Chapter 18: A Few Hours

"Now, now, now, now", it was Don who reacted to Zax's apology. She got up from her tall backrest chair and proceeded to stand beside Zetsa. "If you understand, than it is good enough to settle this issue here". With one hand one Zax's shoulder and the other on Zetsa's, Don was slightly taller than the two and gave the impression of a mother placating her children.

"Zetsa?" Don asked for her response.

"I said ... all I had to say". The tears stopped falling and Zetsa wiped the two salty trails from her cheeks. Her hand reached for Zax's and she made him turn with her to face Don.

"Thank you for taking care of us, Don Ram". Zetsa bowed her head and Zax followed suit.

"I'm sorry for the way I've been when I barged into the school and I'm sorry for offending you, Don Ram, the vice principal and the students who tried to calm me". Zax added. He did not want his big sister to bear the apology for his misconducts, so he bowed his head a bit lower.

"You, two, are exaggerating, hahaha", Don chuckled and shoved the siblings to straighten their backs. "Apologies are unneeded in present company, hahaha ... Young girl Zetsa, you waited patiently for two days so that young Zax could heal himself entirely. It seems to me that you should not prolong your matters over in Valgarel..."

From Don's manner of speech and choice of words, it sounded as if another issue, far more pressing than the previous one with the Dernalder family, was taking place in Valgarel and somehow, although it had been related to Zetsa, Don was also in on it.

"Yes, Don Ram", Zetsa nodded. "We will take our leave for the time being. I'll remember what we talked about and give you an answer when things will be less erratic".

"Very well". Don said contentedly. She accompanied Zax and Zetsa several steps and opened the office's door for them. "Wait for him to become placid, regardless of what we talked, that should be your first priority".

...

"We are good". Zetsa reassured Zax as they made their way back to cave twenty five. Zax did not say something to make her feel the need to confirm, but from his timid behavior Zetsa said so anyway.

The two departed from Eden Formation immediately after Don saw them out of her office.

Zetsa insisted that they should get back in a hurry, mentioning that the appointed three years' time had passed and they should not make her Master wait any longer needlessly. "A certain pressing issue requires us to depart as early as possible".

"Is it impossible to wait one more day?" Zax asked. In about one weeks' time so much had happened and the important matters he wanted to attend to, ended up being put on hold. Zax knew that it would be brazen of him to ask, but for the chance of reconciling with his old friends, for letting Anet know personally that he kept his word, he dared ask.

"Are you really fully healed?" Zetsa did not pay heed to his question and disregarded it all together as she changed the subject with her own question.

"Yes".

"Then let's pick up the pace". Zetsa said and pondered for a second. "You'll have the chance to say goodbye to mom, dad and Liz. Besides, if Master will approve of you, which he most certainly would, you will be able to return after a few days".

The first sentence made Zax a bit sullen. After hearing the second sentence he was relieved. Suddenly a half mischievous half curious thought came to his mind. "Big sis, you know, Eden Formation has for a superintendent a third realm expert". He said, wanting to break the seriousness in her tone.

"I know". To his surprise, Zetsa's respond was imperturbable. "I met senior Ten when you were brought to the Rehabilitation Room. It's better if you don't mention him or the Rehabilitation Room casually in front of others. Expert of his caliber are best to refer to only when it's appropriate, you can't tell what kind of powers they have..."

"Oh..." Zax took it as another lesson he should remember. "That old man was scary..." He confessed.

"Terrifying". Zetsa also admitted.

The brother and sister duo reminisced to when they met superintendent Ten and sighed simultaneously. They continued on their varied path as the tips of their shoes touched rooftops, sidewalks, commercial boards and so on ... Much like two tender but inexorable gusts of winds they WHOOSHED back home.

...

The apartment's door of the Zel's residence opened.

On the living room's couch three figures were situated, Zax's parents along with a tanned man who had short blond hair and was wearing a blue jumpsuit. Zetsa walked in without delay, but when Zax followed her inside, a look of astonishment adorned his face. The blue jumpsuit man, right in front of his parents, was holding his baby sister, Liz, and imbued azure mist energy into her little body.

