Soul of a Human

While the boys had an exhausting first day and, therefore, a dreamless night, Saphine didn't. She returned to the Sapphire estate and was welcomed by the staff, but while she felt protected and at home, she was also lonely, and more so in the deep darkness of the night. Her dreams were tormented by visions of the crazed Ranbor, baying for her blood, hunting her down, but every time the monstrous Ranbor almost got her, another figure would appear and save her from the nightmare. She would always wake up then, never seeing the face of the "savior".

Saphine grumbled, and after a week of torturous nights, she finally decided to talk with someone about this. Because of that, she made her way to the Obsidian estate and asked to speak with Orth. The Obsidian butler told her that she would have to go to the commoner's place because Orth would be staying with his friend Agaton, never even hiding his disgust at that situation.

Grumpily, Saphine paid for a magic chariot to take her through the streets towards the Agaton household, warily watching the commoners passing by. She felt exposed and on edge the whole time, and when the chariot finally stopped at her destination, she looked around suspiciously and carefully.

Saphine went to the tiny hut and waited, gathering a lot of attention, mostly questioning or confused looks but also some hostile. Still, nobody dared to get close to her because she was obviously noble and, therefore, dangerous.

Saphine got increasingly annoyed that she needed to wait, and the door stayed stubbornly closed no matter how much she glared at it. She would need to have a stern word with Mor about the quality of his servants, but on the other hand, how good could a commoner's servant be?

She was almost ready to turn around and return home when a voice called out to her.

"Can I help you?" A man asked her, and she regarded him with a huff.

"Are you with the Agatons?" Saphine demanded, and after a brief second, the man nodded, a bit confused by this interaction.

"Finally, I'm waiting here for an eternity. Now go on open the door!" She demanded in annoyance.

"Do you want something from Morokhan and Sophie?" the man asked, and Saphine looked at him as if he were retarded.

"I want to speak with my friend, and everything else is not your concern," she hissed.

The man simply shrugged and then knocked on the door.

"Why did you knock?! I said open the door!" The girl hissed again, drawing a deep sigh from the man.

"Listen, girly, if you want to visit someone, you knock on their door. I get it that you are a noble and therefore think yourself above the likes of us, but I didn't think your entitlement goes that far. You're standing here like you are lost, and honestly, it is probably only a matter of time until someone might have tried something." The man sighed, and Saphine took a scared look around.

"If you knew this, why didn't you come earlier?! I will have a word with your master for your disrespect!" She growled but only got a sigh in return.

It took a few more moments until the door opened with a creak, and Morokhan's figure appeared, covered in sweat and clearly out of breath.

"Yes?" He asked before even realizing who stood before him.

Saphine opened her mouth to complain, but before she could get a word out, she was interrupted by Morokhan.

"Aero! Nice to see you. How's the family?" He greeted the other man.

"You know, rowdy as always, you need to show up more! Also, is everything alright? You look awful." Aero answered.

"Good to hear, and don't worry about me. I'm just working on a new project." Morokhan said.

Saphine again wanted to draw attention to herself but got interrupted again.

"I get it. There is always something to fix with the old homes. Tell me if you need help. I will involve the family", Aero offered.

"Nothing I can't handle on my own, and my boy is helping me," Morokhan stated.

"I get it. The young ones have to learn. But your boy is the reason I came over. In three weeks, the rest of our kids are coming home, so a family get-together is planned. I also heard that your boy made it to the fancy-pants school, just like you. You must be proud." Aero went on, and Morokhan smiled.

"EXCUSE ME!" Saphine shouted and was finally noticed.

"You're Mor's friend!" Morokhan recognized her before continuing, "You're probably here to see them. Just go in. The boys are in their room upstairs. I need to talk with my cousin some more. Aero, do you want to join me for some refreshments? I'm sure Sophie would be delighted to see you."

While the men went to the kitchen, Saphine was directed upstairs to the room where the boys were allegedly in.

"Hello, Sophie." Aero greeted the woman as he and Morokhan entered the kitchen-dining room combination.

"Aerothen!" she called out and gave him a quick hug. It's good to see you. How are the kids?"

"Little pests, like always. But you miss them when they aren't at home." He answered with a smile.

"Yes. Without my Mor here, it was very lonely. I'm happy he got to go home earlier." Sophie agreed.

"What's up with that, anyway? It seems the fancy-pants school ended their year earlier, but nobody is saying anything", Aero asked.

