"NINI!"
Nyssara blinked. Then tilted her head, though her face was still expressionless, the others could see the confusion on her stoic face.
"Ni…ni?"
Chayrith bobbed his head up and down enthusiastically and pointed at her with his little, chubby finger, repeating himself clearly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Nini!"
Nyssara tilted her head to the other side, a thoughtful expression on her face. Then as if coming to some sort of monumental decision, nodded her head solemnly.
"Okay, I am Nini."
A smug smile plastered itself on Chayrith's face. He stood to his feet atop the throne, his hands on his hips in an arrogant pose as he nodded his head sagely before patting her head affectionately.
"Good Nini! Hehehe!"
For the first time, the cold mask on Nyssara's, now bestowed with the elegant name Nini, face cracked as her lips curled upward slightly. It wasn't quite a smile, but the warmth present beneath was evident to all watching.
But at that moment, something much more significant had sucked the air out of the residents of Skydorn Manor.
Kaelira's face was a kaleidoscope of emotions. Shifting rapidly from shock, to bewilderment, joy, and finally back to shock. Vairon wasn't much better while Meilan's brain had clearly rebooted quite a few times, yet every time her mouth opened she would blue screen once again.
"S-Stone-face, h-honey…Chayrith h-he…h-he's…"
Vairon nodded his head limply as he replied in a hushed whisper, "He's standing…on those little cute chicken thighs. He's really standing for the first time."
The air stilled as the significance of the moment sank in.
No one spoke.
No one breathed.
The silence hung over the courtyard heavily until a whisper shattered the stillness. The voice came from one of the elders from the Snow Heart party, her voice was quiet as she questioned one of her companions, but in the deafening silence, sounded like a bomb being detonated.
"Umm…is there something I'm missing here?"
And that was the final, lethal straw that not only broke the camel's back, but smashed it into gory bits under its weight.
The first to go was poor Meilan. The dutiful, caring nanny never stood a chance.
With a strangled cheer that was barely human, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted from pure emotional and sensory overload. She hit the ground like a sack of bricks.
Poor Marek cried in fear, thinking his mother had died. Unfortunately, when he turned to ask his Aunt Kaelira for help, he discovered she fainted standing upright.
Her eyes were closed as a peaceful smile graced her features as if to declare to the world she had no regrets.
And ever stoic Vairon?
Well, he was a stuttering, manic mess at the moment and equally out of commission.
"M-Maids! P-Picture jades, g-get the p-pictures! I-I, w-we n-need to s-save…"
Alas, like the fearless City Lord and deadly head maid, every maid in the courtyard had outright fainted. They lay together in a pile like corpses, dead to the world and having nightmares about their young master leaving with some vixen now that he can walk (he is still a baby), and telling them he doesn't need their love, bathes, or snuggles any longer (again BABY!).
They couldn't take it and the nightmares of their rebellious, grown up young master nearly caused them to cry tears of blood in their unconsciousness.
Karliah and the elders that stood behind her watched the chaos before with deadpan expressions. Not one of them said a word or moved, their minds struggling to understand what was happening.
"Gaboda? Ma, Da? Meimei? Dyy?"
"No. They are still alive."
A sudden babyish voice full of adorable allure, sounded in their eyes, followed by an ice cold tone that forcefully rebooted their brains as they all turned toward the noise.
Karliah awoke from her addled thoughts with a start, not even noticing when Nyssara had appeared next to her with Chayrith secured in her small arms. Not quite conscious, she questioned her disciple.
"What did you say?"
Nyssara lifted her indifferent gaze from the corpses littering the courtyard to her beautiful master. Her reply was just as cold as always, without a hint of fluctuation.
"I was reassuring Chay that his parents and nanny were still alive."
Hearing her disciples' matter-of-fact tone caused the ancient beauty's lips to twitch, but then something she said caught her attention.
"...Chay?"
Nyssara was no longer paying attention to her master. Her focus purely invested on making sure the birthday boy was comfortable within her arms, but still managed a small, curt nod in response.
Eyes widening slightly, a curious light consumed them as Karliah looked from her to the small child in her arms.
"You two are already so close? You have barely met for more than five minutes?"
There was a beat of thoughtful silence before an answer came.
"We…understand each other."
Karliah's eyes flickered with an unreadable light as she digested her words. She wanted to press her disciple for a more concrete answer, but seeing the content aura hovering around her as she held Chayrith. She decided to drop the matter. At least for the moment.
As she turned her attention back to the carnage within the courtyard, she felt a headache creeping through her skull. With a weary sigh, she began directing the elders to gather the fainted hostess and her aides and lay them somewhere more…suitable.
