Note: To clarify, I am well aware that there are nine desks in the game; however, for it to make sense (for me) on why the class still switches out (like it does in the game), I changed it to four desks.
-end note-
Fall 15
I sighed, trying to put my favorite loose shirt on before becoming so annoyed that I tossed the shirt on the floor in frustration.
I didn't like how nothing fit me anymore. My abdomen was very noticeable now and nothing covered it well anymore. Even though I didn't need to cover it, everyone in town knew about me becoming a mother, I just hated how I looked.
The baby started to move as I giggled.
"You're making this difficult on me, you know that?" I asked it while sighing. It was such a feisty thing. I also don't get much sleep anymore because of it moving. I sighed, pulling out the maternity clothes mom gave me. I might as well get used to this now.
I pulled out a mauve colored sweater and a knee length pleated espresso brown circle skirt with an elastic waist. I strapped on my boots, making my way downstairs. I grabbed my tote near the front door.
"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 boots tapped on the damp grass as a very light drizzle dripped from the sky. I had plenty of time before I had to be at school, maybe I should visit Leonel for a bit?
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 asked as I grinned.
He was super enthused about the baby; Gordon as well! Even more so than my grandfather! Though my grandfather wasn't too keen on my situation either. Especially considering it will tarnish our family name due to me keeping the baby. And I'm not marrying Leonel either, which would fix the situation, however it felt wrong to marry someone I didn't want to spend my life with.
"I'm doing fine, Byron! And 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, his eyes sparkling.
"All the time it seems. I haven't gotten much sleep with it kicking me." I joked as he gave another small chuckle.
"Barrett and Leonel were the same way, moving constantly! Ah, I bet you've come to see Leonel, right?" I nodded my head.
"Please, come in, Clara! I'll have him down in a jiffy!" He exclaimed, allowing me to enter the house. He trudged 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 smile on his face, still in his nightclothes.
"Morning, Clara! What are you doing here so early?" His face changed from elated to concerned, rushing next to me in my seat.
"I-is there something wrong with the baby?" He asked with such worry. I shook my head.
"No, no! Nothing's wrong! I just thought it would be a good idea to see you! I mean with the baby coming and all, we should 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 snickered a bit, shaking his head.
"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'll wait until it's born. I really want 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 snickered.
"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's face heating up. His eyes were fixated on my midriff.
"Ah, C-Clara? D-do you mind if I, uhm-?" He began, wiggling his fingers together. 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 it kick. He made probably one of the goofiest grins ever. He blushed a little, looking at my face.
"That's amazing, Clara!" he exclaimed, looking down at my belly again, getting on his knees, he placed his forehead against it. I giggled.
"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 waved at him as I walked out of the mayor's house.
I had just passed the inn, and was heading to De Sainte-Coquille park to kill some time before my class started
"Miss Clara!" I jumped in surprise, turning to the sound of the voice. Ceci had just left the inn and was quickly walking towards me with a basket in her arms.
"Oh, hi, Ceci! Is something wrong?" I asked, blinking a few times, she just smiled.
"No, nothing's wrong! But I wanted to discuss something with you before your class started." She offered me her hand.
"Come with me?" She asked.
"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 of the delicious foods Ceci had packed, sandwiches, cakes, cookies, the works! She was an amazing cook! No wonder grandfather hired her! I began to tear up in delight over the magical flavors that danced on my tongue.
"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 that I didn't know about the De Sainte-Coquille family?
"Well," she began, giggling a bit, slightly blushing. "I'm not sure about your full family tree, but I have fond memories of your grandfather!"
"Hm, yeah you work for him, right?" she began to laugh a bit as if I had told her some funny joke, I started to drink my juice.
"No, no, Miss Clara, I was actually referring to your great-grandfather, your father's father's father." I spewed my orange juice slightly in surprise. She knew about 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 changed it to Raguna for a certain reason." 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 town from being crushed by a floating island! There was no way this man was my grandfather!
"But, why did you change his name to Raguna if it was Troy to begin with?" I asked as Ceci smiled.
"I'll get to that in a bit. But the important thing is that I let you know as much as I can about your father's side of the family." Ceci said, taking a drink of her lemonade.
"So, how well did you know my great-grandfather, what about my great-grandmother? Wait…how did you know them? Or did you only know about them?" I asked in complete shock, Ceci was so young! Surely she only knows about Ragu-Troy from hearing stories of him, right? She smiled, noticing my expression.
"Well, Miss 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 hundreds." My jaw dropped; surely, she wasn't that old! She chuckled a bit.
"Ah, then how old is Orland in real life?!" I asked in horror, guessing that he was probably thirty something. Ceci laughed.
"Don't worry, he's fourteen. You're just a little bit older than he is." I relaxed a bit, and looked into her eyes, finally seeing 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. She was a human who became something special, but for the life of me, I can't remember what the term she became was called!" Ceci said while sighing.
"But despite that, everyone thought she was strange! Honestly we were kind of scared of her. However, when Troy arrived in town, he 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.
"What do you mean by a human who became something special? Was she still a human in her death?" I asked curiously, Ceci nodded her head.
