After a while, everyone eventually gathered at the table… Some… Having a few more bruises than others… My body still felt cold, even with the coat my Grandpa had given me, making me think it had more to do with me needing mana, or more accurately, something to hold onto that had a bunch of it to warm me up. Still… If nothing else, the hot food being brought out was sure to help, at least psychologically.

'There's only one thing I'd want changed right now…' I glanced over at Kal, who somehow ended up sitting next to me. 'What's with this seating arrangement…' As my eyes continued around the room, Rune was sitting on my grandma's lap, at the other end of the table, holding the massive egg tightly and gently kicking her feet back and forth.

'When did they even meet?'

Without a word, Kal just smiled at me, turning his gaze to someone else and striking up a conversation. Somehow that… It was even worse than him talking to me directly.

My brother sighed, slowly stepping between our chairs and pushing them apart. "Oh, Kal, You like meat don't you, you won't be able to reach it from there, let me help you." He said smugly, picking up his entire chair and placing it delicately on the table in an area where there wasn't any food yet.

"Air…" Lu whined. "How's he supposed to use the table if he's sitting on top of it?" Picking up the chair with one hand, she threw it in the air, catching it again and carefully placing it down next to her on the other side. Needless to say… His face was… As one might expect. Confused and slightly disoriented, if not a little afraid.

'Well, that problem is solved…'

"For the record, I wasn't going to eat you…"

"I know… I was never really scared of that…" 'To be honest, I don't even know what I'm afraid of…' "What… Were you going to do… On the off chance you somehow managed to catch me, I mean."

"The off chance…" He smirked, shaking his head. "Well, first I was going to rub my knuckles into your thick skull until your hair fell out… Then who knows? I don't plan that far ahead."

'That was all… And here I was running for my life as if Bhaltair was chasing me…' I paused, looking down at my hands, finally holding them steady again. 'Maybe that's why I was so afraid…' "You could try, I guess… But considering you couldn't even cut my hair with a sword, I doubt your hand could do much better." I grinned back at him, finally feeling at ease as we began eating.

He reached out and grabbed a strand of it. "Is it really that strong?"

Don't touch my hair with your greasy hands!"

He sighed again. "Fine, fine. My hands aren't dirty, though, so you don't need to worry."

I nervously gathered it together behind my shoulders. 'Something like that wouldn't normally be an issue… I must still be on edge…'

"She's right, you know. Even if you're her brother, you should still respect her personal space."

My eyes slowly drifted towards Kal. 'That's not good…'

My brother calmly took more food onto his plate. "Come on, Kal, isn't there already enough beef here?"

I slowly closed my eyes, wondering if no one understood the joke… Or if the problem was that they did.

"Air… That's bear, not beef…"

'Well, I guess Lu didn't get it…'

He grinned softly, closing his eyes. "Ah… That's… My bad, thanks, Lu."

"No problem."

'It's amazing how she can diffuse tense situations just by existing…' 'Uh. Wait a moment.' "Air, do you two know each other? You shortened his name."

"What, and you haven't? He's your old teacher, right?"

"Well, no, I have… But…"

His eyes darted back to Kal.

'He tricked me…'

"That was a misunderstanding. She referred to me as a teacher, rather than by name, and after the war started, we haven't talked much." He turned towards me. "As for your brother, we were in the same class our first year at the academy. We were in different guilds, though… And the rivalry was quite fierce, there was never a decided winner between us, on account of him forfeiting whenever he got the uperhand."

My Grandma's ears perked up at the conversation and just couldn't stay out of it. "So you were able to keep up with little Air?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

'Little…'

"That's one way to put…"

"I smoked him in archery," Airsidh said bluntly. His words seemed somehow sharper, despite his face being as calm as ever.

"It's true… I beat him out in everything else, just barely, but… That's mostly because he never tried. In the end, we both continued on how we were, and I graduated early, while he still refuses to put in effort towards things he doesn't care about."

"Of course, that list is growing thicker…" He said back, before glancing at me.

"Trying because you care and trying because you don't want me to be better than you at anything are completely different…" I said with a dull scowl

"True enough, but I never said that was my motivation."

"Oho, so what, you've been training hard because you want to protect me or something?"

He slowly looked away, raising his brow for a moment before continuing with his meal. "And what if I was?"

My cold body started to feel warmer as my face heated up, and my pale skin started to turn a bit redder. 'That's a bit unexpected… Though, I guess not totally out of character if I think about it.'

Kal smirked. "They say having a daughter changes a man; maybe it's true."

My brother glared back at him. "You're older than me…"

He flinched slightly before looking back at me. "So I am…"

'Oh right, he doesn't know my real age yet… This is super awkward again, isn't it…'

My grandma butted in, but the moment her mouth opened, even before she spoke it made me nervous, calmed only by Rune's adorable face as she sank her teeth into the biggest piece of meat she could find, completely oblivious to everything around her except it's flavor. "So, Kal, how are you with wild animals?"

He adjusted his position in his seat. "I'm fine with them, I suppose. At the very least, I'm patient enough to tame them and strong enough to fight them. Since I'm a teacher, I know the material well, so I'm also well-versed in the specifics. Though I haven't been trained as a rider, I can train them to become ridable by those who are."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's good, that means you're probably good with wild girls as well. You know, Siya has a bit of a wild side to her as well."

"Grandma…" I groaned too softly for anyone to hear, closing my eyes.

"Trust me, I'm well aware. I have the bite marks to prove it."

