Liriane's tiny body burned with fever, her skin flushed and damp with sweat. Elvia pressed a cool cloth to the babe's forehead, murmuring prayers to the goddess.
She had tried every remedy she knew; elderberry tea, crushed mint leaves, even a special poultice brought by Maia, one of the local Nuns. The nun had even offered a short prayer as her last attempt, but nothing could break the fever that had gripped her daughter.
Azimir sat brooding in the corner, annoyance etched on his face. "Just let the weakling die already and be done with it," he grumbled. Elvia shot him a venomous glare before returning her attention to Liriane.
She would not let her first and only child slip away so easily. There was something special about her, Elvia had claimed she could feel it, but Azimir didn't care and continued to watch with indifference.
Just a little more than two weeks after her birth, Liriane had become sick, her tiny body wracked with chills and sweats. Elvia had tried everything she could think of to bring her daughter's temperature down, but nothing seemed to work.
There was also the possibility of asking the local healer for help, but the simple answer was, a sick child was way below his pay grade and something Azimir could not and would never afford.
Liriane on the other hand wasn't quite ready to give up just yet. Even though the sickness took a heavy toll, she still managed a few conscious moments to reflect on her situation.
"Ugh! I was just born! Just why is this happening to me? Aaaaaagh THIS SUCKS!" Frustrated with her weakness Liriane wracked her brain, trying to figure out what she could do.
"Haaa… My immune system is too weak yet, isn't it? Ahh yeah, that's probably the reason why medieval child mortality rates were very low, weren't they? Fuck this shit!" Liriane just wanted to cry in frustration, but she wasn't even capable of that anymore.
"Alright then… my antibodies suck balls and my body just tries to burn the virus away and kill me in the process… My parents have no clue, right? Are those guys just going to let me die? Well, I guess its time to pick on my last straws."
With the passing days and no miracle cure in sight, Liriane didn't know any better than to try a more unconventional way. Which meant, putting her skepticism aside and relying on the old fashioned placebo effect. Or in other words, hope that whatever had led to her rebirth, would help her yet again.
In her feverish haze, Liriane put as much focus as she could gather, into imagining her antibodies fighting the sickness and cleansing it from her body. Liriane had noticed her imagination to be quite vivid and with its help she wanted to make her body believe it could fight the sickness. Or, if magic actually was a thing, that it would do something… anything, that was the hope.
After a few hours of trying her best, or maybe it had already been days? Whatever. Time had lost its meaning. She didn’t feel any better, but! She felt like she might be sensing something. Something that was invading and taking hold throughout her body. Or was it just the pain she felt from her fever?
Time passed as Liriane continued to explore the feeling. It was hard to grasp, but she didn't let up, she wouldn’t let up, until she was pretty certain it was the sickness. But during her search she had also found something else. Something she felt it stirring within her, a strange sensation that she couldn't quite place.
She noticed how it aided her feel and explore her body. A new sense? But where was it? What was it? And why did it feel like she could lead it throughout her whole body like some kind of force? So many questions…. Yes.
Through her fever-muddled mind Liriane realized she was onto something and began to focus intensively on this new sense, forcing her will on it, to break her fever. She also visualized her immune system building new immune cells and with her new found sense, or was it a force? Anyways, she directed them to attack the virus.
Soon, an unfamiliar tingling spread throughout her body, like currents of energy, but not sparky. Instead more like a river-stream, she could guide it to where she needed it and without much resistance it would flow.
Liriane wasn't sure if she had already gone insane by now. Or if what she was doing actually did anything. But hey, if one thing was certain, then it was the fact that Liriane had no interest in finding out if she could get reborn a second time. So she continued to struggle.
She remembered how Elvia's own resilience had surprised her initially. Elvia had recovered quickly from childbirth, despite her poor diet and living conditions, she went back to doing housework just a day after, without a hitch.
It had challenged Liriane's logic from her past life, no normal human being could shrug off starvation so easily. She suspected something supernatural at work, beyond science and medicine as she knew them.
With those suspicions and with a whole lot of copium, hope slowly began to blossom within her, that something magical was happening.
So Liriane continued wrestling over control of her body's defenses, barely realizing how a new instinct took hold inside of her, supporting her at isolating and suppressing the virus.
Days passed as Liriane fought on and she continued to grow weaker and weaker. Elvia was beside herself with worry, her own health beginning to suffer again from the lack of sleep and constant care she was providing her daughter.
