Chapter 4 — An almost normal day

Part 1

I woke up like almost every other day of my new life: with Siena leaning over me, already ready to start the usual routine. I felt the morning chill slipping in through the half-open window of my room, and for a moment, as she helped me sit up, I couldn't help thinking how strange it was that after five years, this routine felt as natural as breathing.

She dressed me with that efficiency only someone with years of practice could have — every button, every adjustment of fabric, done almost without looking, as if her hands already knew every necessary motion by heart. Meanwhile, I, still half-asleep, tried to sort out my thoughts about what to do that day.

I had a few ideas floating around: maybe keep spying on the girls doing their chores, maybe try to finish that book on the kingdom's history I'd been reading in fits and starts, or just use the morning to explore some corner of the mansion I hadn't fully memorized yet.

We went down to the dining hall together, and I ate breakfast with my usual enthusiasm — which, according to the maids, was still a constant source of amazement. None of those ideas for the day, though, survived more than a couple of minutes after I finished my plate.

—Young master, it's time for your lessons ahead of your fifth birthday to begin.

Sebastian's voice caught me completely off guard, cutting off whatever plans I had in mind. I hadn't expected to see him so early, let alone with that formal tone he only used when something genuinely important was about to happen.

I glanced up at Siena, looking for some sign of whether she already knew about this, but she only gave me a brief smile, almost conspiratorial, like someone who already knows the ending of a story that's just about to begin for someone else.

I got up from the table and followed Sebastian, more curious than anything, toward what they called the study room — a part of the mansion I honestly had never paid much attention to in all my previous explorations. I remembered passing that door a couple of times, but it was always closed, and with so many other interesting corners left to discover, I'd never once stopped to investigate what was inside.

As we walked down the long hallway connecting the dining hall to that part of the mansion, Sebastian broke the silence.

—Unfortunately, young master, we only have three months to teach you certain things —he explained, hands clasped behind his back in that impeccable-butler posture so particular to him—. Normally, this kind of knowledge isn't taught until the age of seven, not before.

—Then why am I being taught now? —I asked, genuinely confused.

—Because, according to what Miss Siena described in her letter to your parents, your abilities so far have been —he paused briefly, as if searching for the right word— out of the ordinary. Your parents rightly considered that you're already ready for something more advanced.

Great, I thought, feeling a mix of pride and nervousness I wasn't quite sure how to process. No pressure at all.

When we reached the study room, Sebastian opened the door and let me go in first. The place was larger than I'd imagined: shelves packed with books I hadn't seen in the main library, a dark wooden desk, and several chairs set facing a large window that looked out over the back gardens. I couldn't hold back my curiosity for even a second longer.

—What are you going to teach me? —I asked, barely able to hide my impatience, sitting on the edge of one of the chairs.

Sebastian looked at me steadily before answering with another question, in a tone that sounded almost ceremonial.

—Do you know what magic is, young master?

I shook my head.

—I've heard about it in the stories Siena tells me before bed. But I've never actually seen it.

Sebastian nodded, as if that were exactly the answer he expected, and told me to sit up straight while he walked toward the nearest window.

He opened it without warning.

The cold rushed in at once, making me shiver almost instantly — this stupid small body, I still hadn't fully gotten used to how sensitive it was to the weather, even after five years of dealing with it. But before I could complain about the cold, I noticed something strange: Sebastian's silhouette seemed to lose solidity for an instant, as if the very air around him had started to vibrate.

And then, an intense light appeared next to the window, right where he was standing.

When my eyes managed to adjust to that glow, I saw his hand extended toward the outside, pointing directly at a distant mountain barely visible on the horizon, through the morning mist. Over his palm, a sphere of crimson fire spun slowly in place, giving off a heat I could feel even from where I sat, several meters away.

—This —Sebastian said, in a solemn voice I'd never heard him use before— is magic.

I couldn't help but stare, completely open-mouthed, my eyes locked on that burning sphere that seemed to breathe with a life of its own.

A second later, the sphere shot out of his hand, streaking across the sky at a speed my eyes could barely follow, leaving a crimson trail behind it, until it struck the distant mountain. The roar of a small explosion reached us a few seconds later, followed by a cloud of smoke and dust slowly rising in the distance.

—What... what was that? —I asked, with an excitement I didn't even try to hide, practically jumping out of my chair.

Sebastian calmly closed the window, as if he'd just shown me something as ordinary as preparing a cup of tea.

