Adrea was not a morning person. That was not to say that she slept-in often, but she would if she had the chance. The problem with that was that unlike most families, hers had limited supply of muscle, so she had to help out. The sixth day of the fourth moon of summer, 219 S.E., was not any different. As usual, she was awoken by the oh-so-annoying crow, and as always she swore that she would have that pompous rooster's head. She wouldn't, of course - the damnable thing was too agile, and she would have to deal with consequences - but at least it made her feel better.

As she walked out of her private room, a luxury many kids her age could only dream off, she was greeted by the sweet scent of bacon.

"Mom, what's the occasion?"

She had to raise her voice a bit to be heard, but that was less effort than going all the way to the kitchen.

"What do you mean, 'what's the occasion'? It's been exactly four years now!"

Adrea could almost hear the "I swear, this girl...", but she was a bit too far away for that. Overcoming the initial annoyance, she finally registered her mother's words and the gears began to turn.

Four years...

Four years...

Wait it's already been that long ?!

Her steps hastened.

"Is Naviya already there? Wait no, don't answer that."

Of course she was. Sometimes it really bothered Adrea how her sister didn't seem to care about the time of day. She could probably count the exact number of times she'd seen Naviya show any sort of emotion that wasn't fake, and even that was a common occurrence when compared to the number of times that Adrea had managed to wake up before her sister.

Crossing through the kitchen, Adrea had to pinch her nose.

"Morning Mom, are we eating outside?"

Taking into account the rays of light that were hitting her in the face through the open window, she could already guess the answer. Her mother turned around and sighed. She wasn't upset or anything like that. Adrea knew that this was just part of the routine.

"Of course, we are eating outside, you dolt... Why, oh why, are you still so cute. You're 15, for crying out loud."

"And you're of an age that should never be mentioned... Oww."

"Just go outside and help your father get table ready, before I get angry."

She would not have gotten angry, but Adrea followed her advice anyway. The smell was beginning to be unbearable.

As she stepped out of the house, her eyes took a moment to adjust. Her father was busy dragging the "nice" table towards the spot where they held celebratory meals when the weather allowed. He was obviously having some difficulty. The table was not particularly light, and he had been injured a couple days ago during a hunt. Naviya was helping out, but she wasn't doing anything more than would be expected an ten-year-old.

"Hey dad, Mom said you needed help?"

The table dropped with a thud.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate a bit of help."

The table was as heavy as it always was, but together they managed to drag it in place. Getting the chairs was a lot easier, and by the time they had everything in place, Adrea's mother was just about to bring the food. Bacon with eggs was not really high cuisine, but pigs were exceedingly rare in middle Danalau, so bacon had to be imported from lower Danalau. Because of that, this particular dish was reserved for special occasions, and the anniversary of Naviya's adoption was worthy. Bacon had a tendency to cool remarkably quickly though, so rather than speak, the four-member family had their breakfast before moving on to the announcement.

When everyone was finished, and the Lady of the Hunt had properly been thanked, Adrea's father began his (probably rehearsed) speech.

"So it's been four years since we officially became a family of four. When Naviya first came to us, we were beginning to lose hope of ever having a second child. You were not our child then, but you are definitely family now, and so let us have a toast. To my cute daughters, and the bright future that awaits them!"

All four gently clanked their wooden cups together, with a loud "TOAST!".

"But all good things eventually come to an end. In a few months, Adrea will be of marriageable age, and social norms dictate that she must either find herself a groom, or begin her apprenticeship as a prospective explorer."

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Her mother chose this moment to chime in.

"Dear, we already know which of these is going to happen, don't we?"

Adrea felt a bit hurt by that. Her mother was right, of course, but it still annoyed her that marriage was completely off the table. It was not like she was particularly adventurous, and she knew that she would have genuinely enjoyed building her own family, but all the other kids of her age were completely terrified of her. Based on her studies, she knew that she was not stupid, but she genuinely had no idea why, and everyone just refused to tell her the reason. She was not violent nor did she have a scheming personality, and she did not even hold grudges for very long!

"Hey, wasn't this supposed to be about Naviya?"

Her sister was sitting there, as impassive as ever. As far as children went, she was beyond unusual. When she had stumbled into the village a bit over four years ago, she had very clearly been traumatized by something. She could barely speak, her clothes were ragged, and although she didn't appear underfed, this was clearly proven to be an incorrect assumption when she was presented with a meal.

