POV Aron Brightcloud

Northridge market was a very well populated place, everywhere people happily bargaining with each other. Merchants from other parts of the country had arrived as well. They sold their special wares and tried to find products that could be sold with increased prices elsewhere.

Our whole group accompanied by Barak, his wife, and some guards strolled along the street. I had my eyes on a jeweler. I needed something beautiful, yet small for my little sister. My mum saw my focus and began to speak “ Has something caught your eye?”

“Yes, I need a present for Lea, I promised it to her. One of the smaller pieces in the shop looks promising. What do you think?”

Mum regarded the pieces I had in mind. “Yes, the small hairpin with the ruby should fit her taste excellently.”

My mother was right, I had come to the same conclusion. Lea would love it. “You are right, Mum. I will buy it.”

The merchant happily sold us the little trinket. The lord of the city entering his humble shop alone would push the sellings of his wares for the foreseeable future. This was great publicity for him.

With the present for my sister securely placed in my bag, the most pressing matter had been taken care of. Now I could enjoy the rest of the day.

Not long later we came by a smithy when Sephiroth nudged me from the side. I followed her eyes and found a sleek black combined armor made of leather, chains and plates to protect the important parts of the body. We moved over to take a closer look.

“This is night-steel. One of the more expensive materials to make armor out of. This sort of steel is known for its durability and lightweight. It is also fancied by assassins and scouts for its use during the night.” Barak spoke.

I checked the price. Sadly, it was too expensive for my budget.

“Try it on. You have earned yourself a present with your victory against Balus.” My mother told me.

I quickly equipped it. The armor fit me perfectly. I moved around and reveled in its ease of use. The armor had been fitted perfectly, no pieces chafed against each other. This allowed one to move completely silent if needed. The hunter in me agreed, this armor would support my needs splendidly.

My mother smiled at my happy face. “Okay, it fits you perfectly. This shall be my present to you, my dear.”

“Thank you, mum!” I quickly gave her a hug. I needed to play the young boy persona more often. It was so easy to forget that my body was only sixteen.

While my mother bought it I covertly observed Sephiroth. Her eyes on two unremarkable daggers she was clearly enamored with. As I stood behind her, she didn’t realize I had been watching her. Maybe I should buy them for her? My idealistic ideas got immediately squashed when I saw their price. Naturally, Sephiroth had found herself the most expensive daggers in the store.

Still, she had helped me greatly today. Bad behavior had to be punished, so it was only natural that good behavior should be rewarded.

“Sephiroth, could you please help my mother with carrying my armor?”

With one last wistful glance, she walked over to the counter to carry out my order. Barak choose that moment to insert his wisdom and nicely drew all the attention to himself as he talked about the details of my armor in more dept. It let me buy the daggers with nobody noticing. My poor savings. Most of them were gone now, and I hadn’t even bought anything for myself.

The rest of the day we enjoyed the city and intensified our connection with the Northclouds. I played the young noble son that was enamored by Barak’s stories of battle and glory. Letting him see himself more and more as an older teacher to me, while my mother enjoyed her time with another lady. I had never realized it, but mother must have felt lonely in our manor. There were no people of her age and nobility level to talk with.

After a tasty dinner, we went to bed. I discreetly took my leave before mother remembered the verbal lashing she had planned to give me for keeping so many secrets.

Tomorrow we would leave. It was a short but very enjoyable journey. I got to enjoy a new city, met friendly people and trashed an upstart noble who tried to use me for his own gain. As I had said, very enjoyable indeed.

______

We stood in front of our carriage. “Have a good journey home, Amanda and Aron. It was nice to see you!” Barak emotionally embraced us both before stepping back. It was time to depart.

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The carriage rolled through the open gate onto the street and made its way towards the edge of the city. Me, Sephiroth, my mother and her guard sat quietly in the carriage, observing the vibrant activities going on around us. The guards once more let us through without making a fuss, and soon Northridge vanished in the morning mist.

Good. I had reached another milestone in my life without getting hurt. I raised my head- or not. My mum looked at me with fire in her eyes. Uh oh, she remembered.

“Aron, care to tell me what that was during the fight? You never have been this calculative before. I don’t like this new character trait of yours!”

Damn, I really had hoped she would forget about that. I could give her a lot of great reasons why I had played it like this, but that would only further highlight the changes I had gone through during the last month. No, It was not the time for brilliance. Good old youthful emotions and uncertainty would do the trick much better.

“Mum, I-I only wanted to help you. In the past when Sephiroth had started to train me the first thing she had thought had been how to survive against a stronger opponent. Any assassin that would attack me was going to be much stronger then me. So the only chance I would get was if they underestimated me. I used the one tactic that seemed feasible. This combo was the first thing Sephiroth had shown me in the past. I am sorry if I have disappointed you. I really didn’t want that.”

