Archive of Our Own ^beta

March 3rd 793, 3PM

“Hmm, where is it…?” Ernst Telesphore Charadrius asked himself as he rummaged through the Skyrunner Charadrius’s medical bay in search of a particular medicine ingredient. Wanting to become a doctor when he grew up, Ernst wished to practice some of the work he’d do as a doctor by making medicines. “Surely we have some dried chamomile around here somewhere…”

“Looking for this?” Ernst jumped a little at his father unexpectedly calling out to him. The young boy turned around to see his father, Louis Charadrius, standing in the doorway of the med bay, carrying a jar full of dried chamomiles. “I had just gone to stock up on these. What were you going to use them for?”

“Oh, Daddy, hi!” The redheaded young boy waved to Louis, who put the jar he was holding down on a nearby table. “I heard a couple of the crewmates complaining about not sleeping well at night, so I wanted to help them out by making a sleep aid medicine for them!” He then paused to fetch the book of medicine recipes he owned, the book being on top of a nearby cabinet, and flicked through the pages until he landed on the medicine he wanted to make. “Here! A teaspoon of this medicinal powder can be mixed into a glass of water before bed and it’ll help you get to sleep at night!” He rushed over to Louis and showed him the pages for the sleep powder.

“You’re a very thoughtful boy, aren’t you? You’re always looking out for everyone aboard the ship.” Louis smiled, chuckled and bent down to ruffle his son’s hair. “Would you like me to keep you company whilst you’re making it?”

“Can you, please? If you’re not too busy? I know you’ve been busy with your duties as king lately so it’s okay if you can’t…” Ernst replied shyly, looking away. The process of making the powder was easy so he didn’t need any help with making it, but he thought that having his father with him might be nice. He always loved hearing his insights on medicine and the like since he was from a long line of doctors. In fact it was hearing stories of his paternal grandparents that inspired Ernst to want to become a doctor in the first place.

“Ernst, I always have time for you.” Louis reassured his son and picked him up, holding him close and planting a kiss on the top of his head. “I know you worry about keeping me from my kingly duties, but it’s alright, being a king can wait whilst I’m being a father.” Louis gave a small chuckle and another kiss to the top of his son’s head when Ernst hugged him affectionately, his arms wrapped around his father’s shoulders. “You, your sister and your mother are my greatest treasures in the world. I’d never not want to spend time with you three. Now, why don’t we get started on making that medicine, hm? You’ll be able to make the amount of the powder needed faster if you have an extra pair of hands helping you.”

“Okay!” Ernst nodded excitedly, glad to have both the chance to bond with his beloved father and to perhaps learn more techniques from the doctor work of his father’s side. He had read through the diaries belonging to his paternal grandparents and learnt many a thing about the medical field, magic, what they were like and what life was like for them, and from that information combined with the visions he’d sometimes have of the past he knew that he grandparents were great people who he felt honoured to be related to. He just wished that he could’ve met them and learned from them directly, but alas there was no changing the past. At least not yet, for he did wonder if someday somebody with strong enough magical capabilities and a strong enough desire for it could create the means to alter the past. He thought that a lot of people, more than he could possibly imagine, would be much happier if the past was a better time.

“Alright, here’s what else we need!” The redheaded boy started, moving his arms off of his father’s shoulders so that he could show him the ingredients listed in the recipe, pointing at the pages of his medicine book as he did so. “We need dried lavender, dried valerian and dried jasmine! It can be made with undried flowers according to the recipe book, but dried ones are preferred because they’re easier to turn into powder.” He continued, index finger moving along the text in the book as he read from it. “All I need to do is crush the ingredients into powder with a mortar and pestle! Couldn’t be any more simple!”

“Indeed.” Louis nodded in agreement as he put Ernst down nearby the desk where the skyrunner’s medical team made medicines and salves for the crew. “I’ll get the dried flowers we need, you get a mortar and pestle for the each of us.” Ernst nodded back to Louis and from one of the desk’s drawers pulled out two identical granite mortars and pestles. Meanwhile, Louis collected the medicine ingredients, which were easy to find – the chamomile was right where he put it and Ernst had put the other three flower jars nearby one of the sinks, so it took no time at all for them to be ready.

“Oh! We need to wash our hands! Wouldn’t be good if germs got in the medicine and made people sick, would it?” Ernst remembered and trotted off to the sink to make sure his hands were clean, Louis following to do the same. The king couldn’t help but be reminded of his childhood helping out his parents however he could in their work as doctors, and how they’d reinforce to him the importance of clean hands to reduce the chances of anyone getting an infection or illness of some kind.

“Alright, so, we need a handful of each of the flowers to go in the mortar to mash up into powder, then once we have enough of the medicine to fill about… 5 of these jars I found? Mn, 5 sounds like a good amount, I can always make more if I need to… Then I’ll take them to the crew!” The redheaded boy explained once he and Louis returned to the work station, gesturing to a box of empty jam jars he had found in the skyrunner’s storage area.

“Hmhm, you’re such a good boy, Ernst. So considerate and kind. You’ll make a fine doctor when you’re older, little one.” Louis hummed and patted his son on the head. He found that personality-wise Ernst reminded him of his late mother, the lad having inherited his paternal grandmother’s gentle and sage nature. Both his children were compassionate, thoughtful and eager to learn, and those were the things he loved the most in them. He and his wife both knew that their young would go on to do great things with their strength, kindness, strong senses of justice and intelligence.

The redheaded lad just giggled and grinned in response to his father’s words, his freckled face lighting right up. He then rolled up his sleeves and got to work, taking a handful of each of the dried flowers and mashing them up in the mortar, pounding them into smaller pieces by using the pestle like a hammer. Once small enough he started to grind the flower pieces in circular motions to turn them into a fine powder. Louis was doing the same.

Other children his age would likely not be able to crush and grind the flowers into powder as quickly as Ernst could. He chalked it up to the fact that he and his sister both had been trained in combat since they were 4, their father being the one to teach them how to fight. Still, it did make him wonder how his father managed with the process when he was young. “Hey, Daddy?” Ernst asked, Louis turning his head to look at him. “When you were my age, did you struggle with making medicine, or was mashing up the ingredients into powders and stuff easy for you?”

“It wasn’t something I found difficult, but it did take me longer to make the ingredients powdered than it does for you.” Louis replied, tilting his head in thought as he nostalgically recalled helping his parents with medicine creation. “I didn’t start training with weapons until I enlisted in the Euchronian army, so I didn’t have the upper body strength that I do now or that you have back when I was your age.”

“Ah, I thought that might be the case, most kids don’t start learning to fight as early as Nemesia and I did.” The young boy nodded as he poured the powder he had made so far into one of the empty jam jars. He and his younger twin sister Nemesia had started their training for fights because Louis and his wife were worried about bad things happening to their children, like them being kidnapped or assassinated or worst of all falling victim to a situation like the razing of the Ancient Eldan Sanctum. Sure, thanks to the mental connection magic Ciel had made such things were impossible to happen, but it was a still an irrational fear that they possessed, so they both decided that their children should learn to fight in the event that anyone tries to harm them whilst their parents aren’t around to protect them.

“You know, I think even before you and your sister started your combat training, you two were plenty strong.” The king said whilst his son was rummaging through the desk drawers for paint and a paintbrush so that he could label the jars. This comment from his father made Ernst pause what he was doing and look up at him in confusion, the items he was looking for in his hands.

“What do you mean?” He asked, head tilted to the side curiously.

“Well, once you two had grown enough to do so, the both of you kicked very frequently when your mother was pregnant. As you two grew, your kicks got stronger and stronger, to the point where she couldn’t help but wince whenever you two got active, and you know that it takes a lot for something to make your mother uncomfortable.” Louis explained, recollecting his memories of Ciel’s pregnancy with Ernst and Nemesia. Specifically he remembered how rambunctious the twins would get whilst in the womb to the point where during moments that were especially active they kept interrupting their mother’s focus on other things from how exhausted and uncomfortable all the moving about and kicking made her feel. In her last 3 months of pregnancy her stomach would actually wobble about whenever the twins were especially energetic in their kicks and movements, and she often joked to herself that it was like her tummy was made of jelly. She didn’t really mind all the movement and discomfort from it that much though, because the frequent moving and kicking was a sign of the twins being in good health and a reminder to her that the world had finally become somewhere that she and Louis would be happy to bring their children into.

“And as babies you two could grip onto things most powerfully. It ended up catching your mother and I off-guard a couple of times.” He chuckled as he continued speaking, remembering holding one of the twins when they were babies and them gripping onto him like they never wanted to be let go of. He especially remembered the day they were born, as he was the one who assisted Ciel in the delivery he was the first person to hold them once they were welcomed into the world, and when he gave them his fingers to hold they squeezed at them tight enough to actually cause him a smidgen of discomfort. But he didn’t care about that because he was so happy that his children had been born and that they were strong, healthy children.

