Disclaimer: Neither High School DXD nor Elder Scrolls belongs to me, all rights to their respective owners.
Chapter 7
Whiterun - Middas 17 of Evening Star of the 202 of the Fourth era
The sun was beginning to set as Edzard and Asia rode fast approaching the ancient Nord tomb called Rannveig's Fast. Edzard knew about this ruin, because he had been here a few months ago and had killed the bandits that lived there; however, apparently some draugr have been coming out and causing trouble on the nearby road.
"Ed, are we there yet?" Asia asked as she adjusted the dark blue robe she was wearing. Beneath her he wore a dark gray long-sleeved gambeson, and over her gambeson he wore chain mail. She also had dark brown leather pants, in addition to high black boots, she also wore steel gauntlets. On the right side of her belt was a small bag, which she was delighted to carry objects. On the left side of her belt was a slim sword, which was a gift from Edzard. This sword was eighty centimeters long, the blade was made of dragon bone, and the hilt, guard and pommel were made of ebony.
For Asia the last few months had been very hard. She had trained endlessly with Aela to be able to use weapons and Serana had helped her learn to wield destruction magic based on lightning and ice. She had managed to go from not lasting ten seconds in a fight against Aela to being able to resist more than ten minutes. When Edzard was told about this he smiled and gave him a gift box containing the sword; however, she had to buy her armor with the money she had earned by helping in Jorrvaskr.
"No, but it won't be long before we get there." Edzard replied as he led his horse in the direction of the ruins.
Asia watched Edzard point to some ruins on a hill. These ruins looked like the shell of a ship's hull, but turned upside down. Several of the rafters have fallen over time. When they were close enough, they saw a small group of draugr. Edzard quickly killed them using the chained lightning spell, since these rays when hitting the target also damage enemies close to it.
"We must leave the horses here." Was what Edzard said before getting off his horse.
Asia nodded and also dismounted from her horse. Edzard's horse was one that he had bought a while ago, while Asia's was one that they had rented for the occasion.
As they dismounted, Asia saw Edzard remove his cloak, leaving only his armor. Edzard's armor consisted of chainmail over a long-sleeved, high-necked black gambeson and over the chainmail he wore a black sleeveless tunic. He had loose black leather pants and black leather boots armored with steel plates. Besides that, he possessed steel gauntlets. On the left side of his hip he carried a one-handed sword, which was three feet long, the blade of which was made of dragon bone and the hilt was of ebony. On his back was a greatsword that was four feet long. This greatsword appeared to be a larger version of his one-handed sword, as it was made with the same design and materials.
After tethering the horses to a nearby tree, they both started up the stairs reaching the entrance to the ruins. Edzard turned to see a flustered Asia, gave her a reassuring smile, and then opened the door. Already being inside the ruin, she Asia could see that this she had a large room, which was illuminated by the small rays of sunlight that entered thanks to the holes in the ceiling.
They continued northward, down some stairs they came to a wooden wall. After this, they turned to their right and following a corridor they came to a room, in which there were several coffins. When they reached the center of the room, the lids of the coffins fell off and several draugr emerged from them. These undead were armed with various weapons and had leather and iron armor on them.
"Well, we seem to have company." Edzard jokingly commented as he drew his one-handed sword. Asia just nodded and drew his sword.
Edzard quickly blocked a draugr's attack and counterattacked by casting a sun fire spell directly at its face, killing it on the spot.
Asia dodged an attack by jumping backwards, landing quickly embedded the tip of her sword in the draugr's mouth, killing it on the spot. This action made Asia shudder, for it was the first. "life." she had taken. It should be mentioned that she was no longer as shy as she was before, all thanks to Serana and Aela; However, despite having trained a lot, this was the first time that she fought in a real battle.
While Asia was still internalizing what she had just done, Edzard was killing the draugr's with great effectiveness. One tried to attack him from behind, he just jumped to one side and beheaded; however, they were quickly surrounded by the large number of draugr that were still alive.
When Asia saw that they were surrounded, she quickly concentrated a large amount of magic in her hand. Unleashing her spell, she caused a great explosion of golden fire which wiped out all the draugr turning them to ashes.
"You know, when Colette mentioned that you had a great affinity for restoration magic, I didn't expect this." Edzard said with a smile as he approached Asia.
