After their talk, Alex and Drax returned to the orphanage and walked in to see Nomaderia and Ava talking still, Ornstein having stayed behind with his queen to make sure nothing happened. “Ah, dear, welcome back. Is everything okay?” Nomad asked as she gently slid her chair back and walked over to him, Ava sitting back and taking a sip of her drink while watching the royal couple. Drax nodded softly and smiled as his wife stood before him. “Of course love, I’m fine. I just needed to take a minute to myself with Alex. He helped me get my thoughts in order. Have you guys gotten anything discussed or were you waiting for me?” He curiously asked as he noticed the mostly untouched documents and could gather from that. Nomad shook her head as she watched him. “Alright then, enough sitting around then. Let us take this to the castle so we can sit and get everything situated, amongst everyone immediately.” He said, surprising Ava with the sudden invite.

“Oh. Well that works, why the sudden change?” She asked curiously as she went to gather the dishes they had used. Drax smiled a bit at her as she did and went to help her. “Well it’ll be easier for me to give you any and all documents you may need from there. Plus I can have you meet someone who will help oversee your requests.” He explained, noticing a small smile on Ava’s face as she was clearly very appreciative of that, as she walked with Drax to the kitchen. “Thank you so much. For that and, well, for helping bring those in here, you didn’t have to.” She told him as the towering dragon chuckled softly and shook his head. “It’s not an issue, don’t worry.” He said as he held a hand out to his side to let her walk ahead politely. The duo walked back out to the others who had all gathered by the entrance ready to go. Ava smiled and looked around for a moment. “You all go ahead and wait outside, I’m gonna let the kiddos know where I’m going.” She said as Nomaderia smiled and led her family and knights out to wait, as Ava went back to the area she last saw Kenta and Ling.

Kenta had finally managed to get Ling out of the tree and was now sitting nearby watching her kick a soccer ball around some, the wolf glancing to their caretaker and smiling brightly. “Hey mom.” He said to Ava as the woman approached, leaning against the wall once near the bench and smiling towards Ling. “Hey kiddo, finally got her out huh?” She asked as Kenta rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, the woman chuckling some. “I’m heading to the castle with the king and queen. You two can stay if you like but if you want, let’s go. If you do come I’m gonna need you to remember to go and gather the others.” She explained as Ling heard and quickly rushed over, Kenta was gonna say something but was caught off.

“Castle? Let’s go, let's go!” Ling jumped up and down some as Ava laughed, Kenta chuckling and rubbing his own head again. “I guess there’s the answer.” He said and stood as Ava smiled and took Ling’s paw, walking along to find the others as Kenta followed closely to his caretaker. The king and queen watched her approach as Alex chuckled at the enthusiasm the raccoon child was showing. “If everyone is ready, allow me to lead the way. Ornstein, please stay behind everyone and watch the back alright?” He instructed his student calmly, to which Ornstein nodded and went to stand aside and wait for Ava to walk by with the kids. Once everyone was ready and accounted for, Alex began walking down the path towards town, the towering wolf keeping an eye out as he led the way. Once Ava passed by and locked the gate, Ornstein gave a nod and began walking behind her and the kids, Kenta a bit nervous by the gator knight's presence, while Ling just seemed interested in the man’s armor.

“S-so. You’re a knight? What’s that like?” Kenta awkwardly asked the gator as they walked. The gator looked at him for a moment and smiled as he was surprised by the wolf attempting to strike up conversation since most would rather turn away or just not interact with him due to his voice and appearance. He definitely wasn’t against this though as he thought for a moment. “Oh, it’s a lot of work, but I’d say it’s worth it. I spend a lot of time on patrol with Alex, the wolf leading us back. He had found me not too long ago after my home had been destroyed, and took me in as an apprentice. I now sit in service of the king as one of his top knights, but mostly on probation of sorts until Alex thinks I’m good enough to work on my own permanently.” He explained, Kenta listened intently with interest giving the occasional nod, but he sighed a little bit hearing what happened. “I… I’m sorry about your home.” He said softly, Ava listening slightly as she gently rubbed Kenta’s back.

