Novaris: Adventure in the Shattered Fang Continent

Novaris. Novem. 887. AGC.

After the divination, Emeline spoke with her fellow caretakers and explained what she had learned. Her fellows took the story in strides as, more or less, everyone who came to the orphanage had similar stories.

So, with time, the orphanage slowly adapted to the new family member. However, for the most part, Jasmine wasn’t as much of an issue as Emeline believed the infant would be.

Throughout the years, Emeline had taken care of many infants in the orphanage and thus had experienced a wide variety of temperaments.

Some kids were rowdy and demanded constant attention no matter the time of day. Others were late-night fighters and refused to sleep during regular hours. Some were fickle and picky, having particular wants, and would throw tantrums when these weren’t met. Then there were the quiet ones who could be cause for concern as they didn’t express their needs and would require constant monitoring to ensure they were healthy.

However, Jasmine was such a model infant that it was a bit concerning. She would let you know when something was bothering her, but otherwise, there were no complaints, no tantrums, no nothing. She was such a delight to work with that Emeline worried it would give her fellows the wrong idea of how challenging some children were. Luckily, there was still Rose, who was the perfect example of a wild child and should counteract the example Jasmine showed.

As time passed, everyone slowly accepted Jasmine and her quirk of being such a perfect baby. Even Rose was tamed just a bit around Jasmine, as she didn’t do anything that might upset the infant. In fact, Jasmine became Rose’s weakness, and whenever Rose did something reckless, they would tell her that Jasmine was watching her and might get mad at her for doing bad things. Of course, that didn’t always work, but the caretakers took whatever wins they could.

Novaris. Novem. 889. AGC.

All good things must come to an end, and for the Free Spirit Orphanage, this change came when Jasmine turned two. On the 23rd day of Novem, Jasmine began to walk, or at least began to walk fully.

So, due to the bond Jasmine and Rose had built during the last two years, Jasmine became Rose’s tag-along. Anywhere Rose went to make trouble, there was Jasmine.

Now, Jasmine herself did nothing most of the time and was just the witness, but everyone was worried that Rose would turn Jasmine into a copy of herself. Thankfully, it did not look like it would happen anytime soon. And Jasmine was still the shy, quiet, and sweet child she had been so far, but things could always change.

If anything, Jasmine was still Rose's weak point, as the young babe couldn’t move as fast as her redheaded companion. So, when Rose did something and decided to bolt, Jasmine would often lag behind. Meaning if you saw Jasmine, then there was a good chance Rose was nearby, which then caused Rose to get caught much more easily while attempting to pull any nefarious acts.

All in all, Jasmine and Rose were becoming two opposing yet inseparable forces within the orphanage. And everyone was for it, as Jasmine would only show minor aspects of her personality around Rose, which helped put everyone’s mind at ease.

After all, there had been talks of taking Jasmine back to the church for another more thorough check-up. This concern about Jasmine was because she was more than just shy and was not exhibiting many of the things toddlers often did.

When she got hurt, she would not cry; instead, she just silently withheld the pain but at least still went and let someone know she was hurt. She also seemed confused about what feelings she should be showing at times.

However, with or due to Rose, the caretakers of the orphanage saw enough personality and emotion sneak through that their worries subsided, even if just a bit.

Novaris. Decem (October). 891. AGC.

Rose Zefree Smith was born on the Second Day of Decem in 885 AGC. At the time, she lived with her parents in a small farming village on the very outskirts of Aloy. Her parents were simple country folk who had spent their whole lives in the same village and planned to keep it that way.

Sadly, their tale ended when Rose was only a year old, and shifter hounds attacked the village. Naturally, the small number of guards assigned to the village fought back but were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of hounds. Then, with the fall of the guard, the entire village was soon engulfed in the chaos of battle as the villagers mounted a resistance. This resistance proved insignificant but still allowed some to escape unharmed.

Tragically, Rose’s family was not among those who escaped. The Smith family home was at the center of the village, allowing them a minuscule amount of time before the fight reached them. This allowed Rose’s parents to arm themselves with basic weaponry before attempting to make their escape. Yet, as they ran towards the edge of the village, the hounds quickly gained on them, and having no other choice, the father turned around as he made a last stand in an attempt to let his wife and child flee.

The fight ended just as fast as it began as the desperate father slashed at one of the hounds before another pounced, bringing him down, and before long, he lay dying on the ground as he sent a silent prayer to the gods.

Killing for the sake of killing, the shifter hounds continued the chase and quickly gained on the mother. The mother, knowing she wouldn’t last long, placed her babe on the ground before curling over the infant as her body became a shield.

Finding easy prey, the hounds soon bit into her as they ripped her dress and, along with it, chunks of flesh.

Yet, as the mother lay there in immense pain, trying to stay conscious while her life drained out of her, she heard a booming voice resonate throughout the surroundings.

