Chapter 24: Entangled.

"Oh well, my granddaughter is still the cutest!"

And it was after I heard those words from Alice's old man that I understood that the two of them were more similar than I initially thought.

"No way, Arthur, have you even seen my little Avys, look at her," he said while squishing my face, mildly annoying me, causing me to swat his hands away, "she's obviously the best!"

I couldn't stay annoyed for long as his words pleased me, but I looked at Alice and I had to admit that she was pretty, almost as much as me and this meant a lot.

But Alice, who seemed used to the situation, interrupted them before her grandfather could deny my father's words.

"Grandpa, she's the best, Avys promised to teach me the spells she used in the competition!"

The little bundle of excitement's words impacted the old man, it was the first time he heard his granddaughter refer to someone her age like that, she's always been the best among her peers, so finding someone that could relate to her like this was almost a miracle.

But the most impacted by her words wasn't the old man, but my father, he looked at me with his eyes widened.

He knew me better than anybody else, even better than mother and old man Sigmund, I had never accepted spending time with someone my age.

The only exception was Roman and that was only because I was using the poor boy as a sparring partner, mine with him was a purely functional relationship.

He looked at me quizzically, as if asking me if there was something wrong with me.

"She'll teach me what she did, she's better than me with lightning and water."

His reaction to my words was even more exaggerated, he seemed even more surprised than before and for a good reason, me admitting that someone my own age was better than me in an aspect of magic was something that had never happened before.

"Really?!"

"Yes."

At my confirmation he seemed to calm down, albeit surprise remained in his eyes, at least this didn't seem going against my character.

I always took every chance I could use to learn something new after all and this was no exception.

And after finally comprehending the situation father said, "Well, that's not a problem, but we need to leave for Bonehorn tomorrow, I don't know how much you can teach each other in this little time."

Hearing those words sent Alice in a panic, causing her to jump on me, hugging me forcefully and saying in an incredibly sad voice, "Noo, I want to stay with Avys!"

I wondered how and why she grew that attached to me after talking to me for just a couple of minutes and why did I accept her just as fast, even at this point, with her attached to me, I didn't feel the urge to separate from her.

I liked it even, this had never happened, the most I let father and mother touch me was patting my head and even that for not a long time, being hugged like this was a first.

And seeing me this docile was a first for father too, 'where has my fierce daughter gone?' his eyes seemed to say.

The old man, Alice's grandfather, who had remained silent, enjoying his granddaughter's antics with her new friend, finally opened his mouth once again, "What if you leave her with us until you come back, you'll need to pass through here on your way back anyway, don't you?"

"I don't know…" hesitated my father, he didn't know the old man well, but he knew that he was an old friend of Sigmund so he trusted him to a certain extent, "What do you want to do, Avys."

In the end, he left the choice to me, his daughter, I put my hand on my chin and thought about the choice in front of me.

On one hand, I would follow father on yet another trip to a city where he'd have to talk to them about the latest news from the outsiders and then come back.

I'd gain some more battle experience with the new spells I invented, but not a lot, after all I still had to perfect all of them.

On the other hand, I'd stay with a very exited girl my age in a city I never visited before, learning from her and teaching her a bit of my own things.

Well, the choice was difficult, but it'd definitely be a nice change of pace, I had been for so long in another city.

"I'd like to stay here with Alice."

His eyes widened slightly, but then a smile appeared on his face, "Sure dear, if that's what you want." and patted my head.

The old man, seeing as the decision was made, declared, "Seeing that the two little ones became such great friends why don't both of you stay at my house for tonight, I have a couple of spare rooms."

We already had one of the normal rooms for merchants from other cities, but a home would always be more cozy, "That'd be lovely Arthur, thank you."

"Great, follow me, my house is right beside Alice's, we'll ask her parents if she can stay at my place for the next few days or if they can take care of Avys until you come back."

"I don't need to be taken care of." I rebutted, but the girl still latching onto me looked at me with stars in her eyes for some reason.

