Edward, followed by his trusted owl, was led by Andrew towards the subterranean level of the Raven's Nest, to a spacious salon decorated with images of crows, illuminated by torches disposed on the walls at regular intervals. The floor was wooden, bearing the color of hazelnuts, and a large portion of it was encased in black signs, joined in a rectangle delimiting a space akin to a duel arena of about two meters of length. As Oculus flew away from its master's shoulder, to perch upon a ledge in the wall, the young alchemist and his servant placed themselves at the edges of that space, before bowing to one another, and subsequently drawing their blades from the scabbards, the cane in Edward's case, and placing them in front of their faces.
"You know the rules, sire." Andrew said.
"Only by the blade." The spellcaster readily retorted "No magic, no underhanded blows."
"Perfect." Andrew replied, with a smile and a nod. With that, the two rushed against one another, and their blades collided.
...
Jonathan was still with his servants, and the children they tended to, in the great garden of the building used as home for them.
"Celia." he asked the Krakenoid half-blood "What have you fed them?"
"Boiled fish and vegetable soup." Celia replied.
"I don't like greens..." the little half-orc murmured, with a grimace of disgust.
"Me neither, you know?" Baa'ki, the centaur cub, replied "But remember what Jonathan, Rethas and uncle Ed always tell us: to eat them fortifies body and mind!"
"Yes, that's right!" the half-orc nodded at those words. Jonathan smiled at the serene ambience he and his fellows had been able to bring about, one that would allow those children, deprived of all and forgotten to the world, to find the love that had been denied them, and grow supported from hands filled with warmth and benevolence.
"Either way, I have an idea." Rethas proposed "Master Jonathan, how about a bit of a duel in front of the children?" Immediately, excitement was palpable among the little ones, as soon as that proposal reached their ears.
"Yaaaaay!" they shouted in unison, arousing good-hearted laughter in their caretakers.
"Do you hear them?" Rethas continued, as the young commissioner looked at him "The children long for a show, and you could use some practice, given the scarce action you seem to have seen today..."
"You're not wrong, my friend." Jonathan replied, smiling vividly "So be it!" Immediately, the children set themselves in line and sat on the ground, in squeals of joy and excited laughter, as Jonathan and Rethas placed themselves in front of one another, at a distance of about two meters from each other. Kimberley and Celia kept themselves at a distance from the swordsmen's ground, willing to witness the duel.
Facing one another, the two bowed respectfully, before drawing their blades and placing them in front of their faces, ready to duel. Rethas's blade was a prized enchanted longsword. Its steel, of the same shade of the bright blue moon, reflected the light shining upon it almost as if it was a star.
On the metal, some runes, testament of the arcane potential sealed within it, were engraved.
In a bat of eyelids, the two swordsmen rushed against one another, and crossed blades.
A dance of slashes, dodges, thrusts and parries started, and the children eagerly looked on, bewildered, raptured, their eyes following the swings and flashes of the blades, as long as it was possible.
"Rethas is incredible!" the little half-elf girl exclaimed, as she witnessed Jonathan dodging a vertical slash from the elven warrior, and proceeding on turning onto himself in a pirouette, intending to unleash an horizontal slash which was readily met by Rethas's blade in a parry.
"Jonathan is even more incredible!" the half-elf boy objected "Look, he's defending from his blows so easily, as if it was nothing!" The child's statement was to find confirmation soon. Rethas was skilled, quick and graceful in his wielding of his dazzling blade, yet Jonathan proved himself just as skillful, swift and elegant in parrying and defying his assaults.
"Well, he and uncle Ed are brothers for a reason!" Baa'ki exclaimed, as the young commissioner loosened his hold on the handle of the sword, just enough to make the blade twirl in his hand, and skillfully defending himself from a slash from the elven knight.
"It's like watching two elven princes dueling one another..." the little moon elven girl mused "Don't you think, too?" The other kids' reactions to that comment were prompt.