“Do not fear! For a Paladin of Sol is here!”

With those words, she felt the sun's warmth as the midnight sky lit up with rays of sunlight. Then, with her last breath, she thanked Sol, knowing her baby would be safe.

Soon after that, the Paladin of Sol slaughtered the hounds and began a rescue mission with the help of the surviving villagers.

It was this paladin who then found Rose still being protected by her mother’s dead body and took it upon themselves to bring Rose to the orphanage. The paladin also went above and beyond by tracking down her family's home and discovering Rose’s identity, which is why Rose knows of her past.

And like many times in the planet's history, a paladin's heroic deed gained a spot in the memory and heart of someone they saved. Thus, it was no surprise that whenever Rose was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, the answer was always a paladin.

Naturally, the caretakers understood and encouraged this dream of becoming a paladin and even used it as leverage to stop the redhead from misbehaving.

Though encouraging as they were, some of the orphanage’s caretakers were doubtful about the chances of Rose becoming a paladin. This doubt came from assessing her personality.

Rose was truly a wild child, and to gain paladin status, one had to work hard and have discipline. Even so, the caretakers still attempted to instill the traits she would need to succeed. After all, Rose still had a lot of growing up to do, and nothing was written in stone. In fact, it wouldn’t be until she reached six years of age that her core would be exposed, showing whether she had what was needed to become a paladin.

The six-year mark was important as that was the age when most children around Novaris began adequately learning about the world around them. This learning period started with the basics of reading, writing, and simple mathematics and would then act as a gateway for higher learning. At this crucial point, children would begin to show what they were capable of and, more importantly, would allow them to gain some self-awareness as to how possible their dreams were.

This was why everyone was surprised when, after turning six, the wild child who couldn’t sit still for more than a couple minutes at a time began to excel in her studies.

It was a fantastic feat.

She had managed to redirect her overabundance of energy and direct it towards her studies. And in the process, had become a beast set out to devour all knowledge. Of course, she immediately used this newly gained knowledge to achieve a new level of mischievousness.

Novaris. Novem. 893. AGC.

Jasmine stared at the mirror, trying to see if there were any signs of her getting older. And as far as she could tell, nothing had changed. She still had her dirty blond hair, as everyone called it, and her dark brown eyes. And, like pretty much everyone else, a rather tan skin tone. Though hers was much lighter than Rose's, who spent so much time outside that she had gained a dark copper tan. Jasmine even believed the only reason her own skin was so tan was due to Rose dragging her about.

Speaking of Rose, Jasmine was brought out of her inspection by a few loud knocks.

“Come on, Jasmine! You always do this! You know everyone is waiting. Stop mopping about and get out here!” Rose yelled, evidently frustrated.

With a sigh, Jasmine opened the door and was quickly taken by the arm.

Jasmine did not enjoy her birthday. Well, she didn’t enjoy certain parts of her birthday. Mainly having to fake happiness so as not to bring down the mood of the family. It had been easier when she was younger as she could go with the flow and be engulfed by everyone else's cheery moods. However, as she got older, showing natural emotions became harder. And it wasn’t the fact that she didn’t have them. It was just that they felt muted and were harder to bring out.

She also wasn’t just able to feed off the emotions of others and get taken by the current, like before, as getting older meant more potent emotions, which in turn were harder to emote.

Luckily, her friendship with Rose had deepened as she had gotten older. That connection with Rose and the fact that her friend was like a wellspring of vibrant emotions allowed her to manifest her own emotions much more easily—well, at least when she was around the wild redhead.

What she did like about her birthday was that she could spend it doing whatever she liked. Even Rose would stop attempting to recruit her for whatever she was planning, leaving her the day to enjoy herself. More often than not, this meant asking Aunt Emy to take her to the library so she could read something new.

Honestly, that had been another weird thing.

Since she could remember, she had always been capable of reading and understanding all the languages she encountered. Yet, at the time of discovery, no one had questioned why a young child who had barely been three years old could do such a feat. Either way, she had felt like she shouldn’t bring attention to it, so she hadn’t, at least not much.

Something that caught her attention and peeled her away from her thoughts was the sound of hushed voices. Focusing on them, she realized that she was somehow hearing the quiet hushes coming from the dining room even though she was halfway down the hallway. However, instead of questioning this new ability, she was instead filled with excitement because it showed that she was indeed growing up, which made this ability make sense. After all, your body gets better at doing things when you grow. So, if a dragonkin got better at breathing or resisting their element as they grew, it made sense that her hearing would definitely improve as well.

Of course, Jasmine didn’t know that Rose, who was two years older than her, did not hear a single thing.

So, with a fake smile on her face and a Rose by the hand, Jasmine burst through the door and was met with cheers for living another year.