"W-Wahh!" A sharp cry pierces the stillness of the small wooden home. The mother is breathless, every breath she manages is heavy, and the man standing beside her is near her feet at the end of the bed.
"Gods, Irah! We did it! We had a healthy baby boy!" the man shouts to the mother, Irah.
"W-we did it…hand him here, please, Nave."
The father, Nave, walks carefully over to her and gently lies the baby in her arms.
She stares at the child with a smile for many minutes saying nothing but exuding happiness. The father does the same.
The silence ends with Irah asking,
"What should we name him?"
Nave looks at his son, smiles, and after a few moments replies, "Aven." Irah repeats the name and then says, "Our son, Aven Wex."
A few days have passed since the birth of Aven. Both Irah and Nave have been exceedingly busy. Nave has been hunting in the forest around their small home while Irah tends to the baby.
Their three-room home is quite small, barely fitting all of the necessities. Irah and Nave sleep together in one room with the connecting room being a kitchen of sorts with both the dining table and chairs as well as a couch squeezed in the room to rest on. The remaining room is going to be Aven's once he gets a bit older, currently, it holds little else but some simple toys.
Irah is breastfeeding when the door swings open, "I'm back! Got some dinner too!" Nave calls. He's a tall, slender man, around 5'11 with short brown hair and glasses. He's holding a dead boar over his shoulder and smiling while looking at Irah. She smiles back at him she's a shorter woman around 5'4 with darker blonde hair, and much skinnier since the pregnancy.
"Thanks, hun. Do you mind cooking tonight? I'm a little busy with Aven." Asks Irah, her blond messy hair in her face.
Nave nods and immediately heads to the kitchen. Irah looks down at Aven, laughs, and whispers, "Heha, thanks to you I was able to get out of making dinner." She then plants a kiss on my forehead.
After a few hours pass Irah puts Aven in a high chair at the table, she and him sitting across from each other. In the middle of a conversation about the meal she suddenly says, "So…I've been thinking. Why don't we teach Aven magic when he gets old enough to understand."
Nave pauses, then looks her in the eyes, "Are you serious?"
Irah nods.
Nave continues to stare at her before clearing his throat and speaking once more, "That's extremely young…extremely dangerous. Even great wizards have been messed up, left with permanent scars or injuries from their own magic. You want our boy to pick it up as soon as he's able to, why?"
Irah gulps and says, "I just want him to be successful, I want him to have the opportunities I never did! You know that your mana pool can be enormous if you start practicing from an early age!"
Nave continues to stare at her, listening but clearly upset, "Successful? Our boy is days old, don't you think it's a little too early for this type of talk? It's dangerous for young apprentice mages with great tutors. For a kid with only his parents for help…how is this even something you're suggesting?"
Irah looks at the table, quiet.
Nave sighs, "Love, I understand where you're coming from. I know about the rejection you faced due to your own mana pool when you attempted to get into a magic academy. We will support our child always, but as parents, his safety comes first. You agree, right?"
Irah is crying quietly, tears streaming down her face, "You're right, I'm sorry. I just don't want him to feel how I felt, but I know he might not even be interested in it. Thank you hunny, I'm sorry." She then turns to Aven and puts a hand on his cheek, "I'm sorry baby, momma was getting ahead of herself." She cries and kisses his forehead, while Nave gets up to hug her.
The scene fades out and then back into the front yard of the small home.
—
This is where I, Aven, sit. I learned to talk recently, about a month ago. Mom and Dad were extremely excited. Today is the day of the party they planned for me. It took so long to arrange because most of the guests they want over are friends that are registered adventurers.
As I'm thinking to myself on the stairs leading up to our home I see a group of 5, no 6, people walking towards me.
"Eeeeeyah! Is that baby Aven that I've heard so much about?!", a blonde-haired woman, short, with glasses that nearly fall off her face as she runs up to me says. She quickly pulls me into a hug and squeezes the breath out of me.
"Easy Lenora, you'll suffocate the kid." A red-headed tall man walks up behind her with an annoyed face and pulls her off of me. "Sorry kid, she's just excited to meet you."
"I-it's okay.", I laugh.
Mom and Dad walk out onto the porch of our small home.
"Irah, Nave, it's been a while!" Says a tall man, very muscular wearing a green cloak that covers most of his body.
"Been too long! Looks like you've already met my son. Aven this is Lenora." Dad says while pointing to the short blonde woman who was nearly suffocating me moments ago.
"I'm Ivan." says the redheaded savior that peeled Lenora off of me. He seems very relaxed and despite being shy I feel comfortable around him. Though maybe that's because he got Lenora off of me.
"And I'm Sena." She smiles. She's pretty short too about the same height as Mom and thinner. In contrast to Mom though, she has long brown hair and a sort of semi-serious demeanor.
