Sono and Neptis were on her in minutes and Oris had leapt to his feet. They were all talking to her at once trying to tell her she couldn’t marry all three of them and it wasn’t proper. She was still looking at her feet and Esylle didn’t understand why they couldn’t feel the heat rising in her. She erupted, but no one was blown back this time because the light had gifted them fire. They all just stepped back to steady themselves rather than be blown across the room like they had previously done.
Lisana walked away from them and sat in the chair again, but unlike before, she wasn’t thrown back and no light came down this time. Esylle knew they could feel her like she could and didn’t know why they were still yelling if they could feel her misery. Esylle went over to her in the chair and asked about the light. She had her head rested in her hands and looked weary.
“Today was the last day I needed to sit. Now that I’m marked, all the light I will ever need is in me now. If I had known it would go into all of you while I was sitting, I wouldn’t have connected us. I did it because I wanted to and I made a mistake. None of you are supposed to be like this.”
“If I’m supposed to have more children like you, maybe I’m exactly as I need to be, as is Leodos. I don’t like what you just said, but if you are meant to create a new ruling race, maybe all three of these boys are as they need to be.”
“None of you asked to be like me!” she cried. “I grew up thinking everything I could do was wrong and now I get here and find out why. Why should the rest of you carry my burden?”
She was crying now and Esylle was relieved when all three boys calmed when they felt how upset she was. They all flocked around her and Sono tried to tell her how freeing it was to be a Theran for the first time. He wanted to swim in the sea like she did. He was happy he was now like her. Neptis and Oris both tried to tell her they always wondered what it was like to be like her and it was a gift. They asked if she would take the time to teach them how to use their new gifts.
“I would tell you to learn from each other, but you dislike each other now because of me. I knew telling you my choice would upset you and that is why I kept putting it off. I kept telling all of you that you needed to learn to get along with each other around me and you nearly killed each other today. I don’t know why it’s supposed to happen this way, it just does. I don’t think it’s going to work and I’m going to spend the rest of my life watching the three of you fight over me.”
Esylle could tell she was weary and miserable. She now knew what the light felt like because it flowed through her today. It didn’t hurt like she thought it did, but it was intense and Esylle was also tired and wanted to take a nap. Before she could suggest going back to their chambers to sleep, Sono finally spoke.
“I was only upset before because I thought you might not choose me and I’d have to watch you with one of them. I thought that’s what you meant by us sharing you. I didn’t know why you did what you did in my chambers if I was going to have to watch you with another for the rest of your life. If the price of you choosing me means you chose the other two as well and that is what you meant this entire time, I will learn to accept it.”
“Now that I’ve kissed you and you’ve shown me what affection feels like, I can learn too,” Neptis told her.
Esylle hoped this was making her feel better because it felt like she was trying to block them from feeling her now She hoped whatever Oris said to her made her feel better and she would allow them to feel her again. They had a relationship she didn’t understand after what she saw earlier today.
“How is this supposed to work? You sleep with me one night and then Sono and Neptis another?” Oris demanded.
Esylle watched her jump from the chair and pulled him far enough away that none of them with their new enhanced hearing could make out what they were saying. Whatever was being said, she was trying as hard as she could not to let the rest of them feel her. Oris and Lisana argued and it was not like before, when they ended up locked in a passionate kiss. Oris looked upset and she finally said something that calmed him and they joined the others.
All Esylle could feel from her now was that she was very tired and didn’t want to fight anymore. She had that cold look on her face again and Esylle finally understood that she was trying to feel nothing when she saw it. She sat back in the chair and told them all to go out and learn their new gifts from each other. She promised to help them later. She asked that all four kings be brought in to her.
Esylle knew she wouldn’t like it if she tried to stop her from what she needed to do to go lie down and tried not to say anything to her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to feel what Lisana felt when everyone told her she was pushing her away. It turned out she didn’t need to say anything. Oris, Sono, and Neptis could also feel how tired she was and kept telling her she should sleep and talk to them later.
“Connecting all of you to me was a mistake. You weren’t supposed to end up like me and you shouldn’t be getting involved with what I need to do,” she said, standing up like she was going to leave. Esylle hoped they didn’t drive her to run again because of how tired she was.
Sono went to her and tried to make it better. She looked like she didn’t want him holding her when he embraced her. Esylle was surprised when both Oris and Neptis joined him in holding her, like they had somehow gotten over what she had told them about marrying all three of them. They may have, but Esylle hadn’t and she still didn’t like it. Lisana was trying to push something down that she didn’t want them to feel and it wasn’t fire this time.
“You should rest when you’re tired,” Sono told her. “We all expect too much from you. I’m sure what you need to say to my father and the others can wait until after you’ve slept. I told you a little what it was like to be married. We aren’t telling you this to tell you what to do. We can feel that you need it and we are trying to take care of you. I know you think what you did was a mistake, but I don’t think any of us here regret what you did. I like being able to feel you, even though you are fighting it right now. I always wondered what it was like to do what you can do and now I can.”
