Chapter 17:

“Hello Miss Bernet has Robin woken up yet?” “Sorry sweety not yet, but it should be soon, so don’t worry.” Two days since the exhibition of my new control, and Robin still hasn’t recovered from her exhaustion. Taking a seat next to Robin’s bed I can see she is healthy, but truthfully it is scaring me a bit. I visit at least twice a day to check up on Robin, so Bernet is kind enough to answer my questions. Both Alex and I have been released from the ward, much to the joy of Bernet. I spend most of my time relaxing or reading books from the family library. Alex continues to train even harder, seems she was inspired by my power.

I haven’t been slacking myself, I practice absorption and control everyday. My absorption has also increase, but not nearly as much as my control and sensing. Though from what Brock told me any increase in absorption is a huge benefit.

Turning my attention back to Robin I take her hand and carefully hold it in my hand. I stare at her face, “You know it’s my job to be badly hurt, not yours.” At least she seems to be sleeping peacefully. “She will wake up soon.” Looking up I see Lala Verix, “Miss Verix, sorry I didn’t hear you come in.” “Lala.” “Miss Lala, and thank you it is even more reassuring to hear that from her trainer.” “Just Lala, and you worry too much, she is strong.” “Ha ha, sorry I remembered a conversation that Robin had that was almost exactly like this. You two are very similar. … I know she is strong, but she is my first real friend, It worries me.” A silence takes control of the conversation, Lala the wife of the family head and Robin’s trainer. I don’t know much about her, and our first meeting was less than pleasant.

“Lala, if I may ask why did you act so arrogant when we first met? From what I have seen that is not your true personality.” “A test, those lusting after wealth can only hurt our family.” A test huh, if I had asked to join when we first met I would have been rejected it seems. She must care deeply for this family, I hope I will someday have such a deep bond. “Effort and time, I told Robin this, but those are needed to truly become something more than an acquaintance.” I guess you can’t rush these types of things.

As Lala and I sat there in silence I noticed a stir in Robin. “Robin!” No answer, but she definitely moved. “Calm down John, also don’t yell in the ward.” Bernet warns me from behind. She is right I already know that it’s just exhaustion, I shouldn’t be so worried. Painfully slowly Robin wakes up, “John, where am I?” “You are in the healing ward inside the family's’ main building.” Relief washes over me when I hear Robin speak. “I see, ah Miss Lala, it seems you really did a number on me.” Huh? “Seems so, you pushed me quite hard.” Huh? “Um Robin I thought you got exhaustion from your last quest.” “Yes I did, and it was fighting Miss Lala.” Are you telling me the cause for my worry was right next to me for the past hour?

“Haa whatever, I am just happy you are awake, how are you feeling?” Robin moves around a bit, squeezing her hands and wiggling her toes, “Sore, but otherwise alright. John, are you trying to court me? Or are we going through the marketplace soon?” “What are you talking - ah right sorry I forgot about your hand holding thing.” I try to move my hand away, but Robin isn’t letting go. “Um Robin?” “You are quite the wimp.”

Did Robin just insult me? “How are you feeling Miss Robin? Do you need something to eat or drink?” Bernet starts performing her duties and checks up on Robin. “Both please, and Miss Lala I would like to continue my training.” “Fine by me, though your friend might have other plans.” Lala glances at me. “John, do you have plans for us?” “Not really, but… I want you to do what you want, but I don’t want you to do it as much as the last month. I want you, me, and Alex to have some time together.” Is it too much to ask to actually be able to talk to them each day?

“Understood, Miss Lala can we continue my training, but within a smaller time frame?” “It can be done, but it will be more intense.” “That is fine.” Oops seems like I caused Robin’s training difficulty to increase. “Ah I should tell Alex you are awake, there are some things that Alex has to tell you also.” I am sure she will be quite surprised by Alex being a female and that she evolved.

I quickly find Alex in the training rooms, and drag her with me back to the healing ward. As soon as we step inside Alex ran and jumped onto Robin’s bed, “Robin! You’re awake, how are you feeling? Are you hurt? Did Boss do anything to you while you were sleeping?” Did I just get insulted again? I feel like these girls are getting more bold with me by the day. “I am fine, just a bit sore, though John did court me while I was sleeping.” Hold on there are too many things to retort here. “Robin why aren’t you surprised that Alex is a girl? Or that she evolved? And I already told you that I forgot about the hand holding thing!”

