From Art's POV
"Naya, Naya, hurry up, or we'll miss our bread!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming, wait for ," Naya answered.
I am already five years old. Every day we are given two loaves of bread, and only in the very, very early morning is it fresh. You have to manage to get it before the crowd gathers. And if it runs out, you can only get it in the evening, and in the evening the bread is already sohow tasteless.
And besides, father always praises us when we bring morning bread. He only likes the morning one.
"Naya, keep up! Why did you stop?"
"There's a little spider here."
Naya put the little spider on her hand, and it started crawling around, while she giggled the whole ti.
"NAYA! What if it's poisonous?"
"It's not poisonous," she answered.
"Alright, hurry up, Naya, we'll be late."
"Uh-huh."
She ran, not looking at the road, but looking only at the spider as it crawled on her arm.
That's my sister. Always like this. Mama says she takes after father.
"Phew, we made it."
The crowd hadn't gathered yet.
"Oh, Uncle Trioro!"
He turned around, smiled, and waved to us.
"Oh, the little ones. You are early as usual."
Naya imdiately started:
"Uncle Trioro, give
a ride on your shoulders."
He smiled, squatted down, and Naya imdiately sat on his shoulders.
"Then give
a ride after," I said quickly.
"Aha-ha," he laughed. "Alright, I'll give you a ride after too."
I walked up to the window.
"Hello, ma'am. Our bread, please."
I handed over the piece of paper, and the lady gave us the bread in return, along with another ticket for tomorrow.
"O-o-oh," I even pressed my hands to my cheeks from impatience. "It's so hot. Father will be happy."
"Trioro, will you give us a ride to our room?" Naya asked from above.
"Alas, kids, I can't. I'm in a hurry myself. I'll give you a ride and then I have to go."
And that's what happened. He gave Naya a ride first, then , and then left. And we went ho ourselves.
On the way, Naya and I gnawed on the crust of the bread.
"Mmmm, so tasty," I said.
"Yes," Naya agreed.
"What do you think will be for breakfast today?"
Naya imdiately said:
"I hope not that herbal yuck again."
I started laughing.
"Well, of course. It's specially for mages, Mama says, to recover faster."
Naya only sighed heavily.
"Naya, where is the little spider?"
She started laughing.
"I put it on Trioro's clothes. When he sees it, he'll be so scared."
Yes. My sister is like that.
When we entered the room, I imdiately slled it.
"Slls so good... What is it?"
We ran into the kitchen. Father was lying on the wall again, and the spoons and ladles were doing everything for him. He opened one eye slightly and smiled.
"Father, father, we brought it!"
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Father unstuck himself from the wall, walked up to us, and ruffled our hair.
"Thank you, my little suns."
"Papa, what are you cooking?" Naya asked.
"Let's guess," Father said.
This was his favorite ga. The guessing ga.
I imdiately started sniffing.
"Weeeell... I definitely sll milk."
"Good job, Art," Father said.
Naya closed her eyes.
"Rice? Milk with rice?"
"Exactly."
Naya imdiately grimaced.
"But, father... rice and milk is yucky. I won't eat it."
Father silently walked over to the pot, inhaled the steam coming from it, and then said:
"You'll be asking for seconds later."
From Art's POV
We are already seven years old.
Father's hair has turned white. At first, he acted strangely, sotis even scared us, but then he beca normal again. Well... as normal as our father can be.
Every day I go to school with Naya. We were supposedly imdiately enrolled in the third grade. I'll graduate in two years.
Naya sat next to .
"Art... Art..." a classmate started calling . "Your sister... she is beautiful and so nice."
"Yes, she is."
"And talented," others started whispering.
"Yes, and her mom is the Supre Archmage."
"I heard her dad is also really cool."
Then, as usual, the conversation took a wrong turn.
"Only Art is nothing outstanding."
"The sha of the Helvards family."
"Untalented."
"Who is he anyway?"
"His sister is constantly carrying him."
"He was just lucky to be born there."
"They say he's a lousy mage."
"Weakling. What can you expect from him."
Every day the sa thing, I thought.
Everyone always compares
to my family.
Your sister is like this. Your mom is like this. Your dad is like this.
Everyone in my family is great. One last na—and it's imdiately recognized.
My mom is the Supre Archmage. Even though my dad has no titles, everyone knows his power. My sister is already the best among mages her age. Heck, even among those who are older.
Only I don't stand out in any way. What's more. Even our relatives are outstanding mages. Aunt Mira, for example.
And ?
I gritted my teeth.
But I haven't given up yet. I can still beco strong.
Maybe I'm not the first. But for now, I'm not the last either.