"Ohhhhhhh!"
"Wow!"
"Now that you're making me think of it..."
"Hey, that's true!"
"Like in the tales Celia tells us!"
As the children were thus vociferating, Kimberley and Celia silently observed the duel.
The little ones' eyes were still captivated by the flashes of the blades crossing one another as the dance went on, until it eventually reached a conclusion. Both combatants were in front of one another, pointing their blades at one another while panting, tried from their duel.
"What say you?" Jonathan asked, with a smile "Do you think I'm losing my touch?"
"Not at all, sire." Rethas replied, with a smile of his own, as he and the one who had been his opponent instants earlier placed their blades back in the scabbards "From what I see, you haven't lost even a mere inkling of your talent in fencing."
"Such high praise is an honor, coming from you." the raven-haired young man stated, as he shook the elven knight's hand "'Tis not a daily occurrence to have the chance to measure oneself with an elven night, and it is even less common an occurrence to receive such praise from the same." In facti, elven swordsmen were renowned for their grace and ability, and believed by many to be among the finest warriors in the whole of Panrith.
"I would say the fact that you were able to measure up to one of them tells a lot about your skill." Kimberley added. Then, the up-roaring applause of the children, more than pleased with the spectacle they had a chance to witness, could be heard.
"Yaaaaaay!" some of them cheered. The two swordsmen smiled and bowed in front of the little ones.
"Thank you, children!" the young commissioner replied. Rethas said nothing, but shared the sentiment, as his smile showed.
"Perhaps you could face me next time, sire." Kimberley suggested, with a smile of her own on her lips. Her master was ager to lend her his ear.
"It would be interesting to see, actually..." Celia added.
"No one here puts your skill in question, Kimberley." Rethas commented, arousing slight laughter in everyone present.
"Thank you, Kimberley." Jonathan replied "I'll put that into consideration." The moon elven knight gazed at the smiling visage of the raven-haired youth, then at the children he and his fellows protected, bearing bright smiles of their own on their lips.
"The smile of these children is a priceless treasure..." he thought "I, Rethas Dorchsia, shall protect my master and, alongside him, these little ones, who had the chance to find a home and a family with us."
...
In the meantime, Edward was squaring off against Andrew, in the practice room situated in the basement of the Raven's Nest. The blades flashed at the feeble light of the lanterns illuminating the salon, as they faced off. The young spellcaster defended himself from the skillful slashes of his servant, and it didn't take long for himself to start to put pressure on Andrew, swinging slash after slash and making his rapier twirl gracefully in his hands.
"Take away a curiosity, sire..." Andrew asked, as his blade was crossed with the mage's own "What kindled in your mind the idea of practicing your fencing, during today's events?" Edward broke the clash and put some distance between himself and his opponent with some feints, before replying.
"It occurred to me not long after the patrol at the agrarian village. In particular, at the thought of the troll we faced yonder."
"Indeed..." Andrew replied, before swinging an horizontal slash, that Edward was quick to dodge by crouching. The mage then attempted a lunge, deviating from his servant's stomach, which was still intercepted by his blade. "A troll doesn't seem to constitute significant fencing practice." Andrew added then.
"Precisely." Edward agreed, before jolting backwards, sidestepping and attempting an horizontal slash, which was met with Andrew's rapier once again. The blow was repelled, but the spellcaster twirled the rapier in his hand and was quick to defend himself. He crossed blades with his opponent once more, and then made it spin, until Andrew's sword was torn from his grip. Then, with a quick movement, he pointed the rapier at him, exactly at the level of his neck. They looked at one another, both panting, tried from the duel.
"Another excellent duel, sire." Andrew declared, with a smile on his face. The two placed their blades back in the scabbards they were held in. The owl's beak clicked back up when the head returned to being the handle of the cane.