"What can I say. I'm good at magic." Asia replied, sticking her tongue out at Edzard playfully.
"I think Aela and Serana are bad influences for you." Edzard had a large bead of sweat on his forehead. They were turning sweet and innocent Asia into a true copy of themselves.
Both took a good look at the room, trying to look for more enemies, when they did not see any they decided to continue through some doors that were on one side of the room. They spent a long time searching among all the other rooms of the tomb; however, they found no more draugr's.
"It seems that was all of them." Edzard said as he sheathed his sword. Asia nodded and copied Edzard's action.
They had both come back to the same room where they had killed the draugr's. When they left the room and were already reaching the room where the exit door was located, Edzard's senses of danger went crazy. He quickly took Asia in his arms and took a great leap backwards avoiding in this way several ice spears that ended up hitting the ground.
"Wow, you do have good reflexes." A voice came from the ceiling.
Edzard set Asia down and quickly drew his sword.
"Asia stay alert. These aren't just wizards." Edzard said as he scanned the area with his eyes.
Asia nodded and quickly unsheathed her sword as well.
"¡Asia, crouch!" Edzard yelled when he saw a shadow approach from behind Asia.
Asia crouched down when she heard Edzard yell at her. Then Edzard struck with his sword, but only the sound of steel clashing was heard.
""You're right, out of the two presents, only the boy could be annoying." A voice oozing arrogance was heard in the room.
The room filled with footsteps and the shadow that had been behind Asia stood in front of them. Two more fell from the ceiling, and they stood next to the previous one. When the moonlight illuminated the room, Edzard could see his attackers. These were a Dunmer, a Breton, and an Orc. All of them were dressed in leather armor, black pants and boots of the same color.
'Vampires' Was Edzard's thought when he saw their bright eyes 'Of course, that's why I couldn't smell them. We are in a ruin, which is equivalent to a cemetery, the smell was very well camouflaged.'
"Asia back off." Edzard said as he prepared a defensive posture.
"No, I'll stay to help you."
"Asia, these guys are beyond your current capabilities."
Asia tried to continue arguing, but when she saw Edzard's eyes she decided to listen to him; however, when she turned around to try to hide, the Breton quickly pounced on her, but couldn't get close, as Edzard punched him across the face. The force was such that the Breton was fired against one of the walls causing a great roar on impact, then fell to the ground.
The remaining vampires were astonished to see their partner being hit with such force.
"You're not a normal human, are you?" The Orc commented with a bloody smile as he grabbed the ax from his back.
"They tell me very often." Edzard scoffed. "But you shouldn't smile. I just killed your partner."
"That blow did not kill our companion." replied the Dunmer, pointing to where the Breton had fallen.
To the surprise of Edzard and Asia, the Breton got up and showed no injury. Asia began to worry, it was the first time that she had seen someone get up after receiving a blow like that. As even Farkas is knocked unconscious when Edzard uses his full strength in one hit.
"That hurt." the Breton spoke, rubbing his face.
After that the three vampires surrounded Edzard. The Orc pounced on Edzard and tried to cut him down with his two-handed ax. Edzard jumped back, dodging the blow, which on impacting the ground created a small crater. Edzard quickly started running around the room dodging the ice spears that were thrown by the other two vampires.
Asia was amazed to see Edzard fight. He was exchanging blows with the Orc, while he dodged the spells of the other two. He also counterattacked with his own spells, especially with fireballs and lightning; However, a spell passed near her, causing her to scream. That made Edzard distracted, and thanks to that he was hit by a blow to the chest with the flat part of the Orc's ax. Thanks to the blow Edzard flew out and ended up hitting a wall.
When Edzard got up he was a bit stunned; However, he managed to react to be able to dodge the spells that were thrown at him. After that he returned to fight the Orc. They both started attacking each other at high speed, causing both of them to get small injuries.
That continued for a while until the fight stalled, as Edzard was able to defend himself from the Orc's physical attacks and could counter attack the other two with magic. The two vampires who used magic looked at each other and after nodding they drew their weapons and lunged at Edzard. When Edzard saw them coming, he quickly kicked the Orc across the chest, sending it flying.
