Daily Routine

Aeneas stared at Tiriara while she was still humming as she flipped the pages of her book. He realized that she wasn't even reading the entire page and was just looking at random words.

"Who added that second verse you just sang?"

Tiriara turned to Aeneas, "I don't know," she said. After a brief pause, "What's kaos?" she asked.

 "Huh?"

The girl stood up and showed the word to Aeneas.

"It's read as 'Chaos'."

Tiriara was nodding with her mouth wide open, "What is it?"

Aeneas told her that the entire page was about Chaos. Discussing what researchers have known about it, including some theories that others find nonsensical. Tiriara looked at the words, she knew how to read most of it but didn't understand the whole picture the section tried to portray so she decided to return to her spot and read the page again.

"Never mind that. Who taught you the second verse you sang?" 

"My mother."

Young Aeneas's eyes glimmered, "Did she tell you where she learned it?" he asked while leaning closer to the girl.

His actions made Tiriara feel a bit weirded out, "Why're you suddenly obsessing about it?" she asked. Then, the girl smiled, "Oh Aenie, did you love my voice?"

The glimmer in Aeneas's eyes vanished. He did enjoy her singing, but as she teased him, he had the sudden urge to kick the girl out of his room. Still, his curiosity about the song lingered. He wanted to know who the great Wolf that was spoken in the song was.

"Is your mother home? I'll ask her instead," Aeneas said with a disappointed face.

Tiriara fell silent. She returned to her book and stopped swinging her feet, "She's gone," she said.

The boy felt bad. He knew the feeling of losing a parent. Although he wanted to know more about the second verse of the song, he apologized and decided to ask her another time.

"Mother's not dead," the girl said. Confused, Aeneas thought that Tiriara was playing with him, but he heard her sniffling.

"Did she leave?"

Tiriara nods, "But, I could meet her again when I become stronger than father."

Her last statement made Aeneas conclude that her mother must've passed and Chiliarch Chronis made the girl believe that by becoming stronger than him, she could meet her again. Still, Aeneas remained silent and didn't say anything.

With a last sniffle, "So Aenie, what's Chaos?" Tiriara asked.

Aeneas sighed, this time accompanied by a smile, "I already told you that it's written in there," he said.

"But I don't get it."

Having read that same book a few times, Aeneas explained how he understood Chaos. He said that the world is surrounded by two opposite energies, Mana and Chaos. Mana is responsible for life and magic, while Chaos brings about uncertainty and death.

"That book suggests that Chaos is not needed and gave some theories on how to eliminate it—"

When Aeneas turned, the girl had already fallen asleep. Laying her head on the book she's reading. The boy quickly stood up to rescue the book from the upcoming flood of saliva. He did it with care to not wake up the sleeping girl.

Without the humming and sudden questions, Aeneas continued reading his book in peace. Hours passed by as he enjoyed every word, sentence, page, and knowledge the book offered. When he looked out of the window, Aeneas saw the full moon shining its brightest light.

"The Great Wolf," he muttered. Then, he closed his book and prepared to go to bed. He's forgotten about the girl sleeping on the ground. At first, Aeneas walked beside her and to his bed. But, the boy felt bad and carried the girl to the bed while he took a pillow and a small blanket from one of his cabinets. Aeneas decided to sleep on the ground on the right side of his bed.

When the sun rose, Tiriara woke up from her rejuvenating sleep. She looked around and noticed that she was sleeping in a foreign place. In her head, she thought that it was inside their new manor at Heos. The girl then sat at the right edge of the bed, she wiped her eyes and yawned with her mouth wide open.

Tiriara stood. With her first step, she felt something and heard a groan coming from the ground. It was Aeneas. She stepped on his stomach which woke him up glaring at her.

"Sorry, I didn't see you," Tiriara scratched her head, "But, why are you sleeping there?"

Aeneas didn't have the enthusiasm to start a conversation with Tiriara as soon as he woke up. He stood up, stretched his arms and went out of the room. Tiriara followed him.

