"Mister, it's time to wake up!" Anarion's head was pounding from the drinking the night before. "Get lost kid." said a hungover Anarion. Ilya pulled off his bedsheets. "Mister, it's time to wake up!" she said even louder. "Shh, kid not so loud," he said clutching his head. The sun was starting to rise. Anarion wanted to lay back down and die, metaphorically speaking of course.

While laying in bed Anarion could hear the pitter-patter of little feet leave his room, go down the stairs, then back up the stairs. “Here Mister, this should help.” In her small hands, was a pint glass. Anarion picked it up. There was water inside it, he downed it in an instant. “You really shouldn’t drink so much when you have to get up early in the morning.”

Anarion looked at Ilya “I’ll keep that in mind.” Ilya left the room, Anarion slowly made his way down the stairs. Everyone was waiting, additionally, everyone but Bwoire had their heads resting on the table. He sat down next to Tycondris. There was no conversation. Everyone was too busy nursing their hangovers. Ilya brought around pint glasses full of water for everyone.

Bwoire laughed “It sucks to be you guys.” Everyone collectively groaned. Bwoire continued to laugh. “It’s great being me, I can out drink you, humans, five times over before getting that hungover.” Falcon glared at Bwoire. “Shut up already.” Tycondris was worse for the wear since he had been drinking since yesterday afternoon. “Kill me.” he moaned.

Giselle brought around eggs and bacon again. “You lot look terrible. Might want to ease up a bit on the drinking. I know its easy living in a tavern and all. But your livers won’t last the year at this rate.” Bwoire laughed again. “Except for me, I’m fine.” Ithilious glared at Bwoire. “You are such a fucking child.” Bwoire laughed again but did not reply.

"Let's try to get along now," said Giselle putting down a plate for Ithilious. Amma said, "This is how we get along." She grabbed her plate and began devouring her meal. Giselle was slightly confused. Without saying anything she returned to the kitchen. Everyone ate breakfast in silence. Once finished Tycondris got up to leave for guard duty.

“Well, we should get to training,” said Bwoire. Anarion’s head slammed on the table, remembering what happened yesterday. He didn’t want to train with them, it was far too awkward. “Bwoire, do you have anything new to teach me today?” asked Anarion. His voice was muffled by the table. “Not in particular, though I would like to supervise your training to make sure you are improving.” Anarion let out a groan. “Can I train by myself then?”

Bwoire laughed out loud, then suddenly stopped and replied with “No.” Anarion didn’t move. “Fucking asshole. Watching Amma train with the fire elestran is just far too fucking awkward, I don’t want to be there.” he thought to himself. Minutes passed, Anarion felt a tug on the back of his Ghee, suddenly he was on the floor being dragged.

Amma, Ithilious, and Falcon had gone ahead. “Are you a sadist or something?” asked Anarion. “No, I’m just trying to help you grow up. You can’t go through life ignoring people.” Anarion was getting angry. “So what if I want to train by myself? I don’t need them! I don’t need you!” Bwoire let go of Anarion. “So you are just going to push everyone away because you can’t cope with the fact that they might care about you? God, you are such a fucking child!”

Anarion glared at Bwoire. “It’s none of your fucking business!” Bwoire sighed. “Your right, but I won’t let you train alone. You are stuck with us for better or worse.” Anarion begrudgingly followed Bwoire to the training ground.

Instead of ice, Anarion was using wind because of his angry state. His head was still throbbing. The wind he made was so powerful it was ripping up the grass around him. During the entire morning training session, he faced away from everyone else. Falcon was already becoming quite adept at metal, he could coat his arm in under ten seconds. It was not fast enough though.

Ithilious was not making much progress. The sapling grew a bit bigger, but it was not like the tree Bwoire grew. Amma remained the same, though you could tell this training made her feel awkward. The fact that Anarion was facing away, made her feel even more awkward. By the time training ended Anarion was seething. He left ahead of the group.

When they returned to the tavern Anarion's location was unknown. Johanna brought out lunch for everyone. It was cod once again. "Have you seen Anarion?" asked Bwoire. Johanna thought for a minute "I think I saw him heading upstairs." Falcon went upstairs to tell Anarion lunch was ready, but he was not in his room. At the peak of lunch when everyone was about to leave Anarion came down the stairs and quickly ate his lunch.

“Where were you?” asked Bwoire. “None of your fucking business,” replied Anarion coldly. Bwoire let the others go ahead like in the morning, he waited for Anarion to finish then escorted him once again to the training grounds. Having calmed down Anarion could use ice elestran again. He built a fifteen-foot wall out of ice so he did not have to see the others.

