Tiana’s first word and a history lesson

It has been two years since the day my little sister was born. Tiana is as adorable as I imagined a little sister would be. At first, it was tough, not going to lie. Tiana cried a lot and seemed almost inconsolable. That is, until I was nearby. Whenever I would hold her or play with her, she would be calm and happy. Mother and Arti tried imitating what I was doing, but Tiana would still cry with them. Not with me, though. Mother would jokingly say that I am her little lady’s man. She couldn’t even imagine that one day I would become exactly that.

One especially interesting thing happened. It happened when Tiana was around a year and two months old. I was playing with Tiana in our mother’s room in the evening. My mother was sitting in front of the fireplace on the couch reading a big tome of some kind. Arti was also there playing with his toys. I was making a tower out of the wooden blocks while Tiana was watching and cutely passing me blocks. When the tower became too tall to stay stable, it collapsed in front of us. Tiana started laughing and I pouted at her for laughing. She stood up and wobbled to where I was sitting, but at the last moment, she tripped and started falling forward. I reacted quickly and caught her.

“Be careful, Tiana,” I said patting her head. Our mother smiled watching us.

That was when Tiana surprised all of us and said, “Braba” looking at me.

I was confused. What does ‘Braba’ even mean? Our mother excitedly stood up from the couch and walked up to us and leaned down to pat Tiana’s head. “I think you mean to say ‘brother’, sweetie.”

Oh, so that's what that meant.

I looked at Tiana again and saw her trying to say it again. “Braber,” she said. Well, at least she tried.

I patted her head while our mother giggled beside us.

“Tiana must like you very much. The first word she said was ‘brother’ to you.” Mother smiled warmly at you.

“That’s not fair,” Arti pouted on the other side of the room.

Tiana clung to me a lot, but I was fine with that. Her adorableness outweighs her clinginess. Now, she is two years old. Still just as clingy. I am five already. Arti and I are starting our tutoring today. Usually, children start their education when they are around eight years old, but Arti and I were deemed exceptionally bright and ready to start learning at just five years old. I guess people in the palace had enough of me trying to sneak into the library to read books and decided to just start me and Arti earlier. Today we are starting with History.

Our tutor arrived. He was an older man with a wrinkly face and a bold spot surrounded by thin grey hair. I saw him working in the library before.

“Young princes, it is a pleasure to tutor you on the experiences that shaped our world as we know it today. My name is Dietrich. I was told that you both are familiar with the events of ‘the Blessing’ that occurred 5700 years ago, correct?” he sagely and, perhaps a little, dramatically exclaimed.

Arti and I nodded in unison.

“Very well. Then let me introduce you to the world we live in,” he rolls out a big map. “This is the continent of Esconia. It is currently home to ten nations. This,” he points at the country located in the upper middle of the continent on the northern side, “is our beloved Kingdom of Astria. It is home to 2.4 million people. The capital Annson, where we currently are, is located on the northern side of the kingdom right on the coast. It is a big port city and a trading center of the whole continent. 500000 people live in and around the city. Our king, His Majesty Aldon von Astorian, has been the ruler of this kingdom for the last 19 years. He became king upon his father’s, the previous king Aegus, passing from the mana implosion illness.”

“What is a mana deficiency illness,” Arti asks beating me to the punch.

“A mana implosion illness occurs rarely without any explanation. At least, none have been found so far. All we know is that, when it occurs, the small traces of mana that every person has, but not all could use, suddenly start growing within a person, granting them the ability to perform magic. For a short while everything is fine until mana grows to such levels that the body is unable to contain it and it suffocates the organs within the body from inside, killing the person suffering from the illness in the process. Once the person dies, mana dissipates. There were no accounts of people having survived the illness. Not even light magic seemed to have been working against it.” Dietrich explains.

“Suffocating from inside sounds gruesome,” I say. Arti is shivering beside me, so I gently pat him on the shoulder. He smiles appreciatively at me.

“It is not the best way to go out, I agree,” Dietrich says. “Let us go back to the map. Right below our kingdom on the map is the Grand Duchy of Roredenia. The nation is ruled by a council of the Five Grand Dukes. It is a smaller nation than ours with around 900000 inhabitants. The capital city is Cavenwall. The nation is regarded as neutral ground from hostilities. It doesn’t take sides in any wars and acts as an objective observer of any hostilities. On top of that, their research into mana essence and magic is the best across the whole continent, better even than our own.” He smiles wryly. “Your mother, our Queen Lylya von Astorian is originally from there. As a magic user and from an influential noble house in Roredenia, she was favored by many influential people across the continent. Many tried to court her, but she ultimately got married to King Aldon and became the Queen of the Kingdom of Astria.”

“To the left, we have the Flademian Empire,” Dietrich’s smile faltered a bit and I noticed that.

“Is there something wrong with the Empire?” I inquire curiously.

“Well, our kingdom is not on best terms with the Empire. Our relationship soured over the past several centuries. The pinnacle of the animosity was the event that occurred in the Empire 2340 years ago. That was the establishment of the Shavian Theocracy which the Empire not only allowed but supplied with land. It gave a big chunk of its land to the southeastern side of the Empire bordering the Grand Duchy of Roredenia. Shavian beliefs go against the beliefs that are common and widespread on the rest of the continent, including within our kingdom. Our kingdom follows and adheres to Invian’s beliefs that people can only achieve prosperity through cooperation within all species. Its belief is that all species have something invaluable to offer to the flourishing of our societies. Followers of Shavian beliefs think that only humans have the right to lead the world to prosperity, dismissing points of view and ideologies of other species. Basically, they believe in human supremacy. That is a short explanation of one of the main differences between the two religions, but we will go into further details at another time.”