Sirens of the Sea
Chapter 1 recap – "Can you tell me how you met mamá?" → mamá is a pureblood Dark witch, Rocea + mami is a siren, Llange → "I've got the best two mommies in the world" → "Hi, Tom" (The date is 1935. Tom is 9.)
Chapter 2 includes background on how Uncle David came to be Harry's Uncle David and on conclusion of the siren war.
– – –
2: Night Sun
– – –
"Hi Tom!" Harry again chirped at the figure, sitting on the ground, huddled in a thin, shabby moss-green cloth. Harry thought it was supposed to be a blanket; however, it seemed to have the texture, comfortability, and warmth of toilet paper. Of course, Harry knew about Tom's living conditions, and he didn't like it, not one bit. If he could, he'd grab Tom by the hand and steal him away to come and live with his family. For many months he had dreamt of that exact scenario. Sadly, it was impossible, so Harry tried to give as much comfort as he could during his time with Tom.
Breaths appearing in clouds in the chilly, autumn night, Harry thanked his own foresight in bringing a warm, fleece blanket. When Harry reached Tom, he realized that Tom was sleeping. Tom slept in a small form, keeping his legs tight into his chest with his arms stiffly wrapped around his knees and a head set lolling beside the tree trunk. Tom's face streaked with a calm, relaxed, youthful expression that Harry knew Tom rarely showed.
Kicking away some vagrant leaves and rocks, Harry sat down, squeezing between a tree root and Tom, wrapping one end of the blanket over Tom's shoulders and the other end over his. He adjusted it, assuring that it would stay in place. Then, he tucked the blanket over Tom's feet and nestled into Tom's side. Sighing contently, Harry examined the branches with a bounty of red-autumn leaves overhead swaying in tune with the swirling galaxies.
The night sky above them, full of glittering stars ("beautiful balls of gas and propelling light into the dark depths of space through atomic fusion" as Uncle David liked to say, or "sparkling gems in the dark vastness to accompany the moon as the clouds and birds accompany the sun" as his mami Llange said, and frankly, Harry liked his mami's version better), all of those stars always seemed so much more beautiful when he was with Tom.
With Tom, the night felt magical, special, sparkling with possibility and mystery. As Harry thought about it, Tom, himself, seem to exude endless possibilities and mystery. Tom could be everything he wanted and he would do everything with a cruel passion unlike anybody Harry had ever seen. Tom intrigued Harry as the stars to the early Arabs – as a heaven to a dying man. Tom was Harry's brilliant night sun.
Cruel, charming, spiteful and beautiful. Harry cared for Tom. Tom, with his personality flaws, seemed like an unstoppable force that Harry wanted to catch a ride on and stay with.
Tonight, Harry sat beside him, back to the ancient tree bark and pulled the blanket closer over his and Tom's shoulders. Tom was too skinny, Harry decided; as he put his cheek to Tom's shoulder, Harry felt the bone. In his sleep, Tom shivered at the contact, but the warmth soon got rid of those shivers.
Smiling, Harry gently peeled away the orphanage's blanket and rubbed Tom's cold, bare arm. He liked touching Tom since Tom was soft and since Harry knew Tom wouldn't let anybody else touch him. A long time ago, Harry had decided that everybody needed to be touched and since Tom didn't let anybody touch him, Harry would try to make up for all the touching Tom had missed out on over the years.
Harry looked at him as he slept. Harry liked Tom like this, when Tom was not scowling at the world, when he seemed like he could be a happy kid. Harry reached for Tom's hand under the blanket and just as he interlaced his fingers between Tom's, Tom woke up. Startled, Tom tried to snatch away his hand, but Harry clasped on tightly.
"Oh, Harry. It's just you," Tom gasped and visibly calmed down. He turned to Harry and smiled a gentle smile. Harry liked it when Tom smiled his sleepy-warm smile.
"Silly, Tom. At night, you're always with Harry. Always," Harry grinned wide, causing little bubbles of happiness in Tom's lungs. Tom realized, during the nine months that he'd known Harry, that he quite liked Harry's radiant nature; on anybody else, such constant smiling and animated personality felt disgustingly annoying, but on Harry, the optimism was well-suited and endearing.
"You're referring to yourself in third person. Stop it," Tom chided as he pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders with his free hand, long ago accepting that Harry would never let go of his hand if Harry didn't want to. Not to say Tom was complaining.
Harry whined a little for effect before flashing some teeth and then pouted. "Tom is being mean to Harry. Harry doesn't like when Tom orders Harry around," Harry scoffed and then stuck his tongue out at Tom. Honestly, at least Tom would never get tired of the thousands of faces Harry could make in a spit second
"Well, what if I told you it makes you sound like an immature four year old with a very limited vocabulary and a predilection for narcism?" Tom rolled his eyes in a good natured fashion while Harry appeared to be affronted, eyes wide and mouth agape.
"What if Harry told Tom that Tom needs to stop reading the dictionary because he sounds high and mighty enough to start riding on clouds," Harry retorted, blowing out some air, making a white cloud in the cold. On the inside, however, Harry enjoyed bantering with Tom since he knew that this was how Tom joked –by pretending to be mean to Harry. Harry always knew that Tom would never be mean to Harry; Tom was mean sometimes, but everybody was mean sometimes.
Harry understood that Tom's personality programmed him to act snarky and insulting (even to Harry). On the rare occasions that Tom did hurt Harry's feelings, Tom's apology usually came in the form of Harry apologizing. Harry would say "Sorry" but both of them knew that, really, it was Tom who was saying "sorry." Odd, but Tom would always act really nice afterwards. Besides, Harry knew Tom almost never said what he really meant. And through the months, Harry had become quite the Tom-translator.
"Mm..." Tom put his lips against the blanket in thought, "I do like the sound of that: Riding on clouds. Sounds like a god."
"Prideful creature, you are," Harry knocked his head gently into Tom's, "I'm sorry that I arrived so late today."
Tom blinked at Harry in a quick procession. "Oh. What happened to cause your tardiness? I was waiting, you know." Harry translated it to mean It's okay, but what happened?
"I'm sorry, Tom. I got caught up in a story, the one about how my parents met."
"You've heard that story so many times you know it by heart," Tom scoffed and nudged Harry minisculely. Harry translated it into: I see.
