To BethnPercy- Thank you for reading! I'm not updating this one as often because I've only got so many pre-written chapters, I was just trying to space them out to avoid a hiatus! I'm so happy to see another review on this, I love this story, I was so excited to post it, but I think I needed to do more of a background on the Valdez kids. Oh well, lesson learnt! :P Here's more for you! ^_^
Erseus called out once they were inside his home. Okia and Char marvelled at it- their home could easily fit in this living room. It was large and warm and bright and comfortable and it was their own. They had their own stuff, rather than what was deemed suitable by the Guard. Each seat was taken up, all positioned around a large hearth. There was a water imp, a little older than Bibi, and an earth imp about the same age, older and stronger versions of Vie, who sat between them, still reading. In a single seat, legs draped over the side and also reading, a blonde girl of eight with silver markings. On the floor, two boys and a girl, all no older than three or four, playing with toys. One boy had earth markings, the other yellow markings. The girl also had silver markings, but very few of them, just over her arms.
They all looked up as their father returned, the littlest girl jumping excitedly only to freeze when she saw they had guests. Erseus had the three boys stand, Vie climbing on the taller boy's shoulders and watching carefully from this height.
"Dad," the eldest boy started as Erseus lay Bibi down, "Dad, who are these people?"
"These are your cousins."
"Mom!" The older girl called. "Mom!"
"What?" A blonde lady with silver markings stuck her head out of a back room, looking irritated. Erseus stood up.
"Sorry, Wise-Girl, I know you're busy." Erseus stood up. "Got an emergency." He gestured to the newcomers. She stopped short, coming out of the room altogether. "And we need W, too." She came over, leaning on the back of the seat to examine Bibi. Erseus turned to offer introduction.
"You're Tia Abeth." Okia said.
"Tell me what's happened." Abeth said, shaking her head. Okia glanced at her uncle.
"I may need to bring in a friend. But you all have to promise to keep your heads." Okia jabbed a warning finger at them, glaring fiercely when they only gave her blank looks. Eventually, she got nods. Erseus laughed.
"Now that was an Isa look."
"Bring your friend in." Abeth encouraged. Okia opened her jacket. From her inside pocket, the baby pink orb streaked out, becoming Lody moments later. She took a deep breath, stretching her arms and wings, straightening her spine as much as she could.
"Oh, I hate cramped spaces." She muttered, picking a bit of fluff from her wing. She fluttered them and then let them fold against her back. She startled at all the faces staring at her. "Wow, there's more than I thought."
"Um, a fairy?"
"Hey, I said you had to keep your head." Okia crossed her arms. "This is Lody. She Marked with Bibi about… uh, however many moons ago it was, I can't remember now, my head hurts."
"Hi."
"How… how did a fairy Mark with an imp?"
"By the moon, if I knew that, we wouldn't be having this conversation!"
"OK, everyone just needs to stay calm." Erseus lay a hand on Okia's shoulder. "If we're going to help Isa, we're going to need the whole story." Okia's brow furrowed, eyeing him warily.
"And Papi." She prompted coldly. A funny look flitted through Erseus's eyes and he forced a smile.
"Yeah. Him too." Okia shrugged him off. With Lody's help, she told them all what had happened. Char interjected with demands for his mama, pulling on his sister's sleeve. When they didn't work, he went and sat with Bibi, sitting astride her stomach.
"Why does Bibi look funny?" He asked, examining the black marks on the back of her hand. "Ooh, did she do paints?"
"Um, yeah. Paints." Okia said distractedly. "And now here we are." Abeth and Erseus looked at each other. Abeth jerked her head to one side and they split from the group, talking quietly with their backs to the rest. Okia considered her cousins. One water imp, two earth imps, three mind imps and that odd one with strange yellow markings. She had not come across yellow before. She made to ask what they were for, but one of the older boys- the boy with the book- was leaning over Bibi, resting a hand on her forehead. His marks glowed gently. "Hey!" She protested, starting forward. Lody grabbed her by the arms.
"No, wait. He is only trying to assess what needs to be done for her."
"But-"
"I know. I'm worried too. The best we can do now is keep our heads." She smiled softly. Okia sighed and the fairy let go. "We will find your parents and we will do our best for Bibi."
