Vitkus Twins

Chapter Five

Today was the day that Aldona and Azuloas would in find out, whose team they were on and who their teacher would be. They were excited, more so, once their grandfather had started telling them about his own team and the things they had pulled when they were younger. Azuloas and Aldona had often wondered how it was possible that three people had gotten banned from things than they were.

For a totally different reason.

Aldona and Azuloas were able to pass in the middle of their year level, so Bellerophon had been the one who was the dead last in their class and he wasn’t happy about it. Bucky hadn’t been happy about it, and he had made his displeasure known. Aldona was happy for Dvesma, being the top female of their class and she shuttered to think that it almost went to Jakoba Meyer.

The girl was more useless then a stick… and Aldona thought that the stick did more than whine and demand things. She even thought it was better to look at, little brat had once turned up to class in a silk dress and was heartbroken when it was torn.

And merchants wondered why most Clan children stuck to heavy cottons. It was cheaper and if ruined, well, that was merely part of life.

If someone was to ask her what she thought about some of the females of her class, her answer would ‘they’re going to get a rude wake-up call’, or ‘they’ll grow, they’ll grow or they’ll die’, or ‘who knows’. She respected some of them and two of them weren’t in their year level.

Dvesma, Lodoiska, Clarice and Rosamaria.

While she and Azuloas pulled many pranks over the years, they had only been caught once. They were good enough that no one knew the rest of their pranks were theirs. Through members of Team Valkoinen would recognise some of them, Azuloas and Aldona didn’t think of all their pranks.

Coping some of the ones from their grandfather’s stories, sometimes getting his grandchildren involved when trying to trick Heikkinen. So far, all of them had failed and Heikkinen always caught them and told them where they went wrong, it was the most fun they had in a while. Viljo and Katri Zemes were a joy to be around, Aldona and Azuloas loved the two like they were their younger brother and sister.

Aldona and Azuloas slipped into the classroom, smiling at Oskari as they took their seats in the back of the classroom. After a few minutes Dvesma came in, her hair pulled into two low ponytails and they barely touched her shoulders.

While she wore black pants and a baggy black jacket, Dvesma was strong for her age and she could easily defeat most of their classmates. Dvesma told Oskari that it was because of the training sessions she had with her friends, that keeping up with Aldona and Azuloas on a normal day had helped her stamina more than she had thought when she was a child.

For the first few years, those two would win from their stamina and their will to always get back up when they were knocked down. Now Dvesma was happy to say, that she could last as long as they could without getting tired.

“Good morning Dona, Azu,” Dvesma said over the years she might have gained a slight crush on Azuloas, but she still had her cousin’s and Rosamaria’s promise driving her through her lessons, at first, she had been slightly nervous. She had been scared that she would turn into a fangirl and forget about her training. But she didn’t, she was glad that she didn’t.

If she had, she would have been at risk of not just losing Azuloas’ friendship, but Aldona’s, Bednar’s and Bellerophon’s as well. She would have also faced her cousin’s and Rosamaria’s disappointment, along with their other teammate; an orphan named Valkoinen.

“Hey Dvesma,” the two greeted her. Over the years, the two saw that talking at the same time or finishing each other’s sentences, made some people nervous or just unnerved them. So, they started doing it more, at first a prank on their grandfather, but soon they just did it and didn’t know how to stop anymore.

They didn’t care, of course, it did still creep some people out, but they knew that’s what happened when you spend so much with one person.

“A chance in clothes?” Dvesma asked, they weren’t wearing the bright colours they were known for anymore. The leather choker and bracelets were still in place, but their outfits were just black with some dark grey.

“Not really,” Aldona told her, she had added black prey beads and a holder for her deck of sealing cards. But all that’s changed was the colour of their clothing, but they were basically wearing the same thing as they did in the Academy. “We changed colours, but it’s the same outfit. Dvesma, you’ll see.”

“You’ve pulled your hair into a bun,” Dvesma told her, grinning as Aldona smiled back at her. She didn’t see the bun surviving long, maybe she could talk Aldona into trying Milkmaid braids, as she thought it would suit her better.

“And got gloves, Markuss keeps trying to get us to wear shoes,” Azuloas admitted.

“Mama still think it’s funny,” Dvesma told them. “And so, does Dzintara, she giggles every time it’s brought up.”

