As soon as Adrea heard the question, she knew that she had to say something.

"Head-priest, with all respect, this is a sensitive topic, does she really have to?"

"Adrea, this is an important matter. Let your sister answer my question."

"But why though?"

"Shaav Adrea, I am not going to repeat myself."

For a second, there was silence, but, to Adrea's surprise, Naviya calmly answered the question.

"I don't remember very well. I think I reincarnated. From another world. I don't want to talk about what happened before."

The head-priest's tone turn gentle.

"Girl, it's okay. It' okay. Vaahmeist, would this provide an explanation for her apparent age?"

The mage thought about the answer for a few seconds. Eventually, he spoke up.

"Well, if what she says is true, this would be a good explanation. The problem with that line of thinking though, is that there is no real precedent for something like this happening."

The mage seemed lost in thought for a few seconds, then his demeanor suddenly changed.

"Head-priest, I require immediate transportation to Dana-gradfort. Do you have anything here that I could use?"

The capital was almost a hundred horizons away. Adrea knew that there wasn't anything in the village that was suitable to quickly cover this kind of distance.

"My deepest apologies Vaahmeist. Our settlement is not connected to the grand river network. The best I can offer is our fastest horse. Let me guide you to the stables."

Both of the men stormed out of the cell, leaving the stunned family alone. After a few seconds, Adrea's mother spoke up.

"Dear, do you think we should wait until the head-priest returns?"

"It's probably best that we at least step out of the room. What was that all about?"

It took another 15 or so minutes of awkward silence before the head-priest came back, visibly winded.

"My apologies, it turns out that if what your daughter says is true, there are dire implications. Apparently, this pushes back the timeline of an ongoing demonic invasion by almost two years."

"Wait a second, a demonic invasion !?"

"This was news to me too. Apparently, because the damage has been limited so far, the news is being kept from the general population to avoid panic. So I would like to ask that you do not spread it around."

Adrea's father had a complicated expression on his face, alternating between worry and anger, and followed shortly by a sigh of resignation.

"Fine, but I'm going to sharpen my sword this evening. What about Naviya?"

"The Vaahmeist told me to expect a messenger in about two weeks' time. As long as he manages to find evidence of whatever it is that would confirm Naviya's explanation, I expect that it that will basically be the end of it."

He turned to Naviya.

"It's okay, you were not lying, right? In that case, I am not going to bring this back up again. I promise. I am sorry that I had to make you remember painful memories."

She nodded weakly, and the head-priest turned toward the parents.

"Now, as mentioned, I would like to re-iterate that these talks of demonic incursion are not to be divulged to the rest of the village. Considering your background, I do not think that I need to provide any further explanations."

"Could you at least let us know if you get any more information? I may not have been born here, but this village has become a real home to me. I would like to be ready if I need to defend it."

"Yes. I can do that."

After that, they bid each other farewell. The rest of the day was pretty normal, all things considered. They went back home, checked the fields, had dinner, and each went about their individual occupations. Adrea had some homework that she needed to complete before sunset, which thankfully was quite late at this time of year, so she went to her room.

About half an hour into her study session, as she was busy cleaning up some of the notes that she had taken during the day, she heard a knock on her door.

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"You can come in."

It was Naviya. Uncharacteristically, she seemed to be ashamed of something and rather anxious.

"I'm sorry. I promise that I will tell you the whole story later. I just cannot bring myself to do so now."

"This won't change how you see me, right?"

"No, of course not."

"Thanks."

And with that said, she left.

This brought Adrea to think back on what she had said. It was a simple phrase: "I reincarnated", but she could not fathom its consequences. And then there was the whole "demon invasion". Apparently the two were related somehow. If she had to guess, the same event that brought Naviya here also caused the demon invasion, but she wasn't a scholar. After that, was the revelation that her father had been an explorer.

Didn't he hurt his leg a few days ago during a regular hunt? There's no way an explorer would be that clumsy...

She found that she could not concentrate anymore, her mind drifting to different scenarios, imagining all sorts of events that could have led to the present. Each was more fantastical than the last, until eventually, she had to force herself to try and think of something else, and go lay in bed.

Maybe being an explorer would not be too bad...

She tried to convince herself that, as her father often said, things have a tendency to sort themselves out, and that everything would be fine, but she still felt restless and could not sleep. About an hour later, her thoughts calmed, and, tired, she drifted off to sleep.

