Princess of Faerl

*Khalith*

“So uhm… does she do this a lot?” I asked the guy standing next to me. He looked kinda like he had the sun coming out of his hair and I recognized him immediately as auntie’s twin, Helios, except the human wasn’t Helios. I’d figure it out eventually.

“When she’s stressed out, seems to be the pattern. So you’re her kid?” He asked me, his voice full of disbelief.

“Well, obviously not in this life time, and it’s a story that needs to be shared with her and my dad, Hephaestus. It’s not complicated, really, but I don’t want to keep repeating myself, to be honest.” I ran my fingers through my hair. It was a bright red that got me a lot of attention, good and bad. When I was younger it was bad cuz everyone knew who my mum was just because of my hair and I was the bastard child that never belonged. As I got older and the people of the first life time were gone the shade stopped heading my way. “So uhm… who are you?” I asked him.

“I’m Aranelda, her twin brother. So I guess that makes me your uncle?” He shook his head again, trying to wrap his mind around it all. I was heavily amused.

“In the technical reincarnation sense, yes yes you are. You even have the same name you did back then. Why do I feel like F&D decided that entire generation simply needed to be reborn? Is your mom’s name Bella, dad Alaric?” I started asking him questions trying to piece things together. If I was compelled to come here, that means something big is brewing.

He looked at me like I had 10 heads, “Uhm, yes those are our parents. How did you know?” If I could have taken a picture I would have just to save the look of perplexion.

“Call it intuition. This entire set of the Tirisil family has been alive before. Now I want to know why everyone is back, in this current form, and what’s going on. Auntie told me I couldn’t reveal myself until I felt an unexplainable pull to do so, outside of my own wants and desires. I’ve met mom in a few of her lifetimes, but she’s always found me and remembered me. This time, I felt compelled to find her. Dad has never known about me. He would have went on a rampage if he knew I existed.”

At that moment the door to mom’s room flew open and a very tall man that looked quite like me waltzed in, looked at mom, and rushed to her, glaring at me and my uncle. “What happened? Is she okay? Who in the name of Selene are you?” His eyes roamed my face trying to figure me out.

“I will explain everything about me once Elentari is awake. I promise I mean you no harm, and she fainted from shock.” I nudged Aran to back me up on this. It took him a second to realize he was being spoken to as well.

“Yea, bro, don’t trip. She’ll be fine and what not. You know how she is any time she learns something new or overwhelming. It’ll be all good.” I let out a breath looking between the two of them. I had no idea what to do from here. The baby in the swing started to giggle, looking at me. “Does the little one have a name?”

“Isil Nénar Tirisil.” Hephaestus responded. He was looking at me funny still. It was making me uncomfortable. Luckily, mom started to stir and I knew I could explain soon.

“I love the name. Met him in his past life too. Gonna be a handful that one.” I laughed a little remembering what a prankster that little guy was. He always wanted to find ways to give mom a run for her money, not to mention my grandparents.

Mom blinked a few times, looking me dead in the eye. This time though, it didn’t seem like it was mom. My breath got caught in my throat. “Auntie?” I couldn’t believe it. She had never been reborn with mom before, so this was new. This was also scary as fuck. If auntie felt the need to be fully reincarnated in a mortal body, something was hugely amiss.

“Khalith, dear child, how are you doing? It’s been long since we’ve seen each other.” Her warmth flowed from mom and I rushed to hug her. Dad was wary to let me near her. “Hephaestus, I know you are uncertain, and I apologize you did not get to meet Khalith so long ago, but you couldn’t meet him until now. Do you remember the promise you kept, the day you brought her body to her parents?” This was part of the story I didn’t know. He nodded his head, sorrow in his eyes. “There was good reason for it. She didn’t die that day. She was in a death state, but she did not die. Khalith will be able to explain to you, and Elentari, what happened. Elentari doesn’t remember her past lives right now because she couldn’t without drawing attention to herself, this time around. She is as much in the dark as you are. I just hope you will not harbor ill will towards me when you find out the whole story.” A flash of sadness filled the air before Auntie seemed to retreat and mom was looking at me, wide eyed. Here we go.

“Okay, can someone please tell me what is going on, what you’re talking about? This is crazy.” Mom’s fearful eyes tore my heart a bit. How much had happened in this life to make her feel so uncertain and scared? I nodded, gesturing out the door.

“I dont’ know that I can go over this more than once, and I’m sure your mom and dad will want to hear it too. Though I find it unfair that Auntie Selene and Uncle Helios won’t help me out a bit here.” I almost whined like a little kid. I mean compared to them and dad, I was a little kid. But in the current state of mom and Uncle Aran I was the elder. So weird.

Mom went and picked up my little uncle. His eyes were still locked on me and he was coo’ing at me. “Can I hold him?” I asked tentatively. I mean to this room of people I was mostly a stranger. Mom looked at Uncle Aran and Dad. She seemed to think it was okay after looking at them, and handed him to me. “Hey little guy. We’re gonna get in so much trouble together… Just don’t tell Nana and Papa, okay? They would whip me for being a bad influence.” At that moment I swear the little tyke giggled at me. This life was an acid trip in Disneyland, I swear.

We went down the hallway and down the stairs. The whole time I was quietly talking to my baby uncle. I was older than him in our past lifetime together too, so this brought back so many memories. The first time I held him I was three. I remember I felt like he was tiny then. Now he feels even tinier. It’s almost as if he knows who he was before too, with how attentive he is. Old soul stuck in a body that can’t formulate words yet. How frustrating.

We entered the hall that was being decorated for a wedding, it seemed. I spied my Nana from across the room. She was beautiful as always. Papa was there too, stoic expression as he was directing people where to go with things and delegating the more delicate tasks to Nana. They both turned to see me holding Isil, but didn’t seem concerned. They seemed to understand what was going on. Nana nodded to Papa and stopped what they were doing, sending everyone that wasn’t directly related out of the hall.

“So you’ve finally come. It is wonderful to meet you.” Papa came forward, putting out his hand to shake it once Nana took Isil from me.

“You know who I am?” I asked them.

“Besides being avid learners of theology and the Greek Mythos, yes, we know who you are. Selene told us once upon a time in a dream a long time ago. Part of the reason Elentari was hidden in this life for as long as she has been. We remember that life time too, but we couldn’t speak of it until you came to see us, all of us.” He looked to my mom with a worried expression, probably because he knew of her fainting spells.

“Sooooooo someone want to clue me in?” Elentari sighed.

“Yes, I’ll explain everything. I just need one thing before I being. Hephaestus,” I began looking him in the eye, “You would do anything to protect Elentari in any life time, yes?” I asked him directly.

“Of course, she’s my Fated. I’ve lived through human lifetimes unable to go to her because of her own safety. Torture, complete torture. Why?” His eyes had a gentleness mixed with fear and protectiveness in them.

“Please don’t get mad at Selene or Helios, please. They did the same thing you did.” I took a deep breath. “I’m your son.” I kept my eyes closed waiting for him to react.

“Impossible. I can only have children with Elentari. We haven’t.. She’s still…” His words trailed off.

“Never, in any lifetime?” I asked him.

“But she died… She wouldn’t have been able to.. We only had one day together.” Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes.

“I’m your child. She’s my mother. Now I will tell you how.” I braced myself for a very long night of tears, possible threats, and hoping to all that is good Adalith would help make this easier.