"But... But Uncle David–"
"–Probably was coerced into following your bidding, am I right?" Tom pursed his lips into a smile.
Harry huffed in displeasure but said nothing as he attempted to look away from Tom's knowing eyes, and couldn't keep it up long because soon he started giggling and squeezing Tom's hand. "Sorry, Tom. I had the sudden itch to hear the story again. I wasn't trying to delay our meeting, you know."
Immediately, Tom frowned. Harry, in turn, also frowned.
"What? I wouldn't purposely stall, Tom. Honest. I just, for some odd reason, wanted to hear the story and it went longer than I thought. It doesn't help that mamá always rambles and kids around in the middle and tells this long list of things they did. Sometimes she digresses. You know how she is, Tom. I really didn't mean to. You know coming here is a highlight of any day for me, Tom." Harry babbled on as he turned his whole body to Tom and bounced up and down desperately. Tom cocked an eyebrow at Harry.
"Harry, you're rambling. Stop." Instantly, Harry stopped mid-bounce and watched Tom with a worried look on his cute little face.
"I am not angry, Harry. I only now realized something displeasing," Tom said, grinding his front teeth pensively.
"What is it, Tom?"
"I cannot believe I never asked you before." Tom tutted to himself as a self-admonishment.
"What? Tom, I can't very well help you if you don't tell me what." Harry rolled his eyes and exhaled deeply, used to Tom's melodrama.
"I never before asked you how your Uncle David came to your family. As you've said before, your mother is an only child and your other mother has no brothers except the one."
"Yea, Uncle Kiene."
"So, who is Uncle David exactly?"
Harry blinked in a succession of slow then quick blinks. "I've never told you?"
"Obviously not. Not that I can remember unless you obliviated me," Tom put a hand up to stop the incoming defense. "I know you didn't, Harry. I am only covering my bases, here," he added.
"Covering … your bases...?" Harry's face fixed itself into a confused look, "Oh. Like baseball! Muggle expression, I see." Harry smiled widely and chose to ignore Tom's dark scowl. Tom would do this often, scowl at muggles or the insinuation that he was 'corrupted by the filthy muggles' as Tom would say. In Harry's mind, he didn't understand why Tom would be mad about being born a muggle. He'd visited a lot of different places with his family, and muggles were honestly some of the most progressive species in the universe.
"I really don't feel like telling you who Uncle David is..." Harry started but then gasped as if he'd reached an epiphany. "Oh Merlin, I can't believe I've never thought of this before. It must be a compulsion web."
"Compulsion web?" Tom furrowed his brows.
"Yes. A compulsion web goes into your mind and kind of persuades you whatever it wants."
"It's manipulating your mind?" Tom asked, his anger rising. Harry placed a small pat on his shoulder to calm Tom down.
"No. It's more like … a compulsion. I'm part siren so wizarding mind magic doesn't really work once I figure it out. Either it was a compulsion or I really forgot to tell you. But I think it was a compulsion web. I've never broken a compulsion web before. I can't help but think how easy that was. Maybe it's because my powers are growing as mami said. My mamá must have put it on me so I don't say the wrong things to strangers, but don't worry, you're no stranger, Tom." Harry smiled brightly. Tom relaxed slightly, sinking his back back into the tree.
"If I was subjugated to a compulsion web, how would I be able to get out of it?"
"I don't know, Tom. If I remember right, my mamá says that you need to be really good at something called occlomenucy or something like that. It's mind magic to protect your mind. I read it in a book once. It has to do with building walls in your mind so other people can't do anything to it."
"What could somebody do? How would I be able to master it? Can everybody master it? Can you?"
"Um... I think I naturally have some occlumency but not enough against somebody powerful. I'm not too sure about any of it... Maybe books..." Harry looked at Tom who looked at Harry with bright and enthusiastic eyes – it was a known fact that Harry couldn't refuse anything from a puppy-eyed Tom. "Fine, Tom. I will bring you books."
"Good. Now then, tell me about Uncle David."
"Demands, demands, demands. I'm not a servant, you know! You can't just demand me to do anything and I'll do it. I have–" Harry exclaimed but Tom promptly stopped his rant with a well placed pout and deviously tearful eyes. Grunting in exasperation, Harry relented.
"Fine, Tom, fine! Be that way. I hope you know that I don't like it when you do that to me. I will get you back someday," Harry mumbled to himself as Tom smirked triumphantly.
"Please, Harry. Stop the melodramatics and get on with your story because I know how you love telling stories." Tom rolled his eyes as he pointedly examined his nails.
"Me, melodramatic? Pot calling the kettle black... but you're right. I do like telling a story: Uncle David is my uncle not by blood or adoption. He's just Uncle David. And–"
"That makes no sense, Harry."
"Tom stop interrupting me or else. I'm getting to that part, okay. No interrupting until the end of the story. I know how you can be, so hush. Questions at the end," Harry chided smacking Tom's elbow. Tom made a grunt.
"Okay, so Uncle David... I guess I have to start the story from the beginning. Remember how I told you about the misunderstanding between the leiwiin and the kiios. My mami comes from the leiwiin siren tribe which are more reknowned for their beauty and magic strengths. 'Member? They're blue and beautiful and can glamour themselves to look human? They live in the middle of the seas because the kiios' territory consisted of all the coastal islands."
Rolling his eyes, Tom nodded mockingly; he didn't need to be told the story twice, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to humor Harry.
"Okay, well the kiios were jealous of the beauty of the leiwiin but the kiios are the ones with strength and are the warriors. Well, about seventy years before I was born, the siren tribes had their annual meeting. The siren tribes that came were the leiwiin, kiios, alliv, mwasen, junsei, and huweix. The ones that live in the poles and never come to the meetings are the Zlia and Ylia. In the mediterranean live the leiwiin and kiios. In the Americas, the mwasen and alliv. In Asia, the junsei and huweix.
"Well, the war between the leiwiin and the kiios started because of something gone wrong. In the kiios areas, a lot of fish were dying and traders didn't like to sail on the seas of dead fish. Bad luck, they said. So instead, they came to the leiwiin for trade which pleased the leiwiins greatly, but there were more leiwiins being born – more than ever before – and even though they had more trade, they still needed more territory to live. Money can't buy territory. Not for sirens anyways. Sirens have to either discover new land, make new land, or ask for new land from another tribe.