Edzard blocked the Breton's ax; however, the latter used the space between the blade and the handle of his ax to catch Edzard's weapon, immobilizing him. The Dunmer took advantage of the fact that Edzard was immobilized to attack him from the left. Edzard was between a rock and a hard place, for if he wanted to dodge the Dunmer's attack he should drop his sword; however, this would expose him to attack from the Orc, which had just risen.
Taking a deep breath, Edzard brought his left hand to the greatsword on his back. When the Dunmer lowered his sword to strike Edzard, who parried the blow with the greatsword; however, when blocking the attack, Edzard got stuck and that was taken advantage of by the Orc, who jumped up and raised his ax to try to split Edzard in half.
"Edzard!" Was the cry of Asia when she saw that they were going to kill his friend.
When the Orc was six feet away, Edzard smiled. He began to open his mouth, which began to expel smoke.
"YOL! TOOR! SHUL!" Edzard yelled, expelling a flare from his mouth, this flare completely engulfing the Orc, which shot out and hit the wall above the door.
The other two vampires went into shock briefly. This was taken advantage of by Edzard, who moved his greatsword and sent the Dunmer flying. When the Breton saw this he tried to retreat, only for Edzard to immobilize him by putting his sword in the hole of the Breton's ax. Edzard quickly used his greatsword and with a single blow he split the Breton in half.
The Dunmer recovered from the blow and stood up, only to see his last partner being split in two. He quickly tried to escape; however, he could not, as Edzard had thrown the great sword at him, blocking his escape. The vampire looked at Edzard and was surprised when he saw that his left eye was red like blood and that his canines were longer.
"What are you?" The Dunmer asked fearfully as he tried to back away.
Edzard did not respond verbally, but stepped forward and kneed the vampire in the pit of the stomach. The vampire felt the air leave his body; however, he could not do anything else, as Edzard grabbed him by the face and created a ball of sun fire.
"Arghhh!" Was the Dunmer's cry as his face was burned by the power of the spell.
Seeing this, Edzard increased the amount of magic in his spell, causing it to completely cover the vampire, who was burned to ashes.
Once the vampire died, Edzard sighed and began to restrict the power of the wolf blood. That's right, Edzard had used what was left of wolf blood in his system to temporarily increase his physical abilities.
He slowly approached Asia, who was in shock. When he was close to her he was hugged by her. Edzard returned her hug as he whispered reassuring words to her. When they parted they both smiled, but that moment went to hell when the Orc stood up with massive third-degree burns. It was obvious that he was in his last moments of existence.
"Damn deadly scum! If I die I'll make sure to take you with me!" It was the cry of the Orc, which began to gather all the magic that he still had to activate several runes that were in the pillars that supported the ceiling, thus causing it to fall due to a great collapse.
Seeing this, Edzard quickly protected Asia with his body. Putting her under him while the whole roof fell on them. A large rock ended up crushing the Orc.
When the collapse ended, Asia with great effort lifted the debris that was above them.
"Ed, are you okay?" Asked Asia when she saw Edzard lying on the ground in a large pool of blood.
However, Edzard did not reply. Asia, seeing the state in which Edzard was, put her hands to her mouth and tried to stifle a cry. Being almost to the edge of panic she put her ear on Edzard's chest and tried to hear her heartbeat and felt a bit of relief to hear that she had a pulse, but it was very low. She quickly began to heal him, but nothing happened, his wounds did not heal.
Asia was beginning to despair when she saw that the healing spells weren't working. She was preparing to use her sacred gear on Edzard; however, when she was about to use it she heard a voice in her head.
'You shouldn't use that power on him, my child' Asia was shocked when she heard that. She quickly looked around to see if there was anyone, but there was no one.
"Who are you?" Asked Asia. "And why shouldn't I use my sacred gear on Edzard?"
'I am the mother of the bountiful land' Replied the voice 'Your sacred gear cannot cure a curse of that magnitude.'
"Curse? What curse are you talking about?"
'The curse they have placed on him, the ax that struck him had a curse that nullifies the natural regenerative abilities and disables the healing magic' The voice spoke again
'In order to heal him, you need that curse removed. And for your good fortune I know someone who can do that.'
'Then I just have to find someone who can cure his curse' Asia thought relieved; however, that opened up a new problem. How to get Edzard from here to the city of Whiterun so he can get help.
