Flowers Upon The Hearth

No matter the time she spent trying to focus on her studies, or trying to connect to any of her fellow students, Ronja just could not make progress. As far as making friends goes, she wasn't exactly in the lead in that race. Still, she missed her family. Aniva was a fair place to be, but she wanted to be home. It felt like a heavy, wrenching pain in her chest.

            "Come now, flower, tell me what's troubling you?" Viggo asked her, crouching beside her in front of the crackling flames. Ronja sniffled, with streams of glistening liquid running down her cheeks, and turned to him, "I don't want to leave, farfar." She sobbed, "I want to stay here. Why should I have to go away?" Viggo frowned, and reached out to wipe away her tears.

"Ronja, my dear, this is a tremendous opportunity. You are going to get a quality education, and the attention you need," he informed her, offering a small smile to comfort her. She sniffed, and wiped her eyes, "but I can get plenty of attention here. None of this seems fair to me."

He sighed, and grabbed onto her hand, firmly grasping it. "Ronja," he cleared his throat, "magic is something that is different for everyone. Some people catch onto it immediately, some need more guidance, and for some.. well, some never do. But - there is nothing wrong with that, or you, for that matter. Surely, you understand that?"

She nodded, and exhaled, "I just feel like you'd love me more if I were.. pure-blood." She laughed a little bit, and ran her knuckles over her right eyelid, rubbing it. Momentarily, Viggo was taken by surprise. He looked down at her. His long, scraggly brown hair falling down in his face as he directed his gaze to the floor.

"Ronja..." He sat back, and pulled her into his arms, "I could never love you any less than I do now. You are my little flower, are you not?" He asked, smiling at her. "I am," She nodded, "but aren't you disappointed in me? In Lukas? Or even in Mamma?" Ronja took a moment to wipe away some of the fresher tears that had stained her cheeks. Viggo spoke softly, "I could never be disappointed in you. In any of you, for that matter." He smiled, "Blomma, I love you dearly. Whether or not you are pureblood makes no difference. I see much differently than some others. You are my family, and I would do anything to ensure your happiness. I love Lukas, too, so very much, and Sylwia, also."

"And you'll never stop?" Ronja asked him. "No," Viggo whispered, "never."

By the time the memory had played over in her head, Ronja was faced with a rushing flood of tears coming from her eyes. Her throat was dry, and her face was contorted into a look of sorrow. Ever since she had arrived, Ronja had been glooming about being away from her family. She wanted more than anything to be home again with them. Still, she wanted to learn to control her magic, and to embrace it. She felt torn two ways, and it pained her to think that she had to be in that position. Sweden, or more specifically, the Solberg Manor, was virtually all she had ever known. Her exposure to the muggle world was limited mostly to the library, and occasionally parks and farmer's markets, but not much else.

The same could be said for her brother, Lukas, though his magical abilities were far more advanced than hers. His control over it was astonishing, and she felt envious of him for that. He never had the problems that she did. However, for Ronja, her life had changed greatly in such a small amount of time. She had packed up and shipped off to Russia. Prior to that, she had lived a rather sheltered life. Perhaps, it was for the best. After all, Aniva was made to help people like her, was it not? She sighed, and wiped her face, before returning her attention to the pastry which sat on the plate in front of her. It had grown cold over the time that she had spent lost in her thoughts, and she frowned at it now, poking it with her fork.

"Well," she muttered, "that's peachy."

"What's peachy?" Masha asked, plopping down at a bench at the table. "I saw no peaches, and come to think of it, I'd really rather have a peach."

Masha held in her hand a little bowl full of what seemed like oatmeal with a green apple in hand. She took up the sour apple with a knife and began to chop it right there on the spot, slicing cubes of apple pieces into the oatmeal.

"Peaches would go nicely with this, don't you think? We could also use some fresh blackberries and local honey."

(((OOC: Idk if this was a private post. If it was, I'll delete, no problem! )))

//OOC: It wasn't private. You're good! //

Ronja almost didn't notice the girl that had taken a seat. She smiled as the girl began talking, although, she wasn't quite sure what to say. Peaches, she was talking about. In truth, they did sound rather appetizing. Ronja thought she recognized her as one of the girls she had seen on drop-off day, but she wasn't quite sure.

"I think so too," she agreed, nodding to her as she watched the girl dice a granny smith apple to go with her oatmeal. "That sounds delicious," she admitted, as she glanced down at her cold pastry. She picked it up, and took a small bite of it so that it wasn't going to go to waste.

"I think I've seen you around - in some of my classes, yes?" She asked the girl, as she took another bite from her pastry.

"Yeah, sure," Masha commented, not caring. "I mean, I'm sure that we have classes together; school's so small, right?"

"Eh, what house are you in anyway? Certainly not mine or else I would've known you by now." Masha raised an eyebrow, already compartmentalizing the girl by her personality.

Ronja nodded, snorting a bit at the girl's words, "that's true." She sat her pastry back down on the platter and wiped her mouth, "I'm in Vallidom." She paused briefly, and took another bite, before continuing, "My name is Ronja Solberg. You?"

"Oh, the name's Masha. Ronja..." Masha let the word play around in her head. "Norway?" she asked carefully. "Or...? I never know."

"So, what brings you to this fine institution?" she asked, laughing.

Ronja felt a small smile on her face as the girl attempted to guess her country of origin. "Sweden, actually," she remarked. She thought about the girl's next question. In all honesty, Ronja didn't really know how to put it, so she let her words stumble out.

"Well, my family thought it would be best if I broadened my horizons.. you know, connected with others. Got the attention I need academically, that sort of thing."

"Understood..." Masha nodded her head, reminding herself of her mother's last words to her before dropping her off at Aniva. Masha's face fell a little.

"So, do you like it here? What do you want to do with your time here?"