—It's understandable that you haven't witnessed magic before, young master. The maids who have looked after you all these years, Miss Siena included, don't have the ability to use it. That's why you never had the chance to see it up close.

He walked over to me, stopping right in front of my chair, hands once again clasped behind his back.

—From today on, I'll be the one training you, so you can decide your destiny on the battlefield.

He then began listing off, counting on his fingers, a series of categories I could barely process one by one: mage, swordsman, summoner, marksman, warrior, high priest, and even thief.

—On the day of your birthday —he continued, with a seriousness that stood in sharp contrast to the excitement bubbling up inside me—, you'll have to choose your class. And in doing so, you'll reveal your family's true power —your parents' power.

I looked at him, genuinely confused by that last part.

—Believe it or not —he added, in an almost nostalgic tone, like someone recalling a time he'd rather not have lived through but of which he still feels deeply proud—, your parents were once heroes of great renown. Thanks to them, this nation still enjoys the peace it has today.

Something inside me lit up at that piece of information. Real heroes. My parents. And I, apparently, had to follow in their footsteps somehow, carving out my own path among all those categories Sebastian had just listed.

I was genuinely excited, still processing all this new information about magic, classes, destiny, and family legacy, my head spinning with possibilities — would I be a mage, like Sebastian? A swordsman, like my father probably was? — when Sebastian added, almost as if it were a minor detail, almost in passing:

—Ah, and one last thing, young master. That same day, you'll also need to choose your future partner.

I froze completely, feeling all my earlier excitement instantly turn into pure panic.

—WHAT!?

Part 2

That morning, something inside me wouldn't stop feeling uneasy.

Knowing that Sebastian would be Ren's instructor for the next three months filled me with a strange sensation I couldn't quite place at first.

It's not that I doubted his abilities — after all, he'd fought alongside Edric himself, and it was said that in his youth he'd stood shoulder to shoulder with him in more than one major campaign — but something inside me told me the coming months wouldn't exactly be easy for Ren.

Sebastian had a reputation for being demanding when training someone, and Ren, however advanced he was for his age, was still only a five-year-old boy.

When I saw them heading off toward the study room, I couldn't help following at a distance, meaning to peek in for just a moment, only to make sure everything was alright. But before I could get close enough, Marabel intercepted me in the hallway, wearing that smile of hers that always seemed to know more than it let on.

—Don't worry so much about Ren —she told me, crossing her arms, blocking my path with the kind of calm only someone with years of experience dealing with me could manage—. For these three months he needs to train as hard as possible. It's better to give him some space, at least for today.

Even so, I insisted on wanting to go closer, if only for a moment, just to see him with my own eyes. That was when Marabel, still smiling, pulled a folded piece of paper from her clothes and handed it to me. Unfolding it, I found it was a surprisingly long shopping list, with enough items to stock the mansion for weeks.

—Why is there so much stuff on here? —I asked, looking over the paper with some suspicion, noticing it included everything from basic provisions to fabric and repair materials.

—For two reasons —she answered, counting on her fingers—. One: we need you to go into town and buy all of this for the next two weeks, since we're running low on almost everything in the pantry. And two: to keep you distracted, at least for today, instead of wandering the halls like a worried ghost.

—Is this Sebastian's doing too? —I asked, already with a resigned half-smile, though not entirely surprised.

Marabel simply nodded, no need to say anything more. Of course it was. That man always found a way to keep me busy whenever he sensed I was about to meddle in something.

So, grudgingly, I ended up leaving the mansion, wrapping myself in a thick scarf and taking the money set aside for shopping.

Before setting out, I headed to the shed near the back entrance to get the wooden cart we usually used for this kind of errand — light, with two large wheels on the sides, sturdy enough to carry several weeks' worth of provisions without any trouble, but also manageable enough for one person to push without too much effort, even over freshly fallen snow.

I fastened it carefully to my waist with a simple leather harness, leaving both hands free to steer it as I walked. Every month, the house received a substantial allowance for its upkeep, sent directly by Master Edric from the capital — money that covered not just provisions and repairs, but also each of our wages.

We never lacked for anything, in that sense. Edric had always made sure of it, even from afar, as if keeping the mansion running was his own quiet way of staying present in his son's life.

Just as I was opening the front door, a sharp sound cut through the air from one of the upper-floor windows. I looked up in time to see, in the distance, another explosion from some kind of magical attack, followed by a column of smoke rising over the distant trees.

I brought a hand to my forehead, sighing.

