Broken Home

Lyra jogged toward her home at a chipper pace, excitement flowing through her. She had stumbled upon a cave near the dungeon as she explored the northern forest bordering the mountainside. It was about a quarter mile west of the dungeon's entrance, and she had only noticed it out of sheer luck. She had followed the river that ran north of the town in the hopes that she would find a waterfall. While she hadn't found what she was looking for, since the water ran along the side of the mountain for a long while, she had encountered the cave opening on her way back.

She waved at a few people as she neared her home, the familiar faces growing in number the closer she got. Her father was a well connected member of the clan's standing army, and he was at the peak of the Stone Soul. This had led to her getting nicer treatment in her youth, and she had taken full advantage of it. Lyra loved figuring people out, understanding them on a deeper level. It was part of why she enjoyed fighting so much. She felt that she learned the most about a person based on how they fought.

Each person she encountered felt like a personal challenge, someone to crack open and read like a book. She could admit that sometimes having such an aggressive personality could be troublesome, but it also provided many benefits. She felt that she had a solid grasp on a person's personality rather quickly after meeting them. It was this self proclaimed talent of hers that had warned her that Bamor was not a stable person. The Stone Soul clansman her father had brought to court her recently had almost immediately given her bad vibes.

They way that he stood and looked at the people around him was almost predatory in nature, not even mentioning his large stature. When her father had brought him into their home it had set her teeth on edge, and if she could have felt chi at that time she imagined it would have been unsettling. She had done what she did with all of the other suitors her father brought to her, and turned him down. This had been the fifth one this month, and he handled it much worse than the others. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know who he was at the time. Her father had yelled at her that night, ranting about the family honor being tarnished by her unwillingness to find a suitor.

Bamor was actually Bamor Astaire, the cousin of the chief's son. In refusing him, her father believed that their family would fall in the eyes of the clan. She had gotten really angry and yelled at him back, which only made things worse. It wasn't the first big argument she had ever gotten into with her father, but it had ended badly. She had almost been ready to go on a date with the man just to shut her father up when he had threatened Kantan.

Her father had gotten red in the face screaming about her friendship with Kantan, and how she needed to marry into a strong family. Knowledge of what had happened to Kantan's parents was common, and her father had always believed his family weak for dying during a demon hunt. He believed a true Astaire clansman could best any demon they should come across due to their training and resistance. Lyra had stormed out when he insulted Kantan's family, and she had stayed the night at one of the local inns to give both herself and her father time to cool off.

With the thoughts of her fight with her father weighing her down, she slowed to a normal walking pace. She was close to her home anyways, and wanted to settle herself before she confronted her father again. It only took another minute or two to reach her home, and she found that her father wasn't there. A part of her felt relieved that she didn't have to dredge up the fight, part of her knowing that her father wouldn't change the way he thought about her best friend. Remembering what she was initially coming home for, she set out for her cave exploring supplies.

She didn't specifically have supplies for exploring caves, but her father maintained his militia supplies and she knew those would work just as well. Lyra knew that he was on border patrol this part of the year, so his dungeon gear wouldn't be needed. Rummaging through his delving kit rewarded her with a glow-stone bracer that would light up her surroundings by using the ambient essence in the air. There were other types of essence based constructs like the bracer, but this one was meant to leave the hands free for defending oneself. She didn't think that they would have to fight anything dangerous off, but she liked to be prepared.

She grabbed her twin blades and attached her sheath to her back. It was a belt with a flat back edge with crisscrossing sheathes that the blades sat in. Her blades weren't the longest, her elbows only barely bumped into them as she walked. Lyra had found that the shorter blades allowed her to swing faster, focusing on deflecting attacks rather than taking them head on. Her lithe and agile body allowed her to outpace most of her opponents.

Once she had collected the main exploration tools she could think to bring, she left the house. As she walked out, the door trailing closed behind her, she ran into her father, returning from his morning shift near the border. It startled her slightly, and she could feel the anxiety of confrontation begin to seep into her. Her heartbeat picked up and she could feel her hands clam up, but she did not get nervous. "This is just my body preparing for war. I should heed its call." Her father had drilled fighting into her from a young age, his military experience providing a strong background for her training. Hardening her resolve as she looked up to him, she nodded with an air of confidence. "Father."

Her father wore a hard expression, and his arms were folded. He only regarded her for a moment before his face seemed to harden farther. Her father's eyes quickly flickered between the various pieces of gear before settling on the bracer on her left forearm. "Where do you think you're going with my delving bracer?" His voice was calm, unsettling her more than if he had been yelling. She was used to his voice being raised.

Lyra wasn't one to back down in a fight though, so she straightened her back and lifted her jaw in opposition. "I've invited Kantan out to the northern woods and I wanted to be prepared for nightfall in case we lost track of time." She knew her words would upset him, it was her goal in fact. If she didn't show that she would stand up to him than he would snuff her out by sheer force of will.

A soft pulse of air shifted around her father, rustling both of their clothes as his aura shifted. Lyra had long since recognized the affects of her fathers chi, the air aspect flowing through him often leaked out when he became emotional. "You know I don't want you hanging out with an honor-less failure. What do I have to do to show you that Korellions' are unworthy of you!" Anger was clear on his reddened face, the veins in his neck pulsing in time with the shifts of wind that his presence fueled. He loomed like a thunderstorm above her smaller frame, having taken after her mother.

"You need not prove anything, as it is impossible to prove a falsehood to be true. You speak of nothing but old traditions and false honors." She could feel the venom in her words as she threw them at him, "They at least had the decency to die for this clan, fighting demons the likes of which you could not even stand near without finding yourself broken under their auras. What have you done besides walk a border that hasn't been attacked in over a decade. Where is your so called honor! I dare you to say your words in front Alistar."

She knew she had gone too far as soon as the words left her mouth, but she was just so angry. Her father had hated Kantan and his family for no good reason, and Lyra was tired of hearing him slander them without reason. She knew bringing up Kantan's grandfather would stop him, like it always did. Alistar Korellion was one of the shining stars of the clan, and also Kantan's grandfather. As one of the three sapphire ranked warriors in the clan, he was one of the main reasons they hadn't been attacked in so long. Alistar used a very rare aspect that was incredibly dangerous, and easy to replenish. Sound. Sound was always present, even when one was alone you could find it.

When the Korellions had joined the clan everything had changed, especially when it came to the tensions the Astaire clan had with its neighbors. At the time the Astaire clan only had two sapphire warriors compared to the three most of their neighbors had. When Alistar came with his family and joined the clan it had created over a decade of peace. He had single handedly fought two other sapphire warriors in a border skirmish that had led to the death of the chief of the Three-Sword clan.

A moment of anxiety sprouted within her when she could see that her father remained quiet. Too much time passed before her father finally responded, "Be on your way then. My words will ring true, and when they do you will return. Only then will you understand." A sort of fire was set in his eyes, a determination that unsettled her deeply. When she noticed that the air around them was completely still, almost charged, she turned and jogged away.