Do not forget.
I have shown you mercy.
It was these words he would not forget.
It was this time he finally acknowledged it.
It was that sensation within his heart that he allowed to overwhelm him.
“Have I shown you too much mercy?” came the warning.
Under the starry sky, the lights basked the world in a gentle glow, yet the half elf’s eyes were of fae nature and he could see as though it was light as day, and he could hear the warning as clear as day, and though her eyes were tinged with tiredness, the glare was bright as day.
“D-dear…” Adam replied, and he quickly wrapped his arms around the girl, plucking her from her mother’s arms, and peppered her with a myriad of kisses, the girl raising her finger, causing her father to stop.
“Did I say you can stop?” Jirot asked, her brows suddenly raised, and she awoke with a sudden viciousness, until her father relented once more, apologising with countless kisses. “You must kiss my papas and kakas too!”
The half elf could not refuse his daughter’s words, and he did not even dare to think that he was going to do so already, for if his daughter was already at her limit, and should he reveal himself a fool, perhaps she would burst.
“Do you know what you have done wrong?” Jirot asked, yawning.
“I stayed out too late?”
“Why you are saying it like you are asking a question?” Jirot raised her finger once more, and this time she swung it down towards her father, as though she was about to split the world in half. “You think! You think I will not? You! You think I am not Jirot?”
Adam’s face remained tense, for if he burst out in laughter at this time, he was certain he would not survive the girl’s wrath. “My deepest apologies!”
“If you do this again…”
“I won’t.”
“Oh? I dare you, daddy! I dare you!”
Konarot’s face remained tense, so did Kirot’s, and Karot covered his eyes, doing his best not to listen, and even little Jarot side eyed his greatfather, the pair mirroring the fool’s expression.
“D-dear…” Adam scratching his chin lightly. “I… I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m doing my best for you and your papas and kakas, and for mummy too, and even for your kako Taygak, and your nano Gangak, and…”
“What did you do?”
“It’s a surprise?”
“Daddy! You are really pissing me off now!” Jirot snapped, her voice a shout of a whisper, and she reached out with her finger to poke her father, but thankfully she was within her mother’s arms once more, her mother was so wise, keeping her just out of arm and finger’s reach. However, the woman’s lips were just like her children’s and husband’s, each forming a tiny circle.
“Dear! You cannot say that!” Adam replied back, reaching out to hold his daughter once more, the girl pressing her finger against her father’s cheek. “You cannot say that! You cannot!”
Jirot, seeing her father’s tears, the half elf doing his best not to burst out in laughter, side eyed her father. “You dare?”
“Just because it’s really funny, that doesn’t mean you can say it!” Adam declared, hugging his daughter tight within his arms, swaying from side to side, until he began to laugh into the night sky, quickly encompassing even his son, who clutched at his collar as the trio embraced so tightly. “You silly girl!”
“You are so silly, daddy!” Jirot declared, holding onto his other collar, and though she bullied her father so deeply for his mistakes, she held onto him to tightly, and made sure to hug him tight.
“You must allow your father to apologise, so tomorrow we’ll go somewhere really nice, okay?”
“Okay, okay…” Jirot let out a huff, but almost immediately, after having riled herself up, grew limp within her father’s arms, snoozing immediately within the fortress of her father’s arms.
‘Jibaby…’ Adam thought, and as he turned to look to his son, he managed to catch the boy peeking at his face, and after exchanging smiles, the boy also cuddled into his father’s chest and began to snooze away. His eyes then darted to his wife, flinching as the woman pinched his nose.
“How dare you bully my daughter,” Vonda whispered, holding her husband’s gaze, who slowly flushed red. However, she knew she was safe, for he would not dare to try anything with Jirot within his arms.
As the half elf returned to his room, with his triplets following after, the trio of elderly settling themselves nearby, and a handful of Iyrmen remained nearby, there were others whose hearts were full of this awkward malaise.
Elif wasn’t sure what she was meant to do after watching the half elf fight, but seeing Maharan step aside to train in the evening, she followed him, who himself was following Taygak. Meanwhile Jurot brought Pam to their own room, in which they were spared the mercy of little Lanarot, who entrusted the matter of her brothers to her niece, and so had went to sleep with her mother.
“Should I not train too?” Pam asked, and with as the cool air of the estate filled the room, she began to wipe off the light make up.
“There is no need,” Jurot assured, stripping out of his clothes day clothes, setting them aside to be washed, and though he had fought someone like the Pious Sword, he had managed to defeat the man with such a swift viciousness he felt as though he could fight another. However, he sat to one side and began to meditate, for thought even walking beside the half elf would turn a commoner into an Expert, Jurot needed to recall the swordplay of the Pious Sword, to carve it deep into his heart.
Pam brushed through her hair, her eyes upon her husband, noting the way his muscles twitched within his thoughts. ‘He is an Iyrman…’
As she finally slipped into bed, she noted the giant mountain that was her husband’s back, still lost within his thoughts. She blinked, wondering what he was thinking about so deeply, but eventually she closed her eyes, falling asleep, deciding against thinking about what she saw that day.
As Elif made her way to take a quick dip in the bath too warm herself for the evening, she left Maharan and Taygak behind, as well as another Iyrman who was currently in the middle of her own meditations. Maharan could hear the heaviness within the teen’s sword.
As Taygak swung her blade, following her family’s way, she recalled the way the half elf had held her gaze.
‘Do not forget. I have shown you mercy.’
Taygak held no doubt within her mind about what the half elf had meant. It was a set of words meant not just for his children, it was also for the sake of the Gak family he spoke. They were words he had said as the grandson of Gangak, Flame Brand, who had been forced away unceremoniously from the land.
The sword remained heavy within her sword.
It was the half elf who had named his own with such a word.
Heavy.
Taygak glowed with the sheen of sweat, and as her eyes rose towards the sky, she wondered just how far the sky was from her. It was she, a Gak, who knew that the sky that others threatened to pierce was far, even standing atop the peaks of the mountains of the Iyr.
Her sword would not reach the heavens, for it was that heavy, this sword that the half elf had enchanted and gifted to her. However, as she raised her sword towards the sky, her eyes remained glued to the tip of her sword.
Maharan, feeling the air grow colder, and feeling the grave aura emanating from the teen, decided to step away, feeling the unseen eyes of the various Iyrmen around her, though the red skinned Iyrman’s eyes remained on the young teen who was her brother’s granddaughter.
Gangak smiled sadly towards the young woman, but she allowed Taygak to choose her own path, for the responsibility for the rise of the Gak family was not dependant on a singular figure, not herself, not Taygak, not even Adam.
However, it was not just Taygak who thought so deeply of such matters.
As Kitool remained meditating in the corner, for unlike Jurot, her bout with Meek Dragon had been close. It wasn’t a problem for their bout to be so close, for the woman fought a great warrior, one whose greatest strength was her great might, her great strength, for if she had fought Pious Sword, perhaps she would have had a greater showing. It was also her greatest strength that she was greater at facing the likes of weaker individuals than even Jurot.
However, soon, once the group takes the next step, even Jurot, who could no doubt defeat her with relative ease as she was now, may find it difficult to defeat her.
Perhaps, even Adam would be unable to defeat her quite as simply as he defeated the various Fariqi of the land.