"Good afternoon, Amari. How have you and Zagan been?" I said, walking into the dining hall.
"Ah, Kitsuna, you are back!" Amari yelled, giving me a hug.
"Ugh, damn, that surprised me," I said jokingly, petting Amaris's head—something that wasn't hard, seeing that she was as short as Mom.
"We are good; there is no complaint, and you haven't changed at all, Kitsuna," Amari said, looking up at me.
"Well, I won't think so after you forced that promise on him," I said, chuckling.
"I like loyalty," Amari said seriously.
"We all do. I hope you guys have at least gotten stronger." I said, raising my eyebrow at her.
"Of course, Zagan has been drilled into a proper soldier," Amari said, grinning and stepping back before flexing her biceps.
"Soldier, not a general?" I said, shaking my head at her.
"I am general, and he is my soldier. Kitsuna, you should know this. There can only be one general in the family." Amari said, grinning mischievously.
"So, who is the commander?" I asked with a raised eyebrow again, playing into her game.
"You," Amari answered without hesitation.
"Why? I don't want to do all that paperwork." I complained, sighing with a heavy breath.
"Too bad you are too late to change that," Amari said, grinning at my dismay.
"Tsk."
"What in the hell are you two girls talking about?" Dan asks, still sitting at the table, eating his lunch.
"We are talking about girl stuff," Amari said, narrowing her eyes at her dad and retaking her seat at the table.
"What?" Dan said, confused.
"Don't worry about it," I said, sitting next to Amari, where some food was already on the side. What a welcome meal this was!
"That's Zagan food," Amari said, looking at me.
"Well, he isn't here, and there is a side of bones, so it's mine now. It will go to waste anyway if we wait for him," I said, taking a bone and eating it.
"We can get more, though," Dan said with a raised eyebrow.
"Nah, it's food served cold anyway, so it's fine," I said dismissively.
"Okay, so are you ready for the tournament in a week?" Dan said, shrugging and changing the topic.
"I am almost ready for it. However, I need a sparring partner," I said, looking at him.
"We can spar with you," Amari said happily.
"Sorry, Amari, that's not going to help. I need to make sure that the person won't die if I mess up. Not that I say you will die, but it's just for safety." I explained, making Amari deflate in sadness.
"Aah, fine," Amari said, going back to poking her food with her fork.
"Hmm, I can spar with you. You just need to wait so that I get some time open for you, or do you have an idea who you want to spar against?" Dan asked, taking a sip of his juice.
"That would be fun, but I thought about Marquis Anabald. She should be able to help." I explained, shrugging.
"She will be able to take it. Stacy spars with her quite a lot to help each other." Dan said something I didn't know, but I knew An would be able to tank quite a lot of my shots if needed.
"Ah, I always wonder how mom trains and spars," I said, nodding in understanding.
"Well, it's not easy for her to do that. Also, thank you for saving the Marquise Anabald." Dan said, thanking me.
"Save?" Amari asked, tilting her head at us.
"Yeah, she got kidnapped, and your sister found her by chance," Dan explained, making me grin.
"Well, the devil cult wasn't being quiet," I added, shrugging.
"Yeah, I have heard about them. So, what's their deal?" Amari asked, looking at me for the answer.
"Stands in the name Amari. Devil. Cult." I simply said I was annoying her.
"But why are they in our country?" Amari said, sighing.
"Because the federation loves fucking around with other countries," Dan said this time, making me nod in agreement.
"How is the federation involved with this?" Amari asked, tilting her head at us.
"Because they come from them?" I said, raising an eyebrow at her.
"And how sure are you? All of them were demons." Amari said, meaning something more behind her words.
"Not all of them. There were quite a few humans and demi-humans in there as well." I explained, denying her thoughts.
"Really? Dad, is she telling the truth?" Amari asked, looking at her father, making me annoyed.
"Why would I lie? I was the one who killed most of them." I said it in annoyance.
