SWNOVELS Chapter 17: The Love of a Family
Trylla comes running into her room in excitement. “Hurry!” Sahara feels Trylla tugging on her hand as she pulls her towards the doorway. “We get to open gifts.” Sahara smiles at Trylla’s excitement as she stumbles behind her to the hallway.
“She insisted on waking you next.” Brystol says rubbing some sleep from his eyes with his hair looking unkept and she notices he is still wearing his pajamas.
“We have to wake mother and father now!” Trylla says running down the hall away from them.
Sahara laughs at Trylla as she and Brystol begin to walk down the hallway at a normal pace. She feels awkward only thinking of how mad Brystol was at her last night. She cannot think of anything to say to him. She fights a large yarn, but fails at keeping it hidden. “Read the whole book?” Brystol asks never looking over toward her.
“Yes.” She says feeling uncomfortable.
“No good news, I take it.” He says glancing over toward her and she can tell he is still angry with her.
“I won’t do it again.” She stops turning to face him as she speaks apologetically. “I won’t wander off or break the rules to find answers. And I know, I am stupid and you cannot say anything to me that I have not said to myself. I am being selfish. I get that. I admit it.” She feels like she is talking fast, so she slows her words down to a normal pace, “But all I have ever wanted was to have a family that loved me. And I always thought that one day, in the future, I would be free and could find that.” She fights the tears in her eyes as she continues, “I spent thirteen years looking at a crumpled up little picture of what I thought was my parents, dreaming and trying to imagine what it was like to be loved and have love in my life. And then, I am presented with this whole new life and new possibilities. But then find out my future is ripped away from me before I even knew it, and I feel…” She has kept her eyes from his this entire emotional spill, but as she finally looks up into his eyes she notices they are tinged with compassion. She swallows hard feeling embarrassed. “Nevermind.” She says as she continues to walk down the hall with her head down.
Brystol remains quiet as he moves along side her toward the downstairs sitting room. Just as they arrive to the large tree surrounded by gifts, Trylla flys between the two of them into the room screaming in excitement. “Which ones are mine?”
Sahara smiles at Trylla’s excitement before turning to see the aran and tari enter the room. “Happy Christmas love.” The tari says as she hugs Brystol followed with a kiss to his cheek.
“You too mother.” He says kissing her cheek back.
As the aran greets Brystol, the tari pulls Sahara in for a tight hug. “I know I have already said it but, we are so happy to have you here. Happy Christmas Elfie.”
“Merry Christmas.” Sahara replies politely.
The aran holds a bracelet out towards Sahara, she realizes it is the bracelet Frazor had given her. “It contains some odd mineral we have never seen before.” The aran says. “I had the library examined and it was lined with the same mineral.”
“Can I open this one first?” Trylla’s excited plea pulls everyone’s attention to her and the family of four moves toward the tree as they begin to hand each other gifts with laughter. Sahara stands hugging herself as she watches them for a few moments. She feels completely out of place and considers running from the room as she glances back toward the door to the room.
“This is for you!” Trylla squeaks causing Sahara to turn towards her. Trylla is holding out a large bulky box wrapped in beautiful grey sparkling paper. Sahara feels surprised by the size of the gift. It is taller than Trylla. “They let me pick it out.” Trylla says proudly. Sahara laughs as she catches the package as Trylla trips towards her with it.
“I got you something too.” Sahara says as she points to a bright pink present sitting on the side of the Christmas tree.
Before she can say anything else Trylla squeels loudly and races over to the pink package. Trylla rips at the paper before she screams in further excitement. “A flysling!” Trylla holds up the box so everyone can see her new flying toy.
“Open yours elfie.” The tari says as she hands Sahara another gift.
Sahara smiles at her as she tries to tame her excitement. She had not ever felt so excited in her life. She wonders if this is how Christmas always feels. She unwraps the large package to reveal a new plorksol board that is fancier than any of the boards she has see other players have at the academy. There is a curly pattern in gold and aqua blue covering the board. “I love it.” She says looking over to Trylla. “How did you know my favorite color was aqua?”
Trylla shrugs her shoulders as she throws paper from another gift behind her. “I just knew.”
Sahara continues to open her presents watching as the others all happily open their own and talk amongst themselves. The Craigs Christmas was never this joyful or loving, she thinks as she looks at the small package for her that says it is from Brystol. She is surprised that he bought her a present as she glances over toward him. He and the aran are looking at a gift Brystol had opened, that looked to be some type of sporting equipment Sahara was not familiar with. Sahara opens the small package finding a small picture inside of herself and her real parents. She feels a tear fall to her cheek as she glances back toward Brystol, who is looking at her. She mouths the words, Thank you, toward him and he smiles softly in reply with a short nod before turning his attention back to his father.
