On the way back, Jon couldn’t help but notice Hector’s brimming spirit.

“This might actually work,” Hector said out loud. Jon didn't know if it was meant for others to hear, but he was happy to listen.

Once they passed the kitchen, Jon could notice the kids sitting down at the large dining table.

Thalia was attacking her sandwich like always; Milo was reading while drinking out of a cup with a wide straw.

“Hmm. Hmm!” Thalia waved at the oncoming group.

“Oh, look at that, he does use the library,” Mallory said, gesturing to Milo.

“Oh, no.” Milo shook his head. “This book came from outside the library.”

“What is it?” Mallory asked, taking a seat at the table. He seemed to have at least partially recovered from the heavy exercise.

“It’s a memoir,” Milo continued.

Jon took a seat next to Thalia, just happy to rest.

“A memoir? Like a journal?” Hector walked over to Milo, trying to look over his shoulder. “Let me guess, it’s Haggar the Conqueror. I love that guy!”

“Nope.” Milo gingerly flipped a page with his finger.

“Yes, Hector, be in love with the megalomaniac conquer.” Mallory shook his head. “Shame.”

“I mean, he wasn’t the greatest person,” Hector admitted, “but his tactics were sound. Ended battles with little bloodshed. Decisive attacks to enemy weakness. He knew the land incredibly well-”

“Hey, check this out.” Milo took a breath then put on a mask to his voice. “‘She’s been getting stronger in her strokes every day. I thought she would have given up by now, but she hasn't. And with her improvement, I’m actually excited to see where she goes-"

Hector’s face went blank with realization. “Hey!”

Milo picked up the book, and he slowly started to float out of the chair. “I always did question the ability of my sister to teach in a capable manner. She seems to always spend much of her time talking of potential suitors and-”

“Milo!” Hector swiped at Milo’s feet, but Milo was already too high in the sky. Milo leaned back in the air as if he was laying on a bed, rising even higher.

“Why does she spend so much time challenging them?” Milo’s pitch went even higher, throwing on a mask onto his voice. “If she only challenged them to a fight, maybe they’d see that-”

“Don’t make me burn you!” Hector yelled.

A blue tentacle stuck up from the ground, catching Milo around the leg.

“Hey!” Milo tugged at it. “Don’t use any of your lesser magic on me!”

Despite Milo’s struggles, the tentacle lowered him back down to the floor.

Hector ripped the book from Milo’s hands as soon as he landed.

“You went through my stuff!” Hector yelled.

“Anything within the realms of the library’s boundaries is mine!” Milo bellowed.

“This was in my bag!!!” Hector replied.

“No, it wasn’t!” Milo snapped back. “It was in the study room!”

Hector became flustered. “Doesn’t matter!”

“Why’s your journal only about girls anyway?” Milo replied. “Why isn’t there any-”

“I have 4 sisters!” Hector swiped at the air. “Ugh! Why do you even care!”

He sighed. “Can we just get ready for training?”

“Yep. Whatever, bro.” Milo kicked off the last of Mallory’s mana tentacle then walked back to his seat at the head of the table. He picked up his cup and continued sipping from it.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“I’m ready!” Thalia jumped from the table and ran around to Hector. She saluted.

“Right. Um.” Hector scratched his head. “I don’t know much about you, Thalia. What can you do?”

“Umm… Umm… Umm…” Thalia put her finger to her chin. “I don’t know. Anything.”

“Huh.” Hector looked at Jon.

Jon felt that he was being asked to clarify, but he didn't know how to. He just shrugged in return.

“Talk to her!” Mallory called out fromm his seat.

“Thalia,” Hector began, “in order to properly train you, I have to get a proper understanding of your abilities, as well as your limits. Can you show me an example of what you can do? Maybe… stuff that other people can’t do?”

“Okay. Uh.” She looked around the room. There, she spotted a large, isolated bookshelf that was filled with nothing but fabric.

“Maybe you could run a couple of-” Hector didn’t finish his request. Thalia ran up to the bookshelf, scrambling up it’s face with a smooth glide.

When she got to the top, she leapt off and held her hand against the wall, scurrying alongside it before she landed on the next bookshelf.

