Nend Ardhon Chronicles - Complete

Chapter 30 – Grandma's visit – part 1

Byia and Guyi arrived at her back garden, and after placing the two tails he was carrying near Rodhy’s bowl, Guyi swam straight to his house.

Lodon stayed at the Guild, helping out because Byia’s grandmother was still there, scaring the servants that wouldn’t dare leave the kitchen, and making the customers wait a lot longer than they should for their food and drink.

Byia placed the tail she was carrying on top of a flat rock and ordered Rodhy to dig up a hole next to his house. While he was occupied, she took the chance to use her Magic and to deep-freeze the two tails by lowering very fast the temperature of the water around the tails and wrapping them with a bunch of sweat leaves from the big bushes that worked as a fence around Rodhy’s house.

As soon as the hole was deep enough, she ordered Rodhy to push the two tails to the bottom and to cover them with the sand he dug. Byia concentrated and gathered a lot of Magic on her paws again.

At her command of ‘uisge air leth’, she pushed the water away from the tail that was on top of the rock, creating an empty space like she did in Paullu’s room to talk to his friends.

Then, at the Spell ‘feòil ròsta’, a fire appeared, slowly toasting the meat. Rodhy stopped covering the hole to look, amazed by the flames around the tasty meat that was making him salivate, remembering the taste of the previous one he had, and that one was only seasoned with sweet leaves.

Byia waited a few moments and took a deep breath. She entered the bubble that was without water and made a slow sniff near the meat, trying to find out if it was ready or not. She quickly backed away and took a few deep breaths, mumbling, “Darn it, I still can’t be out of the water for more than a few minutes, and if I try to breathe air, I feel like suffocating. I wonder how the Surface-Dragons do it. Well, no Skill this time, but I will try being out of the water more often. I am really curious if there is a Skill that enables a Water-Dragon to breathe air. So, let me finish this…”

She dispersed the bubble slowly, and the water hit the roasted tail in small drops, cooling it down. Byia quickly placed a few sweet leaves on the meat and rubbed them on it to infuse the flavor. Rodhy was almost jumping in anticipation, and Byia spoke while pointing at his meal, “Eat up, cutie! The other two tails will be for another time, okay? Enjoy your meal!”

Rodhy licked Byia’s left cheek and attacked the meat, taking huge chunks at each bite. Byia smiled and entered the house through the back door, making her mother look back when she sensed the water moving.

Teera Calla seemed stressed out, swimming back and forth in the kitchen, opening and closing closets. She quickly pointed to the dining table and spoke, “Byia, fix that for me. A few corners are missing because you don’t stop taking leaves from there. Put the plates and the forks, and when you finish, go tidy up your room. While you are at it, see how Paullu’s room looks like. I don’t want to give a reason for that old geezer to say a thing. Not that it will prevent anything, because for as much as I clean or take care of everything in this house, she always manages to find a problem somewhere.”

Byia asked, as if she didn’t know already, “What are you talking about? I know that grandma Isi is coming, but I don’t think that’s a reason for you to be all nervous!”

Teera closed a drawer and asked, making Byia stop on her track, “How do you know that? I talked with her this morning, but you were in School!”

“Yeah… she sent a message for me to meet her at the Guild of Explorers. She even gave me some pieces of meat for Rodhy. She liked him a lot, and I told her I was training to be a ‘Rodhocetus Trainer’. She seemed very happy with that.”

Teera made a slight smile and rushed to the oven because she totally forgot to close the door so that the steam cooked the meat inside. Byia used that distraction to go to her room to avoid any more questions.

She took her time to clean her room, and in her brother’s room, she even made his bed and placed the books that were scattered everywhere on their shelves. Before going down again, Byia went to her mother’s room and checked if everything was in order, including the plants, in case there was a dead leaf somewhere, making the room look untidy.

In the kitchen, Teera was taking the plates out of a closet and placing them on a counter when Paullu’s voice called for her from the front door, “Mother, relax, will you? Grandma is not going to bite you or anything! Drezara is the one who is almost fainting and with good reason! She is afraid of what you and grandma might think of her!”

Teera looked at the entrance hall and made a big smile. Next to Paullu was a shaking, beautiful female with deep, light brown eyes and light brown scales that were reflecting the surrounding light.

Teera put down the last plate and joined them in the entrance. “Drezara Forgge, welcome! This is such a surprise! I wanted to meet you, but I wasn’t expecting that it would be so soon! Well, Paullu sent me a message in the morning saying that he wanted to bring you over when I told him that his grandmother was in this City. I guess he thought it would be a splendid opportunity because my mother-in-law lives in another City, and fortunately, she doesn’t come here very often!”

Drezara made an awkward smile, but before she could thank Teera for the invitation, Paullu asked with a frown, “Anyone that hears you say that might think that you don’t like grandma Isi very much! I know she likes you a lot. I don’t know why you are… stop pretending to throw up; I am being serious!”

