Today the kids were doing a presentation in class, so I swung by in the early afternoon to take a listen. I was just in time. Calla was walking to the front of the classroom, where the teacher sat to the left hand corner. The students, sharing large desks in pairs, were staring forwards. Some were fidgeting in their seats or doodling on a scrap piece of paper.
Calla was holding her speech in one hand. When she got to the front, she cleared her throat, looked at me, and grinned. I smiled back. The teacher finished jotting something down before turning to Calla and saying, "Go ahead when you're ready."
Calla glanced down at her paper and said, "Today, I am giving a speech about my family. I have a mama, a papa, a big brother, an uncle, and a grandpa and grandma. My mama works for the Kingdom. She is an advisor. My papa works for the Church. He is trying to help kids in orphanages. My big brother is a student at the Officer's Academy. He is fifteen-years-old. My uncle is a teacher at the Officer's Academy. My grandpa and grandma are both retired. My grandpa is teaching me horseback riding, and my grandma is teaching me sewing. My family likes to go on picnics together. The end. Thank you." Calla bowed.
"Thank you, Calla," the teacher said, shuffling through her papers. "All right, that's everyone for today. Don't forget to turn in your speeches! Class dismissed." Calla gave her speech to her teacher before skipping down the aisle to me.
"Mama!" Calla held her arms out, and I couldn't resist the urge to sweep her up in my arms, even though she was getting a bit too old for this.
"Great job!" I said. "Did you get everything?"
"Oh yeah." Calla glanced back to her desk, so I set her back down. She grabbed her small knapsack and tossed it on her back. "All ready."
"Let's go then." I took her little hand, and we headed out of the classroom with the other children. Calla had fiery orange hair and brown eyes, so people often questioned me when I claimed to be her mother. But even if we weren't related by blood, she was still my daughter, and I was her mother.
Calla filled me in on what her classmates' speeches had been about. One was about a pet lizard, and one about visiting Enbarr on a vacation. We had a house near the top of the Garreg Mach town. Jeralt and Byleth both still stayed at the monastery, but they dropped by often.
"Hi Mr. Knight! Hi Ms. Knight!" Calla greeted the two guards at the gate when we entered. Since I was working as Dimitri's advisor, we had four Kingdom knights patrolling our house at all times.
Rose was sitting at the dining table. "Welcome back," she said with a smile. Rose's hair had turned mostly gray and white, with deep wrinkles around her eyes and cheeks. Calla ran over to get Rose a hug.
"Ren's coming back for the weekend," I said, moving to the kitchen.
"Oh, how lovely," Rose said, stroking Calla's hair while Calla told her all about her speech today in class. I dug a pot out and set it over the fire. "Do you need help, Byleth?"
"No, Yuri told me what to do," I said, pouring water in. I started cutting up the wild boar meat.
"What are we eating today?" Calla asked, running over.
"Some stew. Go put your knapsack down," I said.
"Okay!"
I listened to Calla stomp up the stairs. Rose stood up and walked to my side to watch my cutting skills, which, even now, were pretty terrible. After tossing the meat and bones into the pot, I looked at Rose who was biting her bottom lip.
"Oh, sit down, Mother, I won't cut myself," I said, trying to shoo her off.
"I may be old but I'm not useless," Rose said and rolled her sleeves up. "Besides, I taught Yuri this recipe."
"Fine, fine, suit yourself." I left her to cut up the vegetables while I went to stir the pot. Calla raced back down the stairs and over.
"I wanna help!" she said, bouncing on her feet. I couldn't remember if I was this energetic when I was a child. I didn't think I was.
"Come wash your hands," Rose said. We had most of the ingredients washed and prepped when Yuri returned with Ren trailing behind him. Calla dashed over to them at the door.
"Papa! Guess what? I gave a speech today and-"
"Ugh, you're in the way," Ren pushed Calla aside by her head and dropped into one of the dining chairs.
"Hey!" Calla hopped up and down, trying to stomp her little feet on the wooden floor as loudly as possible. "That's mean!"
Yuri chuckled, which probably didn't help. Calla pointed at Ren and opened her mouth when Yuri took her hand and said, "All right, tell me about your speech." He scooped her up in his arms and came over to the kitchen, while Calla was reciting her speech.
Yuri kissed the top of my head. "Hey, Byleth," he said. "Mother, you're helping again?" He placed Calla back down to toss spices into the stew.
"Look at how much faster it was with my help," Rose said with her hands on her hips. "Calla, bring that loaf of bread over."
"Okay!"
Rose sliced up the loaf of bread and placed it on the table. Ren was reading a book. He had long black hair and hazel eyes. Another orphan, and the first kid Yuri and I adopted.