“Alex has always been a girl, I saw Alex many times after she evolved, and you are still a wimp.” “Ah Boss is quite a wimp when it comes to that.” “Wait you knew Alex was a girl, and how come I never saw Alex or you? And why do I keep getting insulted?” “Boss, Robin figured it out right away. Though I don’t know why you were never around when we were.”

Lala speaks up about the matter, “I believe that Brock thought that it would motivate you more to see them less.” That doesn’t make sense, I mean I did push myself in the end because I wanted to get back to normal life, but I mean… I guess it did work huh? “I don’t think I will ever understand you trainers.”

“Miss Bernet how long will Robin have to stay in the ward?” “Only a day, she is mostly healed, and my only requirement is that she gets lots of nutrients and water. Going so long without them is bad for the body.” Good seems like it won’t be long till we can all get back to the house. “Thank you” “Well that good to hear we can get you back to the house by tomorrow.” “Alex and I have both been released already, and are back at the house.” I see glimpse of surprise on Robin’s face but it quickly turns back to normal, “Alex did you break the agreement?” “No I didn’t, though he has taken a few glances at my new body. I might pull ahead soon.” What are they talking about? And why is Robin squeezing my hand harder now?

Just kidding I maybe be a bit dense, but I am not that bad. As soon as Alex mentioned me taking glances I understood that they were talking about me. I don’t completely understand their agreement, but based on the conversation it must be something about our current relationships. I had my concerns about Robin before because at the time she was still very new to the world, but it has been over a month now. I believe it would be insulting to Robin if I thought of her as naive as she was in the beginning.

For Alex the idea of a relationship with her will take a bit of time, mainly because I thought of her as a guy for the last month plus. Though her looks are easily changing my view of her. To explain the glances well I would say they were more of a curious look, when you see something you don’t believe at first, you will usually look again a couple times. Both of them are pretty and, Alex is as cute as Robin is beautiful, a flower in each hand might be a good way to describe it.

I decided to stay quiet on the topic so that we don’t make too much of a ruckus. Miss Bernet is scary when she gets annoyed. “Robin, as I taught you, you must go at things full force.” Lala don’t encourage her right now, she is still recovering and needs rest. “Understood Miss Lala.” And Robin you are starting to hurt my hand now. We continued to talk to Robin for a few hours. She told us about her learning an absorption technique similar to Alex’s, and that she also did three quests. Her first one was against a cave full of fire bats. To get there they had to descend into a huge crevasse, but Lala just created stairs for them to walk down on. The firebats didn’t deal high damage, but their speed and numbers created a very intricate practice range.

The second quest was against a deep croc, a type of crocodile that lives at the bottoms of large lakes. It was a massive ten feet long, and could use water element to make it swim faster. Freezing it didn’t work, and the only way for Robin to beat the creature was a power struggle for control of their element. The struggle took three hours, but Robin finally took control and even then the croc was not easy to kill. Robin finally learned that the eyes of the creature were not as strong as the skin, and had to create a large amount of water focus pressure directly on the eyes of the croc, and it slowly was able to penetrate the creature.

Just as she was about to tell us about the third quest, Robin yawned and I could tell she was getting tired. Since she had only just recovered we decided it was best to let her sleep as much as she needed. As soon as Robin closed her eyes she was out like a light. All three of us left the healing ward, and Alex and I went back to the house.

Relieved that Robin had woken up I went to the yard to practice absorption. Letting the earth elemental power flow through me, I absorb as much as I can. I repeat this process again, and again. The feeling of the elemental power has become familiar to me, the texture, the motion, and the force. I reach for it, not physically, but with my control. I want to feel it more, to truly know what the power that flows through me is. Unfortunately it escapes my grasp, I can move it, but when I try to closely inspect it, the elemental power slips away. I absorb as much as I can each time, but I want more. Seems like I will be visiting Brock again soon.

The day comes to an end and I slip into bed, Alex joins me also. Nothing happens, but I notice that Alex is unusually close to me tonight. “Alex aren’t you a little close?” I can pretty much feel her breath on my neck. “I just want to be a little closer to Boss than normal, is that bad?” She gives me a shy smile, “No but, don’t you have some sort of an agreement with Robin?” “So you did know that was about you!” Alex sits up in the bed giving me a surprised look. Do I really look that stupid? I mean yes I didn’t realize that Alex was a girl, but I can still understand when someone is talking about me.

