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TRISHA PAYNE

When I was a little girl, I was told that a woman would challenge the world to prove her independence. But the moment she births an infant, her whole world will revolve around them. That independence would disappear in favour of nurturing her child.

That happened to me when Ilias was born.

I had lived twenty years of my life without him, but the moment Dr Creed handed me my infant son, I wanted to stick by him and give him the world. So when he made the decision to head to the Capital to take the State Jynxist exam—a dangerous event which would separate us for a little under three months—every emotion one could feel swirled inside me.

This would be the first time he'd ever be separated from me.

But instead of reassuring him that he'd be fine, the roles were reversed. He would go on about how Ray and Heloise were with him, how he himself was a better jynxist than I was, and he promised not to act recklessly during the exam. He also explained that my growing anxiousness would disappear soon, especially since I was going to be taking care of Jaime while they were gone.

Ilias was spot on about that.

If I was going away for three months, I had enough trust in my son to take care of the house by himself. Ray, however, didn't share the same trust with his daughter.

He had asked me to take care of Jaime while he was away, and being the caring friend I was, I agreed and gave her Heloise's room. Ray also gave me the key to his house just in case Jaime wanted to get something from there.

He has absolutely no trust in his daughter. Just how much trouble does this little girl make?

I found out the answer to that not long after.

The day I started taking care of her, she left the house to play just like any child would and only came back for meals. She returned in the evening sticky and smelling of fruit. It turns out that she had used the vineyard Mrs Uva was growing on her property's outside wall as sword practice, practically destroying them. Luckily, I got to the vineyard and healed the plants in time.

"Jaime, you must apologize to Mrs Uva tomorrow," I told her. "She worked hard on growing them so they can bear grapes. Please don't go around tearing down plants."

"I thought they were weeds," Jaime explained, her pointed ears tucking themselves behind her head. "The colonel and Ilias are going to be gone for three months and I don't have anyone to practice my swordsmanship with. I don't want to forget the things I learned."

"That's fine. We have a lot of space in the backyard and scrap materials in the shed. We'll ask the lieutenant to spare some soldiers tomorrow and have them build dummies for you to practice on. I'm sure some of them will even practice with you."

"Thank you, Auntie..."

The next day, she was frightened to apologize to Mrs Uva by herself, so I accompanied her.

A week after the vineyard incident, mothers came complaining to me about how Jaime had been going around beating up their kids. One of them even showed up with a bruised eye.

I apologized to them and sat Jaime down when she got home.

"Do you know why I'm in a bad mood?" I questioned.

"Is it because I dragged mud in here? I mopped it though."

"It's not that." I held out an open hand. "Give me the sword."

"But—"

"Jaime. Don't make it hard."

Her ears drooped and she did as she was told.

"You can't be going around hitting the other village kids with your sword. Just because you are more fortunate than them, doesn't mean you can go around abusing your power."

"I made a promise to the colonel not to use my sword on people."

"Then why did Little Joey have a black eye?"

She showed me her bruised knuckles. "I hit them. But not with my sword and I will not apologize." Jaime began to head upstairs.

"Where are you going?" I asked calmly.

"The colonel usually sends me to the room if he gets angry."

I patted on a chair to invite her to sit. "Come back. What happened that enticed you to hit those kids?"

She sat down. "I was just minding my own business practicing my swordsmanship on tree branches outside the village. They came up to me calling me names. Mosshead, half-breed, wild child. I ignored them, but they took my sword. So I picked a fight to get it back."

"Have they picked on you before?"

"A couple of times years ago. But they said they're picking on me now because Ilias and the colonel aren't here to protect me."

There was no lie in Jaime's eyes. I was blamed for a lot of things I didn't do when I was young so I was all but familiar with that look.

"Is that true?" I asked. "I need to hear from your mouth that you're not lying."

"I'm not. I promise."

"Okay, I believe you." I gave back her practice sword. "I'll talk to the kids' parents first thing tomorrow to make sure they don't bother you anymore."

Jaime's face brightened. "Really? You believe me?"

"Of course I do."

"It's just that... the colonel would get mad at me before hearing my side. It's nice to hear you listen to me, Auntie."

