***Hyperion Empire***

To ensure cohesive unity between the tri-alliance of Houses Kumio, Satele, and Soltain, a decision to train the three new heirs together was agreed upon.

The idea was suggested by Joan after she was made aware of her nephew's marriage arrangement. If all three of the children grew up together and learned to trust each other it would only prove to help relations in the future. Jacob and Kazuki agreed with her suggestion, and when the youngest turned five, which was Max in this case, they would have all three children begin training at House Satele for a year. After that year was up, the three would train at Kumio for a year, and finally finish at Soltain. The families of each of the children would be able to visit or stay wherever the kids were, so everyone thought the idea was rather ingenious. Being able to learn from three different House families would surely put the children far above their peers.

When Max turned five, Sophia immediately began packing to live at her sisters for the whole year. Jacob to his credit, understood that one of them needed to stay with their young son but he was going to miss them both immensely. As the Lord of the province he couldn't abandoned his duties, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't want too. He wished he could just give the responsibilities to his father or daughter so he could stay with his wife. Alas, Skylar was still to young and his dad was very adamant that he would never take up the mantle again. Jacob decided he would just have to make multiple visits to the provinces his son and wife were located then. Because honestly, he refused to deal with having blue balls for two years.

At the Satele's, the children got an introduction of the world and how it works. Joan continued to brush up their reading and writing skills, and started teaching them basic arithmetic and math skills in the time she had to spare. Sophia took the chance to teach the three of them geography, history of the Empire, and more information about the Mavaos continent.

Even as Joan and Sophia continued to teach them the necessary skills to function academically and socially, they were not the children's primary teacher. No, the mad scientist himself held that honor.

William was the one to first introduce the kids to formal magic training. Starting with the basics he gave them his latest theories and ideas on how the world operates on mana and with a proper understanding you could reach limitless possibilities. He taught them that the more they understood about how mana effects the elements and their bloodlines the more they could do with it. They could bend magic the way they wanted, no one said they would have to only use abilities and techniques they learned first hand or through books. The entire first day of his mini class was spent with him ranting on about the possible outlays of mana and his own opinions on said outlays.

Suffice to say, even as intelligent and mature as they were for their age, the three five year olds quickly lost interest. Arthur electing to take a nap while Kana and Max continued to stare at the massive black basilisk taking up a good portion of the room. They noticed that Arthur and his father treated it like it wasn't even there, but they simply couldn't keep their eyes off it.

The next day the three children were tested for their elemental affinities. William told them how having an elemental affinity meant it was much easier for you to cast spells related to said element. He also emphasized that you weren't limited to only one element, but it took much more mana to cast a spell not related to your affinity.

Testing one's affinity was usually a tedious process. One would have to cast spells of similar difficulty but different elemental affinities and compare mana drainage, this would often leave those trying to determine their gifts to feel completely drained after verification.

Fortunately the three heirs did not have to undergo such a process. Every member of the Satele House who had awakened their 'Minds Eyes' always had the ability to see the affinity of others. So it was a rather quick process for William to activate his eyes and list off the kids affinities.

Arthur had a lightning affinity like his father. Kana had an affinity to fire and Max's affinity was the same as his older sister's; air.

As time passed they continued to learn from all three of their respective teachers and more importantly each other. Growing comfortable to each other's personalities and preferences. So when it was time to head to Kumio for different training, Max, Kana, and Arthur were each other's only friends and best friends.

Though Max became extremely nervous when his mother told him his sister would be meeting them at Kumio as she was finished with the Academy. Max loved his sister, but she repeatedly mentioned that she did not like Kumio and would start muttering things under her breath whenever the topic was opened. The problem was his friend Kana was from Kumio and he liked her alot. Max was scared he may have to choose between his sister and one of his best friends.

***Kumio Province***

Graduating at the top of the Imperial Academy was rather simple for Skylar Soltain. She had an overwhelming advantage from the beginning, and because of that her experience at the capital was rather stunted. She was bored, but now that she was finished she had the opportunity to change that. Skyler thought about how she could go adventuring throughout the continent, explore the world, or head to the Magic Union for new challenges before she took Head of House Soltain from her father. Though she wasn't even sure if she wanted to do that. The young woman realized she needed to pace herself, she had a long life in front of her.

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Skylar visited her father and grandfather at the castle to check on them and then immediately started flying towards Kumio. She hadn’t seen her little brothers in months and wanted to see how they grew. Max and Arthur were the cutest little kids and she cared for them a great deal. A scowl adorned her beautiful features as Skylar thought about the fact that Kumio forced her little brother in a marriage he probably still didn’t know about. She couldn’t help but also feel irritated at whoever the girl was that thought she was good enough for her little brother.

Flying on her now fully grown partner Idos, she quickly arrived at the quaint town she could only assume was Kumio. She had never actually been here before, but the fact it was the biggest settlement she’s seen so far had her gut saying that this was the place.

Landing outside the gates, the guards just glanced at her and opened them without saying a word. Skylar looked at the sun, she was rather early. Her mother said that they wouldn’t reach their destination until sunset so Skylar had some free time on her hands.