“How is the baby sis?” Aldona asked her.

“She told me she’s a big girl,” Dvesma told her.

“She’s four,” Azuloas said before looking at Aldona, that was around the age when they started training. They knew that Dzintara would be training for a year now, but it would light training, such as learning what chakra was and how to control it.

“The age we all met,” Aldona told him.

“Anyway, we wouldn’t go onto the field with that many bright colours, even if Andromeda got us to put metal plates onto the shirts,” Azuloas admitted, Andromeda told out right that Hyacintha and Melanthe’s claws would continue growing and the metal would stop them from digging into their skin. “Bellerophon’s got them to, Bucky’s a bit older than Melanthe and Hyacintha.”

“Bucky nicked Bellerophon’s hip because he refused to wear metal plates,” Aldona told her.

“There’s a reason he’s dead last,” Azuloas told them with a straight face.

“I’m not dead last!” Bellerophon hissed at them, Bucky clicking his tongue as he went back to sleep on his shoulder.

“Finally accepted the metal plates?” Aldona asked him.

“Everyone in the Pūķis-Dziedātājs Clan knows it’s important to wear metal plates to stop our partners claws from dying into our skin,” Bellerophon told them.

“Andromeda finally won that argument,” Aldona and Azuloas shot back, Dvesma giggling into her hand as Bellerophon looked at the two of them like they had kicked his puppy. Aldona giggled as she played with her tag, the same one with the Vitkus crest on it, a black rose with celebration swords crossed underneath it.

“I can’t wait to find out what who’s team we’re on,” Azuloas told them, when the other students started to come in. The quiet didn’t last long, it never did in this room, as two bickering girls soon entered the room.

Bellerophon, Aldona and Azuloas were just glad they weren’t screaming. Heck, they were sure that even Apoloniusz was happy the day their teacher set the entire class down and spoke to them about being more sensitive about their classmate’s heightened senses.

“Hey, Apoloniusz,” Aldona and Azuloas greeted, Apoloniusz was working on a small snake like creature. This caused Aldona to think about Launcelot’s words, Viktorija the holder of the Snake of Envy. “New one?”

“No,” Apoloniusz told her.

“If not, when your finished can I buy it?” Aldona asked him.

“Why?”

“Present for a cousin, if I ever get to met her.”

“Here.” Apoloniusz had a small smile on his face, as his little snake curled around Aldona’s wrist, Aldona only looked at it before unsealing her sewing kit. Tugging at Apoloniusz’s sleeve, she quickly sewed up the giant hole that he had at the elbow.

“When you need to fix your clothing, I’ll do it. Fair?” Aldona asked him.

“I’ll think about it,” Apoloniusz admitted, before going back to working on a piece for his blood line and he had based it off Bucky, Melanthe and Hyacintha.

“Oskari,” Aldona and Azuloas greeted.

“Oskari,” Apoloniusz greeted, the scales on his newest puppet were coming to life and he loved how the scales were starting to look.

“Aldona, Azuloas and Apoloniusz,” Oskari said before handing them a folder each, this would have their new team information in it. Along with the name of their teacher and any information that they would need to know about them. “Dvesma, Bellerophon.”

“Oskari,” Dvesma and Bellerophon said, they had started talking about how they were going to keep up their weekly training sessions. Even through Aldona had a feeling it would turn into a ‘turn-up if you’re in the village’ type of thing.

All of them liked Oskari, he was younger than their other teachers and wasn’t quite as jaded from the Major Wars. He had three scars running down his left check, pulling down his half his mouth, so it always looked like he was half frowning.

Through Azuloas and Aldona thought it was funny that high ranking members were still scared of Oskari, even through he was only a mid-Kareivis rank. Even members of the Apsauga and Sekti Units fear Oskari’s rage, even Bellerophon found it funny when he found out.

“I hear this hear, one teams going to have four members,” Bednar told them as he looked at his own folder.

“Wonder who’d going to have four, instead of three?” Dvesma asked Bellerophon, Aldona and Azuloas.

“We’ll find out,” Bellerophon told her, he didn’t care. He just didn’t want to be on the same team as A) a fangirl or B) someone from the Atspoguļo Clan. Not that he had anything against the Atspoguļo Clan, he just happened not to like Launce. He also didn’t want to deal with the number of girls who wanted to have his future children.