She slid off and tumbled before jumping on the dining table, her momentum instantly stopping upon landing.

“I can do that!” she exclaimed; hands held up in the air.

Mallory started clapping rapidly.

“Wow. Uh.” Hector looked at Mallory. “What do we call that?”

“Super… runny skills?” Mallory shrugged. I dunno. She's just really good at moving around."

Jon agreed. He was still reeling in excitement over her movement on the wall.

“My family departs on expeditions to find all sorts of magical artifacts,” Thalia explained. She dropped into a cross leg sitting position on the table. “We go to different places and caverns and whatnot.”

“Your whole family can do that?” Hector said with disbelief.

“No.” Thalia shook her head. “Only me. I have to make sure my family doesn’t get hurt from any traps or anything.”

“Oh… makes sense.” Hector nodded in understanding. “So, you can climb around any extreme region.”

“Yep.”

“And you can disable traps and the like?”

“Yep.” Thalia nodded swiftly. She held up her hand and twisted it in a showcase. “Usually. My parents don't pay attention to much, and my hands fit wherever."

"Like people's pockets?" Mallory shouted. "I know a Vindazi that would love you."

Hector's crossed eyebrows showed that he heard the comment, but he didn't seem to know what to make of it, so he went on regardless.

“Do you have any battle experience?” Hector pressed.

“No.” Thalia shook her head so hard her pigtails flailed around her bread. “Not until that time we met Jon. and he had to save me. Now I train all the time.

Jon grimaced. Somehow, he felt a little guilty for Thalia being in danger when he was around, even if the two weren’t mutually exclusive. Both at the small border town and in the market earlier in the week.

"I don't think I could do anything without my dagger." Thalia added on in earnest.

“Speaking of daggers” Hector gestured to the weapon at her hip. "Do you have any prior experience with them?"

"Not really," Thalia answered. "I mean, I've used some to pick apart traps and what not, but those aren't really for hurting people. And even then, I didn't think I could fight with them."

"Could you give me a demonstration?"

“Oh, sure.” She pulled the entire dagger out of her girdle and then drew it from its sheath. “I... don't quite know what to do with this. I suppose Jon..."

The two of them looked over at Jon to see him swiftly shaking his head from left to right. He didn't want to cause a large explosion anywhere in the library, especially at the kitchen table.

“Is it…” Hector turned back to the dagger with interest. “...Magical?”

“Yep!” Thalia answered with an enthusiastic nod. “Magical, like Jon.”

Upon seeing Hector’s quizzical glare, Jon nodded.

“How is it… magical?” Hector pointed at it. “What can you do with it?”

“I don’t know.” She turned it upside down, like she was trying to pour water out of a cup. “I only know that I can take whatever mana-”

“Man-a!” Milo tried to correct her pronunciation.

“-comes at me and throw it back at people. And it also makes me less scared of people.”

"Scared?"

Before Hector could get a good response from her, she held out the dagger for him to take whole, once again back in it's sheathe.

“Uhh… No thanks.” Hector looked at Mallory. “Mal, you wanna take this one?”

“Maybe when my back isn’t killing me,” Mallory said. “Besides, she’s a mover! That’s your job.”

Hector looked down at Thalia, unsure of what to say.

“Uh… I’ll come back to you.”

He then walked back over to Milo, who was slurping on his straw in his mostly empty cup.

“You should train with Mallory,” Hector told him. “He’s magical-”

Milo slurped loudly again, interrupting Hector once more, much to Hector's chagrin.

“Nope. Pass!” Milo continued sipping obnoxiously.

“What do you mean, pass?” Hector demanded, no longer put off by the obtrusive noise. “He’s one of the greatest magical minds-”

“I don’t wanna do weak sauce like what he does!” Milo said. “I wanna be strong. Like you!”

Hector took a deep breath to calm himself. “But Mallory-”

Milo slurped loudly once more, covering Hector’s rebuttal. Hector raised his voice.

“But Mallory-”

“Just take the kid, Hector,” Mallory cut in. “It’s on you.”

Hector growled. "Fine. If everyone’s done, eating, let's go then!”