It took three weeks for Nofafi to get his family moved from the small nameless village to Kelvin's mansion on the outskirts of Naice, one week to get back to his house, one day to get packed up, and the remaining two weeks to move back to the mansion. He didn't bother taking his furniture with him, the mansion had furniture anyway. It couldn't fit in the mouth of his bag either way, so it was left behind. It took a long time to move get back as his sons were not nearly as fast as him or Breda as they could not manipulate Xan very well yet. Instead they went by carriage, which was faster than walking but half as fast as Nofafi was.
Upon his return, he still had a week of leave left to play with his family and get situated. Of course he helped with paperwork whenever Kelvin called for him. He spent a good portion of his time in town with his sons, looking around and treating it as a vacation. He had even found a school they were comfortable with. At the beginning of the next school year, he was going to enroll them in their respective courses.
Breda and Merri hit it off very quickly. The first few days were spent familiarizing her with the mansion and what needed to be done. Other than a bit more work at the beginning, Merri was overjoyed with the help. She found that she had far more free time now, and she spent it between cultivating and doting on Zerrin. The best thing was that she had someone to talk to again. Breda and her made excellent conversation, especially in regards to her love life.
The boys shared a room. There were enough rooms for them to have their own, but they were very familiar with each other and preferred to sleep in each other's company. Their days were spent getting used to the mansion's layout. Early on they played a few pranks on some of the people who worked there, but Kelvin scolded them, informing them that their work was important to the peninsula. Such pranks should only be played on Zerrin, Merri, their parents, and himself.
Kelvin and Zerrin very much liked the presence of the boys. They were a breath of fresh air in the otherwise stale residence, and they took liberties to teach them in their respective interests. Zerrin would spar with Jamison when he was free, Kelvin would give Clark the occasional chess match, and Merri, the alchemist responsible for that soul formula that Arc had been fed, would teach Maddin alchemy lessons in the form of cooking.
Ering was still a little young for all of that, but she had been starting to walk in the past week. Right now she was usually under Breda's watchful eye as she cleaned, but she would occasionally be put in Arc's room to play.
Arc didn't expect them to come, but as usual, he didn't really care too much. By now he had figured out that nobody could tell he was cultivating and he estimated that it was almost time for him to be able to walk and talk. He was already somewhat proficient in walking (something Kelvin knew) and he thought that his voice was now developed enough to use. Previously his voice had always seemed very hoarse and scratchy, a result of that formula Merri had mixed. He would still have to fake bad vocabulary and grammar for a while, but he would be able to communicate soon.
His dream of cleaning himself by himself was within his grasp!
Now all he needed to do was convince his caretakers that he would be able to actually do just that. Far easier said than done.
He didn't know how long it would take before they would be comfortable with him being alone in a pool of water, and that was something he hadn't yet accounted for. He was unaware of when children started washing themselves as well, usually around age five, so they would be unlikely to give him that freedom until he reached that age.
For now, he just did what he could, cultivate his neidan and build up his body strength. Self control was not his only goal after all.