Book 2. The Grand Gathering. Chapter 6. The Request. (Part II)

Actually, the reason Laien hadn’t immediately noticed the connection between the positive and negative aspects of the Principle of Energy and the Aspects of Tranquility and Wrath was because of the characteristics of the Principle of Energy itself.

To get from the ‘neutral’ energy to the positive or negative one, he needed to do something like moving along a scale of two extremes. He had never really been able to shift directly from the negative energy to the positive one or the other way around, so he saw the two as incompatible opposites… but in reality, the mechanism was extremely similar, if not identical to the one existing between the Aspects of Tranquility and Wrath!

At the peak of Tranquility, one would be like a calm, boundless sea which wouldn’t be disturbed by anything, while at the peak of Wrath one would be like a raging fire that couldn’t be controlled by anything. However, did there not exist a ‘relatively calm’ and ‘just a bit angry’ states, too?

“Instead of trying to level it out, create both extremes at once and fuse them together…” Laien closed his eyes and attempted the process.

He felt the two energies beginning to merge inside him, yet at the same time, he was beginning to lose control of them. He was about to stop, but unexpectedly he just when he passed the mid-point the fusing energies began stabilizing on their own and becoming less difficult to control.

“Whoa,” Anatis murmured, sensing the mysterious energy which converged around Laien’s body. It gave off an extremely old, ancient feeling that was difficult to describe in words. It was similar to the feeling one would have when talking with an extremely old, wise person… but at the same time, it was somehow scary, as if that old person was actually an ancient dragon lying in wait.

“It actually mixed perfectly,” Laien discovered to his surprise. “It doesn’t seem to have properties of either positive or negative energy, but could it?” he wondered and immediately decided to try it out in practice.

He created some pure, negative energy and added some of the newly created ‘neutral’ energy to it and just as he hoped, the two mixed resulting in an even more powerful negative energy being created! Just to make sure, he repeated the process with the positive energy and of course, achieved the same results.

“How should I call it? It seems somehow ‘old’ and ‘all powerful’… maybe Primordial Energy?” Laien smirked at the thought. Although this name sounded a bit pompous, he would probably go through with it.

He opened his eyes a few seconds later and saw Anatis looking at him intensely; he chuckled and asked. “So, did you understand anything about the Principle of Energy?”

Anatis laughed resignedly and shook his head. “I had a chance to feel it from close-up when you were gaining your insight, but I can’t seem to figure it out. Maybe if I commit more time to trying to sense and comprehend this energy on my own, then I could make some progress… but I have a feeling it would be just a wasted effort on my part,” he said straightforwardly, his feelings towards the Principle of Energy being the same as the ones he had towards the sword; it simply wasn’t for him.

“Well, elder brother hadn’t been able to gain any insights in the Principle of Energy either, so it must be the issue of compatibility,” Laien said with a slight sigh, beginning to feel a bit guilty that he had just made a breakthrough but Anatis gained nothing.

“Even Rudford couldn’t?” Anatis uttered disbelievingly. Knowing that, he could at least feel better about himself. If a Great Master like Rudford was incapable of comprehending this whole Principle of Energy of Laien’s, then it wouldn’t be too strange for him to be unable either.

“By the way, thanks for the hint. I was able to make an advancement because of it,” Laien mentioned gratefully and bowed his head a little, thus startling Anatis quite badly.

“You would have noticed the connection on your own anyway, I did nothing special,” Anatis said hurriedly, surprised and somewhat ashamed to have Laien thanking him in this manner.

“Maybe I would have,” Laien smirked a little and shrugged his shoulders. “I might have noticed today while training, or I might have noticed in a week, or a month, or a few years…” he said very honestly, the teachings of Rudford to be confident but not arrogant having been deeply engraved into his heart. He understood well enough that this ‘little bit’ of luck necessary to make a breakthrough or gain an insight would often be very hard to come by.

“Uh,” Anatis rubbed the side of his nose with his finger, appearing to be rather troubled and embarrassed. “It can be said that I made the second advancement in the Aspect of Tranquility due to meeting you and then telling you guys about my past, so why don’t we just call it a day with that?” he suggested, not wanting to Laien to feel needlessly indebted to him.

“Also,” Anatis brought up, seeing how Laien appeared to be only half-convinced. “You had no way of knowing if I would be able to understand your Principle of Energy when you told me about it or not. I only had a chance to say something that caused you to gain the insight because you decided not to keep your knowledge secret,” he insisted stubbornly, fully intent on proving his point.

