The Shadower

by Punk19

With their just being returned to Moas, Angel and her sons are trying to settle into their new environment; it's not long before they become stressed by some force that continues to shadow and torment them and it's not long before their family adds more stress to what they're feeling. Who is shadowing them and will he stop to allow them to return to their former, new way of living?

30. Chapter 30

He did his usual after the clock, that was on the room's bedside table, went off—his hand was placed on it, which promptly shut it off, then he sat up. After a few seconds passed, he swung his legs—long, like his daddy's had been when he had been living—from the bed then got up; the act of his dropping to the floor and then doing a round of a hundred push-ups occurred after he was out of bed.

The black and gray, checkered carpet rose and fell with each push-up that he did then, after he was done with that routine, he rolled over to do two hundred pull-ups; the light gray ceiling was seen as coming towards him, then the matching walls were seen as rushing at him before falling away from him, with each pull-up that he did. After feeling himself as being half-so awake, and after feeling that his blood and muscles were flowing like they normally should, he got up from the floor then went to the room's stationed bathroom—once the hot water that flew from the shower's faucet hit him, the final act of his waking from his sleep occurred. Thoughts of the last two days cascaded through his mind while he cleaned his body of its night sweats and liquids, as did his opinions on them thoughts.

"Duru never did come around to the chamber for the flicks that he was interested in."

Upon going down to the level that his nephew's son was on, he had found him as pacing the room that he and his wife had been given to reside in; conversation on what occurred in the dining room, between Angel and Shaam, and Shaam not getting as he wanted in having the opportunity in training her sons, had been going on between the two of them. After making a trip down to the second level, he had found himself as finding Shaam doing the same thing—he and Kuruk had been talking, and the conversation between them hadn't been pleasant or cool in any degree.

"The mood between the three—Duru and Cyla, and Shaam—was much the same the following morning. Shaam tried to get Angel to relinquish Tazir of his given duty in training the boys and he got no where and fast... and he just about fell to pieces when he found himself as not getting what he wanted."

Most of January 7 had been decent; no bad actions between the kids, or negative reactions between any of the adults, occurred. Everyone had just let Bushon and Kashira, and their kids, settle in. The day following had been very different—it had been discovered that Angel went to Earth during the night of the seventh; on the morning of the eighth, she had distributed all that she had retrieved from Earth to the ones that she had gotten them items for.

Duru had found himself as getting a book that charted the various monkey species that were found on the planet; a container of discs, that looked to be about either monkeys or lizards, had also been retrieved for him. Duru, instead of thanking Angel for her generously gotten and then given gifts, had grown raving mad about them—I should burn everything that's on that bed then go see if she's truly lost her mind was what the man had been saying when he had come across him in his given chamber. Cyla, while knitting something at the time, had also looked rather angered over the gifts that had been given to her husband.

Shaam was a right big fan of shrunken heads—a severed and specially prepared head that was commonly used for trade or ritual or trophy purposes—and he had found himself as finding a few of them items waiting for him before his chamber. Had his nephew been elated over the gifts, or thanked Angel for her trouble in getting them for him? No. The two female heads—one having red hair while the other having blonde—and the two male heads—one being bald while the other having all sorts of sticks and bones in its skull and cheeks—had been seen as lying either on the foot of the man's given bed, or lying, all casual like, on the floor. The book, that chronicled the practice of shrunken heads, had been found as lying half-open near the room's bar. Seeing that had shocked him; Shaam was usually one to cherish Angel's company, and the gifts that she gave him... this was definitely not like the man at all.

The only ones who hadn't reacted in a negative way to their given gifts were Kuruk and Irka and he and Bahne. Kuruk had found himself as finding a box that had a black and purple ombre dress, a jarred specimen of a weird-toothed parasitic worm, and a container of a preserved Anemone Sea Spider in it while he and Bahne had found a box that had some items that they weren't expecting inside. The jarred kitten, that had a small mouth and only one eye, was cool while the set of Skeleton pens was rather interesting; Bahne had found herself to be quite fond of the black and pink blouse and the two necklaces that had also been found in the box. As far as he knew, everyone had gotten something from Angel yesterday—what all it had been that had been received he didn't know; he just knew that some who had found themselves as getting something from Angel hadn't reacted well to their given gifts or to the meaning behind them.

"After seeing what I did, I tracked Angel down then told her to not bother in getting anyone anything from her future-done trips to Earth."

While he and Bahne were a little nervous about Angel going to Earth they weren't as nervous as everyone else was; the girl was returning, and she was thinking of others during her trips, and her sons weren't going with her, so there was no reason for everyone to be going crazy over her conducted trips to the planet. Instead of growing concerned, and then nervous, about Angel's trips to Earth they were worried and nervous about something else that Angel was doing—just yesterday, after coming upon her to tell her to not worry herself about bringing anyone in the house something from Earth when she makes her next trip to the planet, he had found her as having five drawstring bands in her hand that had a small vial of red liquid on them.

Seeing Angel, and her four sons, wearing them items a few hours later had caused both him and Bahne to elope to a part of the house that no one seemed to be very interested in going to; conversation on his seeing Angel as having them necklaces on her when he went to tell her to not get or bring anyone anything from her next trip to Earth and then on their seeing Angel and her sons wearing them necklaces had happened after they reached that part of the house.

"A lot's been going on these last few weeks... Maybe she brewed one of them protection-based potions, then put it in five, small jars, then put them jars on drawstrings, as a way to ward off everyone who's been putting stress on her and her sons' shoulders?" Bahne had suggested.

Maybe that was it but, deep down in his gut, he had a feeling that it wasn't. Though still meaning to try to get things under control in the house, and trying to keep the adult members of his family down, and get them to control their rowdy kids, he was now planning on keeping a close eye on Angel and her kids—they were his family, and he loved them, and didn't want to see them be hurt in any way, and he was definitely now worried about them.

Most of the people in the house had seen and done the quiet talking thing on the necklaces that Angel and her sons were seen as wearing while others had been very loud in voicing their detest of the five wearing what they were—Dara Dara was the leader while Cyla was the next loudest of the lot. Curiously, Bushon was being very quiet and non-concerned on the matter of Angel and her sons wearing the necklaces.

"Just because we're worried and a little nervous about them doesn't mean that we're to become like everyone else, though." he came close to saying after shutting the shower's water off.

After leaving the shower, then grabbing the towel that was on the nearby towel rack, he dried himself off then went to grab the robe that was hanging on the bathroom door. Though being a couple of inches too short for him, and being made of a reversible material that was dark brown on the outside and tawny brown on the inside, he couldn't resist the option of wearing or keeping it—it was one of his father's old robes; the one that the man was more known to use, which was also made of a reversible material, but that was a chocolate brown color on the outside and had a leopard-like print on the inside, hadn't been able to be found after he and his wife were found as deceased. After wrapping the robe around himself—the old feeling of his father having worn it one day, a long time ago, was still present in it, which gave him a sense of comfort for knowing that the man was still around in spirit—he left the bathroom then went on to find something to wear.

"No one man's style is similar to another's." he thought after stepping into the room, then seeing the chandelier that was made of nothing but deer antlers. He and his wife had thought the thing ghastly ugly after seeing it; after turning it on, then seeing that the assortment of antlers created all sorts of creepy shadows in the room, his mood towards it changed. Bahne's was still the same, but she wasn't about to voice it, though.

The dresser, that was two to three steps from the bathroom's open doorway, was of the normal, dark walnut variety; the bed's frame matched that while the baroque couch, that had a black leather back, arms, and cushions on it, didn't. He was particularly intrigued by the black vinyl chair, that had all sorts of short spikes on its arms, back, and underside—though not his style, he had still found himself as liking it. The 50", big screen tv, that was on the wall across from the bed's foot, had been turned on two to three times since their arrival to the residence while the Victorian-made, wrought iron lamp, that had a seemingly glass-made shade on it, had been used rather frequently during the night hours before he and his wife decided to drop their lids then go to sleep.

The small spalted maple, kamagong wood box, that was on the bedside table, beside the lamp, was another item that his father had used during his lifetime—though having his allergy medications in it now it had, at one time, contained his father's wedding band, which he had never really worn, and pocket watch, which he had been a frequent user of; like with the robe, it was kept for sentimental reasons. Neither Rosol nor Raal had said nothing about wanting to have the hickory wood trunk, that was by the bed's foot; after seeing that his two brothers didn't want the piece, he had taken it and then started using it—like his father and stepmother, he and his wife used it when they were visiting relatives. All of their more fancy outfits and jewelry-based items were kept in it—it was better this way than to hang everything in a closet, or put in their given bedroom's jewelry box, and then, later on, after they left the residence and then returned home, find that them items were either not on them or had been stolen by one of their host's staff.

Green almost never looked good on him but, seeing as he had already worn a suit of black, blue, gray, and red that week he decided to go on and don the suit that was the darkest of green color. Except for the underwear, which were both briefs and white in color, and the vest, which had a floral design of lime green on it, everything was a brunswick green color. After donning what he did, he went to the closet for one of the five canes that he had brought along on the trip—the cane that he picked had a wenge wood shaft on it; the handle had a silver glass and enamel Eagle head on it. After grabbing these items, then taking note of the time—6:05; his wife wouldn't wake from her slumber for another twenty-five minutes—, he went to grab his phone and then his wallet. These two items had only just been grabbed when the sound of one knocking on the chamber's door was heard.

Bahne, who must of been sleeping rather lightly, was aroused from her sleep by the one who was knocking on the door. He sighed frustratingly, then made the motion for her to stay where she was, then went to see who it was that had dared to knock on the door of his and his wife's given chamber.

"What do you want you ungulate fool?" after opening the door, he saw that a blue-skinned Goblin, who had warts on his cheeks, large brown eyes, and a crooked nose, was standing on its other side. The Goblin, at first, didn't respond to his demand; he gave him a hard, mildly interested look before clearing his throat then going on to do so.

"Master Tazir asked for me to let you and yours know that his wife won't be available for making this morning's meal—she'll be busy, and he has plans to take her and the Young Masters out for breakfast." the Goblin relayed his employer's words. "He wanted to know if you and yours will be joining him or if you'll be sitting the outing out?"

"When was this outing decided on? Where's it planned to be held?" TrobrencusVile asked. Though not one for dining in public he did think that a change in scenery was a good thing for the likes of the TazirVile Lajoshu Surfeit family.

"Last night, before going to bed is what I'm told." the Goblin replied. "He, his wife, and the Young Masters wil be busy on the front lawn for an hour or two before everyone's to leave to go to J'Sepp City."

