(I am feeling WAY better than before, after getting sick repeatedly, and I mean, like, one sickness after the other, it sucked, anyway, I am feeling way better.)
Theo and his family stood before a large structure with enormous stone walls, standing at thirty feet tall, and twelve feet wide. Inside the walls are several smaller structures with one large central structure as well as various outside locations, most of which are meant for training. The biggest of the external locations is on the backside of the estate and is a large training ground.
The second biggest is the front, which is more or less an area for people to walk from house to house, as well as an area for gathering outdoors. As Theo turned his focus towards the walls and his eyes drifted across the main house, he noticed an older man dressed as a butler approaching his group.
Theo glanced at everyone else, who seemed to have already noticed the man. Once at an appropriate distance, the man bowed.
"Greetings from Lord Lorenstein, I am the head butler, Henry, and I will be showing you all to the main hall where everyone else has gathered." The butler, Henry, said. John nodded, as did Sydney. The butler motioned for the group to follow him, then began walking towards the central building. The group followed, Theo looking around as they did.
'This place feels more like a fort than an estate...' Theo thought to himself.
"This place feels so militaristic..." John whispered to Kendra, causing Theo and Sydney to turn their focus toward their parents.
"Well, not much has changed from when I lived here, then." Kendra whispered back.
'It seems I was not the only one to think such things...' Theo thought to himself. The group quickly arrived at the doors to the central building, a large mansion, and entered. In the foyer, there is a large statue of a man in his late twenties wearing light armor with a sword on his hip and a spell partially cast in his left hand.
On the far back sides of the room are staircases leading up to the same hallway, and in the near corners of the room, there is a door on either side. The butler walks around the statue, which was hiding a rather grand door on the far wall, and walked towards the grand door.
He looked over the marble statue, then turned his attention back to the butler who has just put his hands on the handles to the grand door. He opened the door, then stepped to the side, revealing a large group of people inside of what seemed to be a ballroom. The people seemed to have all turned to face the now opened door. The butler motioned for the group to enter, and they did. He then closed the door behind him.
After a moment, most of the people went back to talking with whoever they were talking to, but a few people approached the group.
"Kendra! It has been, just, so long!" A woman said as she walked over to Kendra.
"River? It's good to see you." Kendra said with a warm smile.
"Ah, Sydney, I heard your raid against Rosenbloom was a success!" A man said as he approached Sydney.
"It's good to see you, uncle Trevor." Sydney said with a somewhat flat expression.
"John, I didn't realize you'd be coming here as well." A rather stoic man said as he walked over to John.
"Kenneth, you know as well as I that even I can't skip something this big." John responded.
"Yes, I do suppose that's a fair point." Kenneth responded.
'Wow, even Sydney knows someone here. Now I feel out of place...' Theo thought to himself as he watched his family interact with people he does not know.
"Ah, uncle Trevor, this is Theo, he's my brother and one of the people your troops worked to save." Sydney said as she took a half step towards Theo, grabbed his hand, and pulled him over and into the conversation.
"Is that so? Well, it certainly is good that we were able to get a member of the family out of such a position." He said as he looked Theo up and down, paying special attention to how he holds himself. "You'll be staying here even after the tournament, I take it?" He asked. Theo nodded.
"My swordsmanship is a bit lacking..." He said a bit sheepishly.
"I can tell." He said, then turned back to Sydney.
"That being said, his proficiency in magic is even greater than mine! honestly, looking back on when we were training, I can understand why dad gave him the nickname he did." Sydney said, drawing attention back to Theo.
"Oh, and what would that be?" Trevor asked.
"Little monster." Theo said lightly.
"That does interest me. Perhaps after the formal announcement, you can show me what garnered you that nickname, yes?" He asked. Theo considered his words.
"He would love to." Sydney said with a light smile. As soon as Sydney stopped talking, the sound of a spoon hitting glass filled the room, drawing attention to an older man standing close to the center of the room.
'He looks familiar...' Theo thought to himself as he looked at the man.
"My family, it brings me great joy to see you all gathered so quickly. As you all know, I have made the decision to decide who will be my heir through a tournament of sorts. The events will be revealed on the day they are scheduled, so nobody will have an advantage. For today, enjoy the food, talk, and reacquaint yourselves with your family, and for the few of you that have never met many of the people here, be sure to meet at least a few." He said, then walked out of the center of the room and into a random group of people and began talking.
As he did this, everybody took it as their cue to continue as they were.