Chp 9

After the dinner, the Sanmey family found a new normal in their life. Autumn spent the majority of his time outside of the city procuring rare materials. Antel crafted a treasure chest that looked stronger than a vault and set it in the house. Serabelle enchanted it against thieves. Lilia watched in fascination as the chest grew full quickly with each of Autumn's returns. Each time he added a few bundles of whatever he needed to fulfill the deal with Father. Antel declared it would take nearly six months to gather everything but Autumn finished in four.

Autumn stayed in the city almost a week straight for the first time since he arrived after completing his list. Lilia learned some of the motions to communicate with Sproutlings and picked up on his antennae, twitching back and forth happily when he finished. She wanted to spend more time with him to get to know the new race, but he spent his time in the smithy with her father. Presumably, they were drafting the type of weapon the Sproutling would best utilize.

Instead, her mother dragged her along for preparations for Jackson's birthday. 16 was the age of maturity in Hamblin and most human countries. While there was no "age limit" for drinking, adulthood was based on the responsibilities one was responsible for. At 16, you held nobody responsible for you and could begin following your Lifespark.

Jackson was firm in his choice of profession. He would be an adventurer. He would be up most mornings before the sun to run and go through a martial arts exercise even before he trained with the Guild, where he did much the same. The idea was that he needed to form his body before his awakening ceremony. The Adventurers' Guild provided their veteran adventurer families with tutors. Should the children prove capable, they were offered the chance to awaken their magic.

While there were few ways that magic could be awakened in humans, all required rare materials. The Guild providing these materials was a way of keeping adventurers stationed in parts of the continent they would not otherwise be located. Serabelle was a trainer and guardian for the Guild in the region around Hamblin. Should any strong monsters push into the territory, she would prevent it from harming the local populace.

Jackson's talent in fighting was nearly unrivaled at his age. With a mother whose personal strength was training others and the resources his father could provide them on top of the income they stored from their time as adventurers, Jackson was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. His only saving grace came from the harsh nature of his training. That, and the down-to-earth mindset his parents operated under. The family, as a rule, never saw themselves above others and always sought to act honorably.

Growing up, Jackson saw his mother's strength and wished to emulate that. To live his own life of adventures that he could pass on to others as well.

Lilia got the most amount of time with him during breaks with his bouts with their mother. He never won a single time. Often he would leave the training with bruises and a broken bone or two. Never without cuts. The Guild healer made a pretty penny over the Sanmey boy's broken body. Lilia couldn't feel too bad about his broken state as he subjected himself to it and always had a fierce determination in his eye. This was his calling and where he knew he would achieve greatness. This was his lifespark.

Lifespark is a concept Lilia couldn't quite explain to another, but it was like the idea of a soul and fate and a person's Path all combined.

When mother smashed Jackson unconscious with a high kick he didn't see coming, Lilia sat on his chest until he woke up. Usually, after waking, Jackson would charge over to the Guild and demand healing before racing back to training to make up for his weakness. One time, when he awoke, Lilia's weight gave him pause.

"Why go through this? Why are you doing this to yourself?" she asked, more curious than worried about him.

Looking into his eyes, she saw something inside him that was far larger than the person she thought of as her brother. She saw a man standing tall above a mountain, somehow carrying the strength of her family on his shoulders. She saw him unyieldingly fight against hordes of faceless beings, and he alone was able to push them back. Fear and pride and loss burbled up in her. He was going to leave her and fight monsters until he was stronger than any of them.

She knew that he would do it or die trying.

"Well, little Syn, I want to be stronger so that Mom does not smack me upside the head anymore," he stated with total earnestness. Lilia grinned, and he threw her off him and began jogging out of the yard. He stopped before he left, "I will be fine, Sis. Follow your own lifespark and believe in me!"

"Belief" was a hard thing for the woman stuck in a child's body. One day she'd believe to be back home on Earth and be thinking about what her friends from school were doing. Then she'd remember that she was a child again, and a rock grew in the front of her mind where she tried to choose who she was. Days were beginning to go by without thinking of Earth, and Lilia still didn't know if she was ever going back. Or if she wanted to.

Not overly religious, she even tried praying to the God back on Earth and the Goddess here to give her guidance. The only religion she heard of was the religion of the Goddess, Alma. Also, that was when she learned the name of the planet, Almave.

She wondered if the Goddess was like the idea of Gaia, a great spirit or god made of all the beings of and symbolized the planet. Her mother said it was similar but that the Goddess would directly bless certain individuals or races based on their actions. Lilia wanted to know more about it, but her mother was very vague. A tutor was supposed to begin visiting when Lilia turned four. Still, her questions were starting to have her parents wonder if she might start earlier than that.

To make things harder, Lilia sucked at playdates. She remembered her first playdate with a brown-haired boy named Jason, the son of another adventuring family. He was stinky, and his hair was obviously cut with a dull knife. All he could do was burble and smash the clay pieces she was working on. Her mother watched her with a critical eye and Lilia knew she was failing a test she was being given. Was she supposed to pretend to be an idiot?

