Being home was a strange thing.

Yusatsu was the same as it always was. The same buildings and the same people. Nerluce recognized all of them, but he could not longer remember their names. He felt like a stranger, yet he had never been greeted by them with more warmth. A little girl ran up to their horses and was hoisted onto her father's shoulders so she could place a crimson wreath of flowers on Nerluce's head. A boy placed a similar one onto Coam's head.

At first, Nerluce thought that it was planned. Some children planted among the crowd, their parents paid off to make the two children of the Hebikoti Clan look good. But, they were stopped several more times. Nerluce was given two jars of wine by a woman who looked familiar but Nerluce couldn't say which alcohol stand she ran. He smiled and accepted. A swordsmith gift Coam a new blade.

More presents and tributes were given. Nerluce accepted them all with baffled grace. He had never known this kind of celebration in his own name before. Then again, it was probably Coam they were celebrating, not him. She was the war hero and he was the kid that just came back from school. He felt a little ashamed at all the praise and things he was receiving. He didn't deserve them.

And yet he did not refuse them either.

At Hebikoti Palace, the gates were raised and they were greeted by Lord Father, high up. Nerluce had never seen him from this angle before. He looked a little softer and a lot older but that probably wasn't the distance.

"Welcome home my daughter," Lord Father said, "my son."

They dismounted and bowed.

When they rose again, Nerluce paid more attention to Lord Father's wives than Lord Father himself. Lady Okiachi looked as bitter as she always had. Lady Fanjie seemed to be exchanging quiet words with Lord Father himself. And then... Mother. Her caretaker was with her but Mother seemed to be better today. Not trying to toss herself off or acting afool. She just seemed to be rocking back and forth, eyes elsewhere.

As they all turned and started back inside, Nerluce focused on his horse and the task at hand. He led the gelding to the stables and started to remove his saddle but was quickly stopped by a rather alarmed servant.

"No need, young lord!" the servant said. "This one will do it."

"Ah..." Nerluce said.

He'd forgotten. Every time in Ethera when he'd taken Eden on a ride, he'd been the one to saddle and bridle him and when they returned, Nerluce had been the one to put away the tact as well. It wasn't just because no one else dared get close to Eden but because of one simple fact: Ethera did not have servants.

But home did. He didn't need to do all of those little things anymore. He tried to think of this as something positive. He had hated the chores forced upon him. He hated shoveling snow and he hated washing dishes. He would never have to do either of those tasks again. Yet... Lyana splashing soapy water at him, soaking his pants leg, himself throwing a snowball at Corbett's face... and that wasn't mentioning all the time he spent with Aristide in the stables...

Gods he'd miss those awful chores.

But he relented and let the servant take the horse and let another servant take all of the gifts he'd been given when riding in through Yusatsu. A third servant led him to a bath. Nerluce was more than grateful for that. He scrubbed the weeks of dirt from riding and a couple of days of Ethera's dirt from his skin. The water was warm and the soaps smelled sweet. How expensive were these soaps?

Nerluce got out of the bath after that. A couple of his old robes were laid out for him. He put them on, only to realize they didn't fit. Of course, they wouldn't. He'd grown. He'd grown in more ways than one. The robes were tight around his shoulders and arms and hung so high that his knees were almost on display.

He took them off and had a fourth servant - how many servants did his family have and why did they need so many? - to bring him something else. He was brought some of his father's old robes. He grimaced when he put them and felt nauseous when they fit him perfectly. The servant said that new robes would be tailored and brought to Nerluce as soon as possible. He just needed to pick out the fabrics.

He did without really looking.

With that settled, Nerluce was taken to the dining hall - no. It wasn't a dining hall but a dining room. Gods, the names were all mixed up in Nerluce's head. The tables were set up so that Lord Father sat in the front of the room, slightly raised on a dais, and the other tables were below him. Nerluce usually sat on the right, after Coam with Lady Okiachi, Lady Fanjie, and Mother when she was well enough sitting to his left.

The seating arrangement was different today. Nerluce was positioned at the table to Lord Father's left and Coam was at her usual spot on his right. Lady Okiachi sat where Nerluce usually did and Lady Fanjie was next to him with Mother and her caretaker next to her.

