Chapter 6 - Spring, Spring, Spring

Time went on.

Emilia gave birth to a boy, who they named Donovan, after a long-dead relative of Darrel's. Donovan himself grew into a chubby-cheeked, sunny toddler. 

Donovan, being the baby of the family, had the nursery to himself, while Rhea and Maranda, who was now old enough to attend elementary, although only just, shared what had previously been Rhea's room. Gone were the days where Rhea had been able to retreat to her own space, and gone were the days when Maranda had been a toddler who didn't understand much of anything. 

The twins had moved on to middle school, and now were navigating the difficulties of not yet being teenagers, but starting to have crushes and hurt feelings and all sorts of things. However, their own friendship hadn't wavered, and tonight, as Maranda sat in her and Rhea's shared room, Rhea was playing Voidcritters with her brother in his room. 

"Hey, Ray..." Marcus said slowly. "You know Aunt Gemma?" 

Rhea attempted an attack, only to be blocked, and nodded, uninterested. Since Minerva's passing, Gemma had stopped speaking to them, and as the years had passed, she'd become something of an unspoken subject.

"I saw her with her boyfriend the other day when me and Chanel went to San Myshuno." He dropped his voice even lower. "They were picking out spices, and..."

The memory of meeting her grandmother there flared into Rhea's mind and she shook her head. 

"It doesn't matter, Marcus. Aunt Gemma's stuff is her business." She cleared her throat. "Besides, she doesn't speak to us anymore."

Rhea was not wrong. Gemma had not spoken to any of them since the funeral. Marcus couldn't help but think on it, though. Gemma and her boyfriend had been very close, as if trying to keep as close to each other as possible. He'd almost wanted to go up to her, but memories of the funeral made him hang back, watching while Chanel was distracted at a food cart.

Chanel. That was also a big thing. He and his best friend were almost dancing around each other at the minute. He wanted to ask her out, but he didn't want to be weird, and he liked having her as his best friend. So instead, they'd been spending a lot of time at the weekends going...out, as it were, but not on dates. It was really confusing.

In the shared room, Maranda was doing her homework. She and Rhea shared a desk, which made things complicated sometimes, but she was happy to wait until Rhea went to do something else.

Maranda did wish, however, that sometimes the twins would let her join them while they played Voidcritters. They'd given her some cards, and she was even allowed to use Rhea's Battle Station when Rhea wasn't using it, but it sometimes felt very lonely, despite the house being so full. 

Her homework was relatively easy, which let her mind wander. Maranda had the sort of mind that liked to wander around if it wasn't occupied, which meant while her homework was being filled in, part of her mind began to idly wonder whether everything was quite alright at school. She, unlike her siblings, wasn't immensely popular, people seeing her as kind of creepy. What she'd done to deserve that, she didn't know. 

However, there was one thing that seemed important. Last week, the local Scoutmaster had come by the school with a girl Maranda vaguely recognised at his side, advertising the Scouts to anyone who was interested. Maranda had taken a leaflet, and later convinced her father to ring up the Scoutmaster to sign her up.

"He was very pleased you're joining, muffin." Her father sounded proud. "You'll be a credit to them."

She was still thinking about it later when she was outside, swinging idly.

Credit or not, Maranda had a vague feeling that being a Llama Scout was somehow important. And her vague feelings were usually correct - as a toddler, she'd apparently known her mother was pregnant with Donovan, according to family legend, though she herself did not remember it. She often wondered if Rhea and Marcus were the same, but she didn't want to ask them. 

She'd reserve her judgements for her first scout meeting, however. 

Behind her Emilia was cooing to Donovan as he splashed in the paddling pool they'd set up for him in this heat. Maranda slipped down from the swing and headed inside - she was supposed to go and pick up her uniform with Dad today. 

"There we go, baby, nice and cool." Emilia smiled, relaxed as she watched him giggle and splash.

"Momma!" He waved his arms. "Swim swim!" 

She gave him a splash of water, and he shrieked with delight. Donovan, Emilia thought with satisfaction, was such an easy baby. All you had to do was entertain him and he caused no trouble at all. 

It seemed, after all this time, that things were finally going a little easier.

Evening fell over San Myshuno as Darrel, smiling wide, herded the three eldest children to the Romance Festival - one of his favourite events, it had to be said, in San Myshuno. Back when he and Emilia had met in the Realm, he had tentatively brought her here, and since then it had become a family tradition (although staying for the later party was not an option with the kids in tow.)