Something was wrong with him, like he was planning something, and that plan would even drag the innocent into danger.

“Team Five,” Azuloas and Aldona said at the same time, when Bellerophon looked over their shoulder he felt pity. They were with Jakoba and Launce, they were with A and b, it sounded like his worse nightmare.

“Good luck you two,” Bellerophon told them before looking at Launce and Jakoba, who looked like she was torn between crying and cheering. “You’ve got A and B.”

“A and B?” Azuloas asked him without thinking.

“Fangirl and Atspoguļo,” Bellerophon loudly told them, no one in their class had issues with their hearing. So, they heard him, most turning to glare at him, but Aldona was surprised by the number of male students that were glaring at Bellerophon.

“Really Bellerophon, there was no need to yell that,” Dvesma told him, smiling as she showed Azuloas her team.

“Hey Bellerophon, Dvesma and Apoloniusz need you alive,” Azuloas told him.

“At least I’m with Lodoiska,” Bednar said, through he did frown at the last name and looked at the other girl at Launce’s side. “Hortenspa is going to be a pain.”

“So, don’t let anyone dump your dead body into the nearest river,” Aldona told him, before putting her finger her lip, before putting her hand near Bucky. “If you die, I’ll take Bucky from you, he’s such a dear.”

“At least Bucky will be taken care of,” Bellerophon said.

“Be back here in an hour to meet your teacher’s,” Oskari told them.

“You two wanna join us for lunch?” Bellerophon asked them as Oskari left the room, soon followed by the rest of the class.

“Eat with Dvesma and Apoloniusz,” Aldona told him usually she would love to have a picnic with her friends, but she and Azuloas needed to have at least started having civil conversation with Launce and Jakoba. Looking at the wooden snake on her arm, one that moved its tail every so often that made it seem so real. “Try befriending Apoloniusz, he’s shy and used to people flinching away from because of his blood limit.”

She and Azuloas would need to find Jakoba and Launce to begun with, when Bellerophon nodded his head. Jakoba who thought it was a good idea to wear a tight-fitting dress made from some expensive material. A dress that was a horrid shade baby pink and green shorts, she looked like a walking flower and Aldona knew she was as frail as some flower petals caught in the wind.

“If Launce and Jakoba don’t want anything to do with us,” Azuloas started looking at Aldona, at first, he had a tiny crush on Jakoba. No one had liked her because she had large green eyes, but she had overcome her bullies and loved her eyes anyway. But then, he saw the way she treated Dvesma and Aldona, he didn’t want to be with anyone who’d treat his sister and friend like that. “Then we’ll find you.”

“We’ll be in our normal spot, Apoloniusz won’t mind,” Dvesma told them with a small smile, tapping Bellerophon’s arm to get his attention. “Come on Bellerophon, Apoloniusz can’t be that far away.”

“Okay Dvesma,” Bellerophon agreed looking at Aldona and Azuloas like he was begging for them to join them, he didn’t want to leave his first true friends in the hands of Launce or Jakoba.

“How do we find them, without waking up Melanthe and Hyacintha,” Azuloas asked Aldona, he had an idea on how that could be done with Jakoba. But Launce wasn’t quite as loud as their new female teammate.

“Jakoba should be loud enough to find, Melanthe and Hyacintha should have Launce’s scent memorised by now,” Aldona told him, she couldn’t think of another way to find Launce and she didn’t know he’d want to be found if they had Jakoba with them. “Or we can talk to Jakoba and then find Launce. After talking sense into Jakoba about why it’s not a good idea to treat one member of their team like property to be owned or bought.”

“We’re going to be working together for a while,” Azuloas agreed.

“So, it’s better if three of us didn’t want one person dead,” Aldona added.

“Launce, Launce! Sweetie!” Jakoba shouted her voice was faint, so she wasn’t that close to the Academy. They could sense her going towards their old playground, a playground that parents still didn’t allow their children to play at even through Aldona and Azuloas hadn’t been there since they were ten.

“Let’s go then,” Aldona and Azuloas said.

They had found Jakoba walking near the ‘Demon Park’. Most of their classmates avoided the area, so Aldona and Azuloas could understand if Launce made it one of his hiding spots. Since merchant parents had told their children they would be eaten if they set one foot onto the playground.

