An Arcanist's Citadel 1

An Arcanist’s Citadel

Chapter 1

-VB-

I didn’t have a lot of rules for my children. 

It wasn’t that I found the idea of strict discipline to be a bad idea. In fact, I was a big proponent of strict discipline… where it was applicable. 

Discipline was a matter of a mindset and the grit and willingness to go through with something. To me, this didn’t mean that I would drill the children like it was some sort of a military where they needed to obey every single order I gave. 

It was, at the very least, setting expectations, giving guidelines, and then letting the children work it out. From there, I needed to mold how discipline would be drilled into the kids’ minds individually. 

No one plan suited everyone. 

Sora (17), being our eldest son, was, unfortunately, the experiment. I tried a lot of different things with him, but it was mostly a stricter version of what I just explained. Hime was the mom-mom that he ran to for comfort while ‘Tsuki was the fun-mom that he went to for outdoor activities. The boy was just … too much like Hime. He chaffed a lot under me. Chaffed so much that I realized I needed to stop when the usually stoic boy literally burst into tears one day from being overwhelmed by stress. That was almost seven years ago. Sora’s doing much better now. 

Sai (17) was the second eldest son, which meant that he didn’t get enough attention. Definitely not enough of the attention needed to keep him in line. He was the pranking troublemaker, and would have remained that way until he got a big wake-up call a few years ago. Since then, he’s more cautious now. 

Hana (16), our eldest daughter, was rougher and tougher than her older brothers. She loved to hang out with me more than she did with Tsuki or Hime, and I was more than fine with that. Everyone knew she was my favorite, including herself, but she didn’t lord it over her siblings. 

Amy (15) was the troublemaker among the girls. She wasn’t a prankster like Sai. No, she went for the fists… while being the weakest of the “first gen” of our kids. 

Nora (10) was the stubborn girl. She wanted everything her way or no way. Tsuki was the one who broke that stubbornness this year, and I’m still not sure what she did exactly.

Vicky (10) was the quiet girl. An avid reader and artist, she needed very little hands-on guidance. All we needed to do was explain why something was a bad idea, why something was outright bad, and that would be enough for her to go with what I, Hime, or Tsuki asked of her. 

Nara (7) was the youngest of them all, and he hated it. Everyone babied him, to a varying degree, including we the parents. He didn’t quite resent us for that, but he was definitely trying to copy Sai and Sora in “being their own person,” even if Nara had no idea what that exactly meant. Not that Sai and Sora did either. 

Obviously, disciplining wasn’t going to work the same way for all seven of them, especially with the age gap among them. 

What did well was punishment and reward. We made sure to lay it all out, and if they got the reward or punishment, then they knew damn well why they got what they did. 

And Amy… Amy hadn’t done anything strictly against what any of us - Tsuki, Hime, and I - said. Going after a boy almost a decade her senior? That never crossed our minds! 

So what I did was simple. 

I tested him. 

“James, I don’t like you.”

He looked at me like he’d been expecting that. 

“Can you explain?” he asked instead. 

At the very least, I saw that he wasn’t a spineless coward who immediately spouted off apologies. 

“You mean aside from the fact that you are twenty-something lusting after a fifteen year old girl?”

“I am not lusting after her,” he objected with a frown. “If I was, then I wouldn’t be here.” 

“Or you could be dumb.”

“I’d like to think that having a masters degree at least precludes me from being socially inept or intellectually barren.”

“Long words mean nothing. Only actions do.”

“Then what would make you at least amicable with me.”

“Like I just said. Actions. What have you done for her?” I asked as I crossed my legs. 

“I’ve cut my friends out.”

I paused.

“... Really. Tell me how that went.”

I subtly activated spiritual sensors. A body may lie but the soul cannot. 

And James wove a story for me. 

A story about a man who fell in love, friends who didn’t understand, love triangles, frauds, bullying campaigns, and so much more…

Jesus Christ, my girl’s been involved in some romance shit fit for the movies.

You know what? I changed my mind. I liked this guy. He’s already burned a lot of stuff for Amy. 

But I wanted to know if he could throw a punch. If the batarian raid last month showed me anything, then the colonies weren’t safe. Maybe I’ll make taking self-defense and shooting classes as conditional to him dating Amy. 

-VB-

“James!” Amy nearly cried when she saw her love walking out of the house.

He looked like he got into a fight. With dad.

“Hi,” he grinned. But it was weak. “Your dad… he throws a mean punch,” he winced when she touched his cheek. 

She winced. 

Dad was … Dad was the craziest person she knew. The things he could do if he didn’t keep it all under wraps was some of the most insane things she knew. 

Who else could make people collapse to their knees merely by “releasing” himself? 

“He didn’t do anything else, right?” she fretted before she heard the door open again and saw Dad and Tsuki-Mom walk out. 

She glared at him. “Why did you hit him, Dad?!” she shrieked angrily. 

“You’re asking me that after the batarian raid just last month?” Dad drawled with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not accepting a kid who can’t even throw a punch or shoot a gun to be any of my kids’ dates or love.”

And there it was. Something that made Dad act and appear cold and calculating. His stance on strength.

“He can learn!” 

“I know. He throws half a decent haymaker,” Dad said while pointing to his cheek.

It was slightly scuffed. Not even reddened. 

She felt James wince and grab his right knuckles. 

She winced, too. Dad was supernatural. Everyone in the family was supernatural, but more so her parents than her siblings. Punching him was no different than punching a steel wall. At least a steel wall didn’t punch back but Dad did. 

Sora and Sai hated training in hand-to-hand combat because Dad was a monster. 

“So here’s the condition, James-boy,” Dad drawled, making her boyfriend jerk up. “You’re gonna come train with my boys every Sunday after church. You said you go to church, right?”

“Yes, sir. Presbyterian.”

“Cool. Anyway, after church, you’re gonna come to my house, train with me and my boys, and get a good dinner before I let you go. If you don’t come on Sundays, then I expect you on Monday, and you bet your ass that you’ll be alone with me for that. That is my condition for you to be dating Amy.”

“... Okay. I’ll be there,” James gulped with a determined grimace. 

“Good. If you said no, then I would have had to call your dad’s boss.”

“Dad!” Amy shrieked at him again.

Dad ignored her.

Frustrated, she jumped forward and launched a kick at him.

Instead of the kick landing, he scooped her up mid-air kick and hugged her and started making kisses at the top of her head. 

“No, stop! Stop stop stop!” she shrieked at the indignity of it all. He was humiliating her in front of her boyfriend!

James … laughed at the incredulity of it all. 

And winced again at how beaten up he was.