Knowledge is power|Aegestrom, Maelstrom

[adris]

Vortai caught her with ease and began to poke at her ribs as he had been trying to do this whole time. Since he was tickling her he was already prepared for her to squirm, so he tried to keep one of her arms hooked with his.

"Well you know I couldn't let you just get away after all that ya know?"

He laughed happily as he continued his 'assault' on all spots of her sides that he remembered were perticularly sensitive for this sort of thing. He wasn't Vortai protector of the princess or royal bodyguard or anything like that. Right now he was just happy being his sister's brother.

[Northen Light36]

Acqua squeals with laughter and redoubles her efforts to squirm away. "Vortai! S-st-op," she laughs, playfully smacking at him with her free hand. "S-s-stop."

[adris]

Vortai dosn't stop as was asked, but lightened how quickly he moved across her ribs. He basically had her, her slaps doing nothing but increasing his playful laughter.

"I dunno sis, I don't think you learned your lesson yet. Or have you?"

To tell the truth, any lesson besides he is going to find an excuse to tickle her into submission is lost on him. He likes the idea of her trying to figure something out though, as if it will stop her from doing whatever it was that provoked this in the first place.

[Northen Light36]

"There was a lesson to learn?" Acqua giggles, trying futily to push Vortai away. By now she's crying with laughter. "Was it, I need to get revenge on my brother as soon as possible?"

[adris]

He makes a sound as though he is contimplating seriously what her lesson should be. He lightened up his assault though, while he did enjoy her being like this at the moment he didn't want her physically hurting.

"all right, you're correct, there is no lesson. Just admit how great your little brother is and I will let you up then."

He was going to let her up soon anyway, Amaro would be free at some point. He could only imagine how he is rolling his eyes at all the noise anyway. That isn't what is important to him right now though.

[Northen Light36]

Acqua snorts and makes another futile attempt to squirm away before an idea occurs to her. "Fine," she giggles. "I honestly admit my little brother is the world's greatest... pain in the neck."

"I wouldn't say that," Amaro comments dryly from the doorway. "I think Vortai has a fair amount of competition from his sister. And, if you two can take a break from murdering each other, dinner is ready."

[adris]

Vortai stopped tickling her, and gave her a soft pat on the side before standing up and letting her go loose. He was still catching his breath though as he nodded to Amaro that he was ready to go eat. Peeking out the door he makes his way downstairs to help everyone get served and begin eating on whatever it was his brother made. Amaro may not be the finest cook, but anything beats day old bread and beef broth.

[Northen Light36]

Dinner is nothing particularly fancy, just a roast chicken and vegies, but it's well cooked, tasty and enough to feed all three of the family with scraps left over for Faith.

Once the meal is over, Acqua and Faith retreat to the warmth of the living room fire to chatter and play with a few bits of ribbon. Amaro looks over at Vortai. "I've been thinking about how best to go about your reading lessons. After dinner every night, I'll read some of the book the Queen gave you to you and then we'll work on improving your skills with some easier books. I'll also be of decent use to you with learning at least the Maelstorm nobles. How does that sound?"

[adris]

Vortai ate and very much enjoyed dinner, which could be seen with a smile and a pat on the stomach. When his brother made the offer to teach him that all sounded great, but he also wanted to add that he couldn't care less about the nobles of Maelstrom at this point. He held himself back though, as Shadow was still alive and he would have to deal with him some day.

"That sounds good Amaro, we can start with a little tonight if you are willing. I want to have this part done as quickly as possible just in case a the war starts."

[Northen Light36]

Amaro nods. "That's fine with me," he agrees. "Go get your book and we'll work in the living room, it's the warmest place in the house."

[adris]

Vortai nodded and rushed up to his room to get the book he needed to read. He was much more careful and delicate as he brought it down the stairs though. One incident was lucky, he was sure a second this soon would get him discharged. He sat down and opened the book to the page he was told to start, happy that the reading wasn't as long as the entire book.

"Here we go, it starts here I was told. I'm guessing the book has past generations of leaders and stuff in it too, which is why its so long."

Even though he likes the idea of learning to read, he feels that this book is more like an encyclopedia in content then a historical epic. But, it was his job and he really couldn't complain as this was all Lya forced upon him.

[Northen Light36]

"Probably," Amaro agrees and starts reading. Despite Acqua's past grumbling, Amaro is actually a fairly good teacher, with a talent for noticing when students are reaching their limits. As soon as Vortai starts to seem bored with the book of nobles, Amaro turns to the reading lesson, getting out a diary of adventures he'd borrowed from Talon back when he'd been teaching Acqua to read. In much the same way he'd taught Acqua, Amaro reads a sentance and then has Vortai repeat it and point to each word as he says it.

[adris]

Vortai sits and listens intently to Amaro reading, making sure that he definately gets descriptions. Anything that would help him from making another mistake like he did with Ann he made sure it sank in.

He tried his best when he was reading, but sometimes it just turned into him simply repeating what Amaro said. The symbols all looked forign to him, he still struggled though. He tried his best not to get frustrated with it though, he wouldn't learn any new skill in just a day.

"This... is tough for something that seems like such a simple skill..."

[Northen Light36]

"You'll get it eventually," Amaro assures his brother and closes the book. "That's enough for tonight though. You'll just get a headache, and it's late."

Indeed it is. Acqua and Faith have already fallen asleep by the fire.

[adris]

Vortai nods to Amaro, after standing up and streaching before glancing to Acqua. He looks to his brother and motions if it would be wise for him to carry her to bed. It won't be the same as carrying Lumi, but Acqua should be easier since he can use both arms for her. He thanks goodness that his sister is a slim athletic girl.