“Do you think me and Nemesia were so strong physically as babies because we got it from you and Mummy?” Ernst asked. He knew that wasn’t how genetics worked, but given how the world he lived in had magic brought to reality through one’s thoughts and desires, he wondered if his parents wishing for strong children might have played a part in things.

“Not in the sense of genetics, no. Babies don’t inherit their parent’s musculature.” Louis shook his head before putting his hand to his chin in contemplation. “But I do wonder sometimes… Your mother used to test her magic on herself, and as a result of that her muscle strength increased, so I wonder if those magic-induced effects were passed onto you and your sister in the womb. There have been cases in the past of magically-induced features of a person being passed onto their children, after all.”

“Oh, I see!” Ernst nodded to himself, thinking that his idea of his and his sister’s strength being inherited might have a kernel of truth to it after all. He took his father’s mortar and poured the contents into the same jam jar he had put his ground up flowers in earlier, the jar now being half full. “So it takes 4 mortars of ground flowers to fill up a whole jar…” He noted as he lifted up the jar and swirled its contents about.

“Shouldn’t be too difficult or lengthy to make 5 jars of this medicine between the both of us then.” Louis chimed in, ruffling his son’s hair. The redheaded lad looked up at his father and nodded with determination and a smile, eager to finish the task at hand. He promised the skyrunner’s crewmates that he’d find something to help them sleep, and he wouldn’t break that promise – he’d make a pretty lousy doctor if he couldn’t treat people’s ailments, after all!

And so, the father and son duo continued to make the medicine, talking to each other about the Charadrius family’s doctor work and the sorts of medical knowledge Ernst was hoping to learn as he got older. The desire for knowledge and the passion in his son’s heart never failed to bring Louis joy, glad that his children could live freely and without fear of facing scorn just for what they were and glad that they would be able to achieve their dreams without any sort of injustice getting in their way. Seeing his parents’ work as healers and their love for looking after others living on through his son also comforted Louis deeply, and he was sure that Ernst’s paternal grandparents were watching over him with pride.

Eventually, all 5 jars were filled with the sleep medicine, and Louis painted on the jars the name that was given to the medicine in the recipe book since Ernst’s arms had gotten tired from grinding up all the dried flowers. “Thank you for helping me with all this, Daddy.” The redheaded boy smiled and bowed his head gratefully at his father. “Sorry that my arms got worn out, I wish I could’ve helped out with labelling the jars…” He looked away from Louis in disappointment at himself, hoping that as he got older his arms would get less sore when making lots of medicine.

“It’s alright, little one. You’re still young, and as you get older and make more medicine your arms will get less tired out by the process.” Louis reassured his son before kneeling down to kiss him on the forehead. “I had a lovely time today, it really took me back to when I was your age, when I’d help my parents with making medicine for the people of the sanctum.” He smiled nostalgically. “And I’m sure your grandparents are watching over you proudly, happy to see their legacy living on through you.”

“You really think so?” Ernst asked with stars in his eyes, and Louis replied with a smile, a chuckle and a nod. The redheaded lad giggled and flashed his father a bright smile, feeling as happy as a clam. “I’m going to go give the medicine out to those who need it right away! I’m sure they’ll really benefit from it!” Eagerly, Ernst put the medicine jars in a box for ease of carrying and picking it up. “I can’t wait to hear what they think about it or if it helps them sleep better!” He giggled to himself as he ran out of the room.

Louis just kept smiling to himself as he cleaned up the work station, pleased that his son had found a lifelong dream that he was determined to achieve. And Louis knew with certainty that Ernst would become a fine doctor one day.

March 30th 793, 12PM

Nemesia Yvette Charadrius had just finished with her swordfighting practice, the training dummy she was using to practice her attacks thoroughly sliced and stabbed at. “That’s enough for today, I think!” She said to herself, stretching her arms before sheathing her sword. She then picked up Tenty – her trusty Homo Tenta plush that she took everywhere she went – from off the nearby bench and showed it the damage she did to the dummy. “Look, Tenty! I got ‘em good, didn’t I?” She asked proudly.

“You sure did, sweetie!” Ciel Charadrius congratulated her daughter on her skill with blades as she stepped into the training area, carrying a sketchbook and a pouch full of art supplies in her hands. “You’ll have no problem taking on any scary monsters or bad guys once you’re old enough to start travelling the world solo, I’m sure of it!” The queen hummed gleefully, finding that Nemesia’s friendly and passionate nature reminded her of her own late mother.

“Hiya, Mummy!” The blonde lass ran up to her mother and hugged her legs, Ciel bending down to ruffle her hair affectionately. “Tenty says hi too!” She pulled away from her mother’s legs and lifted up Tenty, Ciel patting the plush like she was petting a dog on the head. “What brings you out here?”

“Well, I actually wanted to ask for your opinion on something.” The queen explained as she walked over to a nearby bench, her daughter following close behind her. The two of them sat down next to each other and Ciel opened up the sketchbook, revealing a series of designs for plush toys, mostly based on various animals. “Mummy has been wanting to make some plushies for Euchronia’s orphanages and hospitals to try and provide something to lift the spirits of the kids there, and since you’ve always loved the plushies I’ve made for you, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on these designs, or maybe even ideas for plushies too!” Ciel passed the sketchbook over to Nemesia so that she could have a more thorough look through it, eagerly awaiting hearing her opinions on them.

Ever since Ernst and Nemesia were still growing inside her womb, Ciel had been making plush toys for her children to play with and cuddle, and as babies and toddlers the two of them loved their mother’s plushies. Though as Ernst got older he started preferring wooden toys over plush ones because he found wood to be more versatile with the kinds of toys that could be made from it than fabric and wood to be sturdier than fabric too, so Ciel started making wooden toys for him instead, but even so he still kept the plushies his mother made for him out of attachment to them. However, Nemesia never lost her love for plushies, in fact as she got older her love for them only grew stronger, so much so that she had recently begun learning how to sew from her mother and brother so that she could make her own plushies too.

“Kangaroo… Lemur… Panda… These are all animals from the time of the original humans, aren’t they?” The blonde girl asked, pointing at some of the sketches. Although a lot of knowledge on the history of the original humanity and what their world was like had been lost when they perished, either due to the destruction war causes, due to the mass wishing for their end and/or a clean slate during the war that wiped them out altering reality so that their records of the world turned up blank or due to the survivors choosing not to teach such things as to avoid history repeating with the post-humans, some of that knowledge remained in the forms of the books belonging to eldan settlements since the original humans who were the ancestors of the elda wanted the original humanity to be remembered and learnt from. As she came from a long line of scholars, Ciel read a lot of those books before the majority of them were destroyed when her village’s library was burnt down during the razing, and she found herself fascinated by the animals of that era, which were almost completely different from the ones in Euchronia. She thought it was interesting how the animals changed a lot between eras but the plants remained largely unchanged.

“That’s right! I thought that plushies might be a good way of teaching people about them.” Ciel giggled and leant down to give her daughter a kiss on the top of her head. “There’s not much on them right now because the history and world knowledge my magic is making people remember is still being re-documented, but there should be more info on them as things are written down. Then people will be able to know all about the animals of the past! And who knows, maybe they’ll even work out a way to revive them!” She spoke proudly and excitedly of her magic and who the people would become and what they might go on to do as a result of it. “That’d be really cool, wouldn’t it darling?”

“Yeah! That’d be the coolest!” Nemesia’s eyes lit up at the possibilities the future held. “I think the old world animal plushies are an amazing idea, Mummy! Are you gonna make more animal plushies than ones of those three you’ve already designed?”

“You bet! I had wanted to ask you if you had any ideas for animals I could make into plushies, actually.” The queen then flipped the sketchbook over to a blank page and passed it over to her daughter. “Why don’t you have a go at coming up with some designs? You have been learning how to make your own plushies, designing some would be good practice for you.” She suggested to the blonde girl, taking out a pencil and eraser from the pouch of art supplies and also giving them to Nemesia.

Eagerly, Nemesia nodded and began drawing. The ideas came to her very quickly and whenever inspiration struck she’d draw them down, not even being that bothered by any inaccuracies that came from drawing animals from memory. The whole time, Ciel quietly yet supportively watched her draw, curious as to what ideas she had in store.

After filling up 5 pages of design ideas, Nemesia passed the sketchbook back to her beloved mother. “What do you think, Mummy?” She asked, giddily awaiting Ciel’s opinion.

“Wow, I hadn’t even considered making plushies of snakes or whales! Good thinking, Nemesia!” Ciel chirped in delight at her daughter’s ideas and foresight, leaning down to plant a few kisses on the top of her head, a gesture that made the blonde lass giggle. “Them not having limbs will also add some variety of body types into the mix too, and will make sewing them easier for me! And with the snakes I can make them in all sorts of colours and patterns!” The queen was already brainstorming ideas for snake plush patterns, though she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to procure fabric in said patterns. Well, even if she couldn’t, she could probably use dye to add patterns to plain fabric. It wasn’t something she had tried before, but she was willing to try it and learn how to do so.

