*Over eleven years later.*
Hikari slumped her head on the table in front of her. Mother told her to look the information over and learn about the territory she would run one day. Yet this work was tedious, going over information about farming and agriculture in Alaric over the past one hundred years. It was dull. Whoever had done some of this records had atrocious handwriting. It was sloppy, smeared, and faded in some places. Mother tasked her to go through the records and calculate the average yields per crop. Only then could she go outside and train with her brother.
"Keep going," Mother said shortly for like the fifth time. She was over at her desk, sorting through the letters they all had received. Father was nearby her.
Hikari grunted under her breath. Brother was smarter, why could he not do all this instead? She covertly looked over at Mother, who was holding a letter up, studying it with scrutiny. She saw Father watching her as well, moving in and snatching secretly a letter from the pile. He pocketed it underneath his cloak without Mother noticing. He caught her looking though. He gave her a stern look, snapping his fingers once at her. She grimaced, looking back at the book, writing down a number that looked like a fifty.
Hikari stopped, hearing Mother gasp. Hikari looked up, not caring to be covert this time. Mother sat at her desk, hand over her mouth. Father stepped over to her protectively. Numbly, she sat the letter down in front of her, head hung. Hikari stood up, moving towards them. Father's eyes shot up at her, stopping her in her tracks.
"Yusuke won't go," Mother finally said, mentioning Hikari's 'uncle's' name. "His father is dying and he won't go to him..."
Hikari felt confused about what they were talking about. Brother would have figured it out right away, the know it all, solve it all. "Whose dying?" she risked asking.
Father's eyes returned to her. How was it that she had the exact same color of eyes, yet his were able to bore into someone's soul. When she tried to imitate that look, Brother teased her for looking crazy. He shook his head, nodding over to her and to the door, telling her to leave the room. She kept her face calm, but wanted to stay and find out what was going on. She slowly turned back, cleaning up at a slow, but a believable pace.
"I should go to him," Mother said.
"You owe him nothing," Father responded.
"He's dying and alone," she muttered.
"You don't have to go," he retorted.
She looked up at him. "He raised me."
"Hn, hardly. Haruto was more of a father to you in secret than Chosuke ever was in public," Father replied.
Both those names sounded familiar to Hikari. Haruto was the fallen angel who was her maternal grandfather. Chosuke was... "Your uncle in the South in Sarayashiki. He's dying?" Hikari blurted out.
Mother winced at the bluntness of her words. "I'm going."
"Out," Father told Hikari firmly. "You can't. It's too far."
Mother stood up. "Hikari, please step out," she said in a soft tone. "Go train with your brother."
Hikari turned back to her things, cleaning them up with more haste. Father was on her then. He was next to her, taller than she was still. It was unfair considering Brother was almost of height to Mother. She hated being so runtish, especially since she was the oldest. Father took her by the elbow, leading her out to the door. In a surprising turn, he left the room with her rather than shut the door between the two of them.
His hand snaked into his pocket. The letter he stole earlier was still stowed there. "Listen to your mother," he said.
"What's in that letter you took? What's in that letter Mother read?" Hikari asked.
"Go," Father ordered her firmly.
She scowled at him, but stomped away. Being free from all that stupid math and combing over those papers was not even worth it anymore. Parents were too busy keeping secrets.
She was still huffing when she reached the yard where Brother was training. She saw him, tall and broad for an eleven year old. He grew up fast, way faster than she did. He was even more mature than she was physically and mentally. Like his demon genes kicked in early. Bold of him for doing that when he was minutes younger than she was.
He had his ice dragon out. Both of them had inherited elemental serpents from Mother's angelicness. Yet Hikari's fire serpent remained a tiny coil around her neck that could hardly make a dagger, while Brother's was the size of his arm. He was challenging himself to make it bigger and bigger. Hikari's never seemed to grow.
He stopped when he saw her, panting. "What's up?" he asked her.
He hunched himself down on the ground. She explained what she heard and saw to him. He listened to her, eyes pensive. "Mother will get her way," Brother answered.
"She always does," Hikari griped.
Brother gave her a knowing look. "You know that's not true. Except in this case." He looked behind her, smirking.
Hikari turned around, seeing one of the castle staff standing there. "My lady, Izo," the castle staff member said with a bow mostly to her. "Your mother bid me to tell you to go pack your things. You and your family will be going South to Sarayashiki tomorrow. Your mother insists she be with her uncle before he passes away. Your father insists all of you will go."
Brother raised his eyebrows at that. "He insisted that?" He winked Hikari. "The letter?" he asked suggestively.