“It’s alright. I won’t be able to forgive them for what they did, but I am able to move forward thanks to Alex, he has been a good mentor and caretaker since I lost my family that same day.” He sighed a bit as memories slowly began to flood back, Kenta seeing the look on his face and taking that as a sign to stop and move onto another topic or just outright remain silent. Ornstein kept walking with them as he thought about what he had shared and sighed again as he could feel a tear escaping his eye, but he quickly wiped it away before anyone could see or comment, but Kenta saw, and he could feel his heart hurt for the gator. The wolf decided to quickly change topics and smiled a bit. “What weapon do you use by the way? I know by looking that the big wolf leading us uses a sword, but I don’t see any weapon on you.” He remarks as Ornstein chuckled a bit.

“Oh, I have it on me, it is just concealed for the moment, but I can show you.” He said, which caught both Ava and Drax’s attention as Drax called for Alex to stop. Alex did as instructed and turned to face everyone as Drax smiled a little at his knight. “Alex, it seems the young wolf here is interested in Ornstein’s weapon, would you mind instructing Ornstein and leading him through using it in a safe demonstration?” The king asked, he was giving an order, but if Alex felt it was too dangerous or not a good place he knew Alex would tell him. Ornstein was a bit surprised that everyone was now focused on him, a bit of a blush on his scales and he was glad that his scales were almost pitch black to make it harder to see, even if Alex could tell when his apprentice was flustered. “Well… I mean… I wasn’t expecting you guys to stop and want me to demonstrate, I would’ve waited until we were at the castle.” He explained as Alex chuckled and walked over, giving him a slap on the back, gentle enough to not throw him or hurt him, but it definitely got the gator teens attention.

“Nonsense, this field is the perfect place for a little spar if the boy here wants to see.” He said as Ava rolled her eyes and laughed a bit at what Kenta had indirectly caused, picking up Ling and moving off to the sidelines to make sure she wasn’t in harm's way, Nomaderia following as they sat on a fallen log not too far away from the guys. Ava looked at the queen respectfully and relaxed. “Are they always like this?” She asked her, showing no disrespect and her tone kind, she wasn’t fully sure how to talk to a queen, especially one like Nomaderia, who was nothing but kind, calm, and spoke to common folk like Ava as if they were the same, it was something Ava wouldn’t really expect given the stories of knights and rulers that she has read the kids. Nomaderia giggled a bit with her hand to her mouth, shaking her head. “Oh you know, boys will be boys, and these boys are definitely like their king. When we were still dating, Drax would randomly pick a fight with his younger brother Amadeus, just to make the boy train.”

Ava couldn’t contain herself and busted out laughing as Ling giggled softly, the ladies attention back on the guys as Kenta sat closer than they were but still out of the way with his tail wagging quickly, Drax standing in the middle of the field with Ornstein and Alex a good pace away from each other to get themselves ready. Alex took out his sword and looked it over to make sure it would be fine, before he reached into his back sitting at his waist and pulled out some wrapping. He unraveled it and carefully, and delicately began wrapping it around his blade; it would make it less likely to cut if he accidentally swung too hard at his apprentice. Ornstein noticed and sighed in relief knowing he didn’t have to worry about losing a few scales as he reached behind him and detached a bar from the waist of his armor, Kenta focused solely on Ornstein as he spun it around a little and in a swift motion, the bar sprang to life and turned into a spear, it sparked a couple seconds, coated in electricity before it settled and Kenta could make it out. The pole of the spear was a light bronze color, from the bottom up to where it met the spearhead part itself. The spearhead was a yellow gold color to match the electric current Kenta had seen seconds prior. On the bottom of the spear was a slight pointed object, not enough to penetrate someone's skin but it would hurt enough to defend himself if need be. Alex watched Ornstein and chuckled a bit watching him spin it around. “Heh, showoff, but he’s definitely gotten better at summoning it.”