Ciel then looked at the next page, which featured a design for a chinchilla plush and a design for a quokka plush, Nemesia noting that chinchillas and quokkas were “really, really, really cute!!” and that she wished that she could hug them. Ciel couldn’t help but laugh a bit from how relatable these comments were. “You’re absolutely right sweetie, chinchillas and quokkas are really cute!” She hummed and ruffled the blonde lass’s hair, who nuzzled herself against her mother’s hand.

Ciel flipped the page over, revealing that the final 3 pages Nemesia drew on were full of designs for plush toys based on the big cats of the old world. Noted by each design was a fact about the big cat that the young girl thought was neat – for the cheetah she wrote about it being the fastest land animal in the old world, for the tiger she wrote about how no two tigers had the same stripe pattern, for the lion she wrote about a lion’s roar being audible from 5 miles away, for the serval she wrote about how they could jump over 3 metres high, for the lynx she wrote about how their paws served as built-in snowshoes that allow them to move soundlessly and for the pallas’s cat she wrote about how they had fewer teeth than most big cats. Interestingly, she also wrote that pallas’s cats reminded her “a lot of Mummy” which made Ciel curious as to what she meant by that.

“You really like big cats, don’t you?” The redheaded archmage asked, and Nemesia nodded energetically in response. “Hehe, I do too! Though I’m wondering… What did you mean by the pallas’s cat reminding you of me?”

“Well, they tend to always look grumpy and serious, and when you’re not with Daddy and Ernst and I, you always look grumpy and serious too. Also they’re quite small compared to a lot of big cats, which reminded me of how you’re much shorter than Daddy is. And, and, their grey coat reminded me of how you wear a lot of monochrome colour clothes!” The young girl explained her thought process, and Ciel couldn’t help but find that thought process to be absolutely adorable.

“Aww, that’s really sweet! Mummy’s happy to be compared to a strong and cute kitty!” She put the sketchbook down so that she could hug her daughter and plant a bunch of kisses on the top of her head, which made Nemesia giggle a lot and hug her mother back tightly, a joyous smile on her freckled face.

“Y’know, Mummy, I’ve actually got another idea for plushies, but not based on animals…” The blond lass said as she and her mother withdrew from the hug, Ciel looking down at her curiously. “We could make a whole bunch of Tentys for people! A lot of the other kids I meet say they’d like to have their own Tenty.” She lifted her Homo Tenta plush up right to her mother’s face. “And since Homo Tenta have a whole bunch of variants, we can make plushies of all them too!”

“What a wonderful idea, darling!” Ciel praised her daughter’s idea. “I’ve seen how much you love Tenty, how you take them with you everywhere you go, how much you talk to and play with them, and it makes me so glad that you’re so attached to the gift I made for you! Certainly much safer than having an actual Homo Tenta around, since Tenty can’t attract other monsters to our home with their presence and use magic that might hurt people.”

“Yeah, I know, that’s why Daddy said we couldn’t have any Homo Tenta in the skyrunner…” Nemesia nodded as she recalled the day last year where she met some Homo Tenta in a forest and asked her father if she could have one aboard the Charadrius, pouting a little as she was still a teeny bit upset about not being able to keep one as a pet. She knew the dangers of keeping monsters (it wasn’t really right to call them Humans anymore, as the people living in the world were new humans, so everyone just called them monsters), but she still thought it was cool that the teeth creatures could talk. “So that’s why I wanna make some Tentys for other kids! I don’t want anybody to be hurt by monsters, and I don’t want anybody to have their homes destroyed by monsters either!”

“You really are a very kind girl, so thoughtful of others and so eager to keep them safe. You’ll grow into a fine protector of the people.” Ciel smiled and ruffled her daughter’s hair, blessed that her children were compassionate and had a strong sense of justice.

Nemesia’s sense of right and wrong was especially strong for a child her age – learning of past injustices made her feel deeply upset and angry that they were allowed to happen at all, and she didn’t tolerate any badmouthing of or threats towards other people, especially not those she cared about most. Sure, Ciel’s magic had nipped the people’s desire to do evil in the bud, but there were still moments when people would say mean things, though usually the visions from the magic would kick in and bring them the realisation of the weight of their words. But if the visions didn’t hit them straight away, then Nemesia would call them out on their words, or even fight them herself if she was especially mad at them or they weren’t listening to her, her way of saying that she wasn’t going to abide cruelty and that she’d hammer sense into them physically until they realised how mean they’re being and strive to stop it. Of course Ernst didn’t abide by cruelty either, but he didn’t tend to get physical with his callings out unless someone else was in possible danger, usually if he wasn’t being listened to he just walked away from the situation as he saw no point in trying to reason with the unreasonable, and he knew that his mother’s magic would correct the troublemaker’s worldview soon enough. Ciel and Louis were both immensely proud of their children for their kindness and justness.

“Hehe, I just don’t want bad things to happen to people, just like how you and Daddy didn’t want people to do bad things or be treated unfairly anymore!” Nemesia grinned and looked up in admiration at her mother. “I wanna become strong and smart like you two when I grow up! That way I can help and protect more people when I go on my adventures around the world!” She spoke ambitiously of her dream of travelling the world once she came of age.

She wished to learn more about the many cultures of the world and experience them firsthand, see what the countries outside of Euchronia were like, help anyone who needed helping, defeat any monsters who were causing problems for the people, try different foods and wear different types of clothing and learn different languages and listen to different types of music, and share her adventures around the world with others. She had always had a very strong desire to travel and explore, and was always delighted by items and places that were new to her, eager to know more about them, so it only made sense that she wanted to go on to roam the world outside of Euchronia, a wish that her parents fully supported.

“Anyway, I actually have two other ideas for plushies for you, Mummy!” The blonde girl’s thoughts turned back to the matter of plush toys. “Do you wanna hear them? They may be a bit off the wall ideas though…” She tilted her head to the side, making a hmm sound of uncertainty.

“Of course I wanna hear them! You know I’ve always got time for you and what you have to say!” The queen looked down at her daughter warmly, awaiting to hear whatever her ideas were.

“We should make plushies of Homo Fios and Homo Casco!” Nemesia exclaimed with great enthusiasm. “They’re both so cute! I love Fios’s goofy face and missing boot, and I love Casco’s beak poking outta its helmet!”

Ciel found herself confused by her daughter’s… unique idea of what was cute, even though she herself found the Homo Tenta to be utterly adorable. She could kind of see what she meant with Homo Casco, but was in complete disagreement with her opinion on Homo Fios. Still, seeing the blonde lass’s zeal for the idea, Ciel didn’t have it in her to shoot it down, so she decided that she’d lie and agree with her. Normally she hated lies and tried to avoid telling them unless she absolutely had to, but a small fib to preserve her child’s self-confidence wouldn’t do any harm at all, so she had no issue with lying in this particular instance. “Yeah, they are cute!” She smiled and nodded.

The mother and daughter duo would go on to spend the majority of the afternoon coming up with more plush designs and colour palettes for them, discussing their ideas and thoughts and just generally having a lot of fun together, laughing at whatever they found amusing and chatting about whatever came to their minds. Ciel couldn’t help but feel at peace the whole time, seeing the whole thing as reliving more peaceful days from her youth, the days where she was too young to feel or even be aware of the crushing weight of being elda in a world that despised them just for existing, the days she spent drawing in her sketchbook with her crayons and her parents watching her draw with great interest in her creations.

June 1st 793, 2:05PM

Like they had promised yesterday, Ernst and Nemesia were waiting by a bench on Grand Trad’s Sumlumeo Street for their new friend Priam. He said that he finished school at 2, so hopefully he’d be there at their meeting place soon, since he had also mentioned the day before that his school wasn’t too far from Sunlumeo Street.

Indeed, 2 minutes later Priam began approaching, calling out to his new friends in the distance. The kids waved to each other, Priam running towards them as he did so. “Hi, Prince Ernst! Hi, Princess Nemesia! Sorry for the wait, hope it wasn’t too long…”

“Not at all!” Both twins replied in unison, which made them giggle to themselves because they didn’t intend to do so. It reminded them of the stories they read where twin characters would speak at the same time or finish each other’s sentences, which honestly they found to be kinda weird because actual twins like themselves didn’t speak like that.

“And please, just call us by our names. We’re friends, aren’t we? No need to be so formal with each other.” Ernst said with a smile, Nemesia nodding in agreement with him.

“Oh, um, of course!” Priam nodded back to the freckled twins, still in disbelief that he had befriended royalty. The three kids then sat down on the bench together.

