FULL NOVELXO Chapter 53
Part 10
Some six weeks later at midmorning, Silaran psionicly asked the entire community to meet with him in the gathering hall at noon. Since none of the unicorns had been seen outside their grassy valley for weeks due to the two mares' pregnancies, everyone had a good idea as to why he had called them together, and he did not disappoint.
He arrived in the midst of them by Translocation precisely at noon, and immediately cast a four meter wide square Revealing in the air above him while calling out; "Our son is born! Last night Equemev brought Falaran into this world, and both are healthy!"
The Revealing was cast to make the scene seem brighter than it had been, since Equemev had delivered in the dark of night without artificial lighting, which gave it a slightly surreal look. The sequence obviously began shortly after the birth, with the colt curled up in a depression in the grass while Equemev licked him clean. He was adorably cute, with a white coat, silver mane and tail, and dark blue eyes. His tiny horn was just a cone thirteen millimetes high and seventeen millimeters wide.
Many of those watching oohed and ahhed and declared how darling he was, and some gave spontaneous applause.
"The Revealing lasts for forty-two minutes, but I must go be with my family." Silaran stated, and then he was gone as the Revealing played on.
Within five minutes, Equemev was finished her ministrations, and the tiny new unicorn struggled to his feet as his mother and father nuzzled and supported him from either side. He stood there wobbling and shaking a little for a minute or so, until he gained his stability. Six minutes later, he took his first tentative steps, and ten minutes after that he was walking steadily. He soon progressed to running with joyous energy, then running in circles and zigzags. He quickly tired, and went to his mother to nurse just before the Revealing ended.
The very next night Equemev's friend Selmiom gave birth to her daughter Penulan, and the next day at noon her proud father Namada displayed a similar Revealing of his pretty girl, who was light yellow with a light purple mane and tail.
As the twins discovered when they checked, the unicorns' valley was cloaked with heavy psionic Shielding, and no one left it or entered it for the next nine days. Only then did the unicorns invite a select few humans to meet their new children. They explained that those with the least psionic strength were invited first, to protect the colts, who were extremely psionicly sensitive and impressionable at this stage. Mark's household was the second-last to be invited, over two months later. The children and the colts delighted in chasing each other all over the valley, with the children flying along a meter or so above the ground so they could all play tag. Even at this young age, the colts had their race's supernatural speed, balance and agility, and they held their own.
The dragons were made to wait another three months after that, and were asked to remain more than two hundred meters away from the colts, since unicorns have an instinctive fear of dragons that required some maturity to overcome. When the colts were eight months old, the unicorns finally ended their seclusion and brought their young with them as they rejoined the regular activities of the community.
During those months the twins and Valentia spent more and more of their combat training and leisure time with Karzog, and the four of them took to sparring with each other in the little valley behind Mark's house for an hour or two every afternoon. This was serious sparring indeed, and included full use of armor, weapons, and magic, as well as all of Karzog's fire and strength. Not only did they improve in combat proficiency, and quickly, they also gained skill in Restoring the damage they did to the valley, repairing and recharging their armor and weapons, and Healing one another's many broken bones and serious injuries. Only lethal attacks were prohibited, most of the combat was fought in the air, and to any observer it was indistinguishable from true warfare.
Of the four of them, Karzog had to push himself the hardest to keep up. A young dragon's development is normally much slower than a human or an elf's, but with their help he did keep up, and by the time Valentia was two he was already casting spells and using psionics.
About half their fights were one on one, but occasionally they would have a 'wolves and deer' exercise with three of them chasing one, and they often fought as pairs. At first the pairings were random, but over time they found it most fun when it was Helemia and Karzog versus Reggie and Valentia, so they did that most often. The twins balanced each other, and Valentia's greater magic was balanced by Karzog's strength and fire.
They still did their evening training with their parents versus Ria's simulated demons, and Karzog joined them in that with increasing frequency as well. Often others from the community would join them, sometimes for the sake of extra training, and sometimes just for fun. Since Karzog and Mark's children were gradually becoming inseparable, Povon and Kragorram also spent more time with the family.
Whether Reggie's prophecy was genuine or self-fulfilling, he and Kragorram did indeed become great friends as they built the first Kellarani void-craft together. Reggie devoted more and more of his learning time to this project, and Helemia broadened her studies to compensate.
Valentia finished her general education before she was three, with a lot of the twins' help. Thereafter she limited herself to studying the use of magic exclusively, though it was a broad field. She spent much of her days learning spells from anyone who had one that she didn't, usually her parents. She simplified them to match her own style, and practiced them incessantly. She made many improvements in casting speed and efficiency as she did so.
There came a day when Valentia was almost four. After breakfast Mark, Talia, Reggie, and Helemia left to attend to their various pursuits. Valentia was scheduled to work on magic with Alilia in the study, but instead she went into the living room and laid down on the floor with Stripe, and cuddled with him.
She seemed a bit morose, so Alilia asked her; "Is anything wrong, my love?"
Valentia shrugged a bit and said; "Not really. It's all just petty anyway."
Alilia picked her up and sat on the couch with her, and cuddled her. "Sometimes we have to talk about what's troubling us, even if it seems petty.” she advised.
"Well, I love Reggie and Helemia a lot, and they're always nice to me, and they always help me a lot. But a lot of times it bothers me that they're so much... more than me. If I were anywhere else, I'd probably be the most amazing child that had even been born in the country. As it is, I'm a distant third. And falling farther behind all the time."
"I don't see that at all, babe of mine." Alilia chuckled. "They have more amazing psionics, but you have more amazing magic ability. They're most of a year older than you, but believe me, in a few years that won't matter at all."
"It's not their psionics that makes them great, Mother, that's just a small part of it." the child explained. "Another part is that deep down inside, Helemia has the soul of a Sylvan and Reggie has the soul of a dragon, and they both share that, plus they share so much of Father and Talia and you from all the Linking they did when they were unborn. I've been helped a lot by all the Linking I've done too, but they got a lot more of it, and a lot earlier, and they still do. But most of it is their intelligence.
"Every night I show them what I've learned that day, and they both learn it all from me right away, every detail of it. I'm getting to be more skilled with the spells than they are because I practice them a lot more, but they know how to do everything I do. Then they show me what they learned that day, but I can only get the basics of it, because it would take me way more than two days to really learn what they learn in a day. And they learn almost everything that you and Father and Talia learn everyday, and that only takes them a few minutes too.☐☐☐