Nend Ardhon Chronicles - Complete

Chapter 26 – Meeting the parents

After School, Paullu joined Drezara at the gate. She made a slight smile and asked when she saw the group of females that were at some distance, looking at them with serious faces, “Your female classmates don’t seem very happy. Why is that?”

“Maybe because they asked if I could go to the Library to study with them, and I said I was going to study with you and meet your parents. Now that you ask, they didn’t seem happy when I said that. I wonder why. I told them I could help on another day, but today I already had plans with you. Shall we go? We need to make a quick stop at Byia’s School to warn her.”

Drezara smiled and followed him, taking a quick look at the group of females that were still gathered and looking at them leaving. She made a mental note to introduce herself to them so that nothing dangerous happened again if one of those females disliked her because of her relationship with Paullu.

A few minutes later, Paullu waved at Byia and told her where he was going and that he would arrive by dinner time, only to receive a weird smile from her and a congratulations signal from her two raised thumb claws. Even Guyi and Lodon were making the same signal while smiling, and the Rodhocetus tried to mimic them, having a lot of trouble raising the correct claws.

Drezara disguised her laugh when she saw the puzzled look on Paullu and pushed him ahead in the direction of her mansion on the top of the Big Hills.

After some time and a lot of laughter with Drezara pinching Paullu’s tail and trying to escape, only to get a slap on hers, they stopped in front of the gate of her house. She placed her hand on the gate and whispered the command word, opening it.

She signaled Paullu to follow her, only for him to stop immediately in front of a growling big and old Rodhocetus. Paullu tilted his head and asked, “This one is bigger than my sister has and more muscular. It’s probably better if I back away, right? He seems ready to take my head off!”

Drezara slowly placed her hand on the Rodhocetus’ head and spoke in a low voice, “Be quiet; he is my friend, okay? He came for a visit; let him enter.”

The big Rodhocetus sniffed Paullu and growled again while staring at him. Drezara rubbed his head and explained, “I think he smelled Byia’s Rodhocetus scent on you. You will see that he will be calm in a moment. Come, let’s get going. He will follow us to the front door, so don’t get nervous, okay?”

Paullu swam side by side with Drezara, glancing at the growling Rodhocetus occasionally.

When Paullu looked around, he couldn’t help but smile at all the beauty. There were low blue algae on the entire ground, and only a few piled rocks every five meters broke the scenery. A long line of tall plants from both sides of their path went from the gate to the massive front door of the immense mansion ahead.

Drezara placed her hand on the door and whispered a command. The entire door slid to the left, disappearing inside the frame. “Welcome to my humble home! Hehehe! Sorry, I always wanted to say this. I know it’s not humble, and this is really a poor joke, but I am way too nervous, and I always make some stupid joke to distract me. Just one of my many weirdnesses.”

“Yeah, you are way too weird! You should go to my mother’s Clinic for a full check-up!”

A choir of voices welcomed them, making Paullu jolt in surprise. “Welcome home, Missy Drezara! Welcome to… your friend?”

Paullu saw a line of servants with tiny white aprons with four pockets on their waists, a thin white collar adorned with yellow gems, and a white tiara with the same colored gems, all of them on both sides of the large open hall.

He smiled at them awkwardly, and Drezara introduced him as her friend, making them welcome him in a chorus. “Welcome, Mister Paullu Calla!”

Then, one older female asked, “Missy Drezara, Paullu Calla, from the Calla family? That Calla?”

“Yes, he is the older son of Miss Teera Calla and Sergge Calla. Where are my mother and father?”

The older servant answered with an amazed look, “Your parents are in the dining room, Missy Drezara, having a drink. Do you wish to join them with your friend? I will go get drinks for both of you immediately.”

“I guess… Yeah, please do that. Thanks. Paullu, let’s join them, okay? Right this way.”

Paullu was looking around, completely dumbfounded. A large hall with a very high ceiling, smooth white rock on the walls, floor, and ceiling, and a big chandelier with small yellow gems glowing with Magic. He counted five corridors going out of that hall before being pulled in the direction of the corridor on his right.

After the circular exit of the corridor, Paullu faced a very wide room with paintings on every wall depicting many Water-Dragons that looked like ancestors and a very long table in a ‘U’ shape in the middle of the room, enough for twenty Water-Dragons, with twenty big chairs that looked like thrones.

At the nearest edge, Professor Albeyrt Forge was seated, with Theita Forgge on his left. They both looked at them as soon as they felt the movements in the water and while Professor Albeyrt was frowning towards Paullu, Theita Forge was all smiles.

She quickly got up and approached, hugging him while speaking, “Paullu Calla, long time no see! How is your beautiful little sister? And what about Teera? Piled up with work, as usual, I bet!”

“They are well, Miss Theita; thanks for asking. Mother is always busy, and even when all her workers are relaxing, she can’t stop for a minute or two; she is always in a frenzy.”