Neptis and Oris both murmured agreement and then Oris suggested all four of them go nap in his chambers because the bed was large enough. Both Esylle and Leodos were on them in seconds telling them they couldn’t. Esylle didn’t know if that was what she told him in private when he asked about sleeping arrangements, but Esylle didn’t want to think about them doing that after she was wed, much less now. She wasn’t ready to think about it and based on what she had overheard today, Lisana had already done what she knew she wasn’t supposed to and lain with all three of these boys.
“We’re just going to sleep,” Oris told both of them. “I know both of you are tired after the light too. We all need rest and the three of us need to get used to what she just told us.” Esylle didn’t trust him after she watched the two of them kiss earlier today.
Leodos finally said what she was thinking. “What she’s suggesting has never been done before. If the four of you need to sleep in the same bed after you are wed, I don’t want to think about it and I don’t want to hear about it. You shouldn’t until after the ceremony. I don’t even know how that ceremony would be performed and I’m still trying to process what she just said.”
“Since we know her choice, my father or anyone can perform it now and we can go rest if it bothers you.”
Esylle looked at all three of these boys, confused. They had been fighting over her since they first laid eyes on her and she didn’t think they would accept this so easily. Esylle still hadn’t and she knew Leodos didn’t like it either. Lisana had put off telling them because she thought the boys wouldn’t like it at first, but she wondered if Lisana had thought about the fact that neither she, nor Leodos would like her sleeping in bed with all three of them, nor what might happen between all of them.
Lisana finally spoke and Esylle could still feel a block coming from her, but there was an undercurrent of annoyance underneath it. “I want
a wedding like the stories I was told and I don’t know how with having to marry the three of you. I’m not ready for the ceremony today. There’s too much to do.”
“They’re right,” Leodos told her. “I can feel how tired you are and I know how the light feels now. I understand why you needed to sleep after you sat before. You need to sleep now. Whatever needs to be said to Joron and the others can be said when you’ve woken up.”
Lisana looked at her feet. “Are you going to yell at me again or yank them away if we sleep in the same bed?”
Leodos only looked down at her sadly. “I’m not going to yell. I thought you understood by now why you can’t.”
She felt anger and confusion coming from Lisana that she couldn’t push down. “We’re just going to sleep, not mate! You and my mother slept in the same bed before you started sleeping with me. Why can you do it and not me? I don’t understand. It’s the same thing. The two of you are not wed either!”
Esylle watched Leodos and she could tell he was trying not to get angry with her because she had known him for so many years. “It’s not the same with your mother and I. We only sleep. You’ve done things you know you aren’t supposed to with all three of these boys and now you expect your mother and I to let you go alone with the three of them to be in bed together? It’s not proper! Why don’t you come back to our chambers and I can explain it to you?”
“Why do you say I’m not supposed to and when I sit, the chair tells me I do? I did exactly what I was told! I’m tired of all of you telling me what I should and shouldn’t do. I’ve told my mother several times, but maybe you need to hear it too. I’m going to have to do things you may not like. You’re going to have to get used to it. This is why I didn’t want to tell any of you my choice!”
Esylle was watching the two of them and they were both upset. Leodos could usually make it better for her when she couldn’t. She hoped he did again and she would go rest. Esylle didn’t want to think of her running when she was that tired. Lisana looked like she didn’t want his help this time when he walked over and embraced her.
“Everything I’ve done and said to you is because I don’t want to see you hurt. There are other ways for you to be hurt besides fighting off bears. I will eventually get used to what you just told me, but I worry if I let you go with them now, they will start fighting over you again and something will happen to you.”
“I can feel them and you can’t. They aren’t going to fight. They are tired too and have already accepted my choice. We are just going to sleep.”
Leodos let her go without commenting further. Esylle went over to him and took his arm. She wondered aloud how there would be no fighting if only two of them could hold her while they slept. Leodos tried to make it better by telling her they needed to trust her. If she could feel that they weren’t going to fight, as much as neither of them liked it, she was old enough to make her own decisions.
Volaris
It was chaos in Volaris’ chambers after they left. All they knew were that their sons had changed and so had Esylle and Leodos. Oria had run in to go to Terros and then had to run out because it was too hot in the room. Fluvis’ wife tried to come in as well and had to leave. Terros was pacing and yelling. Joron looked worried, but was trying to help everyone reign in their fire before they burned something.
She said she wanted those the light went to first and then the four of them, but it seemed like she was taking her time calling them. Volaris was trying not to be angry with her, but he really wanted to know what she had done with his son. He never wanted to see him frozen and stiff like that again. Sono normally had an easy grace about him when he moved and he had never been that rigid before. When Oria yelled about Oris’ arm healing, Volaris checked Sono and there was a cut on his hand from when he fell that he watched close up before him.
