Friday, May 1, 2020

Chapter 5 - Unexpected Occurrences

The household had fallen quiet now, in the sixth month of Emilia's pregnancy. 

Both Rhea and Marcus had struggled to come to terms with the fact they would have a new sibling, but as they had just begun to accept things, something terrible had struck the Charm family. Their grandmother, the matriarch, the bane of Emilia's existence...

Had died. 

It had been very sudden. First, Minerva had claimed there was nothing wrong with her. Then, she had openly invited Emilia over to her house, and frankly told her that she knew that she wasn't long for this world. Her attitude had not changed; she expressed regret that she likely would not see the baby born, but she had instructed her to try and keep Rhea and Marcus on the right path. 

She had also entrusted a large bassinet to her, white and old fashioned. Darrel had been shocked to see it, but Minerva had waved a hand. 

"I'd have you move back in, but...there's simply no room. You'll have to make do with the house you've got. I'll leave this one to Gemma, but.." Her weak coughing had halted the conversation, but she'd managed to pull herself back up. "I am no longer the head of the family. As of now, you and Darrel must be the caretakers of our lineage."

Emilia had cried openly then, and Minerva had watched, somewhat coldly. It was her death making everyone so sad, but she didn't seem to care at all. It had been the middle of another thunderstorm when she had breathed her last. 


The bassinet sat like a grim reminder in the nursery. Emilia could barely look at it, never mind think of their baby sleeping in it. Darrel had been mostly silent since the funeral, which had been attended by many mages - all three Sages, their children, relatives, and a stone-faced Gemma. Emilia had caught Gemma's eye during the wake, only to find a cold fury that surpassed Minerva's. 

She couldn't blame her. Gemma had been left with a large, empty house, and yet it seemed as though the title of head of family had vanished like smoke. Minerva had left no word as to who might succeed her, and it seemed as though the only thing they could do was carry on with their lives. 

Rhea had fallen quiet. Out of all the children, she had perhaps been closest to her grandmother, but now, Minerva was gone. She continued to do well in school, but her teachers had been concerned by the change in behaviour. 


Marcus was equally quiet, upset by the passing of his grandmother and upset at his aunt's silence. Gemma no longer visited them, and his father had been deeply affected by that too. Chanel and he had talked about it at length, trying to make sense of it, but in the end, neither he or his best friend had been able to make sense of something so terrible. 



Chanel, at that moment, was with her sister in the garden of their house, listening to her talk. 


 "Yeah, Dad's pretty busy at the moment. All the work that Mistress Charm was doing is being delegated around while they try and find a suitable replacement - she was teaching quite a few students." 

"It's really sad that she passed away." Chanel looked down at her feet. "Marcus and Rhea are really upset by it..."

"I'm trying to tell you about the Realm!" Ciara tossed her hair. "I know people are upset, but don't you want to know?" 


"It's like you don't even care they lost their nanna!" Chanel said, angrily. "Marcus is really upset, and so's Rhea. Do you even care about that?" 

"Of course I..." Ciara looked away. "I care that they're upset, but I was trying to talk to you about stuff you don't get to do!"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. Because you think that's what matters right now." Chanel's eyes blazed. "Don't you care that Rhea's upset?"

"I care!" Ciara protested, but her sister seemed not to hear her. It started to spot with rain, and Chanel left her behind, heading indoors.



 It was alright for Chanel, Ciara thought angrily. The Charm twins treated her so nicely, just because she liked Voidcritters and because...because Chanel was nice, but...Ciara, no matter what she tried, couldn't seem to make proper friends with both twins. Rhea was kind enough to her, and they made friendship bracelets together, but despite the fact that they liked the same books, and even though she'd tried to check out the books he did instead of just buying them, Ciara still couldn't manage to make friends with Marcus. And yet Chanel, who wasn't a spellcaster, and who thought that Ciara didn't care, managed to somehow be Marcus' best friend.

It just wasn't fair.

The next morning, Ciara was still in a bad mood, and so was the weather. It was pelting it down outside, but still, she had dressed in her scouting uniform and was reading her manual downstairs, going over some of the rules she knew she forgot easily. 


Her aunt sat across from her, tucking into some noodles. Noodles for breakfast. Ew. Ciara flipped a page of the manual. 

"Cee, are you sure that it'll still be on today?"

"Dad said he'd take me," Ciara said, firmly. 

"It's a bit wet for a scout meeting," Yuki said, as gentle as Ciara had been firm. "You don't need to go if it's as wet as this." 

"A scout must be prepared for anything." She flipped another page, not even having finished reading it. Yuki tried not to sigh. She loved her nieces, she really did, but Ciara could be so stubborn sometimes. 

Eventually, Morgyn came into the kitchen with a look that promised nothing good on his face. Yuki immediately excused herself, while Morgan sat down next to his daughter.

"You said you'd take me."



"Sunshine, it's just not a good idea in this weather. The thunder crystals are all lighting up, and..." He sighed. "I can't take you even if I wanted. Scoutmaster Pancakes gave me a call. He's cancelled the meeting."

Ciara sat there for a minute, before nodding quietly and standing up. "I get it."

Morgyn had a feeling she didn't, but let her go anyway as she went into the living room, where her scout board was proudly displayed. 

They were going to welcome a new Griffon Scout today. They'd picked out the ice cream, and one of her friends was going to be awarded a badge, and she'd really, really been looking forward to it. None of it was fair. It just wasn't fair. 


And Chanel thought she didn't care about stuff. She did. She loved being a Scout, and she cared about not being Marcus' friend even though she wanted to be. Tears began to form and she wiped them away, roughly and without mercy. So what if her sister thought she didn't care? So what if Marcus didn't like her? 

So what if he didn't like her back? So what if it hurt?

She could be good without any of them. And then they'd see. They'd see why she was the Sage's daughter, why she was special.








2 comments:

  1. Aww, Minerva died! Man, that really saddens me. I played her extensively in my own game and she almost died in mine too... I somehow stupidly assumed she'd have drunk some immortality potion but luckily I managed to catch her almost dying just 2 days before it would've happened and MCCC flagged her for no age immediately, haha.
    I really love how you're taking your time to develop all this and are showing all these different POVs, perspectives and households too!

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    1. I'm so glad that you like this! I like to show the different perspectives, although the main focus always seems to be on the Charms - Rhea and Maranda are probably my favourites.

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