But then, on the fourth night, something changed. Liriane's fever suddenly broke, color quickly returning to her cheeks, as she, totally exhausted, finally settled into a deep and calm slumber.
Elvia wept thankful tears while Azimir just scowled, unmoved by the babe's unexpected recovery. From that night on Liriane's health slowly began to improve. She still had a running nose and her voice was gone. But her body wasn't trying to kill her anymore and that's what mattered.
With her sudden recovery Elvia had become convinced her goddess had interceded, sparing her daughter. To Elvia, it was a sign that Liriane was special and was making plans to bring her to the local church for a baptism as soon as her health had improved enough. She was convinced that there would be a positive reaction.
As for Liriane, she was quite puzzled by her newfound ability. Over the span of four days, fighting the sickness, she had become more and more aware of that strange new sense and force inside her body.
"Magic! It has to be magic!" The fantasy side in the back of her mind was overloading with excitement, while her more rational side did its best to damper her excitement and just in case, find a more scientific explanation for what had happened.
Whatever it was, she was certain that, if she really had some control over this strange new ability, she would soon find out. She would put all her effort into discovering everything she could, as soon… as she got some more sleep. Because damn, was she fucking tired from this whole ordeal.
* * *
When Liriane awoke the next morning she had only one goal in mind. Forgotten were her current circumstances. Her week body? The new world? The new language? All those past memories? Everything of secondary importance.
What really mattered was: What was going on with that strange new sense? "Aright, how are we going to approach this?" Liriane leaned back into her mother's embrace, looking thoughtful up at the ceiling.
"If its really magic it should work something like a sixth sense. Problem is, I have no idea what exactly it is and how it works, let alone control it…" Liriane thought back at what had happened. She thought long and hard.
"Ok, I did some imagining and then I felt something… and then I could sense this strange feeling, hmm. Heh, I guess meditating comes closest to what I did." Liriane rolled her eyes. "Such a common trope. Its almost funny."
"Hey darling! Nah? How are we doing today?" Elvia's happy voice cut trough Liriane's thoughts like a hot knife trough butter. Liriane looked over, meeting her mother's delighted eyes.
Sighing inwardly at her mother's attitude, Liriane retuned her smile and made some grabby movements towards her face. Elvia giggled and resettled Liriane on her lap, to play their little finger grabbing game. Liriane saw it as her duty to return her mothers affection whenever appropriate and she thought of the finger-grabbing game as an alright pastime activity. It was also a nice way of training her motor-skills.
Still a little bit sick though, Liriane tired quickly. But that only prompted Elvia to pick her up, feed her and then tie Liriane to her chest. As usual Liriane went along with it, having gotten used to hang around, while Elvia got up to get her daily tasks done.
Also, playing with her mother had given her an idea on how to approach researching her potential magic abilities. But as usual Liriane had to postpone her plans, as she was already drifting off back to sleep.
The next time she woke up Liriane finally had the tie and energy to begin forming concepts for her experiments. She continued to do so over the following days. During that time she also managed to mostly recover from her illness, regaining some of what little strength she previously had.
Liriane was certain that her magic had influenced her body, which meant she could potentially activate it again by experimenting with her body. So her plan of approach simple: Practice skills that were rather unique, but that she knew were possible to perform without magic. And then she would, step by step, be going to the extreme, until nothing but magic could explain the results.
Now. As a baby Liriane didn't have a big assortment of skills she could practice and those she did have… Well, they weren't that easy to perform, or too obvious to hide from her mother. So yeah. Everything too physical was out of the question. But what remained? Going back to the metaphor of meditation, slowing down her breath and heartbeat were the first skills that came to mind.
Body temperature regulation, as something a little more advanced, would be next in line of testing, if her her breathing and heartbeat test were successful. Then, as something close to impossible to influence, Liriane had considered improving her hearing and tactile senses.
Especially the senses part was interesting to her, because it was still freezing cold outside and she would have loved to just turn her thermoreceptors off. "Oh well, a girl can dream. Or cant I? Sigh… Alright then, let's start with the easier ones. I have got a pretty good idea how to do breathing and heartbeat control. Feels like I've done this before, so hopefully it wont be to hard to get into it. Let's see how far I can take it."