Bwoire peered around. “You are the definition of anti-social.” Anarion ignored Bwoire. He was focusing on making spears out of ice. The afternoon sun began melting the wall away. However, Anarion reinforced it as often as he could. By the time the sun was starting to set he was exhausted. From behind him, he could feel a strange heat.

He turned around. His ice wall was melting. Behind it, as the ice became a puddle on the ground was Amma. “It’s time to go,” she said in a soft voice. This made Anarion feel extremely uncomfortable. He left in a hurry. By the time Amma returned to the tavern, Anarion had finished his meal and went upstairs. “How anti-social can someone be?” asked Ithilious angrily. He stood up, ready to give Anarion a piece of his mind.

Amma grabbed his wrist. “Just leave him alone.” Ithilious sat back down, he was noticeably perturbed. Tycondris looked at Bwoire. “There is a limit to how much you can push someone's buttons.” Bwoire took a sip of ale. “I barely spoke to the guy today. I mostly let him do his own thing.” An hour after dinner, Amma retired to her room.

Amma opened her window since the room was somewhat stale. Just faintly she could hear someone snoring. It was not coming from the rooms on the left or right, but above. Curiosity got the better of her. There was no ledge to grab on to, so she had to inch her way out the window, grab a hold of the roof and pull herself up. She did so with ease.

Laying down on the roof, snoring loudly was Anarion. Amma smiled, remembering all of the times Anarion would vanish without a trace in the academy. It was like he was trying to find a place where he could be alone with his thoughts. “Don’t ever change,” she said softy while returning to her bedroom from the window floor. She always refused to intrude on his hiding places. Often making sure people did not follow him.

Amma remembered one day nine years ago. Some boys a few years older stole her lunch. Anarion handed his lunch over to her, then confronted the boys only to end up with a broken nose. From that day on she used to drag her brother with her, to eat lunch with Anarion. Though he treated them with cold indifference, she got a glimpse at his true personality the day before and the years that followed. To say she was enamored was an understatement. Over time she discovered Anarion was shy, gentle, selfless, courageous, and caring.

Fighting in the arena was like a breath of fresh air in a way, because he did not have to become attached to the crowd or the people he was fighting. He could be himself. This did lead him to make a friend, but Tycondris was special in his own right, he was a finesser, the type who could get close to someone like Anarion without as much time or effort.

She heard the story from Bwoire, about his father wanting to drown Anarion in a river for taking his mother's life when born. But he remarked how both Aenos and Anarion both got some strong personality traits from their mother.

Bwoire knew Anarion’s mother Anya because he was close with Anubus since he mentored him. She knew that pushing people away was his self-defense mechanism due to the sadness and anger of feeling his family had completely abandoned him. He felt they hated him because his birth was complex, because of that he took his mother's life. She knew that personal attachment terrified him because he felt it would only result in him being abandoned again.

Anarion never developed any coping mechanisms. So when feeling overwhelmingly anxious, he hid or in the worst cases acted outwardly hostile. Amma knew all of this, so the only thing she could do was give him space to sort out his thoughts.

Amma eventually fell asleep but woke up before Ilya came to wake her up. She leaned out the window to get a breath of fresh air. To her right was Anarion moving from the roof back into his room. They both looked directly in each other's eyes for a short moment. Anarion felt embarrassed, in the moment his hand slipped causing him to fall. Amma caught him by the wrist in the nick of time.

For a moment they both looked into each other's eyes again. Both of their faces turned slightly red. “You can let go of my wrist, I can land safely here,” said Anarion nervously. Her face turned even redder, she let go and slammed the window shut. Anarion walked back into the tavern. “Hey kid, have you been drinking without me?” It was Tycondris. He did not reply, he simply sat down across from him. Giselle came around with breakfast for Tycondris.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked. “Ale,” he replied. “Drinking this early in the morning, are you trying to make up for not drinking last night?” asked Tycondris. Anarion glared at Tycondris. “Just shut up and eat your damn eggs.” Amma eventually made her way down the stairs. She sat across from Anarion, next to Tycondris. Giselle came moments later with a pint of ale for Anarion, whether it was accidental or on purpose, her bosom hit Anarion’s shoulder, which sent a chill up Anarion’s back. Amma glared angrily at Giselle, she looked rather apologetic.

