"well, aren't you cute!" Toam Amira's husband's first impression of Aero was rather positive, "call me cute again and I will hurt you." sadly aero wasn't a fan of the way the man framed it. "well that adds to your charm," Aero blinked at how unbothered the man was by his threat.

'is it because I'm not at a hundred I can't fully put myself behind the threat or is he just weird.'

'my lord it's weird you think someone is weird when they aren't affected by your threat.'

'you have been chatty recently! why is that?'

'in your current state you are more likely to listen to me and not shut me out,' aero bit his tongue knowing that was, in fact, true. a little less sure of his actions and more likely to take someone's suggestions. the helper saw a chance and took it if their help makes a good impression before their lord fully recovered. he might be more willing to take their help in the future, which would open doors to him accepting other people's help. from their production, their lord would need it.

"so what do you do for a living?" Toam asked after calling down his son. "a hunter," aero responded watching the man's reaction, this was one of the best ways to learn home someone would act around him. "mm, that amazing you must have worked very hard!"

"you're weird!" nothing could change his opinion at this point. "how's father weird?" the youngest person in this house asked aero, "cause he's weird that's why!" the boy glared at him before defending his father. of course, aero wasn't going to lose to a kid younger than 10 years. though the child remained stubborn trying to argue that his father wasn't weird.

Toam and Amira found this interaction the best as their son got riled up to the point he tried to use force only for aero dance out of the way. amira blinked watching the older boy move, "well I'll be how much work has he been putting into his lessons." he moved with such grace and fluidly, with his might behind each movement. she watched closely as her son's interest in fighting Areo faded and was replaced with the desire to dance with the graceful man.

'This kid dances better than me!' he was impressed, "do you like to dance?"

"yes! lots!"

"do you take pride in it?" aero felt his energy react curiously to his words. like that time he blessed Demsky Zavad. he could pay more attention to how this affected him, even before the words left his mouth. the energy reacted to the boy taking hold of his leaking pride energy. "yes...?" the boy answered confused.

"would you stop if someone tells you to?" this time boy shook his head growing. "why would someone tell me to stop?"

"because they believed it would protect you."

"I can take care of myself!" aero informed him there were quite a few people who wouldn't believe that which only upset him more. "what should I do?" the boy looked like he wanted to stop his feet but was holding back. "simple hold on to your pride." the energy formed a shell around him," but don't let it control you," vent opened in the shell." use it to push forward when other tell you to stop. " the shell thickened and stelled as the boy took in the young lord's words.

"time for dinner!" having no idea of the magnitude of the events he just witnessed, toam served dinner, and the family and guests started eating. the younger in the room finished their food quickly but stayed at the table as that was considered polite in Augustine. but it wasn't considered rude for them to start a small conversation.

well, the boy started a conversation, "you don't know my name do you?" Aero blinked surprised the boy was sharp enough to pick that up. but he smiled all the same, "yeah not the slightest clue, but it might not make a difference. see I have this habit of forgetting people's names if I don't find them worth remembering. Your mother is sticking around being my teacher but I'll probably remember you as her son."

"well my mother is amazing!" he bragged and aero almost laughed at how unbothered he was about the other part. "my name is Ezrah! remember it cause I will be amazing!"

"oh well see about that little Ezrah!" aero only laughed as the boy huffed and they contained talking Ezrah trying to point out how he would do great things and aero telling him the great things the 17 has already done. like quite literally fighting several people to the ground with his bare hands and fighting creatures alone more than was safe.

"what does that mean?" Amira asked as she started clearing the table. aero shrugged before informing them that some creatures were recommended to be taken on by more than one person. he usually didn't do that and went after himself, "never up and front. I know to fight smarter with ambush tactics and changing the playing field to my advantage."

"well, you've certainly found your way," Toam stated. aero heard a note of the worry in his tone and that was by far the most normal reaction the man has had concerning him. so he let it slide for the moment. instead still determined to not a be burden he helped with the dishes while Toam worked to get Ezrah bathed.

"I have things to say to this boy!" Ezrah tried to squirm free glaring back to aero who only. ignored him.

"well, you can tell him afterward," Aero decide not to mention he was leaving the moment the dishes were done. he didn't think he could keep this up much longer, he wasn't acting like it but these interactions were draining him. keeping up the act that he was at a hundred percent and forcing himself not to double think everything he said and keeping his eyes locked the entire time.

'i wanna sleep for a week,' aero dropped his mask for only a moment before pulling it back up before amira could look back at him. he keep things for a little longer as the women talked but he wasn't really hearing her. until she had enough," you don't have to act around my family. we can keep secrets."

"what are you talking about?"

"one part of my job is to watch people and determine what they plan to use what I teach. if they plan to harm people I report them and teach them nothing, if they plan to help people I teach them everything they need to know. for the past few days, you've been less sure in your steps, though it is almost unnoticeable unless you've watched people for a living." she didn't move a limb but each word out of her mouth made it feel like she was stepping past his guard.

it scared him, he wasn't sure his mother could read him this well. so he fell onto his most reliable defense letting his pride overflow and getting mad. "you don't have the right to speak about this!" he would not lie, he acknowledge her abilities she could see through him. but that didn't mean she should speak about it.