The act of one in his family allowing their offspring to spend time with the offspring of common folk, or with the folk that worked for them, had never meshed well with him. Like Duru, he preferred for the ones in his family to hang around folk of their own caliber—but, of course, he had no say on what one man, or woman, did with their offspring or in who they let their offspring hang around or become friends with. His older, and sadly deceased, brother—Rosol—had thought around the same context as he when it came to the family's offspring spending time with folk of blood that wasn't comparable to their own while Raal, his younger half-brother, who was also sadly deceased, had seemed neutral on the subject.

"We'll see if we can attend." TrobrencusVile said before dismissing the man from his presence.

After dismissing the man, he stood by the open door for a few seconds; it was in him to give out at least one brand of abuse, or insult, or make one in either his or in his host's staff feel uncomfortable after waking and... well, he just couldn't contain himself. He stepped out from his and his wife's given room then addressed the man who was halfway down the hallway.

"Walk with a twist, my good man—work off that breakfast before I work it off for you."

"Enjoy the view, Sir—I have plenty to go around, and that's not just in twisting or turning either." the Goblin said while going down the hallway.

TrobrencusVile blinked his eyes; his given remark—his hint of abuse-giving—had been twisted and then thrown back at him in the way of a flirt. The Goblin hadn't been offended, or annoyed, or had even disclosed any form of frustration over his threat. He stared at the man as he went down the hallway then, after getting over his given shock, he turned then returned to the room that his wife was in. Bahne was up, but she wasn't out of bed just yet; seeing as she was awake, he went to her then sat beside her.

Though he was very expert in both combing and then braiding his hair, he did like for his wife to do the honors of braiding it—his hair was rather unruly right now but, in time, with both his hands using a comb and his wife braiding the back, it would be back to being tame again.

After reaching his wife, then sitting beside her, he gave her a kiss then said good morning to her.

"Elimination Demoniaque... Elimination Demoniaque... Elimination Demoniaque..."

That was what he was thinking while entering the smaller of the house's two kitchens. The two words, which had been said two days ago, were doing more than haunting him—they were almost becoming inter-woven into his life. His employer's wife had said them during a conversation that she had been having over the phone and he, as yet, had heard why they had been brought up.

Hearing them two words had robbed him of his interest in wanting to work proficiently, and of wanting to eat or take any liquids down, and of wanting to spend any time with his family or think of January 9—it had been agreed upon that his two sons, and the sons of Eldass, Losal, and Kalach, would meet their old friends on this day... before leaving his employer's office on the afternoon of the sixth of January, it had been discussed and then agreed upon that the kids that Bile and Lhaklar had become friends with when they had been younger would meet and then have a rekindling of their friendship.

Elimination Demoniaque was a spell used by one who wished to have the demonic presence that was bothering them go away; it was not a spell that one spoke of freely and, in fact, it was only brought up when one was having an issue that revolved around demonic possession or oppression or potential possession or oppression. Normal conversation revolved around topics that didn't regard spells or potions or charms... One would talk of the weather, or of politics, or of what was going on at home; the act of one speaking about potions, spells, and charms would only happen when the area was in dire need, or in near-dire need, of being spoken about. After hearing of the Elimination Demoniaque spell being spoken of between his employer's wife, and Bushon Bedali, and after hearing his employer's wife try to pass it off as being among normal talk, he had come close to wishing that it'd rain or that one or both of his sons would fall ill on the day of their planned meeting with Young Masters Bile and Lhaklar.

No, he still trusted his employer's wife, and her sons, and he was still loyal to them, but he was worried that what was going on with them with whatever was trying, or that could already be on them, to possess them would pass off onto him and his family. The last thing he wanted, and needed, was for both his family and his employer's family to be hurt by some malignant force that meant to both cause trouble and be an unwanted baggage.

"Is that it, dad?" Arenzoar asked after pointing at a rectangular container that was on the room's stationed island.

There were two others beside it, but he and his son were concentrated on the one that had the Homsi Modulavich sticker on it—Mistress Angel, for the last four or five meal periods, had been saving certain items and then putting them in some tupperware containers; the names of Losal Khrelan, Homsi Modulavich, The Zultoa Family, and The Speelin's would either be placed on a sticker or would be written on a piece of tape and then taped to the containers before she left to do other business in the house. He and his co-workers had grown a little spoiled over this act of hers—they appreciated the gesture of her saving certain things from the final meal that was eaten by her family, and they did their best in having their family thank her for what she was doing, and they also did their best in cleaning the containers before returning them to the room that they were found in.

After going to the container that his name was on, he grabbed it then opened it; with his Mistress, and her family, not attending breakfast that morning, and with their having eaten around ten to twenty percent of last evening's meal before growing so annoyed by their family's antics and then leaving to both do something else and calm down, he wasn't expecting to find anything from last night's meal in it. He came close to laughing after the container's lid was lifted—Mistress Angel had gone to Earth on January 7... along with bringing a lot of stuff back for her children she had also brought some stuff back for everyone else too. He was fast in thinking that, with all that happened yesterday, she hadn't had a chance to give what she had gotten for him and his co-workers to them. The container had around ten or so Valomilk candy bars—a piece of candy that had a liquid marshmallow filling in a milk chocolate cup—, and around five or so Three Musketeers, Mounds, and Almond Joy candy bars in it. He had grown fond of them types of candies while being on Earth; the gesture of her getting him what he had grown fond of was greatly appreciated.

The candy bars were spell-sent home then the container was returned to the cabinet that it had formerly been in; with them two tasks done, he took to leading his sons from the room then up to where the employee lounge was—just because the kids were expected to see their old friends that day didn't mean that he wasn't to put his lunch in the employee lounge's refrigerator or say hello to some of his co-workers.

"Mr. Surfeit has a dog now, dad?" Dlahsleon asked after they reached the house's second level, then saw the dog that was doing nothing more than sniffing around while going down the hallway.

All of the animal's shots had been received; Zanra hadn't had any adverse effects to them, but, from what he had heard, she had sure not liked the vet coming near her with the syringes. After the shots were given, and after two dog tags were made and then given over, Master Tazir made a pre-scheduled vet visit for her that was to take place in six months time—the puppy was to be spayed after her first heat cycle came to a close. Trobrencus had done the honors of signing the dog over to Master Tazir on the eve of January 5, so the dog belonged to his employer and his family now.

The collar, that was around the animal's neck, was a pinkish red color, and had two silver tags on it—his employer's family's name, and the address that they lived on, was on one of the tags while the other simply stated the fact that the animal had had all of her shots.

The dog being seen downstairs told him two things. One, that the Young Masters, and Miss. Eshal, were awake, and two, his employer was up and about in the house. Master Tazir had started doing a schedule a few days ago where, almost immediately after he was out of the shower, and then dressed in whatever attire he wanted to wear for the day, he let the dog out to do her business and took up the training pads that were placed in the Young Masters', and Miss. Eshal's, bedrooms—curiously, the puppy was found as neither using the pads or the carpet to lay her stools on; she seemed to be holding her waste in until after being let out.

"Yes—that's Zanra; they've had her for a little over a week." Homsi answered his son's question.

His sons followed him to the employee lounge; they stood by the door as he stashed his lunchbox in the room's placed refrigerator, then as he spoke to the others that were in the room, before receiving their cue to take a seat on the couch that faced the room's tv. The two boys had only just sat down when Kalach Speelin entered the room with his two sons—the three did the same as he and his sons had after entering the room. Eldass Zultoa, who looked a little on the sleepy side, came into the room with three of his sons next; a rather nervous-looking Losal Khrelan, who was closely flanked by his one son, entered the room ten to fifteen minutes after they did.

The order, they knew, was for them to wait until the word was given for them to lead the children outside and then "release" them to do as it was hoped they'd do in seeing, speaking, and then rekindling their old friendship, and gain new ones, with the four boys that were their employer's sons. Seeing as they had nothing to do but "sit" and wait, he and his three co-workers either stood around, thinking their own thoughts, and being on their own, or mingled among either themselves or with the ones that came into the room.

"So much could happen... the Young Masters are taller and stronger than they are, and could well unintentionally hurt them; Arenzoar and Dlahsleon might not get along with the Young Masters, or the Young Masters might not get along with them; or the meeting might go well." Homsi thought while standing around in the room's top left corner. Zanra, rather nonchalantly, wandered into the room after he thought this; she sniffed around, then gave each of the children that were sitting on the room's couches a sniff, and then a look, before turning and then leaving.

Unbeknown to Homsi, he was also nervous about the meeting that was to take place between his sons and the Modulavich, Zultoa, Speelin, and Khrelan children. While trying to tell himself that it was normal, and that it'd go away after everything was started, he still felt nervous and a trifle bit scared about the unknown events that were to take place outside, on the front lawn.

He had only been this nervous twice before in his life—when Eshal went off to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and then again when she went off to the University of Telepathy. The task of his having her under his ever-watchful eye was being removed from him; she was to go off to a school that was a distance from him, and she was to have a dorm to live in and have to attend meals with people of her age that she didn't know... it was enough to make any parent, who was sending his first child off to a distant education, nervous. With Angel and the boys being missing, he had also been gripped in a wave of sadness—no children to dote on while the older ones were in school, and no wife to feel nervous with, or to take the edge from his nervousness from him... it had just been him and Eshal back then, and he had barely been speaking to the family then because of his involvement in looking for his wife and sons.

Eshal had been a tormented soul back then; she had missed Angel and the boys just as much as he had and she hadn't wanted to go off to school. Instead of wanting to go to school, and get an education, she had wanted to stay home and with him. It had been with a heavy heart, and a rather guilt and nerve-wracked conscious, that he had sent her off to her two attended schools—the letters and phone calls from her had been many, yes, and she had come close to asking him to come retrieve and then bring her home many times, yes, but he had still missed her and, in a way, wanted her to be back home, where he could resume his prior duty of keeping his eyes glued to her and have her around to take some of the pain that occurred after Angel and the boys left away.

"You're not sending them to the next chapter of their lives, or sending them to school, or waving bye-bye after they've made the decision to move out and then find a place of their own to live in, so quit being so nervous about what's to happen today." he chided himself.

"Bile's so big and powerful... he could unwillingly hurt one of the kids that are slated to see him and his brothers." his conscious started saying. "Lhaklar's tall, and can think of himself as being all big and authoritative when he's not—he could well be too bossy with the ones that are to see him and his brothers, which could cause people to think poorly of him. Hazaar's in deep with the phase—he has a way of losing his temper, and of flying off the handle at just about anything, so he could well create a fight with someone then tarnish his reputation with that someone, or with a bunch of someones. Lazeer's rather energetic, and can be a bit too funny at times—he could well hurt someone's feelings by his joke-like mannerisms; with his going through the Temperamental phase as well, he could well grow emotional, or tempered, with the ones around him."

"They'll do fine." he said to himself. "They'll conduct themselves well and they'll make friends in the process."

