Once they reached the house Zevram invited them in.
'This is definitely the biggest house in the village' Klyran nodded to himself.
The man skilfully led his guests through the area meant for more official visits, which the Ryan found quite tasteful, being filled with wooden furniture that was elegantly carved. He stopped to inspect the table, noticing the various animals that ran through its middle.
'This is beautiful' the Ryan thought and traced his finger along the woodwork.
The chairs, all of which had carved into them one or another animal. The arch, filled with elegant lines and various symbols, that Aldryn mentioned were protective spells, upon seeing his friend's interest. Then, Klyran's eyes finally caught the main decoration in the room. It was the wall located at the back of the room, with two pair of doors on each side. One of them was opened ajar, while another one was closed. Between them stood what Klyran could only call a drawing carved into the wood.
'What is that?' the serpent wondered and went closer to the picture.
'It's not a painting' he frowned, remembering the word from when he was at the Silver City.
"This is the world map. One of the first ones to ever be made" Zevram said with pride, approaching him.
"We are here" Aldryn then said and pointed with his finger somewhere close to the middle of the map.
They were still a bit away from the far South, where the blonde mentioned the weather to be even harsher. It caused a shiver to run through Klyran. He considered this part of the world unbelievably cold, he almost dreaded going further South.
'Nope' he decided for himself, 'Never going to step foot down there'
Then, a clatter was heard from upstairs, followed by some curses and laughter. With a tired sigh, Zevram went upstairs, following the right door, being shadowed by his two guests.
The upstairs seemed more fit for a home. The stairs led to a square hall, filled with miscellaneous items. There were shoes of a few different sizes thrown in a corner. A mirror stood on a wall above a wooden table, its only content being a vase with fresh flowers. Coats were hung on the wall near a wardrobe, near an open cupboard that contained even more shoes. There were three doors in that hall an an arch, one facing the stairs and two on the right side. All three of them were closed.
Another sound was made and it came from the left side, where the arch stood. It led to a another room, which was separated into a kitchen and dinning area. There, a boy and a girl stood arguing. Anyone who would see them could tell that they were related. They both had black hair and green eyes. Aristocratic features and pale skin, even their clothes were somewhat similar. Despite being young, the sibling both wore black clothes, signifying their high ranking within the village.
"Never have children" Zevram muttered as he went to the pair, which made Klyran chuckle in amusement.
Upon finally noticing the new arrivals, both of them turned around, while still throwing each other glares.
"What have the two of you done?" the Oracle of Wind asked defeated, looking around the messed up kitchen.
"Well..." the two siblings begun to say at the same time.
"We heard that we will have guests", the girl said courageously.
"So we decided to cook a nice dinner", the boy continued.
"Didn't that turn out well?" Aldryn then suddenly hear a sarcastic voice at the back of his mind.
"Don't be rude" he chided the Thrae.
"We even went into the forest and caught some rabbits" she then said waving around with her hands.
Zevram then looked around the destroyed room. The wall of the kitchen had scorch marks. Some of the pots looked as if they were thrown into lava and would break if touched. There was also the horrible smell of burnt meat and even its remains on the small stove, to the point where it could only be called charcoals.
"And?" the oracle then prompted, wishing to hear the rest of the story.
"It wasn't cooking fast enough", the two sibling mumbled in unison, swallowing nervously, looking at their feet, as if they were children lectured by their parent.
"So you decided to burn down the kitchen?" Zevram than asked in disbelief.
"No" the two of them shouted at the same time.
"I suggested that we put more wood into the fire to make it stronger and make the meat cook faster, but then he" she exclaimed pointing a finger at her brother, while glaring at him, "decided that the fire is not strong enough and decided to use magic."
"How is it my fault?" the boy then yelled and turned to glare back at his sister.
"What did you think would happen if you use wind magic on a fire inside a building?" she yelled back.
"I had it under control!", he exclaimed.
"Under control my a**, you burned down the kitchen", she then accused.
"I burned down the kitchen?" the boy asked insulted, "You were the one who threw rosemary into the fire and made it go out of control."
"Well if you had put everything where it belonged I would have grabbed the right bowl. You were the one who put the rosemary where the salt should have been", she yelled back, pointing at the black marks that decorated the kitchen.
"So it's my fault? Why whenever something bad happens its always my fault?" the boy argued back insulted.
"Because you're an idiot", the girl yelled then.
"And you're a blind moron who doesn't know the difference between a plant and a rock", the boy then yelled back.
The two continued to bicker back and forth for a while more. Zevram, who stood nearby could not help but feel rather embarrassed about the incident. Aldryn was rather amused and his head would turn from right to left to look at the two arguing siblings.
"This is so much fun" the blonde told the fox, which only agreed commenting that it wished the two of them had some snacks.
'This reminds me of Aldryn and the Fox Thrae whenever they would argue' Klyran then remembered whenever he saw it happen and silently laughed, coughing a bit in his hand to cover it up.
After a while though, the Ryan tried to remember having an argument akin to this one with his own brother, but for the life of him, he could not. It might have been due to the big age gap between them, or the seemingly eternal patience his older brother had.
"Enough" Zevram then said in a firm voice.
It was not a shout, as it was spoken in a calm manner, yet the tone in which he said it made a shiver run down Klyran's body, even though he knew he was innocent. With a quick glance, he could also easily tell that Aldryn was also affected. It was the type of voice that without outright demanding respect, still managed to heavily imply it.
"I do not wish to hear you two arguing about anything as long as we have guests in the house", the Oracle of Wind spoke again.
After those words, the two siblings said nothing else. They would still throw glares at each other, but otherwise remained quiet.
"I apologize for earlier", the girl then said and approached Klyran after offering a brief nod to Aldryn, "My name is Ranya", she said in a gentle tone.
"And I am Midryl", the boy then said approaching the Ryan as well.
"It's nice to meet you", Klyran said in a calm voice, yet his eyes betrayed his curiosity at the pair.
During the introduction, Zevram quickly went to fetch some food. Noticing this, Aldryn followed him to help. The two of them laid down some food on the table. It was nothing fancy, but more than enough to sate the five of them. Following that, Zevram quickly went to the almost burnt down kitchen and frowned. The wood that it was made out of nearly melted, even with the protective coating put on it to prevent just that. Scorch marks also ran along the wall and some even reached the celling. The damage up close seemed even more devastating that he though it was from the hallway.