'You shouldn't worry, I just sent someone to help you' The voice spoke again.
Before Asia could reply, a mighty roar was heard. Looking up at the sky, her eyes widened as she observed a large dragon flying above her.
The dragon landed in front of Asia showing its fangs. Asia was totally terrified; However, she decided to face the dragon to protect Edzard. She drew her sword and took a defensive stance in front of the dragon.
"Ja, ja, ja. Girl, put down that sword before you hurt yourself." The dragon said with a laugh.
"You can talk?" Asked Asia astonished.
"Of course. I am not a primitive beast." The dragon replied. "I introduce myself little mortal. My name is Odahviing."
The moment Asia hears that name she was amazed, because Edzard had told her about the dragon he had as a companion.
"You're Ed's partner!" Asia yelled, amazed and relieved at the same time.
If Odahviing had eyebrows it is very possible that he would have raised one in confusion.
"Ed?" Asked Odahviing, confused. "I don't know any Ed."
"Ed, it's the Dovahkiin." Asia replied as she waved her arms in front of the dragon.
"Ah, you would have said that before. I didn't know they called him Ed." Odahviing commented, staring at Asia. "However, girl, I don't know you."
"Ah, sorry, my name is Asia Argento, I am friends with Edzard." Asia replied quickly, bowing to the dragon.
"Ja, girl, you're more polite than the brat, but I think you know why I'm here."
Asia nodded when she heard what Odahviing said. Pulling away from him, she watched him approach Edzard and open his jaws.
"HAAS! DUR! VOKRI!" Odahviing yelled.
Asia was amazed when a wave of golden color emerged from the dragon's jaws. This wave engulfed Edzard, causing a purple miasma to come out of his body, which evaporated into the air.
"It's done." Odahviing spoke as he watched the miasma evaporate.
Asia seeing this quickly approached and began to heal Edzard. Edzard's wounds began to heal slowly.
"Well, I've already done what I came to do." Said Odahviing, who began to look at the sky. "I retire. You can tell him that the old man wants to talk to him."
Asia nodded and saw Odahviing take off in a southwesterly direction. Once the dragon was out of sight, Asia made a little camp and laid Edzard in his sack, then lay in his own sack next to him.
Edzard's eyes widened in the sunlight.
'What happened' Was Edzard's thought, the last thing he remembered was covering Asia when the roof collapsed on them.
'Asia' Edzard got up quickly to see where he was. Looking around he could see Asia lounging next to him in her own sleeping bag. Edzard started watching Asia sleep.
'She looks so calm' Edzard smiled; however, Asia began to wake up.
"Ed?" Asked a sleepy Asia looking at Edzard.
"Good morning, sleepyhead." Edzard joked.
Asia's eyes widened when she saw Edzard awake, and she quickly pounced on him and hugged him while crying.
"Idiot, why did you do that?" Asia cried as she hugged Edzard tighter. "You have an idea of the fear I felt when I thought you might die."
"I'm sorry." Was Edzard's reply as he returned Asia's hug. "I just wanted to protect you."
Asia kept crying on Edzard's shoulder, who felt worse and worse for making her cry. When they parted, Edzard was surprised when Asia kissed him. When Asia broke away from him, she simply smiled at Edzard's idiotic face.
"A… A… Asia?" Was all Edzard could stammer. "Why was it that?"
"It's not obvious, I love you." The blush on Asia's face was atomic.
"You love Me?" Asked an Edzard shocked by Asia's words.
Asia nodded in response. She hadn't been sure of her feelings for Edzard; However, both Aela and Serana had managed to make her understand that she had fallen in love with Edzard.
Flashback
Serana and Aela were worried as they watched Asia drink mead like there was no tomorrow.
"Asia, stop it." Serana said, taking the bottle of mead from Asia.
"No." Asia said drunkenly, snatching the bottle from Serana.
"No, Asia. Stop drinking." Aela said as she took the bottle back from Asia.
"But…." Asia tried to reply. "It's okay."
"What's wrong? Why do you drink so much?" Serana was worried about her friend.
"I read a letter Ed got."
"All this mess for a letter?" Aela asked confused. "What did that letter say?"
