As the eldest in the care of the church Rosalyn had a lot of responsibility. She set the table and laid out the food that she had prepared. Today’s lunch was tomato sandwiches slathered in freshly made mayo and sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper. She was always surprised at the things Mother Cham could afford for the kids to eat, but she had heard several of the villagers whisper that she was supposedly famous so maybe that explained it? Shaking the random thoughts out of her head Rosalyn rang the large brass lunch bell and watched the children filter in one by one. After a moment she started to count the children to make sure there were no stragglers.

“10… 12… Hobert… where is Janie?” Rosalyn asked a lanky young teen boy who was running around the small grassy area outside of the church gathering up the smaller children who didn’t want to stop their outside play to come and eat. He halted and slowly scratched the bald head he had had ever since he had arrived as a toddler “Hmm… I saw her by the big tree about an hour ago. She was crying, but didn’t want to talk so I left her be.” Nodding Rosalyn looked at Hobert and made a hand gesture at the children, “You got this?” Hobert nodded as he grabbed two of the smallest children under his arms and trundled into the mess area. As always Rosalyn was amazed at how brotherly Hobert was, she would have to tell him so sometime. It would probably make him blush, which would be hilarious because his head would turn red and he would look like a tomato. Apparently, she had food on the brain. Her mind was wandering too much today.

“ANYWAY! Now to go find Janie!” she declared to the sky raising both arms above her head in a gesture of defiance to the very clouds above.

After a brief jog to the so called “big tree” in the center of town Rosalyn saw her target. She was in the upper branches of the ancient oak, quietly sobbing. The sight of it distressed her. What had happened? Rage seethed in Rosalyn’s heart at the sight. While Rosalyn loved all of the residents of the church like family, Janey was her soul-sister. They had come to the orphanage around the same time a decade ago and after a brief bit of awkward shyness they had grown close culminating in the sacred act of them declaring they were each a sister from another mister.

Rosalyn looked at her sister and studied her. Janie supposedly had a really hard life before she found her way to the church orphanage as part of that merchant convoy. It wasn’t something she liked to talk about, but Rosalyn had gotten the impression that Janey had been by herself for a long time and had done things she wasn’t proud of after she was abandoned by her mother. Despite her sad past she really was everything that Rosalyn had wanted to be growing up, tall, thin, blonde, and beautiful. Rosalyn really was envious of her height most of all. Her not having to use a step ladder to reach the second pantry shelf was something that had been a particularly sore subject for Rosalyn after they had hit puberty. She had the tall half-elf beat in the chest area, but that didn’t help her reach the high shelves now did it?

She supposed that is what is to be expected from having an elven parent. Despite being a half-elf Janie was and always would be her clumsy little sister in her heart of hearts. No matter how jealous of her long legs she got.

Climbing up the tree she sat down next to a bleary eyed Janie and watched her silent heaving sobs. “Who made you cry? Was it the mayor’s son? DID HE GRAB YOUR BUTT? I should have broken both of his arms…” Rosalyn said, scanning the town from her perch looking for the offending lothario.

Janie gave a confused look and laughed “No… Rose… it is… something else.” She looked at Rosalyn and said “I have an A rank talent in magic and they are making me join the military academy for the next semester. I don’t want to go, but I was conscripted by Kingdom right.”

Rosalyn almost fell off the branch she was sitting on. Flashes of her Papa’s back he left for war after being press ganged into the Kingdom infantry flashed through her mind. She clutched her satchel and thought about what was being said, Janie was… leaving? But! BUT! They were going to be together forever! Also, Rank A? Life sure isn’t fair, to not only deny her dreams but to take the person she loved most in the world to a place she couldn’t follow…

“When are they taking you?” Rosalyn quietly asked. She felt like the happy parts of her entire childhood had been targeted and were being excised by the universe, bit by bit.

“I am leaving tomorrow with the testing delegation. They are apparently very excited about my prospects, but… Rose… I… don’t… want… to… go…” the last of her statement broken up by heaving sobs.

Rosalyn thought hard. What could she do to make this right? It was her duty as the older sister. Could they run? No. If she had an A rank talent they would send their best chasers after her as an oathbreaker and when they found her she wouldn’t be just a conscript anymore, she would be a deserter and thus forfeit of her rights and become property of the Kingdom. She would go from temporary conscript to permanent slave. Either way they would get service from her. There was only one thing to do.