Last night's meal! What fine way to get his mind from the event that was about to take place—instead of thinking about an event that could become a good one in the lives of his sons he was to think of one that hadn't gone as well as he had hoped it would.

Three of his sisters—Whosla and Bekla, who were older than he was, and Vaiba, who was younger than he was—and their spouses had come by for their stay; Angel, who had taken a trip to Earth sometime during the night hours of January 7, had grown rather depressed over not getting them anything while they had just been overjoyed in seeing her and the boys. Instead of Whosla and Zebyr, Bekla and Keibo, and Vaiba and Majeer having a pleasant arrival, like Bushon and his family had experienced, they had experienced first-hand the events that were currently going on in his home.

Angel, sometime between the final meal of January 6 and the morning of January 8, had made a series of necklaces for her and the boys; after donning them, then walking around with them being on their person, they had met with some criticism. Cyla and Dara Dara were plain clawing at them for the removal of them necklaces while his father, grandfather, and Kuruk seemed confused, hurt, and curious about their being on them. Kashira seemed to be trying to keep her kids from Angel and the boys while Bushon was being just as quiet as could be when they were around him. Triskull had made a few crude comments on the necklaces before going quiet on them while most of the house's kids were either being very vocal or were acting like they wanted to either tear the necklaces from the necks that they were worn on or keep the ones that were wearing them at a far distance from them. His mother and stepfather, and their kids, and Qeeta were the only ones that seemed to be fine about the necklaces being worn by Angel and the boys. He, honestly, had no remarks or comments on the necklaces being worn—Angel, he thought, had grown tired of everyone's abuse and annoying antics and had made a potion that she had figured would protect her and the boys from the ones in their family that meant them harm. Trobrencus and his family, rather curiously, were acting concerned for Angel and the boys now—up to them necklaces being worn, the family had been acting in a normal way towards Angel and the boys; now, they seemed to be keeping a better than good eye on them.

With Cyla and Dara Dara, and Baruk, Kaasa, and Uevaa, all clambering up and down Angel and the boys' backs yesterday about the necklaces, and with his grandfather and father snapping at Angel for her trip to Earth, and about the gifts that she had brought back for everyone, he had issued the command for everyone to shut up and either leave the table or eat what was on their plates—Angel and the boys, who had obviously had enough of the family's shenanigans, had done the latter while most everyone else had done the former.

A jarred specimen of a bat's foot, and of a preserved albino baby bat, had been given to him while Eshal had found herself as getting a few dresses and jewelry; the boys had found themselves as getting either a model or a poster of some sort; and everyone else had either gotten some trinket or an item that could be worn or placed in the house as a sort of decoration—of the people given gifts, around half of the house's inhabitants had scoffed at the gesture bestowed upon them, which had done more than hurt his wife's feelings.

Eshal loved the dresses and jewelry that she had been given, and she had done more than thank her mother for her gesture in thinking of her during her recent trip to Earth, and he loved the two items that he had been given; why couldn't the others in the house be like he and Eshal? The boys had done their usual in thanking their mother, and in behaving themselves to enjoy what they had been given, while a majority of the youngsters in the house hadn't—Baruk and his siblings had given their gifts to their parents while Gaajah and his siblings had destroyed theirs; the kids and grandkids of Trobrencus and Bahne had enjoyed their gifts, as had the Ubalki kids, while Bushon and Kashira's kids had looked both surprised and half-interested in theirs.

Just about everyone still had their heads stuck in the past—yes, Angel had disappeared with the boys for sixteen hundred years but she had done so with a purpose, so no one should be treating her in the way that they were, and the boys should definitely not be subjected to being bullied or harassed by the visiting kids either. His wife, while taking trips to the place that she had been residing at for them sixteen hundred years, was returning after each trip was done—and she wasn't gone for hours or days at a time; at most, she was gone thirty minutes to an hour. If she was leaving to go to Earth, and was staying on Earth for two to three hours, or days, before returning, he would be concerned and he would put his foot down on her putting a stop to going to the planet—a husband had to let his consort have some time to herself; he shouldn't be ringing out countless orders, or preventing her from going to wherever she wanted to go to, or treat her like a servant or maid. Respect was needed to be given and, dammit, he was giving it and more to his wife, and to the four boys that she had either birthed to him or that she had birthed and he had adopted.

"Woke up earlier than usual this morning—both of us, and at five." he thought after feeling himself as growing angered. "Did a bit of "fooling around" in the shower before leaving and then going to get dressed."

Course, he and she could of had sex last night, or on the night preceding last night; instead of doing so, they had gone to bed and then gone to sleep—the "quickie" in the shower this morning was both a shock and a surprise to him... still! He was glad to note that the magazines, and his "hand puppets", were to never be used again—he had his wife back, and they could do things that married couples were suppose to do that didn't involve "puppets" or magazines. After doing what they did in the shower, he decided to let her dress him.

"There you go sexy," she said after he was dressed in a gray striped tuxedo and shoes, and after his goggled glasses were placed over his eyes. He, in response to her given words, had smiled at her. "You're ready for work now."

"I should give you the command to remove it all from me—you and me, get in that bed now; time to get serious! You're to remain in that bed for a while." he had joked. Her response of touching his chin had made him smile again.

"When's the date for when I do the implant of kid number four?" the wink was given, then his ass was squeezed, then she turned to get herself dressed for the day.

Instead of staying to watch her get dressed, and to see the amulet, that was still present around her neck, remain on her, he had left the room to let Zanra outside and then to check the messages that had been left during the night hours. After them two tasks were done, he placed a call to Olok Gzujus—the request for him to make his rounds in letting everyone know that he and his wouldn't be available for breakfast, and for him to be a "pest" to Trobrencus, had been made before the phone was returned to its handle.

Olok, being gay, was the best choice of his butlers to fit the shoes of being a pest to Trobrencus, who was giving just about everyone in his staff grief with either his flirts, his cane, or with his abuseful actions. With Olok being given the order to make himself "available" to Trobrencus—meaning, to work in or around the man whenever he saw opportunity to do so—he had made the trek to the third level. Bushon and his family had been given some of the rooms on that level to inhabit and, with Ladira, Sekton, and Wyir acting a little "off" about Angel's given gifts, he had wanted to do a small pop-in to check on them. After seeing that they were still asleep, and after seeing that everyone else was also asleep in the house, he went down to his office, where he was still at.

"Nothing bad happened between Whosla, Bekla, Vaiba, and their husbands, and my wife and sons." he thought while trying to pass the time away by simply re-reading the mail that had been received yesterday afternoon.

Bushon, Zebyr Verobari—Whosla's husband—, and Keibo Sebatu—Bekla's husband—had all taken their turns in going into the boys' rooms and then giving them a once-over before leaving; except for saying that the boys seemed to be a little too grown up, they had said nothing negative about what they had seen. After Whosla, Bekla, Vaiba, and Kashira entered the rooms, then took in their contents, they had tracked him down and then told him to keep an eye on the boys and on what all they were being allowed to look at and own—again, no negativity had been expressed with them, so they were showing respect. Vaiba and Kashira had actually been all for the boys having their game systems; according to them, the systems were a good outlet for them to expel their frustrations, stresses, and nervousness on. Naturally, Eshal was spending time with Ladira and, naturally, Sekton and Wyir were spending time with Qhuakiz.

"If all goes well, and there's no fights or disagreements between the boys and the Modulavich, Zultoa, Speelin, and Khrelan children, me and my family, and anyone who wishes to come along with us, will be going to a restaurant in J'Sepp city—we'll have a good, pleasant meal, that won't be interrupted by familial disputes or gang-ons, and we'll also see some new scenery." he thought after the dial on the clocks inched towards the time where the boys, and Eshal, would be getting up.

While her husband, and Homsi, were fretting over what was to happen that morning she was perfectly confident in her sons behaving themselves and in not causing any fights or injuring anyone that they were scheduled to meet and, possibly, become friends with. While waiting for her sons to snap their alarms off, then get dressed for the day, she thought about her not being allowed to make the jarred potion that she and her sons were wearing and about her finally making it to the Potion chamber and then making them. With Lhaklar and Lazeer not wanting to leave her side for a second, and with Shaam voicing his "desire" in having her sons do a trail on their powers, then be trained by either him or Duru, she had just not felt up to the task of making the potion. She had put it off until returning from her trip to Earth—where no one would bother her, or question what she was doing, and where she'd not have two of her sons flanking her like shadows.

The task of finding where the chamber was had been easy—it was on the first level, and on the hallway that branched to the right of the one that ran into the foyer. After reaching the room, then opening its door and going in, she had stopped to gawk at what she was seeing.

Tazir's modern, and modestly Gothic, style was very prominent in the house while, in the room, it wasn't; the room that she had gone to was made almost entirely of stone—the floor and walls on up to the ceiling were stone while the room's decor was made of wood, that was complete with dust. After standing in place, looking at the room, and wondering if she wasn't awake or was seeing something that wasn't real, she went forward to do the task that she was there to do.

The ingredients for the Protection Potion had been fast in being found—a spoon of pixie dust, the tail of a lizard, Troll tears, and the crystals that came from a pig's piss had all been dumped into the cauldron, then the pit that the cauldron was hovered over was lit, then she started stirring. After the brew went from being brown to purple she stopped stirring then went to find five, small jars and some drawstring bands that they could hang from; when the potion was poured into the jars, she was forced to wait five or so minutes for it to change from being purple to red before being able to place a cap to the jars and then giving them five shakes a-piece. After the potion was made, and was equally divided into five jars, and was then placed on a drawstring, she went to bed. When the morning of January 8 came around, she set to work in taking the potions up and then taking them to her sons—Trobrencus had slowed her up to tell her to not get anyone anything from her next excursion to Earth; instead of being annoyed in having him stall her in her task of taking the potions to her sons, and in doing the spell before the potions were placed around the necks of her and her sons, she had been glad for his being around.

"Felt very... awkward after making this thing, and the ones that my sons are wearing." she thought while fingering the amulet that hung from her neck.

Sleep, after the potion was made, was plagued by dreams of some form waking and then finding himself with both a headache, the shivers, and with a bout of depression; a few hours after she woke up, she, herself, had been plagued with bouts of depression... and anger and betrayal. She had only just stopped the tears from flowing, and had wiped her face of them, when Trobrencus's hand was noted as being placed on her shoulder. After speaking with him, and hearing what he wanted to tell her, she had resumed her task in going up to the third level—her bout of depression, at this time, had been replaced by anger; by the time she called her sons, then had them come to Bile's room and then form a circle, the feeling of betrayal was felt. A hint of nervousness had crept over her during the spell's doing—it had caused her to stop doing the spell twice—then she had grown rather dizzy and, again, depressed after it was done and after the amulet was slid around her neck.