“Can I get you something?” she stuttered nervously. “Ale,” she replied. Tycondris laughed, it was the same response Anarion gave earlier. Eventually, Bwoire, Falcon, and Ithilious came down the stairs, they had to be woken up by Ilya. Everyone’s meals had just been brought up. Bwoire sat down next to Anarion and looked at Amma. “Drinking at this time in the morning?” he asked. Amma glared at Bwoire. “Just shut up and eat your damn eggs,” she replied. Anarion nearly choked on a piece of bacon. Tycondris was laughing hysterically. Anarion finished his breakfast and ale. He stood up and began walking towards the tavern exit.

“Where are you going?” asked Bwoire. “Where do you think I’m going?” said Anarion turning the corner and exiting the Tavern. Once Amma finished her eggs, bacon, and ale she got up and left for training as well. Tycondris let out a burst of laughter. “Those two must be on the same wavelength or something.” Bwoire lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” Tycondris told him, everyone but Tycondris nearly choked on their eggs.

Anarion built a thicker and bigger wall of ice that surrounded him. It was like he built a small homemade out of ice. This way he could train in peace, without anyone pestering him. Anarion trained harder that day. His ice became colder. Eventually, Anarion came up with an idea. He turned around to face his wall of ice and got angry. He used the wind to guide ice spikes he made. It took a remarkable amount of concentration.

The wind was so cold in his little ice hut. He could get angry instantly, all he had to do was think about his father. His cold personality made it easy to make ice. Bwoire came around and even applauded Anarion. “I’m glad you discovered that you can use elements in conjunction with each other. Though certain elements don’t work well together. I’d say you have the perfect combo, as long as you can manage to hold the ice with your wind.”

Anarion nodded. Holding a simple ice spike with the wind, let alone directing it was a challenge. If he could master this, he would become a formidable elestran user. However, he would need to be able to lift something far heavier than a spear. Looking at his little house, Anarion thought. “Not heavy enough.” he thought.

He imagined a giant mountain made out of ice. “That might not be possible.” he thought. He stopped imagining what he could and could not lift, and instead focused on the spears again. By the time the day was over, Anarion was extremely drained. Heading back to the tavern he ordered his meal right away. Today's dinner was steak again, but thankfully the meal’s proportions were big enough to bring Anarion back to a semi-normal state.

After eating Anarion left the tavern. He had not seen much of the village. Towards the Oceanside of Holsten was a small fishing port. Most of the boats had already returned. While passing the market on his way to and from training Anarion noticed a variety of fish. Cod, Tuna, Salmon, Halibut, Carp and Catfish. Sitting on the pier he noticed a rather large vessel returning to port. It was so big it could not drop anchor at the port. But rather a few men had to bring over their haul on a smaller boat.

Once arriving Anarion noticed a plethora of fish behind hauled to land. The man leading the group yelled “Hanz! Our icebox broke about thirty minutes ago. I’ll give you a deal, five gold for all of these.” The man named Hanz brought his hand up to his chin. He was thin but tall. Likely to be in his mid-forties he had receding short blonde hair.

“We can’t store this many fish, more then half of them will go bad.” Anarion stood up. “I can help if you want.” Hanz looked at Anarion. “Sorry mister Swordsman, but I don’t see how you can help in this situation.” Anarion focused for a moment, he raised a box at least ten feet tall made out of ice. Both Hanz and the other fishermen looked on in awe. “This should suffice, as long as you can put it somewhere cool.”

It was nearly summer. The heat was rising. “Won’t that thing melt?” asked Hanz. “I can just make a new one,” said Anarion confidently. Hanz asked, “What’s your name kid?” “Anarion Ragnor” he replied. Hanz looked shocked. “Ragnor, you say.” Anarion looked at Hanz. “What of it?” Hanz laughed nervously. “Are you a relative to Aenos Ragnor?” Anarion glared at Hanz. “Yeah, what of it?”

Hanz looked dead into Anarions eyes. “He’s a bloody hero kid. The Xalnog won’t touch Southern Terath because they are afraid of his powers.” Anarion glared at Hanz, he grasped the look Anarion was giving him. “We are all expecting great things from you.” Anarion turned around. “I’ll be in the field outside town if you need me.” He did not want to acknowledge anyone's praise, especially when it came to the Ragnor clan.

The fisherman said. “So you’ll take these fish? With him keeping them cool, you shouldn’t have an issue storing them. Plus you have the summer festival coming up. They should not go to waste.” Hanz sighed. “Yeah, I’ll take them.” The fishermen loaded the fish into the box Anarion made. While walking away hearing that this town had a summer festival intrigued him.

Anarion returned to the tavern and to his room, calling it a day.