"Yes, she was still human, but a gifted human. Sharron could see into the future, much more accurately than Alicia can. It was due to the gift that was bestowed upon her. And I know your grandfather inherited a similar gift as well. I'm not sure if their daughters inherited anything. But, the gift seems to have skipped you and your father."
"Sharron? My great-grandmother's name was Sharron?" I asked as Ceci nodded.
"Yes. Her name was Sharron. I know that Troy went into an emotional state after her passing. He tried remaining strong for their three children. And I know it was especially difficult for him with two newborns and a toddler. He eventually moved to Trampoli and remarried a woman named Eunice years later. They only had one child that I know of." Ceci said. I tilted my head curiously.
"Do you remember my grandfather? That is, Sharron and Troy's son?" I asked as the biggest smile spread across her face.
"I do! Thanos was such a cute little boy! Oh, I absolutely adored him! I was heartbroken when they moved to Trampoli. I never really saw them much after that. Even if I did obtain cleaning, cooking, and basic life skill lessons from Troy's second wife during my rare visits." Ceci took a sip of her lemonade again.
"I don't know anything about the woman Thanny married, but I'm going to assume she was a red-head. However, your father and Thanny look a lot alike, minus the hair and eye color." Ceci said while giggling.
I didn't know what to say, or how to take this all in. I knew 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 husband, my great-grandpa, Kross, who had a very somber expression. Bianca's father, Jasper, whom my grandfather resembled very closely, and a few others. My dad suffered 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.
"The same reason I changed Troy's name to Raguna." She closed her eyes, pausing for a moment before continuing.
"I could see how your mother felt about him. I was afraid that if I told your father that he reminded me of Troy and not Raguna, something in him would rekindle. I was afraid that he would fall for me, and I knew how happy he made your mom! And I knew that she would make him happy as well!" Ceci exclaimed as I giggled.
"Mom and dad really do love each other! I appreciate your sacrifice." I said softly as Ceci smiled at me.
"It wasn't a sacrifice. I just knew that they were made for each other." Ceci said with such warmth, the wind started to move her hair.
"The sylphs are telling me that your baby is doing well!" She exclaimed, standing up before helping me up as well.
"Now, get to school!" She ordered, "Even though your class doesn't start for a while; a certain 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.
"See you later, Ceci." I said, waving my hand.
"Take care, Miss Clara." She said, gathering the blanket as I walked quickly over to Leonel, taking a seat next to him. His eyes darted from the ground towards me.
"H-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 towards me.
"Where was it again?"
"The port!" I said as he nodded.
"I'll 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 as I saw Leann and Orland approaching. Roy, Cammy, and the twins started walking out of the doors. As I was about to enter, I was stopped by Serena's voice.
"Hey, Clara!" Serena exclaimed as I turned to look at the beaming expressions on the twins' faces.
"Did you hear?!" Sera asked in excitement as I blinked in uncertainty.
"Uh, are you talking about your birthday party? You invited me! Remember?" they just giggled before Serena spoke up again.
"No, silly! Next year we'll be in your class! With You, Leann, Orland, and Leonel!"
"Since Cammy and Roy are graduating; Mr. Barrett and Ms. Mana thought it would be silly to just teach us by ourselves so they moved us with you four!" Sera exclaimed.
"They're still working out some things, but from what we've heard there's going to be an explanation on how the new school year is going to work out during their graduation ceremony." Serena said with a big smile on her face.
"Oh? That's amazing! I can't wait to have you two join us in class!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah! I can't either!" Serena exclaimed before her eyes widened slightly and her cheeks flushed profusely.
"I can't wait as well!" Sera exclaimed, grabbing her sister's hand and giving it a small squeeze.
"Anyway, you better get to class! We'll see you around!" Sera exclaimed as I smiled.
"Yeah, I'll see you guys later. I'm looking forward to your party!" I exclaimed, waving to them as I entered the academy, taking my seat next to Leonel.
"Hey, what was that about?" Leonel asked curiously.
"Sera and Serena are going to be joining our class in the spring." I announced.
"What? Really?" Orland asked.
"That doesn't surprise me! Considering Roy and Cammy are graduating, it seems silly to teach just two students by themselves." Leann said.
"Hmmm, them joining our class is going to pose a problem though." Leonel said with a sigh as we looked at him curiously.
"A problem?" Orland asked
"Oh, do you not get along with the twins, Leonel?" Leann asked in concern as Leonel shook his head.
"N-no. It's not that. But, unless two of us wanna stand, we're short two desks." He explained as my eyes widened.
"Oh, yeah! You're right! The classroom only has four desks." I said in realization. How was this going to work?
"Don't fret about that, kids; Jake and Tanya are already working on the two desks. They should be finished in time for Sera and Serena's arrival." We looked over at Mr. Barrett who had just entered the classroom.
"Also, sorry to keep you kids waiting. Let's start class." Mr. Barrett announced, going behind the teacher's desk. My mind began to wander, thinking about what Ceci told me. The gift my great-grandmother and grandfather had. I was slightly curious why they skipped my dad and me. I was also curious about what being a human who was special was called.