Aldona had sworn she had seen merchant and civilian children dare each other to set one foot in the playground on her full moon wonders. She was also pretty sure; she and Methane had scared more then one ground of children by standing on the metal fence.

“Jakoba,” Azuloas greeted causing her scream, making both Aldona and Azuloas to cover their ears from their spot on the metal fence.

“What are you two doing here?” Jakoba hissed at them.

“We were looking for you,” Aldona told her.

“Why?” Jakoba asked.

“I’m sure you can read Jakoba,” Aldona coldly told her.

“We’re on the same team now,” Azuloas finished.

“We are, aren’t we?” Jakoba said, humming as she looked at the fence they were standing on, before biting her lip. “It matters not, Mama will change that when she finds out.”

“Mama happens to be on the civilian council, and like it or not, doesn’t have a single say in how any Kareivis team is set up,” Aldona coldly told her, her hands going behind her back and Melanthe opened eye before going back to sleep. “This is why you’re such a pain; Jakoba, your file says your book smart, but yet, you say the dumbest things.”

“She isn’t street smart,” Azuloas allowed.

“Or people smart.”

“I’m starting to think that Grandfather might have to look into teacher’s accepting bribes from parents.”

“That might explain her results.”

“You’re just jealous that you’re average,” Jakoba smugly told them.

“Ignoring that, we were going to start looking for Launce. You will have to stay with one of us until we find him,” Azuloas coldly told her.

“My Launce,” Jakoba told them.

“Azu, why you don’t you and Hyacintha get Launce. I think Jakoba and I are overdue for a heart to heart conversation,” Aldona told him, Azuloas wanted to argue with her, but she had a glim in her eye that told him that she wouldn’t take that kindly.

Azuloas could understand why she wanted to do this, Launce’s sanity was shaky sanity and he needed a team where he felt safe. Not a team where one member was always trying to get into his pants every day because of the selfish wishes of her mother.

Heikkinen had allowed them to stay in his office more than once, so they knew what the village valued in their teams. Why they had been able to win the last two Major Wars, it was because of their teamwork and she was sure that that at some point they would be tested on wither or not they could work in a team.

“Of course, Dona,” Azuloas told her pulling her into a hug, this allowed him to whisper, ‘don’t kill her’ into her ear without Jakoba thinking anything of it.

“I’ll try,” Aldona whispered back. With that Azuloas left, leaving Aldona to jump from the fence and look at Jakoba in disappointment. Someone had to snap Jakoba out of her delusions before someone got hurt, or worse, killed.

“A -”

“Let’s start with this; Launce isn’t property. He’s a human being that had most of his clan killed in one night,” Aldona told her, she could still remember the cold way that Adalheida had treated the situation. “Launce isn’t someone to be owned or bought no matter what your cold-hearted mother might say on the situation.”

“Mama isn’t cold hearted,” Jakoba told her.

“So, the great Atspoguļo Clan has almost been wiped off the map then? Your founder must be rolling around in his grave,” Aldona quoted. “That is what your mother had to say when she found out that the Atspoguļo Clan had almost been massacred in their homes.”

“Mama would never -”

“You can ask anyone who was in the room, that’s what she said.”

“You’re lying!”

“You believe in that if you want,” Aldona told her, putting her hand on Melanthe’s scales to calm herself down. Azuloas might hold the Dragon of Wrath, but they agree that Aldona was the one with the worst temper. “I think Lady Atspoguļo will be interested in knowing the council member that mocked her when she lost her family, has been treating her son like a piece of meat on sale. Don’t you agree?”

“Ma-”

“It says a lot about you, Jakoba, that you’d treat a human being like they were something to own and that you had a right to decide who he might fall in love with,” Aldona said cutting her off again, she just wasn’t interested in hearing someone defend Adalheida Meyers calculated manipulation of her own daughter.

“He loves me,” Jakoba told her.

“Has he told you that?” Aldona asked her.

“No,” Jakoba admitted.

“Then we don’t know if he does, but I’m sure I’ve overheard him muttering about how you were a waste of space.”

“He would never!”

“You don’t know him; you don’t know anyone from the Atspoguļo Clan.”

“And you do?”