"One day, on scouting, the leiwiins came near kiios territory where they found an island of poisoned trees that spread poison gas to the waters, and the trees were the ones that killed off the fish and made the traders come the leiwiin way. Us, leiwiins – well, I'm half-leiwiin – have an ability that comes from our ancestors who are snake related. We have poisons in our body so we are able to tolerate poison. We can also make poison gas but let me get into that later if I have time.
"So, on the island with poison trees. The leiwiin scouts chopped down the trees. That annual meeting that year, the leiwiin told the kiios that they had poison trees that killed off all the fish and their trade and that the leiwiins cut down the trees and so there would be no more poison. The kiios became very angry with us cutting down their trees because – I'll get into the 'why's later on. I'm going chronologically, here. We didn't know the reason 'why' until decades later.
"The kiios started accusing us of putting the poison in the ocean and using that as an excuse to cut down their forest. They said that we could do poison – therefore, we were the ones who put the poison. Of course, we objected since we never did any of those things. Also, the kiios said they saw a very large serpent in the sea through the mist near one of their territories. We–"
"'We'? Stop saying it as if you were there. Besides, I know most of this story. You told me when you were telling me how your mothers met," Tom admonished, tapping the back of my hand softly.
"I know you know it, but I'm getting to the good part. Just let me tell it as I want," I scoffed, "Continuing the story... We had no idea of the serpent even though we could talk and command sea serpents. So we were stumped. We hadn't even ever heard of an enormous sea serpents. None of the ones we knew were so big and we would never threaten another siren tribe even if to gain more territory. We have our own honor code."
"Harry. Stop being childish and continue with your story," Tom glowered at Harry, menacingly, but Harry wouldn't be deterred by a death glare he'd received a thousand times before.
"Well, Tom. I deeply apologize if my tender age of eight is too juvenile for your nine-year-old-ness," hissed Harry, eyes narrowed, teeth barred. His words didn't really have any bite to them, Tom knew.
"Well, it's good that we both have come to agree on one thing. Now if you will, please continue with your story."
The strained 'please' placated Harry who smiled as if he'd never been cross and joked, "Well, Tom, since you asked so nicely, I can't help but comply with you. It's not every night I hear Tom Riddle begging for anything."
Before Tom could glare at Harry and say something along the lines of "I wasn't begging, brat," Harry continued his story.
"As I was saying...What was I saying again?"
"Going senile are you, Harry? You were talking of the giant serpent the kiios had accused leiwiins of using to sabotage their trade."
"Senile? Well, you're much older than the childish me, Tom. You tell me how it feels... Anyways, before you start getting your trousers in a twist, let me finish the story or else we'll both be sitting here bickering like the children that we are and that you so hate being. Bickering until I fall asleep and you'll never know how my Uncle David came to be."
Not even the slowest, most doddering clairvoyant could have missed predicting the harsh scowl on Tom's face. Despite the malice and irritation clearly underlying the scowl, Harry still thought that this scowl was particularly endearing.
Harry continued, "So, yes. The giant serpent wasn't the leiwiin's and the war subsequently started on the misunderstanding. Oh, something to note: the alliv told us, the leiwiin, that they were to be the kiios' friend no longer after the kiios declared war on the leiwiin.
"Well, skip seventy some years later and my both my mothers are going to the main leiwiin colony after my mami's exile had been terminated. Well, they both went to the colony which is on this big, rocky island – I'll have to show you pictures or I'll just have to take you some day – with terraced housing and farms. Anyhow, since the war started overpopulation hadn't been a problem. A terrible thing to say, but true. Not only were the leiwiin dying with more casualties than the kiios but no leiwiin wanted to have children in times of war. The kiios on the other hand thrived on war and they actually had a baby boom.
"The leiwiin dying wasn't so much because they were weak but more because of recklessness of the younger leiwiin who thought that charging head on into battle would do any good. No, even the youngest kiios child knew that battle included strategy, another reason why they had the upper hand in the war. But the war stayed at a stalemate because the kiios couldn't follow the leiwiin off the coastal regions and because the leiwiin, when they had a good guerilla warfare strategy, could fend off and defeat some kiios squadrons.
"My mami and mamá came back to the colony at the most horrible of times because it was getting close to a final showdown kind of battle. The war had progressed into an all out hate-fest. Both sides hated the other so much; the original reason for the war was lost in all the hate. And then long story short, Uncle David came and together with my parents and others went to stop the final showdown. The final still happened, but it resulted in the termination of the war and concluded no winners."
"What, that's it?" Tom gaped indignantly, "You need to elaborate!"
"Okay, okay. I'm getting to it. I was only telling you an overview... Well, my parents went to the colony and immediately found out about the situation. My mami tried to go to her sister, who is the amwi or leader of the leiwiin tribe, and talk sense into her. Not to brag, but my mami still had a lot of power in the leiwiin tribe because she was the most appropriate successor of the throne before Darya took it over. My mami was the eldest sibling, the strongest, and most magical, but her sister Darya took it over by rallying all the younger leiwiin into supporting her. That and my mami never wanted the throne and didn't battle for it. Am I confusing you?"
Tom shook his head, "No. Your mother was to be leader of the tribe, but her younger sister, Darya, usurped the throne and sent your mother into a fifty year exile. I understand perfectly. I do have a question about the throne being hereditary. Was the previous leader your grandmother?"
"Actually, no. The leader before Darya was a powerful siren named Leao and before her was my grandmother, Jun.So... two amwi's before Darya was my grandmother. Leao killed my grandmother to get the throne. Anybody could take the throne; they just have to be powerful. It just so happens that my family has powerful blood, but the throne's not hereditary. There are special ways to get the throne. Anybody who wants the throne has to ask for an official duel and kill for it… well, kill among other things."
"What other things?"
"Ask me later, Tom. I'm digressing from the story!"
Tom huffed and rolled his eyes, but said nothing further.
"So, Darya, my mami's sister who was the amwi at the time, jokingly said that the final showdown wouldn't happen if anybody could convince the kiios not to attack. Darya's court laughed at the preposterous quest because both sides were very spiteful and the kiios never forgave the leiwiin for the serpent and the poison all those decades ago.
