The sound of the door opening filled the air as Sydney awed over Theo. "Hm, something certainly smells good." John, Theo's father, said as he entered the house.
"And it's almost done too. Go wash up with the children, I'll set the table." Kendra said.
"Right." John said as he walked over to Sydney, arms wide. "Come here, little fire!" He said happily. Sydney stood up excitedly and ran over to John, giving him a hug. "Oh! Big hug!" He said with an exaggerated happy tone.
"Papa! Today was really fun!" Sydney said happily as they disengaged from their hug.
"Is that so? You should tell me as we wash our hands!" John said with a bright expression.
'This man truly understands how to deal with children.' Theo thought to himself.
"Okay! I'll go up first!" She said excitedly, then ran to the stairs as John walked over to Theo and picked him up.
"Ready to wash up, little man?" He asked as he picked up Theo's hand and bounced him slightly. Theo looked at him and tilted his head.
'Do you actually want an answer, or is this what they call baby talk?' Theo asked in his mind as John began to walk over to the stairs. After washing up, they went to the dinner table where their food was prepared. For Theo, porridge, for everyone else, stew. 'Being a baby sucks. All I can eat is this porridge and milk, and everyone else gets that really yummy-looking stew!' Theo thought to himself as he drooled at the sight of the stew.
"You are certainly excited about your food, aren't you, Theo?" Kendra asked as she fed him a bit of his porridge.
'Well, I guess it's not all bad, at least I'm fed and don't have to do too much myself.' Theo thought as he ate his porridge. 'But it'll only last so long...' He added.
"So, how was today?" Kendra asked John.
"Eh, usual. The boss is as particular as ever about the size of the planks." John said.
"Well, just bear with it a bit longer, until you can make enough from your personal projects, right?" Kendra said optimistically as she tried to feed me at the same time.
'Hm, seems like my father isn't particularly happy working for his current workplace... I wonder what his personal projects are.' Theo thought to himself.
"I suppose. It's not all bad though, it's good experience for getting exact cuts on wood, which I'll need if I want to carve things properly." He said.
"That's true." Kendra said as Sydney looked back and forth between Kendra and John, clearly confused as to what they're talking about.
"I don't get it." Sydney said.
"Don't worry about it Sydney, it's nothing you need to worry about." Kendra said.
'Then talk about it privately.' Theo thought.
"Well, that aside, I did get a bonus today for getting the most planks done in the past month." John said.
'Oh? How much did you get?" Kendra asked.
"Three silver, that's three weeks of work all from just one bonus, of course, it's from one month of work, so it's not like I'm doubling any pay or anything." John said.
"Still, that's a really big bonus." Kendra said.
"True, but it's just a tactic to get everybody to work harder in the hopes of getting the bonus. Probably just a one-time thing." John said.
"Even so, that adds to our funds and will allow the next few months to go by rather smoothly." Kendra said. John nodded.
"Agreed." John said.
"If you two are done talking about things that I 'shouldn't worry about', will you tell me your adventuring stories?" Sydney asked with a bored tone. John looked at Kendra. She nodded.
"Alright, so I had just signed up at the guild, planning to go solo, when suddenly a girl walked over to me, nervous, and asked me to join her party." John started telling the story which caused Sydney's eyes to light up immediately.
'Is this how my parents met? That catches my interest.' Theo thought to himself.
"I was conflicted for a moment, after all, I didn't want to be a part of a party, but this girl built up all this courage to ask me, a new adventurer, so I decided, sure why not, and joined her party. When I told her I would join, her eyes lit up with excitement, clearly, nobody had accepted her request yet, and I was pretty sure I knew why." John said.
"And why was it, dear?" Kendra said, staring daggers at John.
"Because she was overly nervous, they probably brushed her off as being unreliable." John said. Kendra sighed.
"Did I really come across like that?" She asked, worried.
"Very." He responded.
"I see. Well, hopefully, I'm better now." She said as she relaxed her expression.
"Much, much better." John said.
"Alright, go ahead and continue." Kendra said. John nodded.
"I asked the girl, that you now know is your mother, what she could do, and she asked me what I meant. I couldn't help but laugh. 'Like, in combat, or finding things, what can you do?' I asked after I finished laughing." John said.
"To which I responded by saying I can do basic magic, fireball, water ball, things of that sort." Kendra said.
'Oh, so my mother's a mage?' Theo wondered.
"Mama! Show me! Show me!" Sydney demanded.
"Sydney, that's not how you ask." John said. Sydney froze.
"R-right! Sorry! Please show me, mama!" She said as she continued her previous excited energy.
"Alright." Kendra said with a soft chuckle. She closed her eyes and held out one of her hands, facing it towards the roof. "Bend to my will and form what I wish," Kendra began to chant, causing a light blue glow to form in her hand.
'Oh! Interesting!' Theo thought to himself as he became captivated by the display.
"I call upon the waters of the Naiads, a sphere that I may control," She continued the chant as water began to form a small floating ball above her hand. "Form, and allow my will upon you, water ball." She finished the chant calmly, then opened her eyes.
"Whoa! So cool!" Sydney said as she put her hands on the table and leaned forwards toward her mother. "Will you teach me, mama?" She asked excitedly.
"There's no guarantee it'll work, but we can try." Kendra said with a bit of a laugh.
'Will she also try to teach me at some point?' Theo wondered. John looked over at Theo, who's staring at the water ball. John subtly caught Kendra's attention and motioned over to Theo, who is wholly captivated by only the water ball.
"Oh my, looks like we have quite the curious children." Kendra said with a warm smile and tone. John nodded and sat back in his chair.
"Of course, even if he does want to learn magic, he still needs to know how to use a sword. It's a boy's right of manhood, after all." John said.
"Of course, dear." Kendra said with a bit of a laugh.