“You are turning your back on your own family! And for what? For your own selfish desires?”

  Even in the busy dining market of Balkania City, Tirana couldn’t shake her father’s words out of her mind. She still remembered well what he said as she was walking away from the family estate - to abandon the path of the sage and to be a mage knight. That was years ago. For as long as she remembered, she resented her father’s attempts to teach her restraint, to have her control her magic. Yet after her seeming death, she began to understand where her father was coming from. The mage knight was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice Sombor, carrying a tray of lunch for two, approaching her.

  “Rana,” he said.

  “Oh, Sir Sombor,” she responded. “I didn’t see you there.”

  The paladin smiled. “I bet. Thinking about your father?”

  The mage knight gasped. “How did you…”

  “Know?” Sombor said. “Just a guess, but it’s the most likely explanation.”

  Tirana nodded in understanding. She remembered that they had both talked about their respective backgrounds at length during their adventuring days. She knew what needed to be done but now she hesitated. “Then you know how tough it would be to… approach my father.”

  Having put down his tray, Sombor put a hand on his chin. “I think of my own father. You know it had been a while since we last saw one another. Of course, my situation was nothing like yours. We parted on good terms. He knew that there was nothing for a noble’s second son back there, so he let me go. Even so, he must have missed me right now. And I have no doubt your father feels the same.”

  Tirana put an arm around Sombor, and she kissed his cheek. “Thank you, my love. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

  Sombor smiled. “You know I’m here for you, Rana. Always.”

  “Glad to hear it,” responded Tirana. “Now let’s go see papa.”

  But Sombor instead wrapped his arm around Tirana; with the other arm, he motioned towards their lunch. “Not yet, I’m starving.”

  Tirana pouted. “Fine. But after this, we’re going to papa’s tower. No more delays!”

  ***

  Tirana shuddered as she gazed upon the towering estate of Skopje the Great Sage - her own father. Nestled right in the heart of Balkania itself, Skopje’s Tower was easily the tallest structure in the whole city. It was also the place where Tirana the Mage Knight was born and raised. For Tirana, it had been a while since she turned her back on the gates of her father’s estate. Yet even as she pursued her own path, that towering estate continued to shadow her for as long as she could remember.

  A part of her contemplated turning back… until she felt a pair of strong, but gentle hands upon her shoulders.

  Sombor her fiancé spoke with reassuring tone, “Be not afraid, Rana. I am with you.”

  Tirana smiled and nodded. “Yes, my love. I just… can’t believe I’m here. It’s very overwhelming.”

  “I understand,” Sombor said. The Paladin had long been aware of Skopje, of his power; after all, it was his magical constructs and artillery that ultimately saved Balkania from the Demon King’s horde. If it wasn’t for Skopje, then the adventurers’ mission to take out the Demon King would not have taken place.

  With that weight on their chests, Tirana and Sombor made their way to the gates of Skopje’s Estate. The tension was so strong with Tirana; not even Sombor’s touch could ease her shivering.

  To say that Tirana and Skopje parted on bad terms would be a severe understatement. Words had been exchanged, words that she wished she could have taken back. And while her father did not officially disown her, it was clear that he considered her his daughter no more.

  Yet when the aging sage finally showed up, when father and daughter finally gazed upon one another after all these years, the two rushed towards one another, and they embraced.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Tirana’s face were wet with tears. “Papa, I was wrong. I ask not for your recognition for I no longer am worthy to be your daughter. I ask only for your forgiveness.”

  Skopje kissed Tirana’s head. “Nonsense. I am at fault too. And neither will I turn you away. For my daughter Tirana was dead and is now alive again.”

  Looking from behind, Sombor smiled. A drop of tear escaped his eye.

  ***

  After Tirana’s reconciliation with her family, she finally found her path. Her calling after her retirement from adventuring… she became a magic teacher in the Academy. With her reputation as a mage knight who fought alongside Sombor the Paladin against the Demon King and her father’s influence as the Great Sage, that position was tailor made for her. Yet a part of her struggled to believe it. She remembered back in the day telling her fellow adventurers how it was better to blast away monsters than to teach magic.

  How they would surely laugh at her now.

