"I'd say you boys have done enough for the day," the hostess' husband said, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. "There's not much left to do since everything is put away for the winter, but thank you for helping with the animals."

The teens had long since ditched their cloaks in favor of keeping them clean. The pieces of leather armor they wore beneath were sufficient enough to keep them warm as they stored away hay bales and washed stalls.

"No problem! It reminds me of some of the things I did back at home," Gath chirped. "Well, until I was accepted into Gunford. And then Carvolier."

"Yes, speaking of your dragons—" The husband looked back into the barren fields where the teens' dragons roosted, basking in the sun. "—They did a good job in giving the cattle a day off. How did you train them? Don't you only use them for flying?"

"Dragons are highly intelligent, actually," Carthadeus said. "They understand you as well as we do, even if they're young dragons. It sometimes takes them a while to get used to a saddle or harness, but they're much more than animals."

The husband grunted in response. "Never got a close look at a dragon before. Never wanted to, either. But that explains why the purple one seems to have an attitude like a stubborn mule."

Nagan sighed at that.

"Anyway, go ahead and enjoy the rest of your day." The husband gave them a mock salute before shooing them. "I'm sure they don't even let younguns like you have much of a break in the army, do they."

A few more pleasantries and goodbyes were said before the teens moved away from their hosts' small farm, not even bothering to collect their cloaks. It was a bit too humid for them, anyway. There was still a chill in the air, but the further south they went, the less it was apparent.

"Everyone's acting like we're overworked, but I don't know about you guys, but this is better than back in Carvolier," Gath began as they all walked around the village.

"I'm sure Professor Fai has something to do with that," said Az. "He's always been against the idea of us being here in the first place."

Nagan was about to say something when Aitor bumped him with his elbow, nodding in a certain direction when Nagan turned to see what he wanted. A few hundred feet away from them was Blaine carrying a basket of clothes. Georgivus' clothes to be exact, judging by the shining materials. However, the little brat was nowhere to be seen. The teens glanced at each other, silently asking the same question before Carthadeus shrugged and began walking up to the older young man. The others followed suit.

"Blaine!"

Blaine jumped when Gath shouted his name—as did the other teens for that matter—but gave them a friendly smile when he saw it was just them.

"Ah, the bodyguards have arrived," he said as they approached.

"W-What ar—re you d-d-doing?"

An obvious answer, but Blaine told them, nonetheless, readjusting the basket in his arms before continuing down the path, signaling for the teen to follow him as they continued the conversation.

"I'm catching up on laundry for his Highness. We all don't exactly have the luxury to do any real cleaning, but so far he hasn't noticed if I've done it properly or not when I spray some rose water on everything afterwards." Blaine grinned over his shoulder. "He's still a child and can't tell the difference."

Recognizing that they were heading to the stream that ran near the village, Carthadeus said, "Wouldn't the water be murky from the storm?"

"If the storm came from upstream, yes, but I was told the storm came from the west and went south downstream. It may be a little muddy, so that's why I left the whites for another day."

"You know, aren't you supposed to be with Georgivus at all times?" Az asked.

"He needs guards with him at all times, which I have stationed." Something glinted in Blaine's eyes that the teens could only describe as calculating as a subtle smirk tugged at his lips. "Their names have been locked into my memory as well as our location in case anything were to happen to him."

A shiver ran down the teens' spines, and they mentally noted not to get on Blaine's bad side.

Blaine cleared his throat. "That, and I'm taking a much needed break. I'll need to compensate the Mayor's servants after this."

Aitor and Gath couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out from them, but Nagan didn't even bother hiding a snort.

"Are we disturbing you, then?" Carthadeus asked sincerely, already motioning for his squadron to leave the other alone.

"Hm?" Blaine paused, giving them a perplexed look when it dawned on him what Carthadeus was asking. "Oh! No, you're alright. I don't mind company nor solitude, I just need a break from all the demands. Which won't be hindered if you follow." He glanced down at their clothes. "And I'm sure you would like to at least get the mud off your boots. Did you get sent to the fields?"

"Worse, the stables," Gath jokes, picking up the pace again. "But compared to a dragon's stable? It was a breath of fresh air!"

The teens groaned at just the thought of cleaning a dragon's stall, Aitor faking a retch for emphasis. Blaine laughed at that, setting down his basket on a boulder near the stream when they arrived.

