Arrival of Grey Lizards

A week later, the Grey Lizards led by my aunt Alicia and Suly arrived. To my surprise, Leran was with them, but my uncle was missing. Leran grew up a lot past these few years we haven't met. He was a teenager already, not that far away from adulthood. "Did you miss sister Anna?", I asked, but he seemed a bit rebellious and annoyed at me. "What's wrong? Are you unhappy that I returned?".

"Nah, he talked about meeting you the whole way. He's simply jealous of the course you built for Drak. That thing became known throughout the North. He'd simply like one next to his home as well", Suly explained. "Sis! That's not true, I don't…", Leran defended himself. "Hahaha, I'm sorry, this is just too funny. Leran, you do realise that your mother or even Suly is much better at Formations than me, right? They could make a much better course for you, and probably quicker", I said with a laugh.

"... They're too busy…", he whispered. "...I see… How about this? I'll make the course for you, but after the project here is done. Deal?", I asked. Leran's mood improved tenfold after hearing that. He rushed to hug me, then showed his tongue to Suly. "Seriously though, how can you not find some time for your own brother?", I asked Suly.

"What? I've been really busy. Besides, since you built that course in Sedon, he could simply use it. With the quick travel Formation, visiting Sedon is no longer an issue", she tried to defend herself, but in Leran's eyes, she lost the battle. "Anyway, they are already heading to check the room out. Let's go, I'm interested what sort of details your dad came up with. Leran, go play with Dante for now, alright?", Suly said.

"I'm not interested in Formations anyway. Besides, I haven't seen Dante in a while too. Sister Anna, a promise is a promise, right? No going back anymore, okay?", he asked to make sure. "Of course. I promised, and will fulfil that promise. Now go, we'll talk later", I assured him. Once Leran left to play with Dante, me and Suly followed others underground.

Once they saw the main room layered with Obsidian, they were quite impressed. "You actually did this... Damn that wife of yours is wealthy. Anyway, this will make our job a lot easier too. Obsidian is naturally strong, therefore placing Formations in this room should be no issue at all", aunt Alicia said.

"Moreover, the room is much better protected. This Obsidian layer acts like a shell. Though we'd like you to place protective Formations anyway. Just to make sure this place lasts for many years to come", father replied. "Sure, that's why we're here… You grew up, Anna. We haven't seen each other for a few years, so how's your progress in Formations?", aunt asked.

"I can't say there's much progress, since the two masters didn't allow me to use Formations during my journey. There is one thing though", I replied then displayed the control of my energy to her. "Hehe, not bad, not bad. This alone is a great improvement, but I'd like to see those two masters and kick their asses. Forbidding you from practicing Formations, how dare they", she said a bit annoyed.

"It's fine, auntie. That allowed me to focus on a few other aspects, energy control was one of them. Besides, I already broke past the Half Step", I explained. "...Hmm, I guess that's a good thing. Since you are here with us, I'm assuming you'd like to work on this project too, right?", she asked. "Yes! I have loads to learn, and even watching you guys will do me a lot of good. I've pretty much covered all the intermediate knowledge of Formations, though I wouldn't call myself an expert. Either way, I'm sure there's loads to learn from this project", I said.

My aunt didn't mind me sticking around and even helping out. She knew this was a great opportunity to learn a few things, and wouldn't strip me of that opportunity. Suly on the other hand was more surprised. I wasn't even nineteen years old yet, and broke past the Half Step already. This would be considered great pretty much anywhere on the continent.

Suly reached past the Half Step a long time ago, but she had to reach the Inner Limits stage before she'd be considered a master of Formations. At least in the North. "By the way, I heard you guys figured out some sort of new Formations. Sedon's Grand Stage has one of them, which could display the sky, even though we were inside. How did you manage that?", I asked.

"Oh that? It's actually the effort of a few people, including me. We usually showed you the Formations consisting of four basic Elements. That doesn't mean Formations can have only these four Elements though. Hehe, you see, there's a way to combine two or more Elements, and make something new… I'll need some time to explain that, so perhaps we can talk later?".

'... I'd like to know right now, but…', "Alright, I'm sure you have loads of questions to ask me as well", I replied. While me and Suly exchanged a few words, my father and others went through the details of the Formation. "This should do it for now. Adding in the external energy source feed for the Formation will be tricky… Since we know very little about the Void Element", aunt Alicia said.

"Stop trying to probe stuff from me, Alicia. When I asked you for that option, I was fully aware what this entailed. I'll teach you about it, but I'll also warn you. I'm teaching you, no one else. Understood?", father replied rather seriously. "Nex, you are just stingy! What about me? I want to know too!", Suly protested, but father wouldn't budge. His eyes were locked on my aunt, waiting for an answer. "I promise, and you know that my promises are not empty", she replied.

