Brotherhood

By: AnimalWriter1

Disclaimer: I own the 4 and the Crow children but the rest is TP.

My name is Era. I am a squire of the Masbolle bloodline. My mother, the lady of Masbolle, formerly Sarralyn Salmalìn, raised me from birth for I had no father; he had died.

His name? Shalem of Masbolle.

You see, my mother had been one of the children of those famous mages while my Giftless father, the son of a lady knight and sergeant of the Own, had been struggling to keep his feelings for her at bay.

It was as if they had met almost by mistake.

She had escaped the clutches of life in search of her lover… Of a love she could call her own.

And she found it, Only 17, nearly 18, and still naïve to the harshness of a broken love and heart.

My mother had been the adventurous type, much like myself, but I never would have guessed the fate my mother had handed to her.

At the age of 38 she lost Shalem to battle just three months after my birth. She never was the same after his death.

She never faded from the vision of her lover's face. She would see him in a dream and reach for a hand that was never there.

For those many years she faithfully stood strong for the four of us but deep within I figured she doubted that their love would last.

My aunt, Rikash's wife, Naomi, told me her friend, Opal of Haliwell, had not wanted to become Shale's wife, as they had been arranged by their parents, instead she became his and Sarra's friend and was drowned trying to rescue Sarra while in Carthak.

I do know that she and father met as friends and fell in love. My uncle Rikash, my mother's brother, told me their story, I was only a year old then.

Sarra was a friend to many and I was surprised to learn, upon her death, she did not become a goddess like her parents but instead a spiritual being, guiding others along the path of life.

But on the eve of the 21st day of Feburary, just 11 days after her husband's death anniversary, she was called to the Peaceful Realms.

On her horse she rode, to the Royal Forest, she followed the Black god with determination and a full heart and died beneath a willow.

But that was 13 years ago. Ever since, I thought ma's life was filled with grandeur.

I listen to the rain that steadily pounds at the window and darkens the early morning sky.

I hear the fire crackling softly in the hearth. My older brother, Xavier, a great lord, looks up from his book to look at me.

"You thinking of mother aren't you?" he says.

I nodded.

"Come here"

I came.

"Ezra, do you know that mother left us quite a few things when she died?"

"Yes" I whisper.

"Well, she also left this" He hands me a leather bound book.

I open the book and stare at the writing that is lined along the pages.

"Read it," my brother tells me.

"But--" I protest.

"She wanted us to have it. Go on"

I begin reading. The first few sentences surprise me. "…To never love is to die a lonely death. And to love is to die with hope" "I never took those words to heart but I now do. I have left my love, to someone he can never truly love; I have traveled many leagues with him, from acquaintance, friend to lover. My lover, the one I shall love even after death."

I continue on reading, the tears now pouring down my cheeks.

"He looks at me with love, the love that burns on my lips. Slowly I look into his eyes, searching for a hidden flame. That certain spark he saves. I can only hope that love is passed onto a small being, a child one day to call our own."

"She got her hope answered," I whispered, thinking of my brother, my two twin sisters Hope and Willow, and myself.

"A month has passed. We have decided on names for this first child, if we have any more. Hope or Willow if it's a girl and Xavier if it's a boy." "My brother says that I should raise the baby at Masbolle until it's old enough, then take it to Tortall. I said that I would consider it"

I looked to my brother, who now seemed much older, there were deep lines in his face and his black hair had strands of white. The man that had been once a great lord and battle mage was now just a man, His Gift had been permanently taken from him for reasons he didn't even know.

"Why brother did you not tell me sooner of this?"

"I wanted you to come of age" my brother replied.

"So you kept mother from me?" I cried.

"Ezra, she died and we all needed time to mourn"

"I know she died, I was there, remember? I mourned for her too" I studied my brother's face closely.

"I know. But you seemed the hardest hit, you and ma were close and I didn't want to upset you further" he answered.

"You can't forget the dead. I haven't" I was surprised at his tone. "Ma and I were close, yes, but why hide her and da's life from me?"