After making sure her mother wouldn’t disturb her for a while Liriane began by calming her breath, inhaling deeply and slowly releasing it out of her little nose. Doing that just once was enough to calm her down. When they were resting, babies already had an extremely shallow breath and heartbeat, which was really helpful for her experiment.
Then came her next step: Controlling her heartbeat, something that was much more difficult to achieve. But her spirits were high and so she focused on synchronizing her slow beating heart with the rhythm of her breath.
She was prepared for what could be weeks or maybe months of practice, because calming your heartbeat was one thing, but controlling it was on a whole other level. So Imagine her surprise, when Liriane got a pretty strange feeling, the more she focused on it.
"What is this? It feels like… I guess feels it like discovering a muscle you have never consciously used before? Probably something like that. Hmm." Liriane felt a wave of unease washed over her, the beat of her heart instantly picking up. Was she scared? Hmmm maybe, but she had to find out what that strange feeling was and so she carried on.
She took another calming breath, refocusing on the beat. "Slow and steady… Yes. One beat after the other." Slowly, a calm spread throughout her body. A comfortable feeling of peace… Liriane startled up! Her heart suddenly beating so fast, as if wanting to escape her chest. She took an sharp intake of air, her head spinning from the sudden rush off blood.
Her temples throbbed. "Awwrgh." Liriane would have loved to massage her temples that very moment, but sadly she probably wouldn’t have the strength and she was also still tied up. Luckily, her mother didn't seem to have noticed her shenanigans yet, busy with stitching some clothes.
Liriane took a break, trying to sort out what had been some way faster progress then she had expected. It was scary to her how fast the calm had spread, however she had a hard time remembering how slow her heart had beaten there at the end.
"Sigh… I guess I'll have to try again." Liriane already dreaded the prospect of continuing her experiments, but she was also trying to convince herself that it'd be worth it. "Come on. I am just slowing down my heartbeat for a little. Nothing serious… Sigh." Once more, she gathered herself, taking a deep breath and focused on her heartbeat.
Liriane would continue that exercise for another two days, calming herself, only to be startled again and then repeat. It took her some time, but on day three she actually managed to get some sense for her heart beat.
Her awareness of it had vastly improved, as if she could feel every fiber of the muscle that was her heart, contracting and then relaxing again. The feeling of her blood being sucked inside, just to be pushed out the very next beat. It was at the same time nauseating, as it was enthralling.
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Liriane was baffled. She had no idea what she had done to achieve this and the feeling was so strange. The awkward part about it was that she was less feeling her heart, but more sensing it, but the details she could sense were just so incredible.
With her higher awareness came her impression of higher control. She got the feeling that she could now govern her heart just like her breath. Naturally she instantly tried it out and aimed to slow its beat down to a minimum. But as soon as Liriane took direct control, a feeling of dread washed over her, when her heart, from one moment to the other, just stopped right in its tracks.
"Ah!" Liriane let go of her control, jolting upwards and gasping for air, her tiny hands grasping for her chest. She felt the appeasing beat her heart hammering in her chest, as if it had never stopped.
Groaning loudly Liriane settled back into her parents uncomfortable bed. Both of her parents were still soundly asleep, wholly unaware of their daughter's experiments.
It took her a moment to calm down, but when she was, she didn't really wanna think about what had just happened. Did she have an idea of what she had done wrong? Yes. Was she interested in continuing her experiment? No. So instead she just called it a day and did her best to fall back asleep.
The next day Liriane was still shaken from her sudden and rather uncomfortable near death experience. Therefore Liriane decided to focus on something else and let her heart do it‘s thing. Actually, there was no reason to continue, because what she had just achieved was definitely not normal.
The extreme awareness she had achieved over her heart had given her a new lead. With just a few days worth of focusing she had managed to get a abnormal but profound sense and understanding of her heart and it begged the question: Could she get a similar amount of awareness of her other body parts? It would certainly make sense.
And so, another long line of experiments began, with Liriane focusing on a singular part of her body for a prolonged amount of time, until she could sense every last detail about it. Well not quite every detail. In the beginning she mostly got insight into the more physicals aspects of her body parts. But because of the way she had beaten her cold, Liriane was pretty sure that sooner or later she would also get a grasp of the chemical processes inside of her body, fingers crossed.
Meanwhile Azimir seemed to have come to terms with the fact that Liriane would stay around for a little while longer. The only thing he had to say about it, was mentioning his disappointment about Liriane's name. He had realized after the fact that Elvia had already named the child, without his input and consent.
