10-21-2022, 06:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-21-2022, 06:24 PM by Astrid Gudrun.)
Astrid smiled as it seemed like he took her small joke in a positive light, even offering one in return before giving her his honest answer on the matter. Yes, true in the days to come she wouldn't be as free as she was today but that's the job she had signed up for and keeping herself busy with healing injuries would help not just keep her from checking in too much on her siblings and potentially annoying them with her hovering but also stop her from wandering and getting into any trouble herself. As much as his stories had helped ignite that familiar desire to travel and see the world again she had more important things right now that needed her focus. She couldn't bring herself to retire the second life but she didn't want to bring it back out unless it was necessary especially now that she no longer had the safety of living on a boat to fall back to in order to not be discovered. Her siblings could be in danger if she brought that out but at the same time would serve to protect them should trouble decide to target them.
"No, I suppose we shouldn't hold their hands and dust off every stumble and fall, there would be nothing learned from that. Life is about experiences, thats how you learn and there is no clearer teacher than failure" she replied before taking a drink. It was how she had learned, through trial, error, and mistakes. It was a hard way to learn but it got the lesson engrained in her mind a lot stronger than if someone had held her hand through the entire ordeal. It made her the strong and experienced person she was now and she had made sure to pass that on to her siblings though maybe adjusted a bit differently given they were living in the mountains and not aboard a ship at sea.
When he went on to answer her question, she leaned forward a bit as she listened intently. Of course his wink fluttered a bit in her chest but after reminding herself it meant little more than a playful note to his words the feeling past and she was better able to pay attention to his explanation. In the end it made sense that for now it would be by word of mouth or rumors. Eventually they would need a way to branch out to find more students without putting so much work onto the founder's shoulders to collect them themselves. She hoped the four would be able to find the solution soon, they seemed pretty busy as it was and with the school now open it would need their attention more than venturing for students.
Astrid had raised her tankard for another drink when it seemed like it was her turn to be presented with a question and she paused part way. Making it look like she was thinking she took a drink, knocking back the last of the contents before lowing it down to hold in her lap.
"I will say for certain it won't be as exciting as either of your stories, pretty boring actually but I guess there has to be some to make the more adventurous ones stand out" she began calmly. " My family and I had settled here around the time Lady Rowena was coming and going with her work on the school. For the most part I would see her every so often around the trading post and sometimes if she came in for something from our shop or had a question in need of answering but nothing more then simple exchanges. Nothing that came to hint in my mind that she could be testing me or my abilities at least. She seemed to get along the most with my mother while she was still alive, they had a similar enjoyment on an intellectual level with exchanging notes or something when she came to visit. It was nice my mother could make a connection with someone like Lady Rowena before she passed, taken from us unfortunately rather suddenly while bringing the youngest of my siblings into the world."
"Eventually when Lady Rowena came by one day, I had assumed it would be like any other time she had come by and was stopping by to place a potion order or something for the school. We somewhat kept up with the construction while it was happening, my younger brothers Liam and Ernst especially were excited watching it everyday grow into the magnificent castle it came to be and coming up with all sorts of guesses as to what the inside must look like. I don't think any of their guesses were close to the real thing but it was a bit funny to hear how big their young minds went when imagining it."
Astrid paused a moment, looking down at her tankard seemingly looking like she was trying to decide whether to get another refill or not. Really, now that she thought back to it, witnessing the exchange between her mother and Rowena had been an uplifting sight after everything they had been through. Rowena hadn't treated them any different despite the obvious differences in their backgrounds and class, offering advise when she noticed something amiss without them needing to explain a word. A mothers intuition maybe but Astrid had never quite understood it and maybe never would until she became a mother herself, if that day ever decided to happen.
With a small shrug, she exhaled a sigh then raised her head back up to look at Godric across from her. "Instead of her usual reason for her visit to us, Lady Rowena instead extended me the offer to come and work for the school as the in house healer. I was a bit stunned to be honest, not aware how much she knew of my level of work but looking back on it now I think she had been stopping by to test me, going as far as maybe questioning my mother as well when I wasn't within earshot" Astrid continued with a small smile. "I declined her offer at first, not thinking I was fit for the position both as far as skill level and leaving my siblings who at least the younger ones still a bit sensitive since the loss of my mother a couple of years prior. But my siblings who had been listening in the entire time all rushed in and demand I take the position, knowing I would do very well and make them very proud to be the first healer for the first wizarding school. After that sort of reasoning I couldn't very well say no and as I mentioned Lady Rowena also extended the offer to the older of my siblings who were roughly of age to attend school but they declined wanting to look after our family clinic and shop as well as the younger ones who were too young to be left alone. Given we don't have anyone to look after them either and as far as the little ones they have yet to show any hints of a magical touch just yet so the plan made sense but the offer is still there for them if they decide to take it."
