After breakfast, we cleaned up after ourselves while we let Em’s mom relax a bit in the living room. The breakfast cleanup divided by four and with a very handy dishwasher didn’t last long at all. Afterwards, Em and I took a shower as we were still pretty darn sweaty while Karin and Ria already got ready for our post-breakfast study session. We’d decided just before the end of breakfast to keep that as our only study session for today because as Em had said, we’d already been studying a lot lately and taking a break was almost just as important as studying hard.

When Em and I had taken our shower, gotten into some fresh clothes and arrived back downstairs. Ria and Karin were already showing Em’s mom what exactly we had to know for our English courses.

“I see, I see.” Ilse nodded with a smile, while Ria pointed at a page in the book. “You’ll have to study up to this point?”

“Yes, there are some other texts further in the book that we have to read, but that’s just reading comprehension.”

“And I’m actually pretty good at that.” I smiled and joined the group at the table. Em sat down next to me.

“Okay.” Ilse smiled and clapped her hands once. “I think I know how to teach you this pretty easily.” She walked over from where Ria and Karin were sitting and walked up behind me. “If you can get something to write on, we can get started.”

“Oh, just a warning, Rora.” Em started as she handed me a course block and a pen. “Mom can get pretty intense when she’s teaching someone.”

“What do you mean with that?” I asked, slightly confused.

“You’ll see.”

And see I did. Em’s mom blasted me through a quick course of English spelling and grammar. Hammering especially hard on the mistakes I was making, why I was making them, and how exactly I could avoid these mistakes. This constant barrage of directed tutoring was the pure definition of intensity. However… it did pay off in the end.

Near one o’clock at noon, Em’s mom made me grab a blank page to make some kind of practice test. Karin, Em and Ria joined me in the test out of solidarity. When I wrote down the last practice sentence, Em’s mom grabbed my paper and read it attentively.

“I can only see one mistake.” Em’s mom smiled and put the page down in front of me again. She then took her pen and pointed it at a line I had written down. “You forgot the c here after the s. But conscientious is definitely not the easiest word out there. If you ever need a little aid to remind you how to spell it. Remind yourself that it’s spelled like science.”

“Oh right.” I nodded and looked at the page some more. “But the rest is all fine?”

Ilse nodded again. “Looks fine to me. You did a great job. See, you are a pretty conscientious lady, after all.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled. “Thank you for your help.”

“How come you know so much about teaching English?” Ria asked, the curious bean that she is.

“Has Emma never told you what I did for a living?” Ilse asked back.

Ria shook her head. “I don’t think she has.”

“I don’t think she has either.” I replied as well.

The three of us looked at Emma.

“What, you could’ve asked Karin too?” She crossed her arms with a pout.

Ilse giggled and put her hand in front of her mouth while she did so. “My Emma doesn’t like to talk about her parents that much when she doesn’t need to.”

“Mom was a spy.” Karin said, out of the middle of nowhere, surprising us quite a bit.

I gave Em a confused look and then quickly looked back at Ilse.

“That was a joke.” Karin clarified and just continued reading through her English course book as if she had said nothing.

“Nothing of the sort.” Ilse giggled once more. “Although it did involve a lot of traveling.”

“Mom used to be in a support position for all sorts of humanitarian missions.” Em clarified.

“Yes. And knowing a lot of languages is something that is incredibly useful when you are abroad. It cuts out having to use an interpreter and it makes locals trust you more because you speak their language.”

“But that still doesn’t explain why you can teach it that well.” I got back to the original question.

“It does when you have to teach interns or when you have to teach the local teams to communicate better.”

“Oh I see.” Ria nodded.

“And if you want to know, it is during my travels that I met my husband as well.”

“Dad had been taken along by his boss back then to go hunting wildlife in Africa, but dad really didn’t want to be there. He thought it was incredibly unethical. So when he met mom, who very much shared the same opinion…”

“And that’s how Emma and Karin happened?” I asked with a smirk.

“Pretty much.” Ilse started laughing.

“Before we will go into the regions of too much information… I think we have studied enough for today.” Em quickly tried to make an end to that.

“...Doesn’t that mean we can talk about that, still?” I suggested.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no.” Em refused wholeheartedly.

Ilse signaled to Em that it was fine by raising her hands slowly. “But to finish off the story about my work. Sadly, my health didn’t really allow me to travel around anymore so they sent me on early pension for proven services.”

“Do you miss it?” Ria asked.

“Hmm.” Ilse touched her own cheek while she thought about the question. “I think it was a very fulfilling job and the traveling was nice. But now I can spend more time with my darling daughters and whenever we are traveling now, it’s not for work but for relaxation. Although sometimes I do miss it a little. So I’m happy that I can teach someone again.”

“Well, you sure did teach me.” I smiled. “I think I finally understand how to English.”

Em’s mom laughed again. “I’m happy to hear that. When you have issues with other languages, feel free to ask me. I’d be happy to help.”

“Well…. there’s French and Spanish too… But that can wait for a different day. I don’t have nearly as many issues with that.”

Ilse smiled and gave me a nod.

“Mom, is it okay if we go back to my room to relax a bit?” Em asked her mom.

“Of course, darling. I think I need to rest a bit anyway before dinner. Just make sure to clean up your books before going upstairs.”

“You don’t need to tell us twice.” I replied and started gathering my things already. “It’ll be like we weren’t even here.”

The others start gathering their things as well, while Em’s mom goes to the sofa to lay down for a bit. I hope we didn’t tire her out too much, but at least it looked like she had been having fun, and that’s also important.

We then carried our books back upstairs to our bags in Em’s room while Karin did the same. She then later rejoined us in Em’s room too.

“Emma?” Ria asked, looking at Em’s computer. “Could I ask you something?”

“Yeah, sure.” Em looked at our girlfriend and gave her a lovely smile.

“Could I try playing that game you were playing that one time?”

“You mean Turn of Destiny?”

Ria looked expectantly at me.

“Ah ye, if you mean the game we played last time, it’s indeed that.” I gave Em a nod.

“Alright, yeah, of course you can. Do you want to make your own account so you can try the game yourself? I’m pretty sure Karin has an alt character she just started.”

Karin, who’d just sat herself down on Em’s bed with a book in her hand, looked at her friend and smiled. “Yes. I’ll go start my computer too.” She then got up and walked out of the room.

“My own character?”

“Mhmm.” Em nodded. “It’s more fun when it’s your own character, right? Instead of playing with something that isn’t truly yours.”

“Hmmm.”

“Rora and I will be here, we can help you make one. It’s fun and easy.”

“Well, it will be mostly Em helping you. I’m here for moral support.” I gave Ria a big smile.

“Alright then!” Ria smiled.

“Okay, let me start up the computer and set up an account for you. That shouldn’t take too long.” Em pressed the on button on her computer and then nodded over to her chair. “You can sit down already, unless you want to play while you stand up.” And she gave her a free wink with that as well.

“Oh! Right!” Ria cautiously sat down on Em’s chair. She looked a bit like a fish out of the water but that’d get better in time.

-Let’s see what kind of character Ria comes up with.-