The jarred potion was suppose to make her feel safe, and was suppose to make forces that meant her harm go away—she definitely didn't feel safe with it on! If anything, she felt totally and utterly vulnerable thanks to its presence being on her. She felt like she had just hurt someone's feelings, or had caused someone great harm by doing what she had—Bushon had said for her and her sons to wear the amulet for a month... with what she had felt on the day of it being placed on her, which was still how she felt now, she had a mind to remove and then discard it.

"What happened two hours after the potions were placed around our necks gave me mixed feelings." she thought after taking her hand from the amulet.

Bile had asked to see her; she, who had feared something was up with one or more of her children, had gone up to see what was up—upon reaching his room, she had seen that Lhaklar was on his bed and that he was more than a little emotional. Lhaklar had told her a wild tale of what all he was seeing in his bathroom—or, more specifically, his bathroom mirror. After hearing him talk of the scene that was continuously being played out to him, and about the black-skinned guy making an appearance in his mirror, and talking to him, she had made the motion to go to his room to see if what he was telling her was true. Lhaklar and Bile had followed her, and had seen the events that happened after she went into the room's adjacent bathroom and then tore the towel that was over the mirror away.

Instead of seeing a scene being played out in the mirror, or the man himself as being in the mirror, the mirror had cracked and then shattered—the glass had shot at her; if not for her hands being held before herself, she would of gotten some nasty cuts to her face. She had been fast in fixing her hands up—in using the medicine that was in her son's bathroom, and in using her powers to heal herself, and in saying a spell that'd mask the cuts that weren't able to be healed—then she had taken her son to the side. Bile had done the honors of fixing the mirror up while she comforted Lhaklar.

Lhaklar, being as shaken up as he was, had asked if he could sleep in Bile's bedroom after his mirror went in the way it did; Bile, being the sport that he was, had said yes—she, who was on the level that their chambers were on, was able to see that he had upheld his promise in letting his brother sleep in the room that he had been given to inhabit. Lhaklar had taken some clothes with him to the chamber last night, and had gotten dressed in the chamber that he was allowed to take up the night in; when he left the room, she saw that he looked to of gotten around half of a good night's sleep. Bile, on the other hand, looked well rested.

"You two look well rested." Angel said after her two sons reached her.

"Best sleep that I've had in a while." Lhaklar confided.

"Except for his snoring for half the night, had a decent sleep." Bile said.

"Man, don't give me that! When we were rooming together, I had to deal with you mumbling... and with the occasional farts that you gave off." Lhaklar snickered before going on to imitate the "mumbles" that his brother gave off during the night hours.

"Are you wearing the—" she stopped after the amulets were lifted from their shirts. "Keep them on. They're suppose to stay on us for a month—that means, don't remove them for anything."

"You mean we have to shower with these things on us!" Bile exclaimed.

"Yes dear, even when you shower." Angel said.

He and Lazeer, after they left their rooms, showed their amulets to their mother then went down the hall; he didn't know about his mother, or his brothers, but he felt rather safe and confused about the item that was around his neck. While the feeling of being safe was normal and natural the one of confusion wasn't. After the spell was finally said, and after the amulet was placed around his neck, he had found himself as feeling somewhat saddened—the pop that he had heard, followed by the startled gasp, had caused him to both blink and take one to two steps from the circle that he and his family had made. Where had the pop, and the gasp, come from and had his family heard it too? The rest of the day had gone well; he had heard no more strange sounds, or encountered anything strange. He had just gone by his way before hitting the sack and then going to sleep.

The confusion, for him, was still there while the bit on his being saddened was gone, thank the Gods on the latter.

He led the way down the hall, then down the stairs, then halfway down the hallway that was on the house's second level before stopping and then letting the one who had just come out from the level's office take over in taking them to wherever they were to go. While he and his brothers knew that something was to happen that morning they didn't know exactly what that something was—he was both looking forward and not looking forward to it.

"Morning boys," TazirVile said after his wife and sons had stopped to let him take over in leading them to where they needed to go. "Today's going to be a bit different than the ones that you've already experienced—don't think any of you will mind the postponement of breakfast; after you see what's in store for you, you'll forget all about your hungers."

The boys did nothing but nod their heads then take up position behind him; he took nothing in their lack of interest in what he had planned for them—they had just gotten up, and their stomachs were rumbling for sustenance, so they had a reason to not be interested in what was to happen that morning.

Angel, after he took to leading his family down the hallway, stepped beside him then asked him a question that he wasn't slow in answering. Eshal was who she was asking about; where was she and was she to take part in what was to happen that morning? Eshal, just last night, had made plans to spend half the day with the Hoolorg twins—the Hoolorg family lived four to five miles down the road; along with having two twin girls, that were his daughter's age, they had two sons that were nearing Hazaar and Lazeer's ages. Pikki and Kaiki Hoolorg had grown friendly with Eshal during their tenure in Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic; the friendship had continued after graduation occurred.

Unlike his father, who preferred for the children of his family to stay among themselves or among the ones that carried blood that was as good or nearly as good as their own, he wasn't about to dissuade his daughter, or his sons, from interacting with children that had blood that was less in value to their own. As a child, he had been kept in almost total isolation from others—it had just been Qeeta, and the kids that his father deemed fit for him to be around, that he had associated himself with. Most, if not all, of his childhood and teenage years had been taken up with his studying, and learning his powers, and trying to stay on his father's good side—as a child, he had been very stressed out; if he didn't get a grade that was up to par to his father's qualifications, or did something in his training that his father didn't like or agree with, or do or say something that his father didn't like or agree with, he could well expect a beating or some sort of discipline being thrown at him.

His inability, back then, to do Elemental powers had earned a lot of discipline and hard feelings from his father, and it had also almost cost him his life on several occasions. One time, when he had been in his early five hundreds, and had been playing in a pile of leaves, his father had come home and then decided to incinerate the leaves as a way to try to get his powers to come out; on another occasion, he had come to be nearly drowned after his father came upon him in the family pool. As a way to make his then-dormant powers become not dormant, he had caused a lot of waves to happen in the pool and then made him go under for around four or five minutes before letting him "drift" up to the surface for air.

His sons weren't about to be disciplined for their inability to do a specific power, or for their saying certain things that he didn't like or agree with, or for their doing certain things that he didn't like or agree with and the chance to socialize with others wasn't about to be taken from them either. It was wise for one to socialize their young, and to allow their young to make friends with others; his sons were to have the same opportunities that the ones that carried peasant blood in their veins had. He wasn't about to let them be overly shy... or be like he had been when he and Gloar met.

Gloar was fifty years younger than he, and he had had a much better upbringing that he had; at the time of their meeting, Gloar was talkative and free-moving while he was more quiet and careful in his movements. The act of his friend dropping his pencil, and then asking if he could be so kind as to retrieve it for him—it had rolled right over to his side of the aisle, and it had stopped to rest right beside his foot—, had been the start of their talking to one another while the act of Gloar finding and then doing the "stalk" routine on him during lunch-hour was the rest of the reason to why their friendship was sparked. He and Gloar had become something akin to study-buddies after their friendship was started, and they had done more than make a point in eating lunch at the same table and spend whatever time they had available around one another. Really, if not for Gloar, he'd be a much different man than what he was now—he'd probably not have his children, or have met his wife, or have the friendships that he had, or be on Moas if not for him.

"Okay... Now, boys," TazirVile turned after finishing his descent of the foyer's right-side stairwell, and then going halfway towards the front door that was before the room's two staircases. "you'll be going out in the front this morning; you're allowed to explore all that you want to but, do please, don't do anything that'll attract too much attention by the reporters—they're all still stationed by the front gate and fence, and they'd just about love to snap any old photograph, or grab any sort of video of you as you do as you wish on the front lawn. If a reporter asks for you to come to the front gate, or to the fence that's on either side of the front gate, don't do so."

"Gotcha." Bile was the only one to speak; the other boys just nodded their heads in acknowledgement of what he had just told them. After seeing them as understanding his words, he went to the door; after unlocking it, then opening it, he turned then beckoned for his family to go out onto the porch. His sons were fast in doing as he was inviting them to do while his wife was a tinge slow in following them. Once everyone was outside, he followed them then turned to close the door.

The first thing that crossed his mind, after he was on the porch, and was feeling the morning breeze hit up against his still-sleepy face, was that the porch looked bigger than what the news depicted it as being. The porch looked to round the house's front on one side while, on the far left side, the boards, that closed it off, were down; it looked like a sort of ramp ran down from the opening that had once been taken up by the boards.

A set of wicker chairs, table, and couch were on either side of the porch; after going down the side of the porch that looked to round the house's front, he saw that it not only did as he thought it did but that, at its very end, there was a swing. When he retracted his steps, then went to the portion of the porch that was to the left of the house, he saw that the ramp ran flush with the artificial blue grass that was also on the front lawn—after seeing the ramp, he pictured its purpose as being for the kids that were born to his parents. He could see Eshal, or Bile or Lhaklar, using the ramp while riding their kiddie bikes or scooters and he could also see his three older siblings using it during their days when the use of their legs was new or not nearly as stable as they were now.

After seeing what he did, he started getting the feeling of his being very alien—he felt as if he didn't belong in the environment that he was in, which made him feel sad. Bile and Lhaklar had either been born or had been babies at the time of their arrival to the mansion; they had been raised for five and six hundred years in this place while he had just been born and then spent four months here. He could see his mother sitting on one of the chairs—she had Bile or Lhaklar at her side, or Hazaar on her lap or in her arms, or she was knitting something while keeping an eye on his sister and brothers—and he could also see his mother sitting on a spread-out blanket, that was on the lawn, while his three, mobile siblings ran around, playing to their hearts content, and while a still-infant Hazaar either slept or took in all that happened around him from one of them baby bouncers.

Was it fair to say that Hazaar was also an alien in this environment? At the time of his being taken from the house, he had been a hundred years old—still a baby, and still not able to get fully involved with the things around him or figure out what this or that was. While he didn't know how his brothers felt he knew that he was growing depressed over this new feeling that he had over his not belonging in the environment that he was in.

"Pssst... Lazeer." he looked up then to the right; Bile, the one who had called him, had already descended the porch. He was on his way to where the porch rounded the far right side of the house. Lhaklar had descended half of the porch's steps before stopping to take in his surroundings while Hazaar was simply standing by the final step of the porch; it was just he, and his parents, who was on the porch.

Lazeer looked over at his mother; she was walking down the porch's left side, and her hand was trailing the railing that was present on the porch. His father had taken to sit on one of the wicker chairs; he looked calm, and content, but he seemed to also have his eyes glued on where Bile was headed.