“I train with Clarice Atspoguļo, she wants to cut your head off; by the way.”

“And she is?”

“Launce’s cousin, so I’d be careful.” Aldona just looked at Jakoba as she looked at the ground, oh how, Aldona wanted to help Clarice remove Adalheida from the lands. The Meyer family better hope that Aldona, Azuloas or Clarice were never on their protection detail.

Someone might end up dead.

“This is going to go nowhere,” Aldona told her, Melanthe breathing a small breath of flame away from her shoulder. Knowing that she was going to have to tell Julia Atspoguļo about this conversation.

A conversation that Julia was going to talk to Adalheida Meyer about at the next council meeting, it made her almost pity the woman. Almost.

“Jakoba, why did you want to join the Kareivis Units? Why did you join the Academy six years ago and what made you stay in the first year?” Aldona asked her, most civilian students dropped out in the first six months. So, something made Jakoba stay those six months, stay long enough to still be in the Academy when the Atspoguļo m******e happened.

“For the love of my life,” Jakoba told her.

At six, Aldona would bet that Jakoba didn’t know anything about having a love of her life. So, she just stared at her, while Melanthe looked at her and breathed fire aiming at the ground next Jakoba’s feet and that’s when Aldona knew that she lied.

Dragons didn’t like being lied to.

“That’s a lie, Melanthe knows when someone is lying to her,” Aldona told her, she knew she was pushing Jakoba. But her patience fled the moment that Jakoba started talking about Launce like she was something she could own, without even thinking about his thoughts and feelings. “When you started, Lady Meyer might have pushed this little crush of yours to gain more power and influence, but did you start the Academy.”

“For my grandfather,” Jakoba told her without thinking, which meant it was more likely to be a truthful answer. Jakoba didn’t know what was going on, but her grandfather had stopped talking to her at the end of her third year. Calling her and her Mama a disgrace to everything that Sashan held dear. “But not anymore, he and Mama don’t talk anymore.”

“Head Sekti Meyer, I know of your grandfather,” Aldona told her, she had remembered meeting Sekti Meyers a few times. The first time, she didn’t know his name and didn’t know it until Katė had told her two days later. “He’s on the few Heads of the Sekti Unit who’s lived to an old age, but if you don’t change your focus. I can highly bet that you won’t, and if you, it’ll be with the blood of your teammates on your hands.”

“Why not?” Jakoba asked, her grandfather had told her the same thing. That with the way she was acting, treating her lessons like a game. She would be lucky to make it to fourteen, that it would be a miracle if she made it to eighteen.

“There’s no mercy out there, unlike in our little play fights the teachers like to call training or sparring,” Aldona told her, there wasn’t any mercy in the field. So, when they trained with Clan children, there wasn’t any mercy in their fights. “They’ll kill you or they’ll torture you for information that you don’t have. You can’t beat a first year in a physical fight, let alone someone who’s been on the field for years.”

“But -”

“And don’t Launce me, do you think he’ll protect someone who’s weak? Do you think he’d want to be with someone who doesn’t have any self-respect? Who would herself at the first handsome person she saw?” Aldona hissed at her, why did Jakoba have to listen to her mother and not her grandfather? Only one of them has been the field! “No, he won’t! I’ve been friends with Dvesma, Bednar and Lodoiska, all of them are clan heads. So is Launce, a clan head needs an equal for a partner. Someone who is strong in so many ways, not weak and not someone who’ll let the interests of another come before the clan.”

“Mama, she said, she said he’d love me, and he’d want to save me,” Jakoba told her, her mind went back to everything her grandfather had told her. That he had told her more than once now, now two people have told her the same thing,

“Saving the Princess,” Aldona huffed. “That’s more of a code for the Knights of Kibwia, the village of Buik is built on the idea of doing good for goods sake. Kareivis, and whatever we’re called in other villages, get paid to save the princess from her golden cage.”

“She said that you and Azuloas are demons! That you’ll only drag the pure into the deepest parts of the underworld,” Jakoba shouted.

“Think about it. Think for once.” Aldona wanted to punch Jakoba, she wanted to punch her, and she was torn, because at the same time she wanted to hug her. She was tall for a sixteen-year-old, she had a head on Jakoba and so did Azuloas. “Your mother has never been part of the Kareivis Unit, a unit that everyone has to begin in to train and develop skills.”