When her gaze shifted to the muttering, manic Vairon. She simply snapped her fingers and he vanished from the courtyard. Only for him to reappear moments later drenched from head to toe.
But significantly more sober, as his previous calm had somewhat returned.
"...Thank you Lady Karliah."
Karliah shrugged.
"Don't mention it."
It was at this most opportune time, that Aelshira the ice lioness burst back into the scene looking refreshed and content. A small smudge of power on the corner of her mouth being the only evidence of her crimes within the kitchen she had just escaped from.
"Your young, drop-dead gorgeous, heartthrob of a grandma has returned, Chayrith! Did you…miss…me…?"
Her spirited entrance came to a screeching halt when she fully surveyed the current state of the clearing. After a moment, she walked back into the hall before coming back, just to make sure she was in the right area.
Confirming she was indeed in the right spot, she raised a brow quizzically at Karliah.
"Mind explaining this?"
Karliah gave her an unamused glance before sighing internally, 'Nothing is ever normal with this family.'
It took a full fifteen minutes for Kaelira to regain consciousness. Her eyes fluttered slightly before opening and seeing the sky above, its beautiful blue tones now filled with majestic hues of purple and orange as the sun set.
She could feel two familiar presences nearby and even without looking she knew who they were.
"My baby can stand, huh?"
Vairon lay next to her, his expression a mix of joy and pride.
"Yup."
Aelshira, ever the agent of chaos, didn't hesitate to throw some salt in her disciple-daughter's eye.
"And he did it for another woman~"
Whether due to genuine fatigue or she had simply ignored her, Kaelira didn't respond to her provocations. Instead she lifted her head slightly to look the foundation across for her.
There, her son was standing and babbling to the arrogant disciple of her aunt, who was nodding along to his gibberish as if understanding every word. The two were gazing at a small butterfly that had landed on the fountain's rim, completely absorbed in their own world.
The sight would have been beautiful, were it not for the blindly jealousy that was consuming her right now. Just as she was about to call out to her son and snatch back his attention from the conniving fox holding him captive, a sharp crack stopped her dead.
THAWCK
"OWWW!"
Kaelira was hunched over and squatting in the grass, nursing the growing welt on her forehead as tears of grievance filled her eyes.
The culprit was lazily blowing on her finger as she cast a disdainful glance at her daughter.
"Stop being so pitiful, you are already an adult and a mother. Act like it."
Not daring to argue with the raging lioness, Kaelira could only stare at her with daggers in her eyes. Thinking of some way to get back at her, she remembered a certain fearsome maid under her family's employ.
Her senses instantly located her, but to her dismay, the source of her salvation was catatonic.
Meilan sat under a tree with the other equally depressed maids, her son held tightly in her grasps as she began muttering to herself.
"The young master would never abandon me for some hussy…never. Just a bad dream…a very bad dream. Countermeasures…yes! Countermeasures need to be put in place…"
Watching his mother spiral into an abyss of darkness, despair, and madness. Marek's innocent eyes blinked a few times before he did the only thing he could think of to help.
Lifting his childish arms, he began to pat her head awkwardly, trying to sooth her as she has always done for him whenever he was afraid.
Kaelira gazed at this dryly. She then turned to her husband, about to speak before his face suddenly darkened and he shot up from his laying position.
His sudden action startled her, but before she could ask she sensed something approaching them at terrifying speed. Adding that to the dark expression clouding her husband's face, she knew immediately what, or more accurately who, was coming.
It seemed like everyone could also sense the same thing, as all eyes were turned to the sky.
Aelshira had a gloating smile on her face as she turned to her son-in-law, clearly holding a grudge. After all, he had also not contacted her or visited in the past few decades.
Did he think she forgot? Humph! Did he not know where Kaelira got her stubborn unreasonableness from? Aelshira was a petty woman, and her pettiness knew no bounds!
As the unseen visitor drew closer, Vairon's expression shifted to a more complicated look. Closing his eyes, he took one deep breath before standing slowly.
When his eyes reopened, they held a sharp, heavy steadiness. The playful air around the courtyard was instantly crushed beneath the weight of his presence.
Just then, a large eagle broke through the haze of the horizon, approaching them at break-neck speed. Everyone in the courtyard, with the exception of Karliah and Aelshira, tensed.
Turning, Vairon was about to give out orders to his servants and guards, but before he could he froze, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
Nyssara was now standing in front Chayrith protectively, a shortsword held firmly in her grasp. But the faint tremor in her hand gave away the unease and fear in her heart.
Standing before them was a mountain of a man, and though his back was facing them. Vairon could instantly recognize him anywhere.
"...Father."