She looked Janey in the eyes and took both of her hands, “I don’t see a way out of this, so you should go and learn everything they want to teach you. You will get so strong they sing your name in bard songs and be so powerful no one will be able to separate us again. I will also get stronger somehow and I will find a way to join you. I promise we will meet again and we will go and see the world together! This isn't goodbye. This isn't forever!” Rosalyn declared hugging Janey close to her.

Janey snuggled into Rosalyn's neck and said, “It’s a promise.” Rosalyn laughed and reached into her satchel and pulled out the handkerchief she kept in there. “Dry your nose, you look like a wreck and I don’t want you to scare the other kids.”

Despite Mother Cham’s earlier statement that they would talk after lunch she merely waved her two oldest off to the mess hall with the statement that it could wait one more day when she realized that Janie had told Rosalyn the news. Rosalyn was very happy to put that conversation off as long as possible as she was afraid that it would be the nail in the coffin of her world.

Janie and Rosalyn hugged each other one more time as the porters loaded the wagons for their journey to the capital. “I will write when I get settled into my dorm room. We will stay in contact and we will meet again one day.” Janie resolutely said, obviously more for her own benefit that Rosalyn's. “Remember Rose, it is a promise between sisters.” Rosalyn nodded as she broke away from the hug, tears in her eyes.

Just then a hawkish man in a blue robe with a sergeant’s insignia on shoulder walked up and gently grabbed Janie's arm. “It is time Ms. Janie. The time for goodbyes have to be over if we are to make any progress on the road today.” Janie looked at him blankly until she came to some decision in her heart and her face switched over to a determined look. Rosalyn gave a small wave as they turned and walked away.

Just like that she was gone. She repeated to herself over and over that they would meet again, but something deep down in the dark parts of her heart quietly told her this was going to be their final goodbye. She couldn’t hold her sister back after all. Not boringly normal Rosalyn Edders. No good to anyone. Janie had talent that would let her see the world and Rosalyn had to use the step ladder to reach the second shelf.

Rosalyn silently stared at the procession until they had disappeared over the horizon and were long out of sight. After the third hour of silently watching, Mother Cham walked up Rosalyn and grabbed her hand leading her back to the church, “Come child, we have a discussion that is overdue.”

After a quiet walk they were both in the small tidy office that Mother Cham kept to the side of the main vestibule of the church. Rosalyn couldn't help but squirm like she was in trouble in the chair that she had been lectured in so many times over the last decade. She stared at the floor waiting for the question that she knew was coming.

“Rosalyn.” Rosalyn looked up at Mother Cham. “What are you going to do when you turn 17? You know that our tenants say that you can no longer stay when you become an adult. Room has to be made for the next child in need.”

“I… do not know Ma’am. Are you sure I cannot stay, at least for a little bit?” Rosalyn pleaded with tears in her eyes. This was the conversation that she had been dreading. She was losing the last thing she had left. She had lost her dream, her sister, and now she was going to lose her home.

“The tenants are clear child. The only adults that are allowed to maintain full time residence in the church are takers of the Oath. You could take the Oath? I might be able to get you posted here as my assistant. I do have some pull with the upper management. You could even go on to do great things in the Sisterhood with your mastery of our combat art.” Mother Cham suggested.

Rosalyn thought about that. The Oath was a sacred thing and not something one walked into lightly. It was a very strict and binding lifestyle and not something you could ever leave. It required swearing an oath said to be unbreakable, a decade of sequestration in the grand monastery to master the powers bestowed to the Sisters by the Divine, and at the end you were assigned a posting that you kept until you either died or were summoned back to the monastery. In a lot of ways the Sisters were a more strict organization than the Kingdom’s military.

Rosalyn shook her head, “No Ma’am. While I do respect the Sisters, you most of all, I feel that life isn’t for me. I… have things I want to do and being tied down like that runs counter to my heart.”

Mother Cham nodded her head and said, “I understand child. We are going to have to find you some honest work though. I will not have one of my kids be a layabout or a pauper on the street! Do not worry, I can put out a few feelers for you in the surrounding areas. You are a smart child with a good work ethic, it will be alright in the end. The Divine will watch over you.”

Mother Cham clapped her hands and said, “Well then, that was a hard discussion, especially after the Kingdom conscripted little Janie, but life moves ever onward. You would do well to internalize that. Now let’s go gather the children for dinner? It was Hobert's turn to cook and he was making a wonderful stew!

That was when the room exploded.