Dinner was subdued chaos. The children, the Donetti's, and the staff were all in the earliest stages of getting acquainted, both with each other and their home. Fortunately the kids were all so tired from traveling for such a long time, and from pushing so hard to beat the bad weather, that they didn't have the energy to cause any major problems.
The children were all in bed by 8:30, and sound asleep by 9:00. Most were awakened, briefly, at about 2 a.m. by a loud noise. The muted sound of ongoing distant thunder was followed by a torrential downpour. Even though the thunder was scary, they were all together, warm, clean, and well-fed. Those who were frightened burrowed under their blankets (They had real blankets!) and soon fell asleep.
Morning found them well rested, somewhat stiff, but ready to face the day, not to mention breakfast. There was a delicious scent drifting up from the kitchen. The littlest wanted to rush right down, but the older children insisted on them at least washing their faces and putting on clean clothes first. After that, all of them hurried down to see what kind of feast was awaiting them.
What they saw was beyond their expectations. It wasn't that there were lots and lots of fancy dishes. Everything was simply prepared. There was, however, enough to fill even those with the biggest appetites. Anna had assumed that in that one thing, all children were probably like Alphonse. A filling breakfast would probably keep them calm, at least for a little while. That would give the tutors she and Miranda had hired time to start sorting them out and get a rough idea of what subjects they'd need the most help with as they caught up in school.
With the oldest children, they would also need to determine if they were more interested in pursuing a trade rather than continuing with a classroom education once they reached the age of 14. Once that was done, they could make further plans.
Most everyone was surprised to find that Mattie could read as well as most nine or 10 year old kids. Brigid though was about two years behind what those in The City would expect of someone her age. It was Sara who was chosen to pursue that particular problem as she had an uncanny knack of helping calm even the most nervous and defensive people.
Brigid was both. What Sara eventually discovered was that, as the eldest child in the village, Brigid had been kept so busy running errands that she had almost no time for any kind of studying. What she knew, she'd picked up from reading the few books they had that were meant for younger children.
Once she'd learned that, Sara added Brigid to her classes with Heidi. While there was a world of difference in their current levels of education, both had an intense drive to learn. Besides, given Heidi's desire to become a teacher, Sara decreed that the best way for her to start learning to teach was by tutoring someone like Brigid who was what one could call "smart but deprived." Sara would be in the room to help with whatever problems arose, but she'd made it plain privately that she expected Heidi to manage, for the most part, on her own. She could ask Sara all the questions she wanted about techniques, but she had to do so outside the "classroom," just as a real teacher would.
Sara had, at first, been worried about how Brigid would respond, what with Heidi being two years younger than she was. Fortunately Brigid turned out to be one of those rare people who didn't care where she found the information she wanted to learn. What mattered to her was that it existed, no matter the source.
For the most part Heidi didn't teach Brigid but rather helped her figure out how to find for herself what she needed to know. Yes, she did help with reading but, unknowingly, used the same technique as Miranda. She had Brigid read out loud and helped her with the words she didn't know or had trouble pronouncing. Watching the two girls confirmed Sara's initial intuition about Heidi. Her techniques were closer to those of a guide than a teacher. She'd likely be well suited for library work.
In the process, the two became fast friends, something which Brigid had never had before. Soon she found herself spending most of her time with Heidi and Consuela, even when she wasn't studying. She'd been reluctant at first but had readily aceeded to Mattie's "suggestion" that since they were now in a large city, with "family" and the Guard and the Militia watching out for them, she didn't need to hover over Mattie all the time.
Mattie managed to hold in her grin as she watched Brigid scurry off to meet with the others. While she wasn't entirely sure why, she felt that it was important that Brigid learn to socialize well with others her own age. Mattie yearned to be able to access the memories she was sure were in her mind, somewhere, but, as always, she was unsuccessful.
Oh well. One never gets everything one wants. Besides, with Brigid not constantly underfoot, Mattie was free to enjoy being a child, something she'd not been able to do previously. She quite enjoyed romping with the other younger kids when they had playtime. Like Sara had done years before, she avoided showing off how smart she was. Making others look dumb was definitely not a nice thing to do, and, besides, it never hurt to have others underestimate you. She wasn't sure why she believed that, but it felt right, so that's what she did.
After a month, everyone had settled into a routine that, while still somewhat chaotic at times, worked reasonably well. Everyone's strengths and weakness had been assessed. The primary school for the younger children had been involved in the planning since the second week. When the children began actual classes, the transition was, for the most part, remarkably smooth.
Thus far only Heidi, Kurt, Sandro, and Brigid were old enough for secondary school, and all were enrolled at Chapman. For various reasons, Brigid was placed in the same class as Heidi. It was explained to the other students that neither of the girls had been able to attend school for two years, for unspecified reasons. The teacher, Mr. Sandoval, made it clear that both he, and Mrs. Krait, the headmaster, would be displeased if any of the students pestered the girls to find out details of their pasts.
Sara had met with both Mr. Sandoval and Mrs. Krait several times as they worked out a plan to get both girls back on track with their educations. When they'd finished, all three were reasonably certain that, when the new school year began in June, the girls would probably be mostly caught up. What remained to be done at that time would be worked out during Spring Break.
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Kurt and Sandro, having attended the village school regularly, were nearly up to standard already and were judged to only need minimal extra help.
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Near the end of that first month, Miranda introduced Archbishop Comfort to Kurt and Sandro. The archbishop wore regular work clothing and was introduced as one of Miranda's teachers who had volunteered to help with the orphans. As a number of people had been rotating through in a similar capacity, the boys thought nothing of it.
Miranda drafted them to help her, Yoko, Sara, and the Archbishop move some needed supplies into the kitchen. In the process they gradually obtained the boys' story. An hour later the boys were dismissed, with thanks, and they went to their room to do their homework.