  But such was peace time. And Tirana was not the only one having to adjust to a new life. Her husband Sombor, now the Deputy of Balkania, often found keeping the peace in the city boring compared to his old adventures.

  The real new adventure for Tirana and Sombor would instead come from the family they were forming.

  It did not take long before Tirana became pregnant. She could still remember how excited Sombor was to learn of this fact, how he continued to rub her belly as if hoping that the child would come out right then and there.

  Sombor would have to wait. And his patience soon bore fruit.

  ***

  Sombor smiled with pride as he held his newborn son, his firstborn. Yet he also couldn’t help but worry. For one thing, the child was strangely calm, quiet. He had expected loud cries as befitting of a babe. Yet the midwives and the medicine men assured the couple that the young boy was healthy.

  “Our first child,” he said. “I still can’t believe it.”

  Lying down on the bed, Tirana was still exhausted from the childbirth. “How do you think I feel?” She looked to her husband. “What are we going to name him?”

  “Adrianopol,” responded Sombor.

  Tirana widened her eyes. “That’s… your father, right?”

  Sombor nodded. “If he hadn’t let me go to become a knight-errant, then I wouldn’t have met you.”

  “A great name indeed,” said Tirana. She then smirked. “Then let’s hope we can finally go see his namesake, hmm?”

  Sombor chuckled, his smile awkward. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

  ***

  With his sandy blond hair and purplish-blue eyes, Adrianopol - or Adrian as his parents would call him - took after his mother in physical features. Yet it was clear that the child was his father’s son.

  Seeing their son quietly playing with his toys, Sombor and Tirana smiled.

  Tirana whispered, “He really takes after you.”

  “Really?” responded Sombor. “Because when I see his eyes, I see yours.”

  ***

  Adrian wouldn’t be the last to be welcomed to Sombor’s household. Just a little over a year later, Tirana became pregnant once more. But this time, their child would be completely different to the first one. For one thing, she screamed as soon as she escaped the womb. Her cries were so loud that the entire estate and even the neighbors could hear it.

  Like night and day, Sombor thought as he held his daughter. He turned to his wife. “I don’t have a good name for her. Any ideas?”

  Lying on the bed, Tirana was deep in thought for a moment. “What about Athina?”

  Sombor nodded. He knew of Athina, the nymph wife of Balkan, the first King of Balkania; she was known for her wisdom and was said to be the founder of Balkania’s Academy of Magic. “A great name, one that she will surely live up to… I can only hope.”

  ***

  As Athina grew up, she began to take after her father in looks - dark hair, brown eyes, even the facial features. But her behavior had been anything but. She was like a storm given human form, her toys - and those of her brother’s - would often get thrown around, scattered around the playroom. Temper tantrums were an almost daily occurrence.

  When Skopje saw firsthand the utter destruction that the child had caused, the sage shook his head, a sense of deja vu was overcoming him. “This one is just like Tirana,” he said.

  Tirana frowned as she heard this, almost offended. Yet she couldn’t deny it. With Adrian, she saw something of herself on the outside. Yet in Athina, it was almost as if she saw an inner mirror of herself.

  ***

  In the years that followed, Adrian and Athina grew older, and their respective magics began to manifest themselves. With Adrian, it was clear that the boy could endure more hits, more pain, than the average child. Every time he fell from his training horse or hit a tree or do all the assorted things that would hurt young boys, his bruises would be much less prominent, or he might not even had a bruise at all.

  As for Athina, the destruction that seemed to follow in her wake kept on going, and only became more powerful. Unexplained gusts of winds, sparks of flames, or even explosions manifested from time-to-time near her.

  Such things truly befuddled the young parents, who looked for advice. One such came from Pellas, the Master of the Adventurers’ Guild. The Guildmaster assured the two that it was the nature of the winds of magic to latch onto an individual, allowing him or her to draw upon its specific powers. He pointed out that Sombor and Tirana’s respective parents had mostly likely gone through similar things also.

  It was the mention of Tirana’s parents that led the mage knight to seek out her father. This time, she wanted to have the children tested for their magical capabilities. It was about time anyways.

  Yet little did Tirana knew, it was in that day that all Balkania would finally learn that the true peace that she and Sombor had earned would soon come to an end.