“Ya it wasn’t that hard considered who else could have been glancing at you when you are with me all the time. Also I was glancing because I am still not a hundred percent used to you being a girl. I am not looking for perverted reasons.” Alex gives me mischievous smile, “Well you can take all the glances you want, you are the boss.” She lightly raises the shirt she has on revealing more and more of her belly. Stopping her hands, “You know I don’t see myself like that, and I don’t want any of us making hasty decisions. Especially me.”

Alex gave me a disappointed face and laid back down. For the last seven years of my life the only real contact I had with women is saying hi to them on the trails. Leaving me with very little to no experience, I understand that Robin and Alex like me, I’m not dumb, but I really need to think this through. One wrong move and the only two close friends I have in this world could be torn away from me. It may be best if i just talk with them and explain my concerns. Hiding and brooding over these problems will only lead to worse outcomes. I slowly fell asleep as I decided to face the problem head on.

Waking up I noticed I could feel two soft spots on my back and something gripping my stomach. Feeling around I grab ahold of the two tentacles wrapped around me. Moving them gently off me I soundlessly escape the clutches of the Alex. Seriously she gets bolder by the day. Finishing my morning routine of stretches, a shower, and dressing I am ready for the day. Alex and I head out for the main family building, ready for another glorious breakfast. Just as we walking into the front lobby I notice two men arguing. One happens to be Brock, interested I start walking towards the two, “Scram brat, you have no right to demand anything of this family, and if I see you in our area I will personally bury you under twenty feet of earth!” Seems like Brock isn’t too happy. “Little dirt eater, you are nothing compared to the Wyvern Family.” The other man insults Brock, but turns around and leaves the building. “Hey Brock what was all that about?”

“Ah just one of the Wyvern family pests, all high and snouty. They think that they control everything, and apparently one of our family members completed a quest they claimed as theirs. Yet, they have no proof, and they never even took the quest from the board. Their so stuck up they even think they can boss us around.” Wasn’t the goons that tried to kill us also hired by the Wyvern family, because we apparently disrespected one of their members? “They sound like shitbags.” “Ya they are. Well enough of that annoying business let’s get some food I am starving.” With a heavy slap on the back we headed for breakfast.

“Good morning Miss Bernet has Robin been awake today?” “Good morning sweety,.. Alex, and no not yet, but I will need to wake her soon for food.” Seeing no reason not to help Miss Bernet, “If you will let me, can I do it?” “Sure sweaty, wake her up in about another twenty minutes.” Taking the tray of food and Alex taking the pitcher of water we set up the meal for Robin and wait the allotted time. “Robin wake up, it's time to wake up.” I try to softly wake her up, but not much of a response the only thing that moves is her tail slips out from underneath the blanket. A little louder and a bit of a nudge this time, “Robin you need to wake up and eat breakfast.” No response again, but this time her hand slips out from underneath the blanket, just as I am about to try for a third time I realized why she isn’t waking up. I hold her tail in one arm, while holding her hand with the other, and almost immediately she wakes up, “Good morning John, I will have to take this as courting.” I look at her with a deadpan expression, I really think she believes I thought she was still sleeping.

“Good morning Robin.” “Morning Robin!” “Morning Alex.” I noticed Robin was about to say something, but I remembered the nurse's orders. “Before anything you need to eat and drink. I know you are mostly healed, but Miss Bernet is right you need nutrients.” Placing the food in front of Robin, she quickly inhales all the food and drink and within seconds. “Ok now that you are finished what was it that you wanted to say before?” Robin sits upright in her bed, and clears her throat, “John, I love you.” What? Brain what’s happening? There seems to be a malfunction in the brain region. Ah the brain region, so all of it? Yep! Ok good.

“Robin no fair, you can’t just spring that in this kind of situation!” Alex was the first to respond as my brain was still trying to reboot itself. “Miss Lala said to be true to myself, so I was true.” I am not sure exactly what’s going on, but I think Robin just said she loved me. I mean I understood that Robin liked me, you don’t really allow someone to hug your tail if you don’t at least like the person, but the confession was just too much for me. No women experience plus sudden confession from Robin equals Error. “Robin, um I don’t know what to say.” Alex quickly jumps over the bed and lands in front of me, “Boss don’t say anything, also don’t act on your emotions and I can still win the agreement!” Emotions are running rampant in my head right now, and I just need to stop everything and think about this.

“Robin, Alex, I need to talk to both of you, but this place is not suitable. Let’s see if we can get Robin back to the house. This is a very important conversation.”