none were more well-attended than the Halfway There! celebration. As this was regarded as a major achievement by the House, all members were invited irrespective of which branch they belonged to. However, because it was being held in the home of House Path in Griffonia, naturally it was difficult for most to make it there in time. That was not the case for the princesses, of course. Celestia had her consort, Auric Thunderstrike, by her side, while Luna had brought along her faithful personal guards, Leatherwing and Nox. Despite their age, neither batpony was willing to retire before the other. Twilight teleported in with Free, of course, while Destined brought his husband, Silk Touch. Cadance and Shining Armor came in via hyper-velocity tube, neither of them being adept at teleportation. They brought with them Flurry Heart and her husband, Crystal and Thumper, and a number of other guests from the Crystal Kingdom and Equestria, Princess Fidelitas among them.

A House Path celebration was always an eclectic mixture of species – they even had a seapony representative, but nowhere else in the world would you find them mingling and interacting with complete amity and cooperation. The House’s celebrations were famous, and invitations were eagerly sought, but it was not unknown for some to try their luck at gate-crashing the events. Frequently that involved the local griffon population, but usually they were quickly identified and politely ejected. Today though, if they could come up with even a feeble excuse, they were allowed to join in. A humble sea-eagle fisher griffon who supplied the salmon for the feast hopefully asked if he could attend, and was surprised to find himself shoulder to shoulder with nobles five minutes later. Path wanted everyone to join in their celebrations this day.

Later that day, after dinner had concluded, Lucida called for the crowd’s attention. It took a while for the huge crowd to quieten down completely before she could start talking.

“As Lord of House Path, I welcome you, but today we are all here at my father’s behest. I give you our founder and visionary, Long Path.”

Path stood up to the applause of those gathered. “Ladies, gents, and anything in between…” Path waited for the chuckles to die down. “Honored guests and gatecrashers alike, I welcome you all to this celebration of a major milestone in House Path’s history. A little over two decades ago, the Cosmic Lotus embarked upon our most ambitious project ever – to reach for the stars and find out if we are alone in the universe. Today we celebrate passing the halfway point in that project. While the Cosmic Lotus has had to overcome some unforeseen obstacles, it has nevertheless met all our expectations and even exceeded them in some cases. Certainly our understanding of how our universe works has been greatly extended, but we have also been learning how to better live and work together in a very tight community of mixed species, both here on Equus and on the Cosmic Lotus itself. While not without problems to be solved, it has turned out to be a shining example of what we can do when we work together toward a goal.” He lifted his glass that had been freshly filled. “I give you a toast to the crew of the Cosmic Lotus. May the second half of their voyage be even more amazing!”

There were cries of ‘Hear! Hear!” and many a drink quaffed in response to the toast.

Path continued with his speech. “House Path would be the poorer if we did not enjoy the participation of every intelligent species of this world…”

“What about someone who’s a mixture of species?” came a loud voice from the back of the room, interrupting Path’s speech.

All eyes turned to look at the offending person, and even then most could not figure out who it was. The being was vaguely griffon-shaped, but had the right arm of a dragon, a bunyip’s left hind leg, a pony’s right hind leg, a seapony’s tail, and one changeling eye. He was closely accompanied by a changeling, a bunyip, and a seapony in her land form.

“FLIX!” screeched Roseclaw, and she leaped up from her seat and beat her wings hard to fly over the table and virtually crash-tackle the chimera, her age forgotten for the moment. The two tumbled on the floor as the old griffoness hugged her son fiercely.

Many among the crowd recognized the name that Roseclaw had cried out, and some of them recalled the stone statues that had stood watch on the Warmaster’s training grounds for a century. An excited babble started even as Flix finally extricated himself from his mother’s grasp, although he continued to hold her talons in his own. He grinned broadly as his father stepped up to him with the hint of tears in his eyes.

“Welcome back, son.”

“Good to be back, Dad.” Flix gave his father a hug, and then repeated the action with the rest of his family. “Thanks for putting us where you did, by the way.”

“Do you remember anything from when you were petrified?” Twilight asked curiously.

“It was very unusual. We were aware of what was happening around us, even if it wasn’t the normal state of consciousness. We were able to witness the training and other events, and even listen in on the gossip, so I know all about the Cosmic Lotus. And yet there seemed little perception of time passing, so we weren’t bored or uncomfortable. Best thing was that I accumulated chaos energy which not only let me finally break the petrification spell, but also heal my battle wounds.”

“Yes, I noticed that there wasn’t a spear shaft through your chest anymore,” Blue Streak said dryly. “Perhaps now you can tell us how it got there in the first place?”

“Sure – if it doesn’t disrupt your little shindig.”

Path replied, “No, it won’t. For now we have twice as much to celebrate!”

Flix and his companions were ushered to a table and their first meal in over a hundred years was put before them. Flix’s took forever to be consumed though as he spent much of the evening talking about the events that had led up to the Zebra attack on House Path so many years ago. Roseclaw spent the rest of the night by his side, unwilling to let him go now that she finally had her son back. Flix did not mind – he was back with his family at last, and all was good with the world.

When Flix and Orlonda came down to breakfast the next morning, their excitement was curbed by the sight of Twilight, Free, and Luna gathered around a weeping Path.

“Umm… what’s up, guys?” Flix asked.

Path looked up at Flix, sorrow in his gaze. “Son, I have very sad news. Your mother… passed away last night.”

“What?!” Flix exclaimed, his beak hanging open in shock.

“She was old, son. I believe she only hung on this long in the hope of seeing you again. Last night, her vigil ended, and she died peacefully in her sleep.”

“I… I hardly got to know her again after so long!” The chimera’s eyes filled with tears.

His parents all came over to hug him. Free finally said, “I know it’s going to be hard to bear for a while, but know this – she loved you so much. She was so happy that you had rejoined the family. I hope that you will stay.”

“Papa Free, my companions and I may resume our adventuring, but I will always know that this is home. I came halfway around the world to protect my family, and you won’t get rid of me that easily.”

Nothing more needed to be said. One person had come and another had departed, but the family continued, strong in its unity.

Who wondered when Flix would return?

You may have noticed that this episode is marked as "part one". However, you will have to read "Cosmic Lotus" to see part two.