Aulelia
January 1500 PD
The ball last night celebrating the birth (8) of the twins (who Levana and Wil named Aurora (after our mother and sister) and Ariel (after Levana's mother)) and was painful. I love my brother and sister-in-law, and I'm so excited to be the aunt to their new twins, but I couldn't bear the festivities—Luca didn't come. So I slipped out early, completely unnoticed. Perks of being the youngest and least social, I suppose. Not that it matters.
I found Luca in his room, looking like he was reading. But he wasn't. He was just staring blankly at the same page. And the book was upsidedown. When he heard me, he looked up, and what I saw in his eyes hurt me. He looked so sad. Luca had really loved his mother, and now people kept telling him it was time to let go and move on, and it only a few months after her passing.
They're cruel people who don't understand how much losing someone you love hurts. I lost my mother when I was a very young child, and even now, as an adult, I feel the effects of her loss.
Losing his mother broke something in Luca. Just like losing Rora broke something in Wil. Just like losing Randy broke something in Rora. I'm surrounded by broken people. Everyone I love seems to have something irreparably broken. And it breaks me to see them, the ones I care about most, hurting so much.
All I wanted to do was make him feel better. I was unsure of what to do. Rora had been the comforter, not I. So I kissed him. He kissed me back. Things went further, and that is all I will say. What happened last night is too personal and precious to share.
Annotations:
8) Celebration of Birth: There are several traditions to celebrate the new arrivials of the Gedonelune Royal Family, including a ball held in their honor where they are publicly named and given gifts from all those in attendance. Celebrations for twins, in particular, have the addition of a magical blessing by the First Mage, in hopes that it'll encourage the changes of Twin-Magic and the likelihood of long lives.