[A/N: Sorry for disappearing guys. I was not very healthy yet again and I was unable to write. Thank you for the few readers and comments I got, it really means a lot. Love you all and enjoy the next chapter.]
For the next few weeks, Ava and Isabella avoided Zephyr like the plague and refused to talk to him. The three of them had trouble sitting down properly for days after the spanking their mother had given them. Zephyr had a sneaking suspicion that Grace had enhanced her hands with prana to punish them. Did Zephyr feel curious about it? Yes. Would he ask Grace if she, did it? Hell no.
One other thing that happened was that Ava seemed to have awakened too. From what he remembered the process of awakening seemed to get faster for some reason when one person of that generation awakened. So, that meant Bella's awakening led to Ava awakening at an age even younger than hers.
'So, does that mean I will awaken even earlier?' Zephyr felt indignant at the unfairness of the world as he slowly remembered the curse Ava had. The curse was that she consumed a few units of high arcana when casting magic. Sounds quite okay, no? Let me finish then, her boon is that she consumes fewer units of lower arcana when casting magic.
"What the hell is wrong with the administrators of this scroll?" Zephyr muttered to himself.
"Zephyr dear, can you bring me the firewood from our room?" Grace asked while peeking from the kitchen door.
"Yes, mother," Zephyr spoke as he got up from the place he was sitting and gathered a few logs from a large stack of lumber under their beds.
"Have you two cleaned the snow at the door this morning?" Grace asked while turning to Isabella and Ava. The elder sister raised her head, and her smug smile stiffened, which she had due to Ava being in a royal fork.
(A/N: Royal fork is basically when a king is in check along with the queen being targeted by the same attacking piece, mostly a knight.)
Why do they have chess in their house? Well, because Zephyr had his father carve a chessboard and chess pieces after he felt guilty about Bella and Ava getting punished because of his mistake. The second reason was that during the true winters, they needed to hole up in their house for almost seven to five days, depending on how long the blizzard lasted. As for how they created different colors without dyes, he simply asked his father to use woods with different shades of brown to carve the board and pieces.
"Mom, we wanted to, but it was too cold. Why not ask Zeph to do it..." Isabella spoke with a voice that grew lower and lower under Grace's glare.
"Oi, I already did it yesterday; it's your turn today," Zephyr spoke as he carried the firewood towards the stove.
"He is right; he and your dad already cleaned there yesterday. Get to work fast rather than talking. True winter can start any day now. It eases your father's work to clean the aftermath of the blizzard when you all clear it bit by bit from now," Grace said.
Ava quietly slid one of her fallen bishops back on the board while Bella was conversing with Grace.
"Huh?" Bella said as Ava took down the knight that was attacking her queen and checking the king.
Ava gave Bella a triumphant smile as she took the knight off the board.
"Hold up, I already took down your bishop. How can it strike my knight? Nothing was attacking that square," Bella said.
"Not my fault you didn't notice it," Ava said.
"I took that bishop down when you used it to check me. You blundered it," Bella retorted.
A sudden realization hit Bella as her eyes widened and she looked at Ava, "Wait. You placed it back on the board, you cheater!" Bella accused Ava.
"Who are you calling a cheater, you retard?" Ava retorted furiously.
Being used to seeing her children bark at each other often, Grace sighed and got back to the work she was doing.
"Who are you calling a retard, you braindead git?" Bella said, getting up from her chair.
Zephyr, who had just placed a few more pieces of firewood near his mother, asked her for a few roasted foxnuts that were kept in a nearby jar and began to munch on them while watching his sisters fight each other.
"Must be nice to be blind and retarded enough to not notice a bishop," Ava said coolly.
"What's even nicer is to be a cheater. Don't you remember that we found you in a sewage pipe and then adopted you?" Bella spoke furiously and pushed the table aside, nearing Ava while Zephyr popped another snack into his mouth.
"You are the one who was adopted because of your blindness and that zero IQ head. Bet you can't tell which side of a plate is up and which one is down," Ava spat while leaning in closer to Bella now that the table was out of the way.
"Hah, stay away; you smell like a roadside b*tch," Bella said, raising her nose away from Ava.
"Who are you calling a b*tch, you b*tch?" Ava ground her teeth.
"You braindead—" Bella didn't get to finish her insult as Ava quickly lunged at her and pulled her hair.
Bella screamed and pulled on Ava's hair, clawing her face with her nails.
Ava in return kicked Isabella's shins.
Then they both fell to the ground and started rolling on the floor while screaming, spitting, kicking, and biting each other.
Zephyr popped another snack in his mouth.
While they were fighting each other, Leif entered his home with wheat and rice in his hands and raised his eyebrows at the ensuing fight among his children but then shook his head because he too was used to these two fighting each other.
Leif went forward, kept the things he had bought on the table, and went towards the bedroom.
Meanwhile, Bella seemed to have the upper hand now and was on top of Ava. Isabella took a swing at Ava, but Ava quickly caught her hand and bit it.
"Argh, b*tch!" Bella screamed at Ava, who left a mark on her hand after she let go.
"ENOUGH!" Grace's eyes shone furiously as she turned from the stove and looked at both of her daughters.
"THERE WILL BE NO MORE B*TCH IN THIS HOUSE." Grace moved towards her daughters and peeled them apart with one hand each.
"Are you leaving the house?" Leif said, peeking from the door. Zephyr almost choked on the last foxnut he was eating and lowered his face in an attempt not to laugh.
Grace's nostrils flared as she quickly picked up and threw a wooden glass at Leif.
BONK
"Ouch!" Leif held his forehead as the glass bounced a couple of times on the floor after hitting his head.
"As for you two, what do you think you are saying in this house? Matter of fact, where are you even learning these words?" Grace said, turning her head back towards the troublemakers.
Bella and Ava spoke together.
"But mom, she cheated!" "She started with the insults, mom."
"Well, what do you think I should call a cheater?" Bella spoke.
"Where's your proof?" Ava asked.
"I know I took down that bishop. That's the proof," Bella spoke back.
"You want to have a go at it again?" Ava asked, shaking her fist in front of Bella's face.
"Sure!" Bella spoke with a fierce smile.
"Alright, if this is due to your board game, then I am taking it away," Grace intervened as she picked up the board and gathered all the pieces.
"What!?" "No, mom." Both of them complained.
"You can't do this to us, mom!" Bella spoke, and Ava nodded in agreement.
"Well, it seems like I can do it, and I will," Grace spoke while looking at both of them coldly, then walked away with the chess set.
"This is because of you," Bella whispered furiously to Ava.
"No, it's because of you. If only you shut up," Ava whispered back.
"I hope now you two are free enough to clean the snow in front of the door?" Grace spoke, her eyes shining with a menacing light as though daring them to continue.
"YES, MA'AM!" Both sisters spoke with their backs straightened.
They both shot each other a look and nodded, calling a temporary truce.
As they cleaned the front of their house, with the cold winter wind biting into their ears, they saw the cloudy sky and sighed in unison, thinking of when they would be able to play chess again, or if they would be bored yet again.
"Let's ask Zephyr to think of another game, Ava," Bella said.
"Yeah, let's do so," Ava agreed.
They sighed again and thought of leaving home in anger, like all children think of doing when their parents scold them.