"My mami, being my mami, said that she would go to the kiios as diplomat and tell them how this war would not benefit either sides, no matter the hate. The war would almost extinguish both tribes, and no amount of vengeance was worth two entire species of sirens. The court stopped laughing then when they realized my mami was serious. They told her it was suicide, but my mami told them it was necessary and stalked off to get supplies to leave.
"My mami's brother, Kiene, begged my mami to stay. My Uncle Kiene really loved my mami because he would rather have my mother stay and sacrifice any chance for peace than have the chance of getting her killed. I like my Uncle Kiene a lot," Harry smiled warmly as he watched the leaves flit across the night floor. Tom looked a little confused at the mention of love.
"But my mami said no to him and then told my mamá to stay put on the island. My mamá who didn't understand the siren language hadn't really known what was going on even though she was with my mami the whole time. When mami explained that she was going to the kiios to try to talk to them, my mamá told her that was suicide and then immediately told mami that she was going as well. Now, mami got all hypocritical and started saying 'No, you can't go because it's dangerous' and blah, blah, blah. It was dangerous, but no way was my mamá letting mami go alone. My mamá said that if my mami was willing to risk her life, she was too. They had a little fight, but eventually mamá came out winner as she always does. Mamá can argue like it's nobody's business.
"I think mamá won the fight saying that she loved mami and she would sooner die than to be left helpless while mami goes off to die alone. And that mami would need any help she could get. Mami finally agreed to taking her. Also, I think my mamá threatened mami with saying she would go anyways and mami was to decide to take her or let my mamá sail in the seas alone. See, I told you my mamá is a wonderful argue-er.
"They left within a few hours. My mami was basically flying them both there while mamá held onto her back. Unlike me, who is a half, my mami can transform into a larger version of herself with longer wings and grow scale-feathers all over. In my opinion, it just looks like a larger, more scaly version of my usual mami. While I can't get larger, I can grow my arms into small wings and feet into talons and get little tufts of blue feather-scales in some places, as you've seen. So my mami flew for about a day before they got tired and landed on an island half way between the kiios land and the leiwiin land.
"There, they rested and made a fire when the sun went down. Other people were on the island and my parents didn't know at the time, but they were attracting some kiios scouts to their camp. Mami heard noises and immediately put out the fire and then my parents started running from the camp when they heard kiios war cries. Then, they bumped into somebody. They were ready, mami's claws and mamá's wand at hand, but they didn't expect to find a man, a seemingly human man dressed in kiios attire.
"He said, 'Oh, hello there! You must be from the leiwiin that I heard so much about. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to lower your weapons so I can call my friends and capture you.'
"My mamá laughed and magically bound him, saying 'You know what. I think we'll take you as a hostage!' Then my parents, now with a hostage, ran towards a mountain and found a cave to hide in for the night. My mami was still tired so they either had to wait for the other kiios soldiers to leave or start flying in a few hours before the sun rose again.
"My mamá put silencing spells around the cave and let the man speak. 'They were right. You bunch are a savage bunch,' the man said. He looked odd in his loincloth and red war paint all over his body. 'Oh shut up, you. We're trying to help, you know. Well, Llange here is anyways. She's trying to go to the kiios and tell them the war is pointless. The casualties will be too high,' my mamá told him back.
"'Stop lying to me! I know about you and about how you guys poisoned their water with the giant serpent and cut down their sacred trees!' he yelled. Both my mami and mamá were confused because they never heard of the sacred trees before.
"'Sacred trees?' my mami asked. The man nodded and said, 'Yes. That forest that you cut down over seventy years ago was supposed to contain the souls of the kiios ancestors. As if you didn't know that.'
"'We didn't! The kiios were the ones who accused us of the giant serpent even though we never saw any! The trees were the ones that were poisoned. They had a disease that spread poison to the water! The leiwiin only cut them down to protect the kiios! Merlin, we were doing you a favor!' mamá shouted back and mami held her arms before she could clobber the man. The man was quiet for a second. 'It's hard to believe you, you know, even if your story was true.'
"'I apologize and understand,' mami said, 'It is hard for me as well to hear this new development. We had no idea we attacked ancestral trees and had we known, we would have told the kiios first. We acted rashly, thinking that the kiios would be happy. But we know nothing about the giant serpent and we have never seen a serpent larger than the long, skinny sea snakes we have as pets. I'm not sure what happened but the more I think about it, the more I suspect foul play.'
"'That's so true!' mamá said, 'A third party who would benefit from this war. Who would benefit from this war?'
"'Anybody could. Traders would not benefit, but other humans who wish to expand their marine business might. Other siren tribes might as well. They could capitalize on our territory although it would take a lot of effort to start a war for land,' mami said.
"They discussed for a while, but all the participants knew they didn't know enough information to come to any conclusions. Plus, it was very hard for especially my mami to come into terms that somebody else manipulated the leiwiin and kiios into war. It wasn't as hard for my mamá and the man because they were outsiders who were only recently introduced to the war. Some time later, after some pensive thinking and some staring at the fire they'd made in the cave, they'd all realized that they never introduced themselves. My parents introduced themselves and the man did the same. He said, 'Hello, I am–"
"He is Uncle David," Tom nodded. Harry sighed deeply as if this happened all the time, which it did, and said in an overly slow, overly exasperated tone, "Tom, must you ruin all the fun for me?" at which Tom scoffed and replied, "Yes, if I don't, you'd digress and go into dramatics. You could have told from the beginning that the man was your uncle, but you chose to build up to the climax."
"And you chose to let it happen until you ruined the moment at the climax. If I didn't know better, I'd have though you liked dramatics and bursting my bubble. But I do know you better, and you do like doing that." Pouting, Harry, on the inside, knew that both of them liked bantering like this.
"Continue your story, Harry, or else I'm afraid you'll be ranting until dawn."
"As you wish, milord." Harry made a grand sweeping gesture of mock-servitude and extravagance. Often, Harry joked how much of a snotty lord Tom acted, but he had no doubt Tom would become something powerful later (perhaps he would become a lord later). Harry was a siren –he could tell on these types of things.