Nerluce picked at his food in silence.

"Nerluce," Lord Father said, after some time of each person eating their own meal quietly. "Tell me about Ethera."

"What would you like to know, Lord Father?" Nerluce asked.

"What did you learn, boy?"

Nerluce glanced down. "I... learned many things. My teacher was Taayir, a talented fire Magickian of Coam's generation." He nodded to his sister.

"Taayir is very talented," Coam agreed. "But unorthodox. Her own family disowned her. It's why she is a Priestess at Ethera." Coam said all of this without flinching. "I have no idea how she'd fair as a teacher, though. I always saw her as brash and arrogant."

"She's not," Nerluce mumbled.

Lord Father glared. "Speak clearly."

"I apologize," Nerluce said, louder. "I was only... disagreeing with Coam's assessment. Taayir was an excellent teacher. She even taught this hopeless one how to create a flame." Nerluce smiled, trying to defend his teacher in front of his family.

"Show me," Lord Father said.

Nerluce clasped his hands together, rubbing his palms and called out. The fire answered. He was worried it wouldn't. He was was worried about a lot of things. But if anything, the fire came quicker and stronger, feeding on his emotions and inner turmoil. It burned and Lord Father's eyes were fixed upon it - upon Nerluce - as though he did not believe this boy was his son.

Nerluce swallowed and stretched the flame, craft Elatatus from it.

"Impressive," Lord Father said. "What is its name?"

"Elatatus," Nerluce said.

"Red," Coam commented, snapping her fingers and pulling Suru-Suru from her own fire. "It's a nice contrast."

Nerluce scowled. "Aristide helped me craft it."

"Did he?"

"He's basically mastered fire now," Nerluce said, prickling. Why was he acting like this? Why was he trying to defend Aristide, to defend himself? "He's the most talented person I've ever seen. He was even able to summon your Suru-Suru." With that Nerluce dismissed his own weapon, his own flame.

Coam scoffed. "No one else can summon Suru-Suru."

"Aristide can," Nerluce said. "I've seen it." And then after a long stretch of quiet because he could not stop his mouth from moving he added, "I helped him do it."

Another long stretch of silence followed.

And then Coam scoffed. "And how did you manage to do that, when you don't know how to summon Suru-Suru yourself?" she asked, her own hackles raised. "In fact, before you left, you didn't know Magick at all. It's impossible for you to have spilled Clan secrets when you don't know any of them."

Her eyes darted to Lord Father.

Oh. Shit. At some point, Nerluce had made a major miscalculation. Coam wasn't upset with him. She wasn't... arrogantly taunting him because she thought she was so much better. Nerluce blinked, looking from his sister to his father. He'd always assumed... he never really thought... Coam was perfect. How could Lord Father's scorn fall upon her as well?

A part of Nerluce had resented her for that. A part that now didn't know what to do. Shit.

Coam... was protecting him.

"You're right. What I meant was..." Nerluce said, correcting himself, "I helped Aristide learn to control the hear of his flames better."

Coam's lips twisted upwards and then back to neutrality. "Us Hebikotis have always been good at that."

"Aristide," Lord Father said, slowly. "That's... the little the stray that Ethera took in? The one without a family name so he took the High Priestess's."

"They call him the Angel of Death," Coam said.

Lord Father snorted. "What does a child like that know of death?"

A lot. Coam's eyes echoed the same answer. The two siblings looked at one another, both knowing the truth but neither daring to correct their father. A nobleman who had never seen battle outside of court halls. Someone who lived life comfortably with soft hands and softer morals.

Nerluce was a bit different now. He'd fought. He'd known the pain of a wolf sinking its jaws into his flesh. He'd sicced the hounds of death on someone who might've been a friend given enough time. Nerluce's hands were rough and his heart was aching. And soon, he'd be expected to ride into battle, to protect the people of the Hebikoti Clan and Itoroh at large. He would do it too. Without hesitation.

Looking across the room at his sister who was basically a stranger, he saw the same look on her face, the same burning in her crimson eyes.

Nerluce knew then, he needed to speak with her.