“How’s your day been? What’s your school like?” Nemesia initiated some small talk, curious about what her friend’s life was like. “Ernst and I don’t go since 3 times a week we have a tutor teach us what’s taught at schools.” She explained. Given that the royal family lived in the Charadrius and frequently moved around as to keep a close watch on the kingdom, Louis and Ciel decided that sending their kids to school would be too impractical as they’d always be changing schools, so they hired tutors instead. Of course, the parents also took part in their education – Louis was their combat tutor, and Ciel taught them to read and write and was their tutor sometimes when other tutors were unavailable. Still, the point remained that Ernst and Nemesia were not especially familiar with how schools worked, only knowing the basics from their parents’ stories about the sanctum’s schoolhouse and the occasional visit to any schools their mother helped establish and check on.

“School’s alright! It can get a little boring sometimes and I wish playtime was a bit longer, but the meals are really tasty and the teachers are really nice!” Priam replied, the twins nodding in understanding as he started to talk about his day. “Today I studied maths, reading and history. My favourite subject is PE cuz its what I’m best at, but I don’t have anything against the subjects today, even if maths is one of the more boring subjects…”

“Oh, cool! Does your school teach science? That’s my favourite subject our tutors teach, learning about how the human body works and how certain substances react to each other is fascinating and helps me with learning how to be a doctor!” Ernst said, wanting Priam to know his favourite subject too.

“Yeah, it does! It’s pretty interesting to learn stuff like that, isn’t it?” Priam hummed in happiness that his new friends were so invested in his life, not thinking they would be given how they surely led more interesting lives than him. “Nemesia, do you have a favourite subject?”

“Mine’s writing! I really like practising different styles of telling stories, like in the third-person, first-person or even formats like diaries or reports! I love learning about styles of poetry and having a go at writing in them! I love looking through thesauruses and dictionaries to find new words I can use as synonyms to add variety to my writing! Most of all though, I just love being able to have ways to write down my feelings and ideas and have fun with it too!” Nemesia chirped excitedly, wishing that she had brought over some of the stories and poems she had written to show Priam.

“Sweet, I like writing too!” Priam nodded. The three kids continued to talk about each other’s lives, fascinated by the differences and similarities in them both, for a good while until it started getting close to the time where Priam’s parents wanted him to be back home by.

“I should head off soon, it was really nice seeing you two again!” He said as he got off the bench. “Shame we can’t meet up again tomorrow since you’ve got plans with your parents when I finish school…”

“Don’t worry, Priam! We’ll be free on Arboursday so we can meet up then!” Nemesia grinned. Like in the time period now known as the Tale of the Fallen, weeks were 5 days long and the months were 6 weeks long (except December, which was 7 weeks long) totalling to 365 days in a year. Even the names of the days of the week were almost identical to the ones of that ime period with only one change – Idlesday was renamed to Skysday by King Louis as a statement to say that Euchronia and its people were no longer oppressed and controlled by the Sanctist Church, which had been destroyed when he and his wife remade the world and now only served as a history lesson about the misuse of power and faith to oppress and spread injustice. Likewise, Idlesweek was renamed to Week of Closure to better symbolise that it was the final week of the year.

“Ah, right, shall we see each other here when I finish school this Arboursday then?” Priam suggested and the twins nodded in agreement, the arrangement now finalised between them. The young boy’s thoughts then turned to something that he’d been wondering about all afternoon. “Y’know, I’ve noticed you’ve both been mentioning some “good news” you got recently but you haven’t said what exactly it is… Can I know or is it a secret?”

The freckled twins looked to each other and briefly whispered to themselves about something, their voices too quiet for Priam to hear and their hands covering their mouths so that he couldn’t read them. When they stopped whispering, they nodded to each other and turned back to him. “Okay, we’ll tell you, but you gotta keep it a secret until it’s officially announced this Skysday, alright?” Nemesia said, putting a finger to her lips as a gesture of secrecy.

“Of course I will!” Priam replied, likewise also putting a finger to his lips. Ernst then stepped up to his side and whispered into Priam’s ear:

“Mummy and Daddy are having another baby, so we’re gonna be big siblings soon.” When he stepped away, Ernst was grinning from ear-to-ear in excitement, as was his younger sister.

“Wow, congratulations!!” Priam couldn’t help but join in on the grinning from ear-to-ear as well. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep it secret like you asked!” He moved closer to them so he could whisper to them. “Next time we meet, I’ll try and come with a gift from me that you can give to the baby once they’re born, alright?” He moved away, and the twins nodded in excitement at what the potential gift would be. “I’ll see you on Arboursday!” And with that, he walked away back to his home.

Indeed, on the Arboursday of that week, Priam came bearing the gift of a small plush teddy bear, having saved up all of his allowance for it. In the economy Louis and Ciel created, essentials for living such as sustenance, clothing and hygiene products were sold extremely cheaply so that everyone could afford them, and everything else was still sold affordably for all but not quite as cheaply as the essential stuff. All jobs were paid the same regardless of the worker’s identity, a wage that made living very easy to afford, though exceptionally skilled workers were paid slightly higher, fitting to the meritocratic plans Louis had for his rule.

Furthermore, education and healthcare were completely free and accessible for all Euchronians, though to ensure all the facilities could be kept running and up-to-date the people did have to pay taxes, though they weren’t especially high and the majority of the funds for those facilities came from the royal family, who had been able to acquire an incredibly generous sum of money from what the previous royal family and the corrupt nobles who perished in the world’s rebirth had left behind. Religious establishments were also taxed to avoid them becoming greedy and misusing their funds like the Sanctist Church had. The majority of the smaller settlements scarcely used money at all, only keeping it for emergencies and taxpaying purposes, and everyone just lived off the land and made and gave each other whatever they needed, much like the people of the Ancient Eldan Sanctum did. Overall, poverty was non-existent in Euchronia now, and with Ciel’s magic in effect to remind the people of suffering and injustice past, it would stay that way.

There were no classes, no castes, no imbalances of power, except for the only “true” holders of power in the entire world – Louis and Ciel, with their royal magic of monster transformation and mental connection remaking the people into something fairer and more just than those before them, thus maintaining the new world free of imbalance and inconsistency. And between their own travels beyond Euchronia (leaving the twins in the care of nannies during their trips outside the country as they were not sure they’d be safe in the countries outside Euchronia, at least not whilst they were still so young) and the reports from their agents in charge of negotiations between the countries that survived the unleashing of the couple’s royal magic, the world outside of Euchronia was also well on its way to becoming fairer and more just, having picked up and put into place ideas on how to do better than those the original humanity and those born from them on their own thanks to Ciel’s magic.

The world was now a place where Louis and Ciel were able to have children, where their young would be allowed to exist freely and without fear of judgement or scorn. And the announcement on the Skysday of that week that they would be having a third child was met with a great number of blessings and well-wishes from their subjects. The birth of an eldan would only have been met with hostility and extermination in the prior world, but not in this world, where what one was was irrelevant like it was with the animals and plants, and all that mattered was who one was.

July 17th 793, 3PM

Ernst had noticed that all month his mother had been very sad. She smiled and talked less, she became more reluctant to talk about her feelings even though it was easy to tell that something was bothering her, and on some days he could even hear her crying either in her office or in her and his father’s private quarters when he pressed his ears up to the locked doors of those rooms. The only person Ciel was really able to talk about her feelings to was Louis, who spent a lot of time this month looking at his wife in concern.

The redheaded boy knew why this was, for his mother was always sadder than usual in July and that was because July was the month her father – his maternal grandfather, who he was named after – died. His father had explained it to him and Nemesia when they were very young. “Mama lost someone very important to her in July a long time ago, and it’s something that still hurts her a lot. Papa treats her extra nicely to help her get through the month, so be good and treat her extra nicely every July too, okay?” That was what he said.

And ever since then, Ernst and Nemesia made sure to be very considerate of their mother during July. They’d make homemade gifts like drawings, jewellery and cakes for her to try and lift her spirits. They’d help her with cooking on the days when she was in charge of making dinner and they’d help her with carrying stuff whenever they went out shopping. They’d make sure to be especially careful with their clothes as to not burden her with repairing them and on the days where she tutored them they made sure not to bombard her with too many questions. Whatever they thought might help their mother’s mood, they’d do it.

Ernst felt that this July seemed to hit his mother harder than past Julys, and she seemed to think so too because a few days ago he overheard her saying that things felt extra raw this year. In that same conversation he overheard, he heard his mother chalk things up to hormonal changes in pregnancy, because she said that July was rougher than usually mentally for her when she was pregnant with him and his sister. He also heard her say that she wished her children could meet their grandparents, their maternal grandfather especially because she knew that they’d love him and she wanted him to see just how loved and cared for he was regardless of his mental health problems.

