18. The Party

Time trickled away and a year passed, both Ast and Anya were busy in their own routines and advaning quickly. Ast was now 7 and Anya 8 years old.

Today Anya received an invitation to Sophia's birthday party. She was Anya's cousin and Tom's younger brother Raymond's daughter. Anya asks Ast to come with him to attend the party, initially Ast declined but Anya kept on pestering and suspiciously the same invitation also arrived for Ast. Ast felt that something was wrong he had no interaction with anyone except Anya, so something was going on behind his back. Finally Ast decided to go.

Ast and Anya took their family's carriage and arrived at the event. Both Anya and Ast had their own charm, both of them through continuous training achieved a well chiselled physique and due to their genes they were naturally easy on the eyes. Ast had grown his hair to his shoulder and fashioned them in a knot. He was wearing a black and purple coat which gave him a noble look, he also wore black gloves so as to hide his storage ring just out of his cautious nature. Anya also wore a black attire and her hair was tied into small buns at the sides of her head. She looked cute and cold at the same time, she waslo carrying a storage ring but not any gloves.

On their arrival they noticed the huge hall where the event was going on and at the centre youngsters like them were dancing. Very few adult were also present but they were busy socialising among themselves. Noticing youngsters dancing both of them instantly regretted coming here. Anya and Ast moved towards a corner and started observing the adults. Ast had informed Anya that someone might be targeting them and had asked her to be cautious in the party.

To both their surprise they noticed their elder brother Tim was also present in the party, usually he would never attend such an event. Tim was now 13 years old and usually accompanied their father, Tom was grooming Tim. Ast saw Tim looking towards their direction and smiling. Ast instinctively looked away, he knew this was bad news Tim had never paid attention to them and to him they were like pests of the blair family so either their parents had noticed Ast and had some intentions towards him or Tim was going to find some trouble with them.

Ast also told Anya about what be thought, and they both thought avoiding Tim was for the best for now. Seeing both siblings looking away Tim also got busy socialising. Out of nowhere Ast heard some kids taking his name and laughing. Ast ignored them, but one of the boy started approaching them. " My lady Anya, my name is Gerald Klaus, would you like to dance with me" the boy said with a gentle bow and an outstretched hand. " sorry sir gerald but I would politely decline" answered Anya, although her words were polite, there was no emotion in her voice. Gerald's face had an instant frown.

" What are you looking at you retard" Gerald scoffed at Ast when he saw he was looking towards him. But to Gerald's surprise there was no emotion on Ast face and he ignored him completely. Seeing this he was enraged. He knew he had to get back at him. " I Gerald Klaus challenge you Ast Blair to a duel. Do you accept" his voice attracted the attention of everyone present. Ast was shocked not only this Gerald knew of his existence but also knew about his history (gerald calling him retard).

Seeing this Anya was about to loose her temper, this person first called her brother a retard and then challenged him. Although she knew he was no match for his brother but still she wanted to beat the hell out of this fellow. Ast calmly pulled Anya towards her and whispered in her ear what he thought about the situation. The reason why Ast at every step explained what he thought to Anya was because he wanted her to be calm and analyse each situation and this could only be done by practice.