The morning Aldric and Mira left for the academy felt heavier than I expected. The wagon was loaded with their few belongings: a couple of spare shirts, some dried food Mom insisted on packing, and a small pouch of coins Dad had scraped together for emergencies. The sun had barely cleared the fields, and the air still carried that cool early dampness.
Dad stood by the mule, checking the harness one last time. Mom fussed over Aldric like he was heading off to war instead of a provincial academy a day's ride away. She straightened his collar for the third time and pressed another bundle of bread into his hands.
"You write when you can," she said, voice tight. "And eat properly. Do not spend all your time on those Aether drills if it means skipping meals."
Aldric nodded, trying to look confident. "I will, Mom. It is just training. Nothing dangerous."
Mira stood a little to the side, shifting her weight and smiling nervously. She had tied her hair back tighter than usual and looked older somehow in her clean traveling clothes. "I will keep an eye on him, Mrs. Voss. Make sure he does not do anything stupid."
Dad gave Aldric a firm clap on the shoulder. "Make us proud, son. Learn what you can. And look out for your sister here." He nodded toward Mira with a small grin.
I hung back near the house, hands in my pockets, watching it all. Part of me felt relieved. With Aldric gone, there would be less of that constant pressure, less sideways looks that said I was wasting my second chance. The farm would be quieter. Simpler.
Aldric caught my eye and walked over. We stood there for a moment, the old argument sitting between us unspoken.
"Take care of the place," he said quietly. "And think about what I said. You do not have to stay stuck here forever."
I shrugged. "I like stuck. You just focus on not getting yourself killed chasing whatever it is you are chasing."
He gave a short laugh, but it did not reach his eyes. "See you around, Eren."
Mira came over next and surprised me with a quick hug. "Do not be a stranger when we visit. And tell your mom I said thanks for the bread."
"Will do," I muttered, patting her back awkwardly. "Stay safe out there."
Kael was not there for the sendoff. He had already left for the academy a few days earlier to start his janitor duties. I wondered how that was going for him, sweeping halls while everyone else trained.
The wagon finally rolled out, creaking down the dirt path toward Thornfield. Mom waved until it disappeared around the bend. Dad sighed and turned back to the fields. "Well, back to it. Come on, Eren. Those fences will not mend themselves."
And just like that, the house felt emptier.
The first few days without Aldric settled into a new rhythm. I woke before dawn, ate a quick breakfast of porridge and whatever leftovers Mom had, then headed out with Dad. Mornings were for the heavier work: repairing fences, hauling water, chopping more firewood than I thought possible. My hands ached by midday, but it was a good ache. Honest. The kind that came from something real instead of chasing power levels or plot flags.
Afternoons I helped Mom in the garden or ran small errands into the village. Mira's dad at the inn always had a nod and a quick question about how Aldric was settling in. I told him what little I knew from the single short letter that had arrived: classes were strict, the food was decent, and Aldric was already pushing harder than most.
Evenings were the best part. After dinner I would sit on the porch as the sun went down, listening to the crickets and the distant lowing of cattle. No one expected anything big from me. No tests, no rivalries, no secret training. Just the quiet hum of village life. I tried to convince myself this was exactly what I had wanted.
But the house felt too still without Aldric's restless energy. Mom sometimes stared at his empty spot at the table a little too long. Dad worked longer hours, like filling the gap with sweat would make up for the missing son. I told myself it was fine. This was the background life. Safe. Predictable.
One evening about a week later, I was sitting out front sharpening a scythe when Master Orwen wandered by on the path. The old drunk looked the same as always: rumpled clothes, gray hair sticking up, and that pipe clenched between his teeth.
He stopped and squinted at me. "Twin's gone off to the academy, huh? Left you holding the plow."
I nodded and kept sharpening. "Yeah. Aldric made the list. Mira too."
Orwen grunted and took a long pull on his pipe. "That brother of yours has hungry eyes. Seen it before. Boys like that either burn bright or burn out. You, though... you look like you are trying to disappear into the dirt."
I shrugged. "Dirt is comfortable."
