Switching back to our main protagonist here—in favour of the enigmatic and mysterious Acheron—A month had passed since Adam has been situated into his new family and quite a bit had happened. He'd gotten a lot of context and realised few many a things. And an offer. The offer was the bad part, but we'll get to that.
Well, not bad let's say…just morally dubious out of context and something that he was in most likelihood going to have to accept. These shall be recounted in ways of various flashbacks, all completely out of order, with no interlinking chain between them that makes any order of chronological sense. The order that has been chosen is one based purely on levity.
The most lighthearted ones first and the priorly mentioned morally dubious offer at the end. It is preferable that they all be read in the order they have been mentioned, to slowly set the mood into a different and more serious theme.
Though, if you wish, they may be skimmed through and the offer be consulted foremost.
Without further ado, lets jump to our first flashback, which is mostly a light synopsis of developments that do not have much severity as of now, lackadaisical and light in nature such they are.
[Flashback 1:]
Over the course of the month, quite a few many events occurred. Thalion, once he learnt that Adam had no weapon to which to fight with, made sure to arrange for one immediately.
Adam wasn't having none of it.
"Thalion, Swords are expensive! You can't spend that much money on me!", he vehemently opposed the idea of such an expense being wasted on him.
Thalion was just as stubborn.
"How many times have I told you to call me Father, boy?"
Thalion sighed as he continued.
"Either way, I'm not spending any money on it whatsoever. There's an old Dwarven blacksmith in the Easter quarter of Elysia. He owes me something fierce and therefore, I have no doubt he's be willing to provide you the weaponry should you introduce me as your father", deliberated Thalion in a calm voice, sipping his share of tea, though an almost imperceptible smirk manifested on his mouth.
'I have the boy now. He's either going to have to call me Father in front of someone else or force me to spend money. His own morality shall be his downfall'
It should be noted, that Adam for his part had been avoiding calling them by parental names, instead choosing to address Thalion and Luna simply name while adding the 'Lady' suffix to Eleanor's.
Feeding a nineteen year old boy after he'd almost died (again) and spent the entire day trekking through a forest as well as gushing over him as you would your own child—(He is mine) came an Elven indignation—tends to make them add a bit of respect to your name.
During this encounter, however, Luna and Eleanor had gone to the Southern Quarter Market near their house to purchase groceries, so there was no interference for the side of either parties at this particular conjecture.
Adam was backed into a corner and with a reluctant stammer, he gave in.
"Fine-Fine! I'll take your stupid sword", he huffed out while looking in the other direction embarrassedly, his cheeks red.
Thalion for his part simply nodded and threw him a note book as he set his tea down. And there's no way Adam missed the smug air around him. It reminded him of Luna. Adam's eyes though went to the cup that had just been put down. Or rather hand't.
Because it was simply floating there, above an orange leaf, rotating slowly as it refused to let a single drop of the tree spill onto the table.
He asked about that later.
"Make a design on that piece of paper and give it to me. I'll send it over to him"
Thalion raised his hand as Adam opened his mouth to interrupt him, raising his palm forward in a placating gesture with a sigh, having guessed what he was about to say by the sheepish look on his face, still tinged red from the earlier embarrassment.
"You can ask Eleanor for help. She's always been great at sketching and drawing. Or Luna. She's been getting into it recently too and made great progress. Besides, it'll be better for you two to get closer anyways", Thalion said as he got up and made his way into the kitchen.
He intending to make something with the last of the groceries so his wife and one of his children would have something to eat when they got back home from the southern quarter market, surely tired.
Adam approached from behind, intending to help.
"Thalion, how's that cup floating like that?"
Adam wondered out loud eyeing the floating cup from where her was standing in the kitchen.
Thalion, for his part, just ignored him completely, going about the kitchen with no concern for the question, earning him an eye of annoyance from Adam.
"Who's Thalion?", he eyed Adam quizzically. maintaining a straight face as Adam was about to air his irritation.
Adam grew confused for a bit and then groaned, slapping a hand to his forehead with a loud splat as Thalion broke his composure and guffawed loudly, the laughs echoing around the kitchen
Adam shook his head in mock exasperation.
"Fine…Dad. Spill. How's it floating?", he muttered out with a huff, crossing his arm over his chest as he rolled his eyes.
"There's a specific tree called the Ytivarg tree. Its leaves have an interesting property that make the objects above it float, if they are made from the same material as its fruits. During the winter seasons, Flamebirds make their way through Elysia, intending to nest in the rocky hills to the North."
These birds, as you can imagine, are constantly aflame. This is because they're constantly igniting their mana, similar to the style in which Magic students light flames in order to practice or for a test."
Thalion started to separate the meat into separate chunks.
"Their bodies are resistant to flames, so it does nothing to them. Surprisingly, it's a self defence mechanism, since the flamebirds eat fruit, and aren't birds of prey." Thalion paused for a bit to articulate his next thoughts and in that moment, Adam, who had been listening carefully broke in to interrupt him, in single-mindedness.