"So the colonel would believe the words of other people without first hearing out his own daughter?" I rubbed my chin. "I see. I'll make sure to talk to him when he gets back. Just remember, you can always come to me and I'll listen."

The next day, I made it a point to stick up for Jaime and talk to the parents of the children that were picking on her. They made a fuss about it first by saying Jaime would be the type of child to attack their kids. But they went quiet after I pointed out how it was suspicious that she would suddenly start causing trouble when the colonel was gone after she had been behaving all these years.

Ilias seemed to have the maturity of an adult. I started to lose confidence as a parent. I wanted to scold him, teach him lessons, and show my side as a mother, but I rarely got a chance to do any of that. Jaime, unlike my son, was a normal kid—which meant I got to do that with her.

After the bullying incident, Jaime seemed to be more well-behaved. She never caused any trouble around the village and she would always ask me for things if she needed help or advice.

I can't help but notice that she kind of mimics a kid version of me.

Around three weeks after the Capital party left, I was startled in the morning while reheating last night's leftovers. I found Jaime growing anxious in her bed.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I lit the candles in her room.

"I don't know how, but I think I'm bleeding." She got off and pulled the blankets to reveal the sheets soaked in crimson. "I woke up and the bed was just covered in blood. My stomach hurts."

Ray is so lucky that he doesn't have to go through this.

"Jaime, has this happened before?"

She shook her head.

"Did the colonel... tell you what a period is?"

She shook her head.

I spent the next half hour explaining what a menstrual cycle was and everything that came along with it. "It hurts a lot now. But you'll get used to it."

"So, this means my body can bear a child now?"

"Yes, but obviously you're too young to have one." I gave her a succulent pad. "Clean yourself up and use this. I'll change your sheets."

Me acting like her mother is so natural. I can't believe it was so close to being like this. If things had gone down differently, Ilias and Jaime would've been step-siblings.

Around the time I was due to give birth to Ilias, a three-month half-elf girl with green hair appeared on my front porch with a note.

Hello, my name is Jaime Fontoya. My father is an elf and my mother is a terran. Please take care of me.

Ray convinced me to let him take care of Jaime until I had given birth to Ilias and recovered enough to take care of two children.

That was the plan.

While I was recovering, however, Ray had gotten attached to the green-haired girl. By the time I was ready to take her back, he made the big decision to adopt Jaime.

He rushed into my office once. "Trisha! Look! Jaime said her first words. Jaime, can you say it again?"

"Colo-nel!" the infant would babble.

He had a crib brought into the library so he could watch her while working. Every milestone she achieved was in that building so there was no wonder why she hated it there. Soldiers would often drop by to receive or ask for orders and I think Jaime picked up on their habits. Ray was her father, but since everyone around her kept calling him colonel while she was at such a young age, she started, and to this day, still continued calling him that.

The only reason why Ilias called him colonel was out of respect, even though I would much prefer it if he called him uncle.

But everything about Ray's amazement with Jaime turned into regret by the time she could walk. She would always cause trouble and it fell on him to clean up after her. That, along with his busy schedule, meant she was too much he could handle.

By the time she turned four, he said he may have bit more than he could swallow.

I had a feeling he wanted me to take her in like what we had originally planned, but I would've declined. He made the choice to take care of her and he should take it seriously. Besides, Jaime had already lost her blood parents and if Ray all of a sudden gave her up, she would be broken emotionally.

Thankfully, Ray never asked me to do such a thing.

What I learned from Jaime during her stay was that she was a misunderstood child who was given a label because no one listened to her. She just had a hard time communicating her feelings, but once she overcame that, I'd come to learn that she had the ability to be an angelic child.

Don't worry Jaime. I'll give the colonel a good talking to when he comes back.

Before Ray left, he sent Pops (we called General Clegane that when we were kids and still do) a request for a colonel regent to look after the village while he was away. Since it would be a week before this colonel would arrive, Lieutenant Doria was placed in charge of Gilead in Ray's stead.

I thought she would be a bit annoyed that her unit got to go to the Capital while she had to stay behind and work. Her reaction was different from what I expected.

