The twins freshened up after conversing with their father. Shortly after they all had breakfast, along with their cousin, Agnar left.
The twins hung around Marie the whole day, asking nonsensical questions, telling of their encounter in the forest, and even showing how far they have grown in magic.
Though the tale of the beasts did not sit well with her, she could see that no matter what, their father always made sure they were okay.
"Your father is doing his best it seems." She said sitting in the open field in their backyard.
"It's not just him, we are as well trained by two uncles," Kiyan said.
"Uncles?"
"Well, they're not exactly our uncles, but they do help us train," Raten answered.
"Look how strong I've gotten," Kiyan said flexing the little muscles he had. Watching his display of cuteness, Marie couldn't help but chuckle.
"Yes, I can see just how strong you are." She smiled.
Raten sitting beside her noticed she still had the necklace they gifted to her. "You look even more beautiful now." He said and laid his head on her lap. She began stroking his soft white hair. Her thick blonde curly hair fell in beautiful locks as she stared at him through her sharp blue eyes. Kiyan then rested on her other lap.
"I do wonder sometimes, these tender moments we have with you, would it have been similar to having a mother around?" Raten said though he needed no reply. There was an eerie, yet comfortable silence afterwards.
"Come on, you both must be tired from yesterday, why not go in and rest for a while." She suggested. Her real reason was that she was uncomfortable with the beasts that dwelled beyond the woods and would rather stay inside.
Listening to her, the twins retired to their rooms. They both stayed in Kiyan's room. For a significant amount of time, she could hear subtle chatter and then the sound of something crashing. Then they would yell about some random thing. It went on for a while before it eventually got quiet.
Marie walked up to Kiyan's room and saw the twins resting quite awkwardly. Raten was on the floor next to the wardrobe that looked to be dented a bit as if being hit. He laid belly down with his hair falling to the side of his face. While Kiyan lay face up with his arms and legs spread wide. He snored loudly while also peacefully sleeping.
She then took some sheets and covered them up before leaving them.
********
"Two weeks of freedom!" Kiyan yelled running down the hill. He as well as his brother was ecstatic about leaving the walls of their home. Most times it felt like a dungeon of torture. Finally, they could do as they want and they were going to make sure they enjoyed it.
"Just look around, Kiyan. People. Men and women that are not our father." Raten exclaimed with glee as they stepped into the city. "Can you smell that?" He took in a deep breath and then breathed out with a sigh of satisfaction.
"The sweet sweet smell of the world without father," Kiyan replied. "Not that his company is bad or anything, hehehe." He scratched his nape and chuckled nervously while looking around. Agnar did have a way of showing up out of nowhere.
"What do we do first?" Raten asked rubbing his chin, as if in thought.
"We could just walk about, surely we will find something interesting." Said Kiyan as he began walking. Raten followed suit.
Walking about, sighting interesting creatures, looking for trouble, and running away, the twins were having a feel of the city when Raten noticed something.
"Look." He pointed at the number of people gathered in front of the massive academy, Mulgard Academy.
"Seems like the gates will soon be open," Kiyan said and looked over at his brother. Raten looked back at him with a grin. They ran forward to the gates of the academy and stood with the crowd of people.
"Are we even supposed to be here?" Kiyan questioned softly and got no reply. Almost immediately, the large gates were opened unto the people.
Walking in, they were guided by three knights to the academy's courtyard where wooden bench-like seats were made for the people to sit. The nobles were let in first, sitting in front of knights around them. The rest of the people sat behind. Raten and Kiyan were about to sit with them, but with other children, they were stopped.
Still looking in, the twins were met with the biggest courtyard they had ever seen. It was large enough to fit a hundred people. It had beautifully trimmed shrubs and beautiful flowers. On the two sides of the courtyard, the people sat. In the centre of both sides, a master knight side. Beside him were two knights and two squires directly behind them. One of the knights then moved forward.
*Pum Pum Purum Pum Pu Ruum!!
