Controlling One's Emotions

Arsen and Konon heard the ending part of the two's heated argument. And so, worried for the lord of Arsida's daughter, Konon bowed to Arsen and chased after Tiriara.

Meanwhile, Aeneas stood there. Ashamed of what he did, but he was angrier. He continued swinging his sword, with more power than before. His eyes still glaring, but only towards the distance.

His older brother stood behind him, thinking of how to approach the situation. After minutes of conversing with himself while staring at Aeneas who was still swinging his wooden sword, he approached him.

"What happened?"

Aeneas acted as if he didn't hear his brother. 

With a cold-sounding voice, "Aeneas," Arsen said.

The boy stopped. He turned to look at his older brother, his eyebrows furrowed, breathing heavily for a while before he managed to control it and calmed down for a bit.

"I understand—"

"You say that, but you don't! You never will. Unlike me, you've never felt what it's like to lose," Aeneas blurted out without letting his older brother complete what he wanted to say.

"That's true," Arsen paused, looking at his brother with a serious expression. He sighed before his mouth formed a genuine smile, "What I meant to say is I know how you feel because you're my brother. I know how much effort you've put into your training and the frustration you must feel, even if you don't believe me, I feel it just by looking at you."

Aeneas gulped and wiped his eyes while trying his best to prevent more tears from forming.

"Little brother, you could talk to me. You know that, right?"

The boy turned to his brother. He nodded, dropped his wooden sword and wiped all the tears that escaped from his eyes.

"It's just… I lost again. This time, to a girl who doesn't even act serious in training and keeps on playing around. I lost… just because I don't have a Zeal."

"I see," Arsen walked closer to his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder, "The anger and frustration you feel is rational. There is no wrong to feel such emotions. It is part of being alive."

Arsen removed his hand from the boy's shoulder, "But, redirecting such emotions as rage towards a friend, someone that just wanted to be there for you, that's where you are wrong. I know that you know that, you are smart."

Although Aeneas still tried to hold it back, Arsen saw him sobbing. The boy's shoulder twitched with every intake of air from his nose. His anger dissipated. Slowly, the boy's mind began to clear. He knows that his brother's words are the truth and that the recent fight with Tiriara was all because of him. Arsen gave his brother time to cry it out. Then, when Aeneas looked at him, he spoke.

"Listen, baby brother, a man should never let his emotions take control over him. More so, a warrior must always be someone in control of his emotions."

His words echoed to the boy's head. Arsen leaned close to his ears, his mouth formed a bigger smile, and then he whispered, "Being controlled by emotions, is what women do," before chuckling.

The remark also made Aeneas chuckle. His eyes were still red when he looked at his brother and said, "I'll tell Mother and Lady Theresa you said that."

"Come on now. You can't tell on me. This is a sacred talk between brothers. And I was just mimicking father's words. He said it to me when I was younger." Arsen continued with a story of when his father told him those words. It was one of the times when Lyra was mad at Adrian for a trivial thing.

Their conversation was coated with laughter. In the end, Aeneas understood he was in the wrong and needed to correct it. Thus, an apology must be made to his friend.

"How should I offer my apology, brother?"

Arsen looked up, shrugged and said, "I don't have a clue," he continued that he didn't know how their father always wooed their mother when she was mad at him for a reason he didn't know, "I guess it's for you to figure out."

His answer left Aeneas unamused. So, even though Arsen has never been in such a situation before, he came up with an answer he felt would work, "But since you know that you are in the wrong, I guess a genuine apology paired with a gift that Tiri would love should suffice," he said.

Aeneas smiled, "Understood," he said, "I'll ask for forgiveness and give her a gift when she visits in the morrow."

Although Arsen felt like Tiriara wouldn't come in the next few days, he decided to agree and let his younger brother figure it out himself. He wanted him to make things right with his friend on his own accord.

When night came, sleep seemed to evade Aeneas. He stared at the ceiling of his room, thinking. His thoughts are composed of how to approach Tiriara and apologize to her. The boy tried to close his eyes and float adrift to his dreams. But, after minutes of failure, he decided to read a book instead. 

