Roshan continued his lessons with Lord Paba and with each passing day, he learned something new.
By the fourteenth day, Roshan believed he was ready to face his brother.
Queen Roberta, King Thames IV, Lord Paba, Layel and Jihan together with some Palace guards were the audience for the spar.
The fight began with Zichen raising the ground Roshan stood on, causing him to lose his balance.
Zichen laughed, believing he had already won until a tree branch reached out and stopped Roshan from falling.
Commanded by Roshan, another branch extended and knocked Zichen down.
However, he was up in the blink of an eye. He owed that to his level of physicality.
Ten minutes later, Zichen stood victorious, only overpowering Roshan due to his level of physical strength.
"You learned to meet up with my bending in only two weeks? What kind of machine are you?" Zichen laughed and Roshan laughed with him.
"With more training, Prince Roshan will be the best earth bender Delsgade has ever seen", Lord Paba stated to the royal family beside him.
"That is true. In only two weeks, he can bend comparably to Zichen's bending. That's is a truly incredible"
The queen, however, was uneasy about her son becoming the best earth bender Delsgade had ever seen.
He already drew attention by just existing. She didn't want more attention to be on him.
She was going to speak to the King about these training classes.
On the other hand, Roshan was excited for what was in store for him. He couldn't wait to see how far he could go in earth bending.
A worker, holding a tray, alerted the queen that the refreshments were ready.
"Ros! Zic! Come here!" She echoed.
The boys approached the rest of the family and they sat in a small breezy hut.
It was the perfect setting for a drink and relaxation.
....
"Father, have we received a response from Vendet yet? Quite some time has passed and our men are still being killed by the beasts and their masters", Layel asked the king.
"Not yet. However, We're expecting a response from now till the next week. If we don't get a response, we may need to ally with a different kingdom"
Layel nodded as he understood what his father meant. The men of the kingdom couldn't stand on their own when half of them had are been killed off. Forming an alliance would be a smarter choice for the people.
"My king! My king! There's a response. There's a response from Vendet!" The messenger ran into the courtyard with a scroll in his hand.
After apologizing for his behavior and bowing to the royal family, with their permission, he began to open the scroll.
"What does it say?" King Thames IV asked.
.....
"Anything else?" King Zane asked in an uninterested tone after his assistant, pino, had finished reading out his schedule for the day.
"Yes my king. There's a letter from Delsgade", Pino replied.
Zane turned his neck sharply in Pino's direction and asked "what does it say?"
"They're asking to form an alliance my king"
"On what grounds?"
"Their kingdom has been getting attacked by beasts being controlled by thiriokinesis, my king. And the masters were discovered to be people of Geomi. Just like the ones we found in our country. They're proposing an alliance to help each other out"
"What can they possibly give me"
"My king, our crops haven't been doing well and the amount of food in circulation has dropped by a quarter. Delsgade is a land of fertility. They have more than enough to give our warriors"
"Hmmmm" was all Zane said.
"What should our response be, my king?", Pino asked.
"Accept the proposal for the alliance"
"My king?" Pino looked up, shocked by Zane's decision.
"Did I stutter?"
"No, my king"
"Good, you may leave now"
"Yes, my king"
...
"That's great news honey" Queen Roberta smiled at her husband.
"Yes dad it's wonderful news"
The kingdom of Vendet had also set a meeting day to discuss strategy two weeks from the arrival of the response letter. The king of Vendet would come to Delsgade with some of his warriors to assess the situation at hand.
"They're coming here? And so soon too? That's amazing" Roshan said taking a sip of his drink.
Roshan wasn't as opportuned as his brothers to see the leaders of the other kingdoms and so, he was really excited to see the king of Vendet.
Queen Roberta, while being excited that her kingdom would be getting the help it so much needed, couldn't help but be scared for her little Ros.
She preferred to keep him hidden away from the eyes of other kingdoms to prevent the legend of the sorcerer from resurfacing but alas she couldn't lock him up forever.