Chapter Six #3
“Yup. Took my house, my car, my money, my life. I am starting over with nothing. As I have been erased, even my comp sci degree is useless.”
Ted murmured, “Well, I understand the depression a little bit more. I just want to hug the stuffing out of you.”
“It’s solid marble. Give it a shot.”
Ted hugged her and whispered, “I am so sorry.”
“They are happy to have you back and don’t really remember me. Enjoy it. Feel the family around you again and get your bearings.”
“What will you be doing?”
She saw the giant mage walking toward her. “Examining his stonework.”
Ted whispered, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Therese, I am clinging to anyone who will extend a hand right now, and so far, that is him and Regis, and yourself, of course, but you have your own issues to get under control.”
Ted leaned back. “You trust him?”
Lucia stroked the braids back over her cousin’s shoulder. “I am stone and electrical impulses bound together by magic. I am the sturdiest I have ever been. But the body that housed your cousin is long gone, and this family owes me nothing. I guess I had to see them to really let it sink in.”
Ted looked around, and she saw recognition for her and confusion for Lucia. They didn’t know where she fit. It was like they were seeing an old rumour come to life and weren’t sure what to believe.
Lucia walked up to Yorwell and smiled at his above-average human appearance. He was very pretty for a man that large. “Thank you for coming.”
He smiled. “I wanted to meet your family.”
“The only one to greet me is my grandmother, so I will introduce her. No one else has thought of me in thirteen years or more.”
“That must be stressful.”
“I will cry later. For now, this is my Nanna Anya. She has the sight on contact, so watch her hands.”
Yorwell inclined his head. “I am pleased to meet you, Madam Anya. Your granddaughter had enough power to draw three mages to bind her and survived to tell the tale. That is exceptionally rare power and even more determination. Her ability to survive on her own is unparalleled, but I am offering myself to assist her future endeavours.”
Lucia rolled her eyes.
Ted was talking to the orc, and he took one of her hands. Lucia could see their power signatures, and they moved in complementary patterns, each making the other stronger. Lucia smiled. Ormyet was going to become a cousin.
“Nanna, this is Yorwell. I am fairly sure you recognize him from your vision, but he gets a bit taller and has a fun poker face.”
He smiled. “Yorwell Stone.”
Lucia snorted. “Original.”
“Thank you.”
Anya’s eyes were wide. “Oh, my.”
“Let go, Nanna. You will go blind.” Lucia put her hand over both of theirs, and Anya started to grin. “Yorwell, let go. I know what she’s seeing and want to get out of here before she tells anyone.”
He blinked. “Why? How far does she see?”
Anya grinned. “Babies.”
Lucia gave up. “Oh, lord. There she goes. They aren’t mine, Nanna. My body is stone. No flesh to have little ones with.”
Yorwell quirked his lips. “We should discuss that. When you learn your own anatomy, having children may be possible. Internally, you design your own body.”
She blinked. “I... have questions.”
“I shall answer them, but that can wait for a less public moment.” His expression was kind, and she realized that he wasn’t kidding about being a mage.
“So, you are an instructor.”
He grinned. “I am. The emperor believed that anyone that he sent for the djinn and mages should have more to offer than just magic.”
“And you had to be pretty.”
He grinned. “You think I am pretty?”
She smacked a hand onto her face while Ted snickered. “You fell right into that one, Lucia.”
There was some chuckling in the family, and Anya said, “We are all standing; this isn’t right. Someone, get our returned children some tea and introduce yourselves to them one by one.”
Lucia paused. “I thought I was leaving.”
Anya smiled. “If you leave, I want you to come back as many times as is necessary until you feel like this is home again.”
“That will hurt, Nanna. It is hurting now.”
Anya hugged her again. “Life is pain, and you know that more than anyone else at this gathering. Let them fight through the fog to find you again.”
“When I was here, I wasn’t really here. I was kept in the kitchen and always ate last. There isn’t much me to remember.”
Anya stared at her, and Lucia could see her trying to remember, but Olyna’s family had everything first, and Anya’s was there to support them.
They worked alongside their cousins in the shops and kept the family businesses running.
While getting ready for school, Lucia had been a manicure master, painting tiny masterpieces on fingernails and toenails.
“Your artwork at the salon. I remember the designs you made.”
Lucia nodded. “I am very good at it. I can also reprogram a mainframe over a weekend. One pays considerably more.”
Anya blinked. “Right. That... makes sense.”
“Yeah, that was the life I wanted to start. A life where folks saw my worth in the work of my hands and mind. Getting swatted by socialites and told to work faster wasn’t a destiny I wanted to embrace.”
Anya winced. “Of course not.”
One of the cousins smiled. “We have set up tea and a place for you to talk.”
Yorwell asked, “What is that?”
“A samovar. It keeps the water hot so you can keep drinking fresh pots of tea.”
“Interesting.”
She looked up at his thoughtful expression. “You can’t make it out of stone; it has to be metal to take the stresses of heating and cooling.”
He nodded. “I can work with metal. Can I examine it?”
“Of course, but there is a flame under it, so watch your fingers.”
He grinned. “Of course.” Mimicking her own words back.
He glided over to the samovar, and she and Ted sat down with Anya. When the family got the nerve, they came in to talk, one by one.
It was a strange thing to be seen when you were used to being invisible. The chair gave Lucia something hard at her back, and she needed it. This was the scariest thing to happen to her in the last fifteen years.