Chapter III - Edona, Age 6 | Part I

The months soon started to go by and before long it had already been six years since I had been born. During those first few years, I was mostly being taken care of by Talaena and Sylna. Both Elinos and Niona had obligations to abide to as nobles, which meant that the two of them were mostly away from the mansion for much of my childhood. For the most part, I tried to preoccupy myself with reading books from the mansion's personal library, however, since having a little sister most of my time had been spent with her.

At first, I didn't know what to do, especially seeing all that text when she was firstborn. For a brief period of time, I was sceptical about interacting with her, I didn't know if she had any involvement with my being here or whether I could even trust her. But as she didn't seem to show any unusual behaviour or at least anything that I might have picked up on, if anything she seemed like a normal kid like myself.

I'll admit that I'm not particularly normal myself as I have caused a few raised eyebrows in the last six years whilst living in this world, but I'm trying to be as normal as I can.

Although I wasn't entirely suspicious of Ellana that didn't mean I couldn't let my guard around her, after all, if I could be reborn into this world what was stopping someone else doing the same. And there was no guarantee that they would be friendly to me anyway, but that also meant I couldn't ignore Ellana without good reason, otherwise, the servants and especially my parents would start suspecting something wasn't quite right.

I figured shortly after she was born. It was best to play the older sister role, and hopefully along the way discover if Ellana is really who I think she is, or at the very least who she possibly could be. I'll even to this day I'm still rather cautious around Ellana, but the more time I spent with her, the more seemed to be comfortable being around her.

It was almost like we had known each other for a very long time, and that it felt oddly natural at least for myself. Even though I enjoyed spending time with Ellana there also issues that came with it. Mainly that she was obsessed with spending time with me no matter what to the point where her presence could almost be suffocating to me.

My focus went back to what I was originally doing before I became lost in my own thoughts as I buried any terrible things stirring within my mind. In my hands was the book aptly named An Observation of The Pure Augur. The pages detailed foretold events that have either happened or will happen in this world's future. And according to the book, these were all predicted by someone that went by the alias The Pure Augur. Many of the foretold events were great disasters, such floods and lethal diseases that swept through the populace, even talking of events such as the crowning of a new bloodline in the monarchy. This was interesting in its own right because it gave me a loose idea of possibly some events that occurred throughout history. However, what piqued my interest the most was that it detailed not just my country, but dozens more that started to make me wonder just how many there were and who or what inhabited them.

I fell back upon the sheets and pillow that covered my bed, which was near to being a king-sized bed. I heard a knock at the door followed by the sound of the handle and lock mechanism clicked as it turned. The sounds of light footsteps echoed through my room until I felt a weight press down upon the edge of bed. My arms flopped either side with the hardback book gripped in my hand, turning my head in the direction off where I felt the movement upon my bed, my eyes were met with the sight of Ellana.

She's my little sister, only being a year younger than myself. Her lighter shade of red hair shone beautifully in the morning sunlight that pierced through the thin, tall glass window of my room. Her white frilly noble dress brought out the colour in her hair even more than it usual would.

“Edona! Let's go outside and play!” I have to admit, it was sort of weird being treated like this even after all these years. Because it didn't seem natural for me, so it made me wonder whether I had any siblings in my previous life. Yet, like with many other things, I could only remember certain things from that life.

“Not today, Ellana” It wasn't that I didn't want to spend time with her, but I had become so enthralled with the contents of this book that I had little interest of putting it down any time soon.

I can't a glimpse of Ellana's pouting expression out of the corner of my eye as I shifted around atop my bed. I couldn't rather it was cute to see, but I wasn't going to be fooled by such a flimsy trick. It was common for Ellana to try to guilt-trip just about anyone, including myself, into doing what she wanted. Of course, I would always try my best to just ignore her blatant acts of subtle manipulation to the best of my ability. Which didn't always work, but when it did, I would feel a wave of satisfaction well up inside of me.

The bed shook as Ellana jumped up onto the edge, laying down next to me as it was large enough for the both of us. It would seem that Ellana has no intention of leaving any time soon. As long as she wasn't here to bother me, I was willing to let her stay in my company for the time being, however, I had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to her being here.

“What is it you're reading today, Edona?” I didn't answer, instead I shifted ever so slightly enough to show her the title printed upon the front of the hardback cover of this book.

She didn't respond, instead just humming songs that Niona would sing to us before going to sleep, which I had no issue with anyway, in fact, I liked the songs that Niona would sing to us. And it wouldn't take long for them to become my favourites. But as Ellana continued humming these songs to herself, I couldn't help, but have a sneaking suspicion that something was bothering her. The reason I thought this is that Ellana would normally hum certain songs that depicted her mood, and it just so happened that the current song was one that mostly alluded to her feeling on edge. I just let out a sigh before I knew what I had done.