----------------------------------------

Herdrick was looking at his sword. After nearly 20 years of neglect, the edge was beginning to show signs of rust, and he was apprehensive at the idea of servicing the hilt. No doubt, its state would probably be much worse than the blade itself. He pushed a bit of his mana into it, and four out of the five runes that were engraved in the fuller lit up with a warm orange glow. The fifth one flickered, but did not activate.

"You're stalling"

His wife was sitting next to him on the bed.

"Eva, I don't think I can do it. I am so out of shape I want to cry. How could I let myself get so complacent..."

He tried to repress the feeling of despair.

"And look at this sword. This used to be my pride as an explorer. Now, it's barely better than a basic club."

"Dear, calm down."

"I know, I know. We don't have much of a choice. We can't just ignore a fuh...dging demon invasion."

"That's not what we were talking about."

"No, it was. You are right about the girls. We knew since the beginning that Naviya's past wasn't something the we should discuss. Then we did, and now we just have to wait and see."

She gave him a look.

"Don't look at me that way. Neither of them seemed to be particularly upset."

"Herdrick, how many times do I have to spell it out. Naviya has enough trust issues without you ignoring her feelings, even if she seems to be doing her best to hide them. As for Adrea, that girl probably just hasn't had the time to process the information. Both of them need a clear sign of moral support right now."

She wasn't yelling at him, but it felt like she was. He sat there for a moment.

I cannot continue like this. I need to clear my head. Maybe I should...

He let himself feel the mana swirling around his body. It was an unstable bubbling mess. Years without meditation, combined with his emotional state, were obviously at fault here. He let his senses drift, focusing on the motions, looking for patterns in the swirling mana. And then, after what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a couple of seconds, he found it.

[Serenity]

The spell hadn't worked well, but it was enough, and he steadied himself.

"You're right. What kind of father runs away from his kids."

"That's better. Was that a spell?"

"Yes, that was Serenity, or rather, a half-baked version thereof. If I'm going to be start getting back in shape, I might as well start now."

There was small pause in the conversation, as both changed into their nightgowns.

"You know, I missed this version of you – a cool-headed, warmhearted warrior... You never told me that you were using a spell. I feel a bit cheated now."

"Hey! I don't usually need that spell. It was just practice."

"Sure, Dear. Sure..."

----------------------------------------

As usual, Adrea was awoken by the damnable rooster, and she felt even more grumpy than usual. She hadn't slept well. She had woken up at least two times because of nightmares. In both cases, images of monsters mingled with the fleeing form of Naviya, as they were separated, and then... She shook her head. This wasn't worth thinking about.

As she made her way to the kitchen, she found that the rest of her family was already there.

Typical.

As she took a seat, she saw that her father seemed a bit nervous. He was probably going to try and say something about yesterday. He cleared his throat.

"So, um, I'd like to say that I... we... we're sorry that we didn't ask you for your input before having your age investigated. I thought it would be a nice surprise, because I thought that you had forgotten. Your mother told me that it would have been better to ask you, but I managed to convince her otherwise... Anyway, I hope you can forgive us for that."

The room was silent for a bit, before Naviya softly said "I'm fine, Father. Don't worry about me". There was a hint of happiness in her voice.

There was a further pause, and her mother discretely elbowed her father.

"Ah, and yes, this whole demon invasion thing is probably blown out of proportion if it's been going on for the last four years. I used to be a pretty decent explorer back in the day, so don't worry too much. I'll protect us if something does come our way. I just need to get back in shape."

"I trust both of you to keep this a secret, just as the head-priest said."

With that said, life just continued as usual. In next days, Adrea often saw her father busy maintaining his sword, or rehearsing various stances and motions in his free time. Although it meant that everyone else had to spend a bit more time tending to the fields, Adrea saw this as a positive change. She was a bit surprised when her father offered to show and explain some of his techniques to her, but considering that she would likely take up the explorer's path herself, it made sense. Together they decided that they would have a training session every two days. Naviya would also join in to observe.

After a week, her main takeaway was that when she actually got a proper master, she should focus on having strong foundations, rather than fanciful techniques. Most explorers that survived to retirement age did. The second takeaway was that she should always be aware of distances. Her father saw weapons as "the great equalizers". It didn't matter whether one was weak, or lacked in agility, if they could hit their adversary with a weapon while the adversary could not. Considering her lack of success with training, Adrea somehow doubted that it was as simple as that, but she persevered.

Her 16th birthday felt to her like a thundercloud on the horizon, creeping towards her ever-so-slowly.