Listening to Anatis, Laien first raised his eyebrows a little, then smiled and finally chortled and laughed. “You really can be a bit too serious and stubborn, eh?” he asked wryly, quietly admitting that Anatis was right; he shouldn’t have become so formal with these ‘indebted’ things anyway.

“Thanks though, it made me feel better,” Laien added cheerfully, then since he was in the mood for some fun he jumped at Anatis and pinned him down to the ground, seating himself on top of him.

“W-what are you doing?” Anatis asked uneasily, too nervous to even remember that with his physical strength, he was capable of pushing Laien off of himself with relative ease.

“You were being too serious, so I’m playing around,” Laien responded with a smile and moved his hands from Anatis’s shoulders to his armpits. As the look of understanding slowly dawned on Anatis’s face, he clenched his hands lightly, as if trying to feel the grounds out.

To Laien’s satisfaction, Anatis tensed up a bit. With his smile becoming wider and wider, Laien clenched his hands again, this time more strongly and quickly. He did it one time, two times, three times… and as a result, got Anatis to start trembling and wiggling, giving his best to suppress the moans and laughter welling up inside him.

“Looks like you are pretty ticklish,” Laien said with a chuckle, glancing at Anatis’s slightly teary eyes and his strongly flushed face. “It’s pretty boring if you don’t fight back, you know?” he mentioned and to make more of a point, squeezed Anatis’s armpits again.

Anatis tensed up, then gave Laien a somewhat grudging look. However, he chortled and smirked soon afterward. “You asked for it,” he said and grabbed Laien’s sides.

The two of them looked each other in the eye for a second or two, then simultaneously began their tickling attacks. They were both doing their best to hold it in and outlast the other, but very soon they became unable to hold their laughter in. They started chuckling and laughing while also letting out many muffled squeaks as they were trying to withstand being tickled by the other.

As much as Laien had little to no restraints to begin with, Anatis only now stopped worrying about unnecessary things and allowed himself to simply enjoy the moment and have fun.

The tickling contest between the two steadily turned into wrestling, joking with each other and overall fooling around. Meanwhile, two girls managed to approach the door unnoticed. One of them appeared to be flabbergasted, while the other one was smiling happily.

“What are they doing…?” Nila asked in a whisper, completely mind blown by this unknown to her merry and playful side of Anatis.

“Having fun,” Siana answered in a low voice. “Come on, let’s go back. I told you we should let them spend some time without us,” she said with a smile and pulled Nila away by the back of her shirt.

“Why would they need to spend time without us?” Nila asked sourly, but regardless of that, she allowed Siana to pull her away and began walking somewhere else with her.

“Boys are just like that,” Siana said with a shrug of her shoulders. “They get all restless and fidgety if they are only with their girlfriends all the time. You can’t monopolize them to yourself,” she explained somewhat helplessly, regretting that it was impossible to keep Laien just to herself.

“Hmm,” Nila puffed her lips, finding what Siana said pretty hard to accept. Additionally, the fact that she was being lectured about boys by a girl two years younger, and who most likely was basing her words on her older brother’s behavior… uh, it was making her feel a bit awkward.

“Don’t tell me you’ve kept him close all the time the last five years…?” Siana asked carefully, a hint of acted-out terror present in her voice.

“So what if I did?” Nila retorted bitterly, clearly annoyed by Siana.

“Ugh,” Siana couldn’t help but groan slightly. “Poor Anatis…” she thought quietly and shook her head a little.

“That settles it. Until the Grand Tournament is over, you are hanging out with me,” Siana decided by herself, thoroughly intent on making Nila do just that.

“Eh?” Nila gave Siana a disbelieving look. “You mean no talking with Anatis? Are you for real?” she asked, too shocked by this suggestion to refuse it straight out like she normally would have.

“Exactly,” Siana confirmed with a nod.

“And what makes you think I will agree to that?” Nila rebuked instantly, wondering what has gotten into Siana’s head for her to be saying something so unreasonable.

“Because if you don’t, I will go complain to big brother,” Siana said threateningly, her voice and expression making it impossible for Nila to discern whether she was being serious or not. If she really convinced Laien to withdraw his support, then it would be terrible…!

“She really doesn’t know big brother at all,” Siana thought to herself, watching the complex emotions going through Nila’s face. “Does she really think he is someone to discard his friends so easily?” she shook her head and sighed a little, then gave Nila a serious look.

“But more importantly, it’s going to be better for you two as a couple,” she said gently, hoping to get Nila to understand that she had no bad intentions.

