2487 Family Legacy (Part 3)
The entire situation had been devised by Lady Ernas to get her hands on the magical legacies of her future sons-in-law. Like Morok had pointed out, despite being as old as house Myrok, House Ernas had no records about true and Spirit Magic.
The discovery of Glemos’ secret lab was an unexpected boon, but even if nothing came out of it, Jirni planned on getting her hands on everything Morok had learned during his life and under the tutelage of Ajatar.
As for Nalrond, she knew for a long time that he was a Light Master whose discipline was elusive even among Awakened. It made the Rezar even more precious than the Tyrant since Light Mastery was something that Orion could practice even if Vastor were to fail to find a way to Awaken him.
“I heard screaming. Is everything alright?” Tulion Emas walked through the door accompanied by a squad of armed guards and a feral beast by his side.
“I’m sorry, Tulion. Things just got heated up while discussing my marriage’s preparations.” Morok gave him a small bow to which the second-born replied with a stern look.
“I hope that you are not getting cold feet.” Tulion replied with an icy tone,
“Absolutely not. I was just⦠“
“I don’t care. Just know that if you make my sister cry before, after, or during the wedding and it’s not out of joy, I’ll borrow the Ernas Royal Fortress armor and kick your ass.
“Same to you, young man.” Tulion waved his finger under Nalrond’s nose while Lucky growled in agreement.
“Don’t worry, I’ve learned my lesson.” The Rezar raised his hands in surrender. “There won’t be a second breaking of the engagement. At least not no my side.”
“Let’s go.” The young master of the house gave them a nod and resumed the security drills with the rest of his unit.
“Man, I liked him more when he was the easy-going one.” Morok said as soon as he heard the steps of the guards disappear in the distance.
“Me too but Phloria’s death changed a lot of things” Nalrond sighed.
Friya smiled a lot less and trained a lot more while Quylla endured Jirni’s lady-of-the-house boot camp to keep her company.
There were lots of things and lessons that Jirni had prepared for her Little Flower. Quylla could only hope that giving her mother the opportunity to put them into practice would help Jirni to overcome her grief instead of making her dwell on what might have been and never will.
As for Tulion, he had taken Phloria’s final words at heart and upended his life.
The death of his beloved baby sister had forever crushed the illusion that the problems of Hose Ernas weren’t his own and that as the black sheep of the family, he had the right to a boring, easy life.
Tulion felt guilty for having been absent, helpless, or both for most of Phloria’s life. After the funeral, he had given up on drinking and gambling. To give his parents the time they deserved to grieve their loss, Tulion had helped Gunyin however he could.
At first as a mere valet since due to his wilful ignorance of protocol and the power balance with the many retainers of the Ernas region, he could only bring tea and hold documents without embarrassing his brother.
Tulion had learned by observing Gunyin work and by studying during his free time. After weeks of hard work, he had understood enough of the state of business of the family and had taken the role of one of Gunyin’s secretaries.
His hope was to one day do more than stand by his brother’s side and relieve him from part of his burden. Due to his profligate past, Tulion was forbidden to attend events in the Royal Court but he was still a precious asset.
He knew the dirty laundry of many nobles because he had either listened to their confession after one drink too many or helped them do the deed. Such knowledge provided Gunyin with plenty of evidence or gossip to leverage his political opponents into clearing Phloria’s name.
It made Tulion an outcast in both the good and bad society but he couldn’t care less about keeping the respect of his old drinking buddies. He had already come clean of his own misdemeanors and taken a plea, making himself socially disgraceful but untouchable by the law.
Lucky had undergone a transformation as well. The once happy and fat Ry has spent a lot of time with Orion, listening to the man he considered his father blaming himself for his weakness.
Phloria’s death had left a hole in Lucky’s heart that no amount of food could fill and that only got deeper every time her smell faded a bit more from the old clothes he used as a pillow.
The Ry treasured them the most because it was the only thing that he had left of the woman he considered his mother. Yet what really had shaken Lucky to the core wasn’t the pain of the loss but the announcement of a new child.
Lucky had been the first to notice the start of the pregnancy from the change in Jirni’s smell. Joy had eclipsed his pain just to be replaced by fear. The fear of being too weak to protect mother and child.
The fear of losing another member of the family.
The Ry had stopped prowling the kitchens for food and had started visiting the local woods, eating solely what he managed to hunt. He would rarely catch something and often get in scraps with the local beasts that considered him an intruder.
Rys didn’t kill each other, letting Lucky go the moment he surrendered. The Healers of the household would fix Lucky quickly and he would resume hunting the next day. He had lost some weight, gained some muscles, and changed his attitude.
He didn’t feel lucky anymore.
The Ry also trained with Orion to practice against humans and their unfair weapons while Orion was happy to have a sparring partner against whom he could safely test his rising mastery of fusion magic.
While the soon-to-be grooms were discussing their shared worries, the masters of the house were in their private quarters. Xenagrosh had come to check on Jirni, the baby, and Orion under the guise of one of Vastor’s assistants.
“All patched up.” She said after checking that the impurities in Orion’s body hadn’t moved since her last visit. She had also strengthened the bonds between impurities and flesh after testing the progress of his body refinement.
“I’m glad that you are not rushing your practice. Slow and steady is the best course of action for someone your age. ‘
“Not by choice.” Orion grunted. “With a full-time job and a family, I have little free time. If not for Jirni using Invigoration on me from time to time I would have achieved nothing”
He had studied Quylla’s notes about fusion magic and Awakening until he knew them backwards and forwards. Even during the medical check-up, he was circulating the elemental energy to not waste a single moment of time.
Orion would start with one, then add a second, and keep increasing their number until his body started to ache.
