Alright, I've got these coming in much quicker succession now, so hopefully this will attract some new readers…

He grinned at me, annoyingly unfazed by this outburst. I swatted Mally from his hat brim to show him that I meant what I said, and then grimaced at him, turned away and stared across the room, stubbornly not looking at him, and purposefully ignoring him.

"I don't even know why my grandmother sent me to see you." I said, shrugging as if to prove my point. "I mean, it's not as if I'm going to have a vision of great meaning or… or have an epiphany or something."

"I don't think that's what she meant for you to." Tarrant said, striding across the floor to meet me. He put one of his hands on my cheek and turned my head towards him, so that I was forced to look at him. Well, my head was turned towards him, but I stubbornly squeezed my eyes tightly shut, so that I didn't have to look him in the eye. He chuckled annoyingly. "Look at me." He said gently. "Please?" I sighed and opened my eyes slowly, taking my time, to try and show him that I was only doing this because my grandmother had asked me to see him, and I was going to take up as much of his time as I wanted to.

When I finally opened my eyes fully, I looked him square in the eye. He looked back at me, tilting his head slightly as if he thought that he could get a better look at me if his vision was on an angle. I rolled my eyes, shook my head and turned away from him, trying to waste time, until he got his fill of looking at me.

"What," I began slowly and deliberately, looking back at him to capture his full attention. "Did it say?" I pursed my lips as I stared at him, and it was his turn to try and avoid my sustained glare. "Well?" I persisted "I'm not going to let this drop." I continued, putting my hand on his cheek to make him look at me.

He poorly attempted to change the subject. "We should really get your clothes from outside." He said weakly. "It looks like it's going to rain, and we don't want them to get wet." He smiled unconvincingly, and headed down the stairs. I sighed, and followed him, jogging down the steps to stay close and not lose sight of him. Mally appeared at my feet as I got to the top of the spiral staircase, and put herself in my way, seeming unwilling to let me pass.

"It wasn't necessary to knock me off the hat." She said angrily, glaring at me. I stopped and waited for her to let me pass. I had forgotten about that incident.

"I was angry." I stated apologetically. "I didn't mean it." I smiled at her sadly. She seemed to regret the fact that I was big again and that she couldn't boss me around anymore, as she had been able to do before. "Friends?" I offered, kneeling down to see her expression more clearly. She was frowning furiously. "I really appreciate how you helped me earlier." I stated, thanking her. "I could never have met Tarrant if you hadn't helped me." I smiled at her more widely.

She scowled more deeply, muttering something indistinct. I seemed to think that that was probably not the best thing to have said to her. With a small 'humph' she turned around and set off down the stairs. Great. Now, not only was Tarrant being difficult, but Mally seemed to hate me. I sighed and set off after them. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I ran out of the door that he had left open behind him to catch up to him. I got outside the doorway and looked out. Tarrant seemed to have crumpled, as he was lying, shaking, over the chair that was at the head of the table. I rushed over to him, and shook him gently when I reached him.

"Tarrant." I said, still shaking him. He was sobbing softly, and he swatted at me with a hand, still face down on the table. "Tarrant!" I shouted, desperately trying to get him off the table so that I could see what was wrong. He leapt off the table and shoved me away, fire suddenly engulfing his eyes.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE ME!" He screamed suddenly, shoving me again, screaming angrily at me, and screaming words that I couldn't understand. He turned around and sort of roundhouse kicked the table, sending it flying a few feet through the air before landing on the ground and shattered the dozens of china teacups and teapots that had been set upon it.

"Tarrant!" I screamed back as him, and he snapped around to face me, sudden hope glinting in his eyes until he saw me. I don't know why he looked surprised, but he did. It was weird. I gritted my teeth, and slapped him. Hard. He looked at me strangely before gasping in a delayed fashion and yelling.

"OW!" He screeched, gasping again and put a hand on his cheek where a large red mark was beginning to form. "Why did you do that?" He stared at me with his mouth hanging open and his hand still seemingly glued to his face.

"If someone's having a fit, then that's how you make them snap out of it." I explained, looking at him carefully, to make sure that there were no lingering signs of anger that could lead to another spaz attack.

"At least warn me next time!" He shouted, rubbing his cheek where the slap mark was beginning to fade.

"Now, where would be the fun in that?" I asked, grinning and turning away as I flounced back indoors. He followed me after a short while and joined me indoors. A brisk wind had started to blow, and whirled in through the doorway and made all the odd pieces of loose fabric around the room flutter in the breeze, as if they were waving at the passing air. Tarrant shut the door behind us, and the fabric stopped waving, settling back down to where they had been lying before.

"It's as if it never happened." I murmured to myself, looking around the room to where Tarrant was now standing. He walked over to a sofa that was placed at an awkward angle in the corner of the room. He flung himself down on it, and buried his head in a pillow. My baby cousin does that when she's annoyed, it seems that most of Tarrant's qualities are either childlike or childish. How strange.

I walked quietly over to where he was now lying, and I sat on a small area of the sofa which wasn't occupied by him. I watched him for a while, wondering if he might be sleeping, or dead, but then I heard him speak. The sound was muffled, but he definitely said;

"What do you want?" I sighed.

"You already asked me that, and the answer is still the same; I want to know what my grandmother said."

"If I tell you, will you leave me alone?" I smiled.

"I will if you want me to."

"OK, then." He sat up slowly and looked at me seriously. "Your 'grandmother's'," He seemed reluctant to say that word "last message to me, contained some rather unusual information." He still looked at me, and paused for a moment, as if wondering whether or not to back out at the last minute. "And you probably won't believe me immediately, but we're related." He waited, as if expecting some form of explosive reaction.

"So?" I persisted. Long-lost cousins, uncles and second nieces thrice removed were always popping up on the news, so it wasn't as if this was anything spectacularly unusual.

"So…" He began, seeming surprised that I hadn't spontaneously combusted, or done something slightly more dramatic than say 'so'. "We're related. Quite closely."

"Oh." I replied. I suppose that this was slightly more interesting. "How?"

"I'm your grandfather."