I work hard with all my might.
Strong among the weak. Weak among the strong.
How irritating this is.
I have a goal. To be on par with my sister.
From Art's POV
We turned eight.
Naya has already moved to the interdiate level, unlike . But I'll get there soon too. I know.
Not so long ago, we were riding horses.
"Father, my butt hurts already," I said.
"Endure it," he answered. "You'll have to ride them for the rest of your life anyway."
Very inspiring.
Then Father suddenly got down from his horse, leaving
alone on mine. He walked up, touched the horse's neck, and patted it.
And right after that, my horse took off at full speed.
"AAA!"
I barely had ti to grab the reins and almost laid my head on the saddle. From behind, I saw Naya starting to catch up to .
The wind hit my face, ruffled my hair. I grew a little bolder and raised my head.
"Aha-ha-ha!"
When the horse is rushing at full speed, you almost don't feel the shaking. Only the wind, only the ground flashing under your feet, only your heart pounding.
"Faster, faster! She's going to catch us now!" I said to my little horse.
A child's laugh rang out very close. Naya had already pulled level with .
"And my horse is faster!" she shouted.
"Catch
if you can!" she added.
I started telling my horse to run faster.
Then Naya abruptly started turning right. I also tried to turn sideways with the reins.
But the horse didn't listen to .
"AAAAAA! Stop! Stop! Left!"
I pulled the reins with all my might.
And then the horse reared up, neighing loudly.
"AAAAAA! I'm going to fall now!"
It started bucking from side to side, as if trying to throw
off the saddle. I pressed against it as tightly as possible and squeezed my eyes shut.
It was scary. Very.
And suddenly it seed to
that I heard a whisper. You are a mage. Healing magic.
Father's voice? I didn't understand.
But I imdiately put my palm to the horse's neck and began to mutter quickly, almost without thinking:
"Light of the wondrous firmant... The bright sun illuminated... Let it give its warmth... Let it drive away fear and anger... Let the rays of the sun illuminate you..."
I repeated this quickly, hurriedly, almost stumbling.
At first, the horse was still trembling. Then it began to calm down. Little by little. Slowly. But it started.
I exhaled heavily. Tired...
Then said quietly:
"Horse... please... let's go ho."
It was as if it understood everything. Turned to where we had galloped from, and calmly walked back.
I sat on it, holding on not as tightly anymore, and felt only one thing: How ashad I am.
I can't even control a horse. I'll co ho—and it will turn out that I didn't bring the horse, but the horse brought .
There was the herdsman already visible ahead. He was approaching riding his horse. He looked first at , then at the horse, then at
again.
"What, got hungry again?" he said, addressing not , but the horse.
The horse only snorted.
"Again she wanted to run away, and then cos back by sunset," the herdsman muttered. Then he looked at
and nodded: "Good job, kid, for holding on."
"What for?" I grumbled. "It's nothing. I can't even control her."
The herdsman started laughing.
"Well, this is an unbroken horse. I was even surprised when your father asked for exactly this kind."
I raised my head.
"What do you an?"
"Literally," he said. "First he got on her himself—as if nothing happened. The horse didn't even flinch. Stood calmly and obeyed him. Otherwise, she usually throws the rider right away. So you did a good job. Both held on and brought her ho."
"Brought her?" I asked again.
"Well, yes. It's not sunset yet. She wouldn't have co back on her own."
I was already going to answer sothing, when I saw Naya ahead.
Covered in mud.
I imdiately tensed up. Carefully got down from the horse—fortunately, it wasn't twitching anymore.
"Naya, why are you all covered in mud?"
She only looked at —and imdiately started crying.
"The horse... she... she..."
"What happened?"
"She tripped and fell," Naya squeezed out and sobbed even harder.
"Did you get hurt or sothing?"
"Noooo!" she shook her head. "But the horse did! Her leg broke."
And then her face crumpled completely.
"I'm bad... I couldn't save the horse... If I hadn't chased so fast..."
She said this through tears, faltering and sniffling.
"And also... also... I asked the herdsman if she would get better... And the herdsman said that she would be eaten..." after this she started bawling completely, so that snot ca out. "Said that treating her is long and expensive... and so she will be eaten..."
"Aaeee..." she couldn't really speak anymore, just cried.
I hugged her.
"It's not your fault."
"It is," she repeated stubbornly.
"No."
"It is."
I only pressed her closer to .
The next day we ate that horse.
Naya ate as if nothing had happened. With a big appetite.
"What a tasty horse," she said and even laughed.
I sat nearby and looked at her.
Our parents only smiled at this situation.
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