Third POV:

Irisveil was born one of six sisters, being the youngest.

... At least that's the story on paper. The truth is that she, like her sisters, are Homunculi, created as part of the same series. They define the 'oldest' and 'youngest' by which ones were finished first and last.

A few centuries ago, the Einzbern family's passion for creating Homunculi came back in spades. Irisveil didn't know the specifics, but they apparently had a benefactor. Their identity is only known to the highest members of her family.

If her family had given up on creating Homunculi, Irisveil didn't doubt that either she or one of her sisters would have been an only child.

The six sisters were separated into pairs to fulfil their duties. Two would remain in the Einzbern castle and hone their craft, two would stay in the Clock Tower as representatives of their family, and the last two would search the world for traces for their ancestor that vanished.

Irisveil was part of the last pair, which is how she met her husband. Kiritsugu was hired to be her bodyguard as she travelled, while another bodyguard was hired for her sister.

Irisveil and Kiritsugu fell in love during their travels. And, after many years of dead ends and cold leads, her family decided to call off the search temporarily until more concrete leads came up.

That's when Kiritsugu and Irisveil requested to settle down and get married. Her sisters and the Einzbern family argued back, of course, but they eventually got permission to do so, on the condition she signs Geass scrolls about never revealing her family's important secrets, and agreeing to do errands for them every now and then.

Irisveil doubted they would be so lenient if she had been an only child.

Her daughter, Illyasveil, knew about the world of Mage-craft and had general knowledge of it, because she had been born before they moved to Fuyuki. Their son, however, didn't have such knowledge, and she hoped to keep it that way.

However, recent events had obviously thrown that option out of the window. To add salt to the wound, her family wanted her daughter to join as well.

That is what led her and her husband to currently await at the lobby of the airport, looking for one of his sisters. Spotting a pale woman with equally pale white hair wasn't hard in an airport mostly filled with Japanese people.

Irisveil smiled as she waved at her sister as she walked up to them. Her sister was wearing a white, golden trimmed dress with a purple jacket. While she and her sister practically looked like twins, her sister had her hair tied into a braid that fell over her shoulder, similar to Sella.

"Irasveil! It's so nice to see you!" Irisveil immediately hugged her sister as soon as she was close enough.

Her sister, Irasveil, smiled and returned the hug with one hand, using the other to hold a briefcase. "It's been too long, Irisveil. How have you been?"

"Pretty well, and you?" Irisveil pulled back from the hug.

"Things have been good lately," Irasveil returned the smile, which vanished to a neutral frown as soon as she turned her head to look at Kiritsugu. "Mr. Emiya."

"Irasveil, its wonderful to see you again," Kiritsugu nodded, giving a polite smile for his wife's sake. "Has your flight been well?"

"Until this very moment, yes," Irasveil sighed, staring at Kiritsugu.

Kiritsugu sighed while Irisveil giggled. She knew her sisters didn't have a high opinion on her husband, even if they were supportive of her when she requested to be married to her family.

They believe that Kiritsugu had, in her sisters' words, 'seduced their innocent young sister'. Irisveil would always have to hold herself back from giggling whenever she heard that.

She knew her husband couldn't seduce anyone on his best day to save his his life.

"Alright, let's get you home. I'm sure your excited to see Illya," Irisveil stated as she took her sister by hand and guiding her through the airport with her husband not far behind.

When they came out, they immediately went for parking and Kiritsugu got into the driver seat of their car while the two sisters got in the back. After some difficulty with the busy street of the airport, they managed to leave and enter the streets of the city.

"So, how have you been lately? Anything new?" Irasveil started speaking to pass the time.

"Yes. I've been quite well, thank you for asking. I'm sure the kids are excited to meet you as well," Irisveil smiled and nodded at her sister.

"Speaking of, why did they want Illya to participate in the Holy Grail War," Kiritsugu cut in as the subject of his children was brought up. His wife sent him a disappointed look, but he knew it was because of the interruption, not because of the question because she most likely wanted to ask herself.

"If you must know, Mr. Emiya, it most likely is because they want to see what a child born from one of us is capable of," Irasveil sounded tired but answered nonetheless. "I believe that if Illyasveil proved satisfactory, they would be willing to allow some of us to get married and have our own children. I know Iresveil has been having her eye on a man from the Clock Tower recently."

"Really!? Iresveil!? Our Iresveil is interested in someone!?" Irisveil's excitement was clear in her voice. "Oh, please tell me everything!"

Iresveil was their oldest sister and the first Homunculus of their series. She was one of the two that stayed in the Clock Tower to represent their family. While the sisters had a near identical personality, their attitudes tended to be different depending on which pair because of the environment they stay in. For Iresveil, she had a strict all business attitude and an air similar to a teacher, which is the reason why Irisveil was so excited to hear she has interest in someone.

"He's a teacher at the Clock Tower and a Lord as well, actually," Irasveil placed a hand on her chin. "I believe his name is El-Melloi II. From what our sister told us, he almost has the same dead look your husband has."

"Oh, please tell me more!" As the two sisters began gossiping, Kiritsugu began wondering how his son is doing.