"Because you'd do something irrational. I have forced myself to forget them. They're dead; Ezra, ma and da are dead… and never coming back. I take care of this family now, for both of them" My brother stood from his seat, placing his book on the chair.

"Gods, if only Hope and Willow were to hear you now!" I yelled, "Saying you own the fief when it's divided equally between us and it belonged to ma and da, they prospered it well before you" I stormed off to cry alone.

"Ezra! Wait! Ezra!" my brother called to me, I ignored him and ran up the stairs to my room.

Slamming the door behind me I collapsed on the bed and began to sob, the tears soaking my cheeks and choking me. "Lynn and Derek Crow are lucky to be caring siblings…my brother forgets the dead! Forgets his own ma!"

I glanced around the room and sniffed. The rain was letting up and turning into a light drizzle. I sat up and sat on the floor my back against the bed.

I unsheathed my father's dagger and stared at it, an idea forming in my mind. Without thinking, I slowly dragged it across my wrist, biting back the pain as the blood slipped to the floor. Again and again I tore my wrist. The blood pooled, dark red, at my feet but I didn't care.

I had suffered long enough; I wanted to show my brother that if he didn't listen I would spill more blood then tears. I wasted fourteen years of my life thinking my ma life was grand but really she was a regular mage. My father just a regular man.

Now as I watched the blood stain my tunic and hands I realized what I had done. It was unforgivable…my brother would find me here dying and I would tell him to have a change of heart.

He had forgotten the mother and father that had given him life; that he had loved for many years.

Given up on them and left both for just corpses, soulless and empty when they had died.

But no, my mother and father were not just souls, they were once people, people who were once loved and now gone.

I listened to my brother head up the stairs. Closer he came.

I heard Xavier call my name. I didn't dare answer, I couldn't. I heard my brother open the door, gasp and run to my side.

"No. No…Ezra" I heard him whisper.

I gazed at Xavier's face I noticed tears dampened his cheeks as he held me close to his chest like I was a frightened child. I met his eyes with my own. My hazel eyes stared into the deep blue-gray of my brother's.

"Why Ezra?"

"Because you forgot them brother…I'm going to never forget the things they did for you. She gave you, Hope and Willow and me life and now you've forgotten they also gave their lives for peace …" I replied.

"I'm so sorry Ezra… I should have told you sooner of ma's life, it was important to all four of us. Mother's loss hit me hard, I just wanted a distraction didn't want to suffer anymore so I was forced to forget her for the flourishing of this fief. The fief that grandfather and grandmother gave father to someday give to us"

"So did I Xavier. So did I" I reply.

"I'll call for a healer--" my brother stood to leave.

"No…no Xav, I want you to stay," I moaned.

"But your wrist--" he said.

"I don't care about my damn wrist, I worry about you," I cried.

My brother sat with me, hugging me close as the sun sank below the horizon, the room slowly darkening; the only light was from a small lantern on a nearby table. Xavier soon fell asleep. I too tried to sleep but slowly I drooped the dagger from numb fingers and struggled to breathe as the blood loss took its toll.

A wind stirs and snuffs out the candle of the lantern, darkening the room. I lay against my older brother's chest listening to his heart.

Slowly I close my eyes, but I am not asleep, oh no, I am dying and with a warm smile I welcome death to come…

" It was better to have loved and lost ma and da than never to have loved them at all, Xavier. I'm sorry…"

Ezra Domitan of Masbolle

549 H.E. – 563 H.E.

Beloved son, godson, brother, and friend

"Forgive us brother for not telling you sooner…"

"Hope, Willow, Xav? If you can hear me now, I forgive you…"

A/N: If you read Intertwined Between Love and Death 2: Daughter Mage, then you know who Shalem is. Shale is Kel and Dom's son, and he married Daine and Numair's (D/N became gods) daughter, Sarra.

Sarra and Shale had 4 kids: Xavier the oldest, the twins Hope and Willow, and Ezra, the youngest.

Lynn and Derek are Aly and Nawat's children and friends of the 4.

Hope that cleared something up.

- AW1