The next morning Sol woke up to the noise of his own stomach grumbling and the familiar scenery of his crib. The light coming through the window was doing no favors for his headache as he looked to see if his mother was present. Seeing that his asleep sister was the only other person in the room, he first resisted the urge to pull a prank, then did what any normal baby would do and called for his mother.

“Milk!” The word that came out was not enunciated perfectly, with the “k” particularly underdeveloped, but it was definitely the word milk.

‘Did I just speak?’ But before he had time to try again, he heard the noise of fast-paced stomping ringing from the second floor. The heavy steps zipped down the stairs, approached his room, and the door swung open. Nicky stood in the doorway with an impassioned but distressed expression, as if her face couldn’t make up its mind.

“Did you just say ‘milk’?” Nicky asked in a quivering stutter. Sol slowly nodded, a bit stunned by her reaction.

A gentle wind blew.

But suddenly, the breeze turned into a violent gale that tore across the room. The sheets set in the babies’ cribs flew into the air, and the cribs themselves were blown to the corners. Unspoiled diapers, spare candles, baby bottles, small combs, spare pajamas, and unused baby toys flew about.

Sol was tumbled and tossed around his crib, disoriented about what was happening. Lucy did casual backward somersaults, sat with her back to the crib, and watched Nicky with a relaxed air.

“Ah, I was hoping his first words would be ‘mama’,” Nicky mumbled to herself in a melancholy tone, absorbed in her own little world, tearing up. The wind didn’t seem aimed at anything specific. It was closer to a cyclone surrounding just Nicky. A cyclone that was even causing the cribs to rise.

Sol became suspended, his back to the crib, and his look of shock began to shift to fear. He tried flying but couldn’t move more than a centimeter. He tried creating a counterbalancing wind, but it was vastly overpowered. It became harder to breathe. But before the fear began to fully bloom in his heart, in his last bit of confusion, he asked, “Mama?”

And everything fell. Every baby accessory, sheet, wooden crib, and Sol fell. Pin-drop silence deafened the room. Nicky took in the room with an aghast expression. She ran over and grabbed Lucy and Sol both from their cribs and inspected them frantically.

“You’re both okay.” She sighed out in relief, but her quieted emotions welled up again.

“I’m really sorry you two.” Nicky embraced them tightly and lightly shook. Sol wore an awkward expression, while Lucy maintained her still relaxed look.

After taking her time to calm down, Nicky eased her embrace. She, then, looked at Sol shyly, her eyes darting back and forth, on and off him, and her mouth began to open and close hesitantly. Sol responded with a puzzled look.

“Can you say ‘mama’ again?” Nicky peeked at Sol.

“Mama?” Sol played along, and a shiver ran up Nicky’s back. Her grip on her babes tightened again, and her breathing sped up.

“How about ‘mommy’? Can you say ‘mommy’?” Nicky’s impression became more intense, while Sol’s turned horrified.

“Mom,” he responded flatly.

“Mommy?” She tried again.

“Mom.”

“M-o-m-m-y.” She enunciated each syllable thoroughly, and her passionate gaze made Sol squirm.

“Mom.” He held strong.

Nicky wore a defeated expression and let out a sigh. She closed her eyes, and every object in the room progressively moved back to its original position. It finished with the sheets dressing the baby beds and Nicky placing Sol and Lucy back in theirs.

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“I’m going to step out. So, you two behave while I’m gone.” She made sure to give them both milk and left. When the coast was clear, Sol turned to Lucy.

“How come you haven’t babbled yet? Your body develops faster than mine.” Sol questioned. Although his words and syllables blended together, especially for the longer words, he was still understandable, but Lucy remained silent.

“Oh, are you still not able to?” A condescending smirk crawled onto his face. Lucy started to look annoyed but stayed quiet.

“I guess I can’t expect a muscle head to be able to talk.” Sol’s condescending smirk evolved into a shit-eating grin, while Lucy looked ready to pounce.

