- Age Ten – Urie Loeth -

Daerin, a large city built beside two prominent mountains surrounded by a lake. A vast expanse of farmland stretched out past its northern borders, reaching the foot of a massive stone wall encircling everything. The mountains, the lake, the farmland, all but the southern half of Daerin was covered by the walls.

At the southern half, erected right in the middle of the gap between the eastern and western sides of the wall was a mysterious structure reaching high up into the clouds. Past the structure was nothing, nothing but a sheer cliff dropping down a great distance and extending endlessly into white mist.

Peeking down from the top of the massive wall to the east, the sun was shining down on the part of the city where its people were currently congregating. The main road, a wide strip of stony pavement stretching from one end of the city to another. Colorful flags, lanterns, and music decorated its surroundings.

The city was in a festive mood. Today was the Harvest Festival.

"Today's the day!"

A boy with ashen grey hair and blue eyes was running along the corridors of a large mansion. A bit of drool and an eager expression was on his charming face as he hastened to the dining room.

His name was Urie Loeth.

"Good morning Mother!” He shouted in excitement.”Today's finally the day I get to use magic!"

Still wearing his sleepwear, he entered the dining room. A woman wearing a simple gown was at the table casually drinking tea. If Urie had been born a girl with blonde hair, he would have grown up a spitting image of the beautiful lady.

"Urie! You're making trouble for those two again. Go back and get dressed before you have breakfast."

Gesturing to the two maids behind him, the woman scolded with a gentle voice. Her name was Rivelle, the wife of the head of the Loeth House and the mother of Urie.

Urie saluted in a joking manner and did an immediate about-face. He ran back towards his room with one of the two maids following after him. A few minutes later, he came back and sat down next to his mother with a smile.

"Mother, today's the Harvest Festival! Will father and my older brothers come back to celebrate?"

He started picking up food from the table to put on his plate while he spoke.

"Good morning Urie. " His mother, Rivelle, spoke with an affectionate tone.

"—Your father won't be able to come, unfortunately, but both of your brothers did write that they would return today." She said.

Urie was disappointed that his father couldn't come. It's been a while since they've seen each other, and today was a special day. At least his older siblings were able to return, he thought, as his lips moved and faintly smiled at the consolation,.

"When would my older brothers be coming back mother?“ He asked. “Will they be here to attend?"

"I'm not sure. If they don't make it, then I hope they at least get here in time for dinner.” Rivelle replied.

Knowing what was going on in his mind, she placed her hand on top of his shoulder and reassured him, "Don't worry dear, your mother here is enough to cheer you on, I also have Patty and Ersha over there to help."

His mother referred to the two maids at the side, both showing forced smiles in response.

“Alright, mother." Urie replied, sounding a little bit happier.

He began stuffing his face with food while asking Rivelle some questions about the festival. A little while later, they finished breakfast and began preparing to go out for the event.

Urie had returned to his room and was looking at himself in the mirror. Poking at his bare chest, he remembered the answers he was given to sate his curiosity. He slowly closed his eyes and focused his attention on his chest.

He could see— something. Not with his closed eyes but through visualization of his consciousness. An incredibly small, rounded ball of light. It was a seed, not that of a plant's, but a seed made up of mana.

Rivelle, his mother, said that it was usually colored white and that it would only change into a different color after forming its roots. His wasn't white.

There was something different about the children of the Loeth house. His brothers, they were born with colder skin than normal and an icy blue, already colored seed.

Urie was born with a mild fever, and his seed wasn't blue either. He felt himself building up anxiety.

“I can't think like this if I'm to help father out at the wall.” He muttured. “As long as I can use magic, I can go along with my older brothers to help out father.” He shook his head and motivated himself.

Hurriedly putting on the clothes set out on his bed, Urie sorted his appearance. He added a strained smile to his face when he saw in the mirror the fancy-looking attire that one of the maids had prepared for him.

“Patty really likes it when she has the chance to dress me up.” He commented.

Patty was one of the maids attending to them at breakfast earlier. She and the other maid, Ersha, were already in the service of the Loeth house when Urie was born.

