Reveal!?

I look down at my feet as the silence builds once more. Can one of you say something!?

“What!?”, Birta exclaims after what feels like an eternity while jumping to her feet understandably surprised.

“That does explain some things.”, Ifran calmly responds resting his chin in a webbed hand.

“It does!?”, The teen asks utterly baffled looking at the medic with a dropped jaw. I too am surprised with how calm he is being about this.

“Yes.”, The journeyman responds lowering his hand. He looks at me while he continues, “Her affinity with all the elements. Plus her absurdly high potential with all of them as well.” It does fit the bill. Glad Ifran is both intelligent and understanding. “It also kind of explains what happened to her during her combat skills exam.”, He adds.

“What happened?”, Birta asks as she looks at me.

“Master Til commented how Lydia might be the most durable thing she ever fought.”, Ifran answers in my place. “She has fought dragons before so those words carry a lot of weight.”, He adds.

“She also said she wasn’t going all out though.”, I add finally looking up from my feet at Birta. “But that could have been also because the other examiners were concerned. So she may have been lying about it.”, I say turning my gaze to Ifran.

“Master Til often gets rather unrestrained when she is tired.”, Ifran explains, “She was more than likely lying to appease the others and not get in trouble herself.”

Note to self, do not get on Nadia’s bad side.

“I still don’t understand.”, Birta states looking at me.

“There’s plenty I don’t understand about it myself.”, I answer meeting the teen’s gaze.

“Really?”, Ifran inquires with a titled head. “I would think you would understand it better than anyone else.”, He explains as our gazes meet.

“Sure, but that doesn’t mean I understand it very well myself.”, I retort. “I didn’t even know until this morning.”, I add.

“How did you not know before?”, Birta asks rather sarcastically.

I close my eyes and loudly sigh before I collect myself. I need to tell them. I would rather not do this but I need to do this.

“I was reborn as Lydia.”, I answer looking at the ogre.

“What does that mean!?”, Birta yells in disbelief and confusion.

“Reborn?”, Ifran mutters the word. “Revival magic isn’t anything I’ve heard of.”, He says louder.

“Maybe to all of us.”, I respond looking at the man. “But to gods, probably not.”, I add ominously despite not intending to sound that way.

“The gods brought you back from the dead!?”, Birta asks me grabbing her head in confusion.

“If you don’t believe me, fine.”, I say to her. “I know it sounds crazy and unbelievable.”, I add looking at the two of them.

“It is.”, Ifran responds, not letting a silence fill the room. “So what was it like?”, He asks me.

“Was what like?”, Birta asks the Lautanese before I can.

“Dying.”, The medic answers finally stepping away from the door. That is disconcerting. “And more importantly, being brought back to life.”, He finishes. I should have let him finish.

“I don’t remember what dying was like.”, I say resting my head in my hands. “Being reborn sure was a pain though.”, I add.

“How badly did it hurt?”, Ifran asks me as Birta sits down on her bed probably still trying to collect herself and process all this unbelievable information.

“It wasn’t so much that it hurt as how annoying the person I had to deal with was.”, I answer remembering “Cedric”.

“Person?”, Ifran questions with a raised brow. “What do you mean? Is there some kind of person or people whose job is to revive people?”, He adds as well. That’s a bit to unpack…

“I said person, but it’s really the god I was assigned to…”, I try to explain before my eye begins to twitch at the memory of being pushed into the open sky in a free fall.

“A god specifically!?”, Birta yells once more. Seems she almost calmed down, unfortunate.

“Assigned to?”, Ifran inquires.

“Can you please be quieter?”, I ask to Birta. “I know it’s weird and confusing but you’re being too loud and others will probably overhear.”, I explain to the teen.

“You just casually drop that you met a god and I’m supposed to be quieter!?”, The ogre almost yells once again.

“I am not being casual about this!”, I raise my voice slightly in response. “It’s bizarre.”, I add with a sigh.

I lay onto my back on my bed with a groan.

“So you were assigned to a god?”, Ifran reiterates after a moment.

“Apparently.”, I reply before turning onto my side.

“What exactly does that mean though?”, He inquires further.

“I don’t know.”, I answer sitting back up. “They kept everything incredibly vague.”, I add. “There’s also the fact she pushed me into the open sky…”, I mutter.

“The open sky?”, The Lautanese asks me, his voice full of concern.

“Yes, I thought I was going to die again immediately.”, I answer flopping back onto the bed.

Another silence begins to build in the room.

“That was quite a lot of information you just told us.”, Ifran says not allowing that silence to take hold. “This may be rude but, how old are you really?”, The man adds. I sit up and meet his gaze before I speak.

“I was thirty when I died.”, I answer without thinking. “I’m ten now… So forty technically.”, I quickly add my gaze moving to the ceiling.

“I’m rooming with someone older than my parents…”, Birta mutters almost inaudibly to me.

“Well ma’am.”, The journeyman responds trying to straighten himself. This was a terrible idea. Unfortunately necessary, but still terrible.

“Please, I’m just an applicant.”, I respond to the fully grown man with a raised hand for him to stop. “Also technically only ten years old here.”, I add.

“Right.”, Ifran replies with a nod. He continues, “This is all hard to believe.”

“Too hard.”, Birta mutters still looking at the wall next to her bed.

“I know, it’s hard for me too.”, I respond before sighing and looking at my feet. “I’m still getting used to going through puberty again.”, I add without thinking.

“Puberty?”, The medic repeats. They do not say puberty here, I see.

“It’s a general term for entering womanhood and manhood.”, I rapidly explain while looking at Ifran. The man simply nods in response to my explanation. I sigh in relief, at least Ifran seems willing to entertain my explanations.

“If it’s okay with you Ifran.”, I begin. I start to push my index fingers against each other in anxiety before continuing, “Could you teach me somethings about Seruna?”

“Why that region?”, Ifran inquires. Finally I get clarification! Seruna is the region Birta and I are from.

“What’s this world called?”, I respond to the medic’s question with my own.

“So you want me to teach you things about Seruna or Penato?”, He asks.

“So this world’s called Penato…”, I mutter.

“Are you not from this world at all?”, Birta asks while turning to face us and joining our conversation again.

“No.”, I answer without thinking once again. “I also lived in an orphanage before joining the guild. So no actual education the entire time I’ve been here.”, I add for Ifran’s clarification before he can ask.

“Alright, I’ll teach you about the world.”, Ifran answers my question. “If it’s alright, I would like to ask you more questions that come to mind from time to time as well.”, He says.

“Deal.”, I reply and raise a hand out to the Lautanese for a handshake.

“Agreed then!”, He responds with a smile before grasping my small hand and shaking it. I had felt them before, but I am still surprised that his hands are not slimy or clamy. He lets go of my hand before he continues, “For your first lesson, the patron deity of this guild is Skadi.”

That, I already knew. I cannot tell him that though, at least not yet.