“Ah - cah - tawwk” With serious effort, Lucy choked out those words. Although she enunciated more difficult syllables, her pronunciation was a form of broken English. Or maybe “obliterated English” is a more apt phrasing.

Sol burst out into laughter and couldn’t stop. At least not for the remaining few seconds he was conscious before his lights were knocked out.

Autumn equinox, Sol’s legs and arms were shaking, his breathing encumbered. Nicky watched closely as Sol crawled for the first time, marveling at his cuteness and holding back her desire to pick him up while he was still going.

‘Why is this so hard? I used to be able to jump over skyscrapers, let alone crawl!’ His breaths were deep.

It didn’t help his mood that Lucy was actively running circles around him as he crawled for the first time. Nor that she was smirking while doing so.

‘Fine. You’re going down with me.’ Sol reached out his hand and tripped Lucy over. She fell face-first into the ground and quickly rebounded. She got ready to jump Sol, but he was already soaring away through the house.

“Mom, help! Lucy is going to kill me.” His speaking improved, but the more difficult syllables remained obstacles. Lucy was close on Sol’s tail as he did circles, flying around the corridors. The only thing stopping her ability to catch him was that she would have to take time to jump to get him.

“No fighting you two,” Nicky said in a laissez-faire tone. But despite her words, she remained sitting in place, contently watching them.

Sol’s energy was draining fast, and his speed slowed down. Lucy jumped up to grab him, but he accelerated once she left the ground, dodging her. Sol flew into their bedroom with the second of reprieve and shut it behind it. He used his magic and reinforced the door into position.

The door shook as it was banged against. Sol’s mana deteriorated with each impact. But just as Sol was forming a new plan, a hand shot through the wooden door, grabbed his collar and pulled his head into the door.

In the eleventh month, it was only Sol’s legs shaking this time. They wobbled like wet noodles. However, slowly but surely, Sol stood up. After many weeks of attempts, he finally succeeded. He raised one foot up.

‘One small step for man… One-’ Sol’s foot slid upon landing, and he fell.

He gasped on the ground. Nicky rose from her chair to help him but stopped in her tracks. In front of Sol, Lucy was reaching out her hand to him. He eyed it suspiciously, debating if he should just fly up, but he took it regardless. Lucy placed her toes on his and pulled him back up.

‘Is this the first time we’ve made contact? Not counting her first to my face,’ Sol mused.

Sol’s legs still shook, but he successfully took his first step. Lucy looked at him with an approving expression, and a stifled squeal was heard in the background of it all. But this moment didn’t change the fact that in the few coming weeks when he practiced walking Lucy ran laps around him.

“Okay, you two, I have to run to the city for an errand, so behave while I’m gone.” Nicky gave them each a kiss and went off.

The two trained quietly, both with their eyes shut in their cribs. The hours passed in silence, but the silence was eventually broken as their two stomachs grumbled simultaneously. Sol floated out of his crib, and Lucy jumped out of hers. The two made their way to the kitchen and started opening drawers. Every drawer in the kitchen was opened, but no food was found.

Sol began back to his room with a defeated expression but stopped when he saw Lucy walking to the door. Lucy jumped, flipped the lock on the door, and stepped one foot out but was yanked back via her pajama’s collar.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sol asked evenly despite Lucy aggressively shooting around.

“Food.” Her barely comprehensible, broken accent showed through even in one-word replies.

“Do you plan to steal or get it for free?” Lucy paused at hearing his question.

“No.” Her expression was vexed at the realization.

“Then you’re going to need someone who can speak the language.” Sol smiled as money floated to him from a nearby counter. Lucy was stunned momentarily but broke her stupor by spinning around and walking out the door.

“Wait! I can’t walk that fast!” Sol used his magic to close and lock the door behind him. He walked as fast as he could to catch up with Lucy. And with that, they were off to explore the Village of Exiles.