Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"Instead of thinking too much during the sparrings, you should think before and clear your mind from all worries," Rain added. "I can't treat you two differently, and I guess it would be unfair to talk with you only, so I will do my best to talk with you daily about the things that trouble you, all right? When I am at home, you can always come to talk to me and share your worries.

I won't push you away."

"Okay, papa," Danny said, and he didn't seem that certain yet.

"All right, to prove that we aren't just father and son, I will teach you a code that we will use before talking alone," Rain said. "Before we talk, we will greet each other like this in order to confirm that we will talk like friends during those times."

Rain showed Danny a brofist, and then when their fists bumped, Rain pulled his hand and then raised his arm, making their forearms touch each other.

"This is the greeting of our brotherhood," Rain said. "Don't share it with anyone. We will have to select our members carefully, got it?"

"Got it," Danny said while smiling. It seemed that he found that cool as well. "Papa! Thank you very much!"

Danny left the garden while running with a smile on his face… Rain should have told him to clean the snort from his face. While shrugging, Rain felt some eyes on him and then found Terra looking at him from the window of their room, so Rain flew there.

"... I am sorry… I lost my temper," Terra said and then sat down on her bed before covering her face with both of her hands. "I am a poor excuse of a mother."

"I heard from him what happened. We are all a bit on edge thanks to the recent events, but I didn't think that such a thing would make you get this mad," Rain said.

"... I will apologize to him later… I just got mad because he makes me remember myself when I was a kid," Terra said.

Upon hearing this, Rain's expression shifted, and a frown creased his brow. That struck a chord within him, prompting a moment of confusion. The mention of Terra's previous lack of confidence seemed weird with his memory of her.

He vividly recalled their initial encounter when Terra was fifteen. At that time, she didn't exude any signs of being plagued by confidence issues. In fact, she portrayed herself as a mature and composed individual within their group, often appearing more assured and self-assured than the others.

This revelation didn't align with Rain's recollections of Terra from their earlier interactions. It sparked a sense of confusion, prompting him to reassess and reconcile the disparity between his memories of Terra's confident demeanor and the information presented to him about her past struggles with confidence.

"... That didn't look the case to me. Are my memories messy?" Rain asked.

"I didn't say that I was like that when I was fifteen, but when I was between five and ten years old," Terra explained. "I was a bit of a sickly girl and pretty clumsy too… I was never able to keep up with Asche, Liss, Jori, and Reca… I only gained a bit of confidence when I was able to learn healing magic, and that was essential for our group since the others weren't able to learn it at all." Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

"I see…" Rain crossed his arms.

"Annie resembles you a lot, mainly your scheming faces. I don't mind if one is a bit ahead than the other. That is only natural," Terra said. "But I don't want to hear either of them saying things like one is more talented than the other."

"... When did Annie showed a scheming face?" Rain frowned.

"She always shows that when she comes up with a battle plan to win the spars, just like you when you were about to defeat the adversaries," Terra explained.

"... I wasn't aware of that," Rain blinked several times in confusion. "I never showed her that kind of expression, though. Or did I?"

"I certainly hope not, or I will get mad," Terra said and then sighed. "Just remember me to calm down when you notice that I am getting stressed… I don't want to say something stupid like this again."

"Just hug both of them tightly, and that will be enough," Rain said. "They are only five, and they still have a long way before their character actually takes real shape. They only kids and will remain like that for years to come. Anyway, I am going to talk with Annie as well, she probably saw me talking with Danny and I don't want her to think that we have favorites."

"She is taking one very long nap… she is doing that since the spar ended and it almost dinner time," Terra said.

Annie certainly was composed… Rain felt relieved that she wasn't following a spartan training regimen like Rain's, but Rain hoped that she wouldn' get carried away because of winning some sparring sessions.

Rain left the room when he felt Danny's presence approaching. He didn't want to make things awkward and while it would have been heart warming to see them making up, he decided to give them that much privacy.

"Maybe I should make dinner today… it has been a while and I want to max out the Cook's path as soon as possible," Rain thought when he landed on the garden.

Just when Rain thought of that and decided to follow that plan and relax for the day… he noticed that the magic radio was vibrating. It was rare for Isa to contact him, so he wondered if something had happened.

"My apologies to calling you all of a sudden, but I have some bad news," Isa said. "I wasn't aware of this, but it looks like some of the people here decided to use the dust storm to investigate the world by themselves and they found your barriers."