Jakoba just looked at her as Aldona started pacing, she was chewing on her fingernails as she looked at the chain fence next to her. Jakoba wanted to say something, but she didn’t think it was a good idea with someone who weighed more then she did.

“She doesn’t know how our world works, doesn’t know how dangerous it can be. No one and I mean it, Jakoba, no one will risk their neck for someone who is so obviously weak,” Aldona told her, she was going to paint Jakoba’s bedroom walls in revenge. “Even if they did save it, you’ll just die later, but the thing about later. It could always be worse. Some might see it as a mercy to let you die the first better then letting their blood forever stain your moronic hands.”

“You don’t have parents!” Jakoba told her.

“Really? It’s almost as if I’ve never noticed that before,” Aldona coldly hissed her, her eyes were burning and Jakoba luckily didn’t see her eyes flash red. The Atspoguļo blood limit. “Almost as if, Azu and I haven’t lived by ourselves. Since you know the age of two, were our nanny disappeared because she was pulled onto a mission that cost her, her life. The occasional Apsauga member did drop by.”

Jakoba just looked at her, letting Aldona led her to the nearest bench. When she put her hand into her hands, she was torn into two. She wanted to believe Mama, but she also knew that her grandfather had more experience.

Mama had never been in the field, her Papa before his death had never been in the field. Her grandfather had been, and he had her everything that Aldona just told her. He had told her more; he had tried to teach her more than the Academy had been teaching her. Telling her that Clan Children had been training since they could walk, Dvesma had showed her that in the smoothness of her fighting.

“I’m sorry,” Jakoba said, she shouldn’t have pointed out that Aldona and Azuloas didn’t have any parents. They could have dead when the Dragon of Wrath and Fox of Greed had attacked the village, which wasn’t something they could have controlled.

That no one who lost their parents could have controlled.

She didn’t listen to her grandfather, and now she wished she did. That why she could have avoided this, could have avoided having her new teammate tear into her.

“That’s okay, but let me tell you this,” Aldona told her, Andromeda had her this once and it became one of her favourite things to quote. “You don’t know what anyone has been through, you don’t know what their childhood was like. You can’t see behind fake smiles; you don’t know what anything about anyone until they tell you.”

Jakoba just looked at her, then she hang her head. Blinking when Aldona kissed her forehead, her Mama hadn’t done that since she was four years old. Deciding she was too old for such a silly thing as forehead kisses.

“You’ll learn, after all, you’re not dead,” Aldona told her. “Come on, Jakoba, we should start heading back. Lunch is almost over and Azu will have found Launce by now. You need to eat something; I swear I can count your ribs.”

“I’m that not skinny!” Jakoba told her.

“Yes, you are,” Aldona replied poking at her ribs. “I brought extra food and you are going to eat it, from what I’ve read. I’ll have enough time to cook with how he’s going to be.”

-Classroom, four hours later-

“Knew it,” Aldona said as she sat back, a book balanced in her lap. If she ever met someone with Justus made timing, she was going to punch them and feel pity for the people who would be stuck with them as a student.

Launce and Azuloas had met them back in the classroom, where Jakoba was eating the lunch that Aldona had put in front of her. Jakoba kept an eye on Launce, but he didn’t look at her once, maybe Aldona was right.

Then she was going to keep her pride and she wasn’t going to throw herself at him anymore. If he wanted her, then he could chase her! She’s already shown him she was interested; it was time he decided what to do with that information.

“Smart ass, Dona,” Azuloas told her. Oskari was gone, Azuloas and Aldona spoke to him for the first two hours. Getting titles of books that he couldn’t recommend to them before since they were still Academy students.

Solid Illusion Seals were going to interesting to add to their skills, but Aldona had heard the ‘seal’ and she was already planning to the beginner’s book.

“Seal?” Aldona softly asked, making sure that neither Jakoba nor Launce heard them. It wouldn’t do if either of them heard what she said, but it was nearing three hours; it was almost as if Grandpa didn’t warn him.

Or that he didn’t know that Aldona had dinner to cook and Azuloas had dishes to wash, if her brother was left alone. He’d just eat noddles and pasta, at least she was able to add vegetables and meat to his diet.

