House Full of Guests

A few days went by since Tara left, but that was just the beginning. One guest after the other arrived at our house. Uncle Crow, aunt Lira, their son Drak and Dawn were the first to arrive. "Nex! You are finally back! You haven't changed at all!", uncle Crow exclaimed when he saw father. "Crow you old fool, you haven't changed either… Or should I say, you have a family now. This is your son Drak, I assume", father replied while extending his hand towards Drak. "Hello little Drak, you look just like your father. How old are you", father asked.

Drak was a bit shy but replied, "I'm six". "No need to be shy. Here, you can have this", father said while taking out a small bottle of some sort of liquid. "Don't worry, the poison is really weak. It's more like a sweet treat to him, than anything else", he added. Drak took the bottle and checked it out for a while. After a slight sip, he seemed to enjoy it.

"You taught him to be rather cautious, Crow", father complained. "Well, you never know. I prefer for him to be cautious than suffer later", uncle replied. "Lira, you look great too. I hope Crow isn't too useless when it comes to raising him?", father asked. "He's doing fine, I guess. You seem alright too, how was your journey?". "A bit bumpy at times. I'll tell you guys later. Anyway, don't stand around like that, come on in", father invited.

"So you finally learned who you are, eh?", Dawn said. "Yea, but you knew that from the beginning. It's not like this will change anything. I'm happy you came anyway, we see each other so rarely", I replied. "Don't mention it. Besides, I wanted to meet your father as well. He is a legend after all", she replied. "Not you too…", I sighed. "What do you mean?", she asked confusedly. "Tara visited as well. She was stuck to my father like a glue…", I explained, giving her a serious look. "Haha, don't be like that", she said while averting her gaze. 'I feel a headache coming…', I thought before inviting her inside too.

After an introduction, mother told me to take Drak and Dawn outside. I wasn't sure why, but everyone wanted us out of the house. "They probably want to talk about something important. Since this doesn't concern us, they shooed us away", Dawn figured after we left. "I doubt it, but whatever. Oh yea, you guys must've seen Frosty already. He's still asleep, so it should be fine to get closer", I said. Drak was really scared of Frosty, though Dawn didn't fare any better. 'I wonder how they'd react if Frosty was awake…'. After reassuring them a few times, we got closer.

Trying to set an example, I patted Frosty's head. "See, there's nothing to worry about, he's asleep", I proclaimed. "Why are you guys so scared? It's fine, Frosty is really nice, even though he looks so imposing", I added. "N..N..No, lo..look", Drak pointed shakingly at Frosty, while using Dawn as his shield. "Uh-oh", I managed to squeeze out, after noticing that Frosty was awake. "Since when did you become so courageous, little Anna?", Frosty asked with his deep voice. "I… Haha, I just…", I stammered while backing away. "What's wrong, not in the mood to pat my head anymore?", his deep voice sounded again.

"Frosty! Will you stop scaring kids! Go fly around or something, if they bother you!", father's annoyed voice came from the house. Frosty murmured something, then went back to sleep. "Hey Anna, let's not do that again, alright?", Dawn pleaded. "Yea, let's not do that", I replied then apologised to both of them. "Alright, let's just forget this happened. How about I show you some of my Formations?", I proposed instead. Dawn and Drak agreed so long Frosty wasn't involved.

I showed them some of the finished sculptures first, but then moved on to paintings. "Hey, hey, sister Anna. Can I have this painting?", Drak asked while pointing at one of them. "You mean this one with the Shade? Are you a fan of his?", I inquired. He nodded while Dawn explained, "This is Ganan, and Drak really likes his performances. Drak has a painting of him already, though he doesn't have such a nice one. Anyway, I'll pay for him, how much do you want for it?".

"Are you joking? Here, take it. Since you like it so much, this is a gift from sister Anna", I replied while handing him the painting. "Really, I can have it?", Drak asked just to make sure. "Do you want me to change my mind?", I teased him instead. He quickly grabbed the painting, and shook his head. "Then it's yours", I added.

Drak asked Dawn to store the painting for him. I assumed she would store it in her own storage item, but Drak already had his own. 'When I was six, mother didn't give me such things… He can't even use it yet…', I complained about my childhood. "Thank you, sister An is the best!", Drak exclaimed while giving me a hug. 'Heee… This feels so nice...', "You are welcome. How about we visit Turry? He is much nicer than Frosty", I proposed.

Turry was always very friendly, I even allowed Dawn to take Drak for a small ride. We had some fun, before mother finally allowed us back in the house. During dinner, Dawn asked father a few questions, but she wasn't as clingy as Tara. While we ate and talked, we heard knocking on the doors. "Anna, go open the doors for Lazar and Alicia", father said. I wasn't even surprised he knew who it was, and simply went to open the doors for them. Uncle Lazar, aunt Alicia, Suly and Leran came inside. "Good to see you guys… We will need more seats", father said. "You look pretty much the same as before… If only I could stay this young for so long", aunt Alicia said annoyed.