"The man introduced himself as Uncle David–"
"You mean he introduced himself as David something or another," Tom corrected.
"No. He literally said, 'Hello, I am Uncle David, a traveling time lord, currently working under the kiios tribe as scout.' Yes, he said time lord. Neither of my parents had ever heard of a time lord before so he explained it to them. Basically he was just a traveler who could move through time and space in his spaceship which he calls Elizabeth. I've told you about Elizabeth before. She's wonderful. Anyways, both my parents felt skeptical. Sure, one of them was a witch and the other, a siren, but a time lord, traveling any time any where? Merlin knows that sounded impossible, but they had to either take his word for it or have no other idea who he was. Better a lie than nothing at all, my mamá says, at least the quality of the lie can tell you more about the person. Besides, the lie was so wonky that it had to be real.
"So my parents decided to trust Uncle David, and all three decided to take the new information to the kiios amwi before it was too late. Uncle David informed us that the kiios would start to move within the next day. My mami wasn't sure that they would make it on time flying especially now with three people all together. Luckily, Uncle David said he had a boat and they left immediately. It was like four in the morning so nobody saw them leave.
"Because the winds were going against the boat, turning the sea too much to go fast, they arrived by the evening the next day; however, when they arrived they found that the kiios amwi whose name is Kawthar and the kiios army already departed for battle. They were very, very disappointed and mad that they had missed the army by something like an hour and were about to leave when my mami saw some alliv councilmen in camp while they were sneaking around. They had to sneak around since if my mami was caught before she met the Kawthar, the kiios amwi, it would not end well and probably wouldn't even let mami close to Kawthar. They almost got caught by a guard, but they tied the guard up and brought her along with them in case they needed more information on the kiios later on. Like where they went, how many soldiers there are, and other stuff.
"Okay, remember I said when I was telling you the story of the original reason the war started? Well, remember when the alliv said that they were no longer to be friends with the kiios. Well, that's what got my mami very confused because here were some very important alliv council people who were being treated like guests. So mamá put a listening spell (and recording spell just in case) on the alliv and Uncle David used his time lord magic to translate the words for all of them,and they heard some very frightening things.
"The alliv said that their plans were coming together perfectly, but were 'regretful' that the war took this long to come to a finish. They said it as if it was troublesome for them to have waited so long for the destruction of entire species. My mamá immediately wanted to curse them with nasty bone melting curses but mami held her back since it would lead to nothing. Even if they got revenge on them, the war would continue.
"The alliv spoke about how years ago they made the illusion of a giant snake in the sea since they're so good with illusion and mist magic and how the spread the poison into the roots of the trees, knowing they were the kiios ancestor trees and in fact were so happy that the leiwiin actually cut them down. Their original plan was to say that the leiwiin put the poison there but they knew that was going to be hard to stick because the kiios and the leiwiin were on such good terms. It was a godsend that the leiwiin cut down the trees and the kiios took it as an act of agression.
"I'm not sure why they started saying stuff from the beginning but Uncle David says that people, at the end, like to think of the beginning. I don't really understand because if it were me – well firstly, I wouldn't have done all those evil things but if I did for some reason – I wouldn't talk about it in public where other people can hear me. Plus, they still had that kiios guard who also heard everything. That guard couldn't believe her ears. She was one of the younger guards so she didn't get to go with the soldiers even though she did say that she really, really hated the leiwiin even though she never met one before in her life. She was born after the war started. Oh, her name's Masika. Masika helps out a lot later on, but I'll get to that.
"Now, there were the four of them with all this information about what happened and they had to get it to both the amwi's, Kawthar and Darya, to tell them what actually happened. Some person came into the tent of the alliv before they could ever hear why they planned all this.
"Masika told them she had a ship, faster than Uncle David's, so they went on that one instead, in hopes of catching the kiios armada. A while later, the alliv found out that they had listeners in on their conversation and set a boat after Masika's to stop them. It was basically a race to the amwi, not that my mami's group knew it. The alliv finally did catch up to my parents and stopped them even though they were a few miles away from the kiios amwi. Then they devised a really evil plan. Since my mami was a leiwiin, they decided to conjure up the illusion of that giant serpent again and tie my mami to the serpent so that the kiios would have no choice but to think that the serpent was the property of the leiwiin.
"The giant serpent, wasn't of course, going to go in the battle because it was just an illusion, but would just pass by close enough to ensure that the kiios could see it. Then, there would be no doubt in the kiios' mind that the war was the leiwiin's fault. They magically fixed my mami to stand on top of the illusion and make her ride the giant serpent. They never made a illusion of an actual leiwiin before because while the kiios could not magically sense whether an animal was real or not, they did have this instinct to sense other sirens and they could tell basically what tribe the siren was from. That was all. Like I said, the kiios are the warriors and not the magicians. If it was the leiwiin, we would have been able to tell that the serpent was not real and that there was magic holding the siren in place. It's complicated but basically once the kiios saw mami on the serpent, it'd stoke the old fires and war would be impossible to stop then, no matter what even Masika says. Even though she, herself, was a kiios. The rest of them would be too busy thinking of revenge to care about the truth.
"For Masika, Uncle David, and my mamá, the alliv ordered execution, but they were stupid because they thought that Uncle David and mamá were just ordinary humans, wrong place, wrong time. Little did they know, they were facing a Slytherin witch and a time lord. When the alliv turned their backs on them, mamá unbound the ropes and they made an escape to try to save mami. Unfortunately, the giant, fake snake had already made it to the front lines of the kiios.
"At the front line, there was a large strip of sea between the kiios and leiwiin armadas. The kiios boats looked larger and more menacing and more in number. They had red war paint splashed on the sides like blood, and their sails were black and large like their eyes. The kiios,themselves, looked no less menacing: they had their bird body with long tawny beaks that were pointed like harpoons, hooked talons, blue-black feathers, and long wiry silver hair like old corpses. In general, they looked deadly and scary.
"The leiwiin didn't nearly look as fierce with their lithe blue bodies and smaller, swifter boats. They could also transform bigger but they weren't nearly as horrific or as large as the kiios. They looked like large cobalt versions of themselves with soft scale-feathers– not really feathers but not really scales. Their hair was soft, wavy and gentle green or purple hair and they had no elongated beaks. They looked humanoid, mostly, except for the wings, the scale-feathers, and how much taller they were. In comparison, the leiwiin looked like a dream which was why a lot of enemies underestimate them. Leiwiin are strong, but they never had a war before so they didn't really know what they were doing and the kiios took this to advantage.