That comment gave him an idea – what if he wrote a little book about the kind of things he’d do with his grandfather if he was alive? He thought it might cheer his mother up a lot if she knew just how much admiration Ernst held towards his namesake, and she could read it whenever she felt down too! So he spent all his free time working on the book, drawing many pictures for it since, well, it was going to be a picture book. He worked on it in secret since he wanted to surprise Ciel with it, even staying up late some nights to work on it. And now today, it was complete.

“Mummy? Are you in here?” Ernst asked as he knocked on the door to his mother’s office. “Is it okay for me to come in?”

“Oh, hi, Ernst, come on in!” Ciel responded from inside of the room. She tried to sound cheerful, but the young boy could tell that her heart wasn’t really in it. He opened the door and saw his mother sat at her desk, turned around in her chair to face him, her face smiling but her eyes red and damp from crying. “What’s up?”

“I made a book for you to read. You don’t have to read it right now, but I hope you like it.” He put the book down on the desk. All the pages, including the front cover, were made from sketchbook paper, Ernst having punched some holes into the paper and tied the pages together using green ribbon, since he knew that green was his grandfather’s favourite colour. The title was If Granddad Was Here, By Ernst Telesphore Charadrius and the front cover illustration was a drawing of Ernst with his maternal grandfather. “I’ll go now. I think you might want to be alone.”

“Darling, wait.” Ernst was about to leave when his mother called out to him. “Why don’t you read your book to me? That way you can tell me your thought processes whilst making it. You know I love hearing about your ideas.” The redheaded lad nodded, and headed back over to his mother’s desk. Ciel picked him up and sat him down on her lap, Ernst being able to feel the small baby bump his mother had now that she was in her 3rd month of pregnancy. She then passed the book over to him.

“Okay, I’ll start reading it now.” He cleared his throat and opened the book. Page 1 was a dedication that said “For Mummy”, and the book began in earnest on page 2. “If Granddad was here, then I’d love to have him as a tutor! I bet the schoolhouse at the sanctum was really nice!” He read out the text on the page 3, the drawing on page 2 being of him sat at a desk with his granddad in front of a blackboard.

He flipped the page. “If Granddad was here, I’d read lots of books with him! Grandpapa could come read with us too!” The text on page 5 said, text that he of course read out to his mother. Page 4 featured an illustration of him and both his maternal and paternal grandfathers surrounded by books. To differentiate between their maternal and paternal grandparents, Ernst and Nemesia referred to their mother’s parents as “Grandma and Granddad” and their father’s parents as “Grandmama and Grandpapa” to avoid any confusion between them.

Again, Ernst flipped the page. “If Granddad was here, I bet his and Grandma’s home cooking was really yummy! I know this from the recipes they passed down to Mummy!” He read the text on page 7, the picture on page 6 being a drawing of him with his maternal grandparents surrounded by food from their family recipes, like vegetable soup and apple pie.

Once more he turned the page. “If Granddad was here, then the whole family could hang out! We could come up with a lot of fun activities to do together!” The text on page 9 read, text he spoke aloud to his mother. One page 8 was a drawing of Ernst, Nemesia, their parents and both sets of their grandparents all together and smiling.

Ernst flipped the page. “If Granddad was here, I’d be there for him whenever he felt sad or scared! He may have judged himself harshly, but I don’t think he was a bad person for how his mind worked, and if he was here then I’d always let him know that!” He read the text on page 11 extra emphatically, so that if his granddad’s soul happened to be watching over him in that moment then he’d know that his grandson really loved and cared for him. Ernst knew his granddad sometimes had thoughts about doing bad things and felt guilty about his anxiety-induced inaction, but the young boy didn’t hold those things against his granddad because he never acted on his bad thoughts and he tried to be a good person however he could. The drawing on page 10 was of Ernst hugging his granddad, the older man crying sadly and the young lad smiling reassuringly.

The redheaded boy flipped the page again. “If I ever get to meet Granddad once his soul is reborn into the world, I’ll thank him for being him and for looking after my mummy so well! I’ll congratulate him on being reborn into a better life and for having lived in the bad old world for as long as he did, because I know it was tough for him!” The text on page 13 read, Ernst again reading it out emphatically because he thought that reminding his mother of her belief in reincarnation, of her father being reborn into a better life someday, would comfort her. The picture on page 12 was of Ernst waving to his granddad’s reincarnation from across a street somewhere.

He flipped the page onto the final two pages of the book. “I’m really happy that I was named after my granddad! He was kind, smart and always tried his hardest even when life was tough, so sharing his name is a big honour for me!” He read the text on page 15, the image on page 14 being a drawing of him, his mother and his maternal grandfather. “Well, that’s the end!” Ernst said as he closed the book, the back cover featuring a drawing of a heart on it. “Did you like it, Mummy?”

Suddenly, Ciel embraced her son tightly. “That was a lovely, lovely book, sweetie… It was really nice, hearing about how much you love your granddad…” Her voice was quiet and on the verge of tears, but Ernst could tell that she was grateful for the book and for hearing his thoughts on his maternal grandfather. “You’re such a good boy, Ernst… Such a kind and thoughtful boy… Mummy’s really happy that you’re a kind child…” The tears she had been trying to hold back during the book reading now flowed out of her eyes freely. “Mummy loves you so, so much…” She sobbed and started planting kisses on his forehead, cheeks and the top of his head.

Ernst just hugged his mother in return, rubbing her back comfortingly as he did so. “I love you too, Mummy.” He said with a gentle smile on his face, nuzzling himself into her embrace to let her know that he was there for her on the days where she felt really bad and upset. The two of them hugged for a good couple of minutes until Ciel no longer had any tears left to cry.

August 24th 793, 12AM

Nemesia walked to the Charadrius’s kitchen, wanting to get a glass of warm milk. She couldn’t sleep, she had been having a lot of nightmares lately that left her scared to go back to sleep in case she had them again and wouldn’t wake up from them. As a result she had been somewhat on-edge for the past week, but she didn’t want to talk about her nightmares to her parents or ask if she could share their bed with them whenever she had one because they had been quite busy recently between their duties as Euchronia’s rulers and getting ready for the baby on the way, so she didn’t want to bother her parents whilst they were likely stressed out enough dealing with those two things.

The blonde girl looked around before entering the kitchen, wanting to both make sure nobody else was around to scold her for being awake so late and make sure that she could enter the room as quietly as possible as to avoid waking anybody up. Satisfied that she was the only one around, she sneakily slipped into the kitchen, where she placed Tenty on top of one of the countertops whilst she got what the needed to make her drink. After fetching a half-empty bottle of milk, a pot to boil it in and a mug for drinking, she pulled up a footstool to the oven so that she could see the stovetop more easily, as she was a little too short to see the stove fully without one. She and her brother had been taught many things by their parents, and cooking was one of them.

She poured the milk into the pot and turned on the stove, the appliances in the kitchen being powered by the Charadrius’s electricity supply. After a few minutes, the milk had boiled, so she turned the stove off, poured her drink into the mug and picked up Tenty, moving with her drink into the dining area. She sat herself down and waited for the milk to get cool enough for her, sipping at it slowly once the temperature was right. She was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice someone else had entered the dining hall.

“Isn’t it a bit late for you to be awake, little one?” A familiar voice asked her. She turned her head in surprise to see her father stood by the table she was sat at.

“Daddy! I thought you had gone to bed!” Nemesia exclaimed in shock, thinking she was the only person awake right now.

“I wanted to do some training, so I had a quick training session. I was on my way back to bed when I decided to check in on you and your brother and I saw that you weren’t in your bedroom, so I thought you might be here.” Louis explained, knowing that his daughter had a habit of making warm milk for herself when she couldn’t sleep. He sat down next to her. “You seem bothered by something. What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing’s wrong! Nothing at all!” She tried to brush her worries about her nightmares off, but Louis could see through it.

“You know that I don’t like lies, Nemesia.” He said, not angry or disappointed, but instead concerned.

Nemesia looked away guiltily, knowing better than to lie because her parents had a distaste for falsehoods and raised their children to be honest, but lying anyway in a futile attempt to get her father not to worry about her. “Sorry, Daddy… I just wanted to be a good girl and not make you stressed… I know you’ve had a lot to do lately between running the country and preparing for the baby…”

“Nemesia, you’re already a plenty good girl. You’re kind, you care a lot about the world and others, you’re determined, you’re always willing to help out, those are all incredibly noble traits.” Louis spoke in gentle and reassuring way as he lifted his daughter up and sat her down on his lap, wrapping an arm around her. “You needn’t worry about being a burden to me, you’re absolutely not one and you never have been. You’re one of my greatest treasures, along with your mother, brother and your sibling on the way, and I want nothing more than to make sure that my treasures are safe, happy and well cared for. And I’ve noticed that you’ve seemed a bit out of sorts recently, so please don’t hesitate to talk to me about whatever’s on your mind. I always have time for you and I always want to help you out however I can.” He continued, his hand tenderly stroking her hair to try and comfort her.

