By the time llhaesa reached the first sanctioned level of education, as set at 5 years of age by the Arrhazon Ministry of Education, Saehressa and Mrevan fielded offers from 21 prominent childhood education schools in the city, all seeking the right – and as they each claimed, the honour – to formally educate their daughter.

Of these schools, 4 specialised in music, although they integrated music into a well rounded educational programme.

Saehressa and Mrevan disagreed on how to proceed; Mrevan wished llhaesa to have the best education available – which to him meant private school, while Saehressa was a huge fan of public education – as part time faculty at North 41, and felt strongly llhaesa should attend school with her friends in the neighbourhood.

For Saehressa felt deep inside llhaesa carried the huge gift of music in her soul, and she did not wish this gift to overwhelm and burn out her daughter. Llhaesa would be best served by learning perspective, learning about life, getting along with others, learning to work as part of a team, having a normal childhood, and not being seen as some childhood prodigy to be treated as if she were better than other students. It was already quite evident many thought of llhaesa as a prodigy, but that could not be helped, Saehressa could not control the thoughts and actions of others. She could still manage things directly with her child, but first she had to convince Mrevan.

And so the two engaged in a lively, sometimes heated discussion, which ended rather badly on the first go – Mrevan walked out the door and drove away. Llhaesa was not home, she had been asked to a sleepover by their neighbour’s daughter, and so they were free to discuss, except Mrevan chose to disengage and leave, such was the level of disagreement.

Saehressa knew Mrevan would stew, sort, and finally come to some level of reconciliation within. Once this occurred, he would return, probably moving to quickly heal the rift. Mrevan could be stubborn, but he was also reasonable and loving. And reasonable was something Saehressa was pondering on her own view of this, now reaching the point where she was prepared to proffer compromise.

A few hours later, Mrevan sheepishly re-entered their home, having been humbled by his own contemplation. He walked over to Saehressa and took her in his arms. For her part, Saehressa reciprocated with a gentle squeezing of her partner. Mrevan looked her in the eye, and apologised for his misbehaviour earlier.

At that, Saehressa smiled, broke the embrace, grabbed Mrevan’s hand, and led him to the sofa. Mrevan followed her cue, and both took a seat, Mrevan taking his left leg and stretching it out on the sofa to his side.

“Mrevan, suppose we went with a hybrid approach to the issue?” Saehressa asked hopefully, immediately noticing Mrevan was not grasping where she was going with this. “I work at the school part time working with music, but you are right – llhaesa needs a level of instruction neither I nor anyone else there can provide. Y’sre School of Music is only two blocks from our school It is reputed to be the best of all who have attempted to recruit our daughter. What if they were willing to accept llhaesa for half days? She could do half her day there, half her day at North 41.”

Mrevan said nothing, awaiting his answer. It was obvious Mrevan’s mind was quite active in the moment, and so she was hopeful he was giving the matter serious thought. Unwilling to take her eyes off for fear the offer would be dismissed, Saehressa continued to look at him intently – looking for feedback that her idea carried merit.

“I like it. The question is… will they be willing to do this?” Mrevan had found Saehressa’s idea to be well founded, which was good Mrevan thought, because otherwise he was going to lose.

They then agreed to take time off the next day and meet with the admissions director for the school, who had extended an open door policy to the T’yaeli’s. Would llhaesa welcome this unusual arrangement?

The T’yaeli’s had to wait until the next morning, when lightning bug llhaesa came zooming through the back door and on into the kitchen. Knowing she had about five seconds before her daughter was again on her way through the door, Saehressa quickly mentioned the plan. “Would you like to go to both schools, llhaesa?”

“Sure mum… sounds great!” And with that, llhaesa was out the door and off to play, leaving two laughing parents in her wake.

By the end of the following day, llhaesa was the prospective first year student of two schools, both of which one day would prominently display various pictures and numerous awards earned while a student in their school.

And on a rather bittersweet note many years to the future, when the loss of llhaesa came to the full attention of the public, Y’sre School of Music ceased to be; in its place stood – intentionally spelled in lower case in honour of llhaesa’s idiosyncrasy – the llhaesa t’yaeli memorial school of music.