At the end where Destiny awaits: Book 6 of the Kinstone series
Chapter 23: A chat between elder sisters

(Marron)

Silvi, Velhemina, and I travel through the Manor. I look around knowing the path we’re taking leads to the ballroom. I raise my hand up and streak my fingers along the walls, feeling every little bump that hit the tips. I know these halls, having been a near constant visitor a few years ago.

I sigh softly as I lower my hand, thinking I know what’s coming. I peer up to the back of the dragon I’m walking behind. She was here, fighting alongside Aria during the battle that drove her away, forcing her into exile. I know my sister was worried when she saw Silvi fall.

One more thing is that I stole something precious from a dragon. A treasure doesn’t always have to be made of gold or precious jewels. In this case it was her sister. Silvi simply adores and loves Aria to death, babying her like I do, yet also rough and tumble as a dragon is. So the moment I saw Silvi, I knew that something was coming.

I peer to Velhemina. What’s worse is that Aria thought she had been killed, seeing the greenhouse explode. She and Velhemina are extremely close, being the first nonhuman being Aria met and eventually her aunt roughly within the same day.

Aria would confide in Velhemina on many topics, given the alraune’s unique perspective on the world. There would be times when she’d simply come to the greenhouse for a change in scenery.

We finally enter into the ballroom. The air is chilled with the cavernous room being shone in a silvery-white light coming in from the massive, frosted windows. I smile softly, still recalling many wondrous things that I witnessed here just two years ago.

I peer towards the center of ballroom, still remembering Aria and Lady Rachel dancing together the day of the Winter Solstice Festival. It was truly beautiful watching them float across the floor as music echoed through the hall. I pan towards the stairs, imagining Aria as she walked gracefully down the stairs after her then future-mother introduced her to the Coven. She was absolutely magnificent that night, shining brightly.

So much has happened since that night. Perhaps too much for a little girl.

We stop in the center of the ballroom with the pair turning to face me. Velhemina crosses her arms while Silvi looking to me. Both women are silent as the room we are in, each watching me.

I sigh, nodding to them.

Silvi looks down and sighs, crossing her own arms, tapping them with her claws as she stares with her fierce, golden eyes. “Rachel may have forgiven you, but you still have to face us.” She relaxes slightly, “Aria feared that I would hate you, possibly even hurt you if I ever saw you again.”

I nod softly. That’s been the same sentiment she’s had during our entire journey together. Even after our rough landing in Japan and her injury, she weakly pleaded with her yokai aunts not to harm me. For someone I was meant to protect, she did a lot of it towards me.

Silvi grits her teeth, gripping the backend of her gauntleted forearms. “You stole something precious from me, something more valuable than any treasure in this world.” She looks to me, “Aria means everything to me. When Rachel and I were trapped in England, I became frantic, scared like never before, only to finally make it back in time just to watch you take her away. It stung deeply, like something I’ve never felt before.”

I nod slowly, keeping my eyes on her and Velhemina. The alraune simply stands there silent. I know she was equally dismayed when she came home to replace out what happened, but she’s letting Silvi vent for the both of them.

Silvi streaks her clawed toes against the marble floor, hearing them loudly reverberating in the ballroom. “The moment I saw you take Aria away, I really wished to kill you.” Her wings unfurl and flex, hearing the joints and tendons creak, “My searches for her that week were equally as desperate, nonstop as I crisscrossed the country.”

My body tenses up the more she goes on. I dare not say a word because if I do, something might happen. However, I’m ready for whatever may come. She has every right to slam me into the tiled floor or incinerate me. As a sister, I broke a sacred vow of trust that took a scared and frantic little girl, who never once let go of it, to regain my own sense of it.

Yet it’s different with Silvi. We may not be sisters to each other, but we each share a sister. That in of itself might as well be the same, at least in Aria’s eyes.

Silvi looks to me. “Even when I learned the truth behind your actions, and then hearing and seeing it firsthand, my anger towards you faded.” She lowers her arms, tightly clenching her fists, hearing the joints popping loudly before releasing them.

She takes a long deep breath, “Damn him. Seeing Aria like that broke my heart, and to know she would’ve seen all of what was to happen.” She then smiles, looking to me, “Seeing you riding on Fenris’ back along with Rachel made me extremely happy.”

I finally slink back slightly, still waiting for something to happen. My body tenses up more than ever, feeling the same way twice before.

She smirks, walking towards me, reaching in less than three steps. I slowly pan up to her, still seeing Aria’s dragonic sister smiling to me. She’s gigantic compared to me, standing taller than even Lady Rachel. I have seen her in a human guise and she’s still tall there, yet shorter at the same time.

“Was she any trouble for you?” she asks.