The blonde lass let out a small sigh, then spoke. “…Okay. I’ll tell you.” She hugged Tenty tightly in her arms. “I’ve been having a lot of scary dreams lately. About you and Mummy, but, well, they look and sound just like you two, but they don’t act like you at all, s-so they aren’t you, b-but I can’t help but think that they are you since they look so much like you…” She tried to articulate the confusion she felt about the nightmares of her parents who weren’t really her parents, how she at times struggled to separate the actions of her parents in her nightmares from the people she knew her parents actually were in real life.

“Um, in these nightmares, you and Mummy are… Y-You’re both… Really, really mean…” She looked away, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “You two would hit me… And scream at me… A-And deny me food when I was hungry…” She started to shake a little as the memories of her nightmares played in her mind, nightmares that she knew weren’t real but felt it, nightmares of her parents treating her in ways she knew they never would but the vividness of the dreams left her questioning that. “You’d tell me that you hated me and that you wished I had never been born… You’d call me mean things, like stupid, weak, ugly, disgusting, pathetic, worthless…” She sniffled, tears starting to pour from her eyes.

“I-I know… I know you and Mummy aren’t like that at all… But every- everything in those bad dreams felt so real, I’d get scared to- to go back to sleep after having them, b-because I’d start thinking “What if the nice Mummy and Daddy are actually the ones in my dreams? What if the mean ones are the real ones?” or “What if I never wake up and I’m stuck with the mean Mummy and Daddy forever?” and the idea of that- It- It- It’s so scary…” Nemesia’s trembling grew stronger as her sniffles turned into sobs. “Ever since I started having them, I’ve been- been so worried about making you or Mummy mad or stressed, because I- I- I-I don’t want you two to become the mean parents from my dreams…” She couldn’t talk anymore, just sobbing and shaking and clinging to Tenty. Her eyes were clenched shut, and the worry she felt consumed her so much in the current moment that the whole world seemed to disappear, and she felt like she was stuck in some sort of void.

But then, bringing her out of that void was the feeling of her father embracing her tightly, his hug being firm yet gentle all at once, the firmness and the warmth of her father’s body and arms creating a grounding effect to her akin to being under a weighted blanket. Further grounding her in reality was the sound of him softly humming a lullaby that was commonly taught back in his hometown, a lullaby that always made her feel calmer whenever she heard it.

“Nemesia, let me promise you something right here and now, and this is a promise I’m making on your mother’s behalf too.” Louis spoke in a voice both gentle and resolute. “Your mother and I, we would never hurt you. We would never hit you, shout at you or insult you, we would never starve you or neglect your needs, we would never lock you away or kick you out.” He made sure to put emphasis on “never” as he spoke, to make it clear to her that the parents in her nightmares who did those things to her were not her real parents, and that they never would be her real parents.

“We will always be here for you whenever you need us. Whether you want us to celebrate the happy moments in your life or comfort you through the sad moments, we’ll be there. We will always accept and support you no matter what you are or who you become. Perhaps one day you’ll fall in love with someone from a different country or culture, perhaps one day you’ll realise that you’re attracted to other girls or multiple genders or nobody at all, perhaps one day you’ll realise that you’re actually a boy or nonbinary, whatever your future holds we’ll always love you and be there for you. Always.” Again, Louis made sure to put emphasis on “always” as he spoke, so that Nemesia knew that her parents would never abandon or reject her.

“Daddy…” Nemesia sniffled, but with hope instead of sadness. Being hugged so firmly, sung to so softy, reassured so resolutely… It reminded her that the version of her father who she was with right now, he was the real one. The one from her nightmares was nothing more than an illusion that seemed to only exist to frighten her, and now she knew that with certainty. For in this current moment, she was safe and she was loved. Knowing that her parents would always accept and support her was also very comforting for her, as whilst she knew for certain that she was a girl she wasn’t so certain on the topic of who she fancied or if she even fancied anyone at all, it was something she was still trying to work out and a part of her wished she knew already because some of her other friends her age had already worked that sort of thing out for themselves. She knew that working out one’s identity was something that took different amounts of time for different people, some realise who they are very early on in life whilst others don’t fully realise it until much later in life, but she was feeling a bit impatient with it, longing for the certainty of knowing who she liked/if she liked anyone. So the affirmation that her parents would support her through it and love her regardless of what she realised she was, it was something that reassured her deeply.

“I love you, Nemesia. Your mother and I both adore you. The day you and your brother were born was one of the happiest days of our lives.” Louis said before planting a kiss atop his daughter’s head. Nemesia, overcome with emotion from being reminded of just how loved she was by her parents, responded to this by embracing her father as tight as she could, Tenty falling onto her lap from letting the plush toy go, crying into Louis’s chest as she hugged him. “It’s okay, little one. Cry as much as you need to. You are safe and you are loved.” The king reassured her, stroking her hair as he did so. After a minute or so, her tears came to a stop.

“Daddy? If it’s okay, once I’ve finished my milk, can I share the bed with you and Mummy tonight please?” The blonde lass asked, voice a little hoarse from crying.

Louis gave her a gentle, loving smile before replying to her. “Of course you can. In fact I was going to ask if you wanted to sleep in our bed with us tonight.”

“Thank you…” She sniffled again, still a bit teary-eyed. She reached for the mug of milk and drank it in slow, long sips to try and calm herself down. Once the mug was empty, she put it down and picked up Tenty from off her lap, feeling much more relaxed already. “I’m ready to go now.”

Louis nodded and took her off his lap so that he could stand up. He then scooped her up into his arms, also reaching to pick up the empty mug so that he could put it in the kitchen sink. After doing exactly that, he and his daughter began to head to his and Ciel’s bedroom.

Once they got to the door to the bedroom, Louis spoke. “Would you like me to read the family favourite book to you? I’ll have to read it quietly though, your mother is likely fast asleep by now.” He asked her in a soft whisper, and Nemesia nodded yes. Louis and Nemesia then entered the room silently, Ciel out like a light just as Louis thought she would be. He tucked his daughter into bed, putting her in the middle of it, before climbing in and picking up his copy of Hythlodaeus V’s fantasy novel – the favourite book of the whole Charadrius family – to read to her. Indeed, having the story read to her helped her relax further, falling asleep within a few minutes.

As she slept, Nemesia dreamt about her kind real parents chasing away the mean nightmare versions of her parents and vowing to love her always and protect her from the nightmare parents. It was a very soothing dream.

September 20th 793, 9AM

“Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday Dear Ernst and Nemesia, Happy Birthday To You~” Louis and Ciel sang in unison as a greeting as Ernst and Nemesia entered their parents’ private quarters. Today was the twins’s 8th birthday, a day the two children had been looking forward to all month.

“Thanks, Mummy! Thanks, Daddy!” The twins said, also in unison. They first hugged their mother, being careful not to hug her too tightly as to not disturb their younger sibling growing inside her, and then hugged their father. “Shall we open our presents now?” They asked once the hugs were all done with and they took their seats on the sofa opposite to the one their parents were sat on.

Ciel and Louis nodded, gesturing to the presents on the table wrapped in patterned fabric. As Ernst and Nemesia never asked for much on their birthday and weren’t bothered with getting lots of gifts, they always got 2 gifts each on their birthday, one gift from their mother and the other from their father.

“The ones with the floral fabric are my gifts.” Ciel explained and then pointed to the present wrapped in the purple flower print fabric. “The purple one’s for you, Ernst.” Next she pointed to the present wrapped in orange floral print. “And the orange one’s for you, Nemesia.” She then clasped her hands together and gave a beaming smile. “I hope you like them!” The queen chirped as her children picked up their birthday presents from her.

Nemesia unravelled her gift’s wrapping, revealing a small wooden box with the words “sewing kit” engraved on it. “Finally, my own sewing kit! Now I don’t have to use Ernst’s kit whenever I wanna practice making plushies!” The young girl grinned excitedly, having become better at sewing now than she was when she first started learning how to back in March. It was never really a skill she was interested in learning until she started getting the desire to make her own plushies, in fact Ernst had learnt how to sew a year before she did because he knew that sewing was a useful skill for a doctor to have. But now that she knew how to sew, and now she could even make miniature plushies that could fit in the palms of one’s hand.

“Go on sweetie, open it up!” Ciel encouraged her daughter to look inside the sewing kit, which she did. Although the box it came in was small, the kit had all the essentials for sewing – multiple types of sewing needles and pins, spools of thread in a multitude of colours, a pair of scissors, measuring tape, a thimble, a seam ripper, a pin cushion shaped like a tomato, some pieces of tailor’s chalk and even a variety of buttons in all sorts of styles. Nemesia was honestly impressed by how so many things could fit in a box that wasn’t especially tall or deep.

