by J P Anderson
"We use to be like Akadian's, then, there was a great war before you were born, and now there are few left. We, as in our family, were very good friends with you fathers grandfather so he let us stay here but your father hate for me for reasons you could not understand have driven him to make poor choices." Alister answered diplomatically. A.K.A. vague and vastly unhelpful. I'm new to the whole Old English, cryptic answers bullshit Alister. Ixnay on the rypticay ullshitbay
"Wow my father really isn't a good guy." Gen had really never thought about her father since she had come here. My father has done some pretty bad stuff, my mother's dead. Intense, I never expected to have a sister and brother hidden somewhere much less a father and a kingdom that knows my name. Genevieve the accident turned lethal, cool but vastly inappropriate as an epithet.
"He is a great man and a great ruler, just not a good husband or father. He never could quite master doing both." She nodded solemnly. Big time epic fail is more like it.
"I have a confession to make." he said looking down. Ah snap. She knew he was too good to be true.
"I lied to my sister, I can't control my feelings." She stood completely still and all she wanted to do was laugh, he was so cute, like he was five, he held her hand and just told her he liked her in a cutesy way. When Peter said he liked you he shouted it from a rooftop, stop thinking about Peter! Alister was charming if he wanted to be, cute always, funny when it was appropriate and protective without being overbearing. Sort of like Peter, but with a more dated wardrobe and history with everyone but me. She did something that she had practice in. Being daring, she lazily draped her arms on his shoulders got on her tippy toes.
"I shouldn't be with you; I'm an elf there are rules" His argument was soft and unconvincing.
"I've never been very good at following the rules" he paused.
"Neither have I" She kissed him full on. Her heart fluttered when he kissed back and she could feel him lean in and fit perfectly to her. It seemed like ages when they finally stopped.
"I've never been very subtle." she panted trying to smile cutely. He smiled that real cute sexy smile he does and laughed. Then she realized she was still all over him. She stepped back awkwardly.
"I've always had to be subtle, I never liked it though." he said, holding both his hands in mine and slowly tilting her in for one final sweet kiss before they walk on. Therius came from a room that was about two to the right from Gen's and turned to them, looked a bit shocked pointed to Gen then Alister then the hands that joined them.
"Why am I always the last one to know these things?" he said not really as much, angry as frazzled.
"Perhaps it is because you wake up ridiculously late for a soldier." Alister answered smoothly. Gen laughed locked arms with Alister then Therius and started to sing.
"We're off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of Oz," and in a weird sort of way, they both started to skip after she did for quite a while.
…
Once they all took their rightful seats at the huge black granite U shaped table her father stood and held his hands for silence as he had done before.
"My darling daughter has come up with a splendid idea for the festivities, to combine their festivity with the hunt for Aurora. The hunt will begin in the west section of the forest of Eaton in an hour."
"Wait what?" Gen asked to no one in particular. Crap, why is everyone getting up. Where is Alister? Uh, why am I never in on loop.
"Follow the crowd Gen." she obediently listened to the voice, now knowing if it was friend or foe.
"Look Therius, it's the very infamous Genevieve Grave!" Andria giggled locking elbow with her right, Therius with her left as they swung her towards the koi pond, away from the crowd.
"Gen, you are part of our family, our sister, and we didn't even know you existed!" Andria said with this sort of drunken anger that came across as a child trying not to smile.
"Well I suppose were even, I didn't know either of you existed either." Gen answered hesitantly.
"I think it's an outrage." Therius yelled playfully.
"Therius Caunell, Alexandria and Genevieve Grave together again" Andria raised her hand as if there were a scepter in it.
"Or for the first time, as it were," Therius commented. Gen laughed, they were trying to make her feel welcome, part of the gang. It was sweet and very much needed.
"Okay so why is your last name Caunell? For the record I've been here a day and no one has told me of the back story!" Gen asked.
"Well, my mother, Charlotte, was royalty of Corinth, that's in that direction," Therius pointed to the right of the horizon. "Right of the horizon so north," Therius mostly to himself.
"Um no, if it's right of the horizon its south" Gen corrected, she may not be Einstein but she knew her directions.
"Aldura rises in the west." Andria corrected with a smile. Oh right, we're not on Earth. Riiiiight. I will never get use to that, ever.
"Alright whatever, to the north, continue, por favor" Gen pleaded impatiently.
"Right, whatever that means, so my mother and her brother Adrian and sister Scarlett were royalty of Corinth until my mother married the general and king of Castor, their eternal enemy. They got married and had my brother Audrae and me and where at peace until twenty five years later until her brother took the thrown from his crippled father and declared war on Castor with a vengeance. My brother and father went to war and well, never returned. My mother, her sister, and I went to Akadia to be safe and my mother sunk into a deep depression that consumed her for years."