—Typical of that man —I murmured, unable to help a smile, before closing the door behind me and setting off toward town, dragging the empty cart behind me.

The scenery that morning was simply beautiful. Snow had fallen all through the night, covering the path with a flawless white layer that crunched softly under my boots with every step, and under the wheels of the cart behind me.

The trees lining the road bent slightly under the weight of the snow gathered on their branches, forming a kind of white tunnel that stretched out until it faded into the distance.

The sun, still low on the horizon, tinted the whole landscape a pale gold that made every snowflake shimmer as if suspended in glass. A few birds, perhaps the last ones not to have migrated yet, crossed the sky, leaving dark trails against the uniform gray of the clouds.

The cold air felt clean, almost sharp against my cheeks, but there was something deeply comforting about walking alone down that path, surrounded by so much stillness, hearing nothing but the crunch of snow and my own breathing.

The Ashborne family's lands stretched far beyond what anyone could imagine at first glance. Master Edric was landowner not only of this area, but of at least five more villages to the east, all of them thriving thanks to the peace he himself had helped secure years ago, through sacrifices very few people knew the full extent of.

Every time I walked this path, I couldn't help feeling a bit of pride in belonging, even if only as a maid, to a family that had done so much for this land and its people.

Reaching the nearest village, the warmth of its people contrasted pleasantly with the cold of the road. Everyone knew me, and greeted me with the familiarity of people who'd spent years watching me pass through their streets every so often. A group of children, probably around Ren's age, ran toward me the moment they spotted me, leaving small, scattered footprints across the freshly swept snow on the streets.

—Siena! Did the young master come with you today? —one of them asked, eyes shining with excitement, while the others crowded around him waiting for my answer.

—Not today —I answered, crouching a little to be at their eye level—. Right now he's studying for his birthday ritual.

—He's already doing his ritual?! —another one exclaimed, mouth hanging open, as if he'd just heard the most important news in the world—. We're not doing ours for a few more years, at ten.

—Mine's gonna be way cooler than yours —another cut in, giving the first one a light shove.

—You don't even believe that yourself!

Before I could say anything or try to calm them down, two of them were already caught up in an argument over whose ritual would be “cooler” when their turn came, and ended up racing off down the street, one chasing the other amid laughter and shouting, kicking up a trail of snow behind them.

I smiled, shaking my head at all that energy, and used the quiet moment to keep going with my shopping before it got any later.

The hours passed among market stalls, constant greetings from familiar shopkeepers, and Marabel's list, which turned out to be just as long as promised — flour, preserved vegetables for winter, fabric to repair a few worn-out uniforms, and even a couple of items I suspected were only there to stretch my stay in town a little longer than necessary.

By the time I finished, I'd filled the cart almost completely, each compartment carefully packed so nothing would fall out on the way back.

I said my goodbyes to the village shopkeepers, promising to return the following week as usual, and set off on the way home, now pushing the cart — far heavier than on the way out — carefully over the snow, doing my best to avoid the patches where ice had already started forming beneath the white surface.

The sky was already starting to darken by the time I finally spotted the mansion in the distance, its windows lit up against the deep blue blanket of dusk, promising warmth after so many hours out in the cold.

I wonder how it went for Ren, I thought, quickening my pace a little, feeling the morning's worry creeping back in bit by bit. Whatever Sebastian taught him today, I hope it wasn't too much for him.

As I closed the distance to the entrance, I decided that from now on I'd try to support Ren through whatever this training demanded of him.

If fate — or whoever governed such things in this world — had decided that Ren would carry such a heavy weight at such a young age, then I would make sure to be there, every step of the way, just as I had promised Edric the day he was born.

It didn't matter if that meant whole days going back and forth to town, exhausting training sessions, or whatever else Sebastian had planned for the next three months. Ren wouldn't be alone in this.

When I arrived, I found him sitting right at the main entrance, bundled up in his coat, his gaze lost somewhere in the snow in front of him. He looked deeply lost in thought, completely unaware of the cold already starting to seep into his bones.

—I'm back —I greeted him, carefully setting the cart aside.

Ren, though, didn't answer right away. He got up slowly and walked toward me, still wearing that thoughtful expression, until he stopped right in front of me. He gave my clothes a gentle tug to get my full attention, with those eyes so serious they sometimes made me forget he was barely five years old.

—What does it mean, to have a partner? —he asked, with a seriousness that didn't fit his age at all.

I felt the blood rush straight to my face.

—WHAT exactly did Sebastian teach Ren today?!