Instead of entering the town, Skylar observed her surroundings. What would be thick forests surrounded the entirety of the town, but winter ended only a couple months ago, and the plant life was just beginning to grow back. It was warm today, so Skylar had Idos move towards the clearing outside the town as she removed her fur-hooded cloak and placed it in her bag hanging off her partner.

Idos slowly approached the pond in the grassy clearing and set himself down right on the shore. He proceeded to put his head down and close his eyes. Skylar dismounted and leaned up against her partner's body, both sitting in silence and recovering from the long journey.

What are we going to do now? I want to explore the world but I don’t know if i'm ready.

Skylar’s griffin partner just made a noise that sounded like a mix between a growl and a grunt. Keeping his eyes closed and seemingly ignoring her own mentally prompted problems. She glared at him and scoffed, “Why do you have to be like that sometimes? This is a serious issue!”

No visible response emitted from the griffin but after a couple minutes of silence he deemed her with a telepathic reply.

If you want to go adventuring you need to have others with you whom you trust.

She nodded. Of course she would need to work with others she trusted, but there weren’t many people she could trust with her life. Skylar supposed she could track down a couple of her friends from the Academy to join the Adventurers Guild with her. Though not right now, family comes first.

---Sunset---

The three children alongside Sophia and a contingent of knights, approached the gates of Kumio town. The gates were already opened so the knight leading the group nodded to the gate guards as they nodded back. With the alliance, knights and soldiers from all three provinces could at least recognize prominent figures from each others forces.

Though one of the guards at the gate spoke up loud enough for those inside the carriage to hear.

“The young Lady Soltain arrived at the gates earlier today, and she seems to still be at the clearing south of the town.”

The kids and Sophia immediately perked up, each having different expressions.

Sophia stopped the group and walked out of the carriage, kids on her heels. She looked to the knights and said, “You have all done your duty, you are free to return back to Satele whenever you please. Do make sure to rest at the town for a night though.”

Still on there horses, the knights bowed and continued further into the town.

Sophia then looked down at three children still at her waist. Max wanted to try his hand at carrying around a sleepy Arthur on his back and Kana was following Sophia like a stray puppy. Ever since they first met Kana has always looked up to Max’s mom. She heard stories on how powerful she was and was once the strongest in her clan until she got married. In Kana’s eyes, Sophia was everything she wanted to be.

Sophia looked specifically at the girl following her, bright yellow eyes and long crimson hair reaching all the way down to her tail. Her red tail and ears twitching ever so slightly showing how nervous she was. Max had told her about his cool big sister, and that she might not like Kana because she didn’t seem to like Kumio’s. Sophia herself wasn’t very worried, she knew her daughter better than anyone, and she was confident Skylar would love Kana.

Grabbing the little girl's hand Sophia directed her gaze at her son and nephew, “We’re going to go meet Skylar now so if you want to carry him all the way there do try to keep up.”

“Don’t worry mom this is really easy! I can do this all day.” Max replied. Although his actions were betraying his words, both boys were about the same size and the young Soltain was clearly struggling.

The group walked to a grassy clearing between the woods and approached a pond with a large griffin laying beside it. Leaning against the griffin was a young blond haired woman wearing a silver blouse, dark pants, and knee high leather boots. She looked to be sleeping alongside the giant beast, but really was just pretending.

Max approached his big sister and threw his cousin on top of her, hoping to startle her. Skylar caught the now awake Arthur and hugged the life out of him. She proceeded to get up and hug Max also in a rather uncomfortably tight group hug.

“How have my two little brothers been? Have you been training hard?” The two choking boys just muffled in her chest as they continued to struggle to escape her grasp.

Skylar then looked up to see her mother and a little girl she could assume was the Kumio heir. Taking a closer look at the girl, she dropped the boys like a wet rag and time seemed to stop.

Big bright eyes, long silky hair, two red ears popping out the top of her hair and the fluffiest tail Skylar had ever seen.

She is the cutest thing I have ever seen! I think I’m going to keep her! Who could possibly hate a being this adorable!?

The silence got to Kana, and she let go of Sophia’s hand and trounced up to Skylar and pointed at her.

“I don’t care if you hate my family or even hate me! But Max and Arthur are my friends and nothing you say is going to change that!”

Skylar just let out a very unladylike squeal and tackled the little girl. She sat criss crossed and put Kana right in her lap, petting her all over. Kana clearly enjoyed the petting and didn’t voice any complaints as Skylar continued. The two girls working out their issues before they could even be recognized.

The sun was almost completely out of the sky and it was starting to get dark.

“Come on you four let’s head to the Kumio manor. It’s getting dark and I’m sure Kana’s parents will begin to worry.” Sophia said as she continued to stare at a spot on the other side at the pond.

Skylar and Max looked over but saw nothing, so they nodded. Skylar never let go of Kana as they continued to the town.

The kids were moving on to their next part of their training, not really knowing what to expect.