46 Three Friends

Paroppe was eating breakfast with everyone at the table. It was nice. The whole place felt brighter and she enjoyed their time. Lera was going to stay behind today so she could rest. That was a good idea and she had agreed with it right away.

Now that Lera could talk, she felt like their group was whole again. Oh course she didn't mean anything by that, but her brother and Ayanni were precious to her. They grew up together and fought together in their team in school. Lera just happened to compliment the group.

So they all left and she, like the others, had a bit of pep in their step. They walked over to the southern training center to have a three way battle against each other. They had been taking it too easy these past few days with the whole Lera situation, so some time alone together was great.

"After we do the free-for-all, let's do the king-of-the-hill style battle after." Jev asked the group as they entered the training center.

"Sounds good to me." Paroppe thought that would be fun.

"I'm fine with that." He was all for it. He wanted to take the lead. "Want to bet anything?"

"Winner picks out dinner and losers make it?" Jev brought this idea up.

"How about we go out for dinner instead? Paroppe wanted to get out of the house. Something fresh and new was what they needed today.

"We can't be spending all our money or Lera's money."

"Just this once?"

"Fine."

"So are you two going to keep that up or are you ready to fight?" Ayanni turned towards them. He had his shield and mace at the ready.

Paroppe grabbed her battle axe. "I'm going to seriously beat the both of you!"

"Bring it on!" Jev shouted and they charged at each other.

---

Ayanni was thrilled that he won the free-for-all. He got a lot of answers these past few nights. Of course some of the pieces were missing, but he had an idea. Lera could freeze people in time and she knew about tech pads. Maybe someone froze her or she did it to herself, and then Ziv came along. He did whatever and unfroze her. After all he had a tech pad, so maybe he was a descendent of the creator. They ended up coming to The Suulian empire and the Suul itself. For whatever reason, Ziv was sent home by Lera, leaving her broken and hurt for them to pick up the pieces.

It made sense, but there could easily be a different answer that could fit. Like why was her magic just a mimic of magic? Did it have anything to do with tech pads or Ziv? Actually thinking about Ziv, he thought about Heryan. That girl said she never met Lera, at least that was what Lera told them. If that was true and it seemed to be the case based on the fact that Heryan didn't recognize Lera in the first place. So how did Lera know her, but Heryan didn't? She had the same reaction to both Ziv and Heryan, so what was he missing…

Right now he was getting off their small break. It would be the two losers versus the winner. So he had a big fight ahead of them as the two siblings worked together. It would be a challenge and to get his mind off the questions he wanted to ask, it was the perfect distraction.

"You two ready to get beat?"

"Good luck Ayanni! My sister and I will tear down that shield of yours."

"Better hope Jev doesn't dent your shield again. Well we got the money to replace it now, so I guess…" She narrowed her eyes with a big grin. A gleam of light shined off her battle axe making her more sinister looking. She had perfected that look and Ayanni knew it. "Good luck."

"Come at me!"

---

After they had popped back at Ayanni's home, they asked if Lera wanted to come eating with them. She didn't say that she was really tired. Jev realized she was lying, but he didn't refute her choice unlike his sister.

It was her choice and if he remembered correctly, she didn't even need to eat or drink. Messed up and fundamentally weird, but why should they waste resources and money to have her eat food that she doesn't need.

It didn't matter and so he followed Ayanni to Vera's Meats. He found it interesting that they were going to the place where they had asked about Lera in the first place, but it didn't matter right now. Ayanni beat them fairly, so he had the right to go wherever he wanted.

It was nice to see his sister and best friend in high spirits. Actually he was himself, he didn't have to take care of anyone right now. Lera could act for herself, Paroppe wasn't pushing herself to keep up with the girl and Ayanni wasn't holding himself back because he was distracted enough. Jev felt content.

Of course he was starving after the day today. They sat down and their waiter, Xerca a bunny-kin, had given them the menu for dinner. They were having a special sale today because someone had caught a lot of boars and sold it all at a cheap price. They bought it for cheap and were selling it for cheap as well. The smell in the place was grand and he couldn't stop his mouth from watering.

"What do you think about a hot pot of sorts?" Ayanni asked the group of friends.

"I'm up for it!" Paroppe was energetic about the whole thing.

He was a little surprised that his sister wasn't taking over as the leader anymore. Before these whole events that had led them to their new companion, she was tougher. Someone who liked to take charge, but afterwards she seemed to calm down. Almost timid. Nothing obvious, but he knew his sister enough that she seemed that way. Did she perhaps like Lera more than a friend or did she see her as a child. She did take care of her the most out of the three of them, so he thought that since she changed herself, maybe there was something more…

"Jev? Hey, are you ok with doing a hot pot?"

"Yea, that sounds like a great idea!"

His best friend was doing better at controlling his urges. He changed for the better. Now that thought about it, Jev himself had changed too. He was more comfortable with taking control of their team. Making sure everyone was taking care of themselves and no one was saying anything against him. Though maybe they haven't thought about it. Perhaps it wasn't so bad that these events happened.