I have nothing to say except that I'm sorry for not updating sooner; this chapter has been finished for forever.
And I don't own Twilight. *sad face*
Did anyone guess how old Rain is? No? I'll give you another hint: Snow was born when Edward was 12. She is 149 years old and looks 9, almost 10. Rain looks 18 years old.
The next day was cloudy and wet. As such, I went to school. Emmett was there, sitting at our table in 1st hour.
"Good morning," I said.
"Good morning," he answered. "I'm Emmett Cullen."
"I am called Raven Valeneski," I replied, shaking his offered hand.
"Where did you live before you moved here?"
"I lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan," I replied. "There are miles and miles of wilderness up there. There are not many neighbors, though. It was just my family and some friends." The bell rang. Emmett passes me a note.
Are you a mermaid?
No. What brought that on?
Well, you live by the water.
You saw Sara and me playing with breezes. Are we mermaids? Mr. Eagle started talking.
I guess not.
Mr. Eagle started walking towards us.
"May I see your notes, Mr. Cullen?" he asked. Emmett passed Mr. Eagle his notebook, containing every thing that Mr. Eagle put on the board. My notebook was the same. "I am impressed, Mr. Cullen. These are some of the best notes I've seen in a while." He handed Emmett back the notebook and left. Emmett took the note and wrote on it.
What are you, then?
I am not allowed to tell you. Only if you guess right can I tell you.
Oh.
"Miss Valeneski, do you mind doing the next problem on the board?" Mr. Eagle asked me.
"Of course not," I replied, getting up to do the problem. I had to be careful to think and write at human speeds.
"Thank you, Raven. You may sit down." I walked back to my desk. The class was soon over.
"So what myths are real?" Emmett asked. I answered quietly.
"There are werewolves, vampires, fairies, dryads, and my kind, among others. We rarely speak to the other immortals, however. The only immortals that live freely among humans are shape shifters, fairies, and dryads. They blend easily. The rest of us do not blend easily. The children of my kind act the least like humans. Werewolves are uncontrollable on the full moon. Most vampires drink human blood."
"You said 'among others.' Does that mean there are many that you didn't name?"
"No, I just named the prominent ones, the ones you are likely to meet."
"How did you know to differentiate between the shape shifters and the werewolves?" I was at my next class.
"I will see you later, Emmett," I said and entered my next class. We wouldn't see each other again until lunch.
At lunch, I sat with Ann and her friends again. Joe had light brown hair and was dating Ann. Leslie looked like a human Barbie and was dating Fred. Beth had brown hair and was currently single.
"Raven, Emmett Cullen is looking at you," Beth said. I looked up from the kiwi I was eating with a spoon. He looked down. He was just trying to figure out what I am. No matter how much I wanted to, the elf laws prevented me from telling him.
"Why does he find you so interesting?" Leslie asked. "You two were passing notes like crazy in Calc."
"I do have a right to choose my own friends," I replied, not really answering Leslie's question.
"Stick with normal people, Raven," Fred said. "The Cullen's and Hale's are strange." I almost laughed. I'm not normal myself. However, the humans can't know that.
"I can take care of myself. But I thank you for caring." The rest of the day was boring, so I won't write it here. The rest of the school day was boring, that is. Emmett invited me to meet his family after school, to which I agreed. I sent a breeze to tell my family where I was.
"Are you sure you can come?" Emmett asked.
"I have been an adult for over a hundred years," I replied. "Mother knows I'll be alright."
"If you're sure." We walked to the Cullen's, Emmett's siblings having taken the cars, including mine. They lived in (almost) the middle of nowhere. Their house was tastefully large. I can't describe it now, but I liked it on sight.
"I will warn you, Jacob Black is visiting."
"A shape shifter is visiting a family of vampires?"
"He Imprinted on Edward and Bella's daughter."
"Okay, then. That is about as strange as my grandparents falling in love." And if I were to fall in love with Emmett.
"Emmett! And you must be Raven." A blond vampire came out of the house to greet us. He had an English accent. "I'm Carlisle Cullen. But please, call me Carlisle."
"It's nice to meet you, Carlisle."
