twelve #2
to then offer a once-in-a-lifetime service as an engagement present was typical for Joiya, but clearly blew the minds of the people before her.
“Now, the best way to do it,” Joiya explained once it was apparent she was welcomed to gaze upon their auras, “is one at a time. That way, your auras do not blend by standing too close. I’ve made mistakes before.”
Before anyone could assure her that she was, in fact, perfect, she reminded everyone that “I’m also mortal.”
Graella went first, with Lewin sitting with his mother.
Lady Kathe was engrossed in the spectacle and said something to Sulim on the other side of her.
Mira didn’t catch what. Besides, she was too distracted by the look of surprise on Sulim’s fair face when she heard whatever Lady Kathe said in a local Qahrainian dialect. I’m assuming.
Joiya stood, focusing her gaze on Graella with her hands clutched before her chest. Her linen tunic dress, gathered with a skinny belt around her waist, made her look even younger than she was, but it didn’t stop anyone from reverently demurring to her when she spoke.
“Just a moment. I have to focus. It’s been a while since I last did this.”
Yet her eyes instantly glazed over as she viewed the world through whatever filter her sorceric abilities allowed.
Mira wouldn’t know. I could tear this whole house down in five minutes if they’d take this tattoo off, but seeing auras?
Nope. She had not inherited that from her mother.
Graella awkwardly stood alone on the dais, trading looks with her fiancé and the rest of her family.
Mira attempted not to be too obvious when she glanced at Sulim again.
The other woman paid close attention to the demonstration.
It’s probably her first time seeing something like this. The same went for everyone else there.
“How lovely.” Joiya’s hands squeezed together, her whole body tightening as she described some of the colors and gradients blessing Graella’s aura.
Some of it sounded familiar. “Actually, it’s not too different in places from my daughter Mira’s aura! That means you two should get along swimmingly well.”
“Well, then,” Lewin humorously interjected, “I should hope that I get along with Lady Mira as well. For the sake of my marriage.”
Sulim laughed loudly enough to garner the attention of the others. Her own husband was flummoxed by that outburst.
Joiya ignored Sulim. “You have a gorgeous aura, Graella. Very soft and calming.”
Tittering, Graella thanked her for the gift before nervously sitting next to Lady Kathe while Lewin got up for his turn.
Joiya’s eyes glazed over again as she beheld Lewin’s aura.
Mira could tell, from the twitch of her mother’s mouth and the slight cock of her head, that these two were not soulmates.
But she would find something, anything to positively comment upon.
The fact that they shared a primary color was enough for Joiya to declare them a “great match.”
Graella joined him again at Joiya’s behest. Now that she knew their individual auras, she could see how they blended into one. “Any children you have will be treated to a gentle childhood, I think,” she said.
That seemed to placate everyone, including the happy couple, who pecked each other on the lips before sharing some comment that had them both laughing. But before Lewin could change the subject, Graella allowed a great idea to overcome her.
“Oh, do them, please!” She pointed to Sulim and Sonall, both of whom panicked to be put on the spot.
Kill me. Kill me now. “Come on, you two! Wouldn’t it be fun to know what your auras look like? Oh!”
She approached Joiya with penance on her countenance.
“Only if you don’t mind, Lady Joiya. I don’t presume to know how difficult this is for you.”
“It’s really no trouble at all,” she reassured the family. “I’m in the groove, aren’t I?”
“Ma…” Mira’s attempts to distract her mother in Julah were falling on deaf ears. “Shouldn’t we go check on Kema and Hannu?”
If her mother heard her, she was thoroughly ignoring Mira.
So rude. How could Joiya put her through this?
Her? Her precious little girl, whom she fought the Void to bring into the world?
I suffer because of you right now, Ma. The last thing Mira wanted to do to round out the past week was hear how well Sulim and Sonall went together.
Because Mira may not have been a soul-seer, but she could tell they were a decent match from a mile away. Some couples just had that invisible air about them.
“I’ll go first.” When Sulim refused to get up, her husband volunteered himself. “But you have to go second.”
“Fine,” she muttered.
Mira stared at Sulim from a whole sofa away. Sulim did not return the look. Joiya soon stepped into Mira’s line of sight, forcing her to pretend to be unbothered by everything.
“Ah…” Joiya pursed her lips and appeared as if she were put on the spot in the middle of an Academy lecture, despite her murky eyes and rigid stature. “How interesting…”
“Huh?” Sonall asked.
