Emil and Aelia had just turned sixteen. Having not shown signs of being mages by this age, they were designated to be regular humans for the rest of their lives.
Most mages awaken either as early as infantry or by the time they are fifteen. Past this age, it was rare.
Of course, as daughters of the Viscount, as regular as they can be. Their hair was white, their skin pale, their bodies thin and their pupils grey. They'd obtained their hair colour from their parents. Their eyes, however, were unique only to them in the Viscount's family.
They had gotten more attention than they preferred, both good and bad. Some saw them as having pristine beauty while some aristocrats said the Viscount had been cursed.
The twins had grown to be reclusive, feeling as if the world judged them every room they walked in. In their reclusiveness they had grown to be each other's best friend, each other's whole world and sense of safety. You would not see one twin without the other nearby.
And it was so, when they awakened their cores on a random day, they were together.
As daughters of the Viscount, in preparation of awakening or to forcefully awaken, they had been trained on how to focus and enter their soul spaces.
They clasped each other's hands, going down to their knees and peered into each other's cloudlike eyes. They could both feel something vast at an indescribable centre and that they could pull at it.
Their small chests rose and fell with deep breaths as they simulated the sinking feeling.
Five minutes later they were both out their soul spaces, their brows pinched with their pink lips parted.
"What…. What did your soul say?" Aelia whispered, even though they were alone in their balcony garden. The wind blew at her long hair making strands on her face restless.
"What did yours say?" Emil asked in response. Aelia's lips pressed tightly before speaking, "I asked first." She said, letting go of Emil's hands.
Emil looked away from her and into the distant open fields of their manor. "Mind…. " she muttered, turning back to Aelia. Looking at her sister was like staring into a mirror, "what about you, Ael?"
"Soul." Aelia's soft voice came. As children of aristocracy they had been well educated on matters involving magic and mages, they had never heard of these two before.
…
Standing in line, the smell of the roasting meat made Hadrian's stomach rumble.
Taking a step forward as the line moved, he played with the coins in his hands.
It was loud and chaotic. A pandemonium of all sorts of activities and people. Steamy and hot, smelling of everything from sweat to delightful food.
Hadrian studied all of this, his mind mostly to himself.
"Are you a tree?" metal was clunked on metal.
Hadrian's eyes dilated and he looked forward where the stall owner looked at him with a sweaty displeased look.
He was chubby and at least a decade older than Hadrian.
"You are stalling others." The man pointed behind Hadrian.
Heaving with a sigh, Hadrian took three steps forward.
Putting the two coins he was playing with in his hands, he smiled. "How much for everything?"
Studying Hadrian, the stall owner's grip of his long forks tightened. "Get out of line."
Hadrian could tell he was irritated from his tone.
Don't forget to turn the meat.
"Alright." Hadrian waved him off. "I plan to pay for everyone's meal."
Hearing this, people close and around went silent, observing the scene.
A hand grabbed Hadrian's neck from the back. A warm and bad breath was on his cheek. "You heard him…. For everyone."
Pushed to the left of the stall owner, Hadrian was held tightly in place as people shoved each other to get into line.
The stall owner crossed his arms.
"Show me the money first."
Slightly struggling to speak under the weights pressing down on him, Hadrian chuckled. "So, do you have a price for everything? Or will I pay one at a time."
"If he wants to pay, let him."
It was more chaotic than before, but this time all the chaos was concentrated into one place, one line.
He saw all sorts of people being squeezed, men taller than him, women thinner than him and kids younger than him.
Reaching to his pocket, he shook his head and took out a small bag, throwing it to the stall owner.
The chubby stall owner dropped his long forks and grabbed the small bag out of the air.
He did not rush to open it though, he was still rather skeptical of the young boy offering to pay for the people.
Opening it with the disinterested look saying, I know there's nothing in here but I shall still check, the stall owner's eyes widened and darted to the young boy.
Actually, Hadrian had not thought this through.
While it is ten bronze coins, I doubt that's too much to cause even a wide district stir.
He had come to buy himself a snack, seeing all these people here however, it had tugged at something inside him and he made the random decision.
All these fragmented personalities are affecting me, I think.
While this wasn't a tavern, he remembered injured knee and short brown haired man loved to do this after every hunt.
I should not be too critical of myself. Perhaps, I too, have the past experiences to mould my heart into such acts of kindness when my abilities allow.
The stall owner's heart raced. He wanted to throw it back, or at the very least ask who the boy was.
But he thought of his wife, his four children, his wife's sister and her two children staying with them.
Swallowing, he closed the bag back up and shoved it deep into his robes.
Picking up his long forks he yelled, "alright. One at a time."
It only made things more chaotic and the two young men holding him in place let him go.
As he walked away from the pandemonium, his other vessels observed two men observing the scene and the Hadrian walking away suspiciously.
There is benefit in getting the attention of the Magloire Mob, I suppose.