"Esme should be out soon. Edward said that you were here." I was probably annoying Edward because he couldn't read my mind. It was for my privacy and his sanity. The mind of an elf is basically another world. We can build our mind world however we like it. It is the first thing any youngling (our children) learns. The second thing we learn is to build doors to prevent entry. We highly value mental privacy.
"Will you come in?" a female vampire asked. "I'm Esme." She had beautiful caramel colored hair.
"I will." I followed Carlisle and Esme in to the house. Emmett followed me.
"Raven! Welcome. Emmett said you were coming," Edward greeted me.
"Hello."
"You didn't say you knew the Cullen's," Jacob Black said, looking up from where he was playing with a little girl.
"I did not know you were on speaking terms," I replied. "Shape shifters usually do not get along well with vampires."
"The Cullen's are the exceptions."
"Of course we are," Bella smiled.
"Who are you?" the little girl asked. I was reminded again how much she resembled Stratus.
"You may call me Raven," I answered.
"My name is Renesmee, but everyone calls me Nessie." She was so cute, so innocent, and still young.
"If I may ask, why does looking at Nessie make you sad?" Jasper asked.
"I don't mind your question. It's just that she looks a lot like my baby sister. My baby sister just recently died." Oh Stratus, I miss you so much. "Starla was my favorite sister, not to mention the youngest, the baby." She would never get her swords. I would never get to teach her to fight. She would never be the Wind's Eye.
"I'm so sorry," Esme said. "I remember, dimly, how it feels to loose a baby. While I was still a human, I had a baby. But he died and well, I jumped off a cliff. Carlisle found me and changed me into a vampire."
"I'm sorry about your baby," I said. "But Starla wasn't really a baby. She was seven. I'm about eleven years older than she."
"And you aren't the oldest," Emmett said.
"No. I have one older sister. My family is abnormally large." A knock came at the door. Emmett opened the door.
"Is Raven here?" Mother asked. Emmett let her in.
"Mother! I can take care of myself," I said.
"It isn't that," she said. "We are working out the details of Sally's birthday."
"Oh. Well, then, I suppose I must go. Thank you for inviting me, even though I wasn't able to stay."
"Raven!" Mother called.
"I am not done, Mom. Emmett, the fairies always have a dance on the full moon. I was wondering if you would go with me. It isn't really that big of a deal."
"Yes, I will go with you. What should I wear?"
"Don't wear jeans. I'm wearing a gray skirt, if that helps."
"It helps slightly." I smiled.
"I'll come get you to take you to where the dance will be held. I'll see you when I see you tomorrow."
"Good bye," Emmett replied. I walked out the door with Mother.
"Shall we flash?" Mom asked. I suppose I should explain flashing. In the Common Tongue, the elves' and fairies' native language, it is called fuhloo'ahsoha. There is no equivalent to it in any of the human languages, so we took the beginning letters of each syllable, fuh, loo, ah, so, and ha. Flash. Flashing is the act of "jumping" long distances through your element in less than a second. Only elves can flash. It takes an immense amount of concentration and energy if you are young. The older you are, the easier it gets. Wind elves can flash to anywhere the wind blows. Water elves can flash anywhere the water touches, as long as their path always touches water. Tree elves can flash from tree to tree, as long as a part of each tree is touching another. Grass elves can flash as long as their path is covered with grass, flowers, or other small plants. Fire elves can flash through deserts and in between fires, though this form is harder.
"Yes, let's flash." We took a step and when the step landed, we were at my house. I no longer feel the drain of energy when I flash. But, then again, I have passed my 280th human year. Snow will reach her 150th human year soon, which is when she'll stop feeling the drain of flashing.
"Rain, there you are! Snow is out with Luke, doing something to keep her away," Grandma said.
"We're deciding on our gifts to her. The winds, represented by Father, are giving her swords. Uncle Luke is giving her new winds charms. Grandma and Grandfather are giving her a mirror, Aunt Hail is giving her a horse, and the rest of us have no clue," Cirrus said.
"I'll give her sword lessons," I said "just like I did with everyone younger than me. And Father is materializing? He rarely does that."
"He does it for your tenth birthdays," Mother said. "And I imagine he'll materialize for your coronation, Rain-Tharina."