“Any ideas?” Azuloas whispered back, he was also keeping an eye on Jakoba and Launce. Jakoba looked like she was in the middle of an identity crisis, like whatever Aldona told her had stocked her enough to make her think about everything.

“Reminded her of her grandfather’s words,” Aldona told him.

“Sekti Meyer?” Azuloas asked.

“The only one.”

“He’s the only Meyer in the force.”

“Yes, so the only one.”

“You’re a pain.”

“Thank you.”

Launce just looked at them with narrowed eyes, he didn’t care about the reason nor did he care enough to ask him. He just knew that the Vitkus twins knew something about that night. Knew something that his mother wouldn’t tell him, they had been there when Page had been, both denied it and ignored him when he asked questions about it.

Well Azuloas ignored him, Aldona just told him they spotted Julia carrying him and Clarice to the front gates covered in blood. His Mother wasn’t much better, just telling him he’ll understand what he was older.

Well, he was older and the only person who had the answers he needed were Page, Page who no one had seen a hair of since her disappearance that night six years ago. Depending on Page’s… no, that won’t change his mind, he wanted her dead!

Aldona wondered what Launce was thinking about as he fixed his tags to be hidden underneath his baggy navy shirt. When she thought about it, something about the glint in his eyes told her that she didn’t want to know, so she didn’t say a word to him.

Jadvyga and Nojus had taught them basic seals, only after Aldona and Azuloas handwriting was near-perfect, perfect to the point that they wouldn’t make any glaring obvious mistakes. Ones that could cost them limbs, or their lives if the mistake was bad enough.

In sealing there are fourteen levels, but in the Vitkus Clan there was another six levels after that, the Kazlauskas Clan had another five levels and the Gintaro Clan had another four. So, while Aldona and Azuloas knew it was one thing to become a Seal Master.

It was quite another thing to become one underneath the Vitkus, Kazlauskas or Gintaro Clans.

Aldona and Azuloas didn‘t know at the beginning that Jadvyga and Nojus started making them copy things for their friends. They didn‘t know that was sealing training, it was fun, and it helped other people as well.

With that a simple water seal was placed on top of the door frame, both Vitkus twins went back to their carefully hidden books and waited for the real fun to begin with. It was always fun to see if a new seal would work and the amount of damage it could do if used in another way.

Melanthe and Hyacintha tightened their tails around the twins’ lower torso, making them both looking at the door.

‘Someone’s here,’ Melanthe told them.

‘Male,’ Hyacintha told them.

Dragons could smell the different hormones in male and females, the twins found this useful since both male and female bodies were built differently. So, they needed different ways to defend themselves if their attacker was male or female.

‘Šuo,’ Melanthe told them.

Aldona had always wondered where Katė, Šuo and Kranklys went. But it would seem she got one of her answers, when the door opened and their teacher paused in the doorway, she could only wonder why they got a high-ranking member of the Apsauga Unit.

Azuloas didn’t care who got wet, it was going to be funny no matter who got caught. This would be another prank that wouldn’t be able to be traced back to either him or Aldona, since they were seen to be too stupid to do something so advanced.

Neither care what the village; at least those outside their circle of important people, thought of them and never bothered changing any view they might have. It was for the best, Aldona and Azuloas would tell each other.

It made pranks easier to pull off; after all, idiots couldn’t pull off such complex plans.

All four teens looked at the door when it opened, blonde hair came through before… before whoever it was stocked through. His clothing, a simple short sleeve shirt and pants were wet, even his socks! Were wet, his hair was plastered to the side of his face and the back of his neck.

When Justus looked at his students all of them looked as if they didn’t have a clue what had just happened. The blond male looked up at the door and as expected, he could see the seal disappearing.

An elemental seal. A Kazlauskas seal then.

“The pranksters hit again, huh, Jakoba?” Aldona asked the stunned female, who just nodded her head in agreement. “They’ve pulled this stuff for the last two years!”

“I’ve got to agree sis, it’s funny. I’m not going to stop the person who did it,” Azuloas agreed, no one would think it was them. Šuo/Justus might, but he had been tricky to trick, they never could pull the wool over his eyes.

No matter how good at acting they had gotten, or the painstakingly gained control over their facial expressions and emotions they had become.

“Meet me on the roof,” Justus told them before disappearing.