The book he picked was the copy of the one found in an ancient ruin that his mother gave him. It contained words used differently, and notes of Lyra which guesses what the writer of the book meant. One particular story Aeneas grew fond of from the thick book, was about a war so weird and foreign to him. It talked about monsters or beasts coming out from a torn fabric of space. A thought so bizarre not only to Aeneas but even to his mother who wrote question marks in the copy as a comment. The people fighting them use swords of light and tight battle suits the boy couldn't still fully imagine.

At the end of the page, Lyra wrote a comment stating a theory that the book must not have come from the ancient past, nor it comes from beyond the raging seas surrounding Nusterra. She explained that those monsters mentioned in the book must be from somewhere, and the fracture in space where they came out from was similar to that of a gate, but between far-off worlds. The last sentence of her comment was, "This uncanny book is either from a world different from ours or from an ancient great mind who managed to create such a detailed imagined world."

A portion of the book talked about people having a designated profession that gives them unearned proficiency. Such as a fighter being great with a sword, axe, and other melee weapons, a conjurer with magic, and a healer with healing. Based on the book, people were assigned these professions at a certain age; and whoever wrote the book pertained to these professions as 'classes.'

When Aeneas reached a part that was hard for him to understand, his eyes grew heavier as he tried. The sun greeted him the next time he opened his eyes. He was sitting at the table near the window and the lamp was still on.

Aeneas closed the book and washed his face. Then, he returned to the table and read a different one. He kept glancing at the door, waiting for Tiriara to come busting in. He was nervous when he heard a knock and the door opened. Alas, it was Issa, who was there to wake him up for breakfast.

"You're up early, Aenie," Issa said. "Have you washed your face?"

Aeneas responded with a smile while nodding his head.

"Then, let's go eat."

"Did Tiri come yet?" Aeneas asked.

Issa shook her head.

After eating breakfast. Arsen and the other knights were resting for a few hours, before proceeding with their daily training. Some of the knights were helping at the manor; caring for their steeds, the messenger birds and even watering some of the plants surrounding the manor.

The training started and Tiriara still didn't show up. Aeneas heard some of the knights talking to each other. 

"Is Lady Tiri not coming today, young lord?" Kyra asked. She was standing beside Aeneas, as they stretched their bodies, preparing for the training.

Aeneas shrugged, "I don't know," he replied.

Tiriara's loud presence has become a daily norm in the Caspius manor. Granted that it was a manor with a vibrant atmosphere from the start, it's as if the girl added a new level to that. Everyone felt how different it was without the giggling and shouting of Tiriara.

After the training, when most of the knights had left the grounds, Aeneas approached Donos.

"Do you have it, uncle?" he asked.

Donos nodded. He smiled and pulled out a bracelet, "Here, it came out great," he said.

It was made from the ivory of the cabro that attacked them from before. Its tusk was saved since it could be sold for a hefty price. Aeneas wanted to turn it into something and give it to Tiriara days after her birthday, but he wanted it to come from his own money, so it took long before he asked Donos to bring it to a craftsman and transform it into an ornament.

Researchers believe that cabros concentrate mana in their tusks, which is why it turned sturdy and was one of the toughest materials in all of Nusterra. It is also believed that since it attracts mana, it could increase one's magical prowess. Still, since no one could see mana nor feel it from the tusk, it remained but a theory.

"Uncle…" Aeneas muttered.

"What is it?"

Aeneas explained what happened between him and Tiriara. After that, he asked Donos if he thought that the girl would still come that day.

After giving it a minute of thinking, Donos said that she might not. 

"Should I go visit their manor instead?" Aeneas asked.

"I think so," Donos smiled, "But, maybe you should do it in the morrow. Give Tiri more time to become less mad at you," he said then blurted out laughing.

Nodding, "Right, I'll ask Elu to come with me in the morrow," Aeneas said.