Emilia had stayed at home with Donovan, although she'd asked for them to bring something back for her, so Darrel headed over to the souvenir stand, wearing the t-shirt from the year before. The vendor (a new face this year) greeted him and soon had him deep in conversation about who the gift was for.

"My wife and I, we come here together whenever we can," Rhea heard, and smiled to herself. Dad could get so mushy when he was talking about Mom. 

"Here's your food, miss," the food vendor said, with a smile. "You enjoy yourself!"

The Romance Guru, as she was called in the official program, was waiting in an area surrounded by pink tea and light pink petals that had been scattered on the ground. People nervously looked at her as she waited, expectantly, but later on they would be lining up to talk to her - to ask her about their problems, or to ask what their future looked like. Fortune-telling! Magic found its way into the simplest of things, but there was something reassuring about that, Maranda thought.

As Maranda sat down, watching the candles around the lady flicker, she found herself instead looking at an old man with an even-older looking hat, his eyes darting around the festival anxiously. Darrel, coming to sit back down next to his daughter five minutes later, was surprised to find her chatting away happily to the older man, who was now sat next to her with a cup of herbal tea.

What had he told her about strangers? But immediately, the old man looked up at him, his eyes lighting up. 

"Ah, you must be this young lady's father! Forgive me, she said she wished to talk to me, and..."

The man was giving off a very strange magic, so Darrel obligingly sat down as well. 

"What brings you here?" he asked, gently.

"Well, truth be told, I came because I used to come here a long time ago, with my lady wife. She was the most beautiful woman, but I think she would be sad if she saw me still grieving." He sighed. "It makes me happy, however, to see so many young people enjoying themselves as we used to."

"I...I'm sorry for your loss." Darrel cleared his throat. "Sorry, Maranda--"

"Is a very perceptive young lady. Don't apologise, young man." 

Young man. How old did this guy think Darrel was? Still, there was something comforting about him, and Maranda certainly seemed at ease. 

"I met my wife back when it wasn't so popular to come here." Darrel found himself speaking. "She's watching our youngest at home, and I always try and bring our kids to the festival. It's a beautiful celebration."

"Oh, yes..." The man sighed, misty-eyed. "The petals, the young love, how can you dislike it? It's full of joy. A certain...magic, which is important for all holidays." 

With that, he stood, smiling at Maranda. "Thank you for your kindness, young lady." He bowed, somewhat awkwardly, and then walked off into the crowds. Darrel frowned at his youngest daughter.

"Maranda, you know you shouldn't talk to...strangers..."

"He wasn't a stranger," Maranda said, quietly. She recognised the man from so many Winterfest cards, and from the slight cold that had emanated from him. Father Winter, for better or worse, had been in San Myshuno.

Later, she was throwing petals as tradition dictated, and the incident was almost completely gone from her mind. Her brother laughed as he picked the pink flowers from his hair.

The lights around them suddenly blazed, and she squealed.

"Marrie!" Her brother grinned. "See, this is why you're a baby. Imagine getting startled by lights!" 

"I'm not a baby!" She pouted lightly, but neither of them really meant the back and forth.

Sat with her father, Rhea listened as he told her about the spellcaster traditions of the festival. 

"The tea that's here each year is brewed by a spellcaster. It's not even the same spellcaster every year, so each year it has a slightly different taste. It's considered a way of bringing the two communities together."

She couldn't help but smile, as a pink glow settled around those who had drunk it. This year's festival had been so fun...

Chapter 5 - Unexpected Occurrences

The household had fallen quiet now, in the sixth month of Emilia's pregnancy. 

Both Rhea and Marcus had struggled to come to terms with the fact they would have a new sibling, but as they had just begun to accept things, something terrible had struck the Charm family. Their grandmother, the matriarch, the bane of Emilia's existence...

Had died. 

It had been very sudden. First, Minerva had claimed there was nothing wrong with her. Then, she had openly invited Emilia over to her house, and frankly told her that she knew that she wasn't long for this world. Her attitude had not changed; she expressed regret that she likely would not see the baby born, but she had instructed her to try and keep Rhea and Marcus on the right path. 

She had also entrusted a large bassinet to her, white and old fashioned. Darrel had been shocked to see it, but Minerva had waved a hand. 

"I'd have you move back in, but...there's simply no room. You'll have to make do with the house you've got. I'll leave this one to Gemma, but.." Her weak coughing had halted the conversation, but she'd managed to pull herself back up. "I am no longer the head of the family. As of now, you and Darrel must be the caretakers of our lineage."