A trumpet was blown indicating whatever event they were in attendance for was about to begin.
"Here ye, people of the great Mulgard Kingdom. The anticipated academy entry test is being held today." He announced and got a cheer from the crowd.
"I'm glad they decided to have this done finally." A man who sat beside the twins spoke.
"They just stopped it and gave no reason. At least the magical ones gave us a date for theirs." Another commented on the man's statement.
Two more knights then walked into the courtyard. Trailing behind them were young ones, not too older and not too younger than the twins. They formed three distinct lines, with each line having ten children. The guardians of each child cheered for them. They all had small bits of gear on to protect them.
"Would you look at that? They have begun accepting females." A man scoffed. His tone annoyed the gender he spoke of.
"You make it seem like it's a bad idea." A woman spoke up with furrowed eyebrows.
"Not at all. I just.. uhm, weren't the magic schools the only great academy accepting females?" He said with a small smile. A sweat bead formed on his head and he chuckled nervously. He certainly didn't want to get into an argument with a woman.
"Hey, hey, look." Kiyan nudged his brother.
"What?"
"Doesn't that pony-tailed kid look familiar?" Kiyan said pointing ahead.
"Oh, yeah!" Raten said as he caught sight of a young boy amid the children. His signature hairstyle gave him away mostly and then the notable freckles on his face. He had just a chest piece on to protect himself and a sword in its sheath.
"He's, uhm... Chandrel. That's Chandrel!" Raten said.
"Wait, Chandrel is trying out for Knight School?!"
While the twins were now more interested in the event, their excitement dwindled as the knights began sending the young ones away.
"Please go this way." A squire led them out of the courtyard.
"This sucks." Kiyan let out a huff as they stepped out of the gates. The kids watched the gates as they got shut.
"Just when I got excited about it." Raten sighed. "We could..."
"Raten! Kiyan!" A voice called out just as Raten was about to suggest a place he and his brother could go to. The twins looked around in search of who called out to them. They did have their mind narrowed to one person, Lecter, since he was the only one who would remember and call out their names. They did meet others, but what were the odds it would be Jarett?
"Oh hey, Lecter!" Kiyan responded having spotted Lecter not too far away from them. With him, unsurprisingly, was Jarett. Raten turned to where Kiyan looked and saw them as well. The twins then moved forward to the only people their age they knew. As Kiyan moved hurriedly, pulling Raten a bit, they headed their way.
Raten, pulling his hand from his brother's, bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry." He said holding her up.
"It's okay." She said finding her footing.
Raten was quite taller than she was and stared at her nonplussed about the blindfold she had on. Though he couldn't tell her facial expression due to the blindfold, the way her focus was on his chest made him infer she wondered about something. "Why not take it off? So you don't bump into other people." He suggested seemingly snapping her out of a daze.
"No, I, I can move about just fine." She backed away from him.
"Alright then." He said and walked out. She watched him walk away. Through her vision of a strange orange glow around every person, she couldn't help but stare at what looked like a green core in the heart of the boy. As she looked closely, she noticed someone with the same green core in the same region as him.
"That's... rather strange." She thought and left.
"I noticed Chandrel in there," Raten said pointing at the academy as he neared.
"Yeah, he always wanted to be a knight and he has finally gotten on the path to it," Jarett replied.
"You think he'll pass?" Kiyan asked.
"I am sure he will."
"So you both can finally leave home?" Lecter said.
"Just for two weeks," Raten replied.
"And, we're going to make the most of it," Kiyan said crossing his hands over their shoulders. The four of them then left the academy's premises and moved further into the city.
Taking a stroll around the city, they had random conversations, met some of Lecter's friends, and ended up talking about their families. Though, they didn't talk much about that. When it got dark, they all left for their homes.
"Sir!"
The twins heard a loud thud followed by a scream as they walked into their home. Rushing up to where the voice came from, Raten and Kiyan saw their father laid unconscious on the floor and Marie bent over him.
"Father?"