Anya Delachene
March 27, 2022 7:09 PM
I am going to talk to my sister.
by Anya Delachene
Co-written With: Jasmine Delachene
Anya plopped down onto the couch next to Jasmine. "Happy midterm, sis," she said.
Jasmine smiled back. "Welcome home, Anya. Long wagon ride?"
Anya shrugged. They didn't live super far from the school, in terms of the entirety of the United States, so she was sure other students had far longer trips, and Anya honestly didn't mind them too much, since there was flying and turbulence involved, though sitting in one spot for a few hours, no matter how bouncy or high over the ground it was, did wear on her. "Not too bad, but I'm starting to get nostalgic about stupid things, so I spent half of it thinking 'dang, I only have two of these left after this one."
Her older sister gave her a sympathetic smile, and a light hug. "Come. I'll make you some hot chocolate." They got up and moved over toward the kitchen. "Is Philippe here? I haven't seen him yet."
"Yeah," Anya confirmed with a vague wave toward door. "I think he went to say hello to his jackalope."
"I'll make enough for him too, then," Jasmine decided and filled the tea kettle with water from the sink.
"I'll get some mugs," Anya offered, and climbed up onto the counter to reach the highest cupboard that had the Christmas mugs in it. "Nine ladies dancing," she held up one mug, "or the five golden rings?" she held up another; the two Jasmine tended to preferentially pick when given the choice.
Jasmine considered it for a moment. "Ladies dancing," she decided, and Anya handed her the first mug.
Anya considered the remaining mugs. "Think Philippe wants the Lords A-Leaping or the Pipers Piping this time?"
"The Eleven Pipers," Jasmine answered without even pausing to think about it. "They look like Freddie."
"They do not," Anya denied, but picked up the mug in question, and really looked at the blond pipers circling around it. "Oh my gosh, they do look like Freddie. I can never unsee this."
Jasmine laughed. "Told you so." Anya handed her the pipers mug, then looked at the ten mugs left. She tended to pick either the Two Turtle Doves or the Three French Hens because those were the birds depicted in flight on the mugs. Today, she was feeling the Turtle Doves, so she handed that one down too before closing the cupboard and jumping back down to the floor.
Jasmine filled the last mug with chocolate mix, and then they sat on the high stools around the kitchen island while they waited for the water to get hot. "Have a good semester?"
"Not bad. Is it weird that I find Advanced classes easier?"
"Yes," Jasmine confirmed firmly and without hesitation. Anya picked up a soft decorative snowflake and threw it at her. Jasmine shrieked, but her wand came out immediately and stopped the flake dead in the air. Then she swished and cast a levitation charm and it came flying right back at Anya, even faster.
"Hey!" Anya protested, and dodged the snowflake physically.
"You started it," Jasmine stated primly. "Let it go."
Anya narrowed her eyes at her. "Was that a pun?" At Jasmine's smug and self-satisfied look, Anya shook her head. "That was abominable."
Jasmine groaned. "Okay, I'll stop if you stop."
"Deal," Anya agreed.
Jasmine considered her wand, and then the tea kettle. Then she cast a heating spell. "I still sometimes forget I can just do that." She put the wand away and poured out steaming hot water into each of their mugs, but left Philippe's alone. "Not sure how long it will be until he comes in. Don't want it to get cold."
"You could just heat it for him again," Anya pointed out.
"It's never as good," Jasmine declared, though Anya wasn't sure she could tell a difference between fresh hot chocolate and magically reheated hot chocolate. Jasmine then added a small splash of milk to both mugs. (Someone, probably Mom but possibly Jasmine, had charmed Maids A Milking onto the carton.)
Anya picked up a spoon and began mixing hers, then drew her own wand to summon the marshmallows. She'd turned seventeen last May, so she'd had all summer to do magic at home, but it still felt kind of weird and slightly illegal. She added three marshmallows to her drink and offered the bag to Jasmine who politely declined. Anya honestly didn't see what the point of hot chocolate was if you weren't going to put marshmallows in it, but she'd learned a long time ago there were a lot of things she and her sister would never see eye to eye on.
Once the marshmallows were nicely melty, Anya took a careful first sip that got more marshmallow goo than hot chocolate, but that was a-okay with her. It was her favorite part. "Is it weird, being home all the time and not going to school?" Anya asked. Jasmine was a full time employee of their Flying Horse Ranch now, and learning how to run it. She'd be the one to inherit the business when Mom retired.
"Not as much as it used to," Jasmine admitted. "When you and Philippe left that first year after I graduated, that was kind of eerie, but I'm pretty comfortable being a real grown-up now. Well, kind of. I still live with my parents and don't have a boyfriend, so fixing those are on my five-year-plan, but it's not weird anymore, not being in school. Do you have plans?"
"I don't know. I thought I might put out a few applications this break to colleges."
Jasmine's eyebrows climbed up her forehead in surprise. "Really? What would you study?"
"I'm really good at divinations," Anya said slowly, still finding it kind of hard to believe she actually excelled at a school subject, even if it was something that wasn't particularly well respected by most witches and wizards. "I thought I might see if I could get into a program and find out what people do with a degree in that?"
And if that didn't work out, there was always the ranch, but Anya did not want that to be her life. She was still only seventeen. She had time to figure it out. And her family was wealthy enough that if the college applications didn't work out, she could take a year off to see the world and stuff before figuring out what she did want to do with her life.
"Well good luck with that," Jasmine said and sounded like she meant it.
Anya sipped at her hot chocolate some more. "Thanks."
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Anya Delachene
I am going to talk to my sister.
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Jasmine Delachene