Emilia had cried openly then, and Minerva had watched, somewhat coldly. It was her death making everyone so sad, but she didn't seem to care at all. It had been the middle of another thunderstorm when she had breathed her last. 

The bassinet sat like a grim reminder in the nursery. Emilia could barely look at it, never mind think of their baby sleeping in it. Darrel had been mostly silent since the funeral, which had been attended by many mages - all three Sages, their children, relatives, and a stone-faced Gemma. Emilia had caught Gemma's eye during the wake, only to find a cold fury that surpassed Minerva's. 

She couldn't blame her. Gemma had been left with a large, empty house, and yet it seemed as though the title of head of family had vanished like smoke. Minerva had left no word as to who might succeed her, and it seemed as though the only thing they could do was carry on with their lives. 

Rhea had fallen quiet. Out of all the children, she had perhaps been closest to her grandmother, but now, Minerva was gone. She continued to do well in school, but her teachers had been concerned by the change in behaviour. 

Marcus was equally quiet, upset by the passing of his grandmother and upset at his aunt's silence. Gemma no longer visited them, and his father had been deeply affected by that too. Chanel and he had talked about it at length, trying to make sense of it, but in the end, neither he or his best friend had been able to make sense of something so terrible. 

Chanel, at that moment, was with her sister in the garden of their house, listening to her talk. 

 "Yeah, Dad's pretty busy at the moment. All the work that Mistress Charm was doing is being delegated around while they try and find a suitable replacement - she was teaching quite a few students." 

"It's really sad that she passed away." Chanel looked down at her feet. "Marcus and Rhea are really upset by it..."

"I'm trying to tell you about the Realm!" Ciara tossed her hair. "I know people are upset, but don't you want to know?" 

"It's like you don't even care they lost their nanna!" Chanel said, angrily. "Marcus is really upset, and so's Rhea. Do you even care about that?" 

"Of course I..." Ciara looked away. "I care that they're upset, but I was trying to talk to you about stuff you don't get to do!"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. Because you think that's what matters right now." Chanel's eyes blazed. "Don't you care that Rhea's upset?"

"I care!" Ciara protested, but her sister seemed not to hear her. It started to spot with rain, and Chanel left her behind, heading indoors.

 It was alright for Chanel, Ciara thought angrily. The Charm twins treated her so nicely, just because she liked Voidcritters and because...because Chanel was nice, but...Ciara, no matter what she tried, couldn't seem to make proper friends with both twins. Rhea was kind enough to her, and they made friendship bracelets together, but despite the fact that they liked the same books, and even though she'd tried to check out the books he did instead of just buying them, Ciara still couldn't manage to make friends with Marcus. And yet Chanel, who wasn't a spellcaster, and who thought that Ciara didn't care, managed to somehow be Marcus' best friend.

It just wasn't fair.

The next morning, Ciara was still in a bad mood, and so was the weather. It was pelting it down outside, but still, she had dressed in her scouting uniform and was reading her manual downstairs, going over some of the rules she knew she forgot easily. 

Her aunt sat across from her, tucking into some noodles. Noodles for breakfast. Ew. Ciara flipped a page of the manual. 

"Cee, are you sure that it'll still be on today?"

"Dad said he'd take me," Ciara said, firmly. 

"It's a bit wet for a scout meeting," Yuki said, as gentle as Ciara had been firm. "You don't need to go if it's as wet as this." 

"A scout must be prepared for anything." She flipped another page, not even having finished reading it. Yuki tried not to sigh. She loved her nieces, she really did, but Ciara could be so stubborn sometimes. 

Eventually, Morgyn came into the kitchen with a look that promised nothing good on his face. Yuki immediately excused herself, while Morgan sat down next to his daughter.

"You said you'd take me."

"Sunshine, it's just not a good idea in this weather. The thunder crystals are all lighting up, and..." He sighed. "I can't take you even if I wanted. Scoutmaster Pancakes gave me a call. He's cancelled the meeting."

Ciara sat there for a minute, before nodding quietly and standing up. "I get it."

Morgyn had a feeling she didn't, but let her go anyway as she went into the living room, where her scout board was proudly displayed. 

They were going to welcome a new Griffon Scout today. They'd picked out the ice cream, and one of her friends was going to be awarded a badge, and she'd really, really been looking forward to it. None of it was fair. It just wasn't fair. 

And Chanel thought she didn't care about stuff. She did. She loved being a Scout, and she cared about not being Marcus' friend even though she wanted to be. Tears began to form and she wiped them away, roughly and without mercy. So what if her sister thought she didn't care? So what if Marcus didn't like her? 

