After breakfast, Empress Hernia announced with the tone of a woman who had clearly already planned things out, that Zaiveil would spend her afternoon time touring the palace grounds properly, and that her brothers were, of course, welcome to accompany her, as long as they behaved by themselves.
"Mom! We're always behaving well!" Heriot said.
"You set a fire on one of our fountain hedge last month." Empress Hernia casually replied
"That was all Second Brother Zyver's doing!" Heriot said, passing the blame into his brother
"I was just near the hedge, not the one setting it on fire." Zyver clarified. "There's a significant difference between the two, Brother."
"Enough arguing, take a moment of a little rest, before bringing your sister around the palace." Emperor Zyron ordered, seemingly had lost all patience to his sons.
Then the tour began after a short while. They've explore lot's of places inside the palace, and then they walked upon the training ground of the palace knights who's training within.
It was the training grounds, where things
is all about fighting and getting stronger.
"Should we try a little sparring?" Heriot ask, looking towards the sparring circle, where several off-duty knights were running drills. "Just some little training, nothing serious."
Zaiveil considered things first before saying "Third brother Heriot, if they wouldn't join you, I will." Zai said it seriously but what she said made everyone hearinv it stunned
Zai eighteen years of assassin training hummed just beneath her skin, the muscle memory she'd never fully set down even in the whirlwind of the past few days. Now that she has a chance for a little training, she wanted to grab it.
"Third brother, I know how to fight." Zai said after seeing the weird looks her brothers were giving to her.
"Well little sis, you didn't have to." Heriot said dryly.
"Little sis, you just got back, I think you need a little more time to adapt first." Zyver said seriously, he personally think that sparring with Heriot would just hurt his beloved sister, so he's against of the idea of it.
"Zai, are you sure you can?" Zyrcus ask, he doesn't want to reject his sister idea but he still wanted to make sure that she would be fine.
"Let Zai do what she wants." said by Herox, supporting whatever his sister wants to do.
"But Big Brother, I'm afraid that i'll hurt her!" Heriot complained
"Third Brother you asked for it, who told you to have a big mouth and flaunt your strength." Zyver said whike gloating at his third brother misfortune.
Zaiveil stepped into the circle amidst her brothers conversation and Heriot complain.
She's curious about herself, If this real body of her is as flexible as the old obe she had in gaia.
Heriot didn't have a choice but to squared off opposite her, despite his reluctance his grinning in a way that made even Herox visibly brace for disaster within the sidelines.
"Sis, I don't wanna hurt you so, we'll do an easy sparring, I'll try to go slow as i can."
What followed wasn't a training exercise, it's more of a demonstration of how exactly an assassin instincts could override polite sparring etiquette.
Heriot lunged while Zaiveil sidestepped with the fluid and graceful movement. She caught Heriot wrist and had him face-first in the dirt before anyone around them could fully registered what had happened.
The training ground went silent.
"Well," Heriot said, from somewhere near the ground, his voice muffled against the dirt. "Sis, that's humbling."
Zyver burst out laughing so hard that he had to lean against a nearby post for support.
"She flipped you. Little sis, actually flipped you around." Zyver said while laugher is still bursting out from him
"I just let her," Heriot said, turninh himself round with as much dignity as a man face-down who looked like eating dirt could muster.
"Stop lying, you absolutely did not let her do that. You just really couldn't match her speed." Herox said seriously, though the corner of his mouth had betrayed him into a smile.
"Third brother, are you alright?" Zaiveil asked, extending a hand to help him up, a genuine concern briefly overriding her own startled amusement at what she'd just done on pure instinct.
Heriot took her hand without a second thought, allowing himself to be pulled upright by Zai. He brushes the dirt from his sleeves with as much wounded pride as he could salvage.
"Sis, remind me to never underestimate you again." He said with shame could be heard in his voice.
Heriot thought that he maybe lost to his sister but he's actually genuinely happy, knowing thst his sister has the ability to protect herself.
"Noted, third brother" Zaiveil said and there's a small, satisfied smile that curved into her lips.
After the little happenings in the training ground they continued on their tour. Then they reached the Alchemy Wing, their last stop on this tour.
They got here because of Zyver, who had been insisting on going there since the start of their tour.
The afternoon sun had softened into something golden and lazy, and Zaiveil found herself more relaxed than she could remember.
"This is where I do my best work." Zyver said grandly, gesturing towards the misty, vaguely swamp-scented interior of the alchemy hall.
"And this is where you lost those good cauldrons, second brother." Zyrcus stated
"That was just because of a little clumsiness, it can't reflect my overall skill."
Zyver led them past yhe bubbling cauldrons and shelves lined with labeled jars, some are glowing faintly while the others are emitting small, concerning wisps of smoke.
Until their reached Zyver's own station, it's cluttered with half-finished notes and what appeared to be several failed experiments in various states of solidification.
"I've been trying to perfect a stabilized version of the Vitality Bloom Pill," he explained, pulling out a small vial with visible pride.
"This is for faster recovery after consuming most of your charm energy in Elysium trials, training, battles and more. Do you want to see a demonstration?"
"Absolutely not," Herox said immediately.
"I wasn't asking you, Big Brother."
"Second Brother," Zyrcus said, in the tone of someone who had clearly had this exact conversation before, "the last demonstration turned Third Brother Heriot's hair, blue for a week."
"It happened for so long now. There was an improvement in this pill now." Zyver said. While he silently muttered the last sentence,"Besides blue suits him quiet well." But ws still heard by everyone.
"It wasn't suited for me at all! I looked like a startled peacock." Heriot said flatly with a hint of annoyance im his voice.
After Heriot said the last word, a sweet small giggle echo around the surroundings, that made everyone looked at a certain person.
All Zaiveil four brothers turned to stare at her, the way they always did when she smiled, as though each smile can brighten their day, and this time it was a miracle to hear their sister little laugh. they hadn't quite gotten used to her smiles yet, but now they even heard her small giggle.
"There it is, I finally heard it." Zyrcus said softly, there's warm and proud tone in his voice.
"What do you mean, Fourth Brother?" Zaiveil asked, wondering about what Zyrcus said.
"Nothing Zai, It was just, it's the first time that I heard your laugh, even though it was just a small giggle. It's still sounds nice, that's all." Zyrcus said while looking at zaiveil sincerely.
Zaiveil felt heat creep up her neck, unsure what to do with the sincerity in his voice, and just busied herself instead by picking up one of Zyver's failed experiments a small, lumpy pill that smelled faintly of burnt sugar and something floral.
"What does this one do?" she asked, avoiding her Fourth Brother
"Honestly? No idea," Zyver admitted. "I'm calling it a mystery until further testing."
"Don't test it on yourself," Herox warned.
"Then how would I know it's effect if i wouldn't test it, Big Brother." Zyver rebutted
"What a guy." Heriot muttered, while looking away in the scene of his brothers argument.