Teera was, in fact, making a weird face, and she then shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t like her; it’s just that we have different opinions about everything. We don’t agree on anything, and that sometimes starts a quarrel between us. Hearing you say that she likes me only proves that you were so out of here every time she visited! You forgot the huge fight we had last Tide? Because I didn’t! Well, let’s drop this subject for now, or cute Drezara over here might get the wrong impression. I am sure that Isi Holl will like you a lot, but she might annoy you because of your father. I know she hates him, especially after his first book, because she was going to use the equations in there for her work, and when the book was taken from the shelves because of a wrong equation, she got pretty angry about it!”

Paullu nodded, making Drezara gulp. “Yeah, I think I remember that. She wanted to put a bounty on his head, right? Why did she never go after Professor Albeyrt?”

“I think it was because the President forbade it. Professor Albeyrt is not only his advisor, but he is also his long-time friend. Lucky for him, because if your grandma went through it till the end, Drezara would be one parent short! That old female is unstoppable if she sets her mind on a particular target!”

From the dining room, Byia’s voice called, “Better if you get ready, mother! I see from this window that grandma is approaching with Rodhy swimming around her!”

Teera quickly fixed the tuffs on her hair and glanced at Paullu to check him. She then swam back to the kitchen to take care of the food while calling Byia to finish setting up the table.

Drezara backed away and leaned against a wall, not knowing what to do. Paullu approached and tried to reassure her, “Don’t worry, my grandmother is cool. My mother is a little nervous because of her visit; that’s why she didn’t smile or talk to you that much. She already told me she liked you, so don’t worry.”

“Yeah… It’s not your mother that worries me. It’s your grandmother. She is the most outstanding female out there! I still don’t believe she is your grandmother, and I am about to meet her!”

A knock on the door and Teera jolted, almost dropping the bowl of appetizers. She took a deep breath and signaled Byia to open the door, while Paullu pulled Drezara to the dining room.

When Byia opened the door, a very serious older female was staring at her. Byia looked to both sides to check if she was alone and spoke with a frown, “I am glad that you didn’t bring those two weirdoes, but if you don’t smile, you might as well go back to where you came from. I don’t want to see such a serious face on my favorite grandmother and ruin my dinner!”

Isi Holl made a big, forced smile and asked, “You mean like this? It’s difficult to talk. Are you sure?”

“Yeah, not a good idea as well; you look weird. You aren’t happy about coming here, or what? Get in already, and you, Rodhy, go eat, or I will give that meat to someone else!”

She entered, and Byia quickly closed the door after making sure that Rodhy was returning to the back garden. Teera approached and made her best smile: “Welcome, mother-in-law! I hope you had a good voyage!”

The older female looked around and answered without making eye contact, “I suppose you can consider it a pleasant voyage, but you don’t have a proper term of comparison, considering you never go anywhere! Weird decoration you have here; why so many plants? How is your work, by the way? Are you still working in that Clinic of yours?”

Teera felt her left eye twitching and answered while maintaining her smile, “You know I have been working there ever since I graduated. You also know that I am the Head Chief and I have a lot of responsibilities that stop me from travelling every time I feel like it. Not everyone can be an Explorer, right?”

“I suppose, but even a normal Healer travels more than you, if not for pleasure, at least to visit other Healing Facilities and Hospitals to learn a bit more. Unless you think you already know everything there is to know about Healing, and if that’s the case, I can understand why you remain where you are. Either that or you have a very serious lack of ambition. Not a good example for my grandchildren, I am afraid. I was hoping that Sergge corrected that fault of yours, but I suppose he didn’t have time. Or you are a hopeless case. So, where can I sit so that we can continue this amusing talk of ours? Unless you have the very rude habit of making your guests stand in the entrance hall!”

Teera Calla felt her left eye twitching again and signaled with her right paw to the dining room, “If you will be so kind as to follow Paullu and join Byia in there, I will arrive in a moment with the appetizers.”

Isi followed Paullu and an extremely nervous Drezara Forgge after making one last remark: “By the way, you should see a Healer about that twitching of your left eye. It’s getting worse over the Tides! Either that or you are getting old, Teera!”

In the dining room, Byia pulled a chair for her grandmother while glancing at her mother in the kitchen, who was fist-fighting the water as if she were trying to hit some invisible foe.

Byia quickly sat at her grandmother’s left and started to talk to prevent her from seeing the weird figure her mother was doing. “So, grandmother, how is life treating you?”

“Really good, I suppose, considering I am still alive. Your mother is pretending to hit me in the kitchen, isn’t she? Let’s see how long she can endure before blowing up!”

Byia muffled laughter, but Paullu was distracted and didn’t hear it because he was noticing the nervousness in Drezara, who was making her shake like a plant pushed by currents. “Drezara, you want to drink? Or something to eat?”

Drezara kept on slowly shaking her head, unable to mutter a single word. Isi Holl placed both elbows on the table and rested her head on both paws with a big smile plastered on her face. “And who do we have here, Paullu? Is she your girlfriend, the one you wanted to introduce to me? She is pretty.”

“Yes, grandmother, she is Drezara Forgge, daughter of Miss Theita Forgge and Professor Albeyrt.”

Isi Holl made a frown that she skillfully changed into a smile in just an instant. “Really? My, my… Although I never thought it was a good idea for that dumbass Professor to breed, he got a very pretty daughter. I know your mother’s reputation as a tough negotiator, but I am rather curious about you, my girl. Tell me, have you decided what to do with your future?”