Lightning shot through my veins as my eyes widened and even changed tint for a second, manna flooding through me like fire as my instincts got confused as to whether I should be fighting someone or running away. As my brother looked at me I only flinched, making it all worse as my face began to feel like it was burning, and I held my breath.

"Bite marks?"

He finished chewing before chuckling nervously. "Aw, I should explain. She disagreed with something I said in class and went and hunted a few dire wolves to test her own theory. I went and did the same to confirm it later, but I'm afraid I'm not quite as skilled, so some of them got me with their teeth."

Airsidh continued staring at me before leaning over and whispering. "You will be explaining this later."

'How does he know…'

"So you can even keep up with her, not to mention you have the patience and temperament to deal with her wild nature. That must be what makes you such a good match… As her teacher. I'm sure she learned a lot from you."

'She isn't even trying to hide it…' "I wish the empire would just attack already…"

Airsidh rolled his eyes, elbowing me gently as they continued.

"If I'm being honest, I doubt I actually taught her anything… I just hope I was able to give valuable advice once or twice. We butted heads quite a bit, so I'm not sure you could say we were that good of a match…"

My grandpa cleared his throat. "Siya, what did you learn from your time at the academy?"

'Now I'm getting a pop quiz? Great…' "You want to like… A list… Are we talking about class, the academy itself, or just in general while I was staying there?"

"Anything is fine."

'Well… Most of it's related to magic and demons, so… There were those horrible strategies we talked about…' "Uhm… I guess I learned about dragon mating practices. That was… A particularly memorable class…"

My grandma grinned, but her mouth was quickly shut by a pinch to her shoulder from her husband… Without him even having to look.

He sighed. "There, you see? That's one thing that you have taught her… Though I wish it were something more… Well, never mind."

My grandma growled slightly. "It's plenty useful. I'm sure she'll be able to use that information well."

Kal squinted, a bit confused, which I was only thankful for. "If she ever runs into dragons, I can only hope she remembers their strengths and weaknesses."

'I'm glad he didn't get it… I might have just died…'

My mom narrowed her brow, uncertain if she should step in or not. "Mom, aren't you being a bit too much? Siya might be part dragon, but to say she'd do… To say she'd put something like that to use is a bit crude, isn't it?"

"Well, I mean. I'm part wolf–" Her mouth was quickly covered by my grandfather's hand, which remained firmly over it as he moved his chair closer and began distancing himself from the conversation.

"Rune, what do you think? I cooked these two differently, which do you like more?"

'This family…' I could tell my mom was trying to stand up for me… Maybe… In some strange way… But I saw the moment everything clicked in Kals brain because of what she said, it was the same moment my face turned bright red and I lowered it to the table. Seconds later, Air pulled my hood over my head for me. Though it was probably a joke, it helped… "Thanks…" I muttered.

"Grandma…" Lu suddenly interjected. "You said that grandpa was like a dragon when you met him. Was he breathing fire like Siya?"

'Maybe Lu can save us again…'

She mumbled before tapping on grandpa's hand, getting him to lower it. "Well, something hot was certainly coming out of him."

"GRANDMA!" I shouted, standing up out of my chair and drawing everyone's eyes.

"He was Bleeding… Quite a bit…" She finished, slowly staring at me wide-eyed before her face twisted to a wry smile.

'Oh… That's what she meant…' I slowly sat back down, my body feeling numb from how much blood was trapped in my face.

Before I could answer, my grandfather let out a heavy sigh and gently placed his hand over mine. "Siya, are you still feeling cold? Do you want to go sit by the fire?"

'Cold? I'm not really that cold anymore… Actually… I feel a bit overheated…' He slightly raised his eyebrows as if giving some sort of signal. 'Wait, he's giving me a way out?' "O-oh! Yeah, that sounds good. I'll go do that…"

He slowly stood up, never letting go of my hand as he led me away.

"Grandpa… How did you survive this?"

"I learned how to bake sweets… And hide alcohol… And for the most part, you just get used to it. Though… I imagine that's easier for me than you." He sighed, reaching into his pocket and giving me several hard candies wrapped in thin paper. "And when it gets to be too much, I step away for a bit."

"Thanks… But I honestly don't really like candy."

He smiled softly, rubbing my head as he brought me a blanket and took a seat next to the fire. "She gets distracted quite easily. If you give her one of these, she'll usually calm down if she's getting carried away."

'Just like a dog… Lu really is the only remotely normal person here…'

As I got more tired I drifted closer to the fire until I thought about crawling into it and laying on the burning logs… Eventually deciding against it for obvious reasons such as not wanting to burn my clothes. Still, there was something almost enchanting about it. Eventually I reached out and touched a burning log with my finger tips, but even the fire felt barely warm, like water from a bath that had been sitting for a while.

He grabbed my hand, carefully pulling it back without squeezing my arm. "Are you so cold you'd try to climb into a fire?" He said softly, looking closely at my hand to make sure it was ok, before softly brushing the ash off and taking a look at my face.

"It's a long story…"

He dragged the chair closer and sat me down next to him, wrapping another blanket around me. "It's fine."

I curled up next to him, and my eyes suddenly fell shut, feeling heavy. 'Even the fire felt almost cold, but he somehow felt warm…'

Before I knew it I had fallen asleep. Over the next several days I introduced my guildmates to my family and explained the details of my situation to my brother and reassured him that I was in full control of myself… At least… I was now… Being around family was awkward at times… And almost unbearable, but it was fun too, and if nothing else it helped everyone relax.

It was a nice break for sure… But I never let myself lower my guard… Not… Too much anyway… A war still loomed over us, the only question was when they were going to make the next move.

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