“This is basically everything I could ever need for sewing in here! Thanks, Mummy!” Nemesia squealed in joy for not only finally having her own sewing kit, but it also having so many tools for her to work with. She set the kit down on the sofa and got up so she could give her mother a hug, Ciel giggling and ruffling her daughter’s hair during the embrace.

Ernst opened his mother’s gift to him once Nemesia sat back down. His present was a collection of loose leaf or powdered teas from around the world stored in long and thin glass jars, which were stored in a wooden box the same size as Nemesia’s sewing kit. The collection came with a booklet which went over the countries the teas originated from and their cultures, and there were 8 teas: rooibos mixed with vanilla pieces, matcha, yerba mate, oolong mixed with dried fruit and flowers, masala chai, earl grey tea, yulmu-cha and a mint tea that was made with a mix of peppermint and spearmint. “Wow, there’s a huge selection here! I’m looking forward to trying all these, thank you very much Mummy!” Ernst chirped, having a fondness for tea ever since he first started having hot drinks about a year ago and wanting to try different types of tea aside from the Euchronian varieties.

“I’m glad you like them! I especially recommend the yulmu-cha!” The queen replied, remembering when her right-hand woman Eun-Mi was alive and when she’d make yulmu-cha, a drink from her homeland of Pyeonghwa, and her most favourite food.

Although Eun-Mi’s homeland’s name translated to “peace” in its language (said language, and its culture as a whole, being based on the culture of the old world country Korea), when Eun-Mi was alive it was far from a peaceful place – when she was 9, Pyeonghwa was caught in the crossfire of a war between two countries nearby it, the country trying to stay neutral and its officials trying to act as mediators in the war, but neither of the warring countries would listen to them and instead just continued to wage their war on Pyeonghwa’s territory, completely disregarding how the Pyeonghwanese wanted nothing to do with their war and eliminating any citizens who tried to force them out of the country, Eun-Mi’s father included. Eun-Mi and her mother fled the country to escape from the war, but once the war ended they couldn’t return because one of the warring countries had colonised it and would only allow people to live there if they forsook their culture and assumed the coloniser nation’s culture, and Eun-Mi and her mother refused to abandon their Pyeonghwanese identity.

Thus began Eun-Mi’s lifelong struggle to find a place to belong, where she could be herself without threat to the things that made her who she was, but unfortunately all she faced in life was racism, xenophobia and attempts from the countries she stayed in to assimilate her into their culture, as if multiple types of people couldn’t co-exist even though the fact that multiple types of animals and plants co-existed without issue proved that very idea wrong. And that life of being rejected by the world, deemed as a “foreign leech” and a “lesser” lifeform to be “civilised” or “corrected” by the countries she stayed in during she and her mother’s search for a place where they could be accepted, and being unable to control others perception of her, along with being forcibly separated from her mother and sent to fight in a war she wanted nothing to do with at the young age of 14, led her to start taking drugs in an attempt to escape from her traumatic experiences and the cruel reality that she lived in, being addicted to a variety of substances by the time she met Ciel.

The war and colonisation of Pyeonghwa, the separation of mustari children from their families and homes by the Sanctist Church either by kidnapping or by sending them to residential schools in the name of “civilising” them and “cleansing them of their sinful ways”, the destruction of the settlements belonging to lesser tribes (eldan ones especially) by the church so they could build their own settlements in their place, the annexation of Altabury, the kidnapping of children orphaned in war and pillaging to be forced into slavery like Junah had been, the igniter experiments carried out on the paripus and the eugief populations of Euchronia, the demonisation of queer people that was carried out in the birth country of Saskia’s friends Dolores and Tremblay, the genocides perpetuated against the elda not just in Euchronia but outside of it… The fact that they happened and were allowed to happen made Ciel sick to her stomach. The horrific violence, discrimination, subjugation and destruction that had plagued the time of the original humanity had been allowed to occur after their demise even though they wished for their demise and the erasure of any proof they existed out of remorse for their sins and a desire to create a clean slate where something better than them could take their place. Unfortunately, the post-humans had inherited the tribalistic instincts of those before them, instincts that whilst useful before the original humanity evolved to evade predators had become a hindrance to the original humans as it only led to discrimination against those different from them and the power-hungry and prejudiced to gain power and manipulate others into prejudice and destruction. And as long as biases of the conscious, subconscious and unconscious existed thanks to the bigoted and corrupt thanks to those tribalistic instincts, then people would continue to be oppressed, and the oppressed would fight amongst themselves for their differences instead of seeing the parallels between each other and uniting against their true enemies.

So to ensure that injustice could no longer occur, that biases of the conscious, subconscious and unconscious would be purged and that mortalkind’s tribalistic instincts were truly shed, Ciel crafted her magic to partially sever the people’s connection to their senses of self by having their soul/conscious become detachable inhabiting vessel and placed in other people’s from the past or present, particularly those who had been oppressed, so that they could experience life in their shoes and to remind them the person their soul had been temporarily wired to the body of could've been them if not for fate, and that all souls should be allowed to life. The feelings, physical and emotional, of the vessel the soul had been wired to were felt by the soul, and when the vessel died the soul would temporarily die to, to remind the people that past their differences they were made of the same meat and bone and felt the same emotions. People had forgotten the golden rule of "I wouldn't like this if it happened to me, so don't do it to someone else" and Ciel’s magic would remind them of that at all times. Their comprehension of each other would become perfect to prevent them from harming each other unintentionally or otherwise. Their free will would be untainted by the capacity to commit injustice, meaning that the true clean slate for the world could be achieved, and equality could come to be since everyone was all identities all at once now. Of course, people did still have a sense of self, for purging it entirely would be an insult to all those who had their selves taken from them or were deemed something bad and had to be hidden away or were just not allowed to be themselves due to prejudice or the unfair expectations of others, so with her magic everyone could be themselves but they would also have to be everyone else sometimes, just to remind them to stay respectful of others.

Ciel knew that progress towards equality could’ve been possible without her magic, that perhaps people could atone for their evils and the evils of those before them. But she had always thought “Why now? Why not before? Don’t those who died under oppression deserve these improvements? If people really cared about equality, then oppression would never have been allowed to happen at all. No amount of penance will change the fact that injustice had happened, the only way to truly make things fair is to wipe our current sinful selves out so that something truly viceless can come to be, something the souls of the oppressed can be reborn into and live freely like they had always deserved.” in regards to that. She felt that those who had suffered deserved consistency and perfection, something the inconsistency of the passage of time and different eras having different morals and ethics couldn’t grant them. Her magic now made the world like fossils preserved in amber, where nothing could ever harm anyone and where the people could exist peacefully forevermore.

The ugly inconsistency that was prejudice was purged from the people’s minds and hearts. Like with the plants and the animals, whose existences Ciel considered to be the ideal, differences between people weren't judged as better or worse than each other, they just were, and they were allowed to be. Two dogs could be completely different breeds and they'd still get along like two peas in a pod, and flowers in a field could have different heights, petal shapes/numbers and colours, and in the case of the same type of flower in the same colour different shades, and they just accepted that – and now the new humans led that kind of life too. People were truly in control of how they were perceived by the world, they could do whatever they wanted without limitations and their identities and wishes were respected for everyone had the golden rule carved into their souls by Ciel’s magic and everyone was all identities and all cultures through the magic too.

And part of Ciel and Louis’s travels outside of Euchronia, building relationships with the other countries that had survived the unleashing of the couple’s royal magic and seeing how their rebuilding was coming along, was done to make sure that the world outside of Euchronia would also know equality, that they were learning their lessons and respecting one another and doing better than those before them. Sure, Ciel’s magic could be seen as a form of psychological warfare and her and Louis monitoring the world could be seen as mass surveillance, but if what the couple did was the only way to purge mortal beings of the capacity for discrimination and evil and the only way to end the cycle of history repeating and ensure history was actually learned from, then the ends justified the means.

“Mummy? Are you okay?” Ernst asking her that question and gently shaking her leg brought her out of her thoughts. “You were zoning out…”

“I’m alright, sweetie! I was just thinking about some stuff, is all.” Ciel gave her son a smile and a headpat before gesturing for him to sit back down. “Why don’t you two open up your gifts from Daddy? Ernst, yours is the green one and Nemesia, yours is the red one.” She suggested, and the two children picked up their gifts which were wrapped in velvet fabric.

Ernst unwrapped his gift, revealing a small marble mortar and pestle and some small jars full of various herbs for medicine making. “I’ve been wanting to get myself my own personal medicine-making kit, now I don’t need to! Thank you, Daddy!” The redheaded boy went to give his father a hug.

“I’m glad you like it. I hope it serves you well.” Louis hummed and hugged Ernst back, ruffling his hair as he did so. “And I’m certain the remedies you create with your new gift will benefit people well.” Ernst grinned beamingly when he heard those words. Louis then turned to face his daughter. “Why don’t you open up your gift, Nemesia?”