That had pissed him off quite a bit and he had almost thrown another fit. But considering that he had never really cared about the child, Elvia had just ignored him and refused to even consider changing it.
* * *
Two weeks after Liriane's fever had broken, Elvia deemed her health sufficiently robust. Midway through the morning, Elvia began to bundle her up snuggly against the chill morning air before picking her up. "Let's get you baptized, little one. I know Father Charles will see how special you are." She smiled happily down at her little daughter, who was acting her part, by playing her little game of grasping for Elvia‘s fingers.
At first Liriane was little confused about what her mother was planning, but only for a short moment. Then she understood what was going on: "Hell yeah! Finally I get to see more than those same four stuffy walls!" and emphasized her excitement by flailing her limps wildly and releasing a happy giggle, causing her mother’s smile to grow even wider. With a last stub on Liriane's nose, Elvia made her way towards the door and stepped outside.
Liriane blinked against the bright sunlight bearing down on her. When she got a glimpse of the yellow sun, the first indignant thought that went trough her mind was, "Something feels off…" It was hard to grasp, but in the back of her mind she knew how it was supposed to look like. "Ahh. It's looks too large."
The sun, hanging over one of the many mountain-crests, was at least two times bigger then she thought of as normal. "Well, I guess this settles it then. Definitely not on the same planet anymore and a high chance that I am dealing with some kind of magic system. Now I only gotta figure out of what kind."
Liriane took in her surroundings. The first thing that caught her eye was the huge mountainside rising right in front of her. But before she could get a real grasp of its tremendous size, Elvia turned up a pathway that led into a decently sized mountain village.
This wasn’t what she had expected. They were located at a valley's end, surrounded by a forest and enclosed by a gigantic mountain side. Cottages were clustered along winding dirt roads. Most homes were sturdy wattle and daub constructions, standing in stark contrast to her own shabby abode, but a few buildings closer to the center stood out, sturdier buildings of stone and timber.
The cottage of Liriane's family stood at the village outskirts just a stone’s throw from a lively river, where a gathering of Women laughed and gossiped as they scrubbed garments against washing stones. Their hands were reddened by the cold, but quick in their task. Liriane got a look at them, impressed by their simple camaraderie.
Elvia greeted them with a short wave of her free hand, which some of them returned and when some of the woman noticed what or rather who she was carrying, a flock of them stood up and ran over, their excited chatter following them as they surrounded the two. "Hey Elvia! Finally decided to crawl out of your winter cave? Took you long enough to sleep off your fat belly! Hahaha!" an elderly woman teased.
"Ah, Tamara, I'm sure you've already heard everything about what has happened…" Elvia replied with a half-forced smile.
"Oh! For sure we did!" One of the other girls perked up, "Maia told us that nothing more than a Miracle could save her!"
"Or a healer…" whispered one from further behind and instantly received a stab into the side.
It was a well-known fact that Liriane's family was poor and nobody had expected the baby to survive, which would have been a shame, as it would have broken the village’s five-year streak with all children surviving their first few weeks until then.
"Well look at her!", "She got some really bright eyes!"
"Lucky her that she inherited your blue ones!"
?But that black hair is clearly from her father…"
"She is definitely on the thinner side…"
While the woman inspected Liriane and commenting on every single detail about her appearance, she just lay there in her mothers arms. Trying to act normal, she took an old advice she seemingly once had heard to heart. "What did a smart penguin once say? Just smile and wave boys! Just smile and wave."
Fortunately for Liriane, her mother seemed to have a tight schedule, the reason being her baptism. The gathered crowd reluctantly let them go, but not without everybody poking Liriane somewhere as a farewell.
Liriane felt a swell of affection for this woman who had cared for her so tirelessly these past weeks and kept on giving her attention. It hadn‘t been easy, but now that the worst was hopefully over Liriane was wishing an easier future for both of them.
Together they made their way through the center towards the top of the village and as they walked, Liriane studied the passing villagers, simple folk, but they seemed content. Children could be heard, dashing about, playing games, while adults worked or socialized. The rhythm of daily life in a mountain village, Liriane found it oddly comforting.
Liriane obviously was still on the lookout for anything magical, but she only had a limited field of view in her mother's arms, so the majority of the things she saw were the occasional house or passerby, as well as the surrounding mountains.