'What the heck!' Zax could not understand what the man was doing, why his parents let a stranger hold their daughter and use his mist energy on and in her frail body. If it was not for Zetsa's still demeanor, Zax would have demanded some sort of explanation the instant his eyes laid on the blue jumpsuit man. Instead, with a frown, Zax released his Soul Sense and decided to first carefully inspect what the mist energy of the blue jumpsuit man was doing to his little sister. Afterwards, alongside the expectation that nothing bad is being done to his little sister, questions like who the man was, what business a Core Master has in his home and so on ... will follow.

"You are..." The moment Zax caught glimpse of the energy signature of the man's mist energy, a sudden sense of familiarity resurfaced in his mind and a few connections were made. "Elder Martial brother Tularg!" Unbelievable as it was, the blue jumpsuit man was none other than the nearly four meters tall, jaguar head, humanoid beast that he had the pleasure to meet and recognize as his Martial brother only once, the Dotted Jaguar Tularg, or more precisely, Tularg's two meters tall human form.

At the same time as he recognized Tularg, who apparently had a breakthrough in his training, Zax also found out what Tularg's mist energy was doing to Liz. In a remarkable way, Tularg's mist energy swirled inside of Liz's Qi channels, expending them and reconstructing them little by little. Also, the mist energy that engulfed Liz, refined her skin, bones and internals.

"Amazing!" Zax exclaimed.

"Zetsa, Zax", Marco and Laylen called in delight a step slower than Zax's reaction. They got up from the couch, leaving Liz in Tularg's hands. They both had a fond expression in their eyes when they saw Zax's haircut.

"Martial brother Tularg, you should not have troubled yourself". Zetsa said with a hint of worry in her tone. Other than Tularg himself, she was the only one to understand best the significance of his actions and the implication they will carry for a temporary, yet not short, passage of time.

"Zetsa, young man Tularg is wonderful", Laylen interrupted, clapping her hands and smiling. "Since you left he helped around the house and took care of Liz. It's simply wonderful. Liz in his hands is so calm and peaceful. She even smiled a few times!"

"Indeed, Zetsa", Marco confirmed, welcoming her and Zax with a hug, though he and his wife did not see them for quite a while, especially Zax, the two were accustomed to their children indeterminate leaves and consumed with the current benevolence that Tularg, a Core Master, had showed them. "This fellow is so young and already a true expert! Last night, he asked mine and mom's permission to bless Liz and it has been more than half a day and just look how comfortable and soothing beloved Liz is in his hands, hahaha!"

Though a Core Master who circulates his mist energy through a baby may seem odd and unheard of, common people such as Marco and Laylen would not think to question his actions.

"Ah!" A gleeful moan escaped Liz's small mouth, like a tiny laugh.

"Honey, hurry! Liz is smiling, she is laughing, she is laughing!" Laylen urged Marco and he, right away, used his Caller to record the memorable event.

"Sigh..." Zetsa released a long breath. She looked at her astir parents and then at her baby sister and her Martial brother. What he was giving was indeed a brilliant boon, but with that, her parents' hopes for a normal child, that is, not a monstrous cultivation freak, would go down the drain.

"Zax", Zetsa turned to him. "Seven to eight hours, that's how long it'd take Martial brother Tularg to finish. Anet is at school. I'm not sure about the rest of your friends ... Go, you have exactly seven hours to see whoever you want and return".

With Tulrag delaying them, Zetsa could not press Zax anymore to go meet her Master with her. She took the initiative to hold the door open for him and pushed his back out.

...

When Zax left the apartment building his parents lived in, he immediately hastened his way back to Eden Formation. Without a doubt, the person he chose to meet was Anet. It was not that he favored her over his other old friends ... he did not think that he did.

'To reconcile with the other', Zax though, 'will probably take more than the time big sis gave me. I'm also not sure where I can find them without looking up first the locations of their schools'.