“It’s just…” Joiya cleared her throat, shaking out her head until she reclaimed her usual visage. “You look quite similar to the others already! I can tell this is a close-knit family.”
“You mean we have similar auras?” Graella asked.
“Very… similar.”
Mira was about to ask a question when Sonall sat down, pushing his wife up in his stead.
“Please,” Sulim said, her hands crashing together before her stomach as she attempted to look at Joiya without acknowledging Mira just behind her. “I don’t need to know details. Sometimes, the mystery is best left unsolved.”
Joiya hesitated. “Would you rather I not peer at your soul, Mrs. Gardiah?”
Was that a full-body shudder Mira beheld? Or just wishful thinking? “No, you can. It’s fine. I just don’t want you taxing yourself, Lady Joiya.”
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“As I said earlier…” Joiya’s eyes fogged over a final time. “It’s no both—”
She cut herself off, mouth hanging open, and her hand stuck between rising from her waist to her chest.
“Ma?” Mira asked, leaning forward so her mother might hear her.
But Joiya remained transfixed on Sulim, who awkwardly stood with everyone’s eyes on her. “Well?” she humbly asked.
“It’s…” Joiya was brought back to reality when her daughter lightly smacked her on the behind.
“You of course have a beautiful aura!” The way Joiya turned toward Graella, nearly tripping over Lady Kathe’s feet, startled Mira.
“Young Lady Gardiah, I am so proud to announce that you are surrounded by people who share such a strikingly similar aura to yours! It’s a wonderful development for this family!”
“Oh, really?” Graella leaped up, halfway to embracing Joiya, but holding herself back out of propriety. “That’s wonderful!”
“Yes! Believe it or not, your soulmate is very close to you! Very lucky, indeed!”
As cheers went up around them, Mira glanced at Sulim, who looked torn between relief and disappointment. Only then, for the first time all day, she met Mira’s gaze with a curl of her lip and a twitch of her hand.
Was that not the news she wished to receive? That, in many ways, she belonged in this family? Or, at least, with the present company?
Mira was about to say something when her mother suddenly ran off toward the house. Well, then. What else could Mira do but follow?
“…I don’t think you understand the situation here.”
That’s what Mira first heard when she snuck back into the room she shared with her mother and heard Joiya on her communicator, locked up in the attached bathroom.
Mira didn’t know who her mother talked to, but if she pressed her ear up against the door…
“We can’t leave. Not now. Ramaron, this is huge. If you don’t get here ASAP…”
Mira almost knocked her head against the door.
Uncle Ramaron? Oh, no. If Joiya was talking to one of her closest confidants, let alone about spiritual matters, then that meant this was Serious with a capital letter.
After her father’s ascension to the role of High Priest, Mira’s mother had focused her academic research on purely spiritual matters with their mutual friend Ramaron.
After all, they both had day jobs they had to mind before research, with Joiya the Keeper of the Void and a professional dancer, and Ramaron the Head of House Marlow.
Mira couldn’t remember what they had been researching before she ended up in prison, and Joiya spent the past ten years studying law and plotting how to rescue her daughter’s future.
Something to do with reincarnation? I don’t know.
Mira pressed her ear against the door again.
“…I knew it was possible, but I’ve never personally seen it.” Joiya spoke in such rapid-fire Julah that it was like she didn’t want anyone to understand her. “They were all marked, Ramaron. Marked by the Void!”
What does that mean? Mira wished she had listened to half of her mother’s lectures.
“As for that girl… drop whatever you’re doing and get here as soon as you can. There’s a town nearby with a decent inn. Meanwhile, I’ll figure out a way for us to remain here for as long as necessary. The pilgrimage is on hold!”
Mira thought that was it, but then her mother added, “I don’t care what Nerilis thinks! You tell him this is much more important than anything else!”
Mira thought she had more time before her mother swung the door open and caught her eavesdropping. To be fair… Mira rarely heard her mother so demanding and serious about anything. Unless I’m involved. Like Mira’s freedom. Or her very life.
“What’s going on?” she asked her mother. “What did you see out there?”
She half-expected Joiya to brush her off and insist that nothing was afoot at Gardiah Estate. Instead, much to Mira’s surprise, her mother took her by the hand and hauled her toward the window—the farthest point from the hallway, where anyone might be listening.
“How much of that did you hear?”
“I heard you calling Uncle Ramaron and telling him to come here because… this family is marked?”
Joiya neither nodded nor shook her head. She merely adorned an inscrutable demeanor that unnerved her daughter.