Zerra widened her eyes in pleasant surprise. She would have thought that they would take a while to come even if they had promised so, but unexpectedly, they visited so soon.
"Come inside." Zerra opened the door wide like an excited squirrel.
"You haven’t had lunch, right?" She asked as she led them inside.
The visitors were Isryn, Eryx, and Sally.
"Is everything alright here, Zerra?" Isryn asked. "We got the address of your parents’ house from the main base."
"Of course." Zerra smiled. "My parents are still in the kitchen. They will be here soon."
Laziel had just emerged from the kitchen when he saw the guests. Seeing his friend, he was also in a good mood after Zerra tortured him to wash dishes again.
"Eryx, how are you?" He instantly pulled his friend away.
Now, there were only three girls in the living room. Zerra went to the kitchen briefly before coming back, informing them of the guests.
She turned to Isryn. "Did you find your relatives here in the Capital?"
Isryn’s face crumbled for a moment before she forced a smile. Sally took her hand and rubbed her shoulders. Zerra quickly noticed something wrong with her.
It was Sally who helped Isryn to answer. "Isryn and Eryx didn’t find their parents."
"Yeah," Isryn nodded. Her eyes were extremely exhausted. "My aunt refused to tell me where they are."
She didn’t talk anymore, and a heavy atmosphere settled in the room. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveI[F]ire.net
"I am really sorry," Zerra muttered, at a loss. She wasn’t good at finding words to comfort others. There wasn’t much she knew regarding the Ashborn family.
However, she didn’t miss the flash of dislike in Isryn’s eyes when she mentioned her aunt. There seemed to be an internal feud within the family.
"It’s alright. The base is helping me to find them." Isryn exhaled. "I am now living at the base. If you come there, you should visit me, Zee."
Zerra nodded. She saw Cassias’s cue from the kitchen’s door threshold and invited them.
"The lunch is ready. Let’s go." She took their hands and led them to the dining room. While they exchanged pleasantries with her parents, she went to call her brother and Eryx.
They were in the backyard, practicing their powers. She blinked in surprise when she saw them combining their abilities.
Because of Cassias’ teaching, now Laziel could form brief water blades. A few seconds, but it was enough to cut any enemies who weren’t far away from him. Unfortunately, his range was still too short, around one meter.
Eryx’s power was wind. When they combined their power together, Laziel’s water blades whizzed through the air, cutting the nearby potted plant’s leaves.
His range increased, over two meters.
Laziel laughed boisterously and gave his friend a thumbs up. "Good job, Eryx man!"
Eryx had a sheepish expression, but he was also a little satisfied. The depression in his eyebrows faded a bit. He must have been disappointed he hadn’t found his parents, and his aunt refused to tell them.
She wanted to help them if possible, but searching for people in a wide city like the Capital wasn’t easy. Especially when the situation was so chaotic.
Zerra suddenly regretted that she hadn’t taken more looks at the book in her dreams when she had the chance. She might get a clue about what happened to the Ashborn siblings.
"Elder brother, Eryx!" She shouted. "Lunch is ready!"
When Laziel heard that, he grabbed the confused Eryx, and they walked to the house. Zerra had already disappeared inside when she saw them coming in.
Unexpectedly, she saw Isryn treating her parents.
"The wounds are only surface level." Isryn told her mom. Her arms were exposed, showing the wounds that had already scabbed over. They had helped Nerith change her bandages this morning.
The familiar life force flowed out of Isryn’s hands. The power truly suited her as a doctor, and it was a strong one at that.
She had treated Alaric first, whose wounds had begun to shed because of her healing power. Now that she was treating Nerith, her complexion grew pale quickly.
It was unfortunate that wood crystal cores were too rare. Zerra rummaged through her space, trying to find the crystal cores with wood attributes she had secretly kept.
They were only level one or two though, so she wasn’t sure they would be useful to Isryn. However, since Isryn had helped her parents, she had to give something in return or her heart wouldn’t be able to rest easily.
"Tomorrow, you can open the bandages again." Isryn took a deep breath.
Sally, who had been watching the entire process with curiosity and astonishment in her eyes, handed over a drink to Isryn.
Isryn’s complexion became better after she took it. She was about to put the bandage on Nerith’s arms, but Alaric stopped her. He felt bad that a guest had expended so much energy to help them. They couldn’t continue to inconvenience her.
"The food is ready. Eat it while the dishes are still warm," Alaric told the guests.
Eryx and Laziel also took their seats. The atmosphere was quite lively with so many people present. They even had to get the chairs from the living room.
"Miss Nyra isn’t present?" Sally suddenly asked. She glanced around, trying to find the figure of the girl.
"She went out this morning." Laziel answered before others opened their mouths.
Sally nodded, and she sensed that the atmosphere had some subtle shift. She bit her lip and suddenly said, "I think I saw her at the main base this morning. I was quite far away from her position, so I am not too sure it was really her."
"But... Sean is heading in her direction, so it might have been her. He was telling me he would meet an acquaintance." She paused. "I think I saw Mr. Valez too." She lowered her head.
The room became quiet in a few seconds, and it was Laziel who broke it again. He let out a dry laugh. "Eldest sister might have something important to do at the base."
Sally and Sean seemed like they intended to settle down at the main base. Zerra remembered Cassias had told her Sean was talking about forming a mercenary team with them or something with whoever would stay at the Capital.
After they had lunch, the three of them excused themselves. Laziel joined them because he wanted to visit his girlfriend.
Of course, not before he warned Zerra not to tattle on their parents.
"Wash the dishes again and I won’t tell Dad," she cunningly bargained.
Laziel groaned, but he finally gave in and agreed.
"Take care of yourself. If there’s danger you can’t handle, just run." Alaric cleared his throat and advised his son, who had fallen into a temporary daze.
The four of them left after that.
Zerra didn’t forget the message she should deliver from Isryn to Cassias. Well, it was actually from his cousin. "Cassias, your cousin wants you to return the military vehicle soon."
She scratched the back of her head, a little confused. Was this man really not missing going home at all? He had been staying here for a while.