Chapter 4

There was a picture of a man and woman standing together and smiling, posing for the camera. The man was of average height with just a bit of fat about him. He had short, dark brown hair streaked with grey here and there and his eyes were an odd almost yellow brown. The woman was extremely short, but there was something about her stance that inspired instant respect, not demanded it. She was of average build and had blue eyes and dirty blonde hair going down to her waist.

Lope and Terla Turks

They are the two who initially took me in, though their children held no small part in my choice to stay longer than I'd first planned. They are both extremely easy-going, and if it weren't for their innate ability to somehow avoid any and all real danger I'd accuse them of being fools for the situations they put themselves in.

Terla is a mage, and an extremely powerful one at that. Mere weeks after I was in her care I had even my worst injuries nothing but memories with nary a scar. She has a keen eyes for detail and a calm disposition. I've yet to see her even irritated. As a healer she treats any and all lives as equals and to her any living being is family. This makes mealtimes interesting, as she makes the most hilarious of faces when eating meats.

She is very similar to you, mother, and I keep finding myself finding similarities between the both of you. Though Terla has a much more silly attitude when she is not required to be serious.

Lope is far more relaxed than his wife, and he has a very straightforward view of things. He is not one to talk unless he needs to though he is not the silent type. He is the one who organizes everything, despite Terla's more authoritative place in their family he has far more of a grasp over how to keep them moving. There's not very much I can say about him otherwise, he's a very simple man and he knows it.

The next picture showed the three children sitting together at a bench.

The oldest, the teenage girl, had her brunette hair up in a ponytail and had her mother's blue eyes. She was a normal height and full-bodied, with skinny arms and legs. The second youngest was a boy who'd inherited his mother's hair with natural bright blonde highlights. Appearance wise he looked a lot like his father, with normal brown eyes and slightly skinnier build. The youngest was a slightly pudgy little girl with beautiful blonde hair in a cute bob. Her eyes were an incredibly deep blue and her eyes drooped slightly behind a pair of glasses despite her awake and cheerful expression.

Aleena, Jaxel, and Lara Turks

Aleena is the oldest of the children at sixteen, and is very energetic. As you can tell from the other pictures, whenever she becomes excited she tends to drop whatever she's doing. Sometimes quite literally. She is a mage with an unidentified magic, and I believe it is a form that has not yet been recorded. She is capable of sensing the souls of others, whether alive or deceased. You would be rather surprised how many times she is found having a one-sided conversation with some lost spirit. She also has a very fine sense of others' magic as well, being able to tell what kind of spell is being used even under the most powerful of disguises. She can see through most illusions, making it difficult for me to truly surprise her. She can create energy blasts using her energy and with her soul sensing ability can 'borrow' energy from others, always with permission of course. I took it upon myself to give her the major push into fighting properly and now she is rather skilled for her age.

Jaxel is eleven and the middle child, having a very childish personality at times. He is very enthusiastic about magic and is always eager to learn the theoretic side to any spell. Sadly, he has not discovered his form of magic as of yet. Despite this he is always happy to help his older sister with her training and though he's not confident enough to show me Aleena tells me that he's coming along nicely. He can be shy when it comes to sharing his abilities, though he's always excited to share whichever new subject he's been studying.

Lara is only five and is the youngest. I have suspected that Lope and Terla are wishing for another child though, so that may not be the case soon. Lara is, like any child her age, completely carefree. She is the perfect little angel and the only time she ever becomes stubborn is over what she will eat, it is the only reason Terla hasn't turned them all into vegetarians. She was born with a debilitating birth defect, but Terla's skill is so great that once Lara's body could handle it she healed the deformity. I am not sure on what it was, but I do know that had Terla not healed her Lara would have been completely blind and paralyzed in her face. Sadly there is only so far healing magic can go. It was a miracle how far Terla managed to heal her, and there is only one lasting effect. Lara's eyelids are paralyzed, and when she needs to open or close them she has to use her fingers. To solve the issues of blinking Lara keeps her eyes halfway open, and instead of blinking she simply looks up into her head long enough to moisten her eyes. She keeps her head at an odd tilt most of the time to see, and she must wear glasses due to a slight vision impairment left over from her earlier blindness.