Patty's taste was clearly defined from the design of the clothes she had picked out for him. A bright, ornate red coat and a white shirt. Although it was a bit eye-catching, he didn't mind.

Urie left his room and went downstairs. He took a peek at the lounge room where he saw his mother and the two maids enthusiastically decorating a large piece of cloth.

“I shouldn't disturb them.” He thought.”Maybe I'll take go take a walk in the garden while they finish up what they're doing.”

“Urie, dear?” His mother called. “Come help us tie this up before we leave for the parade.”

The cloth? Urie walked over and saw the large fabric rolled halfway through.

“Will they bring this along?” He wondered. “Wouldn't it be a hassle to carry this thing around during the parade?”

Well, it didn't matter. They had a reservation at the second floor of one of the teahouses beside the main road every year. It had the perfect view for spectating the parade. Urie thought that they would just leave the rolled-up cloth there.

“One, Two, Hupp—!” After securing the knots, the two maids lifted up the cloth with each of them at one end of the roll. The roll was raised higher on one side and lower on the other. It looked like Ersha, maid in front, was carrying the whole thing while Patty, the maid behind, only served to support her.

“Well then, off we go!” Rivelle declared as she led the way out of the house and into a carriage waiting for them by the street.

“Move it more to this side.” Ersha instructed. She was pulling on the roll of cloth, trying to look for a suitable position for it to fit inside of the carriage.

Pushing onto the other end of the roll of cloth, Patty said, “It won't fit! How about we fold it on one side? Ah—no, that might crumple it.”

They were having a hard time stuffing the roll inside the carriage. After a few minutes of moving around, they finally found a position that could fit the roll and succeeded.

They got on the carriage and went on their way to the entrance of Daerin where the parade was set to start. On the way there, Urie looked outside of the carriage windows with excitement on his face.

People were bustling with activity across the streets. Some were setting up stalls while others were looking for good spots to watch the parade. At the sidewalks, there were some children dressed in white, heading for the same direction as their carriage.

“There sure are a lot of people, mother.” Urie said.

“Don't be nervous, Urie dear. You'll be with the other children so stand tall and make sure I can see you, alright?” Rivelle answered as she came closer to his seat and ruffled his hair.

“Yes, thank you mother. Although, I don't think you have to worry about not seeing me.” Urie joked and opened his arms, presenting his clothes to his mother.

Rivelle made an act of rubbing her chin while carefully scrutinizing the outfit, “Good job!” She said, and flashed a thumbs up towards the maid, Patty, on the other side of the carriage. The maid grinned and returned the gesture with both of her hands. Their laughter began to fill the carriage as it made its way through the crowded streets.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the city gate.

“Urie, dear, we'll see you later.” Rivelle bid Urie goodbye. “Wave to our usual spot, alright?” She got back on the carriage with the two maids and left for the teahouse where they had a reservation.

Urie was left by himself at the gate where a procession of children the same age as him was getting ready for the parade. The officials handling the event approached him and ushered him towards a position near the center of the gathering.

That's right, Urie was taking part in the parade. They had only ever enjoyed watching the spectacle from the sidelines, but now he was going to march alongside it.

All of the children that have turned ten years old before the Harvest Festival were eligible to attend. At the end of the parade was a ceremony that was conducted every year to awaken the mana seeds within them.

Urie became giddy at the thought of being able to use magic.

He looked around at all of the other children. The other kids also had their best outfits on, but except for a handful of others, most of them were wearing plain white clothes.

“Maybe I should've worn something else?”

In the middle of a field with white tulips, a bright red rose was incredibly noticeable.

“No,” he chuckled.

“This way, mother wouldn't have to strain her eyes looking for me— Hmm?”

Over at the side, he noticed a vivid sunflower staring at him.

“Do I know her?” Urie wondered.

She had bob-cut black hair and was wearing an elaborate yellow dress. Urie turned his head from left to right, just to ascertain if he really was the one receiving her attention. Sure enough, the girl's chestnut painted eyes didn't move from his position.

He only ever played with his brothers and the maid, Patty, and was home-schooled by his mother. He never had much interaction with other children. So who was this girl that was staring him down?

