I kept my stance solid, blocking the blow that went straight for my sternum and throwing it off, before spinning and throwing a kick out that disturbed the air.

My target bent her knees, her eyes flashing with energy, “Fang Pounce Technique!”

I quickly flipped through the air as she dove through empty air, her nails outstretched into the facsimile of wolf claws, her Vitae sharpening the air around her fingertips as she tried to rend me.

“Good form.” I dropped my Grace Stance as I landed on the ground with a soft thud, “I think it’s time we take a break.”

Breathing heavily and wiping her brow of sweat, Daka’s eyes crinkled as she smiled, “Sounds good, Dad! Is it time for nosh?”

I wasn’t sure how Daka had got it in her head that nosh was a word for ‘food,’ but with how many traveler's came through Gelvurt these days, I didn't doubt she'd picked up her strange words from somewhere.

I looked up at the sun, “Maybe. Zao said he was making a specialty from his hometown, so I can’t quite say.”

“Nice, Zao’s food’s always proper good,” Daka smiled, looking ready to dash away from the training ground towards the keep before I grabbed her arm.

I grabbed her arm, “Daka, don’t forget your stretches.”

“Oh yeah, oops.”

We set up across from each other and I began to slowly go through the motions of stretching, Daka mirroring me as we began to slowly wind our bodies down from the stresses of the spar.

Daka had grown a lot over the years since I’d first held her as a youngling. No longer quite as little, my little warrior was. She’d grown a full head of black curly hair, much like my own, that came down short.

I smiled at the memory of how adamant she’d been to cut her hair when she had the chance, something Natakia had almost tackled her over.

A prodigy of Vitae and with a lean, trained body, Daka was always moving, never letting anything stop her. She had such a fierce heart for our family.

The warmth in my heart grew as we stretched, my mind going to the big event coming up, “So, Daka, are you excited for your birthday?”

Daka blinked, before smiling, “Definitely, Dad. I’m still trying to figure out what to get Dalton though. He’s always so picky about what you get him! And I can never top Aunt Penny!”

“She certainly has you all figured out,” I agreed. Penelope couldn’t always join us for the celebrations, but she made up with it in the fascinating toys she would send.

I had even found them quite entertaining myself.

Daka stuck out her tongue, before giggling, “I’m really excited though. I’m going to be 10! And I’m looking forward to the next technique you teach me.”

Fluttering her eyelashes like her sister always did to get something she wanted, I shook my head as I stretched my legs, “I’ve been considering what to teach you.”

“Yeah!” Daka broke off from her stretches to cheer, “I’ll learn it so fast, you’re gonna have to teach me another one!”

I smiled, but even in jest, there was a speck of truth in her words. Calling Daka a prodigy was almost a disservice to the sheer potential she possessed. She’d once learned a technique I was trying to teach her within moments of just watching me perform it.

She’d explained it was easy, of course, when she could see how the Vitae within my body was circulating. That had been a startling notion, one I’d cautioned her from sharing lightly until she was older.

“Come here,” I said, finishing up with my stretches.

Daka danced over, looking as sprightly and graceful as any Ruskan child, “I did good?”

There was a lot to say about all of my children and how they’d grown up, but Daka always seemed to look up to me most like I’d expect from a child.

She was mature, far too mature in some ways, but compared to her siblings, she seemed to have taken to the idea of still being a child the most.

“You did good.” I gave her a comforting pat on the head, before smiling as I heard her stomach growl, “Sounds like it’s time for nosh.”

Daka grinned.

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Zao and the other servants were taking care of setting the table, leaving the gathering of my children to me. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It had been strange to fill my keep with more servants beyond Mary and Doh, with the occasional help from Marisha, but when Doh became pregnant and Marisha became busier with Orion’s general store, it had become apparent I needed more help.

Zao had originally applied to be a cook at Tribus Academy, but hadn’t made the cut, mostly because of his various quirks. I’d offered a position at my keep instead, which he had accepted swiftly.

And since then, he’d cooked an array of delights for me and my children. He’d taken Natakia’s lack of appetite as a personal challenge and she’d been eating much better over the years.

Speaking of my most feminine child, I knocked on the door, “Natakia?”

“Come in, Dad.” The voice was soft and quiet, no louder than it had to be for me to hear it through the door.

I opened the door, stepping inside. Natakia was in front of her large mirror, pulling at one of her newest dresses that I’d purchased for her from one of the traveling merchants.

Macy was there, as she always was, helping Natakia with admiring herself. I’d been shocked that Doh could have a child as quiet as Macy, but her actions spoke far louder than any of Doh’s drunken tirades.

“You look wonderful, dear.” And even if I weren’t her father, I’d think so. Natakia’s charm had only grown over the years, the young girl accentuating her natural looks from her mother with the poise and elegance of a proper lady.

The Velbruns had been properly shocked when we’d first visited and she had outclassed and outspoken every similarly aged peer that they had put in front of her.

She did a twirl, letting the dress dance around her along with her silken dark hair, before joining her calm gaze with mine, “Of course I do, Dad. Macy, fetch me my brush.”

As Macy smiled and nodded, heading over to Natakia’s desk, I said, “Lunch is ready. 10 minutes?”

