"No, that should be impossible, they were supposed to have died out at the beginning of the war..." Harkley spoke very quietly to himself but loud enough for others to hear, he slowly reached for a book on his person as the stones and blood settled once more.
Eventually he found the book he was looking for and opened it and read to himself. Vuldara was the first to openly ask, "What is it? What does this mean? Is it the legacy of the royal lineage?" Her voice was slightly excited but her father shook her head at her last question.
"Not the Royal lineage." He replied before looking at Samuel and then to Alsian who also seemed just as confused, "There is no mistaking that color in all our books is there?" Tyhval asked Harkley who finally put down his book.
"So what is it then?" Zalbas asked impatiently as he looked between the two men while Alsian walked around the table and put a hand on Samuel's shoulder. "It would seem you carry two of the ancient lineages with you. I guess I didn't know a lot about your father, perhaps he carried a dormant power."
Samuel shook his head before looking at the other two men with disinterest, "So how exactly is this important?" His question stumped Lord Tyhval but Lord Harkley held up both hands, "It means everything, the legacy of our people... I guess you have not been quite eduacated in these matters?" He raised an eyebrow at Alsian that ignored him.
"There are thirteen ancient bloodlines recorded in whatever books we still have, and then there is the royal bloodline, while you might not be a royal you are the next best thing!" Harkley spoke with excitement.
"There was only one house that could stand side by side with the royal one. House Xaxiaz, unfortunately all records of their house state that they died out early in the war... they were betrayed from within according to some books, or they sacrificed themselves to save the Royal lineage. Some books state a mixture of both, meaning that its difficult to discern whichever one is true."
"The way the Xaxiaz family commanded mana, no other house could do that except for the Royals." Harkley grinned, "I can't wait to learn more about the bloodline from you directly, and not only that, but you also have blood from the same bloodline as Alsian." Harkley took out an empty journal and started writing in it.
"A mixture of house Xaxiaz and house Chronos, mixed bloodlines of the ancient households were only a rumored thing as no previous case had been recorded... until now!" Harkley spoke the words he wrote into the notebook.
Lord Tyhval stood by his daughters side and looked at the young ones gathered in the room. "You should swear an oath to Lord Gillfall, to never betray his secret and to remain his ally. Not all houses among our kind are friends with eachother, and some would see the others fall."
"Only by working together can we achieve the future after all." Tyhval spoke and gave Samuel a very deep bow this time. "House Ravenhill will stand behind house Xaxiaz as we used to do thousands of generations ago!"
Samuel sighed and shook his head, "You speak of building things and making a better future for our kind, but it is not a path I can walk just yet. I still have my own path in life, things to do right. Starting with my parents murder as soon as I graduate from this college."
Lord Tyhval nodded, "In that case, connections and resources are even the more important, our house is not that important as a house in the state. But we are a full house of Children of Mana, let us help you as best we can!"
"You wish to become one of his official backers?" Alsian quickly asked and Lord Tyhval nodded, "I will make sure to arrange all the paperwork." Samuel held up his hand one last time, "And how do you know that I can be so trusted?"
"Because my daughter told me what she had seen and heard from you, up here!" He pointed at his mind. "We are Ravens and we are intelligent enough to make such choices, but if you truly wish to know the backing might be big for you but it will be a rather miniscule thing for us. Not a lot of risk involved for us."
"But there is also something else, something inside my gut that is telling me that I am doing the right thing, now there sits three ancient bloodlines assembled in Rejuan, and four lesser bloodlines. From here we can start working together, to make plans and lay the foundations upon which we will build our own future!"
Lord Tyhval walked back to the opposite end of the table, "As long as you accept?" His question made Alsian and Samuel look at eachother, before they both nodded. "House Chrono Concord Shard. Whatever you wish to call it, will stand with that plan as the official speakers for the upstart Xaxiaz Gillfall."
Samuel didn't say anything, he trusted Alsian as he was the only blood related family he had left and he had never done anything to betray his trust. Besides he was also a great leader among the state as well as the Dawnkeepers.