In the four years that she had been living with them, Naviya seemed to recover from whatever happened to her. She played with the other children, helped out on the fields, and was generally well-liked by all, but Adrea knew that this was nothing more than a facade. Behind her expressive mask, Naviya barely showed any strong emotion. There were some rare exceptions, including the one and only time Adrea had asked about what had happened before they met. She was not planning on ever bringing the subject back up.

"Well, for Naviya, there's not much to say, is there. We still don't know how old she actually is, but we've been going off the assumption that she was about five to six when she arrived, so the next big milestone for her is only in two years. You on the other hand..."

As annoying as this was, it made sense. With the exception of multiples of four years, birthdays were not seen as particularly important events in Danalau, at least when compared to things like village festivals, or the four holy days of Light.

There was not much else to be discussed. Her parents pestered Adrea a bit about her plans for the future, but nothing really came of it. Then, after the somewhat effort-intensive task that was moving the "nice" table with its assorted chairs back into the storage closet, it was back to business as usual. There were some crops that needed weeding, which would take about two hours, and after that, it would be time for school.

Education in Danalau was compulsory between the ages of eight and sixteen, and was subdivided into lower schooling and middle schooling. Lower education focused on teaching basic skills: how to read, write, do basic arithmetic, among others. Conversely, middle education was meant to broaden the general knowledge of the populace, covering various topics such as geography, religion, literature, and went into particular detail on the proper etiquette to be followed when interacting with different strata of Danalau society. Adrea thought that this was a boring topic, but considering that a Shaav – her social rank – saying anything insulting to the honor of a Vaahreid (which she was not quite sure how to recognize) was punishable by death without a trial, she had to admit that it made sense.

As the fourth bell rang, and she began to pack her things before heading home, the head-priest entered the classroom and turned towards her.

"Shaav Adrea, before you go, I would like you to pass by my cell."

That was unusual. Adrea had not done anything that would deserve punishment, which was the main reason why anyone would normally be called out in this way. His tone had been serious, but definitely not angry, if maybe a bit worried. She hastily put her books into her bag, along with her coal pen, and headed towards the cell of the head-priest.

She was somewhat surprised to find her whole family assembled here, along with the head-priest and a man she did not recognize. His clothes seemed to indicate that he was an explorer of some kind, which only made the situation more confusing.

"Maybe we should re-explain everything to her?"

Her mother's nervous tone, as she turned towards the head-priest, had Adrea on edge.

"Well, that would only be right, but maybe your father should begin."

"Ahem... Well, hm... We had actually been planning to organize a bit of a surprise this morning, by having Naviya's age read. The gentleman here, Vaahmeist Mrius Vandraak, was supposed to help with that, but he was delayed and could only reach us by noon."

That couldn't have been easy to organize... The man in question was also obviously uncomfortable at the whole affair, but he seemed polite enough to wait until her father turned towards him with a slight bow, before beginning his explanation.

"Yes, although my services as a genealogy seer are not usually afforded to Shaavs, the compensation that your parents prepared was enough to convince me to come. And, honestly, this seemed like a pretty interesting case either way, you Shaavs usually don't care about genealogy."

The way he had said it suggested disdain, but it was clearly not directed at Shaavs in general, but rather at the notion that someone might not be interested in his chosen field of study. What followed was a lengthy rant about the specific details of the age measuring procedure, the importance of various types of mana, something about decay rates, anecdotes about the tangled mess that was the genealogy of Vaahuds, Vaahreids, and Edreens, and a few other things. Adrea really couldn't keep up with most of it, but the Vaahmeist had a clearly superior social position to her own, so she didn't dare interrupt him, and tried her best to at least appear as if she was following what he was saying.

"... so anyway, when your parents asked me if 'd be willing to solve their little mystery child's origin, in exchange for a couple of solar-gold coins, I thought: 'Why not? This might be a nice change of pace from dealing with the politics' of our country's illustrious nobility.' "

His voice turned serious.

"Now, I want to be clear, my skills as a genealogy seer are well-know and have been validated by three academies, so when I say that your sister is an anomaly, I don't say this lightly. I know that head-priest Shaak has done his due diligence and checked her for any trace of demonic aura, because that was my first reaction when I appraised her. That girl is about five-years-old and she also doesn't have biological parents."

There was silence. Judging by the stunned face on both of her parents' faces, this was news to them too.

"But... that's impossible... I mean, she is clearly older than that... Maybe someone erased her whatever you called it?"

Mrius shook his head.

"That shouldn't be possible, as far as I know."

There was another silence. Then the head-priest spoke up.

"Now unfortunately, this has become a serious matter, and as much as I would like to just leave this be, I have to at least ask: Naviya, do you remember anything about what happened five years ago?"