As children, asides from our looks, it was hard for people to tell we were related, nevermind shared a womb (mostly, our mother joked Lan ruled that roost) as twins.
I spent most of my time with mother inside, learning to read and write. Lan spent most of her time outside, practicing, or more like, swinging a sword vaguely like she'd seen our father do, passing time waiting for him to come home from his guild quests.
One thing we shared was that our happiest days and our saddest days, when father came and went from home. on his returns, me and mother would bake a celebratory cheesecake, Lan wasn't allowed to help, she was more of a hindrance so she was shooed away after one too many incidents of stealing the biscuits meant for the base. From then on, I'd often hide one in my pocket to give to her later, as it was the only time asides from birthdays when we got fresh biscuits. Somehow father would always know, but he didn't tell mother. When he departed from what felt like one time too many, me and Lan would grab onto his trouser legs, bawling, Lan begging to go with him and me just wishing he wouldn't go at all. We were all happier with him at home, but adventuring kept our little house afloat and put food on the table.
Our saddest day of all was when we were 9. One of dad's party members came by the house, alone. Me and Lan had been standing on the stairs, waiting for our father to follow after and come waltzing in, but instead, mother crumpled to the floor in tears as she was handed his wedding ring. All we overheard was profuse apologies, "death", "sword taken to help pay for the funeral", "guild will be in touch" as we held each other's hands, gripping our little fingers between one anothers to stop ourselves from shaking as salty tears fell down our cheeks.
After that mother rarely made cheesecake, only making it for our birthdays, any other day was far too hard to celebrate without knowing father was home or out there in the small beyond our town celebrating with us. She also began to get very sick. She was sickly before that, I'd tried my best to learn to read and write quickly so I could read her favourite books to her and write the things she needed as her eyesight began to go, but it got much worse.
We also spent less time at home. To help keep us from using all of father's savings, I started running errands for the local alchemist and studied hard and got into the local School of Finery. Having the best education would mean I'd get a good job and mother wouldn't have to worry anymore. I was unsure what Lan spent most of her day doing, but I'd often see her going out of town, forbbiden by our mother but she was never one to listen, and coming home needing me to tend to wounds from having gotten into a fight with a low-level monster. Once she had gotten stronger I'd see her in town tagging after adventuring parties, begging them to let her tag along. They often gave in, making her carry their spare equipment and bags and it seemed she was even getting a small cut of the reward.
Mother passed away when we were 11, by then I'd gotten into school and the alchemist helped more with our finances in exchange for my errands, and Lan had made a name for herself within the guild, even if it was just "rookie". I made sure to practice mother's cheesecake often when Lan was away, trying to perfect it for the days when she became a good enough adventure to go on a big quest and return home, valliant, and to share on our birthdays.
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