"Many thanks, Andrew." Edward replied, before turning his gaze to his familiar, the owl with silver feathers, perched above the practice grounds, his topaz eyes having watched the duel in its entirety "Yet, it won't be enough to come, at last, to match Jonathan, and it may very well never be enough, especially if he keeps practicing as well. And he's not the kind of man to hold still and leave his marvelous qualities to rot..."
"Do I sense jealousy in your voice, sire?" Andrew asked, with suspicion and concern, to which his master sighed, and raised his shoulders while looking at him.
"A little, perhaps..." he earnestly replied, with a ghost of a smile "When I think about it... I feel a little prostrate at the thought of the gap between me and my brother..."
"It should not be the first thought on your mind." Andrew declared, firmly and faithfully "After all, you are brothers for a reason. Everyone has his specialty, his role in the game of destiny, and as far as you, brothers, are concerned, where one ends, the other begins. You mustn't feel inferior to your brother in any way, nor feel unworthy of his trust. I can guarantee to you, with utmost certainty, that how he is in your eyes, thus you are in his own." The eyes of the spellcaster widened upon hearing those words, but then his features melted in a much wider and freer smile, filled with relief and joy.
"You were quick to understand where I was heading, Andrew." he murmured.
"Of course!" Andrew exclaimed, smiling back at him "I'm your humble servant, and I have known and served your brother, as well, for how little he stood in these walls." His expression was serenely serious "Your fate is here, in the Raven's Nest, to preserve the history of your father and all of your ancestors, and it is right for him to build his own nest and seek his own destiny. But, you will still be brothers, in any case and forevermore. Your bond is beyond all of this, and shan't be severed."
Edward sighed once more, his gaze at the door of the salon. He then turned to his servant, his eyes glimmering with a slight veil of tears, sparkling from the faint glow of the lanterns.
"Thank you, my friend... Thank you dearly..." he murmured "Forgive me if I may sound childish in posing myself such concerns."
"Not in the slightest!" Andrew reassured him, with a smile "In every man's life come times in which even unwavering certainties may fall prey to the slings of doubt." He then reflected "Perhaps, if only we had more heart and courage to admit such apparently nonsensical moments of weakness, and did not hesitate to seek the comfort of our loved ones, we would be far more capable of defend ourselves from the corrosion life may condemn the dubious and disillusioned to..."
"Yes, perhaps..." Edward agreed, with a smile in which a tint of sadness lied, before suggesting "I believe it would be time to head upstairs, now."
"I agree." Andrew replied, and the two headed to the flight of stairs. The practice room constituted but a wing of the basement of the Raven's Nest. At the opposite side of the door, still but a few steps away from the stairs, there was a second door, leading to the reliquary, in which the history of the family was kept: the annals of its generations, as well as the various treasures that came to become testament of the accomplishments of the family.
"Do you have any news from master Jonathan regarding his project, by the way?" Andrew asked.
"'Tis not exactly the kind of project that can be discussed in fluency among indiscreet eyes." Edward replied, with a veil of irony "If there were any noteworthy developments, they would have been communicated to us by letter, don't you think?"
"Yes, you're right." Andrew replied, letting out a chuckle.
...
Meanwhile, Derrick Crowley was sitting at his writing desk, in the office, located in the highest store of the mansion, along with the alchemical laboratory. He was surveying some papers, upon which commissions and requests to the workshop from various clients were noted. Once he had finished with the ordinations, Derrick looked at the window of the office.
The sky was completely painted in the deep, dark blue of the night, dimly lit only by the half moon, now high, and from the glow of the stars. The brightest asters, known as "the Tears of Selûne", were orbiting around the moon as it watched over the underlying world, almost like a mother. Derrick stood to admire such wonder, while his mind was filled with past memories, the passage of which was always bittersweet, as well as feelings of gratitude and pride for what those past events had led to.
Then, almost as if he had found inspiration in that sky filled with stars, he took a piece of parchment, dipped his goose quill in the inkwell, and began writing a letter, for the brother engaged in his wanderings in the Far East.