"Finally!" she would sigh. "It's good to finally be free from those idiots for a while. I spend more time taking care of them than working. Could you believe that, Doc?"

"Gilead is safe enough that soldiers can goof off and act normal. I'd say you're lucky that you're babysitting them rather than sitting uneasily waiting for an attack."

"We could still get attacked. It's just not as likely." Doria shook her head. "Just the other day, Kaiser and them invented a drinking game of throwing balls into cups."

"Oh, I heard about that one while I was at the tavern. If you get the ball in your opponent's cups, they drink and vice versa. The first person to get rid of all their opponent's cups wins. That was Ray's unit?"

"Yeah, that was them. It's much calmer now that it's just us girls around, though I would say it's quite boring without the men."

"Jaime is here to make trouble every now and then, so she keeps us entertained. I just hope it's not too much trouble."

A week after Ray's party left for the Capital, the colonel regent along with his unit and an additional fifteen soldiers arrived in Gilead. He was Colonel Fundin, a dwarf of wisdom-white hair who had a habit of putting his hands behind his back when walking.

He was rather strict with the Gilead soldiers when he first arrived, complaining that they were too laid back and at ease. This was because he served directly under General Clegane—who was known to be authoritative. The Gilead soldiers didn't want to get into trouble so they followed Colonel Fundin's directives. It was only until their Colonel Camaro got back after all.

Once Colonel Fundin noticed that the village was safe from human and monster threats, the tight dwarf loosened as well.

"This is very strange indeed," he said. "You people are lucky. Gilead is very safe for some odd reason."

"What do you mean?" Doria asked.

"Most settlements are in somewhat constant or fluctuating danger. But one can't help but feel at ease in this village. Yes, I understand now why the soldiers are so laid-back. You have a ravine that protects you on one side and an open field that would let you see danger on the other. The forest is a good distance and this area doesn't have many monsters roaming it."

"No one tries to mess with us because Chariot is in charge. He can summon an army of Dolls in an instant to deal with any threat. And he has an armoured lizard that likes to go around scaring off monsters and predators."

"That's why I'm stricter with the soldiers. Chariot isn't here to summon an army and I don't know any jynx. They can despise me for being hard on them, but if it means keeping this place safe, then so be it."

Doria put a hand on Fundin's shoulders. "Don't worry, Colonel, you're doing a great job. Besides, Gilead soldiers are too rowdy because it's too safe. It's a relief that they can act like soldiers when needed."

"I hope they never have to."

Twenty-six days after Ray's party left, a pigeon arrived bearing the names of Lieutenant Doria and me.

The first letter was from Ray. It talked about how Scar had reappeared and began murdering higher-ups again. He advised the colonel regent to request for additional soldiers from General Clegane to be dispatched to Gilead in his absence. News, however, had reached Colonel Fundin days earlier and he was well ahead of wanting more soldiers to be dispatched here.

The second letter was from Ilias, directed to me.

Aww! He cared enough to write!

Hello Mother,

As of writing this, we have reached the Capital and I am about to be dropped off at the exam. I am currently writing this in a post office. I would just like to let you know that we are safe and didn't encounter any troubles on the road. But I must confess that I had my first pint of ale (more like eleven) on the road. I'm sorry about that and I am more than willing to take responsibility when I get home. We also dropped by Bel Tine and managed to find the doctor Auntie Odetta was looking for. He remembered her, but he told us that he couldn't help her. Anyways, today is the last day they're accepting participants, so I've got to end this letter here—lest I don't want to make the cut. Wish me all the luck! I will write back as soon I get out of the exam.

Sincerely yours, Ilias

I guess I couldn't really be mad at Ilias for trying alcohol this young. I was proud of him for it even. If I remember correctly, Father was having a birthday party downstairs when I drank my first drop. Ray, Czeslaw, and I were ten and we had snuck off with a bottle of wine. We couldn't pressure Ray to drink so Czeslaw and I split the bottle and threw it out to get rid of the evidence. I couldn't remember what happened next, but I was told that Czeslaw and I quickly became intoxicated and Ray had to spend the rest of the night taking care of us. The next morning Father was laughing it off but quickly switched to Mother's side to scold me.