After descending the porch, he stood beside Hazaar; only when his brother moved did he go forward. The yard had a series of trees in it that either had red, pink, or yellow leaves on them; while the trees were all rather branchy they were either tall or short—one of these trees had a rope swing on it... he was fast in imagining one or both of his older brothers, or Eshal, as using it during their kid-years. The driveway, that had yellow rocks in it, was flanked on both sides by green hedges; the paths, that had the same rocks in them, had a smaller variety of hedges on either side of them. After taking in all of this, he trained his attention to the white fence that ran around a small, red barn—when he swung around Hazaar, to get a better view of the fence and its stationed barn, he saw that the fence was separated in the middle and that another barn was obscured by the other one.

He was just taking in the two barns, and wondering what it was they contained, when two Goblins ran into view. The two men undid the gates that went to the two paddocks then they went to the barns; after undoing the latches that were on the barn doors, then swinging the doors open, he heard the characteristic sounds that sheep and goats made. The two sounds had no more been heard before the animals behind them came out from the two structures that they were contained in.

A species of what he wanted to call pygmy goats and sheep were what came from the two barns; the goats were either a brown or black color but, curiously, they had rather long and either straight or curly hair and a type of small horn that spiraled up instead of curved around or back or to the side. The sheep were either a tawny brown, a golden, a strange greenish, or a gray color and it seemed that only the male animals had a horn structure that curved all the way around their ears. The animals skipped, ran, or walked from their barns then they took to running all around their enclosures as if they hadn't seen the light of day for months—as the sheep did this, he saw that around a quarter of them had panda-like facial markings on their faces; about ten percent had white noses while the rest of the animals had either white or very blue-black faces. The Goblins, after their task in letting the animals free of their barns was done, left the paddocks then went off to do something else; he and Hazaar watched as they went on their way for a small span of seconds before turning their gazes back towards the paddocked animals.

"Good thing Bile rounded the side of the house when they were opening them two barns," Hazaar said after they had started towards and then reached the fence that surrounded the barn that the sheep had been in. "He'd probably love to chase them around."

"Yeah, and I can see the old man snapping at him for doing so." Lazeer commented.

Neither he nor his brother could see Lhaklar chasing after a group of sheep or goats; Bile, though, they could handily see chasing the old man's barn animals—while on Earth, he had a history of doing so. When they had been children, there had been a farm up the road from them that a flock of Fainting goats were known to live in. Bile, being the "thrill-seeker" that he was, had traveled to the farm numerous times just to chase the goats and make them seize up and then "faint"—on one of his trips, he had made nearly all of the farmer's flock seize up and then drop to their sides, and he and Hazaar had been there to witness it and laugh themselves silly about how retarded their brother looked after the farmer came out, yelling his fool head off about his bothering his livestock. The fun, for Bile, had ended on that day; the farmer, being faster than their brother, had run up to their brother, and then grabbed him by his ear, and then pulled him into his house. A quick call to their mother was made after Bile was told to plant it on the farmer's sofa. Ma, though trying to make a joke out of the affair, had understood the farmer's rage and had paid him back for the "trauma" that her son placed on the man's goats.

The next time Bile went to the property to scare the goats, the same thing happened; both he and their mother had been banned from ever going to the property again—Bile, on his first "offense", had been more scared than embarrassed while, on his second "offense, he had been more embarrassed than scared. He had learned a valuable lesson on that day—if you're going to pay nearby farms a visit, make sure that the farmer, and his family, weren't at home before partaking in the action of chasing after the resident goats.

"Come on," Hazaar said after giving his brother's arm a tap.

Momma had said for him to go on and to quick taking her air after he lingered by her side; with Bile and Lhaklar going off to explore the yard, and with Lazeer looking to be exploring the front porch, he had been the only one just standing around at his mother's side. He had a feeling that Bile was heading off to have a smoke and he also had a feeling that Lhaklar, who had made tracks in following him to wherever he was planning on going, had plans to join him in having that smoke. Seeing as they weren't being watched, or didn't have anyone escorting them around, he figured that taking Lazeer to an area where they'd not be seen, or bothered, so they could have a nice, relaxing, peaceful smoke was a good idea to do.

He led his brother past the goat and sheep paddocks then he started down a path that looked to lead to two areas where foliage was growing. After going a ways, they saw that the first area had around four or five cherry blossom-like trees in it; a line of mid-high hedges ran around it. The center of this area had a garden-like pool in it that had all sorts of spouts in it. He was about to pick that area to lead his brother to, and to have a smoke in, when a flash caught his eye—after taking a step towards the area, he decided against using it. A line of reporters, all with cameras in-hand, were standing before the fence that was before the area that the cherry blossom-like trees were in.

Since that area was out, he went on towards the other area that was able to be seen—he was fast in finding out, after reaching to within five yards of this area, that it was also not available for him and his brother.

He saw a sort of long, but half-winding, pool in the area; a sort of island, made of concrete, was in the middle of the pool while, on the outskirts of the pool, there were more mid-high hedges. All sorts of pool-side chairs were around the pool, and he saw around two or three diving boards and a sort of slide too. Sitting to the far front of the pool was a grilling area that had a grill, a cutting block and cleaning station, and two to three concrete picnic tables in it. It was either pool season or the season for when one enjoyed outside pooling was over—a trio of Goblins were standing at poolside; they were either using a long pole, that had a net on one of its ends, or they were fiddling around with the pool cover, that was half-on, half-off the pool. He and his brother took in this sight before moving on down the path that they were on.

"There..." Lazeer stopped after they went about twenty feet down the path then pointed at the area that was to the left of the path that branched from the one that they were on.

Oh yes! The area that his little brother had seen and then pointed out looked ideal for what he had in mind to do.

A row of low shrubs ran around its back while the rest of its periphery was flanked by hedges that were nearly twice the size of the ones that he had seen that morning. The path that ran both around and through the area had blue and gray pebbles in it; he saw two to three wrought iron benches and tables and at least two to three sections where blue-gray water lay. Blue, black and gray, and yellow flowers bobbed in the morning breeze—these were either in the areas where no blue-gray water lay or ran before the hedges—while the leaves of the area's trees were either stationary or were barely moving against the breeze. The gazebo, that was in one of the non blue-gray water containing areas, looked rather old and ominous while the two to three stone picnic tables looked weather-worn but holding up to what they were subjected to on a daily basis.

The area had four to five trees in it that were either very lush and wild or quite tame. The Bonsai-like trees were the tame-looking trees while the two Yew-like trees were very wild and unruly—he and his brother went towards the one that looked to have a pool of blue-gray water around it.

"Stepping stones? There's a row of stepping stone leading up to the tree that we're going towards?" Lazeer asked after seeing the round, circular stones that were both in the water and led up to the tree that he was leading him towards.

"Guess the water's deep enough to have them here." Hazaar commented.

Seeing as the interest in using the stones was there, they used the stepping stones to get to where they wanted to go. When he reached the tree, he pushed its overhanging branches up then went in; the entrance to the tree's underside had no more been done when he heard a gasp and then a splash behind him.

"You idiot!" Hazaar yelled after the water from the pool splashed onto him. When he turned around, he saw that his brother was in the pool; the water came to just above his waist, and had a froth-like appearance to it now.

"What? I slipped on the rocks then fell in." Lazeer said while struggling to get out from the water. After a few seconds of struggling, he said, "This water's pretty deep."

"I hope you swallowed a parasite, or a bacteria, or a frog after you fell in." Hazaar spat. "Look at me! I look like—"

"—you went skinny dipping with your clothes on." Lazeer finished while giving one of his eyes a wink. "That's against the rules of swimming while being naked—you now owe me twenty dollars."

"I owe you a punch in the face and a kick in the ass." Hazaar sniffed.

"Put it on my bill," Lazeer said before looking down to look at the water around him. "Hey! There's fish in here."

"I hope they're Piranha," Hazaar said meanly. "Hope they took a bunch of bites out of you, and made you bleed in several places, and gave you all sorts of diseases."

He ignored his brother's remarks and comments; the feeling of his being a trespasser, which had started being felt at around the time that he and his brother reached the sheep and goat pens, was temporarily gone—now that he had something to look at and explore, he was temporarily freed of his prior feeling of being an alien in the environment that he had been returned to. With something to do staring him in the face, he stopped the task of trying to get out from the water—he looked at the area around him, then at the sky, then he listened to the sounds and took in the smells that he was both hearing and smelling, before feeling something bumping into his ribs.

The fish that he saw, when he looked down, looked quite bizarre. It was snake-like—long and thin, and it had a movement that was very similar to that of a snake—but it had an orange and black coloration to it that resembled a Koi; the fins looks oddly shark-like while the barbels, that were on either side of its mouth, looked like those that'd be found on a catfish. When he put his hand in the water, then grabbed the fish, he got a surprise—it wheeled on him, then snapped its retractable jaws around his wrist. He, at once, shrieked; the fish was yanked from him and then given a better than college professor observation.

It had an Eel-like texture to it, and was around thirteen inches long; the eyes were large, and were orange in color; there was just one nostril, or hole, above the mouth; and the gills numbered eight. Rather surprisingly, it had a pharynx hidden in its mouth—when he yanked the fish from his wrist, he saw that the pharynx had a row of teeth in it. After seeing what he did, he threw the fish behind him then scrambled from the water. He went right for the tree; after disappearing behind its hanging matter, he took note of where his brother was.

"Thanks to your shrieking out there I'll probably have to put this out soon." Hazaar said after gesturing at the Kamal Red Light cigarette, that was currently being held between the index and middle fingers of his right hand.

"Dude! There's some sort of fish that has a pharynx, that has a row of teeth in it, in its mouth in the water." Lazeer said after seeing his brother.

"Baby bro get scared of a fish all of a sudden?" Hazaar said in a sissy way. "You're alive, get over it."

After giving his brother a long, tired look he sighed; the feeling of his being a trespasser returned with a vengeance. He wished that it'd go away and stay away but, deep down inside, he knew that it wouldn't. The feeling would persevere for a while before dissipating.

It was rather cool under the tree; the branches had been cut back to allow for one to stand fully upright and there was a wooden bench and a fire pit, the latter that looked to not be used in ages, either up against the trunk or a foot or so from the trunk. The water came to the outskirts of the tree before stopping; the whole, entire underside of the tree was open and available for one to either walk or sit on. After seeing that there were two to three rocks, that had blue or red-leafed bushes between them, under the tree he went to them; he sat before the medium-sized rock then he leaned his head back.

His head had no more settled against the rock that he was leaning on when he jumped up; the croak, though small, was loud enough to scare the socks from his feet.

Hazaar, after the orange and black striped frog jumped into view, broke into a laughing fit.

"What's wrong baby bro? Scared of a wittle frog now?" he said between laughs.

"I had no idea that it was there." Lazeer said. He felt foolish now; along with seeing plenty of frogs when he had been on Earth he liked frogs. He had owned a few as pets; he had no fears of frogs... it was just the feeling of his being a trespasser, and of his not knowing that it was where it was, that had caused him to be a little on the jumpy side.

