It was his mother's time to sulk. "But. . but, he's my baby boy!"
"Huh?" His dad shot her a death glare. A funny look considering his mom was nearly twice his size.
His mother immediately clammed up. "I mean, yes sir!"
"Good that you know your place," His dad glared at her, making her cringe in fear. "Wait a minute. Now that I think about it, none of this would happen if you looked after him instead of hunting game with your daughter all the time!"
If it was possible, his mom shrunk even more into herself. "But. . .you know I'm only training Elm to protect Will, isn't that right, my daughter?" Olivia said, winking at Elm to help her from her current predicament.
Elm just looked at her with the same expression she always showed to everyone. ". . .Right. You don't have to worry, mother. I've sworn to protect my brother until he grows old."
"I don't need to be protected for that long." Willow said, feeling incredulous.
"Don't think you're off the hook, boy. Who told you that you could just run off after breakfast like that?" Leonard asked his son with an angry tick on his head.
Deciding to punish his son, he pinched Willow's chubby cheeks. "You little rascal son of mine!"
"Daddd! Stawpp!" Willow pouted and caressed his hurting cheeks as his mother released her hold on them. "You're going to be the death of me one day, Dad."
"Oh? That's what I should be saying," Leonard sighed.
Willow pointed at his mom and dad. "Anyways, I thought the both of you were supposed to be in the council meeting right now? You know, for tomorrow's event? And, tonight's festival?"
His father was the one to answer. "We finished early. Your mother and I've been tasked with helping out the old folks for now."
His mother sighed. "Between you and me son, it's such a pain in the ass. I love and respect Father John in what he does but sometimes, I feel the old man may be using Hum's divine words to make us labor for him."
Willow, as a modern man, decided to keep quiet on matters of religion. His mother turned back to him, hugging the boy again as she sighed. "I regret volunteering for this. If I wasn't on this stupid project, I would have been nursing my poor baby at home."
His dad coughed. "Getting back to the topic at hand, you really should take care of your body, son."
Leonard smiled. "Tomorrow's the big day after all. We wouldn't want you collapsing again on the podium."
"Ooh. Are you hoping for a specific Emblem, sweetie?" His mother asked, separating herself from him.
"You know that we can't pick and choose our emblems, mother." Willow said before taking a peek at Elm.
"I'm sure, my brother will obtain an emblem that reflects his beauty." Elm said with a straight face.
Olivia laughed out loud at that. Secretly inside, she wished that his son awakened an Emblem that could help him become healthy and strong, or just anything that would help his weak constitution. "That may be true Elm. We can only hope that Lord Hum is understanding and reveals our son's emblem to be one of great origins."
Willow took offense to that but had long since known that his role would not be in the battlefield, so he let it slide.
"Well, don't be so downspirited, dear. After all, I'm sure that your sister will receive something worthy of her talents." His dad said, hinting at the genius talent Elm had in the art of battles. "She'll protect you."
Olivia smiled as she placed her hand on top of Elm's head, ruffling her hair. "How could I forget? Oh, before that, I have a very important announcement to make!"
Her grin stretched from ear to ear, as she announced, "She's finally surpassed this old woman."
Leonard gasped in shock. ". . .Really? At her age?"
"Yup," Olivia nodded. "We all know that nobody's ever surpassed my record in 'The Rite Of Passage' and honestly, I thought nobody would for a good amount of time. But, to think that my own daughter would surpass me, catching exactly 20 this morning."
Willow tried to act surprised, even though he already knew this mini-event from the game. The Rite Of Passage was something that every able-bodied daughter of the family had to go through, where they tried to hunt as many 'Maple-Deer' as possible early in the morning right before dawn broke completely.
"Oh myy?!" Leonard was seriously surprised. Even his wife, the greatest hunter considered in the town, had only managed to capture a total of ten Maple-Deers in her Rite Of Passage.
"I know, right?" Olivia smiled. "Looks like we have a little genius in the family."
"And, a little beauty as well," Leonard hugged his son and daughter, before sniffling as tears began to break out. "Oh, thank you Lord Hum for blessing me with my two beautiful children. Oh, thank you. . ."
"Dear. . ," Olivia joined in on the group hug, as she shared a couple of her husband's tears.
Meanwhile, Willow gave his sister a thumbs up and a nod. "Good job, sis."
Elm let out a small smile. "Thanks."