"Seeing as how your older relative has kept you in the dark and not taught you a lot, I suppose I will tell you a few things in his stead." Tyhval spoke. He had meant no ill intention towards Alsian which he made clear by words.
"His choice to leave you in the dark until you were older could perhaps be a blessing instead I suppose!" Tyhval smiled, "Every ten years there is a gathering of the currently existing clans and households of children of mana. A tradition that has been kept alive for centuries, I myself have attended five."
Samuel was about to comment that he didn't look a day above thirty when he remembered Alsians words about children of mana living much longer than your average human.
"I have only attended three as a leader of my household however, before that it was my mother. Each household sends their representative, wether they be one of the older bigger or smaller ones or a completely new one."
"It takes place in an ancient city underground, unfortunately I cannot disclose the location of it. But what might be important to know is that every year hundreds of our kind gather there to speak and plan together. We try to keep out of the business of the nations as best we can, caring mostly for our own."
"It is why we have been able to survive for so long, that is also why the gatherings have grown larger every time, this year I wouldn't be surprised if a thousand of our kind come to gather there!" Tyhval had a big grin on his face when he saw Samuel's surprised face.
Samuel turned to Alsian and gave him a look of disbelief, Alsian shrugged "Yes I know what I told you originally, and thats because I wanted to make sure you would make your own path first, although it wasn't a complete lie. There are still no certainties about our history and the journey to find out for yourself still lies over the horizon!"
Alsian turned to Tyhval, "Are you going to ask what I think you are?" His question made Tyhval quiet for a few seconds. "They always prepare the seats for the original houses and the minor ones, no matter if there is someone seated in them or not. The next meeting is happening in roughly one year!" Tyhval turned to Samuel again.
"I would like you... to represent house Xaxiaz as you are the sole known heir. If you accept then we will come fetch you when the time is right and bring you along, but the choice is yours!" Silence grew in the air apart from the note taking of Harkley.
Samuel pinched his nose for a few seconds, so many new things to take in. "Hundreds of our kind in one place, that sounds amazing!" Samuel couldn't help but smile and wonder what it would be like.
After a few minutes of thinking Samuel decided to let his curiosity win over his cautious side. "Very well then, I accept the offer! But I would very much like to read some more of our history!"
Harkley looked up for the first time with a newfound interest and smiled wryly, "I wouldn't mind letting you read several of my books, you can just go through my apprentice for when you more. All I ask in return is to be allowed to take notes about you, of course still binding my information to the blood vow I made!"
Samuel gave him a nod seeing as the information would be private to only those aware of it. He was looking forward to learning more about his origins. Alsian took a glance at his arm for a few seconds before whispering, "Cool tattoos! Where did you get them made?"
Samuel dismissed him by rolling his eyes and realized that the time had become quite late. "Well, I do believe I must offer rooms for my guests if you wish to sleep here!" Samuel looked at the two men who both shook their heads.
"As much as I'd love that, I have too much work on my hands!" Harkley replied and Tyhval nodded in agreement. "We leave our chi- apprentices in your service!" Tyhval said and clutched his fist with an open hand and gave Samuel a last bow before they both took their leave.
Alsian gave Samuel a shoulder pat and took his leave as well.
The three young children of mana all felt exhausted after that entire event and all went to sleep after a little admiration of the night sky.
The next few weeks passed by quickly with a ton of reading on Samuel's part and his faction establishing itself even further, Samuel was able to leave essentially all the work to Vuloc and his sisters. The faction even grew with some new members which included Emma's teammates.
Sonya and Erica wouldn't let the first years out of their sight for the first few weeks and stuck around them a lot which left Samuel alone at their own house most of the time.
He didn't mind though as he held down the fort and made sure nothing bad happened. Almost every day Samuel did nothing more than read a mixture of studies between magical studies and reading up on the gibberish that was collected lore on children of mana.
Between that and all the physical exercise he put himself through he hardly had any time for anything other than eating and sleeping on top of that.