After seeing the frog, and where it was heading towards, he went towards it then picked it up. He received a shock five seconds later—after the frog was in his hand, he started feeling a burning sensation; upon opening his hand, and letting the frog go, he saw that it had a reddish-orange substance on it. The frog had, apparently, secreted a substance that had burned through the first one to two layers of the palm of his hand!

Lazeer cursed while going to where the water met with the area that was under the tree; once he was by the water, he plunged his hand into it then started the process of cleaning it of the substance that was on it.

"Just because a frog is big doesn't mean its dangerous—the most poisonous frog on Earth is the Golden Poison frog, and it's quite small. The bright colors that it has on it are the indicators of how poisonous it is." he thought while cleaning his hand.

That type of frog was very well-known in the pet trade; after many generations of breeding, the humans had managed to drop the toxic's value to a much less severe quality so that animal could be sold and then kept as a pet. A few hundred years ago, between his graduating from Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic and his going off to the University of Telepathy, he had owned two Blue poison dart frogs—along with knowing their basic care needs, and knowing how poisonous they were to some, he had used a pair of rubber gloves whenever the need in handling them, or the items that were in their cage, came around. Them frogs, under his care, had lived for around fifteen or so years before perishing of old age. He had also owned a bunch of other species of frogs over the years—like the Blue poison darts, they had lived a good life under his care before perishing from old age.

The frog that he had just had in his hand reminded yet didn't remind him of a poison dart frog; while looking similar in pattern and coloration, and while being the same size as a poison dart frog, it was the fact of it secreting a substance that burned flesh that gave it difference between the poison dart frog.

"Ma's gonna flip!" he exclaimed after taking his hand out from the water and then seeing that its palm had turned a bruised, blue-purple color.

"Why? Because a frog pissed on you." Hazaar asked.

"That damn frog burned me!" Lazeer exclaimed. He showed his brother his hand.

"Shit, is that dye or—"

"It's a bruise... when I grabbed that frog it—"

"I'd use one of your learned healing abilities on it if I were you." the cigarette bounced as he spoke to his brother; about half of it had been smoked. "Wonder what else is under here?"

"If I were you, I'd not touch anything," Lazeer said before dipping his hand back into the water. With his other hand, he started manipulating the water so that his hand would be healed of the bruise that was on it. "Look if you find anything but don't to—"

The scream that came from his brother was loud; his eyes grew wide when he saw what it was that was attached to the back of Lazeer's hand. The thing was rather chunky in appearance, but it was also long and, curiously, covered in either spikes or quills. Lazeer jumped back; after falling to his rump, he got up then started jumping up and down. When he grabbed the fish, he yanked it then tossed it to the ground. He was about to stomp on it when he came in—the fish was "rescued" in the nick of time and then held it up for a brief, but, he viewed, crucial checking.

It almost looked like a Puffer fish; with there being no tail, or side-fins on the thing, and with there being no gills on its sides, he knew that it wasn't one of them types of fish. After using his knife to pry the fish's mouth open, he saw that it had two to three rows of beady, sharp teeth that looked hollow on the inside. After seeing this, he tossed the fish back into the water then went to see what kind of damage it did to his brother's hand.

After grabbing his brother's hand, which was being flailed in every direction, he saw that the bite was both deep and nasty. He peered at the wound, looking to see if there was any sort of liquid besides blood coming from it, then he dropped the hand—by personal opinion, Lazeer's hand was fine. Lazeer was freaked out, as was natural, but he was fine.

"Was that what nabbed you earlier?" Hazaar asked his brother.

"No—that was a different fish." Lazeer answered. "It came out from the rocks... seemed that it had a hole or something that it was either living in or waiting for food to swim by or into."

"Why would the old man have fish like that in a pool like this?" Hazaar wondered aloud. "I mean... this pool is big enough for one to swim in."

"You won't catch me dead swimming in a pool like this!" Lazeer exclaimed. "Not when there's fish in it that have sharp teeth, or that have pharynx-like mouths!"

"How's your hand?" Hazaar asked. The glance that he did a second later answered his question; his brother's hand had turned from being its normal, periwinkle blue color to a whitish-blue color.

"It hurts like hell!" Lazeer exclaimed.

He was concerned for his brother for a second or two before his eye caught something ambling by the bush that was beside the rock that his brother had seated himself before a few seconds ago; after seeing the thing move, he brushed by his brother then went to see what it was.

Ideas of his taking up a snake, or some other creature that could do him harm, ran through his brain for a second before being discarded; while true, he didn't know what all the planet had on it in animal life, and while true, he didn't know what could and couldn't hurt him on the planet, he didn't think that what he was reaching for was a snake or something that could hurt him. His hand, after being placed under the bush, searched for the thing that he had seen for all of five seconds before something rough was felt. After wrapping his hand around the thing, then bringing it out into view, he saw that he had a type of turtle in his hand.

Its shell was an almost perfect circle; there were all sorts of spikes jutting up from it, and it had a very striking, yellow and red pattern on it. The limbs of the animal were long while the tail looked too small for it. He was just turning the animal over, so he could see its belly, when the thing's neck shot out from under its shell; he gasped after seeing the length of the neck, which was almost double the size of the animal, then he dropped the animal—before it could bite him, of course. The animal, after colliding with the ground, gave its short tail one to two wags before zipping its vulnerable parts into the shell that'd give them protection.

"Neat!"

While Lazeer liked frogs he had a fancy for turtles; one time, when he had been a right young kid, he had caught a Spiny softshell turtle and then asked if he could both keep it and call it a pet. He had done well in its care, and it had been happy with him; at the time of the animal's death, it had been nearing forty years old. Hazaar wondered for the thinnest fraction of a second if he could keep the turtle, or ask his father if he'd be allowed to keep it, before the idea of his father saying no and then becoming either enraged or too-concerned over Lazeer's hand—the old coot, while speaking and making the motion in getting to know him better, was still not revered in the way that a normal father would be by him; he was still nervous of him and he still didn't trust him.

After picking the turtle up, then putting it back to where it had been found, he brushed his hands on the sides of his pants then turned to look at his brother. Lazeer's hand, to his great surprise, had become swelled in the time that he had been looking and marveling at the turtle; after seeing the state of his brother's hand, he grabbed his brother then started the process of rushing him out from underneath the tree. The cigarette, that he had been about to finish, was crushed and then burned then a spell that'd cause any smoke-related smells, that were on him, to not be detected was said; the spell had only just been said, and he and Lazeer were only just pushing past the hanging branches of the tree, when their father's call for them, and their brothers, to come to him was heard.

It was like a cruel slap to the face that his footing was lost after his name was heard as being called; his hand loosened from Lazeer, then fell away from him, as he flailed for balance. He yelled in shock, then in horror, as he plummeted into the water that harbored fish that could well hurt a person.

"Bile... Lhaklar... Hazaar... Lazeer!" TazirVile yelled again. After yelling their names, he turned to look at his wife, who was now sitting on the porch steps.

"I forgot to put bells on them this morning," Angel said before turning to acknowledge Homsi and Eldass, who were standing behind her.

Angel looked at the ones who had been brought to interact with her children that morning; there were eight in all, and all were either in or around her sons' ages... she couldn't really wait to see how her sons were going to react to the children. No dissuasion on her part had been done when she had been on Earth; during her sons' childhood years, and the years where they weren't in school, she had been all for their hanging around, and making friends, with the humans in their neighborhood. Her sons had been allowed to play with the neighborhood children, and join in with their gangs, and go to the towns and do things that other children of their age were doing. She was quite confident that her sons were well-socialized and that they'd do well with the meeting that was to take place.

Going by what she had seen, Bile and Lhaklar were probably taking advantage of a set of hedges, or a bush, to have a smoke. Hazaar and Lazeer, it did seem, had been more interested in checking out the yard than in taking time out to smoke one of their stashed cigarettes.

Other than the sheep and goat paddocks, there was the outdoor pool, that had a grilling area attached to it, and the area where there was a shallow pool that a bunch of water jets were stationed. There were a lot of paths both in the front and back yard that led to either specific areas or to no where in particular and there was also the area that her husband called the Man's Lagoon—she was honestly hoping that her sons were staying clear of that. Her husband used "the lagoon" when his male friends were paying him a visit; they'd go to the area, then talk male, or smoke Mogars, or act manly, before returning to the house. While she had taken the area in, and while she thought that it was half-pretty, she knew that she wasn't welcome there—Homsi and Eldass, being friends of her husband's, were allowed there when the occasion came up but she wasn't.

"About a hundred or so years after the Vaisha Galaxy was conquered, he searched out a few species of swamp fish then put them in the area's two water areas. While the species get along, and while they have bred, the numbers haven't grown to the size that he was expecting them to grow to." Eldass had said one day, when she had asked him what all was in the two watery areas of the "lagoon". "While the fish aren't edible, they are useful as a sort of entertainment. Whenever a challenge is given, Master Tazir, and his friends, jump into the water to either fish-out five or so of the animals or see how many of the animals latch on before the time limit's done."

Whoever came out of the water with the most Pufbiters usually got the honor of consuming a beverage that was rare on the planet; the one who left the water with the most Swamprey latched onto their arms or legs would gain the "privilege" of getting $100 for his troubles; while the unlucky soul who left the water with the most Laechums would be allowed to keep what all was suckered to his body. She honestly thought that the "prizes" given to the men who were bitten or found themselves as being preyed upon by the fish were low, but she had never spoken this or tried to get her husband to up the prizes or do something more interesting with his time—his time was his and his alone and she had no right in saying what he did with it.

While she hoped that her sons were well away from the area she knew that it was in their right in exploring it and in, maybe, gaining the experience of what all was kept in it—she just hoped that they weren't fighting, or creating any trouble that the reporters were catching on film or in a photograph.

"There's Bile and Lhaklar." Angel said after looking to the left and seeing that her two, older sons were rounding the porch.

Going off to have a smoke was far from what he had done; after rounding the porch, then walking along, with his hands stuffed in his pockets, he had found a bush big enough to hide him and then crawled under it. After around five or so minutes of thinking, and trying to get over the mixed feelings that he felt over the amulet that he was wearing, he had made the decision to make the box, that his stashed pot was in, appear above ground. He had only just made himself a joint, and had just put it in his mouth, when the bush was noted as moving—instead of seeing his father, or a Goblin, as coming under the bush he had seen his brother instead.

He and Lhaklar had spoken about the amulets that they were wearing, and about the feelings that they were feeling—which were pretty much the same, surprisingly—, all while the joint was passed between them. After the first joint was finished, he made another; Lhaklar had exhumed his box of cigarettes up from the ground and then taken a pack out from it before sending it back to being under the ground. The next ten minutes had been quiet between them.

