By the morning, we all tried our best to ignore the passing time and their continued absence. Training sessions helped.
(Hit)
"I got him!"
Demelza shot a near-perfect arrow, right through where the enemy's left eye was supposed to be. Pure luck, but she was understandably excited.
"Nice shot. You improve little by little. Fip, get some moving sticks." Saam asked his brother for some sticks and turned towards us. "Now, while Demelza and Eleanor continue the training they did until now, those five advanced get a new challenge."
His brother came back with a large, thin, wooden circle attached to a four-foot-long, thick stick. He gave a few to his brother, and they lifted it, waving them around. "...One... two. Shooting moving targets! C'mon, you're supposed to say it with me." Saam turned to his silently waving brother, who just ignored him.
Saam had enough of his silence and walked behind the bales we used for practice and knelt down.
"You will find shooting them much more difficult. Lylly, why don't you try a few."
I saw Fipna—well, not him, but the stick—slowly moving side to side while he hid behind ten feet of hay.
I stepped up behind the starter line, roughly thirty feet away, and nocked my arrow. It felt so natural now, mostly automatic. I wondered how the twins felt, how much they had to practice to reach that level so young. Maybe twenty-three to twenty-five years old?
I let the arrow slip from my fingers after pulling the string back, enjoying the resistance against my arm.
(SWISH)
Not even close. I might as well have taken a shot blindfolded. I tried a few more, and after six terrible misses:
"OKAY, STOP! I'm coming out."
Fipna lowered the targets and stood up after a few seconds. He was smiling, fully expecting this result. Saam took over.
"Don't worry, it was just to showcase it. Me and Fipna will rig them on clothing lines, and we can practice longer and safer." He talked, demonstrating with hand gestures the system that allowed the target to be pulled side to side. Fipna, as always, just imitated his much more vocal yet identical brother.
"In time, I promise each and every one of you will be marksmen just like silent Fipna."
We all wanted that, but...
"So you two decided to stay? I mean, stay longer for good, maybe?" I asked.
They exchanged looks. "It doesn't feel right to keep taking up space in your home. Lady Nifa and Cintia, Lord Carlos and little Ciren... it's a lot."
What a ridiculous line of thinking.
"We have five guest rooms. Hell, one of them is being permanently inhabited by that one and her family." I pointed toward a smiling woman just shrugging her shoulders.
"Brother said it's our home as well, and we can turn our old house... into... into... your new ones!"
She was shameless but had a great idea.
"She is right," I added. "Plus, the big training ground is right behind it, where Lucian trains the others."
Fipna stepped forward, shocking his brother and us in the process. "We will... pay for it."
Saam caught up first. "Absolutely. How much does a house cost around these parts?"
Demelza gave them the expected answer. "If you try, Alexander will be very offended. He wanted to thank you for teaching me, novice as I am."
Fipna nodded towards Saam, who accepted it.
"It would be rude to refuse such generosity. We shall thank Zephyr as well once he returns."
"Excellent. Now, let's work on the pulling system. We'll get the materials. Let's train until nightfall." I smiled, announcing it.
I wanted to distract myself; I wasn't worried, just annoyed more and more.
The others understood my underlying meaning, and by the time the torches needed to be lit, we had set up a basic system: a fifty-foot-long horizontal line six feet up in the air. The target circles hung on them and were pulled to imitate the heads of enemies.
Soon, it was dinner time, and still no sign of them.
"They're probably on their way as we speak."
It was late at night, but everyone was still up and in my house. We listened to Nifa but kept our eyes on the door. Mother was standing near the window. Lucian and Alexander were out checking on the guards stationed overnight.
"She is right. Even with his extraordinary speed, that kind of distance... it takes time. Also..." She pulled away from her wife and created a dramatic illusion of small dark clouds hovering above her.
"What is this!? Stop!"
Nifa kept slashing through them but wasn't affecting them one bit. "Why the theatrics, dear?"
Cintia walked over and pointed at me and my daughter. "As being the one responsible for this... Zephyr might do something drastic."
She was having fun watching her wife huffing.
"My artistry... my ability... is God approved and given. Nothing I do is something to be ashamed of or to fear its consequences—"
"IT'S THEM!"
Mother was close to the window and pointed towards the lake. I walked over—or wanted to—when a hand stopped me.
Nifa looked pale. "Let's undo it!"
"Wha—"
"THE HAIRS! UNDO THEM NOW!" She was both screaming and trying to be silent at the same time. "...Whoaaa! There you go."
She picked up a running Ilianna and panicked, twisting and turning about.
"I thought you said—"
"I know what I said, Cintia! But now he is here! He will blame me instead of feeling grateful. Go distract him with an illusion—"
She was late.
"Heeey! Whoa! Whoaa! What the hell!?"
His initial reaction was mixed, seeing his wife's new look and Nifa spinning with a blue-haired little princess with a panicked look on her face.
But he was home. Finally.