"you're probably right I don't have the right, but it's my job to make sure my students are taking care f themselves and you don't look like that at all. you look tired from acting so much. you aren't used to acting because you show everyone how you are without the slightest bit of shame," aero clenched and unclenched his fist. this woman was digging way too deep into him.

"so what you want me to drop my mask and take a nap?!" she nodded like that was the best idea," yes let's do that you can have the room if it makes you better" aero fists were twitching, she was reading him like a book he disliked it so very much. but he also knew it was a bad idea to fight her. not only could she kick him out of her class, but she also probably had a few moves in combat.

curses sat on the tip of his tongue and aero wanted to let them all free in the hope they would hurt this one woman. 'i haven't been missed of like this in a while! I'll give her credit for that.' biting down his rage he turned away from her, ignored her, and thought of something that would calm him down.

when he was less lightly to jump her and rip out something important he turned back to her, face carefully blank though he wasn't sure it fooled her. "I'll need at most five petals," Amira smiled before walking upstairs to join her child and lover. the moment she was out of sight aero bent over and hide his face.

'by the zalts that tiring, also am I that bad at hiding my emotions?'

'of course not my lord she is just very skilled at reading people,' the five petals passed like that. aero's insecurity pops up and the helper shoots them down and reminded aero of what he's done allowing the pride energy to rise a bit. which improved as he felt and made it easier to act when Ezrah came down the stairs. the moment the petals had fallen conversation back up as if nothing happened, which aero didn't mind talking with the boy.

it got very late before he left the house, partly because Ezrah talked until his bedtime, secondly because aero spent a good bit of time arguing that he didn't need an escort home. but he headed home all the same, 'i'll work on the storage tomorrow, it's too late for work on it if I want to be ready in time for class.' falling asleep was pretty easy as he was worn out. he slept soundlessly that night dreaming of bright red and greys. he didn't know why the Zalt gave him such a dream but he went with it all the same.

the following day he got dressed and ate before he stepped out of the door feeling a small portion of energy to the storage device for the time being. 'should I thank her for not saying anything?' the woman was completely professional as she reinforced what they learned so far. she also handed out a few tips at the fault she noticed that had, "cutting off a bad habit now might just save your life!"

aero didn't argue with the truth, he still gave her a less than nice look after she corrected him three times in a row. that dirty look lasted until the end of classes, he grabbed dinner before returning home where he quickly pumped some pride energy into the storage device. as it was the third time he was able to fill the device to his limits, 'my lord the container is ready to be sent off.'

"that's good, I can't believe I was able to do it." the logical part of him had an argument for that but he didn't really listen to it as he ate his food before climbing into bed. he went to sleep early that night, sleeping peacefully if lightly in fear something might happen and If he would be able to handle it.

"my lord do you remember how you dealt with a girl who fought with a dagger and supported herself with a short bow as well!' the helper woke their lord like this causing memory to pop up in the front of his mind. that fight wasn't a simple one, she was pretty skilled at both close and long-range. he won before he was more skilled at close range and took advantage of it, preventing her from using her long-range advantage at much as he could.

'Yeah that wasn't an easy fight to win, she didn't go down easy and I respect her for that.' the helper smiled seeing his energy levels rise, and immediately brought up another won fight. took several more recalled fights before aero was able to get dressed, he ate breakfast with the helper listing off his previous feats. 'helper I think this is worse than before,' he was feeling better, but maybe around 50-60% unlike before where he found himself at 70-80%.

'i believe the part of you that produces the energy has been overtaxed, the only current solution is to rest and let it recover.' aero nodded finishing up his breakfast and heading to his classes. he still tried to raise himself and get ready for class.

thankfully class amira went easy on them lecturing them about techniques and rules they had to abide by since they knew how to dance along with melodies. he gave a silently thank you before he retreated to his inn room, recalling their conversation from this morning aero asked the helper if they knew the part of him that produced the energy.

'it largely from the part of your mind that generates the emotion of pride, it appears to have swollen a bit from overuse.' the helper assured him that the swelling wasn't too bad and would go down within 2 and 4 days so he would be fine. 'i believe that your energy levels will return fully before then but you should try to refrain from using energy for the next week.'

'can do that,' it wouldn't be that hard as he usually didn't use the energy much. 'what should be done to prevent it from swelling again?'

'well the brain is like a muscle, exercise it and it will grow stronger. I think this might be how you can increase your energy value.' aero nodded and started they would see. but for now, he was going to take a nap, he napped longer than he was planning but that was the sign it was a good nap. he was feeling much better when he woke up.

"let's go out," grabbing the storage device he walked out in the middle of the night into the forest, he could hear the distant sounds of creatures roaming the night. 'they won't get too close, probably.' with the helper guidance he was able to send the drive on its way. 'hopefully this will provide a good amount of information.