Liza and Elya were right behind me when I ran to Aunt Alena. She was stepping out of the carriage when we were all screaming her name, dashing towards her for the chance to get our hug first. I was the first to get to her, but instead of only hugging me she waited for the other two to catch up so she could hug all three of us at the same time.


    "You''ve grown so big since I last saw you! Where''s Idrel?"


    "She''s still up in her room. She''s still sad from when she trained with Dad."


    "Is that so? Did he do something to make her upset?"


    "No, he screamed after she burned him though."


    "Liza!"


    "What? It''s just the truth."


    "Well, that''s a shame. I''m sure your father is fine though, he was always known for being sturdy when we were adventurers."


    "Are you gonna tell us another story about adventuring this time?"


    "Sure, but I have to talk with your parents first. Can you girls wait for us to be done?"


    "Yeah. Mom and Dad made the toast with eggs that they know you love, do you want me to save you a slice?"


    "Do I? You better guard that piece of toast with your life."


    "Girls, come back inside and let us talk to our friend."


    We all ran back to the dining room and I grabbed the piece of toast I''d told her I would save. I grabbed a napkin from the table, wrapped the toast in it, and then hid it in one of the cupboards while the others weren''t looking. Liza and Elya went out to the courtyard, and I followed them.


    "When I grow up I''m gonna be just like Aunt Alena! I''ll go adventuring all the time and bring back tons of stories to tell."


    "No I''m gonna be Aunt Alena, you can be Mom, you have the same power as her anyway."


    "Hey that''s not fair, I don''t want to be like Mom, I want to never stop traveling around the world!"


    "None of us are going to be like Aunt Alena when we grow up, we all have powers and she doesn''t."


    "I''ll stop using my powers then, I''ll just forget they exist!"


    "That''s stupid."


    "You''re stupid!"


    She blew raspberries at me again and ran away with Elya into the hedges. I followed them and we ran around the courtyard until the sun was right above us. Elya had gotten tired out but Liza was teasing her about being weak so I stepped in and brought her back inside the house. I got her a glass of water when Liza walked through the door.


    "You''re both lame, just a little running around and you already start gasping for air."


    "Quit it, Liza, not everyone is the same as you."


    "Obviously not, but I think she should be able to run for longer."


    "Well then you can tell her that, but I don''t think making fun of her will help."


    "Whatever, didn''t know you were so soft."


    She went to get a glass of water but the barrel was empty.


    "Ugh, I have to go tell Mom that we need more water."


    "Mom and Dad are with Aunt Alena right now, you shouldn''t talk to them right now."


    "Hey I just had a great idea, what if we go listen to them through the door? I saw that they were in the big room when we were outside."


    "We would get in so much trouble."


    "I want to do it."


    It was now two-to-one, so I was forced to agree with whatever they were doing. We snuck over to the big room making sure to not step on any of the wood that would make a noise. When we got over there we all slowly put our ears up to the door trying to hear whatever was being said. Just as we had gotten in place, Idrel came down from the stairs. We all signed at her to stay quiet, and she slowly walked over and put her ear against the door as well. When she got over behind me and leaned her head against the door Liza was right over Elya when she tripped and fell onto her.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Ow! Elya you need to stand still!"


    "I was standing still!"


    They were arguing with each other while trying to stay as quiet as possible, but I don''t think it helped at all.


    "Girls, you know we can hear you right?"


    We all froze immediately, and we heard Dad coming over to open the door. I was prepared to spend the whole day in my room since that was probably what he would make us do.


    "Come on, let them feel like they''re uncovering some secret information. It''s not like they''re hurting each other. What I''m talking to you about concerns them anyway."


    We all heard Dad walk away from the door and sit back down.