"How are classes?" I asked him, while placing some bowls down.
"Boring. I can't do magic, and I hate history," he said.
"Ren, come help get the dishes!" Rose said. He sighed and stood up, leaving his book splayed out like a tent to mark his place. I had to admit having Rose around was a big help, because Yuri and I were more likely to spoil than scold the children. Ren grabbed spoons for everyone, while Yuri brought the pot over to the table. Then we all sat down to eat.
After dinner, I retired to my little office, in the back of the house. There was still some mail I had to go through and a report to write up. I was more of a diplomat or ambassador now than an advisor. I made trips to the Empire and the Alliance on behalf of the Kingdom. The most memorable one was probably when Claude invited everyone to Goneril, to celebrate Fodlan's Throat opening up. There were Almyran high officials and civilians there. Dedue and I attended as representatives for the Kingdom, and we met Hilda and her family there. Ferdinand was the Empire's representative and Petra was also invited. It was really just a large party, but that was what made it fun.
As for my other classmates, they all seemed to be doing well. Ingrid was still serving Dimitri as a knight, alongside Dedue. Sylvain, Felix, and Ashe had taken lordship over their respective lands. Mercedes was helping out at orphanages as a Church priest with Annette. Every year, we met up at the palace to reconnect.
On the Empire side, Edelgard was leading the movements to abolish the Crest system, with Hubert and Ferdinand by her side. Petra returned home to Brigid about five years ago but visited Fodlan often for diplomatic events. Caspar took his father's position as Minister of Military Affairs, while Dorothea was working as the Minister of Domestic Affairs.
Although Bernadetta did inherit Count Varley's title and lands, she left the Minister of Religion position open for a commoner selected by Edelgard. Lindhardt opted to do Crest research with Hanneman, renouncing his noble title to do so. Shortly after the war, they had a competition to see who could help Lysithea remove her crests the fastest. Lindhardt won.
Claude was still leading the Alliance. Lorenz and Marianne both inherited their seat on the Alliance. Leonie was a mercenary, known as the Blade Breaker II, and she often stopped by Garreg Mach to see Jeralt. Raphael was working as a Knight, but after the war, Ignatz left his knight title behind and instead pursued painting. I'd heard through the grapevine that he'd married Raphael's younger sister. Hilda was opening artisan academies, with the financial support of the house of Margrave Edmund. As for Lysithea, the last I'd heard, she was staying with her family.
Of course, I couldn't leave out the Ashen Wolves. Constance was working on reestablishing House Nuvelle, with a bit of help from Edelgard. After Balthus finally paid off all of his debts, he and Hapi decided to go travelling around Fodlan together. Yuri and I received several letters from them detailing their trips, which also often included requests for money.
Yuri opened the door and poked his head in.
"What?" I asked, looking up from the report I was working on. It was for a publishing company, the one I'd worked with many, many years before. Arelia, the chief editor, and their newest journalist was working on a biography of key figures in the War.
"Still working?" he asked, closing the door behind him and walking over.
"I'm almost done." The room was darkening from the setting sun, so I lit the candles with a flick of my wrist. "Is something the matter?"
"Jeralt's here," Yuri said with a smirk. "But I also would like a hug."
I laughed and reached my arms out to give him a hug. "Well, I'm sure he has plenty of people to provide him company."
"Yes, he's teaching Calla again," Yuri said. "You don't mind if I stay here for a minute, do you?"
"No, why? Is it too noisy outside?" I asked, picking my quill back up. Yuri drew an armchair over and pulled a book out of his pocket.
"You know those two like to quarrel," he said. Straining my ear, I could hear Calla yelling something again from outside of my study.
"You know, we're supposed to stop them when they do that," I said.
"I know, but I find it too amusing to stop them," he said with a chuckle. "My mother can handle it." I shook my head and turned back to the page covered in my handwriting. Yuri was right.
"Maybe we shouldn't have adopted Calla," I said. "No, forget I said that. I suppose neither of us really know what it's like to have a sibling to fight with."
"I'd say neither of us really know how to parent," Yuri said. Was that irresponsible of us? I glanced at Yuri. It sounded irresponsible of us. He shrugged, as if he could read my mind. "They're better off here than they were in the orphanage."
He was also right. At least here, Yuri and I - Rose and Jeralt too - could give them the unconditional love of a parent or grandparent. And having been an orphan myself, I knew what it felt like to feel that for the very first time. I reached a hand out for Yuri. Smiling at him, I squeezed his hand. "Shall we adopt another then?"
Yuri laughed and leaned over to brush his lips against my cheek. "Maybe in a few more years."
"Yes, perhaps."
Thanks for reading! :)