"So, it was a standoff between magic and muscle, speed and brute force, and creativity and experience. The two sides stood still as if waiting for the other side to make the first move. Neither wanted to. And then everybody saw the giant serpent and started freaking out. The kiios started getting angry and it looked like they were getting ready to make the first strike. The leiwiin were just confused and some were starting to think that this was a set up, that the serpent belonged to the kiios and the kiios just used the giant serpentas an excuse for war.
"My mamá quickly went to where mami was and started breaking the spells around her. It was hard as it was completely new magic to mamá but mamá had taken Ancient Runes and Arithmancy and understood basically how to dismantle it. Once free, mami asked mamá to cast sonorus amplify her voice to get both sides to shut up. It worked appropriately. Because everybody had seen the giant serpent disappear into mist, they were beginning to realize there was never such a thing as the giant serpent. Then mami started explaining the alliv plan and how this whole war was started by them. Both sides were really skeptical and I think it was because they didn't really want to end the war. They said they did but seventy years is hard to just sweep under the rug and forgive.
"Then Masika came and said the same thing. When she did that, the kiios started whispering because Masika was well trusted in their community and known to be honest. Then, Uncle David told mamá to show everybody the recording and hope that that would solidify what they just said. Mamá wondered if the recording would help because anybody knew that anybody could make or edit a magical recording, but she played it anyways. Afterwards, the two sides broke into silence and then loudness until both amwis came flying to the center of the battlefield towards my parents' group.
"Darya knew that mami would not lie because she was her sister. Kawthar knew Masika would not lie because Masika was her favorite young siren. It seemed like maybe the war would be able to end. Probably if it did end that way, it would have been too easy.
"It didn't end that way because out of nowhere two arrows shot into the center and struck Darya and Kawthar in their hearts. The hearts of sirens are the only way to ensure that they die. I'm only telling you this because I trust you, Tom. I'm a half-siren so I can get killed a lot of other ways too, but people like my mami can only die if you stab them in the heart or take their heart from their bodies. There's a myth that if you eat a siren's heart, you'll gain siren powers. That, of course, is stupid, but some collectors like to collect siren hearts because they are supposed to be the source of the siren power and also are really pretty.
"Both the amwi's died instantly. If an amwi dies without another siren killing them and inheriting their throne, the temporary amwi would be the second most powerful siren. Usually, they could give tournaments for that sort of thing, but under the pressure of war at the time, it was just chaos. Before anybody knew it, leiwiin was fighting leiwiin, kiios fighting kiios, and leiwiin fighting kiios. Nobody knew what was going on or what to do and everybody was killing each other, which was exactly what the alliv wanted to happen. My parents and their group did the best they could to stun as many sirens as they could and gain control but it was massacre in the skies. Sirens of the same tribes vied for power and killed sirens of different tribes because of seventy years of hatred.
"My mamá didn't know what to do. Mami didn't know how to stop the war either. They looked to Uncle David because he was a time lord, but he just shook his head. He was a time traveler, not a god.
"A lot of sirens were dying or dead after barely ten minutes of fighting and stray curses and arrows. Bodies were falling into and floating on the waves. And nobody knew what to do. Everywhere was a shamble of anarchy. It was..."
Harry hadn't noticed he was shaking until Tom pulled him closer like Harry often did when Tom felt horrible (although Tom did it more awkwardly than Harry would have). Closing his eyes and sighing deeply, Harry set his head on Tom's shoulder. Bony or not, Harry still enjoyed being close to Tom.
"It was bad, Tom, just plain bad," Harry finished.
"How'd the war end? Your parents are obviously okay," Tom noted and inwardly wondered if he had sounded too clinical.
"Yes, thank Merlin for that. It was actually Masika who saved the whole war. Weird, huh? She was the one that the kiios left behind because she was too young. Perhaps it was also because she was very, very powerful in magic – especially for a kiios, but just didn't know how to harness her powers. For all this time, she'd been trying to scream at everybody to stop fighting. Finally, I think her magic built up and exploded. She let out this large magical shockwave that stopped everyone in their places. Immediately, she fell unconscious and if mami hadn't done anything right away, the war would have resumed.
"Swooping down to grab Masika, mami started yelling 'Stop! Sisters, brothers, cousins. We are all sirens and we have all been wronged today. We have been given reason to resolve our hatred of seventy years. So why do we continue fighting? The real enemy. The real enemy is not on this battlefield, but puppeteering from above, waiting, plotting for all of us to kill each other. Both of our amwi's have been killed so why are we not trying to find the killers? Instead we see killers in our friends' eyes. I beg everybody to stop. Please, stop this! Just think. Use this moment of stillness to think about what just occurred. Two arrows hit both our amwis. Neither arrow came from the leiwiin nor the kiios. So, why are we fighting each other? Please, I beg everyone to use their minds before vengeance and confusion. Seventy years this war was fought over nothing. The leiwiin never knew the giant serpent and we did not poison your ancient forest. We did not know we had cut down your sacred forest. We only knew we had gotten rid of the poison. The kiios believed what the alliv wanted them to. Have you never thought why the alliv were constantly in your territory as Masika told me? Weren't they the ones that told you how horrible we were? Please no more fighting. I beg you. We are all cousins, so why are we fighting?'
"There was silence and mamá hoped the speech got to everybody's hearts as it got to hers, but it didn't. Surprisingly, the leiwiin broke out in yelling first and made way towards the kiios with bloodlust.
"'No! I believe my sister and anybody who wants to kill her goes through me," Uncle Kiene shouted, arms spread, acting as a wall between the leiwiin and the kiios. Many leiwiin doubted Kiene's abilities because he was a male, but after a group of leiwiin were stopped by mamá's and Kiene's barriers, some of the ones on mami's side came and faced the rest of the leiwiin. A lot of leiwiin did not want to fight any more and a lot of leiwiin respected my mami and the new revelation she had brought to them. But many more were just confused and couldn't move.