Ilias was late by about two years because, between us, I was younger when I had my first drink.

As a mother, I don't know if that's something I should be proud of.

Still, I was surprised that Ilias had remembered Odetta and the specifics of her new quest. He had known her for three days when he was five, yet he recalled so many things from those three days.

He might be even smarter than me now.

Before they left, Ray reassured me that Ilias would be safe. Death was a common occurrence during the State Jynxist Exam after all. But if he had passed the exam with nothing but his Marching Dolls, Ilias and his arsenal of spells akin to that of Heloise's should relatively make him safe.

But how could I not worry?

Ilias was just a young boy and I was sure that Ray was never in any danger since he befriended Heloise.

I hope that his party members and the friends he makes protect each other.

While I was waiting for Ilias' second letter, news travelled to Gilead about how a leviathan learned how to fly using jynx and had claimed Headrig's Pass as its territory. Just like three thousand years ago, the east and west side of the country was cut off. But this time, we couldn't fly around the mountains to keep in contact.

First Scar and now this? So many things are happening that it feels like one of the gods is setting up pieces on a board.

For a bit, Jaime seemed interested whenever I used healing jynx. She would ask if I was using it on someone today. If I was, she would stay behind and watch me heal them before heading out. Jaime liked exploring the village and the outskirts. It was the closest thing to adventuring she could do. She would usually come back bruised and scraped asking to be healed.

When I wasn't busy, I attempted to teach her how to perform the most basic healing jynx. I was surprised her gates were able to withstand a couple of days' worth of spells.

After she perfected the spell, she didn't drop by to get healed anymore. She still came home dirty and caked in mud, but there were no injuries on her body anymore.

Except for the most basic healing spell (which was aptly named healing), a person couldn't use healing jynx on themselves. You could heal simple scrapes and bruises but if you had an open wound, broken bones, or anything serious, someone else had to heal them for you.

I was the only doctor in our small village so I had to make sure nothing serious happened to me. Ilias and Heloise knew healing jynx and they could heal me, but they weren't always going to be around.

Maybe I should post a request asking for a nurse to help out in the office. I was able to pay Heloise for six years, a nurse's pay should be nothing compared to hers.

A month after the news from Ray and Ilias, Doria dropped by during breakfast with two letters.

"Who's it from?" I asked anxiously.

"There was a letter from Ray, but it was all business. Again." Doria slid me the other envelope. "This one says it's from Ilias. I think we know what this letter will be about. You should open it and learn what his results were first."

Hello again, Mother,

First off, I would like to let you know that I'm fine. Other than my hand, which has mostly healed from its burn marks (the story is too long so I'll tell you when we get back), I'm completely fine. I didn't witness anything scarring either so don't worry about that. Now for the big news. This year's State Jynxist Exam had the most participants of any year by far—there were 610 of us. Of that, only two people passed. One of them being me. I would like to give you the good news that I am now officially Ilias Van Payne the Prince Of Dawn—courtesy of King Arthureus. We'll be home in about a month. See you then.

Sincerely yours, Ilias

I read that letter four times to make sure I was reading it properly.

"He did it!" Jaime cheered. She had gotten impatient and started reading the letter from over my shoulder. "He actually did it! Yes!"

I chuckled. "Yeah, he did. Our Ilias did it!"

"Are we going to celebrate? Becoming a State Jynxist is a big deal, right?"

"It is. The colonel was in the Capital for the military when he became a State Jynxist yet we still had a party here to celebrate his success. We have to throw the biggest party this village has ever seen."

"We have a month until they get here," Doria said.

"That's more than enough. I already have so many ideas. We have to make this big."

"The colonel passed when he was sixteen and he's the youngest person to ever become a State Jynxist. Ilias is twelve. Trisha, your boy just beat out the colonel."

"Ever the more reason to make this party big."

Thanks to Jaime, it didn't take long for the news of Ilias to spread around the village. Many of the villagers dropped by to congratulate me in my son's stead and for the next couple of days, it was all my patients ever talked about.

