"What are your parents like?"

She thinks. "hard-working, easy-going, open-minded, dedicated, smart and... they care about us? I mean, they were sort of afraid that we would overwork ourselves to save the world and weren't very supportive of that plan until we had our fight with our grandparents. They've always been supportive of our relationship with Katur."

"What did happen with your grandparents?"

"...'Our grandparents reacted badly to our relationship with Katur' technically covers that question, but the proper context would take longer. I don't mind sharing, just checking if you want to hear it."

Nod.

"I want to hear it." 

"Full context then. Felicia and I are Daliath, which is an religious-slash-ethnic group from Elan," Fernanda tells Scott a summary of how centuries ago her ancestors are oppressed by the Govad and the Govite, collectively known as Govis, until people started to manifest sorcery.

Fernada provides a side explanation about Synth, Elan native magic that allows the combination of traits between living beings. Augmentation of humans is one, making them stronger, healthier and live longer. Katur is a full augmented, Govad was a rulling class of full-augments. The Govite are the lower class of standard humans. Daliath are composed of the partially-augmented (people that haven't been augmented to the maximum or descendant of mixed parents). Synth interacts with lifeforce such that partial-augmented, are better sorcerers than everyone else.

(Fun fact: one way to get sorcery gifts is by putting your lifeforce under a lot of stress, such as various forms of torture and physical exhaustion. It's unreliable and unlikely but many Daliath got their gifts this way.)

A group of sorcerers that found themselves in Elsewhere rediscovered several secrets of sorcery, some of those sorcerers were Daliaths. They found their way back to Elan and the oppressed Daliaths starting a rebellion that pretty much crushed the Govad empire. The Daliath migrated to a different continent and prospered there.

The twins' ancestors settled in the city of Milirevi, becoming their patrons and a huge social presence. The Vaesteri do a ton of charity work, including disaster relief. Their own house being used during emergencies sometimes. The twins' mom had an older brother. He was a healer and collapsed from exhaustion while trying to save a young mother, she died in his bedroom.

The Daliath have a habit of putting a black flower in a room where someone died. The uncle had to look at that symbol everyday and couldn't take it. He jumped out of the building.

Fernanda's mother, her husband and surviving brother then decided to leave and start life again in a different universe. They went to Earth where the twins were born and raised unaware of Elan, Elsewhere or magic until they're teens and their parents decide to contact the grandparents once again. They rekindled contact and... the twins really wanted to learn magic and use to the greater good and all. So they moved in with their grandparents for a while. Their grandparents are very hopeful this would mean that the family legacy could be saved.

Then the twins fell in love with Katur and told about it to their grandparents. They didn't react well.

Fernanda gauges his reaction before proceeding.

Politely horrified but supportive is a good summary of the series of faces he makes.

He clasps her hand tightly, but waits for her to continue.

"I would like to make a note that my grandparents have done and do a lot of good work. I have no desire to see them hurt. But... they basically tried to force us into arranged marriage to candidates of their choice, or they would block us from getting any sort of magical education. We decided not to yield and moved in with Katur."

"Even if they're good people, it doesn't make them good grandparents. I'm glad you're all safe, and doing what makes you happy."

"I know. And thank you. But most people tend to get emotional about the subject in a way that I find hard and unproductive to navigate."

"It sounds awful. I'm just glad you got out of there." 

"I... agree. But at least we had the option to moving in here and I must admit it has been pretty great."

"So I'm still going to be a secret for a while. But maybe I can learn more about what everyone does around here, and help you with your magic in another way, besides just filling up the tank?" 

"Of course. We can teach you how to cast sorcery rituals. And how to get sorcery gifts like my flight too, it's just takes long enough we should get you back first."

Nod. 

"What usually happens when a world gets linked to Elsewhere? How secret should this be; will telling the right authorities help, even if we don't go public?"

"You mean authorities from where? Elsewhere? The Earths? Elan?"

"Elsewhere. I think I know how my Earth will take the news, but I don't have as much experience with how things work around here."

"I think they will be confused by the fact that there are two Earths. Might default to keep it in the dark too, since they already doing that with the other. I personally would prefer if everything was public, but that is something to be done very carefully and diplomatically. They don't really have a standard protocol for new worlds."

Nod.

"Okay. So do you want me to- just focus on the garden? Since you don't want me to learn sorcery before I can get home."

Fernanda awkwardly pats Scott's shoulder. "I don't have strong preferences. Do you want to start learning sorcery sooner then?"

"No, I'm fine with whatever you want to do. I just want to help."

"I can teach you some ritual sorcery, might even be a worthwhile experiment."

"Okay, how do we do that?"

"The minimum to cast sorcery rituals is to know some of a sorcery school rules. And then follow the steps of a working ritual. It's possible to know enough and develop your own rituals, but not necessary just to cast them."

"What schools of sorcery are there?"