But my father immediately caused me to change my mind, "Even if you don't need it, it would make me feel better if there was an adult there by your side, can you do it for me?"

This was basically forcing me to accept, "Yeah, sure, I'll let them take care of me, okay?"

"Perfect."

The conversation continued, but soon enough we reached old man Arthur's place, a three stories tall house, bigger than the normal houses around the city.

Alice took my hand and dragged me to the house right beside Arthurs.

"Here Avys, I'll have you meet my parents, you'll love them." to which words I didn't object, but she continued while barging into the house, "Mom! Dad! I brought a friend!"

"I'm in the kitchen dear." I heard a female voice say.

Alice dragged me with her to meet the source of the voice, "Hey mom, this is Avys, she won the magical competition."

I could see surprise as the older woman's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh, how come I never heard of someone so talented?"

"She's from Icerock."

"Nice to meet you miss, my name is Avys Winterridge." I finally introduced myself, being spoken for didn't sound right for me.

"Oh, where are my manners, my name is Arianna, nice to meet you too Avys."

"Where's dad?" asked Alice.

"He's out to get some wood, do you need something urgent from him?"

"Can we let Avys stay with us for a few days? Please?" She asked while using her cuteness to its fullest extent, leaving me very perplexed.

Why did she act like that?

Begging like that, where was the pride of a mage and how come I couldn't see it in her even if she was that talented?

But as long as I stayed there with her, I doubted I wouldn't be able to figure it out, so it didn't really matter for the moment.

"Why? I need a few more details than that."

But just at that moment we heard someone else entering the house, Arthur's aged voice said "Alice, are they home?"

"Only mom is." answered the girl, calling the old man and my father to come to the kitchen.

"Hey Arianna, this is the messenger from Icerock and little Avys' father, Laurence."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Laurence Winterridge."

It was really obvious that he was my father, we even used the same words when introducing ourselves.

"Nice to meet you too, my name is Arianna, but I don't have a surname, would you two mind telling me what is going on here?"

"Well, you see," decided to start Arthur, "it seems like our little Alice has taken a liking to Avys and doesn't want her to leave, Laurence will leave for Bonehorn tomorrow and will come back in around twenty days, I offered to take care of Avys for that time, but if she could stay here with you and Leonard it would be better for the little ones."

"I understand," replied the woman while turning to her daughter who was looking at her with puppy eyes, "I don't see any problem, I promise I'll take care of her if that's what they want, I believe my husband will be of the same idea."

"Yay, mom you're the best!" exclaimed Alice, finally leaving my side and jumping on her mother.

I looked down at my hand which was previously being held by the girl and felt somewhat weird, 'huh?' I thought, I didn't understand why I was feeling like that and wouldn't do so for a very long time.

"Thank you very much." thanked my father, knowing that I'd be taken care of by an actual family instead of by and old man who never had children put his mind more at ease.

The father of any other child would have problems with leaving his daughter with strangers for such a long time, but it was a different story with me.

He perfectly knew my power and that even if they did try to do something bad to me, which he didn't believe was a possibility in the first place, I'd be able to wipe them out with very minimal effort.

The night quickly came and Alice's father came home, he didn't seem to have anything against me staying there either, just like Arianna said.

He was a man slightly younger than my father, his name was Leonard, he had the same dark blue hair as his daughter.

Arianna, on the other hand, passed down to her daughter her blue eyes a shade lighter than her husband's hair, creating a very cute child with both hair and eyes blue in color, the only difference was in the intensity.

With his acceptance it was decided that I'd stay there until father came back and the night quickly came, that night, Alice decided that the both of us sleeping in the same bed, even if we had the opportunity to use different ones, was a good chance to increase our friendship.

Well, I didn't really mind at this point, not that I could object in the first place, she was already entangling me with her legs and hugging me, it didn't feel like I could refuse at this point.

The next day I said goodbye to father as he left, it was time for me to start teaching the girl.