The journey from the camp towards Bryn went by quickly. Most of the days were filled with reading and writing, as Alexander tried his best to improve. He forced himself to speak only Lareen when conversing with either the soldiers escorting him, the carriage driver or Kristof. The improvement rate he had during his time with Doctor Linden continued. By the time a week had passed his proficiency in Lareen had gotten to the point were he no longer needed to use Vereen when learning.
Conversations were still slow and he still had a strong Vereen accent. His writing looked okay, but writing was a slow process. As for his reading it was perhaps the skill he had improved the most. After all with the carriage being on the move for most of the day he could really only spend the time on improving his reading or conversing. By the time they reached Bryn he had gotten quite far into the book on warfare. Though he couldn't say he had understood everything, far from it, since there were quite a lot of technical terms used.
On the approach to Bryn the landscape slowly changed from forest to farmland. From farmland it transitioned into a more suburban look. Whilst the road itself went from a nice dirt road to a very nice cobblestone road. The architectural style was very similar to what he had seen both in Elghus and Elmden.
The closer they got to the centre of Bryn the more the city reminded Alexander of London. Once they passed the centre of Bryn they continued onwards towards a more sparsely populated area of the city. The style of row houses gave way to larger and larger estates. Some of the estates were surrounded by plants to hinder others from looking into their gardens. All of the estates had crests on their gates, most likely to indicate their families ownership of the estate.
The gates to the larger estates had guards posted by their gates. Alexander assumed that at this point they had gotten past the estates belonging to merely the rich and gotten to the nobilities estates. The crests showcased on the gates became grander at the same pace. First there was the apparent Barons. Then came the viscounts before the counts. It was at the time they started to pass crests showcasing the station of a marquess that they stopped.
The crest that adorned the gate they stopped in front of was a phoenix holding a staff in its mouth rising from a fire. The gate was quickly opened allowing them to pass into the estate. It was only a short ride from the gate to the front of the manor. When they stopped in front of the stairs leading into the manor a servant came forth and opened the door to the carriage.
Looking out from the carriage Alexander could see two men and a woman waiting at the top of the stairs. He assumed that they were Alice's children, soon to be his uncles and mother. He stepped from the carriage after the servant had placed a stepping black beneath the door.
"Welcome. We heard from Lady Firestorm that you are Alexander a newly blossomed seed. Please come along inside."
The left-most man from Alexander indicated for him to follow them into the manner. All three of them carried a resemblance to Alice, though they did appear older. If he was to make a guess the man whom had spoken was in his mid to late fifties. The second man was perhaps late forties or early fifties. Whilst the woman might be around late thirties early forties.
Had Alexander not been told they were Alice's children he would have assumed that at the very least they were her siblings. The oldest of them could even have been her father. Whilst Alexander made to follow them inside Kristof was asked to remain having already some duties that required attention.
Inside the manor Alexander was lead to a sitting room. There the oldest man sat in a chair whilst the other man and the woman sat in one of the sofas surrounding a low table.
"Please have a seat Alexander"
Alexander felt quite nervous as he took a seat in the sofa opposite from the man and the woman.
"Mother mentioned in her letter that you will be adopted by us into the house Nirdal. Did she tell you anything else?"
"Uhm, Lady Firestorm mentioned that I would be adopted by her daughter Elisabeth?"
"Tsch, why do you get him Lissy? Even if mother favours you I am the oldest! I have been her heir for over fifty years and yet now I am losing that to my little sister!?"
The older man turned towards the woman and complained, sounding quite petulant. Though he didn't display any outright hatred. It was more in the form of a child having lost one of their favourite toys yet knowing that it wasn't important.
"Brother dearest, you know full well that mother is letting me adopt him since I can't have a child. Both you and Henry have children. And being the heir wouldn't matter at all, neither me nor you will ever see the day she dies. There is a reason after all that inheritance goes by magii enatic-cognatic. Had it not been that a mage seed only survives through daughters if there are non in a generation the law would be different."
"Hehe, I know Lissy. I just wanted to see if I could pull at your strings. Since in a way you will be of a higher station in society than me once the adoption is complete. Me and Henry will let you get acquainted with your soon to be son. Come along Henry."
The older man rose from his seat with a smile beckoning for the other man to follow him. Once they had left the room and closed the door Elisabeth turned towards Alexander.
"So we can finally talk alone. It must be quite awkward suddenly being adopted like this. Especially from what I read from mother about how you fought for the Verenden. I can not imagine how that must have been. As you also heard because of this I will be made mothers heir, well more correctly I am to be the regent and such until the age were you can assume the title. Of course non of that really matter when you take into account that mother will probably not die for another hundred more years. I must say having a mother that looks like your younger sister is not fun."
They continued talking about different topics for what must have been a few hours. It ranged from Alexander telling Elisabeth about his life in Verenden. How he had been found as a child by a priest. His time in the monastery and his life in Tiramdal. How he had decided to join the army by lying about his age and how the war had started almost immediately upon him finishing his recruit training. In exchange Elisabeth told Alexander some of how her childhood had been as the youngest child of a magus.
She told him about how their home of Nirdal was. That the people whom lived in their domain were a good people. Even though they were on the border between Miran and the Prince-bishopric of Yrveld.
It wasn't until the older man returned that they noticed how long they had been chatting. Alexander was already starting to like Elisabeth, though he wasn't sure about calling her mother or mum yet. At least not without it being socially required of him. The older man, John as Elisabeth had whispered to Alexander, asked if they would want to join him and Henry for the afternoon meal.
Both Alexander and Elisabeth agreed to join the meal. Seeing as Alexander hadn't officially joined the family yet the meal was held in the dining hall instead of the families private dining room. The food they were served was on a whole new level from what he had gotten at the camp. Before he believed what he was served there couldn't be topped. Now he knew differently.
The meal itself was consumed rather slowly as they chatted. Even with his current level in Lareen Alexander did manage to follow along rather well. Both John and Henry appeared to be kind people. They definitely appeared to fulfil the role of kind uncles. Though their current attitude and appearance could all be for show since Alexander hadn't been officially adopted yet.
Once the meal was finished Alexander was told that the adoption procedure would be carried out in the morning. When that was done John, Elisabeth and Alexander would travel to Nirdal. It turned out that Henry was the only one who stayed in Bryn over any extended period of time.
For the rest of the day he was shown around the manor and told roughly about the neighbouring estates. Since he would be leaving so soon they didn't think it important to explain anything about the city itself. After his tour of the manor he was given the rest of the day to relax or study as he pleased. In the meantime John and Elisabeth would be doing the last bits of preparations for the adoption.
Given the free time Alexander found Kristof and asked him to help him with his studies for the remainder of the day.