After the boys left, there was total silence in the room for over a minute. It was Lucina who finally spoke. "If I hadn't heard it directly from them, and had your report of what happened, I'd have said that it wasn't possible. How their mother managed a complete personality overlay that affected not just them but everyone around them is something I'd...well, I have no idea how you'd even begin such a spell.
Manda, you said that it was brittle and it took almost no effort to break it, right?"
Miranda nodded. "I see where you're going. At least I think I do. It was incredibly strong, but its anchors were like vapor. I'm surprised that it wasn't disrupted by the energy of the first lightning bolt that struck anywhere within a mile of them."
Yoko spoke up, softly, and in a much more measured way than her usual. "You're both forgetting something."
She lifted her face to look at them. "You're two of the most powerful mages The City has seen in the last 300 years, but power doesn't necessarily mean that you can't be stuck mentally."
Grinning wryly at them she continued, "I'm not excluding myself from that. I've let my mind get in my way a few times as well."
She took a big breath and sighed. "But that's not germane to the current situation. What you both missed is how much power there is when something is done as one's final expression of love when one is dying. Granted, their mother was rather deranged what with thinking that her boys were the reincarnation of the twin girls she'd miscarried a year before they were born.
"That's another lesson, and it's more than a bit frightening. You don't have to be in your right mind to cast a scarily powerful spell.
"Bah. I'm getting as distracted as Jason does sometimes. Anyway, the point is that she'd always believed that they were girls, she wanted everyone else to believe as she did, and to treat them kindly. If it hadn't been for their father calling them by their proper names and treating them as males until they were 10, I don't know what would have happened to their minds.
"It's clear that they don't remember living as girls, but I'll leave it to you to sort that out. I have absolutely no skill in that arena. If we just treat them as we would any other boys their age, it'll probably work out. I hope.
"Anyway. I've said my piece, so it's time for me to get back to being my usual self. Thank you for including me. Besides, I have a date with Jason and Biki at Brewster's. They're going to study, and I'm going to play."
A huge grin split her face. "It's gonna be SOOOO much fun! Bye."
So saying, she turned and scurried out of the kitchen leaving two befuddled women staring after her.
Miranda spoke first, "Master. I'm not entirely sure I can handle this. I already knew that Mimi was, let's say: 'different'. Then it was Stavros and Consuela. And now...now it's Yoko too. I'm afraid to ask what she meant when she said she was going to 'play' at a bookstore. I suppose it's got to be something to do with that huge dome inside whatever, or wherever, it is, don't you think?"
She continued with a somewhat desperate tone, "Isn't there anyone in the entire city who is just an ordinary, normal human?"
Lucina shook her head and chuckled. "Oh? And in what way are YOU an 'ordinary, normal human'? You have an extraordinarily strong gift for magery, so I don't think you qualify either. Then there's Alicia at the Mule's Tale. She's only in her 20's but she and Aldus own three inns and two stables...so far."
Miranda, her spirit somewhat restored whispered, "Don't forget that new, clandestine courier business they started this last spring Master."
Then she let her head drop. "Though I don't know who their silent partners are...yet."
Lucina smiled. She might be "officially" retired from the spying business, but she kept her personal organization active, just in case. It probably wouldn't be politic to tell Miranda that it was her own parents who were the partners. At least not when Miranda was so stressed. Later though, when she needed a swelled head punctured...
"The City, and the world in general, are filled with extraordinary people doing extraordinary things Manda. When I unexpectedly run into someone like that, I tell myself that whatever I've just seen is a quirk of someone's personality, just part of the whole that I've not seen before. Whomever it is is still the same person I've always known."
Grinning at Manda she added, "If I do it often enough, I can usually start to convince myself that it's true and maintain my sanity."
Miranda stared at her, shrugged her shoulders, and finished stowing the last of the supplies the boys had carried it. There was a lot yet to do today. She'd think about what happened later. Probably much later...she hoped.
Sara slipped out the door without saying a word or making a sound. It looked as if the others had completely forgotten that she was there, which suited her just fine. They appeared to have forgotten her ability to mask her presence, and she had no desire to remind them of it. All in all, it had been a most memorable day.
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Excellent! Blue smiled and nodded. Even allowing for her extraordinarily long life expectancy, for a human anyway, Miranda was much too young to be so rigid in her beliefs. Another crack or two in her "I know everything" shell would do her good, as well as leave room for some new ideas to seep in.
She snorted. Hah. Look who was talking. If you'd told Blue a week earlier what the boys' mother had done, she'd have said it was impossible too. Unlike Miranda, she enjoyed change and new ideas. They were especially welcome to one such as she who had lived not just hundreds of years but hundreds of eons. It was all well and good to charge ahead toward your goals, but you needed to stop and look at the scenery now and then, or you'd end up about as flexible as a chunk of granite.
OK. That was enough figurative flower viewing. She had lots to do, starting with checking in with her agents on Earth IV. Coordinating their efforts with those here on Earth VI was critical. Over the next few hundreds of years they needed to arrange for some events to be synchronized within a week, which was becoming more difficult lately. She'd been getting hints for the past millennium or so that the enemy was on the verge of beginning to suspect that some sort of plan was being aimed at him.
Fortunately, that also was within her predictions. He ALWAYS suspected that someone or something was plotting against him...not that he was wrong. Her hope was that, given the magnitude of some of the other plots, the first stirrings of hers beginning to come together would seem insignificant by comparison and not worth his direct attention.
She slapped herself gently on her cheeks. Focus! Forget about what might be and get on with what is. Yeah. Charge ahead. She'd have plenty of time for her doubts and worries when she was trying to get to sleep, just like every night. Yahoo....