The young girl did as suggested, revealing a box filled with a selection of Homo Tenta-themed goodies – a ceramic figurine of one that fit in the palm of her hand, a hairpin set with a hairpin for each type of Homo Tenta, a notebook with a drawing of the gold variant on the front and a drawstring pouch in a pattern featuring all of the Homo Tenta variants. “Wooow, these are so cute!! Look, Tenty! It’s your relatives!” Nemesia chirped as she showed her plush toy the contents of the box.

“So I take it you like your new gifts?” The king asked, Nemesia nodding enthusiastically in response.

“I love them! Thanks so much, Daddy!” She went over to hug her father, who ruffled her hair as he reciprocated the hug. Louis was happy that both of his children loved the gifts he had commissioned for them.

“So now that you two have opened your gifts, would you like to help me with making your birthday cake?” Ciel asked.

“Yeah!” Both children responded at the same time. The three of them got up from the sofas and began to head out the door.

“Let me help out too. I’m not really a baker, but I think it’d be nice family activity for us, don’t you think?” Louis said as he got up and went to join his family.

December 35th 793, 11:50PM

“A new year will be upon us soon. Do you have any wishes for it, little ones?” Louis asked his children. The whole family was sat outside on the deck of the Charadrius, waiting for the New Years fireworks show to start.

“Hmm…” Ernst crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side in thought. “I suppose I’d like to continue gaining knowledge.”

Nemesia’s answer was more immediate than her brother’s. “I wanna make new friends and see new things!”

“I see, wonderful wishes indeed.” The king nodded to himself and smiled. “You know, your mother and I have the same wish for the new year.” He turned his head to face his wife, the two of them smiling at each other.

“That’s right, darling!” Ciel hummed and she and her husband had a brief kiss on the lips. The king and queen then both looked down at her swollen belly warmly. “Our wish is that your little sibling arrives into this world safely and in good health.” She said as she rubbed her tummy.

“Yeah, we hope for that too!” Nemesia chirped, Ernst nodding in agreement with her. The two children got up from their seats and went to their mother, gently putting their heads against her stomach.

“Hey, Mummy, the baby’s gonna be due next month, right?” Ernst asked in excitement, looking forward to meeting his younger sibling, as was Nemesia.

“Yep! They should arrive midway through the month, but they might get here earlier or later than that. Basically they’ll be due any day next month.” The queen replied, patting both her kids on their heads. She was then surprised by the feeling of the baby kicking quite restlessly, the little one having woken up from their nap. “Hehe, seems like they’re excited to get here too!” She giggled, her children likewise laughing with her. Louis just watched his three (soon to be four) greatest treasures with a loving smile on his face, looking forward to spending another year with them.

January 9th 794, 10AM

Ernst and Nemesia were having a maths lesson when their maths tutor was interrupted mid-sentence by the door opening. “Sorry to interrupt you Mrs. Pinelli, but can I talk to Ernst and Nemesia for a moment, please? It’s important…” Ciel said, partially stepping into the room. Her face had a slightly uncomfortable expression and was a bit flushed, and one of her hands was clutching her belly. Mrs. Pinelli nodded, and Ernst and Nemesia got up from their desks and exited the room, now in one of the Charadrius’s many hallways, Louis also being there alongside Ciel, who closed the door behind her.

“Mummy, Daddy, what’s up?” Nemesia asked in concern, Ernst was also looking at his parents in worry.

Carefully, Ciel knelt down on the floor. “Kids, your little sibling is on their way. I just wanted to tell you so that you knew what was going on.” She explained, and to the two children their mother looking so uncomfortable made a lot more sense to them. After all, they had been taught by their parents about how pregnancy worked a while back.

“Will you be okay?” Ernst inquired, still concerned for his mother even though he knew what was going on.

“I’ll be alright, the baby will be alright, everything will be alright. This isn’t my first rodeo with having a baby after all, and I’ve got your Daddy by my side to help me through things.” The queen reassured her children with a warm smile and some pats to their heads. Louis also knelt down and ruffled his children’s hair to reassure them.

“Worry not, little ones. I’ll take good care of your mother and your sibling.” He spoke warmly with an equally warm smile on his face before helping Ciel back onto her feet. “I’ll let you both know when the baby has been born. Try and carry on with your day as usual, alright? Everything will be fine.”

The two children nodded and headed back into the classroom. Mrs. Pinelli approached them, immediately knowing what was going on just from looking at Ciel since she was a mother herself. “Hey, I know that you’re both worried about your mum, so we’ll finish today’s lesson earlier than usual today, okay?” The teacher said, patting her students on their heads. “Now let’s get back to the lesson, your mum and dad would want you to continue with your days like normal, and the lesson might take your minds off of things too.” Again, Ernst and Nemesia nodded in response and sat at their desks. And just like that, the lesson carried on as normal.

January 9th 794, 3:30PM

Ernst and Nemesia tried to continue with their days like nothing was going on, but they couldn’t help but worry about their mother and younger sibling. It was something that remained in the back of their minds no matter how much they tried to keep their minds busy with their other lessons for the day. Now that all their lessons today were done, the rest of their day was free for them to do whatever they wanted with it. They were sat on the Charadrius’s deck, Ernst reading a book to try and distract himself and Nemesia looking out at the scenery with both Tenty and the teddy bear that Priam had brought as a gift for the baby.

“Ah, there you both are.” A familiar voice called out to the two children. They turned their heads to see their father.

“Daddy!” They both exclaimed at the same time, immediately stopping what they were doing to run up to him, for they knew that him being on the deck meant that the baby had been born. “Are Mummy and the baby okay?”

“Yes, they’re both perfectly fine.” He said gently as he knelt down to hug his children, who likewise reciprocated the hug. “Why don’t I take you to see them both? You must be excited to meet the new addition to the family, I’m sure.”

Enthusiastically, Ernst and Nemesia nodded their heads. Louis stood up and gestured for his children to hold his hands which they did, Ernst taking the left hand and Nemesia taking the right hand. They walked to Louis and Ciel’s bedroom, stopping right at the door. “Now, you’ll have to be as quiet as you can once we enter, since the little one might be sleeping.” The king explained before he opened the door, him and his children entering the room and seeing Ciel sat up in the bed, holding and looking down lovingly at a baby bundled in a white blanket. She then noticed that Ernst and Nemesia were in the room and gave them a beaming smile.

“Ernst, Nemesia, come and say hello to your little brother!” She said in a gentle yet cheerful tone, and as soon as those words left her mouth the two children rushed up to the bed. “Be careful with touching me, okay? Mummy’s body is still pretty sore, your little brother only arrived in the world an hour ago.” She told them as they climbed onto the bed and sat themselves down on either side of her so that they could see their newborn brother.

The baby had light blond hair like his father with the looser waves of his mother’s hair, along with his father’s nose shape and thin eyebrows and his mother’s freckles and moles. He started to open his eyes, revealing them to have the hazel colour of his mother’s eyes and the slit pupils of his father’s eyes. Seeing two people unfamiliar to him, he started to cry.

“Shh shh, it’s okay, it’s us, your big siblings!” Ernst reassured his newborn brother, and hearing a voice he recognised seemed to calm the baby down a little, his crying becoming quieter.

“Yeah, it’s only us! And look! One of our friends got a gift for you!” Nemesia joined in on reassuring her baby brother, showing him the teddy bear that Priam had brought. Again, hearing a familiar voice helped calm the little one down until he completely stopped crying.

“Do you two have any ideas for names for him?” Ciel asked after the baby calmed down. “Mummy and Daddy were wondering if you had any suggestions for us?”

“I think Niels would be a nice name for him!” Ernst answered. “What do you think, Nemesia?”

“Hmm, I like the sound of Hugo as a name for him instead!” Nemesia chimed in. “Which one do you two prefer?” She asked to both her mother and her father, who had sat himself down on the side of the bed.

“They’re both wonderful names!” The queen hummed and looked towards her husband.

“Indeed they are.” The king smiled and reached over to stroke the newborn baby’s head. “Say, I have an idea: why don’t we decide which one of the two names to name him through heads or tails? Whichever name isn’t chosen will be his middle name. Does that sound fair to everyone?”

“Yes it does!” Ciel, Ernst and Nemesia all agreed in unison. Louis nodded to them and took a coin from out of his pocket.

“Heads for Niels, tails for Hugo, is that alright with all of you?” Louis inquired, and Ciel and the twins nodded yes. He then flipped the coin, landing on tails on the back of Louis’s hand. “Tails. Hugo Niels Charadrius it is, then.”

And thus, the newest member of the Charadrius family was named. Louis, Ciel, Ernst and Nemesia all spent the rest of the fawning over little Hugo and imagining the kind of future he’d have.