Tara awoke covered in her own sweat and screamed aloud. "No! Don't hurt my mommy!"

She found that she was crying and shaking as she gripped the blankets on her bed uncontrollably. After a moment, she managed to calm herself down and remember that it had just been a dream. She wiped her eyes and hugged her little stuffed bear tightly as she rolled back over trying to sleep.

Would she ever be free of the image of bandits killing her mother in front of her while she stood helpless? She didn't seem to think that the pain would ever go away. At least Megumi had taken care of all those bad men for her. They wouldn't ever be able to hurt anyone else the way they had hurt her and her family. 

She tossed and turned for several minutes before deciding that it was time to give up and get up. It was probably sometime near sunrise anyway as she thought she heard the sound of pots clanging around beneath her in the kitchens of The Golden Neko. 

Tara rolled out of bed and went over to her closet. Since she was up, she had better get ready for her last day of school before the break for the winter solstice festival. She grabbed her school uniform which consisted of an emerald colored blazer and a matching knee-length skirt. She also made sure to grab warm leggings out of her dresser and then headed out of her room to the washroom across the hall.

Her hair was a huge tangled mess and she spent several minutes brushing out the knots carefully before changing out of her pajamas. The last thing she did was wash her face and brush her teeth.

There! All done.

She went back to her room and gathered up her school books from her little desk and shoved them into her book, then she put on her shoes before heading downstairs to see if Aunt Ophelia needed any help. She hopped down the stairs two at a time . The back end of the restaurant served as their home and she made her way through the tidy sitting room and into the kitchens. Her aunt stood in a cloud of flour and Tara made sure to stay clear of it until it all settled.

"Do you need my help with anything Aunt Ophelia?"

Her aunt had been so busy stirring some cake mix and sending flour flying that she hadn't even noticed Tara was standing there until she spoke. Upon hearing her voice she stopped what she was doing and turned to her.

"I've got this covered. Can you go clean up the front end of the store? After that I need you to go to the market and find us some fresh fruit that we can use for our cakes today. Maybe we can do something nice with some blueberries or blackberries."

"Okay." 

Tara ran over to where they kept the wash rags and got it wet under the faucet with warm water. She wrung it out thoroughly and then left the kitchen to wipe down all the tables. The storefront was quiet and dark, so she turned on the lights before she got to work. Her mom had only ever used gas lamps or candles for light, but it was nice that Aunt Ophelia had these newer light magic powered lamps around. 

The light shone evenly and she wiped down each table starting with the bar. As she worked, she wondered what Megumi was up to. The last she had heard, her hero had been on her way to take care of a group of thieves in Aurora. Tara felt a pang of worry thinking about Megumi fighting a bunch of bad men again, but that's what heroes did, right?

As she worked, the darkness outside faded into light as the sun was rising over the nearby mountains. She finished the last table and ran back into the kitchen. "I'm done!" she declared.

"That's great, sweetie. Here's some money for the fresh fruit. Can you stop by the general store as well and put in an order for more flour and sugar? We're going to be busy during the festival." 

Aunt Ophelia handed her a small money pouch and after Tara bit into the piece of toast to free up her hands, she tucked away the other items into her backpack and put it on. "I'm off!"

"Hurry back, I'll need the fruit for today's cakes and tarts before you go to school."

"I will."

Tara headed out of the shop and into the cold air. Despite the warm stockings, she still felt a little cold in her school uniform. The climate up here was definitely different than what she had been used to at home. She always felt the need to do her best to act cheerful around Aunt Ophelia even though she still felt very sad most of the time.

She slowed down a little after crossing a few streets and entered the market district. It was early and most of the stalls were just now opening. She walked along and took in the sights and smells of the market; this was one of her favorite places in the city. She took a moment to stop by the large stall selling an astounding amount of spices that were piled on large plates.

The smells were so strong in the morning air, and she loved it. The owner, Khalid, waved to her as he saw her approach.

"Good morning, Tara. Did your aunt send you here for some spices this morning?"

She shook her head. "I'm supposed to get fruits and put in an order for flour and sugar. I just love the smells that come from your shop so much that I couldn't help but stop."

He smiled at her warmly. "Are you ready for the winter festival?"

"Not yet. We're going to decorate the cafe tonight when I get back from school."

"That will be fun, I'm sure."

She nodded and then waved goodbye as she continued on her way. There were all kinds of shops here and she liked window shopping as she went. It was much more interesting here as a whole than back on her old farm in the middle of nowhere. If only her mom had moved here after her dad died, how different things could have been for them? She would probably still be alive and Tara would have never met Megumi.

If that had happened, though, would Megumi still have taken care of the bad men who had been bullying all the remote villages? She couldn't help but think fate had been involved in their meeting, and as such she thought that fate was a cruel being for taking away her mother.