“What do you want to do today, then?” I closed the book before placing it upon the wooden night stand next to my bed. Turning to look at Ellana she had already shifted herself facing me while still laying flat upon bed covers. A soft smile appeared on her face, as if all her troubles from moments before had evaporated.

“I was thinking we could go back to that spot we found in the forest last week?” When making that suggestion, Ellana bounced up while still sitting on the edge of my soft bed.

I couldn't help, but let a small laugh escape my lips, watching Ellana these last few years brought some comfort and happiness that didn't think I would find here. After all, I expected to be alone, or I guess what I really mean is that I thought I wouldn't develop some sort of connection to this new world that could keep me going. Spending time with Ellana was admittedly taxing for me, as she was for the most part the complete opposite to me, however, there were small things that connected the two of us as sisters. And, to be honest, those small things seemed to have cemented our sisterly love for one another over the years.

“Sure, I think it would be fun!” After giving my answer, I jumped off my side of the bed before rushing over to where, Ellana was sitting on the edge of the bed covers. Without saying a word, I grabbed her hand, pulling her gently towards the door, the two of us smiling and giggling between ourselves.

Both of us pushed the thick wooden door open with relative ease before rushing out into the hallway, we were still our giddy selves. Until we saw Derrian standing in the hallway, he was dressed like any other noble sporting expensive fabrics like myself and Ellana. He tended to flaunt his attire, especially to visitor's of the mansion from other noble families in the kingdom, to be honest, his attitude and personality paled in comparison to me and Ellana.

Upon seeing the both of us, Derrian scoffed. “What's got you two in such a good mood all of a sudden?”

Derrian was adamant to stay his usual self, and I have known him to treat or act differently towards me and Ellana throughout the entire time we have both known him for. A year ago, I found out that Derrian is our half-brother. I happened upon a conversation between Elinos and Niona and that's when I found out that Niona wasn't Derrian's maternal mother, apparently he never knew his real mother. I came to the conclusion that this was partly the reason he partly had disdain for the two of us.

“What is it to you anyway?” I know it isn't was to aggravate him, but how he looked down on me always frustrated me more than anything else in this world. However, Ellana was always content with laughing off his remarks about the two of us, which admittedly was the better option. But I couldn't get along with that approach, as much as I knew it was the right way to go about this.

Seeing Derrian's expression twist into frustration was certainly a sight for sore eyes. However, from experiences with him in the past, we both knew that it didn't take much to rile him up the wrong way and when he was angry his behaviour was very much unpredictable. Instinctively, I grabbed hold of Ellana's hand, gently pulling her along as I began to walk, hoping to slip by Derrian without further incident. On cue, Derrian immediately moved, grabbing my free arm tightly, pulling just enough to break the grip I had on Ellana's hand.

“Let go of me!” I shouted as loud as I could, hoping there was someone close by to help us. I twisted and pulled my arm just enough to loosen his grip upon my arm, which in turn made me fall to the floor. Ellana rushed to my side, catching a glimpse of her face it was clear as day that she was worried about me whilst clearly scared of what Derrian could do to the two of us.

“Damn the both of you!” I turned to see Derrian already raising his leg, and I immediately knew what he was about to do. Out of pure instinct, I moved my body as to put myself between Derrian and Ellana bracing myself for the heavy impact that was about to come. However, nothing happened when I opened my eyes looking towards where Derrian is standing I could see him looking back down the hallway in a panicked state.

I followed Derrian's line of sight to figure out had made him so on edge in the first place, that's when I could see Belesin standing at the corner of the left turn looking at Derrian with a less than pleasant look on his face. Belesin is Derrian's older brother which meant he was mine and Ellana's older half-brother. As Belesin walked down the corridor his attention was still fixed on Derrian who in turn was obviously trying his hardest to act like nothing had happened.

"What's going on here?" Even though he's in his late teens, Belesin had a slight deep tone to his voice would make anyone even myself think he was a fully grown adult. I could hear Derrian respond with an annoyingly nervous laugh still trying to play off the idea that nothing remotely bad was happening.

"O-Oh, we were just playing a game..." he look to me for a brief moment, his mouth curled up in a sickening smile "...weren't we, Edona?" He kneeled before me and Ellana his hand reaching out to us, as if, he was going to try pat the top of my head. Before his hand got anywhere even close to me, I slapped it out the way. In the corner of my vision I caught a glimpse of his hand curling up into a fist as he continued to smile.

"Well, sometimes we get a bit carried away I guess" Derrian once again let out a half-hearted laugh. Belesin, on the other hand, was clearly not convinced by Derrian's snarky act of trying to play him for an idiot. I could tell just by looking at Belesin's face that either wanted to say or do something, but before he acted on those impulses he quickly changed course.

