Chapter 157 - School (2/2)
The success of the school in Ilmir led to implementing one in Raisha as well. She spent over a week helping people set things up and teaching them how she did things.
”I'm impressed,” Katie told her one day as they met up at the bakery for lunch. ”I never could have pulled that off. I wanted to set up a school but had no idea where to start. Now because of you there are two schools and approximately fifty students total. Way to go.”
Abby grinned at her sister. ”High praise, coming from you. It wasn't that big of a deal. I mostly did it to help people like Nyla who have way too many kids at home. How many do you plan on having, anyway?”
She snorted. ”You still have a lot to learn about this world, sister dear. You can't plan for things like that here. If pregnancies happen, they happen. If they don't, they don't. I know some people with one child and some with seven.
”But most people get pregnant so often that they have frequent miscarriages, stillbirths, and so on. And a lot of children die from illnesses because the medicine isn't so advanced here. I've done by best to instill proper hygiene habits and that has helped quite a bit. Since we came here, only one child has died and that was from a bear attack, not illness.”
Wow. Abby had never thought about anything like that being a problem. Katie was right; there was still a lot she didn't know about this world.
Hygiene was a huge deal but she sincerely hoped that somebody invented antibiotics soon. She didn't want to see anything bad happening to these people she had grown fond of. Especially her adorable nephew and whoever was currently inside her sister's very swollen belly.
”Are baby showers a thing here?” she asked out of the blue.
Abby had successfully recreated pasta in this world to help her pregnant sister and Katie had been so thrilled that she actually wept over her bowl. Al had pulled her aside later and thanked her fervently because he had wanted to help her with her craving when she was pregnant with Adam and hadn't been able to do a thing.
That was what officially won her over. She had enjoyed playing board games with her brother-in-law and watching the two of them interact because they were pretty darn cute together but that clinched it.
He cared deeply about her sister so she decided to forgive him for all the trickery and danger that happened in the novel and that she liked him after all. Al was a pretty decent guy overall and he was a doting husband and father.
Watching him play with Adam was a lot of fun. The little boy clearly looked up to his father and loved the attention. She wondered if the way he played with a daughter would be different if Katie happened to have a girl this time.
”Not in the same way they are back home,” Katie said with a shrug. ”Normally people each contribute an item they have lying around from their previous infants and that's the extent of it. New gifts are much more of a commodity here. Granted, Adam got a lot of new stuff people made for him specifically because everyone was thrilled at the birth of a future clan leader.”