He chuckled, raspy and low. "Maybe. But the world has a way of digging people up when it needs them. Keep that in mind, Eren Voss."
He wandered off before I could answer, leaving a trail of smoke behind him. I watched him go and tried to ignore the way his words stuck like burrs in my shirt.
Meanwhile, up at the academy, things were not staying quiet for long.
Aldric stood with a small group of new intermediate students outside the training yard, sweat already cooling on his skin after a basic Aether circulation drill. Mira was beside him, breathing hard but grinning. The instructor had pushed them harder than expected today, testing limits instead of just teaching theory.
Kael was a little ways off, pushing a broom across the edge of the yard. His janitor tunic was dusty, but he moved with steady focus, listening in on the lesson without being obvious about it. The staff had let him stay on the grounds as long as he kept up with the cleaning. So far he had been scrubbing floors, hauling water, and staying out of the way. But he watched everything.
The drill wrapped up and the group started heading back toward the dorms when shouts broke out from the tree line at the edge of the academy grounds. A band of ragged men burst from the woods, five or six of them, armed with rough swords and clubs. Bandits. Not the organized kind that hit big caravans, but the desperate type that preyed on smaller targets near the roads.
"Hands up! Coin and anything valuable!" the leader barked, a scarred man with a missing tooth.
The students froze. A couple of the younger ones backed away. Aldric's hand twitched toward the small practice knife at his belt. Mira grabbed a loose branch from the ground, holding it like a staff.
Kael set his broom down slowly and stepped forward, putting himself between the bandits and a couple of the smaller kids. His voice stayed calm. "We do not have much. Take what you want and go."
One of the bandits laughed and lunged at him with a club. Kael dodged, barely, the swing whistling past his ear. He countered with a simple punch to the gut that doubled the man over, years of farm work giving the hit real weight.
That set things off. Aldric moved next, faster than most expected. He had been practicing in secret for years, and it showed. He ducked a sword swing and slammed his palm into the attacker's chest, pushing a tiny thread of Aether behind it. The man stumbled back, winded.
Mira swung her branch hard, cracking it across another bandit's knee. She cursed under her breath when the wood splintered. "Shit, these guys are serious!"
The fight was messy and short. No fancy techniques, just desperate scrapping. Kael took a glancing hit to the shoulder but kept going, grappling one bandit to the ground and holding him there. Aldric landed another solid hit that dropped his opponent. Mira's branch broke completely, but she followed up with a kick that sent her target sprawling.
In the end, the bandits grabbed what little they could and bolted back into the woods when a couple of academy guards finally came running, shouting alarms. No one was badly hurt, but the new students stood there breathing hard, adrenaline still pumping.
Aldric wiped blood from a split lip and looked over at Kael. "You okay?"
Kael nodded, flexing his bruised shoulder. "Yeah. First time dealing with that."
Mira leaned on her broken branch, laughing shakily. "Welcome to academy life, I guess. Holy crap, my heart is still racing."
The guards took statements and promised to patrol the woods better. As the group headed inside, Aldric fell into step beside Kael and Mira.
"That was not in the welcome speech," Aldric said, trying to sound casual. But his eyes were sharp, already analyzing what had just happened.
Kael gave a small, tired smile. "Guess we learn fast out here."
Mira glanced between them. "At least we all made it through. Teamwork, right?"
Aldric nodded, but inside he was already turning it over. A real fight. His first taste of danger. And the protagonist had been right there, holding his own even with that weak core.
Back home in Caldmere, I finished sharpening the scythe and headed inside for dinner. The house was quiet except for the crackle of the fire. I told myself this was perfect. No bandits, no drills, no decisions that could get me killed.
But when I lay down that night, I could not shake the nagging feeling that the quiet was getting thinner. Aldric's letter had mentioned the academy grounds feeling bigger than expected. Mira sounded excited in the short note she sent. And somewhere out there, Kael was sweeping floors and fighting off bandits like it was just another chore.
I rolled over and tried to sleep.
Tomorrow would be another day of fences and fields. Steady. Safe.
I hoped it stayed that way.