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“I’m not hungry, Dad.” She said it with such ease, but I frowned slightly. She glanced at me, her eyes going downcast, before she refocused on her reflection, “I’m just not hungry.”

I came over, kneeling beside her and turning her gaze away from herself, “My desert flower, are you feeling alright? Is everything ok?”

Natakia frowned, looking unsure, before glancing towards another dress on her bed that I hadn’t paid much mind to as I came in, “It didn’t fit.”

I furrowed my brow, “It didn’t fit?”

“Macy was helping me put it on and…it wouldn’t fit.” She tried to return to look at the mirror, but I gently kept her looking at me, pulling her chin towards me.

I gazed at her for a moment, before I looked over at the dress and suddenly recognized it, “Honey, I bought that dress for you a year ago. You just grew out of it.”

She lightly huffed, which was practically a scream of frustration from anyone else, “I grew too big.”

“Not too big,” I lightly corrected her, “You’re simply growing into a beautiful woman, one that can’t wear dresses fitted for a young girl.”

Such a strange conversation to be having with a child, but Lydia had complained about her weight once or twice. It wasn’t quite as pressing of a topic in Rusk, where women had other things to worry about, like giant scorpions.

Natakia stared at me, as if searching for any speck of dishonesty, before she bowed her head in defeat, “Lunch is ready?”

I smiled at the small win. I knew this wasn’t the first or the last time I’d comfort my daughter about her appearance. For one so strong and wise, she was still so vulnerable.

A notion that rang true for all of my children.

“It is.” I nodded, standing up and heading towards the door, before looking back at the two close friends, “And Zao set aside some sweet cake for dessert.”

That got both of the young girls' attention.

----------------------------------------

I stood outside my personal office, taking a moment to collect myself. Gelvurt had grown in such robust ways that it was hard for me to think about them in detail.

After the establishment of the Tribus Academy, many of those who had helped construct it stayed in the area, moving their families out to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the academy. Cheap, new, and supported by the heroes of the empire, many wanted to be a part of history that would surely grow from the academy.

Gelvurt, Niers and Alwur had become known collectively as Tribus, almost considered a separate land from House Velbrun’s influence.

And the area had become flush with trade, commerce and development far and beyond what I had planned. Far beyond what I could handle as a sole individual. Orion helped, when he could, but he was an opportunistic merchant at heart and had busied himself with growing with the success of Gelvurt.

I had needed help, but I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was with where that help had come from. I knocked on the door, “Dalton? Can I come in?”

“It’s your office, Father. You can come in as you wish.” Of all of my children, Dalton spoke the least like a child of his age.

I stepped inside, smiling at my son sitting behind my desk, looking far more comfortable there than I ever had. His long silver hair, a perfect match for Lydia’s, was tied up in a ponytail to keep it out of his eyes as he poured over the documents I’d gotten out for him this morning.

“How are you doing, Dalton?” I came over to look at some of the documents he had put aside.

“The Varnedoe Family is making trouble with property lines again, as they always do every year when it comes to planting season,” Dalton said with utter boredom that belied his ravenous gaze. “I have a few documents I need your signature for, to approve the purchasing of new plots of lands for some new construction, but otherwise everything is fine. I triple-checked our quotas and we’re in the green.”

I laid a hand on his shoulder, “You’ve done a great job. Thank you for your help, Dalton.”

“It’s nothing, Father. Just numbers and laws,” Dalton said with indifference. It was amazing how simplistic and average he viewed his mastery over the economics and judicial regulations of the empire.

If anyone asked, and I trusted them, I would tell them that Gelvurt had truly begun to grow when Dalton had learned to speak and began to learn the ways of the empire. He had seen loopholes and opportunities that were far beyond what I would have ever noticed.

I kneeled to be eye-level with him, “This isn’t nothing, Dalton.”

He glanced at me, not looking particularly impressed by my sentiment, but I meant it anyway. The coldest of my children, I did not love Dalton any less.

Checking over some of the documents, the ones that needed my signature, I frowned at one of the names, “This is Lord Barbrook Velbrun of Warnok. I’ve heard from Jorge that his practices are vicious and predatory against commoners.”

“He’s one of the largest investors in House Velbrun.” Dalton assured me with confidence, “Having his business here will only be a benefit to us.”

“And to the people of Gelvurt?”

He shrugged, not seeming particularly concerned, “Barbrook’s predatory nature has been overestimated. There’s nothing wrong about getting the proper return for your product.”

He said it with such indifference. My son did not care for the people of his village as much as I would like. Numbers and laws, he had mastered, but a genuine care for those beyond him and his?

I did not blindly sign the documents he prepared for a reason.

“I’ll need to take a hard look at Lord Velbrun of Warnok’s business practices before I sign off on this.” I ignored the offense in Dalton’s gaze, “Thank you, again, Dalton. Zao’s prepared lunch.”

Letting out a sigh of frustration, Dalton leapt up from his chair, “Yes, Father. By the way, I finished translating that book Zao gave you last month. I put the translated copy in your library.”

And with that, he walked out, leaving me with mostly finished work in a handwriting far beyond mine and a spark of admiration for how skilled and amazing my children were.

Even if they still had much to learn.