A talk muscular guy speaks next, he's wearing a cloak but I'm barely able to tell that he's bald. Despite his build, he seems very gentle in the way he carries himself. "I'm Mono and this is Leah" he smiles, pointing to a short woman with short black hair tied behind her head neatly into a bun next to him, about the same height as Mom and Sena. She smiles and waves, "Nice to meet you, Aven."
Lastly, a muscular man with short blonde hair crouches down to my level with a gentle smile. He has a very friendly aura about him and seems to be the leader of the group. "I'm Alexander, it's nice to finally meet you. Your mother always sends us letters talking about you."
"It's nice to meet you all!" I smile. Mom and Dad taught me a little about manners but not too much so I do all I can to seem polite.
Leah says jokingly, "Sure this is your kid, Irah? Doesn't seem to be as brash as you used to be."
Mom laughs, "I'll have you know that married life has changed me!" she jokingly turns her cheek to her after she says this.
Everyone laughs then we head inside. While I was out on the porch it looked like Mom and Dad put up a bunch of decorations. Not a whole lot but enough to make the place look noticeably more party-like. I stick around Dad for a while, I feel safer near him.
After roughly a half hour of Mom and Dad catching up with their friends, we all sit down at the dinner table located in the middlemost room.
"We all brought gifts for Aven, we aren't sure of the next time we'll be able to stop by so we might miss his tenth birthday and wanted to give him these in case." Says Mono.
Mom smiles, "Thank you! I'm sure Aven will love them. What do you say, sweetie?"
"Thank you," I say in a low tone of voice.
Mono smiles, "No need to be shy Aven, your mom and dad used to be adventurers with us. Think of us like family."
I had no idea that Mom and Dad were adventurers. Even so, his words don't change how shy I am. I nod and look down at the table. All of Mom and Dad's friends set gift(s) down on the table, except for Leah who is standing right beside Mono.
I go for Lenora's first, three little boxes, each containing their own little figures, a mage, a warrior, and an archer.
"Do you like them?" Lenora asks with a worried look.
"I do, thank you very much." I smile.
I don't have many toys so honestly I was quite excited, though far too shy to show it.
I begin to open Sena's gift next, a long toy wooden wand the size of Dad's forearm, made of wood with small symbols carved into it.
She doesn't say anything but looks to me for approval. "Thank you," I say with a smile. She responds with a grin and nods.
Ivan hands me a small cloth pouch with a few silver coins in it. Mom gives him an annoyed look, but he shrugs and looks at her with a grin.
"Thank you," I say.
"Sure thing kiddo." He responds, still looking at Mom.
Alexander slides his gift over after Ivan, a small wooden scabbard holding a small wooden sword. "Since we might not make it by for his tenth, I'm giving him this training sword for when he's old enough and able to practice now," Alexander says with a smile. Mom smiles back at him and Dad nods.
I thank him and begin opening the next gift, whatever it is, is housed in a small box.
"This one's from the both of us," Mono says while gesturing to Leah.
I begin to unbox it, slowly unfolding the top.
When I finish unboxing I pull out, a book with a large glyph on the front titled "The Basics of Magic and Mana"
"Oh wow." Says Alexander, "That's a pretty high-end book."
"Yeah, it is, how much did you two spend on that?" Says mom.
Mono and Leah smile then Leah speaks, "It was 7 gold coins in total."
Mom and Dad raise their eyebrows, "That's incredible. Thank you so much." Says mom.
Mono and Leah smile, it's clear that while the book is for me they hope Mom will learn something from it.
I sit there staring at the cover of the book. "T-thank you so much," I mutter.
Mono and Leah smile, "Of course."
The night quiets down after I finish opening the gifts. For a few more hours everyone talks but I mostly stick to myself, occasionally talking to Mono who initiates most of our interactions.
"Aven it's time for bed, hunny," Mom says with a smile. "Tell everyone goodnight."
"Goodnight everyone, thank you again." I walk to bed, extremely drowsy, with Mom in tow. She tucks me in and kisses my forehead then says, "Are you interested in Magic, hunny?"
I think for a moment. I mean I don't know much about magic, other than the spells mom has cast to fill buckets with water or dry towels. Though it does sound fun, and I might be able to impress Mom and Dad.
I smile and nod, "I am momma."
Mom has a big grin on her face and says, "Then tomorrow we can learn together. You'll learn how to read and about magic at the same time. Sound good baby?"
I nod my head
She responds by kissing my forehead again, walking over to the door, and slowly closing it. Despite my room now having a bed in it I still sleep with Mom and Dad almost every night, but tonight's different. I'm too excited to be afraid of the dark and too tired to stay awake.
I fall fast asleep, my mind swirling with thoughts of what tomorrow might bring.