Chapter 05: Aunts

My frown deepened at the unabashed declaration. The older woman looked close to Mum’s age, with a clear facial resemblance, softened only by a brighter shade of red hair. The younger girl, on the other hand, had muddy brown locks, braided boldly on one side, with an imperious adolescent face. If you ask me, she looked nothing like the older woman or my mum.

“You’re my aunts?” I asked, trying to mask my eagerness with scepticism. “So I’m supposed to invite you in and serve tea now, is that it?”

“I don’t drink tea,” said the haughty girl.

I ignored her. “If you’re my aunts,” I pressed, “why have I never even heard your names?”

“I didn’t know you existed a couple of weeks ago, either,” she sputtered. The older woman shot her a pointed look, silencing her before she could say more.

How exciting, I thought. Two strangers showed up claiming to be my aunts and expecting me to open the door for them.

No, I hadn’t ruled out the possibility that they could be my mother’s sisters, but the rules of the house needed to be taken seriously. I didn’t know them as my aunts, but I did know them as strangers—and this house did not welcome strangers. At least when Mum was out.

“Why are you smiling like a dolt?” asked the girl. “Open the damn door! Do you have any idea how far we travelled to this mud-splattered village?”

“I wonder how far that is,” I said, tilting my head. “Perhaps from the spirit realm?”

The supposed aunts—or perhaps fae—exchanged another look. The younger one bristled, and the older one bit back a grin.

My expression hardened.

“I can’t believe this,” fumed the brown-haired girl, wagging her finger at me. “You think we’re fae from the spirit realm, here to kidnap village children?”

Karmel is a town, you snotty little brat! I suppressed the retort. One simply does not reprimand a faerie lightly. Even if they were inconsiderate little brats.

“Mum told me not to let strangers into the house,” I replied, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. After all, it was common knowledge to show caution around the fae, even if you didn’t want them in your house. Mum had recounted three entire stories about the wrath of the fae—enough to ensure I wouldn’t make such a mistake.

“For Solas’s light, there hasn’t been a faerie sighting for centuries,” she swore, turning to her elder sister as though asking, Can you believe this?

“I don’t know, Rose. It seems like sound reasoning,” the redhead woman said, flashing her teeth.

“Fine,” huffed Rose, her cheeks flushing a faint red. “I’ll prove we’re not fae.” She marched to the door. “If I am a faerie, will I be able to enter without an invitation?”

A loud thump against the doorframe followed her declaration. And they continued, growing more forceful with each failed attempt.

“I’ll break this stupid door open,” Rose roared, “and make you eat your words!”

The door held firm, but my breath hitched with every crash. No one had ever threatened to break into our home before, and the thought was terrifying.

“You’re only going to hurt yourself, Rose,” the older woman pointed out. “Did you forget your elder sister’s vocation?”

Rose relented at her words, though her face burned with anger. “The door is reinforced,” she observed begrudgingly.

“I fear the whole house is,” the older woman observed. “Every beam and nail here is warded.”

“I’m going to tell Mum about this!” I cried, my voice higher than I meant it to be.

“Look what you’ve done,” said the woman, shooting Rose a pointed look. “You’ve frightened your little nephew on your first meeting.”

“I did not!” Rose glared at me. “If you’d just opened the door without making a fuss—”

“I’ll never open the door for you,” I said stubbornly.

“I’m sorry about Little Rose’s behaviour,” the older sister said. “Let me apologise on her behalf. I’ll make sure she never frightens a child again.”

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“I’m not frightened!”

“Of course, you’re not,” she said with a soft smile. “Arilyn has the blood of Amadeus... Either way, you don’t have to open the door until Ashlyn arrives. We can wait outside till then.”

Unlike Rose, she was genuinely convincing at being my aunt.

“If you’re really my aunts,” I ventured cautiously, “why haven’t I seen you before?”

“That’s because you live in a backwater fringe,” Rose said with a huff. “It had taken two whole days to find the way here, can you believe it?”

“Don’t mind her,” the older sister interjected. “But yes, we’ve come a loooong way!”

Someone knows how to talk to kids. “Where do you live?”

“Our family’s from Vashar. Ash never mentioned it, has she?” It wasn’t a question.

“I’ve read about Vashar in maps and picture books,” I said proudly. “It’s full of mountains and snow, where white Sabretooth Tigers and Winterheart Deer roam...”

The older woman’s smile mirrored Mum’s. “I have seen a Winterheart Deer when I was young,” she said. “Your mum did too... They’re so rare now.”

“You saw one?” My eyes sparkled. “How was it? Was it three metres tall, like the books say? How big were its antlers?”

“It was huuuuge!” She stretched her arms wide. “Ash almost shot an arrow at it. Thankfully, the saint beast didn’t take offence.”

I gasped. “Mum would never do that!”