“Maybe she's just glad that there is someone like her wearing something that's not white.” Urie thought.

He locked eyes with the bob-cut girl and flashed a smile at her direction. The girl was surprised. She hurriedly turned away from him and looked to the front of the parade.

“Oh, she must've been looking at someone else then.” Urie felt a bit embarrassed.

He also faced front as it seemed it was time for the parade to set off. With the sound of drums and instruments playing, from the entrance of Daerin to the square at the foot of Erden's Tower, their march had begun.

The children paraded through the main road of Daerin, Urie could see the numerous banners and decorations on houses and businesses lined up beside the road. Parents and bystanders were at the sides, cheering in support of the them.

"Nooo!" Some of the children exclaimed.

It was beginning. One of the events that usually occurred during the Harvest Festival, one that bystanders enjoyed while having tea on the second floor of the business establishments beside the main road.

“Don't tell me...” Urie grimaced. He remembered the large roll of cloth that Ersha was carrying. He was too excited about the festival that the thought never crossed his mind.

At the halfway point of the parade, the screams of the children still continued. Urie gulped, they were near the teahouse where his mother and the two maids had made a reservation.

“Nooo!“ He suddenly exclaimed and held onto his head.

Urie quickly hid his face in shame when he saw his mother instructing the two maids, Patty and Ersha, to wave around a flamboyant banner embroidered with his name. He did not attract much attention, however, as the other children were also crying out over the same predicament.

His ears reddened as he felt a lot of eyes falling on him when his name was shouted and heaved a sigh of relief only after they went past the teahouse. His mother's display was too embellished, he thought.

The screams died down when they neared the entrance to the square. Urie looked up as a massive tower had come into view. Erden's Tower, with its top reaching high up into the clouds, he couldn't tell how tall it actually was.

“This is it,” Urie mumbled as he felt his heart racing.

After this, he would be able to use magic. He would be able to help out his father at the wall.

Once they had arrived at the square, Urie took a seat along with all the other children around a large fountain in the middle and closed his eyes. The officials in charge of the ceremony were positioned behind them, holding their arms up at their backs. Blue, yellow, green, and brown, they all glowed different colors as they communed with the spirits.

Motes of white light from their surroundings gradually entered into the children's bodies and gathered towards their chests, saturating their seeds with mana. Once they had soaked in enough, one by one, the children had also begun to glow the same way as the officials, a sign of their mana roots awakening.

“Ooooh!” There was a cry of admiration from the crowd watching.

They were paying attention to the bob-cut girl from earlier who was staring at Urie. She was not only emitting a bright yellow light but around her, dust, stones, and broken pieces of the pavement were hovering an inch off of the ground. On her face bloomed a smile of satisfaction.

The ceremony went on until half of the children had already started to give out a steady light. Urie was still sitting at his position, patiently waiting for his mana roots to form. Time went on, a few seconds, a minute, soon all of the children, except for him, had already finished and were waiting for the ceremony to end.

“Why!? Why was this happening? “ Urie was panicking.

His palms started getting sweaty. He placed his focus on the motes of white light approaching his seed and could see them being rejected, forced back outside of his body. A moment later, he opened his eyes and looked down. His lips quivered and his shoulders dropped in resignation. It was over, the ceremony was over.

“I—I can't use magic?” He stammered.

Parents who were coming over to fetch their children didn't make a fuss over the one child not being able to form his roots. The officials, however, were baffled and started heading towards Urie's direction. They were making their way through the crowd but suddenly stopped in their tracks. Displaying looks of hesitation, they decided not to continue once they saw the person heading towards him.

"My dear little Urie! It'll be alright, it'll be alright." His mother was here.

Urie could feel her arms holding him in an embrace, working hard to reassure him, but he felt too despondent to respond.

"Urie dear, let's go home. Alright? We'll figure out what to do when your brothers return." His mother said.

“Older brothers?” Urie thought. “Yes, maybe they would have an idea. Eldest brother always has an answer for everything.”

It was a slim chance, but he held onto that sliver of hope.

***