Talking about the mountains. They were gigantic! One after the other, the further you looked, the higher the peeks went, like wall of rock, reaching into the heavens. Most of it was covered in snow and obscured by clouds, especially the higher peeks way off in the distance.
The mountains directly forming the valley weren't small, maybe about two kilometers high? Yet compared to to mountain-site in the the distance they looked like some small hills and Liriane wasn‘t even sure how high up their valley itself was, but certainly a bit higher than sea level.
Actually, there was another thing that really caught her attention - not anything mystical, but nonetheless a clear indication that she now inhabited a different kind of world.
There, climbing above another mountain crest, had emerged a second, much smaller, blue sun to join its twin in the late morning sky. "Hm, I guess this explains why some of the colors felt a little off, the second sun definitely screws with the light spectrum."
Liriane was overwhelmed, with all these new sights, mountains of information crashed into her mind. Compared to the trickle of information she had regained inside her home, the avalanche of old knowledge that was now crashing into her was crushing.
Unaware of her daughter’s turmoil Elvia had kept a steady pace, already approaching the more elevated area of the village. She just walked by some marked place, occasionally stopping to greet some acquaintances, who were all so curious about the little child in her arms, which she proudly presented.
"Pang! Klonk! Pang!" Elvia just rounded another corner, already past the center, when the loud hammering of the local smithy got Liriane’s attention. "Shasha!" She started swinging one arm in the rough direction, conveying her interest to her mother.
"Yes darling, this is our local smithy!" Elvia had a light chuckle when she noticed her daughter's renewed excitement from watching one of the smiths hammering a long piece of metal into a new shape. "This is our last stop, we can't have Father Charles waiting for us for too long."
What got Liriane's main attention wasn't the hammering itself but more the fact that the smith was holding the glowing metal with his bare hands. "Yep that's definitely not normal and look at those tools…"
That smithy gave off some clear superhuman vibes just with some of the, definitely not for normal human sized, tools scattered about. But as soon as Liriane attempted to take a closer look, her mother moved on.
Liriane had been wondering for some time what the aim of this excursion was all about, when finally, they came around the last corner to get a view of a rather impressive looking church fully made out of stone. "Ahh yes… I could have seen this coming, obviously the church would have a lot of influence in such a world."
The small church stood as a pillar of the community, its clean-cut stone walls weathered yet unwavering, designed and constructed in a Romanesque style with a 12-meter high gable roof and the 17-meter high, square-shaped bell tower attached at the backside. The church was one of the few buildings fitted with plain glass panels and was adorned with runes and scriptures chiseled into the stone.
Liriane's eyes went wide as saucers, but not because of the church, while it was certainly impressive, something totally different had caught her interest. A black bird was perched on top of the churches roof, observing them as they approached the building.
At first glance it looked like relatively big raven, but another good look revealed an additional pair of clawed arms. Also, its beak looked a little strange… "Are those nostrils??? What the hell, we have what? Raptor-ravens in this world? Damn, we are so fucked…"
At least it didn’t seem hostile, but its cold glare gave of a similar vibe of a ravens intelligence. The way the birds eyes followed their every movement felt kind of unsettling. But soon Liriane lost sight of it, when her mother approached and came to a stop in front of the three meter tall oak door.
* * *
For just a short moment Elvia hesitated at the entrance before walking through the already half-open door. Inside, the air was cool and hushed. Sunlight filtered through the windows, illuminating rows of wooden pews and walls painted with fantastical frescoes.
At the front center stood a stone altar decorated with ornaments and runes in pure gold. A man in robes, with short white hair, whom Liriane would soon get to know as Father Charles, turned at their entrance. Noticing them, his old and weathered face creased into a warm, crinkly-eyed smile.
"Welcome! Elvia, so good to see you." His voice was gentle but resonant in the quiet chapel. Elvia dipped into a slight curtsey. "Father, I've brought Liriane as I have promised. Again I would like to express my utmost gratitude for your help during Liriane’s cold-"
"Nah, Nah Elvia, this old man has done nothing to deserve such praise, if anyone then you'd have to thank Maia, but she is out on an errand." Then the priest gave a short wave towards a young and inconspicuous looking girl, that had been standing off to the side. "This is Monica, our new novice, she will be assisting with today's baptism, Monica please greet our guests."