That was wrong, and Lilia came up with a new plan. Instead of just getting along with Jason, she began making him toys out of the clay that he could play pretend with. Her father had a kiln built in the forge, an extravagant thing for the crude toys Lilia knew the little boy would break, but it kept her parents happy, so she was happy to make them.

Making action figures with movable arms and legs was a fun side project for her clay hobby. The ball joints wouldn't always fit right after being fired, but her parents thought her a genius for Earth's stolen ideas. Baby buddha for the win.

Jason was not the best speaker, but Lilia tried to be patient and would speak slowly so that he was learning from someone he thought was his own age. After all, it would be nice to have someone to talk to normally.

Whether her mom was the cause or not, Jason began spending more time with her family, and his parents left him there while they went on fetch quests for the local branch of the Alchemist Guild. It didn't pay as well as monster hunts, but it was hundreds of times safer, and they always came back with satisfied smiles on their faces.

So Lilia gained a shadow most days, even as she shadowed her mother. A mother who quickly became busy working again. Lilia looked out the window with a sign as her mother drilled Jackson and a couple of adventurers. First thing in the morning, Serabelle bundled up Lilia and Jason and some food and went to the Adventurers Guild. Jackson would already be there with a slight sheen of sweat on his head alongside the other recruits.

If Serabelle was feeling extra cranky in the morning, she would send the recruits out on a second run around the outside of the city. When they returned, Serabelle would have the recruits do strenuous exercises and sparring until lunch. During lunch, Serabelle would take Lilia and Jason to different restaurants or make sandwiches from materials at home.

Lilia shivered, remembering the one-time Serabelle was interrupted during lunch by a would-be recruit trying to play with Lilia and Jason. She was nearly chased out of the Guild for trying to brown nose. When the recruit returned the next day, she stayed very far away from Lilia and Jason's table. After lunch was the training that Serabelle was apparently hired for.

Lilia learned from some of the adventurers that came by their table that her mom worked at the Guild most days before she was pregnant and was a harsh teacher. Everyone that spoke of her always swore that it was the best training they ever got. They always left quickly before Serabelle got to the table and rarely (if ever) joined the training she provided.

After a month, a new face was added to the table as a mainstay. A girl about four named Hannah with blonde hair and great big sapphire eyes was put down by her parents and told to "play nice." Hannah stared after her mom as she left the guild out the front, and Lilia took pity on her.

Hannah was quiet but seemed to enjoy playing with the clay. Jason didn't much like the way Hannah always made flowers and pots. Lilia showed Jason how he could paint the flowers, though, and soon all of his action figures had brilliant shades of tye die spots all over them. Hannah's own paintings were of her house and family, basically the stuff any normal kid should make.

Of course, this drew more attention from adventurers, and Lilia despaired one day when lunch came about. She saw no less than fifteen faces arguing about who had what clay and was using what colors. Lilia talked to her mom about it, but she just laughed and said she'd hire somebody to watch them.

Lilia smiled at the thought that she'd get some peace again. She liked Hannah and Jason well enough, but the others had to go. Aged from three to seven, and all of them had snotty grabby hands. She would never be able to practice around them.

Unfortunately, life isn't so fair. The nurse hired just sat back and read from a book for the most part. She only looked up when the arguing got too loud, or someone began to cry. Lilia secretly resolved to get that private tutor faster. Maybe even have Mother invite Hannah and Jason too.

And yes, when she managed to sneak her trio outside when the nurse was asleep, she did go straight for the cafe. Squirreling away a few coins during laundry was simple enough, and she'd already memorized the menu.

Serabelle must have suspected this, though, and the second she tried to order a sip of heaven's nectar, the man just laughed and said he wanted to keep his head. He was very polite, and it was hard for Lilia to be mad at the little man with his wispy white hair flying around as he bobbed his head. Instead of coffee, the three were given raspberry scones (or the local equivalent was red-tarts, but that was a dumb name) and a glass of milk for three coppers.

Lilia decided to make the cafe her new escape and conspired with the other two to visit in the afternoons. The "tea time" signal was a peace sign followed by a kick under the table to get the others' attention. Lilia suspected the nurse-babysitter knew, but they weren't getting into trouble.

The old man's name was Panleon, and he always wanted to be a baker. He was excited that the three of them became his regular patrons. Panleon had terrific stories about his time growing up in a village nearby before moving to "the great city of Hamblin." Originally the store was on the outskirts of town. Still, people loved his coffee and scones so much that he reopened his store closer to the Guild. It was fortunate that the owner moved away after a stray spell knocked down the building next to his. Lilia wondered if Michael Bux's tower was that spell but didn't ask.

As nice as the old man was, Panleon firmly refused her request for coffee every day without her mother at her side. Lilia hoped when she entered and pouted at the denial of her favorite drink. But it was hard to keep pouting and stuff your face at the same time. Especially when your friends pretended their milk mustaches were real. Being a kid wasn't all bad.