"My mamá and Uncle David blocked the kiios side, and more and more of them relaxed. The kiios had no chance standing mamá's barrier anyways. Some were still aggravated, but Masika woke up and more or less learned of the situation. She stood up against the kiios as well. Somehow or another, the war deflated and everything was mostly okay. It ended that day.
"Afterwards, the leiwiin asked my mami to be amwi, but my mami never intended to be amwi. She had declined ninety years ago to succeed my grandmother, Jun, and she would decline once more. I don't think any other person ever declined the position once let alone twice other than a siren centuries ago. She volunteered Kiene to be amwi and a lot of people made fun of him for trying, but he proved his power. I'm not sure why he never showed it before. I think before, he was really scared of everyone and how they treated him so badly, but then finally realized something worth fighting for. He loved the tribe and I think after the war, he knew that he might be the only one who could lead it properly and without hate for the kiios.
"Also, Masika got position of amwi for the kiios. It seemed like a stroke of luck, but I think a lot of the kiios wanted a magically powerful amwi to be able to communicate with us. Also, she was one of the original people who heard the alliv plan.
"Uncle David went back to the leiwiin tribe with my parents. School started in a week for my mamá. Mami had to go out and find the alliv to explain their purpose of the war and try to come into agreement with all the other tribes in the world what to do to the alliv. That included traveling the world and finding the other tribes to tell them what had happened as well as going to North America and dealing with the alliv who were probably scrambling around now that their plan was uncovered and foiled. Uncle David asked to go with mami, but my mamá couldn't go without missing school and the journey would take more than a few months.
"My mamá really wanted to go and she was ready to skip school to go too. Mami didn't like that idea at all. Even though she loved mamá and would do anything to keep her near, mami also knew she couldn't keep mamá with her selfishly. She knew mamá had to go back to her own world. Mamá had people at home who didn't even know she was alive or where she was. They had agreed to being together after mamá graduated from Hogwarts, but the stakes had changed and mamá would throw all that out the window for mami and to get justice for the lewiin and kiios.
"It was after much angst and despair that Uncle David reminded both of them that he had Elizabeth and could travel in time, meaning that even if their journey took fifty years, he could always bring mamá back to her seventh year of Hogwarts. Mamá commented how nobody would recognize her if she returned to her seventh year as a sixty-seven year old. Mami had a solution for that, but didn't really like it. Mamá asked her for the solution for many days, but during those days, mami just said that everything would be better if she just went home. Mamá countered that mami's journey was also her journey and after all her troubles, she couldn't just run back to England. Finally, mamá won and mami told her that she could stay young indefinitely if she were to bond with mami as a spouse.
"Okay, here's how the siren body works: Sirens reach inheritance at age of eleven. Early, yes, but sirens mature very fast. Sirens hit a kind of magical puberty around eight. They mature so quickly because they have to to survive in harsh conditions and the like. If a siren has no spouse, their physical body remains the age of seventeen. With a spouse but no child, the physical body can grow up to twenty-five years old but afterwards stays as a twenty-five year old. The minute the child is born, they can age. This biological clock is more to make sure that the sirens don't die of old age before reproducing. It was more necessary in the olden times when finding a spouse was hard or in times of war when it wasn't safe to have a child for years. It ensures that a siren will stay in his or her prime years to gain a spouse and subsequently have a child.
"Also, if the spouse of a siren is not also a siren, the biological clock gets transferred to the spouse (though if you're like fifty it won't turn you seventeen but will ensure you don't age from fifty). So, if they were to go on a ten year journey, my mamá would technically be twenty-seven but wouldn't look a day over twenty five. Same if it was a fifty year journey. My mamá would be sixty-seven but would look twenty five. And she would only have to use minor glamours to make herself look seventeen again. From sixty-seven to seventeen, that would take way, way more magic. Not that anybody expected the journey to take that long, but who knows, right? Plus, being a spouse gave mamá additional siren powers and a link with mami that would help her keep mamá safe if they were going on the journey. The pros outweighed the cons by a large margin.
"Of course, my mamá said yes because she wanted to be mami's spouse. She wanted to finish this whole war business, too. Now that she knew that the alliv were responsible, she couldn't just let them off the hook while she learned how to transfigure chairs into elephants in Hogwarts. And she had decided on being mami's spouse a while back ever since she learned that was an option; this just pushed her plans up a little. She loved mami and a year in Hogwarts wouldn't change that. You see, another reason why mami wanted mamá to go back to school was to think about the relationship with her. Mami underestimated mamá's feelings and thought a little time away would open mamá's eyes. Of course not! Mamá loves mami so much. Mami is too dense sometimes...
"In a few days, they got married on the colony's island and bonded. In the next few days, the newly wedded and Uncle David travelled out to find the other tribes and the alliv. It took them about a year to track down the other tribes minus the alliv, Ylia, and Zlia. It took another year to track the alliv amwi and the council members and bring them back to justice. At the annual siren meetings, they decided what to do with the alliv responsible.
"The alliv members in charge of creating the war wanted the war mostly for territory and also they wanted to gain control of Middle Eastern oil. You see, there was a prophecy saying how their entire tribe's power would change if they tried to bring war between the leiwiin and kiios for the oil in the Middle East. I don't think they realized that that change could have been bad. I think as the years went on, they deluded themselves into thinking that the oil was connected to the boom of the automobile industry and that war would bring them more power with the US government. Well, the prophecy worked alright. Their power did change. It went downhill. See? That's the problem with prophecies. You read them and misinterpret them and do exactly what they want you to. If you don't bother with them in the first place, they wouldn't have come true.
"Anyways, they stripped the alliv amwi and the councilmembers of their siren powers, which as you imagine, is the worst punishment for a siren, and appointed a trusted amwi to the alliv. The alliv were closely watched as were their trade. In fact, I believe the annual meeting decided to demand for reparations for the leiwiin and kiios tribe, reparations that would take decades to pay off. I feel bad for the alliv tribe because all of them suffered from a few peoples' doing, but what can you do about it? You got to give them punishment or else some idiot might want to do it again. And you can't go too harsh or else they'll start a rebellion. Or if you do go too harsh, you have to have good military support if they do start to rebel. But that's not acting very nice to them. It's complicated, I think.