We bought the biggest fireworks from passing merchants, the baker and I kept going back and forth on what the design of the cake would be, and each house volunteered to do something.

This party was going to be expensive.

The kids that had been picking on Jaime began trying to befriend her. They paid no heed to Ilias before but were suddenly trying to get to know him through Jaime. She saw exactly what I was seeing and declined their pathetic attempts at patronization. Two months ago she would've scared them away with her fist, but the elf girl had learned restraint.

"They used to call Ilias weird because he had his nose in books all the time and now all of a sudden they want to be friends with him? Hmph! If they weren't friends with him then, they shouldn't be allowed now."

"What makes you so special?" I asked. "The colonel told me you thought he was weird."

"What makes me special is that I was honest about it. I didn't try to hide my thoughts and snicker at him behind his back. I would snicker at him in front of his face. Besides, I like him for his weirdness."

"Yeah, you're both weird in your own ways."

It was never fun teasing Ilias. The way he reacted made me feel like I was a fool and the times he answered he would always beat me with logic. But with Jaime...

"You know, Jaime. Once Ilias gets back, he's going to be popular among the girls. You heard the lieutenant the other day. He's now the youngest person to become a State Jynxist. Add that to the fact that the colonel is going to be personally teaching him swordsmanship—they'll be throwing themselves at him."

"Ilias? I don't think he's the type of person to want a girlfriend."

"When I was your age, I thought the same about the colonel. But then I saw him staring at girls and I knew I thought wrong. Ilias will get there at one point."

Jaime stayed silent for a bit. "What happens if Ilias gets a girlfriend?"

"From my experience when your Uncle Czeslaw had one, they were inseparable. I don't see it being different."

Her cheeks reddened up. "But that's not fair. I was friends with him first."

"Is being friends with Ilias something you can be content with?"

She went into deep thought before escaping the conversation by storming off the property.

Now I see why Pops loved to tease Ray and Czeslaw. It's fun and their reactions are just so cute.

Ilias and Jaime balanced each other rather too well. They were complete opposites which meant they were constantly motivating the other to do better. The bond they had formed was something that could be taken to the next level.

Some friendships are meant to be more.

The Ilias and Jaime pairing was certainly popular among our circle.

Weeks after receiving the second letter, Private Gama arrived in the village at eight in the morning. His sunken eyes and exhausted horse were enough to let us know that he rode with urgency. He wanted to see Colonel Fundin as soon as possible, but Doria and I convinced him to let me treat him first.

The dwarf colonel came to my office once the news had reached him.

"Colonel, Colonel Camaro needs reinforcements in Rockbell," Gama panted. "The colonel there is abusing his power and they sent me to get help. They sent me ahead because they're staying there until we arrive."

"Is Ilias, okay?" I asked.

"He's fine, Doc. The kid is actually pretty useful and holds his own weight. Considering he's now a State Jynxist and all."

After brewing medicine that should keep the private going for another twelve hours or so, they began preparations to ride back to Rockbell. A letter arrived from Ray, but Doria and Gama deciphered the hidden message and the contents were quickly ignored.

Colonel. Ignore. This. Gama's. Plans. Should. Proceed. Thanks.

Within the hour, Private Gama left with Colonel Fundin and twenty-five soldiers on fresh horses. Doria was again left in charge of Gilead.

I had no appointments on a cloudy day and used the time to tend to the garden. I called Doria over to give her some of the fruits and vegetables.

"Is this really fine?" she asked. "You usually don't give me this much."

"Half the people I would've given it to are liberating a mining town. We don't know when they'll be coming back and they might rot by then. Just enjoy them."

"Why don't you and Jaime eat them?"

"Jaime is still getting used to her vegetables. She would get mad if that was all she ate for the next couple of days."

"So she's a carnivore?"

"Jaime's a swordsman so she needs the protein to build muscle."

Right as I said her name, she came running through the front gate yelling our names. She was all sweaty and out of breath.

"Auntie! Lieutenant! You won't believe it." She pointed towards the direction of the main road. "Ilias, Colonel, and the others! I saw them over the horizon! They're back!"