Her eyes began to water up as flashbacks of the event came racing into her mind. No. Be strong, just like Megumi!

Tara bit her lip and rubbed the wetness away from her eyes. She would follow Megumi's example and grow up to be strong and courageous. Crying wouldn't bring anyone back. She had lost track of time while calming herself and the owner of the stall she had been in front of was looking at her with a worried expression.

She started to walk over. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

Tara sniffled a little and snapped back to the present. "I'm okay. I was just thinking about something sad... Thanks for asking."

It was time to be on her way again and she waved goodbye to the nice lady and headed further up the street. A couple minutes later she arrived at the fruit stand that Aunt Ophelia liked and she smiled at the owner, Elizabeth.

"Hi, Tara! Here for some fruit today?"

"Yep! Aunt Ophelia asked for some blueberries and blackberries for today's cakes."

Elizabeth smiled and walked with her over to the large bins that contained mountains of the fruit. "Did she say how much you need?"

Tara pulled out the small coin pouch and handed it over to Elizabeth. "She wants whatever this will buy."

The shopkeeper took the coin pouch and dumped it onto the top of her hand. It looked like her aunt had sent her with 35GP. Elizabeth handed back the empty pouch and pocketed the coins before grabbing two burlap sacks out of the wooden drawer beneath the table. She scooped the fruit into the bags and when they were full, she tied them off with pieces of twine and handed them over.

"Here you go, Tara. Make sure to tell your Aunt Ophelia that I said hello, okay?"

Tara nodded and strawberries and put the bags of fruit into her backpack which was now starting to get pretty heavy. She just needed to make one more stop and then she could head back to The Golden Neko.

The general store was just one street over. All the shops on the street with the general store were permanent structures and not stalls. She glanced through the windows of a few stores on her way to her destination and in particular she always liked to look inside the store that sold glass sculptures.

Each of the sculptures was small and hand crafted using stained glass of every color imaginable. She pressed her nose on the window and peered in to see that there was a new piece there that she hadn't seen before. It was a colorful bird that appeared to be in flight with green feathers of various hues. It was beautiful.

After gawking for longer than she should have she continued on her way, finally got to the general store, and went inside. Gavin, the shopkeeper, was a portly middle-aged man who had long since lost all his hair. He smiled at her when she entered. "G'mornin', Tara! What can ol' Gavin get for ye today?"

She always had to focus on him when he spoke as he spoke with a thick accent that clipped words here and there. She returned the smile. "Aunt Ophelia asked that you send an extra shipment of flour and sugar down today."

Gavin pulled a large ledger out from beneath the front counter and flipped it open. "Here we go. All set."

He flipped the large book closed and reached over and grabbed a piece of candy off of the shelf to his right, then handed it to her. "It's on th' house."

"Thanks!" Tara took the candy, which was a hard type of candy that was attached to a stick, and popped it into her mouth before waving goodbye and heading out the door.

I'm going to be late if I stall any longer. Gavin is such a nice man. Maybe Aunt Ophelia and he should get together?

She kept up a brisk pace the entire way home and didn't let herself get distracted. She didn't want to be late for school. Back at the farm, no one went to school and so she had been only taught what her mom could teach her in her spare time. Tara was woefully behind the other kids in her class, but she worked hard to catch up.

Reading was the hardest thing for her to pick up, but she was getting better and better every day. Math seemed to come naturally to her and she was thankful for that. Aunt Ophelia hoped that Tara would take over the shop someday, but Tara had other plans. She wanted to become and adventurer like Megumi and save people.

Maybe she could find someone to teach her how to swing a sword or something? Girls could be just as strong as boys and she wasn't scared to fight. She would be brave and become a hero. Tara wondered if Hideki would teach her a few things when he got back in town.

Tara didn't hold any illusions that she would be gifted by the fates in the magical arts. It was pretty rare for people to have innate talent in one of the magical fields and only rich people got tested so that was why there weren't magicians all over the place. Even she knew that. She could learn to fight in other ways though.

When she got back to The Golden Neko, she found that there was someone in fancy looking clothes inside talking to Aunt Ophelia at the bar. Tara intended to go to the kitchens and put away the fruit, but when the two adults saw her they waved her over.

"Tara, this is Elliot, he's come all the way from the capital to see you."

"To see me?"

The man got up from his stool and came over to meet her. "It's very nice to meet you. I've been sent her by King Reynard. A person dear to him told him all about you, and she requested that you be tested and if you pass, then I've been authorized to extend an authorization to attend the Royal Academy in Aurora."

"Someone the king knows was talking about me?"