The option of now journeying out to the front yard was nice, and he liked the fact of his territory growing, but he felt as if there was a secret danger out in this part of the yard that wasn't present in the backyard. The backyard was more closed off, and no one from outside the property's periphery could see it but so well, so he and his brothers had more option of smoking their cigarettes and pot in private—and without worrying about being found and then being narked on about what all they were doing. The front yard, while having foliage in it, didn't have as much foliage as the backyard had so the option of having a smoke while being hidden wasn't very open.

"Lhaklar and I played a lot in this part of the yard." he had thought while trying to forget the mixed feelings of being safe, and angry and depressed, that the amulet was giving him.

Along with riding their bikes in the yard they had also played jungle safari or just plain ran around like they had lost their heads. His elbows, he remembered, had come to being scraped a lot back then; the same went with Lhaklar's knees. On the times where they had played cops and robbers with the hired help's kids, they had sometimes gotten nicks and cuts and bruises from one another—he remembered the time where Arenzoar Modulavich's nose was bloodied after his brother, Dlahsleon, struck his face with a stick, which he had been using as a sort of baton. Man had Mr. Modulavich been mad after seeing Arenzoar's bloody face; though he and his brother hadn't had a part in injuring his son they had sure been fearful of the man on that day.

"Remember the toad that I put in your pants?" he had asked Lhaklar before they left the bush's underside.

"No." Lhaklar replied. "When did that happen?"

"You was around two hundred and twenty—just out of diapers. After I took up the toad, I took it to you then slid it into your big boy pants. You ran, screaming from one end of the porch to the next, until ma came over to relieve you of it." he said. "Dad, though not being pleased with what I did, wasn't all that mean on me—was forced to skip out on dessert, and I had to apologize to you for what I did."

"Must be why my butt has all them scars on it—you puttin' that toad in my pants made me have warts!"

"The mental image that you just caused my mind to create will haunt me for the rest of my life!"

They had only just started exploring the yard, and remembering certain things that they did when they had been kids, when their names were heard as being called. The spell, that'd cause the hint of smoke from being detected on their bodies, had been said then they had made the trek to see what was up right after their names were heard.

The photographers, that were all lined up before the fence, were either at one another's throat or were having a field day in snapping pictures of them as they rounded the porch; he could imagine how many photographs they got of Hazaar and Lazeer—knowing how them two were, they had probably gotten into a fight of sorts and the reporters had probably got it all on film. He was about to make a crack on what they'd see or hear about on the news later on that day when, suddenly, Lhaklar put the brakes on then gave his head a shake.

"Lhaklar?" he said.

"Dlahsleon?" Lhaklar disregarded him. When he looked in the direction of the porch, he had to suppress a gasp—standing just before the porch steps were eight Goblins... all who he and his brother had played with when they had been kids.

"Bile! Lhaklar!" the eight Goblins said in unison.

Lazeer was now sporting a busted lower lip and several cuts to his face; though promising to get him back, he doubted that he would. Along with tackling him, then rolling with him down one of the yard's hills, he had pummeled the shit out of him—Lazeer was probably going to be feeling the fruit of his injuries here in a short, which would cancel out any of his desires for gaining revenge on him.

If his parents asked him why he had beat him brother up, he'd reply by saying that he had annoyed him by throwing jokes on what all had happened after he fell into the pool of water that was around the Yew-like tree. Along with swallowing two to three mouthfuls of water, he had had a time in getting out of the water; after leaving the water, he had found himself as finding a bunch of yellowish-white creatures suctioned to his arms—a yell from him was emitted, then he ran under the tree, then his clothes were removed, then the act of his slapping his body as he evicted all of the creatures from himself happened. The things, that had been found as being on his body, had looked very Leech-like in appearance—it was just the fact that they were a yellowish-white color, and had a set of projections on their sides, that set them apart from the creatures that were known to be on Earth. After throwing the creatures from himself, then donning his clothes, then doing a spell that'd cause his ruined Playboy magazine to go from being ruined to being like it was before he fell in the water, he had taken to leading his brother from the area.

Lazeer, all while he was taking him back to where the porch was, had joked about his trying to become a mermaid, and then about how he had freaked out after finding the leech-like creatures on himself, and then had asked him how many kids had made with the creatures; at the time of the question of whether he still had a penis, or if the creatures had sucked it from his body, was asked, he was about ready to explode.

He was sure that the photographers had gotten a better than decent session on photographing him as he beat his brother to a pulp—their fight hadn't been hidden; it had been able to be seen by just about everyone, including the two to three Goblins who had still been doing what they were in the pool area.

While Lazeer had managed to slug his fist into his left eye, and then into his right side, he had gotten the upper-hand by kicking him in the stomach and then in the groin; his brother was doing the splayed-out walking thing and his arm was also being held across his stomach. The reporters and photographers were probably getting in a better than good amount of pictures of Lazeer's strange, little walk and of the injuries that he had on himself—he honestly didn't care; the little fucker deserved all that he had given him.

"You've gotten big!" after reaching to within ten or so yards of the sheep and goat barns, he started hearing the voices of many people speaking almost at once.

"And strong!" another of the people said.

"I bet you can pick all of us up at once, Bile." a third person said.

"I might be able to. Quick, get one of them long, sturdy sticks then all of you grab hold and—" Bile was heard as saying

"Bile," Hazaar heard his mother say. Judging by the sound of her voice, he knew that she was telling his older brother to not do something.

"You're as tall as your dad, Lhaklar." someone else said. "The last I saw you, you was just over his waist."

"And so was you," the first person said.

After hearing what he did, he crept closer to the sheep and goat barns; after reaching the two barns, he dropped to his knees then started crawling forward. Once he was at the edge of the sheep barn, he poked his head forward then took in what was going on near the porch. He came close to laughing after seeing what he did.

There were eight Goblins, who looked to be around Bile and Lhaklar's age, standing all around his two, older brothers. The one who was standing to the left of Bile was four foot, seven inches tall; he had reddish-brown hair and blue eyes, and his skin was a light green color. From where he was, he was able to see that he had a long, thin nose. The Goblin standing beside Mr. Long-Nose had plain, brown hair and eyes while the one that was on the other side of Mr. Long-Nose had dirty blond hair and green eyes—both of these guys were four foot, five and a half inches tall. The one that was currently separating Lhaklar from Bile had strawberry-blond hair and light blue eyes; he stood four foot, three inches and had a light blue skin complexion.

After seeing what he was able to see, he ducked back to being behind the barn then rejoined his brother, who looked curious about what was going on. Though he didn't say anything, he thought that Bile and Lhaklar had made the eight Goblins look downright puny—they had muscle on them, and were taller than they were, which made them look as he thought they did.

"What's going on?" Lazeer asked. Like Hazaar, he had heard the talking, and the excitement; though wanting to do as Hazaar had, he had decided to stay where he was.

"I think that our brothers have been made into idols." Hazaar said. "They've got eight Goblins, that look to be around their age, around them."

"Attacking?"

"No. Just... talking, and being a bit too excited."

"Oh."

The fight with his brother had made him feel a little better; it felt like he was his old, normal self again, and he felt like he had nothing to worry about now. He could take the busted lip, and the cuts and bruises, and his ribs and groin hurting him in stride while the feeling of his being a trespasser, and an alien, he couldn't.

After hearing what he did, he figured that the Goblins, that were around his two brothers, were some of Bile and Lhaklar's old kiddie friends or playmates—this figuring, sadly but surely, caused that old feeling of being a trespasser to return. Bile and Lhaklar had had friends while being in this environment while he and Hazaar had no one. While being on Earth, he had made plenty of friends, and had lost plenty of friends to either the plagues, natural disasters, or to the plain fact of their growing up and then forgetting all about him.

He and Hazaar had no friends here; they had no one to be associated with that was their age, and they had no one to goof around with or rough house or even talk to. All he had was his brother and all his brother had was him. Lazeer, after feeling the feeling of his being a trespasser return, went towards the fence that was behind the sheep barn then leaned against it; all while dropping to his butt, he listened to what his brothers and their friends were talking about.

"I feel like such an alien here." he absently said.

"Hate to break it to ya, Lil Bro, but you are an alien." Hazaar replied. Lazeer blinked his eyes; he hadn't meant or intended to say anything on how he felt.

"Like the kind that doesn't belong, Hazaar. I feel like I don't belong here—like I'm a trespasser or something."

"You're weird, dude." Hazaar said while sitting down beside his brother. "You belong. You was born h—"

"Was born, yes, but I wasn't raised here." Lazeer said. "The only history that I have with this place is me being conceived and then born here."

"After you was born, you spent three months and one week here." Hazaar pointed out.

"And that's all—Bile and Lhaklar have more history here than either I or you do." Lazeer said. "They were here for over two hundred years... they have memories of this place while we don't."

While he understood what his brother was saying, and while he did, in a few, small ways, believe it, he wasn't about to let it get to him or let it make him become depressed. Yes, he and Lazeer had been mere infants at the time of their removal from the house and, yes, they hadn't had a chance to make friends or experience living here, but that didn't mean that they should get depressed about it. This place, he knew, would take a while to grow on them and then get to feeling like home.

"I ever tell you about what I saw nearly two weeks ago?" Lazeer asked after the sound of everyone talking in the yard started ebbing down. "The reason to why I've been asking mom, dad, and Bile to check my closet whenever I'm in my room?"

"No,"

"Happened on the night that ma came home from seeing Trobrencus, and on the following night too—heard someone calling out to me on the twenty-ninth while, on the thirtieth, I both heard that same person then saw someone as coming out from my closet." Lazeer said. "He had a black body, and was wearing chains, and had glowing yellow eyes that were shaped like scalene triangles."

"There's a vent or two in your room, same as mine—you perceived the air coming from the vent as someone calling out to you, then, when you fell asleep, you dreamed up some form that scared you."

"I saw him," Lazeer insisted. "I saw him like I see you now, Hazaar. He came out from my closet, then he walked over to my bed, then he spoke to me."

Lazeer got to say no more on what he had seen; the Goblin, that ran around the sheep's pasture, slid to a stop then gained his full attention.

The Goblin was of the male gender, and he was around four foot, two or three inches tall. His hair was a blond color while his eyes were large, expressive, and blue in color. There was no hint of warts or any other blemishes on his face. The blue shirt, that he was wearing, had mid-long sleeves on it; his pants, while being of the jean variety, were a very faint blue color; and the shoes, that were on his feet, looked strikingly like sneakers to him. After seeing the Goblin, then getting to his feet, he winced then took two to three steps to the side—this move of his was no more done before another Goblin came into view.

