“Jessica… Jessica… Jessica!”

Jess jolted upwards, vision still blurry and head swimming in the dreams of the previous night. Slowly, their vision began to adjust and they stretched out as they looked around their room, finding that things were still blurry despite the adjustment. Jess let out a loud sigh and reached a hand over to the nightstand beside the bed, picking up a small wooden case. Upon opening it, they plucked out two small essence film lenses that Jess quickly placed in to their eyes. With the lenses in, the world came in to full focus and Jess groaned once more as they looked around, preparing themself for the coming day.

Despite being the child of the Sage, Jess didn’t live in what many would consider particularly lavish accommodations. It was by no means a hovel, but when most people heard that they were the child of the Sage of the Forest, they presumed that they lived in something close to a mansion. However, the small room was all Jess really needed and they saw no desire for anything bigger. The bed they were laying in was right next to a window with curtains still drawn. Next to the head of the bed was a night stand with a small tree-like lamp, a pair of glasses, and Jess’s contact lens case. Across the room, there was a mostly empty bookshelf and desk that Jess never used. Behind the bed, there was a small walk-in closet with a green curtain draped over the entrance.

Jess stumbled out of bed, still half asleep as they entered the closet and grabbed their robe and boots for the day along with a bra and some underwear. From there, they exited the room and headed left down the short corridor. Jess then turned right in to the bathroom and stripped away their pajamas and turned on the water, adjusting the temperature to a much warmer setting than their mother used. Jess hopped in to the shower and quickly began to wash themself, not wanting to spend any unnecessary time bathing.

Eventually, however, Jess got to the part they always dreaded, their hair. They had always liked having long hair, theirs going down almost to their waist, but the biggest issue with it was that it took almost a quarter of a bottle of shampoo and conditioner and it had to be washed every single day or it would end up gross and damaged. Jess spent almost fifteen minutes struggling with their hair, cursing loudly the entire time as they attempted to untangle the dozens of knots to the best of their ability. Once they had their hair sufficiently untangled, they exited the shower and began to dry off before reaching for the hair brush and once again fighting with their hair for far longer than they would have liked.

After almost an hour, they had finished with showering and as they stared in the mirror then sighed, noting the new scar that had appeared on their chest thanks to a match of sparring that they had taken a bit too far a few days ago. Their body was covered in dozens of scars all over from all kinds of different circumstances. Jess chuckled softly as they admired their biceps. Despite being beaten so often in combat, Jess had a rather well built body. Most people found them rather intimidating due to their physique, but Jess never let that get to them.

Now done admiring their body, Jess began to redress. The bra and underwear were simple as always. They had never understood the interest in fancier articles, but they were both still very comfortable and fit well. They smirked as they slid on their boots, chuckling silently at the way people always commented about the fact that one boot was far longer than the other. The right boot only went up to just below Jess’s knee while the left boot went almost all the way up their thigh. Jess had requested the two completely different boot sizes on accident, but upon receiving them, they found that they really liked the look of the boots, the asymmetry added a bit of interest to their look.

Finally, there was the robe. It was nothing too special, the same exact robe that all the other disciples of the forest wore. It was light green with gold trim along the hem and a broken gold ring of trim just above that. The robe went down to the lower thigh, the sleeves going all the way down to the wrist. All of the robes were custom made, so they were all very comfortable and fit perfectly. Jess usually rolled up their sleeves whenever they fought. They thought about cutting them off once, but then they remembered that their mother would have likely killed them if they had, so decided against it.

Not ready for the day, Jess headed out of the bathroom, tossing their towel on to their bed before going downstairs where they could already smell the breakfast their mother had prepared. Much like the rest of their home, the kitchen was quite simple. It was only a bit bigger than Jess’s room, but a bit more crowded thanks to the table and cabinets all along the walls. Silvia was standing with her back to the table, reading through something unknown to Jess. Quietly, they took their seat at the table and began to eat.

“You took your sweet time,” Silvia remarked without turning around. She spoke in a sweet motherly voice with a soft accent that she had been told was something called Scottish. Jess wasn’t sure that they had ever heard her get angry or even raise her voice, it was always very calm and patient.

“Yeah, well, you know how long it takes to wash my hair…” Jess replied, swallowing an entire glass of juice in a single gulp. Their voice had the same accent as their mother, but a little less heavy. However, they spoke much louder and a bit less composed than their mother.

“Yes, well you chose to have such long hair. If you’re going to keep it so long, then you need to get up earlier, so that you can still be on time,” Silvia countered, turning around and taking a seat at the table just across from Jess, still reading her book which Jess could now see was a book about baking pies.

“I try to get up early, but it never seems to work… It’s not like I have an alarm clock…”

Silvia looked up and rolled her eyes at her child. “Just because we don’t have fancy golem clocks, that doesn’t mean you can’t still get an alarm clock. They make analog ones, darling.”

Jess averted her gaze, finishing up the food, eying up the napkin the utensils had been set on. “I mean… I tried to make one, but… for an earth apprentice, I’m kind of a failure at the whole craftsmanship thing…”

Silvia chuckled. “Darling, I’m not particularly crafting inclined either, but I do know that you can simply purchase a clock. I know I try to keep our expenses somewhat… constrained, but surely, we can get you a clock.”

Jess sighed. “Fine”, they replied as they picked up the napkin and began to chew it.

“I still will never understand how you can find such things appealing…” Silvia remarked.

“I dunno. Ram genetics, I guess,” Jess replied pointing to the curly horns sprouting from their head. “Oh yeah, speaking of that… Do you think Aunt Avery is gonna come visit for my birthday this year?”

“I sent her a letter two days ago, but she has yet to respond. Your birthday is still two weeks away, so I wouldn’t say it’s out of the question. Although… I think I remember hearing that they recently took in a very powerful apprentice at Arclight, so there’s a chance she’ll be called there to assist with that and you know how those kinds of things can eat up time…”

Jess sighed softly and nodded. “Right… I know… I just miss her… It’s been a while since she last visited…”

“Well, even if she doesn’t come, you’ll still have your friends from around here, plus, we can try and visit her sometime during this year when we have a bit of free time, alright? How does that sound?”

Jess smiled softly and stood up from the table. “Sounds great.” They made their way around the table and gave Silvia a soft kiss on the cheek which caused the woman to smile softly. “Thanks for breakfast, mum. It was great!”

“Jessica, please don’t forget about the plants around the central shrine that you have to tend to today, alright?” Silvia called after her child who was already halfway out the door. She sighed softly. “What am I going to do with that child…”