22th of Mirtul:

I was at home helping my family prepare dinner when I heard the knock on the front door. I knew it had to be my friends. I heard Dad open the door and say, "Welcome to our home. I'm Newell. My wife, Lilla is in the kitchen. And that's our son, Envon, setting the table."

"Thank you for inviting us. I'm Elisha Stoner and behind me is my younger brother Israel Stoner," Elisha said with his easy smile.

I came out from the kitchen smiling and said, "Come in and have a seat. Dinner is almost ready."

Adrala came in next, smiling her big smile as usual, "Yes thank you. I'm Adrala Stormbrow, third generation guardsperson of Thornhold," she looked around and added, "You have a very lovely home."

I watched her take Israel's hand as he walked in the door, waved, and quietly said, "Israel." The pair went to the table and sat next to Elisha. I heard Envon chatting with them, but Swift's arrival captured my attention. When I saw him my face had one of those smiles that until now had only been for Envon. I gravitated to him unconsciously.

"Thank you for the gracious invitation. I am Valentiano Peacetalon, but most people prefer just Val. I'll answer to either. It's wonderful to meet you! Zira talks about all of you often," Swift smiled and held out his fur cover hand to my dad.

When Swift saw me he smiled, his body relaxed, and he said, "Zira." I linked arms with him while we walked to the table. When I sat down, I had Envon and Swift on either side of me.

"It's great to put faces to the people in Zira's stories," Envon said, "Thank you all for taking care of my sister."

"You're more than welcome, but we all take care of each other," Elisha replied, "You should have seen how she banished these shadows that were attacking us. In that moment, when we saw her channeling the power of Kelemvor, I knew that Israel and I were honor-bound to stay with Zira until her mission is complete."

While Elisha was talking, instead of shrinking, Israel sat up taller, similar to when he's wielding magic. And I felt honored they had so much faith in me and Kelemvor. But my family looked even more concerned about my safety than they were when I told them about Eldora.

But then Mom unexpectedly spoke up, "I've always known, even before you were born, that you had a greater purpose in life, Zira. While I was pregnant with you I had dreams of you as a baby with golden eyes and as a child playing with Envon. I could see the connection between you two. I also had nightmares of battles and fire both surrounding you. It wasn't until after the fire, that I realized I had already seen it happen in a dream…" Mom trailed off.

Dad and Envon stared at Mom like she had a dozen heads, "You never said anything about dreams Lilla."

"You would have thought me crazy. I half thought it myself. The dreams were terrifyingly real. And well carrying twins is stressful, so I thought the nightmares came from my fears of impending motherhood and the dreams of the twins together my hopes and dreams for them."

"Wait. Why did you never say anything to me? Even after I revealed Marat and my dreams," I demanded.

"I could tell how special Marat is to you, and that you had something all of your own. I didn't want to take that from you, besides after you were born the dreams just stopped. And my memory of them faded unless something triggered a memory. But then they would fade away again. I couldn't hold onto them, and then I didn't know I'd forgotten anything," Mom replied.

"It sounds like the dreams were coming from Zira. Or more like from Marat through Zira. That is very interesting," Israel said and pulled out a notebook, twirled his hand in the air creating a quill with magic, started writing, and continued, "And most likely you, Lilla, don't remember them because they weren't meant for you. This is very interesting. I'm curious about the Deva and Aasimar connection and how it works…" Israel trailed off while continuing to write in his notebook.

Adrala, Swift, and I just stared at Israel. We've never heard him talk this much in a group, much less with people he's just met.

Adrala spoke up while touching Israel's hand to get his attention, "As interesting as it may be, right now might not be the best time to work on it."

Israel looked up, saw all of us looking at him, quickly put the notebook and quill away, and mumbled, "Sorry." His face turned a dark pink.

"It's ok," I said, "And it's a pretty good theory."

Dad got up, walked over to Mom put his arms around her, and said, "I'm sorry you had to go through that on your own, my love."

Mom got up and next thing you know the two of them were standing there hugging and Dad's whispering in Mom's ear. Envon and I just looked at each other, his face pink. Finally, they stopped hugging and sat back down. Mom turned the conversation to lighter topics and asked my friends about where they grew up and their families.

Envon was suspiciously quiet throughout the rest of dinner. When everyone returned to the inn I stayed to talk with Envon. Mom and Dad must have known I wanted to be alone with Envon because they quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

I sat at the table across from my twin and said, "Envon what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"You know what I mean. You're never this quiet when company comes over. It's usually the other way around."

"Oh. That…" he paused a moment, "Zira there's something between you and Val. Something like our twin connection. You're drawn to him…" Envon shrugged and looked down at the table.

"I know," I replied slowly because I knew he was hurting, "But I can't control it. I didn't ask for this connection. Or this life, fighting all the time. I wanted to stay at the church for the rest of my life helping the community grieve the loss of their loved ones."

"I know," he mumbled.

I don't know what came over me, but something snapped. Why couldn't he be happy knowing Swift keeps me safe? So I said to him, "Why can't you be happy I have someone who's got my back and keeps me safe? That's what the connection is for, so he can find and protect me while I focus on the path Kelemvor has put me on." Adding a finishing touch to my outburst I stomped my foot.

Envon looked up at me and said, "I feel like you're leaving me behind. The two of you are just as close if not more, than you and me, Zira. And after mom talking about the dreams she had. What if we have this connection because you're just a part of me?" He looked back down at the table and started tracing a pattern on the tablecloth.

I looked at him like he had twelve heads, "What are you talking about Envon? Of course, I'm a part of you, and Mom, and Dad."

"I could feel him too, Zira. Like the way I feel where you are. But it was fainter. You're an aasimar, part celestial. Why do you think we look identical? You're human part had to come from somewhere." Envon looked me dead in the face as he spoke.

"Oh," was all I could manage. Looking at Envon was always like looking in a mirror before the fire. I had never thought about it like that. I took my brother's hands, "I love you Envon. You are my twin brother because mom gave birth to twins. I don't care about any of the rest of it. We're a family. I will never leave you behind. I came home, pausing my mission from Kelemvor, to be with you."

"I love you too Zira."

We practically knocked over our chairs when we raced around the table to hug each other. I'm glad I stayed and we talked.

Z