“… Fine, I will try,” Nila agreed reluctantly. “But if I see everything has gotten worse after these nine, ten days, then I won’t do it ever again,” she stated stubbornly and frowned at Siana, feeling as if she had lost to her by giving in.

“Mm, so where do you want to go?” Siana asked, leaving the previous subject behind so quickly that it threw Nila a bit off.

“I don’t know,” Nila replied after a moment of consideration. She smiled self-mockingly, realizing how everything she had been doing the past five years was always centered around Anatis. Now that she was by herself, she couldn’t even decide what she wanted to do.

“Huh, then let’s go and look for something interesting,” Siana said carefreely, then glanced at Nila curiously, wondering why was she chuckling. Did she say something funny just now?

“You are similar to your brother in this aspect,” Nila commented with a smile, still laughing a little. This tendency to be looking for interesting and amusing things appeared to be stronger in Laien, but Siana definitely had it too.

“We are siblings after all,” Siana chuckled cutely and grabbed Nila by hand, her attitude towards her slowly turning more friendly. “How about a tour around the sweet shops and restaurants? I want to eat some tasty desserts,” she suggested. The tour was one of the things she had been planning to do with Laien, so she very much wanted to go through with it.

“Count me in,” Nila replied with a smile. “I would like to look for some nice clothes later, too…” she mused aloud, suddenly growing quite excited by the prospect of doing whatever she wanted for over a week. Could it be that not only boys but also girls needed a reasonable amount of free time from each other…?

“Sure, I would like to see what merchants brought over too,” Siana said happily, content to have found a common ground with Nila. This way, the days until the Grand Tournament wouldn’t all be boring for her.

---

“He really agreed,” Sinra said helplessly, still finding it difficult to believe how this day had turned out.

“It’s no wonder he did, he really got attached to this kid,” Injar said with a smile. The impression he got from seeing Rudford and Laien together was one which convinced him Rudford would be willing to kill anyone who harmed this precious disciple of his, no matter who that person was.

“Huh,” Sinra raised his eyebrows. “I guess Laien wasn’t over-exaggerating when he said Rudford would almost certainly agree to his request, huh,” he mused aloud, taking a seat on the sofa in his own room.

“Sin,” Injar spoke up in a tone which made Sinra instantly snap out of his thoughts and listen attentively. “I will help you to the best of my abilities, but I hope you know what you are getting yourself and those kids into,” he warned, knowing how intimidating it can feel to have what you previously considered to be unlikely plans to be coming to life before your eyes.

“It won’t be a game or a friendly competition. If we screw up, then any of us may end up dying, even you or me,” he reminded, worried that Sinra would neglect the responsibilities he had taken on by pulling those kids into his camp.

“I know. How many times do you think you’ve told me that before?” Sinra said with a sigh and just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

“Seven times. This is the eighth,” Injar said with a somewhat sarcastic smile, causing Sinra to laugh helplessly; he really didn’t ask this question with the intention of actually being answered.

“You spoke big to them how you were going to give your all, so better forget about free time for the next few years,” Injar said with a smirk and sat down at Sinra’s side, being more or less done with the lecture. “You should probably finalize the talks you have had with your other siblings as soon as possible. You know we can’t let Sauras or Finella find out which of them are cooperating with you,” still, he advised nevertheless, forgetting about his own decision not to lecture Sinra anymore.

“I know, I know. Stop treating me like a kid,” Sinra said with a mixture of anger and resignation. He might have been ‘a bit’ rebellious in the past, but he had always been doing his best. He wasn’t stupid or naïve, why couldn’t Injar understand that and trust him to make the correct choices?

“Sorry, I just can’t help it.” Injar laughed helplessly and gave Sinra an apologetic look. He reached out with his hand over Sinra’s shoulders and pulled the thirteen-year-old closer, hugging him tightly.

“What’s gotten into you?” Sinra asked embarrassedly, but in reality was incredibly happy to be shown affection by Injar.

“Who knows, I just felt like it,” Injar evaded the question, surely not about to tell Sinra that he had gotten jealous of the relationship Rudford and Laien shared.

“Hey,” Sinra said quietly, allowing himself to go as far as to hug Injar as he rested himself against Injar’s chest. “You will always be by my side, won’t you?” he asked hesitatingly, showing his weaker side on one of those rare times.

“I will,” Injar replied calmly, gently tousling Sinra’s hair. It really wasn’t the kind of promise he should be making to him as his guardian, but it really wasn’t all he was to Sinra.