So what if he didn't like her back? So what if it hurt?

She could be good without any of them. And then they'd see. They'd see why she was the Sage's daughter, why she was special.

Chapter 4 - Storm on the Horizon

Once they were home, Emilia had made sure that the kids were alright before excusing herself to the bedroom. The bedroom was strictly off-limits to all three children, and Marcus had decided to go play on the swings outside.

Mom had seemed really quiet on the trip home. A couple of times, he’d asked her questions or tried to have a conversation, only to get a vague response and a smile that just didn’t seem to reach all the way to her eyes. He didn’t know why, but it upset him to see Mom like that, and the swing creaked as he pushed himself back and forth. Rhea hadn’t even seemed to notice anything was wrong.

These days, it seemed like Rhea never noticed when things were wrong. She didn’t see how stupid Ciara was, and it didn’t seem fair that he had to feel like this and Rhea could feel happy. It felt mean to think like that, so instead he tried to think about the Voidcritter tournament, and about his Canis. He'd been training it every moment he could. He really hoped he could battle Chanel and take down her Yorier.

Marcus liked Chanel, at least. She didn't think that Voidcritters was boring, and because of her sister, she knew all about the Greywall books. She'd borrowed the first one from Ciara, and even though she hadn't read it all the way through yet, she liked it, and had come to find him and talk about it. He really wanted to battle her, and he'd recently gotten a Wisp card that he already had. He wanted to give it to her after the tournament. 

But would that be weird? He didn't know. 

Later on, he was cheering his Canis on as it took down the bunny training opponent on the Battle Station, when the thought crossed his mind again. Would it be weird if he gave it to her? He really wanted to, but he didn't want her to be weirded out. Sometimes it was hard to be friends with a girl.

In her own room, Rhea was practicing on her violin. She didn't feel quite as calm and happy as her brother thought, but instead poured herself into practice while she tried not to think.

Her grandmother had been so happy to see them, but...something was different. Marcus and Mom had been speaking with each other on the trip back, but Mom had seemed distant somehow, her answers vague. And then she'd gone into her and Dad's bedroom. Maybe it was just Rhea, but it seemed like Mom had started being unhappy after talking to Grandmother. 

But why? Why would she be unhappy? 

In the middle of the night, things got even worse. A thunderstorm started, waking Maranda, and every member of the house jolted awake to hear her wailing at the loud crash of the thunderstorm. Rhea and Marcus each turned back over individually, pillows over their heads, while in her room, Maranda cried even louder.

“It’s okay, it's okay, Marrie, I'm coming." Emilia called, getting up while her husband rolled over and groaned.

"Emilia..."

"I'll be right back, I promise." She ran a hand through his hair, and he relaxed, letting her move swiftly off to Maranda's room. 

As soon as she walked through the door, she swept Maranda up into a hug, holding her close. "It's alright, it's alright." 

Maranda clung to her, and patted her tummy lightly, gently as if she was playing with a doll. "Baby scare?" she asked. A chill went through Emilia, and she hugged Maranda closer. 

"Marrie, it's okay, it's just a thunderstorm." She removed Maranda's hand from her stomach. "Let's get you back to bed."  

Maranda was more than happy to be tucked back in and fussed over until she fell asleep, but Emilia's mind was racing. It was true that she had felt a little sick when she woke up the other day, but if Maranda could sense that...She shook her head. There was no way. No way. She made her way back to her own bed, snuggling under the covers until the bone-tiredness of it all did the rest. 

Still, in the morning, she dug around the medicine cabinet for a pregnancy test she'd bought just in case the other month when she'd felt a bit wobbly. That one had turned out negative, but this one...

When Darrel came into the kitchen for breakfast, his wife was sat at the table, waiting for him, a troubled look on her face. 

"Are you dropping Maranda off at daycare today or am I?" he asked, before taking a second look at her expression. "Oh. Honey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's...wrong as such, it's just..." She took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant again." Her expression didn't much change as she focused on her breakfast, but he knew Emilia. He knew she was shaken, and he could understand. 

She looked up at him, finally, and he could see that she'd been crying at some point. "Honey, how did this happen? We promised we'd be careful after Maranda, and that if we were...we were going to wait, and..."

He sighed, deeply. "Milly...You know these things can happen." He wanted to hug her, comfort her, but he was also floored by the news. A baby. A baby, while Maranda was still a toddler and determined and moving about and so much. 

"I know they happen, Darrel, but I didn't expect it. What are we going to do?"

To which Darrel could only give her an honest answer.

"I don't know."