Drax looked between the two and began to speak. “Alright you two, make it quick so we can return to the castle for Miss Ava to get her situation in order. You know my rules, you two are both my vassals so no forcefully trying to draw blood to make the other submit, Ornstein, if Alex says it's enough you stop, understand?” He said, giving the gator a look as he winced a bit, clearly that was something that had happened once before and needed addressing. Alex and Ornstein both nodded and got ready for him to let them at it. Drax looked them over one last time and nodded backing up, raising his claw. “Begin!” He said and Ornstein took the chance, immediately charging at his mentor with shocking speed, Kenta could see slight sparks under his steps as he raised his feet. Alex hadn’t moved from his spot as he held his blade before him, the man towered Ornstein and had the height advantage on him, but he also wasn’t going to underestimate him.

Once Ornstein was in range, he leapt into the air with the sparks he had been emitting boosting him up. Alex nodded and quickly backpedalled and kept the sword in front, tilted some so the flat side was ready to stop Ornstein. At the peak of his jump, Ornstein angled his spear and used his momentum to go flying at Alex. Ornstein went down towards him like a speeding bullet, Alex aware he was going to attempt to break through the sword's position and have him dislodge it from his paws. Alex’s eyes wandered all around Ornstein as his approach came quick, and once close enough he moved his sword, put up his gauntlet covered paw and grabbed the spear with ease, much to Ornstein’s surprise as he had to act fast. Alex began taking the spear and swinging Ornstein around in an attempt to toss him, Ornstein gasping in surprise as he felt himself tense up. “No!” He shouted and in a panic sent electricity through the spear and into the gauntlet, which caused Alex to growl in surprise and release the spear mid swing, causing Ornstein to be tossed halfway across the field, landing with a thud and rolling across the grass a bit, pushing the bottom of his spear into the ground to try and stop himself.

Once he was brought to a halt, Ornstein used the spear to force himself up immediately and was once again on the assault, charging Alex just as quickly as before. Alex smirked a little at that as he was proud of his student for recovering so fast. “Good job.” He said to himself as he decided to take this a bit more seriously and readied his blade again, this time slowly approaching Ornstein, knowing that Ornstein was trying to calculate when to jump or swing, so if he could throw it off, he knew it would give Ornstein a disadvantage. Ornstein noticed and grunted a bit as he had to change his plan, and suddenly force himself to a halt, the ground beneath him giving in a little bit as he dug his heels in, and before losing his moment he quickly lunged the bottom of his spear across the ground and sent a shockwave through the grass, trying to use it to disguise the attack as it made its way for Alex. The wolf saw him stop and move the weapon as such and his eyes widened a bit as he charged towards Ornstein, and right as the tip of his armored shoes touched the shockwave, he leapt up and landed not far over it before charging the surprised Ornstein and shoulder checking him in the chest, forcing his student to go upwards and hitting the ground fast on the return. Ornstein winced and this time had lost his grip on his spear, watching as it fell from his claw and landed nearby where he landed. “Heh, almost had me there, if your movements were a bit faster.” He said, praising Ornstein who remained as he was for a moment.

‘Dammit… I almost had him…’ he said to himself, a bit disheartened by seeing Alex managed to avoid it and attack him as fast as he did, much to Alex’s dismay as he saw him not moving much. “Ornstein… are you okay?” He asked and knelt down beside him to help him up as he saw him turn a bit and he saw the look on his face. “Hey, you did good, what's wrong?” He asked him gently. Ornstein gently pushed himself up to be sitting on his knees and catching his breath. “How the hell am I expected to be a good knight if my attacks are so easily stopped and read?” He asked Alex simply, the teen clearly frustrated by what just happened as Alex sighed and sat down beside him, Drax seeing and nodding as he headed to his wife and the others.

Alex gently rubbed Ornstein on the back and looked at him gently. “Don’t beat yourself up over this kid, you got to remember, I have been in the service of King Drax for decades, plus I am one of the strongest knights next to Valset. The fact you even almost got me should show you are improving every day, but if you keep getting in your own head, you never will improve.” He explained, with a certain level of sterness that Ornstein needed to hear, while remaining a comforting presence. Ornstein looked aside and sighed as he reached and took up his spear, deactivating it back to the bar it was before and reattached it to his armor, and stood up shaking his head as he walked back to Drax and the group to lead them home, the silence showing Alex that the boy just needed some time alone. “Alright, when we get back I think it’ll be good if I give him the rest of the day off.” he told himself as he stood up and got his things together, cutting the wrapping off his sword and putting it back in his bag. Alex was still proud despite it all, he saw improvement, even if Ornstein was upset over it. Alex made way back to the others and took point once again once he made sure everyone was ready, Kenta going to Ornstein to praise him.