"It was a letter from a lord. In this letter he offered Edzard the hand of his daughter in marriage."
"So, what?" Aela asked without understanding. "Ed usually receives these kinds of letters almost daily."
Aela remembered all the times that large quantities of letters came to Jorrvaskr from all corners of Skyrim. All of them were marriage proposals to Edzard.
Aela began to laugh internally at Edzard's dilemma and the marriage letters, while Serana who was watching Asia closely began to smile when she realized what was wrong with her.
"So why don't you like Edzard getting those letters?" Serana asked with a smile on her face.
"Because if Ed agrees, he'll go with someone I don't know and I'll be alone."
"So, if it's someone you know?" Aela asked with a smile when she saw where Serana wanted to go. "Maybe with me or Serana?"
"No! Ed is mine!" Asia yelled. "To then blush when he realized what she had said."
"I…. I… I…." Asia stuttered in search of an answer.
"Ja, ja ,ja!" Aela and Serana laughed as they watched Asia fume smoke from her ears.
"So, this is all out of fear." Serana said, recovered from her laughter.
-Afraid?
"Yes. You're afraid someone will take Edzard away from you." Serana replied, taking Asia's hand. "And do you know why you are afraid?"
"No." Asia lied. Since she knew why she feared Edzard would marry someone else.
"You do know." Aela said with a smile, having heard Asia's heartbeat change rhythm.
"It's because I like it." Asia said with her head down.
"And this is not something temporary." Serana said, squeezing Asia's hands a little. "Tell me, what comes to mind when you think of Edzard?"
"Your smile. The kindness of him." Asia replied looking into Serana's eyes.
"His body shirtless and glistening with sweat when he trains in the sun." Aela teased.
Asia blushed when the memory of Edzard training shirtless came to her. Serana seeing that Asia was blushing quite a bit, she hit Aela to prevent her from interrupting.
"So, what do you want?" Serana asked with a small smile.
"I want to be with Edzard forever."
End of flashback
However, a cold wind brought her back from memory lane and brought her back to the present.
"You do not love me?" Asked an Asia afraid that she might have ruined her friendship with him.
Edzard didn't answer right away, and this made Asia sadder and more nervous. But she was very surprised when Edzard took her by her waist and, drawing her close to him, kissed her. When they parted, he had a smile on her face.
"Does that answer your question?"
Asia began to cry with happiness as she hugged Edzard again and they began to kiss as if there was no tomorrow.
When they finished their kissing marathon, Asia decided to tell him what had happened after he passed out.
"So, you heard a voice that introduced itself as the mother of the bountiful land." Edzard said as he made a gesture of rubbing a nonexistent beard.
"Yes, she told me that you had been cursed by the weapon that had made you those wounds." Asia said as she handed Edzard a piece of bread and meat. "She was also the one who sent a dragon to help."
"A dragon?" Edzard asked as he scooped up a piece of bread to swallow quickly. "What was this dragon like?"
"Umm…. He was red in color, spoke thickly and was a bit rude." Asia replied as she remembered the dragon, pouting at the end.
"I only know a dragon with those characteristics." Edzard sighed as he had a bead of sweat on his head. "Did that dragon mention anything else?"
"Yes, he said to tell you that an old man wanted to talk to you."
Hearing that, Edzard almost choked on the meat.
"That disrespectful idiot." Edzard thought as he grimaced. "But I wonder what Paarthurnax wants from me."
After this talk, Edzard took the weapons from the vampires and put them in a magic bag, which could hold many objects regardless of their weight. After this he and Asia mounted the horses and returned to Whiterun.
Solitude - Turdas 24 of Evening Star of 202 of the Fourth era
The snow had covered the entire city of Solitude in white. There were children running around the square, adults who went out to do their shopping in the market, the taverns were full of adults and young people who were going to drown their sorrows, but they were all very excited about the parties. And the current residents of the Proudspire manor were no exception either.
The Proudspire manor was one of the most expensive properties Edzard owned, having cost a total of thirty-nine thousand septims, including furniture. This mansion had three floors and a basement. On the first floor was located the armory, the room of enchantments, the alchemy laboratory and the room of the housecarl Jordis. On the second floor were the kitchen, the dining room, and a small library. On the third floor were the rooms, the main one and two more, where guests would stay. On the outskirts there was a small patio that allowed to have a view of the forests surrounding the city, the sea of ghosts and in the distance, you could see the lands of Winterhold slightly. And not least, in the basement was the bathrooms, which had a huge pool of hot water.
