With Dante in my arms, I made everyone follow me to the house. Teri seemed a bit shy to tag along with us, but I wouldn't actually make him stand outside. He was Tara's boyfriend, and therefore my friend as well. The wolves went to their beds as usual, while Curly ran over to investigate our guests. "Wow, what a cutie. What sort of creature is that?", Tara asked. "This is Curly, my pine marten. These creatures live in the Endrosian Empire, and I found her during my travels", I explained while Curly made herself at home around my neck.
"She looks more like an accessory then a pet… I'd like one too, she's so cute", Tara said while trying to pet her. Curly was always wary of new people, but she played nice and let Tara touch her. "She's so soft, like a fur ball", "Arf... ", Curly had enough and moved away from Tara. "She's not just some cute fur ball. This marten is not only intelligent, she also has very keen senses towards illusions. I'll tell you more later, but have a seat first", I explained before letting Dante play with the wolves and Curly. Me, Tara and Teri on the other hand, talked about my Endrosian Empire adventures.
I didn't tell her all my adventures, simple due to lack of time. Instead, both of them heard a summary of the most interesting things. I especially talked about my family, as well as the other sorts of animals populating the Endrosian Empire.
"Your family is actually quite big from what you said, and they are also strong. Your great uncle is the leader of a town or whatever. That has to amount to something, right?", Tara said. I explained how Human settlements worked, but Tara didn't seem to be that interested. She was interested once the Human currency was mentioned.
"Do you have Human currency?", she asked with her eyes glittering. 'Oh Teri, how I pity you…', "I might have a few copper coins left… Ah! Here they are. Nothing much, but take them as a souvenir. Who knows, maybe next time you can join me there", I replied. "Hehe, perhaps… So, these are the Human coins, eh? I can see a Human face on one side, and some sort of city on the other. Do all of them look the same?", she asked after a brief examination.
"I know that silver coins look the same, albeit made from silver. There are gold coins too, but I haven't seen them myself. Coins were of little use to me, since most of my journey happened inside the Great Forest", I said. Tara was always interested in money, hence she pocketed the few copper coins, before continuing.
"To think those two masters would make you survive inside the forest, all by yourself. From what you told me, this wasn't easy. Actually, it sounded more like a chore than anything else". "Chore? I had to fight for my life a few times. You know about the Voltic Orb?", I asked her. "... I'm not fami…", before she finished, Teri provided her with an answer. "The Voltic Orb is a powerful weapon made by Voltars. As the name suggests, it is an orb which contains electric energy. Once activated, the effects are supposedly devastating… Even for those who use it".
"Yes, that is the Voltic Orb I know. In short, my father handed me one. I had to use it against Elysians, or die. I didn't tell you that story, since these were rather grim times for me", I explained. "Actually, there were a few other times I nearly died. Wouldn't recommend that sort of thing", I added. "Even your Formations were of no use?", Tara asked, surprised.
"Bah! Formations? Those two bastards took away my brushes, and they knew releasing my energy was impossible for me. With my Formations, I'd breeze past most of these situations. Though it might be hard to believe this, there were positives", I replied, before releasing my energy. "Hehe, not bad at all. Though, you are not the only one", Tara said before releasing her own energy.
Teri didn't want to show off, but he could do it as well. 'I feel like my parents did that on purpose…'. That wasn't even hard to believe in. "Well, it is a huge thing to me. I'm on my way to abandon all the brushes and whatnot. Once my control is good enough, my Formations will look like those of Grey Lizards'… At least my aunt's and Suly's", I said.
"I wasn't belittling you. Actually, I gained this ability about half a year ago or so. It wasn't easy to be sure, and it took me a few good years. Teri was the same. Anyway, what else did you hide from me?", Tara asked. "Hehe, nothing else really… Or rather, I might've awakened another Aura. You should know about that Aura full of anger, right? Well, certain people can awaken two Auras, my father has actually three. Whereas my mother has only one. So yea, I'm not completely there yet, but I'm on the right path for sure", I said.
"Ain't that cheating?... Humans and Furians have it great. We can't even have Auras…", Tara complained. "There are loads of strong people who have no Auras. My uncle Crow is one example. My Aunt Alicia is another. You can be the same, right? Stop sulking and… Oh! I'll treat you to something nice", I said.
During my journey, I found loads of different plants, but didn't collect most of them, since my knowledge was poor. Only those eaten by other animals would be collected, and there was one very fragrant plant I still had on me. The plant brought a fresh and a bit spicy sort of taste when eaten, but it didn't have to be eaten.
"I found these plants on my journey. Boiling them in water gives you this fresh taste. You'll see after tasting it", I said before serving them a cup each. "Don't worry, it's not bitter or anything. I actually like the taste, though I'm not sure if you will", I added. Both of them looked at each other, then took a sip.
"Heh, it really is something else!", Tara exclaimed. "Yes, it's like the air became fresher all of a sudden. That tingly aftertaste is not annoying either", Teri agreed. "Do you have more of this stuff?", Tara asked. "Hehe, not that much. I only had some leftover leaves. Maybe my father can bring some, when he travels to the Endrosian Empire", I replied. Tara told me this could sell, which wasn't surprising coming from her. She always tried to earn money, that much didn't change.
"Still, coming back after those two years, I'm sure you were surprised. Your Turry changed, and you have a little brother now", Tara said. "Yea, thought becoming a big sister wasn't a large surprise. After all, I knew my mom was pregnant. The only question was whether it would be a boy or a girl. Turry on the other hand, surprised me much more. Such a change was really unexpected. I wonder what that father of mine did to him?", I replied.
"You don't know? Your father is a master of medicine as well as poison, right? Well, medicine and poison are really useful here in the North, but there are those special concoctions too. One of them can purify your blood, allowing you to reach higher. Awaken your sleeping potential, if you will", she explained.
"So that's how Turry became like that... My father allowed him to reach the Outer Limits stage", I said. "Precisely. Everyone who is stuck but has potential to reach higher, receives that sort of concoction. Master Ulon was producing it for all these years, and it was obviously much weaker than your father's. Now that your father is back, he's been strengthening our warriors to the extreme. Of course this medicine isn't without its consequences", she explained.
"I learned enough to know miracles don't exist. What's the price one has to pay?", I asked curiously. "There are actually two. You can use it only once in your lifetime. At least the one we produce. The other one is pain. The larger the amount you ingest, the more severe pain you'd feel. Before you ask, we didn't take it yet", she replied.
"You see, young adults don't receive this concoction until they are really stuck. That is to let us reach the highest stage possible by ourselves. There is another reason too. The stronger you are, the larger the amount you can ingest. In other words, you can purify your blood better, the stronger you are. Henceforth allowing the individual to reach even higher", Teri explained.
That made sense, and explained why my father never proposed that concoction to me. My distant memory recalled some sort of blood purifying medicine that my uncle Ulon gave away. That had to be the same thing. 'I'd probably regret it now, if I took it in the past. Only once per lifetime, eh? I wonder what sort of effects this would have on my development?'.
My parents made it clear though, I had to work hard and develop by myself. Perhaps that sort of thing was great, but I wasn't stuck anywhere yet. Besides, maybe that sort of concoction would allow me to reach the same stage as my father. Perhaps that was what they hoped for.