“That was really impressive, how were you doing that?” He asked, he saw Ornstein’s face but wanted to try and at least cheer him up a little as they walked along the path once more. Ornstein took a moment to process that before he looked at Kenta with a sigh. “How did I do what?” He asked, not really aware of what he had done that made the boy so excited. Kenta looked at him a second, surprised since what happened didn’t seem natural. “The electricity of course! How were you able to make that happen as you were running?” It finally clicked with Ornstein as he chuckled a bit through his emotional grief. He thought of how best to explain it as he pulled off the bar again and showed Kenta it more up close. “This weapon is kind of the helping cause of it. My father and his father before him both had the power to conduct electricity because of our family gift. I don’t know where it began, but we were gifted with the power of electricity, kind of like how some people can use different elements. However, for some reason mine was never really able to fully manifest without being destructive, something Alex just called a ‘flash’, so in order to help me learn to control it and hopefully force it to manifest, he crafted this weapon, it taps into me electric powers and causes it to let me manipulate and maneuver it to my will in combat. When we get back to the castle you can probably find a guy named Shadow who has a better control of it than I do.”

“So it is like how random people may have magic proficiency? We had learned a little about that in school when I was a bit younger. My teacher was able to control water and said how it is never clear who or how someone has magic, but if you are gifted with it, you can use it for good or bad, and some might not have as strong a control of it as others might?” Kenta said, half asking a question to the gator unsure of what to say since he only had what he had been taught, compared to Ornstein who clearly had control of an exact element. Ornstein processed what he said for a minute and nodded. “That is a good way to look at it from a basic understanding. I don’t fully get it myself, I just know I was born with the power at my disposal. I can always ask the princess, Saria, because she spends her days studying the way magic works.” He said as they soon saw the castle not too far away. Alex got them to the castle gates and nodded to the on duty guards, who were quick to get them through and into the castle courtyard. Alex sighed softly and smiled. “Well here we are, Ornstein, go ahead and dismiss yourself for the day and try to relax okay?” He said as Ornstein nodded, stood at attention and bowed, thanking Kenta for the time to talk and made his way off. Drax watched his knight leave and smiled softly as he looked at Alex. “You can dismiss yourself as well Alex, I will show Ava and Nomad to the throne room.” Alex nodded and bowed to his king, waving off the group and going off towards the barracks which wasn’t too far from the castle itself, its own stand alone building in the courtyard.

“The children are free to wander if they would like, since I know they might not want to sit in on such a boring meeting.” Nomad said softly as Kenta and Ling looked at the adults. Ava was taken by surprise by that and chuckled. “Are you sure your majesty? I can keep them with me, it isn’t a bother, if you don’t want them just wandering.” She was a bit unsure how it would go if she let them be to their own devices. Drax chuckled a bit seeing her uncertainty “Oh it isn’t an issue, we have enough guards around that they will be safe no matter where they are, and besides, you seem to have raised two wonderful children, I don’t see them causing any issues for the guards on duty or anyone in the castle.” Before Ava could say anything, Ling had taken off to look around, having wanted to see what a castle looked like for so long, the young raccoon was also quick to get away. Kenta noticed and sighed. “Don’t worry mama, I will find her, you go have your meeting.” He said and quickly took off to go find his sister wherever she went. Ava sighed a little bit and chuckled softly. “If you are sure, I just know that my daughter can be very pushy and sometimes can get her little self into some trouble. But please, lead the way.” He smiled at the king and queen as they both nod and began towards the castle itself finally.

As the trio entered the castle, they would see walking from one of the halls was one of their sons, a orange and tan fox teen, no older than fifteen. This was Marz Adams, dressed in just a normal white shirt and sweatpants, as if he had just woken for the day, the fox went up to about right below his fathers chest. He had sandy brown hair and dark brown eyes as well, and a smile that made the king always happy to see. However Nomad could see by always looking at her son's eyes that there was something else to him, the boy had a lot in the back of his mind that he would never speak of in the open to the others, at least right now. He smiled seeing his family with the lady from the orphanage and he waved as he went and walked over to them, being followed by his own personal vassal.