“She did though,” she chuckled. “It was foggy and terribly cold. She mistook it for a common Frostbloom Elk...”

I nodded slowly, finding that to be reasonable, though I could not picture Mum in that terrifying pose.“So Mum’s a magic craftswoman. What about you?”

“Is that what she told you?” Rose perked up, still standing on her high horse even after attempting to break in.

“I’m not talking to you,” I said, ignoring her completely to face the older woman, who might actually be my aunt. “Wait, you haven’t introduced yourself yet, and you already know my name...”

“How rude of me,” the provisional good aunt said. “Let me rectify that.” She pointed at the teenager. “This is your little aunt, Rosalyn. She had gone through her Calling last winter and hadn’t gotten many chances outside the confines of the training halls. Usually, she’s not so… skittish.”

The brat snorted at the introduction.

“I’m your Aunt Emelyn,” she said, smiling brightly. “As for my Calling... I’m a Shaper. I’m what you’d call a Magus.”

My eyes lit up. “A real Magus?” I almost asked her to cast a spell right then and there, but stopped myself, noting something important.

Mum said not to let strangers in, but... we all have rhyming names. That had to mean something, right?

“I’m sorry we haven’t come sooner,” Aunt Emelyn said apologetically. “Praise Solas that we arrived just in time for your birthday.”

Should I open the door? I wondered. It’s bad manners to keep guests waiting outside too...

“Who’s out there?” Mum’s voice echoed abruptly. I found her figure joining on the rear of them. “Emi? Rose?”

Mum dropped her bag as a couple of potatoes rolled out. Paying no attention to it, she rushed forward to embrace both of them.

“You actually came,” she breathed into Emelyn’s shoulder, her voice brimming with joy.

“How could we not, when you tell us you’re hiding such a cute nephew?” said Aunt Emelyn.

I’m sure of it now. That made the whole thing doubly embarrassing.

“Does Mother…” Mum stiffened.

“If you sent her a letter,” Emelyn sighed, “do you think she’d discuss it with me?”

More family coming? Well, the more the merrier.

Mum shook her head and focused on the ones present. “Little goblin, you’ve grown so tall!” she exclaimed, moving to the teenager. She cupped Rose’s cheeks and kissed her on the head.

“You look old—er,” the brat said, her cheeks flushed, though this time not in anger.

The gall of this brat! I’ll show her who’s old! But for now, I opened the door wide to let them in.

“Why are you waiting outside? Come in! I have so much to catch up on with you.” Mum practically herded them inside.

“We were just chatting with our little nephew,” Aunt Emelyn said with a chuckle. “Did anyone tell you how smart he is?”

“He thought we were fae here to steal him,” Rose sputtered, flopping onto the couch.

Mum laughed. “Can’t help with that; he loves those old tales too much...”

As Mum went to bring water and beverages, I endured a very thorough session of cheek-pulling courtesy of Aunt Emelyn. Rose wisely kept her distance, as she should. There was no way I’d let her touch my cheeks, much less pull them.

Later, as Mum cooked and caught up with Emelyn, Rose hooked two fingers in my collar and dragged me toward the study. My protest only seemed to bolster her resolve.

“What do you want?” I asked, batting her hand away.

She let out a heavy sigh, opened her bag, and pulled out a flute. A metal flute with fine carvings on its surface.

“This is for you,” she said, thrusting it into my palms.

I stared at it blankly.

“Take it,” she insisted. “It’s yours.”

“Why?” I asked, still not grasping it. “I can’t play the flute... I cannot even whistle.”

More importantly, I didn’t understand why she was giving it to me.

Rose pinched her braid, exasperated. “I should have guessed,” she muttered, as if it were my fault. “Well, you can learn to play it...”

“Thank you, but I like violins more,” I said as politely as I could. “Or a harp. If I were to learn an instrument, those would be my first choices.”

She made a strange choking noise that sounded remarkably contagious.

“Gosh, tell me about being demanding!” She shook her head before digging through her bag again. This time, she produced a metal device. I immediately recognised it. Mum had one, though hers was much larger.

“A recorder,” I murmured.

“This is too good a gift for you,” Rose said reluctantly. “It has twenty-three whole songs recorded on it. Do you fancy this?”

I nodded dumbly.

She gave the device one last look and sighed. “This is yours...”

I reached out to take it, but she didn’t let go, clutching it tightly.

“This is yours,” she repeated in a slow, deliberate tone, “only if you promise not to tell Eldest Sister about my... earlier actions.”

So that was the price. I nodded knowingly. Rose didn’t want me to snitch on her.

I do want to see her get scolded by Mum... but twenty-three songs! My eyes darted to the device. Mum’s recorder only had a dozen songs, and I didn’t even like half of them.

I guess I can be kinder more than once a day.

Finally, Rose let go. “So, do we have a deal?”

I nodded. “Should we shake on it?”