Sahara had never had such an amazing day. The best part was not the gifts or the elaborate food, but the way she felt. She felt like she was part of a family, for the first time ever. She yawns trying to keep her eyes open as they eat dinner. The fact that she had not slept at all last night was finally catching up to her.
“Perhaps you should walk Sahara to her room.” Tari Nathila says causing Sahara to jump and open her eyes. She had fallen asleep sitting at the table.
Brystol moves over toward Sahara and holds out his hand. “Come on.”
She is too tired to argue, so she takes his hand and drags along side him toward her room as she agrees to whatever it is he keeps say. She was too tired to pay attention or care. “Good night,” she says as she opens the door to her room. “Oh hey.” She turns toward him opening her tired eyes as wide as she can before continuing. “The picture was my favorite gift. Thank you.”
“I am glad.” He says, “I remember you getting that picture out of the wall when we went to the human world, so I thought you would like one of your real family.”
“Did you like your game?” Sahara asks remembering she had bought him a video game system and game.
He gives her an odd look before he responds. “You didn’t hear anything we just talked about did you?”
She realizes he must have said something about the gift she bought him on their walk up. She yawns as she shakes her head feeling heavy. “Sorry. I have been awake for like thirty-seven hours.”
“I like it.” He says with a laugh as he she yawns again, “Good night and happy Christmas Sahara.”
“It was happy.” She mumbles as she shuts the door to her room.
Sahara wonders where the aran is as she sits at the unusually quite breakfast table with the tari, Brystol, and Trylla the following morning. She begins to wonder if something is wrong, but she is too scared to ask. “When do we go back to the academy?” She asks breaking the silence and all three of the Treegan’s look up at her.
Brystol and Trylla look over at their mother as if they are unsure what her reaction will be. The tari sounds normal as she responds, “Tomorrow morning.”
“Will…” Sahara begins to ask something else but Brystol is shaking his head at her to stop talking. So she says no more and looks down at her food. She remains awkwardly silent the remainder of the meal.
After Trylla and the tari leave the breakfast room, Brystol looks over toward Sahara. “You agreed to play my new game with me after breakfast today.”
“No I did not!” Sahara exclaims.
He smiles at her as he says, “Yes you did, when you were sleepwalking to your room last night.”
“Oh.” Sahara realizes he might be telling the truth.
“I was pretty shocked you agreed to play with me, but since you were half asleep, I will let you out of it.” He says politely rising from the table.
“No.” She says pushing her plate away from her. “If I agreed, I will keep my word.”
“It is fine if you don’t want to.” Brystol sounds sad and she wonders if it has something to do with his dad missing.
“Where is your dad?” She asks because she cannot hold her curiosity at bay any longer.
Brystol looks flustered by her question. “Have a good day.” He says leaving her curiouser.
“Hey!” Sahara jumps out of her seat and chases after him. He is moving faster than usual down the hall. “I thought we were playing your new video game.”
“Video?” He asks glancing at her but not slowing his pace. “No, they are called teligames.”
“Ok. Well, then, I thought were were playing your new teligame.” She rolls her eyes at the technicality.
“I said you didn’t have to.” He says arriving at a room she had not been to before. He pushes the door open, revealing a large room filled with game tables and all kinds of elf activities.
She smiles at him as she pushes past him through the door to the gaming room. “But I want to.” She is not half as intrigued about the fun room as she is about getting to the bottom of why his dad is missing and why no one is wanting to talk about it.
She had never gotten to play video games before because she was forbidden at the Craig’s house. She is terrible at the game and Brystol is much better. She sighs as she throws the game controller down on the couch they are perched upon. “Why does anyone think this is fun?”
“It is much more fun when you are actually good at it.” He teases her with his words.
“Yes well, I was not allowed to have fun in...” She feels sad remembering her old life in the human world. It was really terrible, she just had never realized it. What she hates the most is that she actually misses those horrible Craigs.
“He is with his other family.” Brystol says sounding as sad as she feels. She realizes he is meaning his father, the aran. He continues to explain, “He has a 2 year old with Jewel.” He sounds more sad than disgusted.
“I’m sorry.” She says consolingly. “I can’t imagine.”
“A couple of years ago, he decided that he needed to start having holiday with them too.” He says but never looks at her.
She recalls his mother saying something happened a couple of years ago that caused him to swear off having a mistress, she realizes this has to be what it was. She decides to unload her sadness too, “I miss the Craig’s.” She says it feeling overly ashamed.