Said vassal walking not far behind him was a semi-dark green lizard with black stripes down his back, and some noticeable on his arms. On his chin and down his neck, probably leading into his clothing he had a light greenish-yellow underside to his scales as well. The lizard wore a short sleeved shirt that was a nice dark shade of purple, and like his liege wore a pair of black pants, but his were not as baggy like sweatpants. His name was Shadow, he was the son of one of the butlers of the castle, a man named Azura. He stood beside Marz but unlike Marz, he bowed to his king and queen. “Ah, good morning boys!” Drax greeted them and quickly embraced his son in a hug, which made Marz yip in surprise but smiled and hugged him back, burying his face a little in his chest with a yawn, Ava smiling a bit at the sight as she leaned gently on a nearby pillar. Shadow chuckled and watched as Drax held his son for a moment before letting him go and he went to hug his mother. “And how are you this morning Shadow? Heading to training soon?” Drax asked the lizard.

“Yes, I was waiting for commander Alex to return, since he said he and Maxwell wanted to both work with me today. I also wanted to make sure his sleeping highness was up beforehand.” He smiled brightly, the lizard teen, no older than seventeen, had a cheeky smile to him that went along great with his playful personality, something Marz was all too familiar with, since he was a bit more on the serious side, the two being semi opposites but got along well. “Had to push a bit to get him up since he was refusing to budge this morning.” He said as Marz rolled his eyes at the lizard, sticking his tongue out some. “Why not tell them what you did, you brat.” Marz said as Shadow laughed at him. “With pleasure!”
Drax was a bit confused by his son's comment as he looked to Shadow with some curiosity now brewing. “What did you do to my child?” He asked him, as Shadow giggled and put his hands behind his head. “Oh, simple, I just gave him a little bit of a shock to get him moving, nothing too severe.” He chuckled as Nomad and Ava both respectively giggling softly as Drax remained stoic, but his mouth did jerk a little as he tried not to react in amusement. “That’s just mean but that sounds like how my own brother would try to wake me up.” Drax said as Marz rolled his eyes. “I even said I was getting up, he wanted to be cheeky. But I plan to get him back once we go out to train later.” Marz said as Drax gave a nod. “By the way, why is the orphanage owner here, did something happen?”

“No nothing bad, we just had a meeting with her earlier and decided to invite her over, give her time to talk about what she needs and how we can help the orphanage.” Nomad explained as she rubbed her sons back gently, smiling as Ava nodded happily. “Since there have been a lot of issues lately with Drazernon, we wanted to help out as many people as we can in case something happens.” She said as it got a sigh out of Marz, the fox wasn’t too happy about the idea of war, especially knowing that his father and Drazernon were brothers. Drax noticed and gently placed a claw under his son's chin and lifted it to look him in the eye, smiling warmly to ease his songs nerves. “Listen kiddo, I know how you feel, I don’t like the fact I have to do this as well. But know that I am always looking for an outcome for the better, you understand?” He asked him, Marz unable to break eye contact, but he was relieved in some way about this. He nodded a bit as Shadow smiled at his liege. “Yeah Marzy! Just gotta trust your dad!” He said, trying to be optimistic to help his best friend.

Marz nodded again as his dad let his face go, and looked down some. “Okay dad… I trust you.” He said and hugged him for a moment, leaning his head into his chest for a moment and holding on. Drax let him and hugged his son softly for as long as he needed. Soon breaking off, Shadow bowed once more to them before going with Marz as he headed off to get some breakfast, Drax looking at Ava. “I am so sorry, we keep getting side tracked, shall we go to the throne room?” He asked, Ava chuckling a bit and shaking her head. “Don’t be sorry, it is really interesting to see how closely bonded this royal family and their knights are, I have been happy to witness what I have. I am ready whenever you are.” She said kindly, her kind, motherly smile on her face as she watched Drax begin to walk once more, she followed behind, ready to discuss this now, Nomaderia not far behind them.