From the table, the frowning Professor asked, “Wonderful, another member of the Calla family… How is your annoying little sister doing in School by the way? Considering the latest events that were all over the news, that is!”

Paullu frowned back and answered, “She is rather well, but I don’t understand why you, from all people, call her annoying, considering that she recently saved your life.”

“Saved my life? Preposterous! How could such a young and little female save my life, I may ask?”

Paullu shrugged, while Drezara was shaking nervously. She never liked to see her father angry. “Because she stopped you from making a huge mistake with your most recent book. That would for sure cause your death if an assassin was hired by the family of an Adventurer or a Scientist who could have died because he believed in your latest equation. You should be humbler instead of attacking my sweet and extremely smart little sister right in front of me. In fact, she stopped you from making that mistake with your equation, her friend Guyi Mohryi corrected it, and the least you could do was to revise your book and give them a fair share of the sales, considering all their work. My little sister and Guyi did that correction on a whim but seeing you so full of yourself even after that huge blunder forces me to remember you of that fact. I will wait for your lawyers to contact me or my mother regarding the profit from the corrected version of your book.”

Professor Albeyrt had his eyes wide open, and he was opening and closing his mouth, unable to speak, and Paullu spoke for him: “Don’t tell me, are you really trying to say some lame excuse? Are you so proud that you can’t even admit your mistake and be grateful for all the help they gave you? I was waiting for a public announcement from you to present your apologies instead of just taking your new book from the shelves. I looked at that equation of yours, and my sister explained to me why it is very useful, and the corrections she and Guyi did made that equation flawless, but I can’t figure out why you… unless… You don’t want to give credit to two kids who are still in their third-Tide of School! That’s it, right?”

The Professor stared at him blankly without saying a word, and Paullu made a slight smile. “Well, I bet Miss Triri Ventbend would find this very interesting. Will you call her to give an interview, or shall I? I am sure she will be very happy about getting another tasty scoop!”

The Professor gulped and nodded a couple of times before answering with his face completely pale, “I… will call her in a few moments to explain that and… to give proper credit to Byia Calla and Guyi Mohryi… I will also instruct my lawyers to make some sort of contract with those two.”

“That would be so nice of you, thank you very much! Please tell Miss Triri Ventbend that I convinced you. Maybe, with that, she stops asking me for an interview. It is just a pity that I had to twist your arm like this because I wanted to make a good impression today, but all my good intentions went out the window when I heard you call my sweet sister annoying.”

Theita Forge took a few deep breaths, gulped down the contents of her closed cup, and tried to lighten the mood. “You… wanted to make a good impression? Well, it is indeed surprising to see Drezara with a boy in this house, considering that she never brought any friends over. Unless… you are a special friend, and that would explain your intention of causing a good impression…”

Paullu scratched his head and made an awkward smile. “Yes, this didn’t go the way I was aiming for. I tend to be overly protective when the subject concerns my little sister and most of the time, I go overboard. I came here to introduce myself as your daughter’s boyfriend and to spend some time with her to help with her studies. She said she was having trouble with some subjects, and I offered my help. She said we could study here, in her study room, and I thought about taking the opportunity to explain properly our relationship. Judging by the frozen look on Professor Albeyrt, he doesn’t seem to fully grasp what I just said. But what about you, Miss Theita? I am rather curious about your opinion.”

“Well… I think I am happy. Surprised, but quite happy. My sweet daughter is a bit awkward, as you might have noticed already, and most kids that live near us were never very happy with her presence near them. I remember her coming home once or twice and crying her eyes out because one of them called her a bad name and told her to let them alone. I know she is very picky with the people around her because of all that happened during her childhood, and I know you are also very mature for your age. As long as you respect her and treat her nicely, I won’t mind. I would even be very proud of her because she managed to catch a hunk such as you! Way to go, Drezara!”

Paullu smiled and winked at Drezara. “And you were nervous. I told you it was going to be okay. Maybe we can go now to the study room, because after all, I came here to help you study, right?”

“Yeah… Oh, I just remembered. I need to punish you, and I know how! Mother, can Paullu join us for dinner? I want to tell you and father what he did today to help me! I want to see him bright red and nervous while I brag about him, and you could even help me think about a proper punishment for him!”

Theita Forge vigorously nodded and spoke with a big smile on her face. “Wonderful! We will have a lot of time to talk! I will warn Teera Calla about that, but why does he need to be punished? He is a bad boyfriend, or what?”

“By the contrary, mother, he is an amazing boyfriend! He saved my neck today, but he needs to be punished because to help me, he hurt a bunch of females, and that is a serious no, no. I will tell you and father all about that after our study session! And… after father comes out of his frozen state. He is going to be alright? He looks weird!”

Theita Forge glanced at her husband, who was gulping down the contents of his cup. “Yeah, he will be alright in a few moments, don’t worry. I guess the shock Paullu gave him was a little too much, and he is still recovering from his head injury!”