Joron kept trying to tell all of them that he was worried too, but they needed to trust this girl. He was trying to teach them how to make the fire go away and it sounded like the flower that bloomed on her heart now and what she had marked on her back. None of them could concentrate to form it. Somehow Joron was not losing control trying to teach them. He finally did when Terros said he wasn’t waiting any longer and stormed out the room. They all followed and were surprised to see the girl and the three boys down the long hallway going into Oris’ chambers. She was supposed to see them next. Terros made a move to go after them when Leodos and Esylle appeared and stopped him. When they explained what she had done and her choice, they all started yelling and Terros burned a hole in the rug. Volaris was surprised when Esylle walked over to him while he was stamping out flames and placed both of her hands on his arms. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped forward as she guided him to the floor.
“How did you do this?” Joron demanded, pushing forward. “You shouldn’t be able to take his fire!”
So, that was the threat Esylle held over the girl, Volaris thought. He didn’t know what Joron meant until he overheard their argument and Esylle said she thought she might be able to take someone other than a family member’s fire with the light and she just wanted to try. She argued that he was losing control and he needed it. She tried to explain she and Leodos didn’t know how much of them were like her now, but they needed to rest now. The girl had gone with Oris, Neptis, and Sono to sleep and both Esylle and Leodos tried to explain how tired they all were after the light.
Before he let them leave, Volaris had to ask why she had them for so long if she didn’t teach them what it was like to be like her. He was surprised when he was told she didn’t mean to and the entire thing had upset her. There was something Esylle wasn’t telling him about why she chose to connect the three princes and then Esylle and Leodos. He was about to ask when Esylle swayed on her feet and Leodos caught her. He told them Lisana would want them to learn from each other until she woke up and told them again that they both needed to sleep.
Terros didn’t heal like they did now, but he was slowly sitting up holding his head. The girl was powerful, but he wondering if what Esylle did had the same effect on her and that was how Esylle got her to sit the day she was wanting to leave. When he sat up and asked what she did to him, Joron gave him a stern look and told him she did to him what they did to Tempris children when they lost control and he needed to learn to control himself better. Whatever she had done to him had taken the fight out of Terros and he only asked if everyone else was right with what Esylle had told them or if they thought it was wrong like he did. Fluvis tried to tell him that they all knew she would bring change and she had already made several. If she thought this needed to happen and their sons were okay with it, he shouldn’t yell at her like he always did. Joron finally spoke up and said he didn’t want to think about his granddaughter being in bed with their sons, but they should be learning while she slept because Terros still couldn’t control himself.
They all walked into the corridor and sat on the engravings on the floor. Joron had seemed to pick up his new gifts quickly, but this new fire was difficult to control. Volaris struggled sometimes and Terros was completely out of control and hurt his son today. Joron explained to them what the red flower that glowed on her chest was and that he would teach it to them for when they felt like they were losing control. He also told them once they mastered it, that it felt good to make it and they could do it just to relax. Volaris wasn’t sure if it would be better than flying or if it would feel like he felt when she was giving him the fire.
They all sat there, frustrated, while Joron tried to explain. Joron was also frustrated because he could not teach them like regular Tempris children learning this. Volaris hadn’t known they could take and give each other fire and Joron kept saying this would be easier if he could send them a small flow of it to try to control.
They had been sitting for what seemed like hours when Esylle and Leodos must have woken up and joined them. Joron begged her to use this new gift to help them learn. Terros demanded to know where the girl was and Leodos snapped
at him that he should let her sleep. None of them could feel how tired she was when she left and she had to deal with arguing over her earlier today.
Esylle took turns sitting in front of each of them, holding their hands and sending a small flow of fire to them. Joron was on the side of them guiding them through making the flower. When Volaris was finally able to form it, even if it was small, he could see now how it gave the girl the abilities she needed before they got here and she sat in the chair. He could also understand why it bloomed on her chest when she was using her light. It reminded him of the day Sono was born and was first placed in his arms and he got a good look at him. It reminded him of the first time he soared in the air as an eagle and the sun hit his back. He closed it when Joron told him to, but he didn’t want to. Terros was still having trouble and both Esylle and Joron were trying to guide him through it. Joron got irritated with him and told him if Lisana was able to pick it up this quickly having not being taught as a child, he was much old than her and should learn it just as fast. Volaris thought Terros would erupt again, but his face screwed up in concentration and Esylle finally smiled when his face relaxed to sheer bliss.
Volaris thought they still had more to learn, but Fluvis jumped up and ran away from the circle. When he followed him with his eyes, the girl and his son were standing there with the other two princes. There was a closeness now between all four of them that wasn’t there before. He wanted her to just choose Sono because he could see how the two of them were together. He could see Sono had accepted this and he must accept it too.
The girl walked over to their circle and the three boys followed her like they never wanted to be away from her again. Somehow, they could feel her now and she could feel them. When she approached, Leodos looked up from the floor and told her she felt like she was less tired now.
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