"It was Megumi, Tara. Apparently, she's actually a princess, and not only that, but she's betrothed to the king! Can you believe it?"

Tara's mouth gaped open in shock. A princess? I knew she was special! Wow!

Elliot smiled at her and produced a large handful of what looked to be little slips of paper. "How about you hop up here and take a seat at the bar. We can do the test here."

Tara frowned. She didn't really like tests and she knew that she wasn't as educated as most of the city kids. Could she even pass a test to get into some fancy academy? What would happen if she did pass? Would she have to leave Aunt Ophelia behind? She liked it here.

They could teach me how to get strong, though. It can't hurt to see if I can pass, can it?

She looked to her aunt for confirmation. Aunt Ophelia just smiled at her and nodded encouragingly. Taking that as a sign that it was okay, she climbed onto one of the bar stools while the fancy man went round to the other side of the counter and sat down his stack of little papers.

The paper looked normal to her and there wasn't anything written on the top piece. She wondered what kind of test he was going to give her, maybe he was going to mark her scores on the little papers? Elliot grabbed the first little slip of paper and held it out towards her.

"Take the paper and hold onto it for a few seconds for me."

What kind of test is this?

She took the paper between her thumb and forefinger and held it out in front of her for several seconds. Nothing happened.

"Am I supposed to do something with this?"

"No. It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong. We're going to move on to the next one."

Elliot reached over and plucked the paper from her and sat it down to the side before grabbing another one and handing it to her again. She repeated the process over and over again and was starting to get bored. What was the point of this, anyway? She didn't get it. If she dawdled here too much longer, she'd be late for school. 

There were only a few pieces of paper left in the man's stack and she was eager to be done with this. He handed her another piece of paper and something amazing happened. The strip of paper began to crackle and yellow tendrils of what looked like lightning sparked around the paper. She watched in amazement as black markings spiraled out from the center of the paper forming an intricate geometric shape. 

For some reason the electricity didn't hurt her in any way and in just a few seconds the event ended. *Ding*

 

Tara had known that adventurers were gifted by the gods with levels, but she hadn't known what it was like. Information flooded her mind and she somehow understood the things that had popped up in her vision. She could do magic! That's what the test had really been about!

She knew that there were classes that anyone could learn, like warriors, spies, or assassins, and that people went to special instructors to gain their first levels, but this was amazing! She really could become a hero like Megumi. She could save people from bad guys! She let out a cry of excitement and saw that her aunt had tears of joy in her eyes.

"I can't believe it. You've got magical talent, Tara. You're so amazing!"

"This means I passed the test?"

Elliot smiled at her, "That's right. If you want to, you can come to school at the Royal Academy. The king has arranged it so that if you were able to unlock some magical ability, that you could attend for free."

"Does that mean I have to leave Aunt Ophelia?"

Her aunt came closer and gave her a tight embrace. "The Royal Academy could give you a life that's better than anything I could give. I will always be here and I'll come visit all the time. You can always come back home during breaks as well. It's up to you though, sweetheart. Do you want to go? I won't force you and it would be a lie if I said that I won't miss you terribly."

Tears came unbidden to Tara's eyes. She was just starting to like it here, she had just made some friends at school, but if she went, she could become something better than a baker. It hurt to acknowledge that fact and she hugged her aunt tightly. "I'm going to go. I'll learn a lot and become a hero like Megumi."

Aunt Ophelia kissed her on top of her head and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I know that you can do anything you set your mind to. You've been through so much. More than any child should have to. I will always be here for you."

Elliot cleared his throat and came around the counter once more. "If you're sure that you want to go, I'll give you until the morning to pack a bag. You will be given room and board on the academy's grounds and I will escort you to the capital personally. You will be given two uniforms and some clothes befitting your new station as an honored guest of the royal family at the academy, so don't bother packing any clothes. Congratulations, and I will come by in the morning to collect you."

The man bid them farewell and exited the cafe leaving the two of them alone. Tara decided to not go to school, she had made friends but they didn't matter to her as much as her aunt did. She would leave notes for them about where she went. The rest of the day the two of them spent together doing the normal things they had done every day.

It was nice and in the evening they closed the store early so that they could decorate for the winter festival, even though Tara would have to leave before they could do the celebrations. They hung garlands and made paper animals of all different colors out of special paper and stuck them to the windows. The two of them lit some special candles and ate a nice meal together. It was almost like it had been when she was back at home with her mom.

She would miss Aunt Ophelia. At the end of the night, her aunt read her a story before bedtime and kissed her on the forehead just as she always did before putting her to bed. Tara closed her eyes and told herself to be strong. Tomorrow would be the beginning of a new life for her. She would gain valuable training that only nobles typically received. Megumi had given her a precious gift, and she would not let it go to waste.