As they went outside to greet those in the carriage, Adria and Zycor were met with a gentleman in a white suit standing with a little girl at his side in a tan colored dress. “Greetings Adria, it has been far too long!” the man said with great enthusiasm.
“The feeling is mutual, Mr. Tygor,” Adria replied.
The two shook hands and Zycor got a better look at the man. He had brown, slicked back hair, and green eyes. He was shorter than Adria, though most people were, and his suit was styled differently from Dreifords. Over the white collared shirt was a white, open vest. He wore a red tie that seemed out of place considering his current attire. Noticing Zycor, Vidal, while smiling, asked, “Now who do we have here? I didn’t know you had a kid Adria. Heck, I didn’t think you were the type to settle down with anyone and HAVE a kid!”
Adria, chuckling, responded, “This is Zycor. Although I do consider him to be my child, we are not actually related by blood. We… found each other one day and happened to, in a sense, save each other in the process.”
“It’s nice to meet you, my name is Zycor, and I am thirteen,” Zycor politely said the way Adria taught him.
Vidal responded, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Zycor. My name is Vidal-Armand Tygor,” as he moved to the side to reveal the little girl, he continued, “And this is my daughter, Aisha Tygor. She is a year younger than you, so I hope you will be kind to her.”
The girl was wearing a tan dress that widened towards the base and stopped around her knees. She had soft looking black hair and unusual yellow eyes. The dress had small white frills on the end of the dress, she had shoes that matched the color scheme of her dress. With a look of disapproval and smugness, Aisha said, “Do I really have to make nice with this person papa?”
“Yes you do honey,” Vidal began, “Ms. Adria Mori helped the Tygor family out tremendously, and I personally owe her a great debt. I expect you to be kind to Zycor.”
As he looked at Adria, Vidal apologized, “I do hope you can forgive her behavior. As I am sure you are aware, she has grown up without a mother and I have been so busy with the family business that I have not been able to always be with her and raise her. Whenever I have a chance to take a break or spend time with her, I make certain to do so regardless of how tired I may be. But most of the time she is with the maids we have employed and she has ended up a bit spoiled because of that, especially since her condition prevents her from going out on her own.”
With a sigh, Adria responded, “It’s ok Mr. Tygor. I know how hard it is to try and raise a kid on your own, let alone when you don’t have much time yourself. Hell, I was with Zycor most, if not all the time since I found him and, despite my best efforts, is still a walking disaster. And now that he knows magic he is even more of a handful.”
Both of them chuckling at the statement, Vidal said, “I can only imagine, haha. Well, should we go inside and talk about the reason for my visit?”
Adria nodded in agreement and said to Zycor and Aisha, “Listen up children, Mr. Tygor and I have some business to discuss so I expect you two to be nice to each other. And Zycor… try not to cause any more damage with your magic please.”
The two kids nodded and agreed, and with that Vidal and Adria disappeared into the guild hall. Two minutes passed with neither Zycor nor Aisha saying a word. Finally, Aisha broke the silence, “As much as I would love to just leave you here, papa would get upset at me. So, instead of just standing here, let’s go do something. Can you do anything to entertain me?”
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Zycor, who appeared to have little to no interest in Aisha, told her, “I can use lightning magic. Do you want to see some of that?”
With a sigh, Aisha nodded and said, “I suppose, if that’s all you’ve got.”
“Ok,” Zycor said, “Come with me. I can’t use my magic here, even if we are on the outskirts of town.”
After a few minutes of walking, Zycor stopped, and Aisha did so as well. Zycor scanned the land for a target and found a large boulder, taller than Zycor by at least two and a half times. Zycor outstretched his hand towards the boulder that was about one hundred feet away, and closed his eyes. With a deep breath, his eyes shot open and a bolt of electricity impacted the boulder. The bolt pierced clear to the other side of the boulder and the boulder broke apart and shattered.
With wide eyes and amazement, Aisha commented, “Wow! That was awesome! How did you-.”
When Aisha looked over at Zycor he was on the ground, barely conscious. He had not fully recovered enough mana from his battle with Aislin to cast a spell that powerful. Zycor ended up drawing upon his mana reserves in order to cast the spell. Normally that should not be possible, but due to Zycors training partner, Aislin, he didn’t learn restraint, mainly because if he ever did, he would never be able to keep up with her. Aisha went over to Zycor and, a bit worried, asked, “Hey, are you ok?!”
Zycor, mustering up the might to give a response said, “I am ok… I have been hit harder.”
Giggling for a moment, then composing herself, Aisha said, “You’re such an idiot, using more mana than you have. Doing that can be super dangerous! Even I know that, and I am younger than you!”
With the last bit of his consciousness, Zycor softly said, “Sorry.”
Zycor being passed out for the time being meant Aisha lost her only source of potential entertainment for the time being. Due to her being both curious and fascinated, Aisha went over to the shattered boulder to inspect it. When she looked at the shattered pieces, she saw that some of the pieces appeared to be warped by heat. As she went to inspect one of the pieces, Adria and her father called out to her and Zycor. Aisha waved the two of them over, and when they got there she explained what had happened.
“Oh dear…” Adria said, holding her face in one of her hands, “It would appear I need to have a chat with Aislin about restraint.”
Back at the guild hall, Aislin sneezed, and one of the adventurers she was talking to said, “Haha, looks like someone is talking about you! Let’s hope it’s not Adria again haha.”
Aislin, terrified at the thought, responded, “Please don’t say that.”
Adria, Zycor, whom she was carrying, Vidal, and Aisha all made their way back to the guild hall where the ladder pairs’ carriage was waiting.
“It was a pleasure talking to you Adria, I will be sure to keep in touch to talk about developments or anything else that may come up,” Vidal said.
Adria, shaking his hand with a smile, responded, “Likewise Mr. Tygor. I apologize for any inconvenience Zycor may have caused.”
“Not at all,” Vidal began, “It is obvious that Zycor was just fulfilling the request of my daughter. Speaking of whom, Aisha, just because you did not want to come along does not give you the right to do this. But I suppose I am partly to blame, forcing you to come along. I will be sure to leave you at home from now on.”
Aisha, curbing her bratty tone, said, “I am sorry for causing trouble papa. But, I would actually like to come next time as well.”
“That may be so, sweety,” Vidal started, “But you would have to make sure it’s ok with the young lad Zycor first.”
With an annoyed look on her face she went over to Zycor, who was still on Adria’s back, and sternly asked, “Hey, Zycor, it’s ok if I come back, right?”
Groaning and realizing words were not an option at the moment, he gave a thumbs up. With a smug look on her face she turned to her father and said, “See? It’s fine if I come back.”
With a sigh, Vidal responded, “Fine. But you must not encourage this behavior again. He apparently has a hard time expressing himself and saying what’s on his mind, so you have to ask him. Do you understand?”
Rolling her eyes, Aisha said, “Fiiine.” And with that, there was one final exchange of goodbyes, and the Tygors departed.