Seeing my sad face, mum immediately caved.

“It is okay, dear. Everything is fine. But don’t learn to many of these things from Sephiroth. I don’t want you to become too calculative and cold.” She followed her words up with a hug. I quickly returned it. That had been a close one. Sephiroth gave me a stinky eye from behind my mother's back. Ah, my great servant. So happy to take one for the team.

At least now I had reached the milesto-. With a neigh, the horses came to a sudden halt. What was going on now? It really seamed like the heavens didn’t want to let this journey come to a happy end…

We pushed the curtains to the side. Our mood fell quickly, we were surrounded. The crest on the armors of the enemy soldiers were only too familiar. It looked like Soran was a sore looser. Although I kept the cheery inner voice going, I didn’t like our chances. The baron had time to prepare. We were too few, and I had only just arrived in this world. My body was still too weak to take care of them. I glanced at Sephiroth. Maybe she had an Ide-

“Everything is well, let me handle this.” My mum gave me a reassuring grin. “All of you, stay back. I will talk with Soran.” With that, she walked out of the carriage.

“Let me through to the baron, I want to speak with him.” I watched surprised as she walked self-confidently towards the enemy’s direction. Soon she had disappeared between the trees, cautiously guarded by four Silveroak soldiers.

I exchanged a glance with Sephiroth. What the hell was going on?

Everything was quiet. Then suddenly a bird whistle could be heard. All the soldiers vanished. Now we were completely alone. Why would the enemy leave us doing nothing?

A warm light shone through the trees where my mother had gone for two seconds. No, that wasn’t the sun, I still felt its rays on my back, so what was this light?

As quickly as it had appeared it vanished again, leaving me none the wiser.

Then my mum returned. This time alone.

“Mum! Everything alright? What is going on?”

She smiled her motherly smile.

“Everything is fine Aron, fear not. I simply had a little chat with Soran. Luckily your dad has still some connections. At the end, Soran saw the light in my words and went away.”

My mum didn’t lie. I could feel it. Still, something bothered me.

While my mother walked towards the carriage, the wind intensified. A gust of wind blew through the trees and brought a lot of dust with it. I had to cough as I had taken a lung full. What the heck?! Why was dust in the middle of a forest?

“Come Aron, the weather is getting worse. Lets go home.”

I could feel it, the piece that was missing was so close, I had- my mother’s hand grabbed me from behind and pulled me into the carriage.- lost it. Damn, then my attention was forcefully pushed elsewhere as my mother hugged me.

Well, at least I had now reached my milestone.

______

POV Sephiroth

They had arrived at home. Sephiroth amusedly observed as Aron got assaulted by his little sister. Lea only let off after she had been appeased by his hastily taken out gift. The ravenous beast instantly turned into a sunny, smiling little angel. She thanked her best older brother profusely for the beautiful gift before vanishing as quickly as she had appeared.

Sephiroth had to laugh at the sweat that had built on Aron’s forehead.

“Haha, really, did that scare you that much?” She grinned at him. He mock seriously answered.

“You have no clue how dangerous that was. If the present hadn’t been received well, we would be in deep trouble now.”

Sephiroth only laughed as answer. Aron didn’t mind.

“So it is time for bed. Sleep well Sephiroth, Mors will take over for the night.”

With that he turned and went towards his chambers.

Still with a smile on her face, Sephiroth proceeded to her own room. She shut the door behind her and with it her smile. Would she ever get a present full of love like this?

Melancholic, she arrived at her bed. Surprised, she starred down on it. Something lay wrapped in a colorful paper on her pillow. Sephiroth slowly grabbed it and examined it in more detail. A small letter fell out. Opening it, she was greeted by her master’s hand writing.

Sephiroth, for one thank you for saving my life and I wanted to take this as an opportunity to thank you for the time we have spent together as well. You have thought me much and have enriched my life during your short stay here immensely. So see this as a little token of gratitude from me. As I had said before, bad behavior must be punished, so good behavior has to be rewarded as well. And no, this is not a ticket to fall back into bad habits! Follow the rules, always! Sleep well!

Aron

She grinned. What had he gotten her? She slowly unwrapped the gift.

The daggers! Sephiroth couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Aron must have caught her while she had been too engrossed to notice. They were made from a special alloy. Very sharp and durable. With them she could even cut through highly evolved beast hides. They were very expensive. It must have cost him most of his wealth! Sephiroth felt warm knowing how much he had spent on her.

Carefully she laid the daggers onto the table next to her bed and went to sleep with a smile on her face.