"Right." Erseus was back. "We've got a plan, but we're going to need to call in friends of our own." Okia hesitated, glancing worriedly at Lody. "No, don't worry. These two can keep secrets better than anyone I know. Vie," the book boy looked up, the glow of his marks fading, "anything?"
"I'm just getting blocked." He said quietly. He stepped to one side when his mother approached. She knelt on the floor, putting her hand on Bibi's head. Erseus flexed the fingers on his right hand restlessly.
"Um, your friends?" Lody reminded carefully.
"Yes, of course. Axi, fetch Ni and W please." Axi nodded and ran out, the front door banging shut behind him. Erseus rubbed at his jaw, considering something else. "We're going to need Pip." Okia squinted up at him. "What?"
"Tia Pip? The one who makes the terrible pies?" A smile slowly graced his lips, an amused twinkle dancing in his eye.
"Ah, so her infamy runs strong. I can assure you, her pie making skills have increased greatly since Isa last had one."
"I'll let Mama be the judge of that." Okia decided, hands on hips. Erseus patted her on the head and took his leave. She moved over to stand at Abeth's side. Her marks glowed brighter than Vie's, but the look of frustration on her face suggested she had not gained any more than he had. "Ma'am?" Okia called, tapping her arm. Abeth opened her eyes, marks dimming.
"Just Abeth." She smiled.
"Mama said you were clever and knew a lot of history. Has… has anyone ever recovered from a Deprivation?" Abeth sighed, hands on her knees as she stood.
"No. The closest we've come is numbing the pain it causes, but even then, it's not overly effective." Seeing Okia's face fall, she snapped her fingers. "But that doesn't mean we won't try and help her any way we can. I know we've only just met, but you are all family at the end of the day."
"What about at the start?" Tob asked. Abeth rolled her eyes and he grinned cheekily.
"You'll learn to ignore him." Sa said, popping up at Okia's side. "How about we look in the library, see if there's anything that can help in there?"
"You've got a library?"
"What are we, peasants?"
"Sa…" Abeth warned.
"Oh, right. Yes, we're very privileged to have our own personal library, but it does not compare to even a fraction of the library outside of town, which has thousands of more books and is far more knowledgeable than our simple home one can ever be."
"Sounds slightly rehearsed." Lody remarked. Sa cut her a cold look. Okia frowned. Abeth clapped once and Sa motioned to Okia, leading her to another room.
Simple, she had said. While this room may have been half the size of the one before, books filled from floor to ceiling, piles were scattered everywhere, some taller than Okia. More books were on the table, there were stacks by the windows. Seeing her cousin's amazement, Sa smirked.
"We're very educated here. Mom makes sure we are."
"Yeah, no kidding."
"Oh, wow!" Lody had peeked in. "Oh, this has nothing on Fae libraries. All we get is scrolls." She wrinkled her nose. Sa was glaring at her, but she was too preoccupied, taking flight to examine the higher shelves. "And it's all sorted into categories!" She squealed excitedly. "Alphabetised by author, kept in the series order… oooh, I'm in heaven!"
"Lody, focus!"
"Sorry!" She called down in a sing-song voice. "What's over there?" She laughed, zipping across the room.
"Pfft," Sa huffed, "fairies are so dumb."
"Fairies can also hear you, sweetheart!" Lody informed in the same sing-song way, already rifling through a large book. Okia detected a slight warning edge to her tone, couldn't help but smile to herself. She was almost certain Lody would have no trouble 'dropping' a book on Sa, if she kept her snide remarks up.
"Where can I look for Deprivation?"
"There's not a lot. It's a touchy subject." Sa pointed her towards the window. "There's maybe two or three books. More like sheets if you ask me-"
"I didn't."
"-but they make do for light reading." Apparently, Sa's 'light reading' equated to nearly a thousand pages. Okia did not have as many books as accessible to her, but she had always considered herself a reader. Sa seemed to consider herself the best.
So they sat and read. There was a bit of a draft every time Lody went from one corner to the other, shelf to shelf. When Sa asked how she was getting through so many books so quickly, Lody looked down and grinned.
"Fairy brains run faster than imp brains." She said proudly. Okia held her book a little higher, biting her lip bemusedly. Who's dumb now, she could almost hear it. Sa was not impressed, huffing and pouring through her book as quickly as she could.