9, Adoption?

Etanali woke up with an aching body and difficulty breathing but his mood couldn't be any better.

He succeeded in forming his cores and now had access to magic!

When he opened his eyes he saw his mother beside him with a worried expression on her face.

"Hey mom." *cough* *cough* "Where am I?"

As soon as she heard my voice she enveloped me in a tight bear hug which made my labored breathing much harder, causing me to cough.

She let go when she heard my sputtering.

"You're at the clan head's home in a guest room. Do you have any idea how reckless you were! You've always been one to act first and think later but to make your father go through that! ..."

While my mom went on a rant I was ignoring the words she was saying and was focusing on breathing and looking around the room.

It was a nice room, with wooden furnishings unlike the stone ones that were commonly used, the carvings on them all depicted scenes of water ranging from rivers to waterfalls.

I was resting on the first wooden bed I had seen since my reincarnation.

It was infinitely close to the modern beds of my past life compared to what I would sleep on at home.

It was strangely almost too comfortable.

"Etanali! Are you even listening to me?"

My mothers voice put an end to my exploration of the room.

"Of course I am."

"What was the last thing I said then?"

With a goofy smile on my face I said.

"I'm pretty sure it was 'are you even listening to me!' right?"

"You cheeky brat"

She pinched my ear and spoke right into it.

"If you have energy to be this sassy you can get your butt out of bed and see the others."

Then with a harrumph she left my bedside and exited the room.

When she left the room Etanali exhaled strongly, having to consciously breathe sucks.

—

Inside a cozy living room there were two people sitting on padded wooden benches.

Between them was a clear crystal covered table with ornate depictions of a water system flowing underneath.

It started from a great winding river, down waterfalls and finally into a large body of water.

Sitting on the benches across from one another was Octatus and Etantos.

Between them on the table was a small array of fruits and cured meats and a pot of tea which had long grown cold.

There was a tense atmosphere between the two men and neither of them were speaking to each other at this point.

It was clear a vicious argument had gone on between them.

All of a sudden the tension between them was broken by a woman storming in the room.

Two pairs of glowing eyes shot to her causing her to come to a sudden stop.

Etantos opened his mouth to speak but he was interrupted by his wife before he could utter a word.

"Take your pissing contest elsewhere, your stupid reckless son is driving me up the damn walls."

Normally she would have noticed this was not a good time to interject fiercely but with her emotions riding high she was not in the mood to handle their nonsense.

Flaring her own eyes at them she spoke in a harsh tone.

"Heat up this bloody tea and both of you calm down. This stupid recless idiot of a son will be coming to join us soon and I refuse to say anything else to him."

In the heat of the moment she did not realize that she had just given an order to the clan head but it didn't seem like she would care if the creator of the world was sitting in the room at that moment.

Both men looked at each other and laughed, breaking the tension between them.

Etantos heated up the tea as his wife sat next to him creating a backrest for herself from the stone floor.

Meanwhile Octatus looked at her and asked.

"I take your temper tantrum to mean that Etanali is awake and well then?"

Etantos' wife Kaileen said nothing and just looked at him flashing magic through her eyes to make them glow while lifting the now warm tea cup her husband poured for himself.

This action made Octatus laugh as Etantos made a face as if he had been wronged.

Just on cue Etanali walked into the living room, he greeted his parents before turning to the elder and bowing.

"Greeting to the clan head from water, thank you for allowing me to stay here while I was out of it."

This caused Octatus to laugh heartily as the son's actions were so far from his parents earlier.

Realizing the boy was still bowed he spoke.

Please just call me Octatus, join your parents and relax. If I have my way we'll be getting to know each other very well."

Etanali sat beside his father as his mother hadn't even acknowledged his presence in the room so he inferred she was still quite mad at his earlier behavior.

"Dad, what does he mean by that? I do not assume he means to be intimate with me."

This sentence caused a multitude of reactions to happen simultaneously.

His mother did a splendid spit take, spewing her tea across the room and shattering the cup in her hands.

Octatus' face went ghostly pale and in a flash he was across the room waving his hands in front of his face.

Etanali's father on the other hand had fallen backwards and was laughing till the point he had tears falling from his eyes.

Meanwhile Etanali was sitting with a smirk on his face.

Several minutes later everyone was back in their original places, only Etanali had a palm print on the side of his face and his mother was nursing a hand while drinking her tea.

"Octatus I believe you should clarify your earlier words so Etanali would take pity on our poor hearts."

Kaileen nodded her head at her husband's words.

"Since my own son had failed his core creation and my wife passed away giving birth to him. I would like to adopt you into my own family and raise you as my son."

He had barely finished his words when Etanali was on his feet with glowing golden eyes.

"I'd rather die than do nothing as I lose my family."

He spoke in an emotionless voice, this surprised both his father and octatus.

In the palms of his hands wind was beginning to gather in a spherical shape.

This raised the curiosity of both adults.

During all of this Kaileen was in her own world enjoying the tea and snacks having made earthen earplugs to ignore the ruckus her son was bound to cause again.

Octatus watched this pitiful display with an amused expression.

When he thought Etanali had enough fun pretending to be vicious he waved a hand.

The concentrated wind which had been built up in his palms dissipated gently stirring up a calm cool breeze in the room, meanwhile 3 tendrils of stone rose from the ground wrapping around each hand and around his waist.

Etalani was pulled back into a seated position and was rendered as helpless as a babe, despite his fierce display seconds before.

"Now before you begin yelling something heroic or whatever nonsense will come out of your mouth next sit, and listen. Do I need to restrain you?"

Realizing the magnitude of his inappropriate behavior Etanali shook his head in response.

"Good. Now that was a rather cute spell, but it does have some potential. But back to the topic at hand. I would like to absorb not only you, but your parents as well into the lineage of the clan head."

Etanali looked to his father and asked him what he meant.

"Etanali what Octatus is asking in a long winded roundabout way is whether or not you would be willing to assume the position of his heir."

This hit him like a brick to the head as he looked incredulously at Octatus in front of him.

"So you want me to be your inheritor?"

"Well it is a little more complicated than that and it is a crude way to put it, but yes. Etanali I would like you to be the next clan head and would have you be the heir to water."

Silence descended in the room, aside from the small sounds from Kaileen enjoying her snacks.

This went on for several minutes where no one spoke as both men waited for Etanali's response.

'Well I already am supposed to be the dragon's inheritor, hopefully this one won't have any interference. If there is ill just abandon it. If I had to choose between water and that crazy dragon in the storm I'd definitely choose the dragon."

"I will accept the inheritance of water."