"Anyhow, my parents and Uncle David decided to leave that to Kiene and Masika to help make sure the alliv tribe's punishment was fair, not lax and not too cruel. So after two years, my mamá could return to Hogwarts. And she would have if it weren't for Uncle David and his celebratory gift for finishing the journey. He proposed for them to go see some moon on some planet that was made entirely of silver as a good-bye present to my parents. Unfortunately, after that moon, they went to go visit some constellations and then they went to go eat some sort of rare delicacy made of Ulfbasten's tongue and then they went to go see the sheep on some sheep planet. You get it. They kept on traveling, saying that mamá could come back to the right time period (September 1st, 1972) any time. They traveled a while because mamá was twenty-five for quite a while. I think they traveled for ten/fifteen years. Nobody can be too sure since nobody was aging.
"Uncle David never aged. He stayed his thirty-something self with dark hair and bright eyes. He's Uncle David. If something happens to him, he just goes into this chamber of his and he comes out all better as if nothing ever happened to him. I think the only problem is that he can only use to chamber to save his life so many times, but he doesn't die too often so it's okay. And my parents didn't age from twenty-five – though neither really changed. My mamá felt pretty confident that she could go back to school without any glamours. Maybe it was her ego. Who knows.
"So everybody finally sends my mamá back to school and they promise not to go on adventures without her until the end of her school year. One tiny problem. When they went back to 1972, they were off by a few months... and by a few months I mean that mamá came back to school somewhere in April of 1973. You should have seen the looks on their faces. Maybe one day you will. I'll sneak you into my mamá's penseive someday because I can tell a story really well but it's not the same if you don't see it."
"You mean, sneak into it like you do all the time despite your mothers' warnings?" asked Tom with a taunting eyebrow.
"Yes. Exactly, Tom, exactly," Harry smiled resolutely, "How else do I know what happens? It's better than 3D movies or those live-in movies where your brain is plugged into the movie so you experience everything and–"
"What?"
"Nevermind. Sorry, Tom: Spoilers," Harry's smile now broadened into what Tom believed to be an insufferable grin. Scowling up a storm, Tom folded his arms together. His most hated word in all history: Spoilers.
"You're making an unhappy face again. You'll get wrinkles you know," Harry joked, sticking his right index finger right in the middle of the furrowed brows. Snappishly, Tom swatted his hand away, not one bit lessening the smile on Harry's face.
"What happened after your mother went back to Hogwarts, half a year late?" Tom asked, feeling the need to distract himself from Harry's annoying and all-knowing smile.
"Maybe another time, mi belleza. I'm sleepy," Harry pouted, making a point to yawn.
"Ugh. Insufferable. That's what you are. One moment, you're bouncing to tell me a story. Another, you're too tired," Tom grumbled.
"Ah, but I'm cute so I'm forgiven."
"Wishful thinking, Harry."
"Don't lie, Tom. You love me and hate yourself because you do," Harry grinned, eyes closed, head on Tom's shoulder, and hand holding Tom's closely. The night was cold but Harry couldn't care less cuddled up into his best friend, Tom, under a warm blanket and the protective stars.
"Hmmm," Tom made a noncommittal grunt, "Fine. We'll sleep tonight, but tomorrow you'll be back to tell the story."
Even though Tom hadn't asked it as a question, Harry knew one when he heard one. Tom was like that a lot: Harry had to read between the lines since Tom never said anything important out loud. Lifting his head from Tom's shoulder and looking into Tom's eyes with sleepy determination, Harry nodded.
"I'll come back, Tom. Every night. Always," Harry smiled sleepily and went back to snuggling closer to Tom. Months ago, Tom had insisted on personal space, but Harry ignored him every time. Now, Tom liked Harry invading his space but would never admit it.
"Always, Harry?"
"As long as I am able," Harry clucked his tongue and grinned. Tom frowned. Usually, Harry would say "Always!" in a bright and unmistakably Harry voice.
"What?" Harry asked, "Not right? Then always. Always."
Smirking, Tom nudged Harry slightly, drawling "That's what I want to hear."
Harry scowled in imitation of Tom. Tom laughed. Harry squeezed Tom's hand and gave him a double goodnight kiss on the cheek as his both his mothers would. He figured he'd have to since nobody else would for Tom. He figured he'd be Tom's mothers, brothers, best friends and everything else as long as he could. And he wasn't sure how long it would last...
In the morning, Tom woke up, feeling slightly cold. Dawn peeked out over the trees with bright pink and yellow streaks. For once, Tom would have liked to wake up and Harry be there. Somewhat sadly, Tom stood up and stalked off to Wool's orphanage, leaving behind a cold tree trunk and a scatter of leaves where Harry had once been.
AN: I have turned into a hypocrite but before that:
Hadrian, you're completely right. David is a reference to David Tennant (10th doctor). The tenth was always my favorite, and I was flabbergasted when you guessed it right the first time. Go you!Obviously, there are some differences between Uncle David and the Doctor so it's not got anything to do with the Doctor Who series, but it's still a reference!
Right, Hypocrite: I normally don't like stories that have this long prologue type of deal. I want to get to the story, to Harry/Tom, dammit! And here I am writing this background. Haha. The irony. Also, I don't get why there are HP/TMR and HP/LV stories. They are the same person. Just b/c LV is older and snake-like does not somehow magically change his birth. (Or so I think) Shouldn't it be HP / LV/TMR?
Sorry for the time it took to update. I write in constant fear of never fulfilling my own expectations, so it always takes longer than it should. =]
My thinking music here is Jascha Heifetz/Itzhak Perlman. Methinks: Heifetz's conservativeness and ingenuity and aristocratic sexiness fully conceptualizes Tom. Heifetz's stony face seemed to show no emotion, but the passion, intensity, and dedication are in the music and in his eyes (this is more for young Tom).
Harry sounds like a younger (much younger, less experienced) Itzhak Perlman. More emotion. The pulling of his bow is more like the pulling of your heartstrings.
Perlman and Heifetz are both violinists; Heifetz (1901–1987), Perlman (1945–). If you'd like, check out Zigeunerweisen by both of these fantabulous violinists. Youtube is your friend =]
Til next time, mis bellezas.
Chapter 3: When Tom and Harry first meet.