"She is right about them not only being demons but wrong about how she killed most of them. Anabald killed most of them." Amari said, looking at me weirdly.
"Small details," I said dismissively. "
"Don't start lying now," Amari said, looking at me angrily or trying to.
"I am not lying."
"Well, you are not being 100 percent truthful."
"I don't need to be, though. White lies have never hurt someone." I said, grinning at her with a shrug.
"It has caused a lot of kids to get hurt because their parents tell white lies. It traumatised people. And why are you sitting on my chair?" Zagan said, narrowing his eyes at me.
"Good afternoon, Zagan. You can look better, though. Are you alright?" I said, looking him up and down at his dishevelled appearance.
"Yes, I am fine, but I need food."
"Ah, sorry, I already ate it," I said, shrugging at him.
"Really, you bitch." Zagan muttered with an intense glare.
"But I have other food for you," I said, putting a bowl of hot stew on the table.
"Where did that come from?" Amari asked, confused.
"Monster meat? You are forgiven." Zagan said, seeing me nod at his question.
"Hey, you can't eat meat in the middle of the day," Amari said, standing up.
"She gave me it as a present." Zagan also stood up, taking the plate of food with him. trying to get away from Amari.
"So what? You are on a strict plan to gain more muscle."
"I need protein to grow muscle, babe," Zagan said, keeping the bowl away from her.
"Shut it. Give me the food."
"Amari, I have more if you want," I said, taking out another bowl.
"Oh, I will take that then," Amari said, taking the bowl out of my hand. However, she still moved after Zagan took his away.
"Hey, you have your own now. Let me eat." Zagan cried, jumping back away from Amari again.
"No, your diet will be fucked if you eat that now."
"You're on the same diet!"
"So, I am a Sage. I don't need the muscle to fight." Amari countered, glaring at him.
"Dan, is this normal?" I asked, looking at him weirdly.
"Yeah, this is a normal thing every morning."
"I guess Kayda and my bickering are very mild against this." I joked, making Dan shake his head.
"Stacy told me about it, and I am sorry, but yours isn't normal, seeing as it is mostly about death or torture," Dan explained, denying my previous observation.
"It is not."
"Well, most of them are."
"Nah, only the ones we have in public or with anyone around us are about that. but private ones are obviously about something else." I said, grinning at Dan.
"So, what are you saying? Your bickering is more about something personal?"
"Yeah."
"Why are you guys bickering about sex?" Dan said, just looking at me as if I were saying something dumb.
"We aren't. We are bickering about how we tease each other." I explained, making him look at me even weirder.
"What?"
"You won't understand; it's an inside joke between us. It's like I won't understand some jokes you have with Mom." I said, grinning at him again.
"All right, changing the subject. Stacy broke your prison."
"Huh?" I hummed, confused, as I was sure I had made certain it wouldn't break easily.
"Well, she put someone in there that was too strong for the place, and he broke out," Dan explained, shaking his head.
"Oh, so the prison itself is broken down."
"No, he just disappeared one day."
"Huh? How long was he in there before he escaped?"
"2 weeks, I think."
"Did you guys find him?"
"Well, we think so. Or, well, we found a blue piece of disfigured meat a week after he got out."
"Yeah, that's him."
"What did you do?"
"That is frostbite. No matter what, the prisoners will die after a few weeks."
"That makes sense. Why do they die so quickly?"
"It's worst if you have an affinity that's weak to ice."
"That really answered so many questions I had." Stacy said, "You must have done something that you didn't tell us."
"Well, I thought you guys would have known before anyway. So, I didn't think I needed to explain how cold can affect a body." I explained, shrugging.
"Well, now we do, and I get to say that prison works well for interrogations."
"That is the reason why I created it. Oh, right, I haven't checked, but is my tree fine?" I asked, remembering my favourite spot in this world.
"Yes, it's still frozen over like before. Nothing changed," Dan explained, shrugging.
"Great, then I am going to go and nap," I said, jumping out of the open window.
"Sigh, enjoy."