"See Gen, in Castor a woman cannot rule by themselves, so with the king dead, her brother won the war and now has control of both Castor and Corinth." Andria added.
"So, what happened to make our father marry your mother?" Gen asked looking at Therius as they walked.
"My mother and your father are great friends, nothing more. He needed a queen and she was trained to be one since birth, she accepted his proposal before he could finish."
"And what of your aunt, Scarlett did you say?"
"She is dead, some people say she was taken some say she killed herself, and others, well,"
"Therius," Andria warned.
"Some say she took the same fate as Alison." he continued. Gen stepped back. Acruz. Ain't so innocent now is he. I never thought he was innocent. But I don't think he can be accused to two different murders and deny both, although it's not like he's really denying anything.
"Come sister, we shouldn't have told all of this to you." Therius said, putting his cape around her shoulders and holding it there with his arm, which wrapped protectively around her shoulders. Andria held her hand and they walked to the Forest of Eaton, to hunt for something called Aurora.
…
"The hunt will begin when the horn sounds." She heard her father say as she walked onto the field. Her brother walked to the left towards the line of horses and her sister was pulled away by squabbling girls in torn dresses.
"What," she said looking around for anyone. Grand family I have, oh got to go do anything but be with you. I'm going to obtain abandonment issues pretty soon, and you're going to be paying for my therapy. Heavy sigh. I no longer care.
"Here," Acruz said in what could be only described as bored mixed with anxious as he walked a horse to her. She looked at him wondering what to say. Never been given a horse, um, thanks, gracias, ayudame por favor. "Good luck?" She finally answered with too much question in her shaking voice. He looked at her for only a moment, this was their first chat that didn't start and end with either one of them on the ground or trying to kill each other and it showed.
"And to you Genevieve," He nodded and tipped his hat somewhat awkwardly.
"Are you going to compete?" Therius asked riding up next to her.
"I don't think so, I don't know how." she answered absent mindedly, looking behind her to find Acruz gone.
"It will be natural, come on, hop on." Her mind flashed to her last encounter with a horse.
"No, I
," she started to protest.
"Come on sis...how are you going to fit in if you don't try?" Therius begged, she sighed. Alright now you're paying for my therapy and hospital bills, you better be well endowed. Oh wait, you're royalty, and so am I. Never going to get use to that.
"Fine," She got on with ease, in shock froze, unable to believe that she hadn't fallen off the other side.
"Good. Just don't fall off." he said with a chuckle.
"Where is Alister?" she asked as soon as the initial shock wore off.
"Not invited, being an elf and all." Andria said riding up behind me. "Although neither is..." she began to say Joshua but was interrupted.
"Neither is who darling?" Acruz said smiling. She looked at him with what would seem to be aggravation and stuttered.
`"Paige," she answered slowly, looking anywhere but into his eyes.
"You better get ready sweetness, the Hunt is about to start"
"Get out of my head and stop calling me sweetness"
"Why? You never complained before."
"I didn't know you were a murder, I thought you were just a...a..."
"A dream, well I'm not, and I would appreciate if you didn't call me that."
"What?"
"Murder"
"Why?"
"The truth would shock you."
Bang!
She jolted forward at the sound of the gun. This is all very 1860, Hunt, bickering, I'm surprised Scarlett O'Hara hasn't popped out of a random bush saying fiddly dee. They had been riding through the forest for a few moments and she was already bored, there was a pretty steep slope on her right going to a fast moving river and on the other side was miles of forest. She became bored, and started to think about Peter. She could almost feel him close to her. Usually she could tell when he would come to see her, but she suppose it was just her heart missing him. A snake ran in front of her horse and it flung itself up, she tried to grab its hair to steady myself, but she was too flustered. She fell off her horse and rolled down the hill. Everything became dizzy but she could faintly see a man run down the hill, hold up her head.
"Genevieve, come on, please answer me," the man ordered. He sounds so familiar, like milk a cookies from Ms. Crumm or a good book and fire on a stormy night. Like Peter, when he would read her the paper on the way to school or when Sydney would help her dye her hair and always end up making the joke "she couldn't get much blacker," it was never funny but they would laugh for hours about it none the less. He felt like she could trust him, like she was meant to be with him. He felt her head, and her arm.
"Come on Gen, where does it hurt, say something." he ordered. His voice was strong and steady. She tried to open her eyes but they were far too heavy and sleep felt like a splendid idea.
"What I don't understand is why you can't let a girl sleep." she argued. The man lifted her so he could throw his arms around her, stroking her hair.