The novice stepped forward and with a soft bend at the waist greeted them in a feeble voice: "It is a pressure to be of service. May Theia guide you." Her habit was crisp, her eyes wide with the kind of optimism only youth could sustain. She offered Elvia a nervous smile before her gaze fell upon Liriane with gentle curiosity.
"Now, the stubborn fire of our newly lit candle here has probably come to everybody's attention during the past weeks, let's have a look at this tough little girl!" With those words Father Charles stepped closer and peered down at Liriane, his expression thoughtful.
He took his time to study something about her, before letting out a satisfied grunt. "Yes, clearly… the goddess has plans for this little one." He beckoned Monica forward to take Liriane off her mother "Let us begin." And turned to walk towards the altar.
Monica extended her arms toward Liriane, and Elvia reluctantly passed her daughter over to her. Her hands were firm yet gentle as Monica cradled Liriane as they approached the altar.
Liriane gazed up at the warm, welcoming face, as the young novice leaned over Liriane, cooing softly. "Oh what a precious little child. Let's go and see what Theia has planed for you!" Sadly Liriane still couldn't understand what all those people were talking about "I just hope it's nothing serious. Maybe they are going to bless me? Or an anointment? Hmm."
Monica carried her in front of the altar, Father Charles was waiting behind it. Lifting his hands, as he began his prayer, "Blessed Theia, goddess of light, vision, and enlightenment. We ask of you to bestow your radiance upon this child. Anoint her with your divine gifts of sight, insight, and revelation. Shine your celestial light upon her, that she may see the world with eyes of truth. Enkindle within her your creative fire, so that she may envision new possibilities. May she walk in the illumination of your guiding light all her days, discerning your purpose and plan. We dedicate her life to you, Theia, as we baptize her now in your holy name." Father Charles dipped his fingers into the holy water and drew the sign of three oval shapes enclosing one another, symbolizing an eye, on Liriane's forehead.
Liriane felt a peculiar warmth spread from where his fingers touched her skin. It was as if sunlight filtered through the clear glass windows to dance upon her face alone. Elvia gasped softly as she witnessed a faint glow emanating from Liriane, the unmistakable mark of the divine. Monica murmured in awe, witnessing one of the few, but very strong reactions to a blessing.
"Just as I suspected. This child has a strong alignment with the divine." Father Charles smiled down at Liriane "Ah." and he froze for just a second, before catching himself. "Ahem, with the goddess blessing I am sure she will do many great things." With a strained smile, he handed the child back into Elvia's waiting embrace.
While Liriane was happy that everything seemed to have gone well, she was a little confused about the whole awe and drama surrounding her. "Was that just a normal blessing or was that magic thing something special? It felt pretty good, I have to say, but why are they all staring at me like that?"
Sadly, the day, someone would explain to her what had just happened, had yet to come. As for now Liriane had the fortune to live her life in blissful ignorance for little while longer.
Completely oblivious to her divine fortune Liriane gave her mother a bright smile and burbled happily, hoping everything was alright. Elvia clutched Liriane tightly, with an expression of pure bliss. Her daughter's baptism had confirmed what Elvia had felt all along, Liriane was special.
Clearing his throat, Father Charles drew their attention back to himself again. "Well then Elvia, I believe this concludes our ceremony. Be sure to take care of our bright little light here and make sure to visit our daily church services again. We have been missing your attendance and will be glad to have you back."
"Yes Father I will make sure to attend." Slowly coming out of her happy daze, Elvia curtsied and bid her farewell. She smiled one last time at the novice and then turned, slowly making her way outside. "Our little girl is blessed by the divine, oh how am I going to explain this to Azimir…"
Their way back home had been a fast and quiet affair, with Elvia seemingly lost in thought. Liriane let her be, indulging in her own thoughts, spinning her own rhyme out of what had happened. When they got home Elvia told her husband the good news, news of a hopefully brighter future.
When Elvia had told him, Azimir’s eyes had lit up like a Christmas tree and you could have almost seen the gears running behind them. He had been hard at work to figure out a new business model, after the last batch of trinkets had failed to achieve successful sales numbers. His associates had told in no uncertain terms, that he had to step up his game, or else future endeavors would proceed without him.
His daughter being gifted was basically a goldmine for his dealings. Nobody could wish for better marketing material. So what does a father do when his wife and daughter come home and tell him this blessed news? Right! Just moments after he heard the news, he excitedly ran out the door and wouldn’t be seen for more then a whole week.