Astrid gently squeezed her mug, tempted to turn it around in her hand now that she had finished. While there had been a few details left out for the most part she had been honest with her story. It was personal but not at a point that she felt a need to guard it. There was a bit of sensitive matter as far as her mother but maybe the way she worded it he wouldn't press to much into it, the subject while she made it seem like it didn't effect it really did as it would for anyone after losing a parent, especially after everything her mother had been through in her life.
"No, I suppose we shouldn't hold their hands and dust off every stumble and fall, there would be nothing learned from that. Life is about experiences, thats how you learn and there is no clearer teacher than failure" she replied before taking a drink. It was how she had learned, through trial, error, and mistakes. It was a hard way to learn but it got the lesson engrained in her mind a lot stronger than if someone had held her hand through the entire ordeal. It made her the strong and experienced person she was now and she had made sure to pass that on to her siblings though maybe adjusted a bit differently given they were living in the mountains and not aboard a ship at sea.
When he went on to answer her question, she leaned forward a bit as she listened intently. Of course his wink fluttered a bit in her chest but after reminding herself it meant little more than a playful note to his words the feeling past and she was better able to pay attention to his explanation. In the end it made sense that for now it would be by word of mouth or rumors. Eventually they would need a way to branch out to find more students without putting so much work onto the founder's shoulders to collect them themselves. She hoped the four would be able to find the solution soon, they seemed pretty busy as it was and with the school now open it would need their attention more than venturing for students.
Astrid had raised her tankard for another drink when it seemed like it was her turn to be presented with a question and she paused part way. Making it look like she was thinking she took a drink, knocking back the last of the contents before lowing it down to hold in her lap.
"I will say for certain it won't be as exciting as either of your stories, pretty boring actually but I guess there has to be some to make the more adventurous ones stand out" she began calmly. " My family and I had settled here around the time Lady Rowena was coming and going with her work on the school. For the most part I would see her every so often around the trading post and sometimes if she came in for something from our shop or had a question in need of answering but nothing more then simple exchanges. Nothing that came to hint in my mind that she could be testing me or my abilities at least. She seemed to get along the most with my mother while she was still alive, they had a similar enjoyment on an intellectual level with exchanging notes or something when she came to visit. It was nice my mother could make a connection with someone like Lady Rowena before she passed, taken from us unfortunately rather suddenly while bringing the youngest of my siblings into the world."
"Eventually when Lady Rowena came by one day, I had assumed it would be like any other time she had come by and was stopping by to place a potion order or something for the school. We somewhat kept up with the construction while it was happening, my younger brothers Liam and Ernst especially were excited watching it everyday grow into the magnificent castle it came to be and coming up with all sorts of guesses as to what the inside must look like. I don't think any of their guesses were close to the real thing but it was a bit funny to hear how big their young minds went when imagining it."
Astrid paused a moment, looking down at her tankard seemingly looking like she was trying to decide whether to get another refill or not. Really, now that she thought back to it, witnessing the exchange between her mother and Rowena had been an uplifting sight after everything they had been through. Rowena hadn't treated them any different despite the obvious differences in their backgrounds and class, offering advise when she noticed something amiss without them needing to explain a word. A mothers intuition maybe but Astrid had never quite understood it and maybe never would until she became a mother herself, if that day ever decided to happen.
With a small shrug, she exhaled a sigh then raised her head back up to look at Godric across from her. "Instead of her usual reason for her visit to us, Lady Rowena instead extended me the offer to come and work for the school as the in house healer. I was a bit stunned to be honest, not aware how much she knew of my level of work but looking back on it now I think she had been stopping by to test me, going as far as maybe questioning my mother as well when I wasn't within earshot" Astrid continued with a small smile. "I declined her offer at first, not thinking I was fit for the position both as far as skill level and leaving my siblings who at least the younger ones still a bit sensitive since the loss of my mother a couple of years prior. But my siblings who had been listening in the entire time all rushed in and demand I take the position, knowing I would do very well and make them very proud to be the first healer for the first wizarding school. After that sort of reasoning I couldn't very well say no and as I mentioned Lady Rowena also extended the offer to the older of my siblings who were roughly of age to attend school but they declined wanting to look after our family clinic and shop as well as the younger ones who were too young to be left alone. Given we don't have anyone to look after them either and as far as the little ones they have yet to show any hints of a magical touch just yet so the plan made sense but the offer is still there for them if they decide to take it."
Astrid gently squeezed her mug, tempted to turn it around in her hand now that she had finished. While there had been a few details left out for the most part she had been honest with her story. It was personal but not at a point that she felt a need to guard it. There was a bit of sensitive matter as far as her mother but maybe the way she worded it he wouldn't press to much into it, the subject while she made it seem like it didn't effect it really did as it would for anyone after losing a parent, especially after everything her mother had been through in her life.