"Yeah yeah, let's get outta here. I can't feel my legs at the moment." she said as he picked her up with both hands effortlessly as she sat completely at peace in his arms her head lovingly on his muscular arm she finally mustered the energy to look up. Acruz held her, walking up the hill with intent in his eyes, which was more frightening than possibly having a concussion.
She awoke in the lap of a very fine looking Alister Grey. He was dabbing her head with cold compress absent mindedly, staring straight, and talking to someone casually.
"Where are we?" she inquired trying to get up but was overwhelmed with dizziness.
"We should be at the feast of Aurora but we have decided to take a picnic in the graveyard, like we have every year for twenty plus years." She sat up, wincing when the pain hit. She looked around to see two men, one being Alister and a woman, her eyes blurred but it was clear whose grave we were eating at.
"Alison?" she whispered touching the side of the grave and shivered as if there was a chill.
"Beautiful grave, do you not think?" she blinked maybe thirty times trying to see who was talking to her.
"Yeah, I guess, uh, what happened?"
"You fell of your house, sweet...Genevieve," The person caught their words. Everything flooded back.
"Acruz?" she whispered. Her eyes finally became clear to see a very smug Acruz sitting right in front of her.
"Yes, I thought to myself, self, why would I go to a fancy, delicious feast when I could go to a picnic in a graveyard with the elves, and an unconscious Goth, of course." he said. She had no clue if he was being serious or funny so she simply nodded.
"Couldn't forget her," she said with another wince as she tried to sit completely up. Her mind was fuzzing over, nothing was clear, all the lines between what was person and background faded until all she could see was a mess of colors. She could only assume the white figure was Acruz, the brown Paige and the green the forest behind them.
"Man, she must have fallen pretty hard, she's pretty out of it," she heard Paige say. Ah Ms. Crumm, so very worried about her.
"Lay down Gen before you hurt yourself, again." Alister ordered with a laughing undertone, which was basically the way he said everything, as a joke.
"A beautiful grave for a beautiful woman would you not agree?" Acruz seemed to quote from someone.
"Indeed, although the events that led to it were quite catastrophe!" Alister said looking at Acruz.
"Boys!" Paige interrupted in a harsh tone.
"I told you once and apparently I shall tell you again! We are in a celebration; if you cannot be civil then you shall go to bed." she said in her best mother voice.
"What are we celebrating?" she asked rubbing her head, feeling the huge bump. Therius, pull out your credit card beoch.
"Aurora dearest, we always have on this day and regardless of circumstances we always will," Paige said looking at the boys.
"It basically means you have to be nice to everyone even if you hate them." Alister said.
"It means, that the past is the past, the moon does not dwell on past night, it simply moves on. I quite like the holiday." Acruz said smiling at her like a chesher cat.
"Says the wizard who has the most to be forgiven for," Alister muttered flatly.
"Alister are you saying your without sin because I can think of more than one incident where-"
"Do I smell chicken?" Gen interrupted.
"Why yes you do, I went to Earth and got the closest thing, they call themselves KFC." She jumped up, regardless of pain, and lunged for the chicken.
"Dear God! Thank you Acruz! I love you!" Granted she was exactly being serious but she got looks from everyone none the less.
"I can't believe you went to Earth just for chicken." she commented getting four chicken legs, and covering the rest of the plate with potato wedges.
"I know you haven't exactly gotten use to the food here, I just thought you would want something your use to," Acruz commented as if it were nothing. Alister scowled at him and stroked her hair.
"I can't believe your making such a fuss over grease covered poultry legs." Alister addressed her, holding it out in front of himself trying to find a place to begin.
"Breaded grease covered in eleven herbs and spices poultry legs to be exact." she said in awe as she held up the chicken like it was an Idle. Acruz laughed lightly.
"But this man kept asking me for money so I simply gave him one of my diamonds from my belt, that shut him up like nothing else" he said showing that one was gone.
"Diamonds are thousands of dollars there and this chicken was maybe twenty." Gen commented.
"Well then I'd say I left a hefty tip," he said with a laugh.
"Next time get a Mountain Dew,"
"What's that?"
"Oh. My. God. I can't believe you don't know what mountain dew is, it's only the best drink ever created, like ever!" Gen ranted.
"Mountain dew, check, anything else?" Acruz somewhat mocked.
"How did you get there?" she asked. It was a legitimate question. The closest KFC was about twenty miles from the door, in her
memory served.
"Alison's car, I think." he answered, popping a popcorn chicken piece into his mouth.
"That old Volkswagen bug? How did you even get it started?" she inquired, getting out of Alister's lap and straightening out her plate like a delicacy.
"No, the .P" Acruz answered spelling out the letters awkwardly as if trying to remember in which order they went. "Hey, It' SUV and that's my car!" Paige said hitting him upside the head.