---

First POV:

The group of four that just entered my cafe sat all in one table. I was behind the counter preparing some drinks and snacks.

Artoria's eyes didn't leave me once, while the other three were looking between us with confused looks, obviously seeing that we know each other.

"Here you go," walking around the counter, I placed a tray with four cups of hot chocolate, a cinnamon bun, cheesecake slice, and some biscuits on the table. "On the house. I'm sure you're hungry, Saber."

"Ah, yes, very much so, thank you," Artoria didn't waste time at grabbing the plate with the cinnamon bun and a plastic fork and knife.

"Wait, what?" Sakura looked at Artoria in confusion. "Why would you be hungry? Aren't you a Servant?"

"Because Shirou doesn't properly supply her with Mana," I answered as I pulled a chair from a nearby table and sat down on it. "When a Master can't properly supply their Servant with magical energy, the Servant has to compensate by other means. One of them is to eat. They convert the food to magical energy."

"I'm... sorry?" Shirou apologised sounding unsure, still not used to the world of Mystics. "Is there a way to fix that? I don't want her to have problems because of me."

I shook my head. "Sorry, but this isn't exactly something you can change. At least not right away. Any method we have to help would take a few years, at least. So, you'll just have to settle with keeping her well fed, which works out great since you like cooking, huh?"

"I guess so," Shirou mumbled, though he seemed to be a bit disappointed.

I couldn't help but smile. Shirou was a nice kid. He liked helping people around. He didn't have any grand goals about any 'hero of justice', he just liked helping people.

"So... you know her, too?" Sakura finally asked, motioning to Saber, who finished the cinnamon bun and picked up the cheesecake. "Just how many people do you know?"

"If I start counting now, you probably won't get an answer until your fiftieth birthday," I replied with a shrug.

"You really travelled around, huh," Medusa commented and I chuckled.

"Speaking of," Artoria actually stopped eating to look at me. "Zack... How? Just how?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? You really want to ask about the how?"

I'm pretty sure I explained to her that I will stay for a long time, right?

"Right, sorry," Artoria sighed and shook her head. "What I meant is, why are you here? And how come you're the Overseer?"

"For the why, I have a daughter and a café here, so I kind of need to be here. As for the how, well, when the Holy Grail spawned, the world wanted me to be the Overseer since I'm already here," I explained before turning my eyes to Shirou. "Speaking of how and why, what's the deal with you? I didn't think you had anything with the world of Magic."

"I... Didn't, not until last night," Shirou then explained how he got Saber, or at least how he believes it happened.

Sakura began giggling, trying to cover her mouth, while Medusa raised a tired eyebrow at Shirou. Me, on the other hand, sighed.

"Hate to break it to you, Kid, but it's frankly impossible to Summon like that on accident," I began explaining. "If that was the case, any kid around the world can Summon a Servant by drawing a game of hopscotch and reciting a rhyme. You were probably chosen by the Grail since you happened to be near a catalyst and had a compatible Servant."

Shirou looked relieved. "So... I didn't Summon a Servant by accident?"

"Nope, this was all on the Grail," I stated before turning to Sakura as she got her laughter under control. "This is exactly why I wanted you to be one of the Masters. The Grail can end up choosing literally anyone to be a Master. I wanted to avoid it choosing an innocent bystander or someone with less than stellar desires."

"Is it possible for the Grail to pick a bad person as a Master?" Shirou looked concerned.

I nodded. "Yeah, absolutely. The Grail doesn't discriminate. It doesn't really has a 'conscious' as much as a 'function'."

"Like a computer program?" Shirou guessed and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Anyway," I stood up and began picking the now empty cups and plates to place them on the tray. "I have confirmed that Saber has been summoned. Don't go starting any fights with other Masters without permission. I'm trying to keep this Holy Grail War from reducing this city to rubble, and yes, if they get out of hand, a Holy Grail War can do that," I immediately replied to the question Shirou was gonna ask. "You can go back home now, and take care of Saber. If something happens, she'll keep you safe. I can guarantee it."

"Alright, thank you," Shirou got up and reached for his pocket.

"Like I said, this one is on the house," I immediately stopped him and shook my head. "Consider it a welcoming for an old friend," I smiled at Artoria, who stood up, too. "I'm glad to see you again."

"Likewise," Artoria returned the smile and nodded her head.

We walked them out and Shirou turned to us after passing the door and gave a quick respectful bow. "Thank you again for the hospitality."

"Don't worry about it. Have a safe trip back home," I said before closing the door and turning around.

I was met with Sakura's deadpan stare. "Just to be clear, dad, you don't know EVERYONE in this Holy Grail War, do you?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Hey, this is just coincidence. Besides, I met Caster a few days ago, and I didn't know them personally. I knew OF them, but I didn't know them."

"That's fair, I guess," Sakura sighed.

"You think it's easy for me to meet people I knew that just popped up from the Throne?" I asked, looking tired. "Believe me, while I'm happy to see these people again, it's still surprising to me, too."

"But you like good surprises," Medusa cut in.

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah, but it's the principle. These reunions should be a bit more reasonable."

I just hope the next one, if there is a next one, isn't so chaotic.