“Why? Weren’t they abusive?” He asks sounding surprised at her feelings. She keeps her eyes away from his but she knows he is gawking at her. “I mean, well, not that I talk about you, but my mom just said, that, you know…They were mean. And you showed me the room you lived in.”
She can’t fight the tears that break from her eyes. She is not sure if she is more embarrassed for missing them or the fact that he knows she was mistreated. She abruptly stands from the couch and tries to leave, but Brystol jumps up stopping her with an apology. “I didn’t mean to analyze your feelings. Or minimize them Sahara.” She tries to move around him towards the door but he again moves in front of her and says, “No. You lived with them for thirteen years, it would be weird if you didn’t miss them.”
“And it would be weird if you were not upset about your dad having another family.” She says making sure he sees her teary eyes. “Maybe we should sulk alone.” She pushes him gently out of her way and he complies with her request, allowing her to leave the room.
She is not sure why she is angry with Brystol. He didn’t really do anything wrong, but she still avoids him and the other members of his family the remainder of the day. No one seems to care though, because they are all distracted by the fact that the aran is off with his second family. Well, at least that is what she thought as she sits in the window of the library studying an Advanced Spell Knowledge book.
She hears someone enter the room and she glances up to meet a sorrowful looking Brystol. He doesn’t say anything, so Sahara looks back down at the pages of the book. She cannot concentrate on any of the words though because she can see him moving towards her quietly. “Hey.” He says as he arrives just a few feet away from her.
“Hey.” She says uncomfortably, keeping her eyes on the page of the book.
“I’m sorry.” He says.
“For what?” She asks still refusing to look up from the book, even though she is far from reading anything.
“I don’t know.” He says sounding unsure of himself.
Sahara scuffs quietly without words as she keeps her eyes on the book. She just wants him to go away.
“No. That isn’t true, I do know.” He says stepping closer toward her. “I upset you, I pried into your past, and I minimized your feelings.”
“Okay.” She says in a flat tone still looking at the book.
“We saved you dinner, if you want something.” He says sounding defeated.
“I’m good.” She says just wishing he would leave her alone.
She sees him turn to leave and releases a heavy breath in relief as he exits the library. She peers out at the dark sky and notices the two moons shining down on the darkened garden of the castle. She jumps as she notices someone or something staring in at her. It is too dark to make out what or who it is but she finds it unsettling, so she quickly runs from the room. She bumps into the aran just outside the door of the library. “Are you alright Sahara?” He asks noticing her fear.
“Uh,” She debates on if she should say anything or not, but she knows it would be better if she did. “Someone was watching me through the window.”
The aran quickly enters the library and she follows him looking out of the window, but no one is out there now. “Where?” He asks looking out into the darkness.
“I. I don’t see them anymore.” She says still feeling nervous.
The aran quickly moves out of the room and she follows at his command, “Come with me.” He says to her before he shouts at the guards at the front door, “Someone was just in the garden. Find who it was.” The guards quickly exit the castle in response as the tari and Brystol appear in the foyer from different rooms.
“What is going on?” Tari Nathila asks looking concerned.
“Sahara is to not be left alone again.” The aran says as he pulls Sahara by the arm and launches her toward the tari. Tari Nathila catches Sahara as they watch the aran exit the castle after the guards.
“What happened?” Brystol asks looking concerned also.
“Someone was watching me through the window.” She says still feeling unsettled.
“It is alright my dear.” The tari hugs her close. “We will protect you. Brystol, stay with Sahara and I will go check on Trylla.”
“No. I can check on Trylla.” Brystol says in protest as he begins to move up the stairs. He tries to defend his decision as he continues, “You are more capable of protecting Sahara than I.”
“In that case,” the tari calls after Brystol, “stay with Trylla all night please.”
“Alright.” He says without protest.
Moments later, the aran and multiple guards enter back into the castle. “Whomever you saw is gone now.” The aran says looking at Sahara. “You will sleep with your door open tonight and there will be two guards in the hall, as well as multiple guards outside your window keeping watch.”
“All ellon, I assume. She will need some privacy!” The tari begs on Sahara’s behalf.
“Only while she is dressing and she will need two elleth to be in the room with her then.” He says sounding authoritative. “Where is Brystol and Trylla?”
“Brystol went to check on her and will be sleeping in Trylla’s room with her.” Tari Nathila responds.
“Good,” He says as he motions toward a guard, “Two guards will be outside their room as well. And two outside of yours.” He motions to two other guards who come stand by the tari. “Now off you all go.” He waves his hand at them to leave.