Father ignored her, and instead took a look at Suly. "Suly is all grown up already. Look at her, I remember when she was this small", father said while holding his hand over the floor. "It's great to see you Nex. How was your journey?", Suly asked while hugging father. "It was fine, I will tell you later. Lazar, are you alright there? You look like an old man, still working overtime?", father asked. "Give me a break… I hate to admit it, but you look rather good. You Humans age well", uncle Lazar replied. "And who is this?", father asked Leran.

Leran was almost a teenager at that time, but he was very shy in front of my father. "My name is Leran", he replied while averting his gaze. "No need to be shy, you are already a big boy", father smiled and ruffled Leran's head. "I heard you like performances, right? I might show you something after the whole commotion dies down", father added. "Uncle performs as well?", Leran asked, surprised. "Haha. No, not at all, but I might have a trick or two up my sleeve", father replied with a wink, and let him run along to others. The atmosphere became really bustling, especially when mother showed off her ring.

"Hey Nex, what sort of stuff did you use to make that ring?", uncle Lazar asked. "Well, the ring is a mix of Lunite and Talanium, while the stone is pure sapphire", father replied. Everyone, even mother gasped when they heard that. "Did you use the Lunite from your weapon?", aunt Alicia asked, surprised. "Of course not, I got some during my travels. Lunite is nothing special when it comes to Talanium though. Lunite is considered very rare and precious, right? Well, multiply that rarity by about three times, and you get Talanium. I had to go through a lot to get my hands on some, and it was only enough for half of the ring. The pure sapphire was the easiest to get out of the three materials used", father explained.

This raised another storm of comments, while mother quietly looked at her ring then at father. "This metal is so durable, you could even block one of my attacks with that ring. Unfortunately it's quite small, but at least you like it, right?", father said. Mother hugged him, "You idiot, there's no need for such things". Though mother hugged and acted all lovely with father, both of my aunts looked at their husbands with narrowed eyes. "Hey Nex, you got any more of that Lunite left?", Uncle Lazar asked. "Yea, I want to know too", uncle Crow chimed in.

"What if I have?", father replied rather mysteriously. Uncle Crow and Lazar stood up at the same time, then grabbed father. "Let's talk for a while", both of them said at the same time, and escorted him outside. "Men, they never change", aunt Alicia said. "Yea, tell me about it", aunt Lira added. I could tell they were jealous of my mother's ring. Well, who wouldn't be. I wasn't sure what that Lunite or Talanium was, but from father's words, those things seemed to be really rare and extremely durable.

My uncles and father returned after a while, and both of my aunts had an inquiring look in their eyes. They wanted to know if they were getting a new rare ring. "Seems you had a nice chat", aunt Lira said. "Just some old stuff I recalled. Wanted to ask them in private", uncle Crow replied then sat down next to his wife. "Yea, just some old memories", uncle Lazar added, also taking a seat next to aunt.

'These guys are good, my aunts can't figure out whether they got something or not. Hehe, this is great to watch', I thought. "Anyway, where's Harlin? I thought he would come here with you guys", father asked, changing the topic. "Oh, he will be here tomorrow. He will show up, don't worry", uncle Lazar replied. "Ulon should be here soon as well. I'm… Actually, he is already here", mother said.

She wasn't wrong. Uncle Ulon came with Tara, which annoyed me a bit. "How have you been, Ulon?", father asked. "Not so bad, but let's not talk about me. How was your journey?", uncle asked instead. "I will tell you later", father replied with the same old sentence. With all the people around, our house was really too small for everyone. This prompted a question in my head, 'Where will everyone sleep?'. My guess was tents or something, but I was wrong. Since my father's workshop wasn't small, they simply added more beds inside. Moreover, me, Tara, Dawn and others were the ones who would sleep there.

"Our house is really a bit too small, I should probably extend it a bit. Maybe build a second floor...", father said. "We can send some craftsmen here, they can do it for you", uncle Ulon proposed. "Well, that is a solution too. We will have more guests soon… quite a few I suppose", father added. I wasn't sure what he meant, since only uncle Harlin and his girlfriend Jira were missing. Two more people wouldn't change that much really. 'Seems like not only my uncles and aunts will come here… Great', I thought. During the evening, we were shooed away to the workshop. Only Suly was allowed to stay, which annoyed me even more.

"What can you do? Suly is much older than us", Dawn said. "Yea, but that's my house!", I exclaimed. "Anyway, didn't I tell you to go home, Tara?", I asked, still annoyed. "What? Master Ulon asked to accompany him, it would be rude to decline", she explained. I just shook my head, refusing to comment on that. Since it was already evening, we decided to simply chat for a while before going to sleep.