Fall 12

My condition wasn't much of a secret anymore; pretty much everyone in Alvarna knew about the baby! It was obvious; my abdomen stuck out now and nothing covered it well anymore. I felt it move as I giggled; it was such a feisty thing. I never really got much sleep anymore because of it moving, but it was worth it!

"I'm going, now!" I exclaimed as mom paused her sweeping.

"Take care, Clara!" She called out. I opened the door of my house. My clogs tapped on the damp grass, a very light drizzle was happening. I had plenty of time before I had to be at school, and I did recall Ceci wanting to see me whenever I had the time. I decided that I would see her after school. I wanted to visit Leonel right now though.


I knocked on the front door of the mayor's house. Byron peeked his head slightly out before opening the door all the way with a big smile.

"Good morning, Clara! How are you and my great-grandchild?" He gleefully exclaimed as I grinned. He was super enthused about the baby; more so than my grandfather! But, of course, my grandfather really favored Leann. If she were having a baby, he would probably be all over her…or maybe not if she were in my situation. A young, unwed teen mom.

"I'm doing fine, Byron! And, well, the baby moves, so I guess it's fine as well." I placed my hand on my belly, as he chuckled.

"How often does it move?" he asked.

"All the time it seems. I haven't gotten much sleep with it kicking me." I joked as he gave a small chuckle.

"Barrett and Leonel were the same way, moving constantly! Oh, right. I bet you've come to see Leonel?" I nodded my head.

"I'll have him down in a jiffy!" He exclaimed, trudging upstairs. I took a seat at the armchair with my hand on my stomach; a little kick on my hand caused me to jerk back before resting my hand again. Leonel came down moments later, a small smile on his face, still in his nightclothes.

"Morning, Clara! What are you doing here so early?" His face changed from elated to concerned, "Is there something wrong with the baby?" I shook my head.

"No, no! Of course not! I just thought it would be good for both of us to visit each other! I mean with our baby coming and all we should probably see each other for his or her sake." He nodded his head in understanding, leaning on the arm of the chair where I was seated. There was a second of silence.

"Have you wondered what our baby is?" he asked randomly as I raised my brow.

"Well I hope it's a baby…" I replied, "because if it's something else, I'm going to have to ask about your family tree." He laughed a bit, shaking his head.

"No, no. I mean have you wondered if our baby is a boy or a girl." he blushed as I tilted my head, blinking a few times, furrowing my brows.

"I have wondered, but I want to wait until it's born. I'd really like it to be a surprise. Though, Alicia was pushing me to let her make a prediction a few days before her trip." I groaned as he giggled.

"She really is pushy, huh?"

"Yep, I had to say no to her several times! Unfortunately, she'll probably start pushing again as soon as she comes back."

"When was she supposed to come back, again?"

"Winter tenth."

"Right." Leonel blushed. There was a moment of silence as I noticed Leonel blushing. His eyes moved down towards my stomach.

"Ah, C-Clara? D-do you mind if I…?" I knew what he was trying to ask as I grabbed his wrists, pressing them on my belly, maneuvering them around trying to get our baby to kick his hand. He gasped in delight as soon as he felt a kick. He made probably one of the goofiest grins ever. He blushed a little, looking up at my face.

"That's amazing, Clara!" he exclaimed, looking down at my belly again, placing his forehead against it. I chuckled.

"You're lucky you don't have to carry the thing." I said.

"That's gotta be tough." he said, removing himself from my belly, standing up. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Trade me abdomens?" I asked as his face turned white, causing me to laugh.

"I'm joking, Leonel! I know that's not possible."

"I kind of wish it was possible." he said, slightly depressed, as I grabbed his hand.

"You're going to be an amazing daddy! You already care about him or her so much." I let go of his hand and grabbed onto the arms of the chair, trying to lift myself up. Leonel noticed this and helped me the rest of the way.

"I'll leave you to dress and then I'll see you at school, okay?" Leonel looked down and blushed when he noticed that he was still in his nightclothes. I giggled as I walked out of the mayor's house.

"Clara! I really want to talk to you!" I jumped, turning to the sound of the voice. Ceci was quickly walking towards me with a basket in her arms.

"Oh, yeah, I didn't forget! What did you want to talk about, Ceci?" I asked, blinking a few times, she just smiled and offered me her hand.

"Come with me?"

"Uh…sure!" I took her hand as she led me to Cherry Blossom Square. She sat a checkered blanket on the ground and patted a seat next to her. I plopped myself as gently as I could on the ground next to her. Not long after, I was stuffing my face with all the delicious foods Ceci had packed, sandwiches, cakes, cookies, the works! She was an amazing cook! No wonder grandfather hired her!

"I wanted to talk to you about your family tree." she began, I looked over at her, my glass of orange juice had barely touched my lips. Was there something I didn't know?

"Well," she began, chuckling a bit, slightly blushing "I'm not sure about your full family tree, but I was great friends with your grandfather!"