I sigh heavily, releasing all the pent up tension from me. Do they really love leading me on like this? First my fear from Yukari and Asha, then from Lady Rachel, and finally Silvi. Seriously, do all of them love to give me a heart attack? Now granted with Yukari, she really was worried for me.

I chuckle softly, releasing the last of my tension and fear. “She was a handful at times. Yet what would you expect from a girl like Aria?”

It’s true though. Aria for the most part was simply her, a sweet, intelligent girl. However it was quite obvious to me she was careful with everything she said and did. It wasn’t until we arrived in Japan she finally relaxed and allowed herself to truly lower her guard. Then at the Outpost after hearing about her uncle, I really had to step in and put her in her place. Yet through it all, it’s Aria being Aria.

Silvi smiles then wrapping her massive arms around me, gently pulling me to her and hugging me. “We sisters will forever worry over her,” she says gently.

I smile, returning the hug. Silvi’s body is warm, even more so through her clothes. I feel her gauntleted arms against my body. She’s gentle with me, yet still I can feel her strength. So this is what Aria feels when with her.

I guess this means the two of us are now sisters as well. We share the love for a single girl we call our little sister. I wonder if it really taken this long for us to admit that we are. We are all family to her, and to each other. Yukari spoke of loving me as she does Aria, so it might mean she too claims me.

Gah, overthinking this is only making my head hurt more. Just accept the fact that you are a part of the same family as your baby sister.

I feel a cool hand stroking the top of my head, gently touching my ear. I look up and over to see Velhemina smiling. “I let the lizard rant and rave her heart out. Even I knew she merely wished to express her feelings. I know it must’ve been hard, carrying all that guilt and pain.” Her smile then broadens warmly, “Yet here you are, home with all of us and with her.”

I smile, nodding to her. She’s right, through all of it, the pain I carried, my fears; I still managed to make it back, and my sister with me.

Her face softens slightly, “Did her nightmares go away? Knowing her, they must have been horrific.”

I nod, telling of a few she mentioned to me. Aria had so many after fleeing her home. Her mind is place few really shouldn’t venture into. It’s a child’s mind through and through, yet lingering elements of her past self remain, mostly an adult’s knowledge with a child’s fragility. It’s a terrible combination when you think about it.

Her aunt becomes horrified with each nightmare I describe. Tears well up in her eyes as she holds her hand over mouth. “Oh, poor, poor sweet Little Blossom.”

I nod softly. It ever get easier when describing that girl’s nightmares. I know her mother and Xiphos equally were pained when they saw them two years ago.

Velhemina calmly presses her head into mine. It’s cold, yet soothing against my skin. “I too have missed you, dear Marron. I miss your visits to the greenhouse and our wondrous conversations there.”

I nod, “I missed you as well. I loved watching you tend to your gardens, feeling at home here.”

She smiles then sighs, stroking my hair more. “I wasn’t quite the same when I learned Aria wasn’t here. I worried for her, like many others here. Always praying to Demeter she was safe. However, I took solace in the hope you would replace her.” The alraune then looks to me, “You two have always been able to replace each other.”

I smirk, staring into her blood-red eyes. “We’re fated sisters.” A simple yet at the same time, completely complex answer.

Silvi grins, “Our sister was always meant to be ours.”

I grin, chuckling softly. “You’re right.” I then look to each of them, sighing. “You know, I was nervous when I spoke with Yukari and Asha a month ago.”

Silvi reaches up with her gauntleted hand and flicks my nose. “You really are like Aria sometimes. I bet they were like us, wanting to just talk to you and clear the air.” She nods thoughtfully, “In the end, it was Rachel you really needed to deal with."

I nod then smirk, recalling my other duty I have to perform once Lady Rachel and I have some time alone. God, how I can only imagine the look on “his” face now that we’re here. Love and miss you, Grandpa.

Silvi also strokes my hair. I smirk softly as both women practically baby me like I do with Aria. They each know I’m a grown woman, yet sometimes you need something like this to help calm yourself.

She then looks towards the ceiling. “Those two are going to need a lot of time alone.”

I smile, staring up as well. “Agreed,” I then peer back to her, “we also need more time to talk.”

She grins, bearing her fangs gleefully. “Talk is good, actions are louder.”

I chuckle while Velhemina sighs. “That’s a dragon’s view on everything,” I tell her. To dragons, speaking through sparring or combat conveys even more than mere words. So no doubt she wants a sparring match with me.

Velhemina shakes her head. “I better prepare some medicine for you, Marron. The battle hungry saurian can often lose herself in her bouts.”

I grin and look up towards the second floor. This is followed by Silvi and Velhemina. We all pray they world would stand still, granting them all the time as they catch up.

Her grin broadens.