Stahl leapt across the courtyard of the Aschefell estate, swords bearing down with precision while her brother went on the defensive. Amboss gripped his hammer tightly and swung it forward from below, meeting his sister's force with a mighty clash of steel, successfully repelling her lunge.
As Stahl's paws had barely touched the ground, her brother was already swinging the bone-crushing tool at the younger she-wolf's ribs. Aster managed to easily catch it with his shield without losing his balance.
Supporting another fighter from a distance was the focus of Aster's final week in the wolf's lair. He had actually gotten the hang of it pretty quickly, but a badly angled assist could still knock him down for a moment.
Stahl had solely remained on the offensive the past two days, leaving Aster to catch every attack launched his way from a good distance behind him. At first the she-wolf was worried she was pushing the human too far, but Aster surpassed even her own expectations with the results by the second day. Aster had grown in more ways than one in those five weeks, but the time for only training was coming to an end.
Stahl rushed again, and this time Amboss took a slight step forward and raised his arms, bracing himself for a heavy cleave downwards with the full brunt of his weight. Aster hated to block these particular hammer strikes, they made his bones vibrate with the jarring bluntness when it collided down on his shield, but he had gotten a lot better at spreading around the backlash from his skill.
How quickly, and when he should adjust his arms, footing, or stance, and how accurately he could brace himself could be the difference between life or death in a real battle for anyone he was supposed to be guarding. Aster wasn't even sure if he was comfortable accepting that level of trust or such a heavy weight, but he never stopped giving it his all to protect the she-wolf.
Aster dropped a shield right in front of the hammer, stopping Amboss from ever being able to finish his downward swing, a technique he had picked up with Stahl's instruction to stop a heavy blow before it even had time to begin. Stahl didn't plan on wasting the opening, and closed in. Before she could secure the win, however, a certain young fox interrupted all of them by weakly jabbing Aster in the ribs with a short training staff.
"Mom wanted to talk to dad... Hey, does this mean you just lost?" Rust motioned down at the staff landing a hit, and before either Aster or Stahl could get a word out, the booming sound of Amboss's laughter echoed across the courtyard.
"Damn right it does! Failure to notice an opponent sneaking up on your defense is a valid loss! Nice support Rust!" The two opposing warriors wanted to argue, but there was really no way to dispute that without taking the victory away from the fox, so they just smiled at each other and shrugged it off while Amboss and Rust went off to talk with Rouge, who was patiently waiting beneath a nearby tree for her wolf.
The young fox wasn't the only interruption that afternoon, however, as the sound of steady clapping shot through the air as a cloaked figure stepped out from behind his cover nearby, approaching the human. Aster couldn't see his face due to the hood being raised, but he wasn't afraid for some reason... In fact... The red trim on the black robe seemed incredibly familiar.
The cloaked beast stopped his applause, and dropped his hood after, speaking as he did so. "That was pretty impressive, my brother. You've grown strong I see." Aster's face lit up immediately when he recognized the humanoid panther beneath the robes as his brother, Cortist Venatus.
The human didn't even hesitate to run towards the big cat, who reached his arms out wide, awaiting the embrace with a goofy grin that seemed to stretch for miles. He was not left waiting long, as Aster impacted himself against him at full speed, wrapping the mage in the tightest hug he could imagine.
Cortist, who had a knack for getting too excited, picked the smaller human up in his embrace, and even managed half a spin before the pair crashed to the ground in anything but grace. Stahl hadn't expected to see such an emotional outburst from her usually well-mannered human friend, but Aster was smiling. He was laughing. That was something Stahl never got to see enough of.
"Corty! Why are you here? Sorry! That sounded bad, I'm happy you're here, but-" Aster was cut off by his older brother.
"Glad to see you haven't changed that much then, Hahaha! I know what you mean, my little brother. Officially, I'm on my way to help with the ceremony in three days. More importantly, I'm here now to see my brother... And help an old acquaintance with a request for magical assistance, but that's not what matters right now, come, tell me everything! I've heard through letters, but I want to hear it from you! I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, I've just been busy with a spell I had to complete before I could get cleared for the task."
Aster was beaming with excitement, he couldn't wait to tell his brother all about everything! Well... Maybe not everything, but still, he had been waiting weeks for this moment! Stahl let out a small cough behind the pair.
"I think it's a good idea to stop here. We've covered a lot, and you've improved tremendously both offensively and defensively, Aster, so let's all just relax until the ceremony. We can pick back up after. I'm going to give you two some privacy to catch up, but I'll see you for dinner."
The she-wolf gave a nod before making her departure, acknowledging the panther as her welcomed guest once more. Aster figured he could just take his brother to his room and talk like they used to, so that's exactly where the pair set off to.
Once they had settled in a bit and took a seat on the bed, Aster began filling his brother in on everything he had wanted to tell his best friend since The Selection. As he did so, he near completely skipped the extent of Straga's brutality, and found himself glossing over the full moon as well, but even still, the panther mage smiled on in amazement that his brother had finally stood up for himself. He was finally living. As Aster came to the end of his recount, Cortist was really welling up with emotion.
"You know, you really have changed. You've always been this open with me, but you're finally able to, and opening up to others now aren't you? I can tell, you seem softer in a way, like you can actually relax. Like you're finally allowed to feel things... You finally stopped looking at yourself as something simply placed in this world, and finally saw you are just as much alive as the rest of us. That you can belong among us... That you can fight beside us, just like we used to talk about right? Me, you, and Ta-..."
The panther cut himself short, knowing that their brother was a sensitive subject. Aster remained quiet for a moment as the air between them quickly changed.
"I know that you dream of fighting beside me and Talan as brothers... And I would still like that too, but we both know he will never see me like that. Not again... Not since the last time he even used my name..." Aster trailed off, staring at nothing. Neither of them had wanted to revisit that night, but despite that, Aster found his fingers lightly tracing along the two scars beneath his eye. Cortist noticed, but stifled his words, changing the subject to happier matters once more.
"You know, your reveal couldn't have come at a better time... I'm engaged, brother, and I'll need YOU to be there for the wedding now! She's amazing, Aster! I can't wait for you to meet her, You will adore her! I was finally able to tell her about you and she was so mad! Hahaha! At me that is, for not telling her before... She's fine with the human brother part. She loves flowers, and her snowy fur always smells of lavender and lilac! She drives me wild, Aster. Truly." The big cat let out a happy sigh.
"That's amazing news brother! If you say you want me there, then I'll be at the wedding no matter what. That's a really wonderful way to feel about someone... And if anyone deserves that kind of happiness it's you, brother." Aster was truly happy for his brother's good news, but he was blushing a bit and avoiding eye contact at the mention of those types of feelings.
Cortist noticed this, as a self-proclaimed, expert big brother such as himself would, and soon realized Aster was speaking from some personal experience. The mischievous cat was immediately grasping his brother by the hands and kneeling down in front of him with the most knowing smile ever as he stared the human directly in the eyes with a look that was brewing pure trouble.
"Wait... you... YOU FOUND A MATE TOO, DIDN'T YOU BROTHER?!?"
***