Jane’s eyes opened wide. She might have suspected this was the case in the back of her mind after first seeing the little girl in Rosalie’s arms, but actually hearing it come from her mouth was still shocking.
“I'm a sister?” It was truly a dream come true for her.
She had always wished for a sibling when she was younger, but it seemed like her parents were too busy to raise more than one child as they were just starting up their farm back then. Things must be running smoother now giving them more time and energy to be able to raise another kid.
Her parents were not old, but they were neither too young. She herself was born when her parents were 18 and 19 and now that she was 20, her parents would be in their late thirties.
“That's amazing… I don't even know what to say.” Jane excitedly looked at Abigail, thinking of all the things they could do as sisters.
“We were lucky, you know. Me and your father are older, which was a tiny concern at first but when a priest visited and offered his services to the people of Redwood— It was a pretty penny but we bought a pregnancy amulet that guaranteed a healthy pregnancy.” Rosalie explained while looking at Abigail with adoration. “We probably didn't need it but might as well play it safe.”
“I'm so happy right now, congratulations! I can't wait to be a sister!” Jane hugged Rosalie again and then took a closer look at Abigail and couldn't help but see herself in her.
“Good, cause you have three years to make it up for her and four years to make up for us.” Rosalie stared at Jane who composed herself and nodded.
“I'm here for the long haul, I don't think I want to leave anytime soon.” Jane said.
“If you thought I'd let you leave again anytime soon, you better be ready to fight me.” Her mother wasn't joking and stared at Jane waiting for an answer. There was no hesitation from Jane, she once again nodded her head multiple times to get the point across, she was here to stay— at least for a while, who knows about further down the line.
“Abigail, this is your older sister Jane, that me and Papa have told you about. Say hi.”
“Jane?” A cute voice came from Abigail's mouth.
“Yes, your sister Jane.” Her mother said.
Jane waved at Abigail and said, “Hello” but Abigail only stared at her for a brief moment before looking away and ignoring her.
“It's gonna take a bit of time for her to get used to you, don't mind her now.” Rosalie reassured Jane.
She understood that's how kids were and didn’t take it to heart, she was more excited to think about the future of getting to live with her newfound sister. It was a sudden discovery to find out you were a sibling for sure, but in all her life, it wasn't even the most shocking thing.
She would be the best sister she could be— but before that she was starving. Her stomach groaned, getting a chuckle from her parents.
Her hunger was almost alleviated from the smell of delicious stew, bread and cooked eggs arriving at the dinner table in the hands of Jeff. He passed a bowl and plate over to everyone and it became a free-for-all just like old times.
Even though she was hungry, Jane waited for everyone else to get their food first before she helped herself. Not wanting to miss out on the nostalgic taste of home, she made sure to grab lots, filling her plate all the way to the edge. The second her spoon filled with hot stew touched the tip of her tongue, she knew she was back home.
“So Jane, I know you have a lot to talk about and we definitely want to hear every detail, but there's no rush. We have however long to catch up— we ourselves have plenty of things we want to tell you about as well.” Jeff put down his spoon and asked. “I'll start off simple, did you at least have a good time at the Academy?”
Jane put her spoon down and answered. “At first it was nerve wracking, being away from home and being all by yourself, but after the first month, it felt just like another home.” She explained. “It was stressful of course, but overall it was an amazing time.”
“That's great to hear.” Jeff said, then bluntly asked. “So… What class did you end up having?”
“Asking about the juicy bits already?” Jane jokingly smiled which made Jeff go red in the face.
“I'm only curious, it's not any day your daughter— or anyone really— comes home a graduated classholder.” Jeff defended himself but he realized he didn't need to after seeing the smirk on his daughter's face.
“Of course I'm gonna tell you, that's the coolest part about going to the Academy, finding out which class you have.” Jane cleared her throat. “I found out that I am… An enigma.”
“Enigma? Which one is that again?” Rosalie asked.
Information about classes was common knowledge but it was so outside the norm for most people that they didn't have it memorized by heart. There were a few more well known classes everyone knew about like elementalists or priests but the other classes were more obscure and did not appear in most smaller towns often.
A person awakening to a class was a roughly 1 in 100,000 chance, meaning in a small town like Redwood, the chance for someone to be a classholder was extremely slim. In her life she was the only one she knew of from Redwood that was a classholder, others had been, but they were before her time. Maybe in the capital city where you'd be around more classholders, more people would know about them, but here it felt more like folklore than actual facts.
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That's why Jeff got a little embarrassed asking about her class, he thought it might've been considered rude to ask a classholder what their class was even if they were family, but in actuality they’d rather tell you all about it then not.
Her parents did their research on the specific classes before she was sent off to the academy, but it had been four years since— they had probably forgotten.
“An enigma is a class where their power is completely random. The only thing we all have in common is we can sense if another person is a classholder, that's actually how they test us when we turn sixteen.”
“Does that mean it's a good class?” Jeff questioned.