While the one Goblin looked friendly, and while the acknowledging hello looked to be on his lips, he wasn't able to say anything to him; the notion was mutual for him and his brother, who had since gotten to his feet as well. The second Goblin, while looking somewhat pleasant after rounding the fence, gained the look of one who was in for a fight right after seeing him.

"You!" the second Goblin, who's name was none other than Amfloon Speelin, exclaimed after seeing him.

"Heh-Hello Amfloon." Lazeer returned.

Hazaar had a feeling that a spot of trouble might spark up between the newcomer and his brother so he moved between the two of them; Amfloon Speelin and his little brother had a prior history and, really, so did he. Amfloon was older than both of them—he was eighteen hundred years old; now that the surname clicked in his brain, he noticed that he had a better than heavy resemblance to the older of the Speelin brothers that worked for his and his brothers' father.

Amfloon's face was triangular shaped; the eyes were green while the nose was rather large and sported one to two warts on both of its sides. Amfloon's hair was red, and was about mid-long. He was wearing a red t-shirt; his pants were black and gray while his shoes were a plain black color. The watch, that was on his right wrist, looked almost brand new.

"I, Lazeer, and he had the same Potions and Spells teacher—Mr. Arkav Lihdrel."

Lazeer had been the equivalent of a class clown back when they had been in school and Amfloon, being the guy that he was, had either not taken his jokes, and joke-like nature, in stride or had plain disliked him for his smarts. Along with handing his tests and quizzes back before everyone else did, Lazeer always did his homework and was one of the first to raise his hand when a question on the given lesson was asked. While he had often been annoyed by his brother's too-smart antics, and jokes and joke-like nature, he hadn't taken it in the way that Amfloon had.

Amfloon Speelin, it had seemed back then, was a little slow in doing things and was a bit of a slacker. Along with being one of the last students to hand his tests and quizzes back he had also only had his homework on him around a quarter to half of the time. The kid had mostly gotten C's and D's on his work—or, at least until Lazeer started going to Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic. Them C's and D's had become high to mid-level B's and high C's after Lazeer was enrolled in the school and Amfloon also started doing his homework and being a little faster in doing his tests and quizzes. The rivalry had started out pretty basic until Lazeer's potions and spells were always done on the first try—Amfloon had just not been able to do them on the first try, which had caused the normal rivalry to become something like a classroom battle.

While trying to show his brother up, and try to get him into trouble for, sometimes, things that he either didn't do or say, he had also bullied him. If Mr. Lihdrel said good job, Reezal, Amfloon would have a comeback to it, or would corner his brother outside the room and then threaten to pummel him if he didn't drop his intelligence; if Mr. Lihdrel gave Lazeer, who went by Reezal back then, a paper that had a B or A on it Amfloon would crack and then say that he had cheated. Amfloon was also responsible for tripping his brother up at any chance that he saw fit and in pushing, shoving, or swiping certain things from his desk too.

His issues with the kid stemmed from his activities with Lazeer; if he saw Amfloon pushing, shoving, or tripping Lazeer up, he'd lunge or charge at him and then swing his fist. On the times where Amfloon had pushed him into the cauldron of potion that he was trying to make, he had wheeled himself around and then spat out a bunch of derogatory names that had caused Mr. Lihdrel to come running. About a quarter of his given detentions had come from his either defending himself or Lazeer from the kid—Amfloon, in comparison to his given discipline, had never been reprimanded or disciplined for his actions against either he or Lazeer. The other detentions that he had gotten had come from his running his mouth at his other teachers, or at his classmates, or by his fighting his classmates.

While he was sure that his brother could take care of himself, he still stood before him—he figured that his brother had already gotten his fair share of abuse that day; there was no need for another to be added onto it, and especially not by the hands of one who was unrelated to him.

"Amfloon," he said after placing himself before his brother.

"Razaah." Amfloon said the name that he had gone by when he had been in school.

"Nice to see you." Hazaar said before making the motion to grab his brother and then pull him along. Only when Amfloon stepped before him did he stop. "Look, we don't want any trouble. One of our parents called for us, and he was sprayed by some frog, and then bitten by two types of fish, so we really need to—"

"Did he see what it was that sprayed him?" the Goblin who had the large, expressive, blue eyes asked.

"Yeah—it was orange and black." Lazeer answered.

"Seeper's Frog," the Goblin said. "They're not bad-poisonous but they do excrete a chemical when they're threatened."

"I take it that you picked it up, which makes me believe that you're non-changed—you're still touching things that you shouldn't." Amfloon said. "Seeper's Frog is a more look but don't touch species; the only dangerous frog around these parts is the Ocraon."

"The Ocraon?" Lazeer asked.

"It's the ugliest thing that you'll ever see in your life!" the unnamed Goblin said. "It's covered in wrinkly, brown skin and it has all sorts of yellow spots on it. The face is pointy, and has a spike on its snout, and its front feet are webbed while its back feet aren't. The eyes are beady and are nearly black in color. They live in the ocean—according to m'daddy, Mr. Surfeit put a chemical out that keeps them from coming onto his property."

"Have you seen one?" Lazeer found himself as being interested in the Ocraon.

"No, but my dad has." the Goblin replied before making the motion in introducing himself. "Name's Arenzoar Modulavich, you two must be Hazaar and Lazeer."

While waiting for her two, younger sons to show up, she took in the ones that were interacting with Bile and Lhaklar. Dlahsleon, and his older brother, Arenzoar, were still very polite and respectful; Losal's son, who had been given a name that was similar to his own, was still rather shy, and quiet, but he was also polite and respectful. Eldass's three sons, the twins, Seiqo and Devlor, and Malmeen, who was also a twin, but who's twin wasn't paying the house a visit that day, had been rather excitable, but still polite and respectful of the ones around them, while one of Kalach's two sons had needed a mild reprimanding from his father—Amfloon was going through the final motions of the Temperamental phase, and had said something negative towards Bile's shirt and on how Lhaklar was handling himself. Olteeb Speelin, who was somewhere around twenty or so years older than Hazaar and Lazeer, had been brought up for them to interact with—Mr. Speelin had made the decision for her and her husband on their two, younger sons gaining some friends of their own that were of their own age, which both she and her husband appreciated.

Amfloon hadn't been the only one to be reprimanded; Bile had gone a bit too far in suggesting that the eight boys grab a stick so he could see if he could lift them all up at once—while she understood that he was just showing off, and goofing around, she had still made the motion in telling him to not do that and to watch himself around the ones that were smaller and less muscled than he.

Except for Hazaar and Lazeer being a no-show, and Homsi's continual habit of asking her is she was okay or not, the outing had been a good one; she was all for the eight Goblins spending time with her sons and with her sons spending time with them.

Amfloon and Arenzoar had run off, playing one of them chase me games, while the other children were evenly split between Bile and Lhaklar—they were either talking to them while they explored the front yard or they were just plain following them around.

"Where are they?" she wondered while, once again, reaching up to touch the amulet that was around her neck. She had lost count of how many time she had touched it, and of how many times she had fought herself to not reach up or touch it.

Her sons were very obedient of her; they snapped at attention whenever she called for them, and they were very respectful to her, which she was very grateful for. Only unless it was absolutely called for did she discipline them—she had never abused or neglected them; it was either with a dish cloth or with her voice that she disciplined them with. After her two, younger sons didn't appear after their father, once again, called for them she stepped forward; she was ushering out a call for them to appear right when Kalach and Homsi were calling for their two, absent sons.

Arenzoar and Amfloon responded quickly to their father's calls; they, who had obviously just been behind the sheep and goat paddocks, ran back into view, then ran right over to their fathers to see what they wanted. Hazaar and Lazeer, it did seem, had been with them at the time that the dual-calls were made—one ran around the fence that contained the sheep while the other walked around it.

At first glance, she knew that some sort of trouble was encountered between her two sons. Hazaar's clothes were wet, and were a little disarrayed on his body, and Lazeer had some injuries to his face and was walking like his groin hurt him. Lazeer's clothes also looked a little wet, or damp, to her. After seeing the states of her two sons, she stepped away from the porch then went to them; only when they were within talking distance did she stop and then cross her arms over her chest.

"Being who I am to you two, I only need to look at you to know that you've been fighting."

"We had a small fight," Hazaar admitted. "He annoyed me with his jokes... I couldn't take it anymore!"

"After deciding to go swimming he came upon a fish, which he kissed—his hybrid offspring scared him something awful, mom!" Lazeer flashed a smile at his brother after he turned to look at him.

"We fell in a pool that's around some sort of Yew-like tree, momma." Hazaar explained. "He got bit by two fish, then a frog sprayed his hand."

"What frog was it that sprayed you, son?" TazirVile asked. Angel gave him a small glance before giving her full attention back to her two sons.

"According to Amfloon, it was a Seeper's Frog." Lazeer replied.

"Ah, a rather common species around here. Nothing to worry about—seeing as they only release their chemicals when handled, or threatened, I take it that you picked the frog up then handled it roughly?"

"Why's your hand swollen, Lazeer?" Angel asked.

All while they were out from under his gaze he had wondered where they were and what they were doing; unlike Angel, who had shed no worry about them, he had worried a great deal about their whereabouts and activities. The reporters, and photographs, he wasn't worried about—they'd not dare jump the fence, or break through it, to get to his sons—, and he wasn't worried about the sheep or goats hurting them either—they were contained, of course. With the boys not knowing, or remembering, the flora and fauna of the planet he worried that they'd touch or pick something up that could harm them—he made a mental note to educate them on what to and not to touch after that day's lunch period was over.

According to Lazeer, he and his brother went to the Lagoon; he had no qualms in their looking at the place, or going halfway into it, but he did have something against their going fully into it. The Man's Lagoon was a place for men; boys, and women, were not allowed admission. At the moment, it was just him, Gloar Rovnitov, Rilam Salirok, Mewokken Khasahu, and, on occasion, Homsi and Eldass that ventured to the area—unless he made other male friends, or his sons grew to the appropriate age where they were allowed to traverse the area, no one else was allowed to be in it.

Lazeer being bit by a Swamprey, and then a Pufbiter, and then getting sprayed by a Seeper's Frog, didn't worry him a bit—in his mind, the boy had gotten a lesson on what to and not to touch. He was mildly concerned about Hazaar finding himself as having a bunch of Laechums on his body but, again, them animals weren't dangerous so he wasn't hopping to the moon and back on the event. Again, to him, his son had learned a lesson on what to not venture or fall into—meaning the Man's Lagoon and the pools that were in it.

"You two need to go in now. Put some dry clothes on, then send the wet ones down the the laundry room." TazirVile said. "After you're dressed, come out then mingle in with the ones that are here to see you." seeing as the issue needed to be disclosed, he then said, "Lazeer, while you're inside, take care of your hand and face."

"K," Hazaar said. He, and his brother, walked by their parents then went into the mansion.