"Mor said there was an incident, but the teachers handled it. Still, they had to end the year early. It seems a lot of damage was done." Morokhan explained, and Aero nodded.

"I understand. Well, there are a ton of high-gifted, stuck-up nobles, so it's no wonder things might break if a family feud is happening or maybe even an accident." He mused.

Morokhan shrugged. "Whatever it was, the nobles probably don't want it to get out, so we won't hear anything. No sense fretting about it."

"You're right, Moro," Aero said but then got thoughtful. "What was up with that girl earlier? She seemed like a noble, but she wanted to see little Mor?"

"Yes," Morokhan answered before his wife could intervene.

"You won't believe it, but that lady is the daughter of the Sapphire family. Mor made some friends among the stuck-ups." He joked.

"That girl?! Tell me you sent her away!" Sophie shrieked, but the silence she got as an answer told her everything. "I won't let her have my boy!"

Sophie started to run towards Mor's room, but Morokhan stopped her. He grabbed her arm, pulling her to him and holding her close.

"Calm down, she won't. Don't forget Orth is also there." Morokhan tried to calm his struggling wife while Aero laughed.

"Still as protective as always." He chuckled and Morokhan grinned apologeticly.

"Let's get to why I'm really here. As I told you before, we want to throw a party for our kids, and I wanted to invite you, too. You're family as well, even if you show up rarely", Aero said, smiling.

"Sounds fun, and I think Mor could use a bit of "commoner" chaos to ground himself after having contact with all those nobles." Morokhan joked. "Would it be okay if he invited his noble friends?"

Aero thought for a split second, then shrugged.

"Of course. You know the Agaton motto! Everyone from friends and family is welcomed to the chaos!" He said, and both men chuckled at the truth of it while Sophie still tried to free herself and rush to her son's help.

While the adults spoke downstairs, Saphine entered the room where the boys were supposed to be and was greeted by both of them lounging around in complete chaos. Books were strewn everywhere, together with discarded papers, some crumpled, some put aside with more care.

"What are you doing?" She asked, and both boys looked at her in shocked surprise.

"Hello, Saphine," Orth said.

"Resting," Mor added.

"Why are you here?" Orth asked.

"I wanted to talk with you. Also, what do you mean resting?" she said, motioning around the untidy room.

"Well, the human told us to rest today because resting is as important as training. And because we had nothing better to do, we read through children's stories to find some fun spells to try and replicate." Mor explained.

°You never know what you might find.° The human added.

Mor stood up from his lounging and carefully put aside some of the chaos to make space for Saphine to sit.

"What did you want to talk about?" He asked.

"I wanted to talk with Orth. Could you please give us some privacy?" she asked in return, and Mor shrugged.

"Then I'm getting snacks. Orth, do you also want some?" He asked, and Orth nodded.

"Yes, please." He said, and Mor left to go scrounge something up.

Mor went to the kitchen and saw his mother restrained by his father and his uncle Aerothen sitting with them.

"What's going on here?" he asked, almost getting knocked over when Morokhan let his wife go, and she tackled her boy, much to Aero's amusement.

"Aero invited us to a family gathering," Morokhan explained while Sophie switched from hugging her boy to examining him for something.

"Sounds exciting. Can I invite Orth and Saphine?" Mor asked, and Aero nodded.

"Your friends are our friends. If the nobles can stand a commoner festival," he said.

°Oh, now I'm hyped! This sounds awesome! I really want to experience the chaos you guys described,° the human said.

"And what's up with mother?" Mor asked, trying to get away from his mother.

"She is worried about you because the Sapphire girl is here." Morokhan sighed, and Mor blushed a bit. Aero raised an interested eyebrow at that, which, luckily, nobody noticed.

"What brings you down here?" Morokhan asked.

"Snacks. Saphine wanted to talk with Orth in private, so I thought I could get something to eat." Mor answered.

"Something she couldn't say with you in the room?" Aero teased and was again rewarded with a blush from Mor. "There's definitely something there." He thought to himself.

"Well, I would like to stay a bit longer, but it's time for me to leave. Moro, Sophie, Mor, I'm glad to have seen you all. See you in a few weeks. I will inform you about the specifics when we have organized everything," Aero said and left the Agaton home, accompanied by smiles and good wishes.

After this visit, Mor sat down and chatted a bit with his parents about the upcoming family meet while he waited for Orth and Saphine to finish their talk.