“Bahahaha…” Gunther burst out when the Village Chief was out of earshot. Unable to restrain himself much longer, he collapsed on the ground in a laughing fit. Alaric smiled but kept his laughter to himself as he waited for the knight’s boisterous mirth to come to an end.

Somewhere down the line, Alia joined him with gentle giggles that bubbled into infectious laughter.

“I was just learning how to be more… threatening,” Alaric defended himself, his face turning a little red.

“Oh, I got that part,” Gunther answered, then with renewed energy, laughed some more. The more clueless Alaric appeared, the more hilarious the whole situation became. Gunther managed to get up, wiping the tears from his eyes, and the pair walked back to LionHeart.

“PUT YOUR FEET INTO IT. YOUR FOOTWORK IS TOO CLUMSY. STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE… I KNOW THERE IS NOT MUCH OF IT TO SPEAK OF BUT DO IT,” LionHeart yelled at the training boy in front of him.

Alaric froze at the sight of Cody performing the Dance of the Bear with a head full of flames but unwavering movements. The boy slashed, pivoted and went through the katas with stunning flexibility for a thirteen-year-old.

Every once in a while, a wave of flames flew off the tip of the wooden sword he was using, a side-effect of his hyperactive aether. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a side-effect the boy knew how to control.

Alaric locked eyes with Alaric and nodded, mouthing the words, ‘Thank you.’ The large man stepped back and joined Gunther. Together, the three men watched the boy training.

“Visualise the battle, Cody,” Alaric called.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” the boy argued as he continued going through the katas he’d been taught.

“Because you’re thinking too hard. Feel the wind and everything around you, listen, smell… and dedicate every cell in your body to performing the forms you’ve been taught,” Alaric responded.

It was something he’d said many times before… however, today felt different.

The flames on Cody’s head simmered down as he focused and in the next few moments, his speed tripled. The flame-haired boy was suddenly performing his forms and katas with a lot more precision and flexibility than before.

It was a dance much similar to what Alaric had witnessed at the Coming of Age Ceremony in Jack’s Fall months ago. Alaric estimated the boy would surpass Aiden’s level at the Ceremony by the time he was fourteen years of age.

That, however, was perhaps a time Alaric would not get to see, or at least, it would be difficult. Without meaning to, his mood went down just a bit as something else came to light in his mind.

“When are we leaving?” he asked the knights.

“Tomorrow morning. We’ll have breakfast, then go to the Tower of Seekers. I sent a letter to have your new clothes fitted so you’ll find everything you need there ready for you. Once you’ve spoken with Elder Gideon on the terms of your patronage, we’ll get ready and head to the Academy,” LionHeart explained.

Hearing this, Alaric nodded and turned his attention to the boy who was training. “Then… then I’ll need to say my goodbyes soon.”

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Gunther and LionHeart simply nodded…

The two guards did their best not to interfere with Alaric much after that. His intentions were clear, and while he was always thinking about something, it was clear this time that he wanted to spend as much time with his family as he could.

Cody’s burst of strength ended only moments later. The boy stood still and fell to his knees, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes.

The guards grimaced at the sight, both going through familiar memories of similar experiences. What Cody had just done was supposed to be impossible for a child his age… but he’d done it anyway.

He had just allowed his body to circulate aether in response to his needs… and for someone whose aether circuits were as underdeveloped as his were, the backlash must have felt like he’d just set his whole body on fire from the inside.

While this was unusual for a child Cody’s age, the slayers were no stranger to the sensation. At some point in every slayer’s life, they took on more than they could handle and suffered for it. That point just happened to be now for Cody. Alaric had gone through this as well and knew full well the kind of pain Cody was in.

The green-eyed boy approached Cody and placed a hand on his head, letting out a soft green glow. Gradually, Cody’s expression improved as Alaric sat down beside him, “You’ve done well.”

“I’m still too…”

“Hush… You are better today than you were yesterday. And tomorrow, you’ll be better than you are today… and the day after that… until you get where you are going,” Alaric stopped the boy in his tracks.

“You learnt that from Alia, didn’t you?” Cody chuckled.

“No… I never learnt it,” Alaric responded with a sad smile, “My first time learning the Dance of the Sword, Alia had to knock me out just because I wouldn’t stop… training. It was still around the time I had trouble sleeping.”

All the orphans knew of this phase in Alaric’s life. Months after Jared’s death, he continued to wake up in the middle of the night, having seen the boy’s bloodied face and corpse flash through his mind like a broken record.

“Jared’s death was not your fault,” Cody tried.

“That one I’ve heard more times than I can count,” Alaric replied with a sigh. He turned around and presented his back, “Get on. I’ll carry you.”

Gunther had returned to training with the Village Watch while LionHeart kept a safe distance away from Alaric, enough to keep the boy in his sight. Cody climbed onto, allowingd allowed Alaric to carry him out of the woods and towards the orphanage.

Cody spoke up after they’d descended Forest Hill and started the climb that would get them back to the orphanage.

“Do you know about the Seven-Coloured Python?” Cody went off a tangent.

“Big snake that’s said to fly through the sky and spit venomous acid that burns through steel armour. The more colours its scales have, the more dangerous it is with seven-coloured pythons being the most deadly. Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” Alaric responded.

“Is there a guardian with that kind of power?”

“Probably. Chief Garrick’s guardian spits black venom,” Alaric answered.

“Chief Garrick’s guardian’s harmless!” the boy mused, “Jasper said his venom gives you a bad stomachache and that’s it.”

Alaric laughed in response, “Can you fight with a stomachache?”

“Well… Well, no, but that’s…”

“Seems like a pretty powerful poison to me. Imagine having to perform the Dance of the Bear with the runs. I think you should give Garrick’s guardian a bit more credit,” Alaric chuckled.

“No way… I’d never lose to such underhanded tactics. If anything, I’d make sure an enemy like that gets to know the smell that comes from eating bad potatoes,” Cody replied proudly.

“You’d fart in a battle,” Alaric bit back a laugh.

“Yeah… I’d yield the power of Sir Farts-a-lot. I bet even the Seven-Coloured Python would fear such a foe,” Cody continued.

“Finn should get a load of this. It would go well with his Laughing Bomb,” Alaric responded.

“Oh yeah! That idea was silly. Haha! Finn has the craziest ideas when he’s bored. You think he was serious about becoming an alchemist?” Cody asked.

“He hasn’t talked about that dream in a while. I’ll ask him when I see him,” Alaric responded, bringing the pair to an awkward silence he’d not intended to spark.

[ I hope Cody never loses that pride. ] Alia sighed.

Yes, the truth of his departure was known to everyone at the orphanage. But Cody still wasn’t among those that had acknowledged it. Alaric could guess the boy wasn’t ready to accept it just yet.