Everyone did their daily routine in the Caspius manor. Knights under Arsen would help with some of the chores in the manor such as polishing swords or chopping firewood. After breakfast at seven, they would train together with their captain. Eluard, as Arsen's squire, participates in some of the training sessions. Since he bears the keen Archer's Zeal, using a bow and arrow comes naturally to him so Arsen trains him more with the blade.

Although Arsen has asked Aeneas a couple of times to join them, he always refuses. He wanted to train without anybody seeing him. In his own stubborn way, the young Caspius wanted to prove that he could be a knight of his own accord without the help of his 'genius' brother.

Like everyone, Aeneas followed his daily routine. He went to his training spot after minutes of rest once he finished eating breakfast. This time, the playful girl followed him. At the back gate to the forest, she stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Is a knight not going with you?"

"No. You should go home as well," Aeneas replied, trying to remove his arm from Tiriara's grip.

"What if your sickness came back? What is your sickness anyway? I think we should bring Elu with us."

Wiping his eyes with his fingers, "It won't come back," Aeneas said, "At least not for months, or years." 

Tiriara's grip was still tight and Aeneas couldn't remove her hand.

"But..." Tiriara took a glance behind her. She saw Eluard standing from afar, "Let's just bring Elu with us," she said while pulling Aeneas.

Aeneas clicked his tongue, "I told you I can go alone, release me," he said. Yet he was dragged against his will and couldn't break free since the girl used her Zeal.

With a smile, Tiriara stood in front of Eluard, still dragging Aeneas behind her. The boy was embarrassed and couldn't look Eluard in the eyes.

"What's going on?" 

Tiriara took a glimpse at Aeneas. He averted her gaze as his annoyance with the girl started to turn to anger.

"Please come train with us," Tiriara said.

Eluard's eyes transferred to Aeneas who still didn't look at him. He realized what was going on.

"Don't worry young lady, Aeneas would be fine on his own. I'll be checking him out later."

"But, what if his eyes bleed again?" Tiriara said with a louder voice.

Same as Aeneas, Eluard's response was about his sickness being dormant for months or years before it came back. He told Tiriara not to worry. But the stubborn girl wouldn't budge. Her reaction made Eluard smile, seeing the two being similar in that regard.

Eluard brought out a whistle made of wood. He handed it to Tiriara, "Here young lady. Use it if something happens."

Tiriara blew the whistle, but the sound was weak, "Could you even hear this?" 

Before Eluard replies, his herax, Aero, flew towards them and landed on his shoulder, "It's for this guy. If you blew that whistle he would go to me and I will come to you as fast as I can." 

Amazed, Tiriara's eyes and mouth were wide open, "That's a smart bird. How does he know to call you if he hears the whistle?" she said.

"Stupid," Aeneas muttered.

Tiriara gripped his arm harder, "Why? Do you know?" she asked.

Aeneas made different sounds of pain, "Of course, and let go already."

The girl told him that she would let go of him if he gave her an explanation.

"Aero was trained to come to Elu if he heard the whistle," Aeneas said.

Tiriara nodded, "I see," she muttered before letting go of Aeneas.

On their way to the woods, Tiriara bombarded Aeneas with questions. Some Aeneas answered, while some he found so stupid he didn't even try. 

"You haven't answered about your sickness, what is it?" 

As it was the tenth time Tiriara had brought it up, "I also don't know," Aeneas answered.

"How is that possible? You just don't want to tell me, don't you? You know if I asked father about it, he might be able to help."

"I'm telling the truth. Only mother knows about it, and she's a researcher who's known in her field."

Tiriara smiled, "Then where's your mother? Maybe she could ask my father for help."

Aeneas told Tiriara that his mother went to Decatris. She went there because of her research and he was not sure when she'll return.

When the two were near the training spot, they could hear the sound of something smashing on a tree. The two of them stopped and approached the area with greater caution.