"I suggest you leave before you overstay your welcome, brother." I could see that Belesin knew exactly what he was doing. He obviously to could see Ellana's scared posture in the presence of Derrian, and myself trying to hold back the urge to hit Derrian square in the face.

Before anything could even escalate Derrian let out a short scoff from his mouth indicating his true thoughts on the matter. As for Belesin, I watched in response glare at his younger brother. From what I understood, the two brothers have always been at odds with one another for as long as anyone could remember, the servants would often talk about my half-siblings especially Derrian's troublesome behaviour.

I see Derrian walking away pasting his brother he unsurprisingly barged into Belesin making the latter stumble back a step. I caught a glimpse of Belesin's face as one corner of his mouth twisted slightly. When I turned my attention back to Derrian he had already reached the turn at the end of hallway that Belesin just moments ago just came from. I see Derrian stop for a brief second, glancing back at me I couldn't get a clear view from this distance, but without a doubt I was positive it would have been a look of hate or disgust.

As the sight of him disappeared completely as he turned the corner I couldn't help but, remain seated upon the varnished wooden flooring with Ellana still at my side I could still feel a slither of anger boiling within me after what just happened. My thoughts were so preoccupied with Derrian and how much I hated him that I didn't even notice Belesin's outstretched hand in front of me. I collected my thoughts and grateful reached out grasping Belesin's hand, upon touching I suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia wash over me.

For a moment, I paused unsure of what had just happened. For a brief moment, I made eye contact with Belesin realizing that was looking at me confused but, clearly showing concern for me.

"Is everything alright, Edona?" I could feel my cheeks turn red, before Belesin could even notice I quickly pulled myself to my feet and avoiding his gaze until I could least compose myself. I saw Ellana suddenly come up beside I looked to her and without even asking I knew she was worried about me, the problem, I couldn't exactly tell her or Belesin, for that matter, what had just happened.

"S-Sorry, I guess Derrian really got to me just now." I tried to laugh off my embarrassment hoping the two of them will feign ignorance and delve any deeper, thankfully, the two of them seemed to do exactly that.

"Well, in any case, don't let him get under your skin to much..." Belesin immediately pulled the conversation back to the subject matter "...Derrian enjoys doing just that. I've lost count of how many times he has tried to towards me and Isalee."

Just hearing Belesin tell the two of us that wasn't at all surprising, at least for me anyway. However, hearing that Derrian would try such things towards Isalee was peculiar to say the least, after all, she was poised to become one of the ten Elite Blademasters within one of the five main military academies of this country. Coupled with her somewhat short temperament even an idiot wouldn't dare try to get on her bad side, then again, Derrian always seemed to have a knack wriggling his way out of the toughest of situations so much so it made me sick to my core just thinking about it.

"I almost forgot..." Belesin who had been quiet for the last few seconds suddenly turned face me and Ellana "...Father sent me to fetch for the two of you."

"Why does Father want to see us?" I still couldn't get use to calling both Elinos and Niona, father or mother, it just didn't seem natural for me but, I did so anyway because I didn't want to seem unnatural in their eyes. The last thing I wanted was to cause any unwanted attention towards myself for the time being, as least, not until I had a good understanding of how things work in this world.

"If I had to guess..." Belesin was silent for just a moment "...it's probably has something to do with the Inauguration Ceremony."

This was the first time I had heard anything about a Inauguration Ceremony. I wanted to ask Belesin more about this Inauguration Ceremony but, before I could even ask him anything I caught a glimpse of both Talaena and Sylna walking up the hallway from where Belesin had come from before. Both Talaena and Sylna stopped beside the three of us bowing to Belesin who in return gave a curt nod back in acknowledgement.

"I hope we're not interrupting something important, Master Belesin" Sylna calmly asked with her head still bowed in the direction of Belesin.

"It's okay, I was about to make myself scarce anyway, after all, I have preparations to make before leaving for Ladar Academy..." Belesin turned towards me and Ellana "...it was good seeing the both of you before leaving for Ladar, and make sure you see off Isalee you know how she can be when it comes to you two." He let out a heartfelt laugh as walked past me and Ellana continuing down the hallway.

"Lady Edona and Ellana, Lord Elinos has asked to see the two of you immediately." Sylna announced shortly after Belesin made his exit from the scene.

With finding out from Sylna that Elinos wanted to see the two of us, and the fact that Belesin mentioned this Inauguration Ceremony earlier very much confirmed my current suspicions. Both me and my sister followed behind Sylna and Talaena as they showed us the way to Elinos' office in the mansion. As we walked my mind was focused on what this could all be about, and for some unknown reason I feel uncomfortable and nervous just thinking about it. I just hope that this unsettling feeling throughout my body was nothing more than my mind playing tricks on me, or that I simply imagining it all.

I guess I'll only know for sure once I've spoken to Elinos.