She used my full title. Formally, I am the Wind Tharina, or the Wind Princess. Elfish politics are a little different than human politics. The Thar is the Queen of her Clan. Her main advisers are two of her sisters, the Clan Healer and the Clan Elemental Speaker. Under them is the Council of Thirteen, with one elf from each of the thirteen regions. No members of the Thar or Tharina's family are allowed on the Council. Healing is an ability given at birth by the element, as is the Elemental Speaker's power. The element chooses the Next Healer and the Next Elemental Speaker. The Thar chooses the Tharina from the sisters of the Next Healer and Next Elemental Speaker. When the Thar retires, the Tharina becomes the Thar and her sisters are no longer the Next anything. The old Thar's sisters drop their titles and have one of two choices: they can leave this dimension, or they can lose their abilities once a new Tharina has been chosen. Once an elf leaves this dimension, she can not come back. An elf that is killed can come back once, to visit, if she chooses to come back.
So I'm the Wind Tharina, Cirrus is the Next Wind Healer, and Stratus was the Next Wind's Eye. That is why it is such a big deal the Stratus was murdered. She was only a youngling, not old enough to protect herself, and now Wind Clan is a little vulnerable. If Butterfly-Thar dies or passes on (she isn't old enough to retire) soon, I will have only one adviser and no Wind's Eye. The Wind's Eye speaks with the Winds of Time, which can show her past, present, or future events. During a war, it is the Wind's Eye who tells us when the enemy will attack and with how many. Without Stratus, the Wind's Eye is the only one who can say that. Even at her age, Stratus still could have helped. But now, she will never be able to, because of Blaze.
There are six elves you can kill to start a Clan war. The first is the Thar, because she leads the Clan. She is also the hardest to kill. Second is the Healer, because she advises the Thar and helps heal elves who are hurt. Third is the Elemental Speaker, because she is the Thar's other adviser and can help immensely during war. Fourth is the Tharina, because she is the next Thar, but she's also usually very hard to kill. The last two are the Next Healer and the Next Elemental Speaker, because they are the future advisers of the future Thar, plus the reasons given for the Healer and the Elemental Speaker. The murder of one of those six is the only reason Wind Clan will go to war. We are usually the neutral Clan. But now, we will go to war because of Stratus's murder. I wonder which Clan will be neutral this time.
"We will think of the rest of Snow's presents later," Grandfather said. "Right now, Luke and Snow are coming back." Grandfather can sense people approaching, and if he knows them, he can tell who they are. It helped Grandfather survive when he lived in London during the time when humans believed in vampires. Grandfather doesn't talk much about that time, however.
"Rain!" Snow exclaimed, walking through the door. "Aunt Hail's coming, and she's bringing the herd! Mama, may I ride Sunny when she gets here?" Sunny is Mom's mare, who we all rode before we got our own horse. Well, Sunny is her nickname. A three year old is not going to call a mare Day's Last Sunshine. She will call her Sunny. Cirrus was the first to call her Sunny and the nickname stuck.
"We shall see," Mom replied. "I may want to ride Sunny myself." I smiled.
"I wish I had my own horse!" Snow exclaimed. Sun opened the door.
"Dave's coming!" she said, smiling. "He's about halfway here from Michigan.
"Will he be here in time for the Moonlight Dance tomorrow?" I asked. "I invited Emmett and he said he would come."
"At the speed Dave's running, I would say so. He's running quite quickly. Will Emmett be okay with Dave?"
"He should be," I replied. "The Alpha of one of the two packs here is really close to the Cullen's."
"Two packs?" Uncle Luke asked. "I wonder how the humans here are kept ignorant. Two packs of werewolves and a coven of vampires in a small space – with a relatively large group of humans nearby? How do the humans survive?"
"I imagine the Cullen's do not hunt around here," I said. "And they stay in touch with the humans. They do not make friends, but the Cullen 'children' go to school at the high school."
"Cullen…Cullen, where have I heard that last name before?" Grandfather muttered. "I will think of it at some random time."
"I do not think I have heard that name before," Grandma said "so you must have heard it before we met."
"Probably," Grandfather replied.
I think I almost gave away Rain's age in this chapter. If anyone wants to guess, please do.
And even if you don't, please review! I really, really like reviewers. Anyone who reviews gets virtual cookies!
~ukrainianelfhorse