"I can only imagine. There was a dragon stable at the castle in case any Dragonmages visited, but they weren't used very often. Perhaps maybe once when Hecatite's king stayed to sign a new trading agreement and brought a couple Dragonmages as guards. It took a week for the stench to clear the air."

There was a pause in the conversation as Blaine began washing clothes and as the teens waded in the water—Az and Carthadeus staying behind to light a small fire they knew they inevitably would need later on.

"So, where are you boys from? It's a bit ironic that we've spent all this time together and yet I still don't know much about you," Blaine chuckled.

Nagan thought it was a bit hypocritical for Blaine to call them boys when the former wasn't all that much older than them. Blaine was in his early twenties, at least, but Nagan didn't get to voice his opinion as Az began to speak.

"I'm from inland, just east of the capital. Availles, if you've ever been there?"

"In passing, but it's certainly a beautiful region."

"It is! Originally the Arclovens are from much further north at the foot of the mountains, but my father is from a small town in Availles and my mother wanted to live somewhere warmer."

"'Someday I'll be able to sell this house and leave behind this snow-damned area,'" Nagan quoted. "Courtesy of Aunt Cilara about the original family villa."

"You're paraphrasing that."

"I wish I remembered the whole thing! It was glorious!"

"Do you have any siblings?" Blaine asked.

"A younger sister, but she accounts for at least two other siblings," Az chuckled.

"Ah, I know that feeling quite well," Blaine laughed.

Blaine began handing articles of clothing to Gath, who insisted on helping. It wasn't long until everyone joined in, some physically helping with the washing while others looked around for branches to make drying standings. Professor Fai would've scolded them for how they were treating their swords, but what Fai didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"And what about you?" Blaine motioned to Carthadeus. "I know your surname is Honoria and you're of the main branch. You live...by the coast, correct? I know that the Honorias have a trading company, but I'm not sure if that's also part of the main branch."

"No, the trading company belongs to my uncles, but my father has invested in it since it's still a family business. My father focused on being a chairman in the Council of Thirds, primarily, hence why he couldn't take on the business himself." Carthadeus paused. "I had an older brother. He's not dead, but he isn't quite...welcomed anymore."

Az grimaced at that. "I always wondered about that...If you don't mind me asking, how...did you react to that?"

"I wasn't close to him because of the age gap."

Realizing that Carthadeus wasn't going to say much more about the subject, Gath moved the conversation along.

"Well, unlike you rich boys, I grew up on a farm. My parents weren't mages, but there have been mages in the family before so it wasn't that much of a surprise when I began showing magic potential." Gath laughed lightly. "They didn't know what to do with me at first, but then I was accepted into a magic academy, and that solved some things. I felt kinda bad for leaving my parents and sisters on the farm, but they've been really supportive of this."

Aitor nodded along. "I-I-I-I'm from—m the-the c-coast, t-t-too. But-but-but South-th. A sm—maller mag-ge famil—ly. I-I d-don't-t-t h—ave any-any s-s-sibling-gs, b-but I have l-l-lots—s of-of-of c-cous—sins."

Aitor then motioned for Nagan to finish the story when he began carefully splitting a branch to create a Y.

"As I've been told, he was almost sent to another magic academy in Hecatite, but then Carvolier said they wanted him there, and the rest is history. We didn't really see much of each other until flight training, though, since Carvolier set him in focusing on his specialty."

At that moment, Aitor cast his vines to hold together the makeshift drying rack.

"And you?" Blaine said to Nagan. He didn't want to be too nosy, having long since sensed that the subject was a delicate one, but he couldn't keep the curiosity from his voice. "You are rather a bit of an enigma. You're one of the original three families, but it's been eluded several times that you spend much of your time with the Arclovens."

"If you're alright with that, that is," Az quickly jumped in.

"Oh, certainly! I don't mean to pry."

Nagan waved his hand in a dismissive gesture to calm them down. "It's alright. I'll just leave out the details."

•___________________________________•

I feel bad cause this chapter did not advance the plot in any way ( T^T ) but it was getting long and I was worried the next scene would be too short so I. Did this. I did a thing and I'm not particularly happy with it XD

...I'll try to get the next chapter out in the next couple days since it's technically half complete. If I don't, then—well, heh. I am a terribly inconsistent writer.