Asia was walking quickly from one side of the mansion to the other decorating everything for the party that would take place at night. She had been a bit sad because she would miss various holidays of her religion. Holidays like Christmas, but thanks to the studies of the calendars that she had done with Edzard they had discovered that they had a similar calendar and this allowed her to know exactly when the holidays would be.
"Ed! Help me put these decorations on the tree!" Asia yelled from the dining room of the manor.
"I'm going!" Was Edzard's reply as he ran towards the room where Asia was.
Upon arrival, Edzard took the ornaments that Asia had and began to put them on the tree. For Edzard this holiday is called Saturalia, but for Asia it is called Christmas. While in Tamriel it is an ancient festival dedicated to Sanguine, prince Daedra of debauchery and carnal excesses, on earth the birth of Christ is celebrated. Currently Saturalia is a family holiday, that is, a party where gifts are exchanged, there are parades and where people wear clothes only for this occasion.
Although Christmas was the next day, today according to Asia Christmas Eve is celebrated and that is why they were decorating the house, everything to have one more day to celebrate.
They had reached Solitude that morning after riding from Whiterun. The trip was quick, since they no longer traveled with a cart, but each one was on his own horse. Edzard had decided to buy Asia the horse that he had rented for the mission in Fast of Rannveig, so that she would have a mount of her own.
'I still remember how Serana got when she found out what had happened֦' thought Edzard as he finished putting the final decorations on the tree.
Flashback
Edzard and Serana were chatting in a private room at The Bannered Mare. In front of them were some bottles of Mead already open.
"So, you almost killed yourself for being arrogant and trying to show off in front of Asia." Serana said bitterly when Edzard finished telling her what happened in the Rannveig's Fast.
"I wasn't being arrogant or trying to show off." Edzard replied with a pout.
Serana didn't reply to this, she simply raised her eyebrow.
"Ed, I've seen you kill vampires as easily as a sickle reaps wheat." Serana said with a smile on her face. So, admit it, you wanted to show off.
Edzard didn't answer, he just concentrated on looking into Serana's eyes, who responded in kind. They stayed that way for a long time, until Edzard looked away.
"Okay, I admit, I wanted to show off a bit."
Serana started laughing like crazy. "Ja, ja, ja. Just your Ed, just you."
"What kind of vampires were they?" Serana asked, putting the amusement aside.
"They were Pure-Blooded Vampires." Was Edzard's reply as he took a sip of mead.
"Weren't they vampire lords?"
Edzard shook his head, but before Serana could speak again she was silenced when Edzard drew the ax that had wounded him.
"What is this?" Serana asked, taking the ax to examine it and wincing at the smell it exuded.
The weapon reeked of blood magic and necromancy, but other than that, it looked like an ordinary ebony ax.
"It's the weapon I was wounded with." Edzard replied as he watched Serana try to test the edge of the ax. "I would not do that, that ax has an enchantment that allows it to place a curse on whoever cuts. It doesn't matter how light that cut is."
Serana quickly withdrew her finger before cutting herself. Looking more closely at the weapon she could see the enchantment; however, she was unable to identify him.
"Ed, can I borrow this for a while?" Serana asked, pointing to the weapon. "I'll take it and show it to my mother to see what we find out about her curse."
"It's okay." Edzard replied. "About your mother. Is there any answer we talked about when I came to Whiterun with Asia?"
"Yes, my mother told me to give you this." Serana replied, pulling a letter out of her pocket.
Edzard received the letter and read it. when he did, his eyes widened.
"Serana, tell your mother to keep the ax as part of the payment for her services."
Before Serana could ask, Edzard handed her the letter. When Serana read it, her eyes widened as well.
'I knew my mother was capable of many things, but this…' Serana thought as she read the letter. Her mother had managed to find basic information about the magic necessary for Edzard to travel to another dimension, the magic called shadow magic.
