Alex and Keva House-Sit

Alex was driving to Zeph's mansion. Keva sat beside him as they made light conversation. They hadn't been to the mansion in a while. The couple was grateful that Zeph and Bernard switched Semara's and Alex's duties. Ever since the old butler became her bodyguard, Keva was able to spend every day with her husband. It also let them stay with their children and visit their grandkids without needing to come back to the mansion. However, Bernard asked them to come back because of the recent incident involving Ashley Avery.

The poor girl wasn't coming out of her room, while Semara stayed in the mansion to take care of her. Alex and Keva were asked to take her place and watch over the young lady. He preferred that the wolf-kin guard Zeph, Ivy, and Lili with Bianca because he was worried about an attack from the demon followers. It would be better to have two guards for the three children instead of just one.

When they got to the mansion, the couple walked into the living room to find Bianca and Semara watching a movie. Keva and Alex said hello and joined them. "Where are Zeph and Bernard?" Keva asked.

Bianca decided to answer so that Semara could continue watching the movie. She had already seen it, but it was new to her silver-haired friend. "Mr. Malston is staying at the lab tonight and Zeph is meditating under the waterfall in the backyard."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Why is he under the waterfall?"

"He said that he wanted to train his concentration and figured it was the easiest way to make meditation more difficult. After what happened to the Ashley, he's been worried about his friends," Bianca said.

"Speaking of the young lady, would you mind taking me to her room? I would like to meet and talk to her," Keva asked.

"While you do that, I'll go see how young Zeph is doing," Alex told the group of women.

"Sure." Bianca stood up and led Keva upstairs.

Alex went to the backyard and towards the pool. At the far side, Zeph was floating on top of the pool's surface as the artificial waterfall in the grotto washed over him. The old dwarf smiled as he started walking towards the young lord. Instead of walking into the water, small pillars of earth rose from the floor of the pool to meet Alex's steps. They sank back into the ground as the butler walked passed them. It was easier for him to move the earth than it was to levitate or water walk.

He approached the boy slowly, checking to see if Zeph was aware of his presence. Zeph was focused on his meditation and didn't notice the old butler sneaking up on him. Alex leaned down to Zeph's ear, "Boo!"

The surprise broke Zeph's concentration and he instantly fell into the water. Alex watched him sputter and splash for a few seconds while chuckling. Zeph looked up at the smiling butler. "I'm glad that you're having fun." He then wiped the water off his face.

Alex gave the young man a warm smile. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too Alex. How are things going?" Zeph swam back and sat on a small bench in the water on the wall of the grotto.

"Things are going well. I spent the days with my wife, and the evenings with my children and grandchildren." Alex walked next to Zeph and the wall of the grotto grew out into a bench. Thank you for suggesting the change in duties," he said while sitting down.

"No problem. I figured if I could let you spend more time with your wife and Bianca could spend more time with her friend, it was a win/win situation." Zeph stretched his arms out.

"Yes, I have noticed Bianca's mood is brighter these days. She tells me you've been upset since the attack on the Avery family."

"Yeah, it just made things more…" Zeph tried to find the right words but he was having trouble. "Made things more real if that makes any sense. I was never worried too much about the demons and stuff because I had you guys. You, grandpa, Bianca, Eli, and everyone are already so powerful that any kind of attack wouldn't really bother us. But Ivy, Lili, James, Drew, and the others don't have that kind of power." Zeph pulled himself out of the water and onto the bench. "I finally got comfortable with my life here, and now I'm worried about losing everything again." He said while sitting down. "Lili and them… they kind of make me feel like a big brother again."

Alex saw the fear in the boy's eyes and gave him a small hug. "They'll be fine. Semara and Bianca will protect you all, and your grandfather has already assigned some of the police to watch over them. We'll be notified the instant anything bad may happen. In the meantime, how about I help you train tonight. There is one condition, however."

Zeph was surprised. Alex never offered to train him before. Sure the old butler would give him some tips, but it was always Bernard or Bianca that did any hands-on training with him. "That sounds good. What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to take a break from training for the rest of the week after tonight," Alex answered.

"Why?" the young lord asked.

"I know you love improving your magic, but the constant training is starting to wear you down. The mental stress has probably been building for a long time. It might be one of the reasons you're a little more emotional lately. Take a few days to relax and have fun." Alex gently poked Zeph in the forehead. "Let your mind decompress without worrying about getting stronger or finding ways to be more useful. Leave the worrying to Bernard and the rest of us. We may have been caught by surprise before, but we can still protect you."

After thinking for a moment, Zeph realized that Alex was right. "Okay, I can agree to that."

"Good, now I'm going to teach you a way different way to meditate. So far, you've only been using a meditation technique to improve your magical ability. When you meditate, you either focus on gathering mana into your body or controlling it. I'm going to teach you to stop that."

"What?"

"I'm going to teach you a meditation technique that will let you relax your spirit, mind, and body. It will help you center yourself. You have a lot in common with spiritual beings, so the meditation will probably do wonders for you. The good news is that when you master this technique, you'll be able to combine it with the way you've been meditating before. It'll make gathering mana and focusing your willpower on it much easier."

"That sounds nifty."

"It is very nifty." Alex smiled.

______________________________

Ivy walked into Zeph's living room ready to start his training for spirit magic. They've made some progress, but he was never able to summon anything from the ethereal plane other than some spirit energy. She was hoping to see if they could summon a small spirit today. Oddly though, the living room was empty save for a lone dwarf butler sipping tea and watching a soap opera.

"Oh, hello Mr. Alex," the half-elf said with the peppiness that only morning people seemed to possess. "Where's Zeph?"

"Zeph is sleeping in late today. I've instructed him to take the next seven to ten days off from training," Alex answered the little girl, noticing her mood take a small dip. "That doesn't mean you can't spend time with him today." He watched as Ivy's sadness disappeared. "In fact, I want you to spend the rest of the day trying to help him have as much fun as possible. If he tries to sneak in any form of training, you have my permission to stop him by any means necessary."

Ivy's excitement almost caused her magic to slip. Her hair started to float upwards in joy. When she caught herself, she let out a small cough in embarrassment. "I'll do my best."

"Good. You can start by waking him up. Use the words 'Open Sesame' to open his door. It has two locks on it. If it doesn't open after that, then he's already awake and doing something important."

"Why does he have two locks on his door? And what's 'Open Sesame' mean?"

"He has one lock in case he doesn't want to be disturbed. The password is there because he says it amuses him."

"Yeah, that sounds like Zeph." Ivy gave a small bow before skipping towards the stairs. She greeted Keva as she was coming down to join Alex in the living room.

"Good morning darling," the old dwarf said as his wife entered the room. "How is miss Avery today?"

Keva walked over and kissed Alex on the cheek. "She's still in mourning and doesn't feel like coming out of her room yet. I've given her food and instructions on what to do should she need anything. Bernard gave her a new Holo-pendant so she's not short of entertainment. I think she's video chatting with a boy named Jasper at the moment." She sat down next to Alex on the couch as she thought about the smiling Avery girl and the skipping half-elf. "Oh to be young again."

Alex hugged her and pulled close so she could lean on his shoulder. "We've still got a good century or two left," he said as he gave her a quick kiss.