    "Listen, over the past eight years, I''ve set aside some of our earnings from each and every quest we did in the hopes of saving up enough to achieve a lifelong dream of mine. Back when I was a little girl in Myriel I remembered being driven to tears when I had finally gotten accepted into the national academy and I wasn''t able to learn anything new. From that day I decided that I would make an academy myself, one that was able to give new knowledge that couldn''t be found anywhere else. About a year ago I finally got the amount of Melus I needed for this, and I decided that I wanted our old party to be included in this opportunity, should they so please. For you two specifically there are three things that I am asking of you two. The first is if you would both like to be professors for the academy. I don''t have a full list of everyone who''s agreed to help, but I''m sure even if all of our party came back together we could all find our own subject to teach, or at the least we would each have a position. The second thing that I am asking is if you''d like to join me in finding students who will greatly improve at the academy. These don''t have to be people you know, if you ever find a kid who you think shows some good potential just send a letter to my house and I''ll talk to whoever watches over them about it. The third, and this is a big ask, is if you would like to volunteer your own children as possible students in the future. I''ve seen or heard about certain occasions that make them out to be very promising future mages. I understand that Aryet has been practicing manifesting her affinity without a medium for about a month now."


    "You''ve been WHAT?"


    Liza spoke way too loud.


    "Hey, girls, I told them to let you stay but I can''t stand by that if you interrupt us, OK?"


    We all replied at the same time with mumbling.


    "I think that they could even go out and be adventurers like we once were, maybe they could even be better than we were, they would be more prepared for whatever came next than we ever were."


    Nobody said anything for a bit, it felt like Mom and Dad were thinking about what to do, but they wouldn''t take this long to give an answer normally. Was there a problem with something that Aunt Alena said?


    "So you say that you wanted to offer this opportunity to everyone from our old party, right?"


    "I already know what you''re going to ask me about Reindt."


    "Am I wrong for asking about it? You know exactly why we refused to be around him any longer, and if you want me to work with him you''d have to force me into submission first."


    "I haven''t asked him about whether he wants to include himself yet, I haven''t even talked to him about this at all. I understand that you didn''t like him back then."


    "Back then? I still look back at every moment we shared and all I see is someone who lets his ego decide his every move. You could wait until I''m under the ground and I''d still profess my hate for him on my tombstone. I don''t ever want to see his face, much less have him near my kids."


    "Come on Reindt, it''s been two years. You don''t think that he''s done some reflection since we fell apart? Do you really believe that he is unable to change?"


    "No amount of change means that I have to forgive him for what he did."


    "He helped you and Alice get together."


    "Yeah and before he was basically forced to accept that we actually liked each other he was constantly trying to sow conflict between us. It is unbelievably lucky that Alice actually found me throwing myself in front of her battling Chidles romantic because if someone ever did that to me I''d think they were belittling me, going to some length to say that I can''t defend myself. I know you would as well."


    "He could''ve just known Alice well enough to believe his advice would work."


    "Oh please, nobody knew a single thing about Alice in terms of what she did and didn''t like, and she was obsessed with combat, with being on the frontlines for every quest, who would assume that person with those interests would want to be defended?"


    "Listen it''s no use fighting about this now, he hasn''t said yes or no, he doesn''t know a single thing about this. At the least promise me that you will be open to talking with me more about this should he say yes."


    "Fine, but I will not promise any change of heart."


    "Nor would I ask you to. Alice, what''s your say on this? You''ve been silent the whole time."


    From what I heard, Mom started to violently cough, and I heard her body hit the floor."


    "Alice? Alice!"


    "She''s coughing up blood, we need to get her to the capital quick, I know a good healer there."


    "Kids, move away from the door!"


    We all quickly backed away as Dad held Mom in his arms and rushed out of the room.


    "Get her in the carriage, I''ll take her to the healer! You need to stay with your children!"


    "I know that!"


    Dad ran ahead with Mom, and I saw him pull the carriage door open so hard he nearly tore it off. Just as he had closed the carriage doors after placing Mom in there next to Aunt Alena the person controlling the horses moved the ropes up and down as fast as he could. The carriage quickly left as Dad ran back to all of us.


    "It''ll be alright."


    He was panting so loud I nearly couldn''t hear what he was saying.


    "Your mother is just a little sick, that''s all. It''ll be alright."


    He pulled us all close to him and gave us a hug, but it was like he was forcing us together and it hurt us all. It didn''t seem like he was hugging us so we would be alright, and it didn''t seem like he was telling us it''d be okay either. He was the one who needed the hug, he was the one who needed to believe that everything would turn out fine.