Shadow magic is a very powerful type of dark magic. Theoretically, shadows are not just an absence of light, but they are reflections of parallel worlds or alternative universes. This type of magic focuses on the manipulation of the forces that create the shadows to be able to alter events of the past, present or future. If it is used by someone of great power it can affect the flow of time itself and create dragon breaks. This magic can also be used to create portals to travel to other places and also allow travel between worlds.
"Ed, I don't understand well. I know you promised Asia to send her back to her world. But wouldn't that make them part?"
"I'll cross that bridge when the time comes."
"So, what was it like to kiss you with Asia?" Serana said, to change the subject of the conversation.
Edzard just blushed as he looked away. This reaction brought a smile to Serana, but he didn't end there.
"And they already have…." Serana said as she dipped her left index finger into a circle she had made with the thumb and forefinger of her right hand.
Edzard's blush turned atomic when he understood what that meant. He tried in vain to reply, but only babble came from his mouth. This of course made Serana start laughing in amusement.
End of flashback
When Edzard returned from the train of memories he realized that he had already finished decorating the tree completely. Looking him up and down and feeling satisfied with the work he has done, he decided to leave the dining room.
When Edzard got to the kitchen he saw Asia making cookies in the oven. Sneaking up to her he hugged her from behind. Asia stopped kneading the cookie dough and leaned back against Edzard. They both stayed like this for a few moments while enjoying each other's closeness.
When night fell the guests had arrived. These guests were Fortunata, Laure, Vilkas, Farkas, Aela, and Serana.
They all wore outfits according to the celebration. The men wore red knee-length robes with gold details, over these robes they wore blue vests with white trim, brown leather belts at the waist, brown pants and boots. The women wore long red woolen dresses with gold details and embroidery, brown leather belts and low boots of the same color.
"Then let's start with the gift exchanges." Laure spoke excitedly. "All right, everyone takes out what you've brought."
They all had drops on their heads, as Laure began pulling out several bags. Edzard just shook his head while he had a smile, taking Asia's hand they headed towards the first floor, from where they returned with a chest. The others also brought out their gifts.
"So, who starts, the twins, the redhead, the strange-eyed girl, the new couple, the imperial or me?" Laure asked as she pointed to those present.
Everyone present was blank-faced from what Laure said; however, they all turned to see Asia and Edzard.
"It is tradition that the first are the owners of the house." Serana joked, looking at Asia and Edzard.
Edzard and Asia looked at each other and smiled. Getting up from their seats they opened the chest that Edzard had brought and from there they took out several bags. Which were distributed to each of those present. The gifts were small amounts of gold and an object for each of those present. Farkas and Vilkas received enchanted weapons. Fortunata and Laure books and scrolls with spells. Aela received a new bow and Serana some bottles with Edzard's blood. Jordis received a set of steel plate armor.
After this first gift-giving, the other participants began to distribute their gifts as well. These ranged from decorations for their rooms, jewelry, weapons, and wines. When the gift exchange ended, the party began. They all drank, ate, danced, and laughed late into the night. After the celebrations all the guests went to the guest rooms to rest.
Edzard and Asia went to the courtyard of the manor, where they began to see the sea.
"Asia, I have a gift for you." Was what Edzard said as he reached into his delighted pocket, pulling out a small package wrapped in cloth.
Asia received the package and was astonished as she unwrapped it. There in her hands was her bible, Asia opened it and began to look at it carefully and then looked up at Edzard with wet eyes.
"How?"
"It's not the original." Edzard replied with a smile as he wiped her tears away. "I used an Auramancy spell on the cross that you carry with you."
"Auramancy?" Asia asked as she took the cross and looked at it very closely.
"Yes, Auramancy is a magic that allows you to see the memories of objects that have strong emotions of their owners." Edzard replied with a smile. "After seeing your memories always reading that book, I began to copy it with the help of an enchanted pen."
Asia took the copy of her bible and held it to her chest, still crying.
"I'm sorry Ed, but I don't have any gifts for you." Asia said looking at the ground.
"Easy, I don't need any gifts, Asia." Edzard replied as he delicately took Asia's face and kissed her.
Asia opened her eyes at Edzard's action, but she closed them again as she enjoyed her kiss.
Author's note:
To those who have made it this far, Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave a comment if you liked the chapter or if there is anything that needs to be improved.
With nothing more to say, until the next chapter.