Father nodded before saying, "With that, we can conclude the meeting. Have a rest today, and start tomorrow. There's no rush, I'm not going to give you any deadlines". Everyone left the room after that, but Suly wasn't happy at all. She complained to me how my father still treated her like a kid, and she wasn't allowed to know these things. "Maybe he can't simply teach too many people about it. I mean, only my father and Hatmandor have access to such knowledge. Don't you think it's for a reason?", I asked her.

"Yea, I get it, but since my mother can know, why can't I?", she wasn't satisfied with my explanation. "I don't know… Maybe because you'd tell me? Or maybe even someone else? Dad seems to trust aunt a lot. He believes that once she gave her word, no amount of pressure or begging will make her spill out these things", I added. "... I hate to admit it, but that's hundred percent correct. In the past, she refused to share anything with me, I wasn't allowed to know", Suly replied.

'It's not like my mother wasn't stingy…', "Anyway, let's go back to my place. You can meet the wolves, and maybe even Dawn, if she's around… Before that, let's grab Leran and Dante. I'm sure they'll dump them onto me anyway", I proposed. Suly didn't mind, and even welcomed that. They didn't visit very often, and only saw Dante about a year ago. My brother managed to grow up a lot in that time, so she wanted to see him too.

With Dante and Leran by our side, we walked back to my house. A pack of wolves greeted us as usual, but the three pregnant wolves mostly remained in the back. Only when I got closer to them, did they wag their tails and licked my hand. "Do you want to know something?", I asked Suly and Leran with a smile. They were of course confused, therefore I explained, "You see, these three wolves are pregnant. They will be having baby wolves".

"Hehe, what did you expect when you keep so many of them? Though a few of them grew up since our last visit... I'm no idiot, Anna. Your smile already betrayed you", Suly said. "Perhaps, but I'll extend the offer anyway. Would you guys want a wolf puppy? Taking care of one shouldn't be a problem. Perhaps Leran can actually train it for his performances. That would be unique", I proposed.

Once the idea of using wolves in performances got mentioned, Leran's interested peaked. "You are playing dirty right now… Saying that kind of stuff…", before Suly finished, Leran jumped in, "I'd like one! Wolves are really rare in the North, right? Besides, sister Anna is willing to gift us one for free… Can we keep one?". Suly found herself in a tight spot. She already disappointed her brother once. The only option for her, was to accept my offer… Or basically refuse and make Leran dislike her.

"... I didn't want to believe your friends, but now? Usually people say 'like father like son', but in this case it's 'like mother like daughter'… Fine, we'll take one. Leran! You will take care of the wolf puppy, understood? No slacking off or anything, promise me right now", Suly replied. Leran agreed of course, but Suly made sure he understood the responsibility.

I also explained the commitments required to raise an animal. Leran was excited, that was understandable. But I didn't want to give these puppies to people who'd later abandon, or refuse to take a proper care of them. "I'm sure, I'd like to get a wolf puppy. I'll raise it, I promise", he said. Since Leran was sure and promised to take care of the puppy, me and Suly agreed.

"There's someone else I'd like to introduce you to… Curly! Come over, we have guests… Don't worry, it's not Drak!", I exclaimed. Curly didn't appear straight away. I saw her poking her head through the stair railings. She was judging whether my words were truthful or not. Drak wasn't there, so she rushed downstairs and onto my neck. "Heh? What sort of creature is that?", both Suly and Leran asked at the same time.

"This is a marten. We met in the Endrosian Empire, and she decided to come home with me", I explained. Suly couldn't contain herself, she tried to grab Curly from my neck almost immediately. Of course she didn't succeed, since Curly paid attention to anything that moved. "She doesn't like to be touched by strangers… Especially by people who'd pet her to death", I explained.

"... This cute little fur ball… I want one of those! Forget the wolf, give me that!", Suly exclaimed. "I'm not some sort of animal shop, you know? Curly is the only marten in the North, so nope. I can't give you any. Go to the Endrosian Empire and find one. Besides, have you seen wolf puppies? They'll be cute too, you'll see", I replied, even though I haven't seen them myself.

"Tsk… Stingy..", Suly said to herself. While Leran chased Curly around, I invited Suly for a chat. "Anna, susu fun face, hehe", my brother said. "He's laughing at your expression… Hehe, well, I can't blame him. Come on, wolves are cute too, you'll see. Anyway, now that we are here, tell me more about the combinations of Elements", I said.