“There really aren't any bad classes since each class has their own unique power sets and way of life. As for enigma’s, it's a little weird. Some Enigma’s get more lucky with their special power than others, but every power has its uses.” Jane went on to explain. “Enigma's are also the odd ducks in school because our powers are the only ones that can't really be taught by an established teacher like the other classes.”
“Oh, did everything work out then?” Rosalie worried.
“Of course, whose daughter do you think I am? I excelled and graduated with the third highest grades out of my entire year.” Jane sarcastically crossed her arms and puffed her chests. “Even if I got a little lucky with my Enigma power.”
Seeing their daughter act the same as before made Jeff and Rosalie more relaxed. At first they acted a little restrained due to them not having seen her for four years— they didn't know how much changed about her— but now, it was like she had never left.
“You don't get that from your Pa. I'll tell you that.” Rosalie giggled and slapped Jeff on the shoulder.
“Hey! Where do you think she got those new muscles from, differently not you!” They all giggled together as they bantered back and forth with each other.
After a while, as Jane was getting more comfortable being back home, she asked with a cheeky grin.“ Do you wanna see my power?”
Their eyes opened wide and they nodded like little children. To see the magical powers of a classholder up close was a dream for many in small towns like Redwood, and now their daughter was able to just casually do so.
“I wont get into the details but here's one thing I can do.” From Jane’s hand, two golden phantom hands flew out and hovered in the air.
Abigail’s attention snapped towards the flying hands and was enamored at the sight of them— as were the two adults.
Jane made the hands dance through the air, getting one to swoop down and pick up a slice of bread while the other buttered it using a knife. Then the hand with the bread flew right next to her which she promptly used to feed herself with.
“This is some good bread.” She said with a mouthful of buttered bread.
“Wow!” Rosalie applauded and Jeff nodded in agreement, causing Jane to blush a tiny bit.
“That looks so useful, how many chores on the farm could be completed if those hands got to work— oh, I didn't mean to insist that, darling.” Rosalie caught herself. “Can't keep your potential locked away in a small farm like this can you.”
“Ma… Of course I’ll gladly help out with the farm but as far as the future goes… I'm thinking of doing my own thing.”
“Of course of course, I want you to do what's best for you.” Rosalie said. “And if you need any help, we're here for you, right Jeffrey?”
“Ehum, yes of course.” Jeff sternly nodded.
“Thanks.” Jane smiled and resumed eating. The dinner table went silent as everyone focused on actually eating instead of talking. It wasn't until everyone was done eating that conversation picked back up.
“How was the living situation, was it good?” Rosalie asked.
“It was amazing, there was a cafeteria that served amazing food— not as good as yours obviously— and tons of stores to buy whatever we needed. As for where we stayed, everyone was put into large luxurious dormitories with a few roommates we shared a room with— I myself had two roommates who I got along really well with.”
“Ohhh so you made friends, are they gonna come visit?” Her mother excitedly asked.
“I did make a few friends there. As for if they’ll come visit, there's actually plans in the works for them to visit.” As Jane said that she could see her mothers eyes sparkle.
“You gotta tell me when so I can prepare and make sure they have a great time here.”
“There's no need to go that far, you just gotta be yourself.” Jane waved her mothers enthusiasm away.
“Hm, let a mother get excited about meeting her daughter's friends.” Rosalie crossed her arms and huffed in a joking way.
“I’ve had friends over before.”
“You’ve had a friend over, the same friend you’ve had since you were a baby.” Jane couldn’t refute that. In her entire life before leaving Redwood, she had only ever made one friend and that was because their parents were friends at first.
“How are they all doing anyway?” She asked.
“The Frier’s? They’re doing fine, they had their seventh child the same time as we had Abigail. As for little old Eric Frier, he found a job working at the Little Goose as a chef and I'll tell you, his food is damn good! Right now he’s trying to save up enough money to move out.”
“Really, he wants to move out?” Jane asked. If you didn't know, Eric was her childhood friend.
“Oh ya. He was sad after you left and wanted to save up enough money to visit the capitol, maybe sneak into the academy to visit you, but after the years, his goals changed.”
“Hm I see. I should probably visit him soon, see how he's doing.”
“I bet he’d be glad if you did, well sooner or later you’d meet up, but if you wanna find him tomorrow then you can find him at the Little Goose during its opening hours.” Her mother then gave her a toothy smile. “You might be surprised to know something.”
“What?”
Rosalie leaned in closer and said, “He has a girlfriend.”
“Really? That doofus got a girlfriend? Who?” Jane was surprised that her nerdy bookworm of a childhood friend got a girlfriend, but she wanted to know the details.
“You'll have to find out for yourself.” Her mother giggled and got up to clean the dinner table.
“What?! Don't leave me hanging like that.” All she got was a chuckle from her mother in return no matter how hard she pestered.
Looks like she would have to ask him herself. She decided that would be her plan for tomorrow: go visit the Little Goose, get a nice meal, and then talk to Eric.