"Well, yeah you work for him, right?" she began to laugh a bit as if I had told her some funny joke.

"No, no, Clara, I was actually referring to your great-grandfather, your father's father's father." I choked slightly on my orange juice. She knew him? How? And why hasn't she ever told my dad?

"Do you remember all of my stories about Raguna?" I looked over at her, my finger pressed on my lips.

"Yeah, I remember…wait. Was he my great-grandpa?" I asked in shock.

"Yes…though, his real name was Troy." I couldn't believe it! This guy was a legend! He saved the whole damn kingdom from the Sechs, defeated a dragon god, and saved a whole floating island! There was no way this man was my grandfather!

"Still in shock?" Cecilia asked, giggling a bit. I nodded, wiping my mouth.

"A bit…How well did you know my great-grandfather, what about my great-grandmother? Wait…how did you know them?" I asked in complete shock, Ceci was so young! She smiled, noticing my expression.

"Well you see, Clara, an elf, or even someone with elfish blood, tend to live longer than a normal human. In real life I'm actually well into my nineties." My jaw dropped; surely, she wasn't that old! She chuckled a bit. "I see you're still in shock."

"Wait…then how old is Orland in real life?!" Guessing he was probably thirty something, Ceci just giggled.

"He's fourteen. You're just a little bit older than he is." I relaxed a bit, and looked into her eyes, and finally saw all of the years.

"You've told me stories of my great-grandfather, what about my great-grandmother? What was she like?" I asked as Ceci placed a finger to her mouth as if trying to remember.

"She was a mysterious woman. Hardly anyone talked to her, and she hardly talked to anyone. Everyone thought she was strange, and honestly we were kind of scared of her. However, Troy found her to be an amazing and interesting woman. The more they talked, the more in love they fell." I tilted my head to the side.

"Do you remember her name?" Cecilia nodded her head.

"Her name was Sharron." She sighed in sadness, "She died from an illness about a year after their daughters were born. I do recall Troy remarrying a woman named Eunice years later and they had their daughter." I was still curious about my grandfather, my father's father.

"Do you remember my grandfather, that is, Troy's son's name?" she smiled.

"I do! His name was Thanatos! Or Thanny for short. He was such a cute little boy! I absolutely adored him! And I was heartbroken when they moved to Trampoli. I never really saw them much after that. I don't know the name of the woman he married, but I'm going to guess she was a red-head." I didn't know what to say, or how to take this all in. I did know about my mom's side of the family, my great-grandmother Bianca, whom I could tell from the paintings was very stuck up and spoiled, her father, Jasper, whom my grandfather resembled very closely, and a few others. Apparently my dad had amnesia when he walked into this town, and yet…why didn't Cecilia say anything to him?

"Hey, Ceci?" I began as she gave me her full attention, "How come you never told my dad?" She closed her eyes and smiled.

"It's a complicated story…" She paused for a moment before continuing "But the short story is that your mother really liked your father. I was afraid if I told him I knew some things about his past, and who he was…that he would fall in love with me, and I knew he made your mom happy!" I understood, she sacrificed the truth for love, and I am glad she did. I wouldn't be here if she didn't!

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked, Ceci smiled and nodded, the wind started to blow her, "The sylphs are telling me your baby is healthy!" She stood up, helping me up as well.

"Now, get to school!" She ordered, "Someone has been waiting for you to finish our conversation." I furrowed my brows in confusion and looked over at Leonel sitting on the steps of the school. How long had he been there? I looked up at the big clock, the time read 10:04. We had a while before class began. I walked quickly over to him and took a seat next to him. His eyes darted from the ground towards me.

"Hey, Clara." I turned my head towards him. His cheeks turned a pale pink color. Sheesh, he's always blushing it seems, it makes him look more like a girl than usual! We sat in silence for a few moments before I asked.

"Are you going to Sera and Serena's birthday party?" He blinked a few times and tilted his head.

"Where was it again?"

"The port!" He nodded

"I'll definitely be there!" There was another moment of silence as the bell rang. Leonel stood up, helping me to my feet. He walked inside of the school building. Roy, Cammy, and the twins were walking out of the doors. As I was about to enter, I was stopped by Sera and Serena.

"Did you hear?!" Sera asked in excitement as I blinked in uncertainty.

"Uh…about what? Your birthday party? Yeah! You invited me! Remember?" they just giggled before Sera continued.

"No, silly! Next year we'll be in your class! With You, Leann, Orland, and Leonel!"

"Cammy and Roy are graduating at the end of winter! And Mr. Barrett and Ms. Mana thought it would be silly to just teach us by ourselves so they moved us!" Serena finished as I smiled.

"That's amazing!" I exclaimed, "So I guess starting Spring you'll be with us? Awesome!"

"Yeah! Anyway, you better get to class! You don't want Mr. Barrett to get upset over your tardiness." Serena joked as I giggled.

"I'm looking forward to your party!" I exclaimed, waving to them as I entered the academy, taking my seat, awaiting for class to start.