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Post by Taya on Jul 10, 2013 23:03:51 GMT
Ian's face went white at the sound of the voice of his dead sister. It wasn't possible. He was hallucinating and he could have believed it too if Kendra hadn't turned in his arms to face the stranger in a cloak.
"Excuse me?" She asked a bit affronted for her husband's sake.
"I said, quite clearly, that he is a fool." Link said lowering her hood and stepping closer. Ian stumbled back a bit and almost fell.
."L... Li ... Link" Ian stammered.
"I've missed you, too" She said her heart ready to burst. He ran foreword and hugged her with all his might. Link did the only thing she was able to do, weep.
"You're real. You're not a dream. "You're really alive." He whispered still unbelieving.
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Post by Mr Spock on Jul 11, 2013 8:46:11 GMT
The discussion with the orphanage director passed Emily by in a blur. She presented her papers. They were scanned for forgeries and criminal records. The older woman spoke in a soothing voice as Emily fidgeted, waiting, watching the pictures of classes gone on the walls, wondering if her daughter was among them, hidden in the sea of children that were visible here.
"Here," said the other woman gently, sliding a folder across the desk. Emily traced her fingers over the lettering of her daughter's name, but then shook her head.
"I want to see her before I see records," she said firmly, and the woman behind the desk nodded, barely containing a satisfied smile. Wordless, she slid over another file, and a pen.
Opening the file, Emily's hands shook violently as she took the pen in her right hand and her signature curled out from it, suddenly worried she would collapse from the stress on her aching heart as she dated the signature and pushed it back across.
The older woman nodded and smiled, standing from her desk and going to the door to her office, opening it wide as Emily turned in her seat to look.
Beyond the door, rubbing sleep from her eyes and clutching to the receptionist's hand as if it was an anchor, a miniature Emily stood, with her own long, deathly straight hair, more white blonde than Emily's golden, draping over her purple dressing gown.
Emily clapped a hand over her mouth as she stared at the younger her, her Tryamon standing wordlessly as the two members of staff explained to her what was going on.
Her eyes wide as saucers, she gently let go of the receptionist's hand and wandered into the office, cautious, stopping a fair distance from Emily and examining her.
"Do you like ice cream?" she asked, frowning, as if it were her gatekeeper question.
Emily laughed, still struggling to hold back tears, and nodded once.
"Do you want to go get some?" She asked, wincing at the creak in her own voice. Taylor looked shocked and came closer, leaning in to whisper,
"After bedtime?!"
Emily grinned, reaching out for her, and Taylor came closer as Emily whispered.
"Our little secret."
Taylor matched her secret grin and nodded, taking Emily's hand and pulling her to her feet.
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Post by Taya on Jul 11, 2013 14:48:22 GMT
Kendra shifted awkwardly beneath the umbrella as the reunited siblings held each other despite the torrential downpour. Link pulled back with a smile through her tears. The she punched his arm as she spoke and wiping away rivers of tears and rain from her face,
"Are you just going to stand there like a sphinx with a riddle or are you going to introduce me to my sister?" Ian could still only stare in disbelief.
"Right. Uh, Link this is my wife, Kendra." He said wrapping his arm around Kendra's waist to pull her closer. "Kendra, love, this my sister, Link." A large smile spread across Link's face and she was embracing Kendra.
"Thank you for taking care of him." Link whispered.
"Okay," Ian pulled his wife back and eyed Link suspiciously now that he could think straight. "What's one thing only you would know?"
"Took you long enough." Link chided. "I could have easily slid a knife into pretty little Kendra. You're slipping, boyo. But to satisfy, on your eighth birthday, Kiara ate the the last sugar spaceship off the cake. As a bit of revenge, that night you turned her slippers into large spiders, knowing she hates them more than anything." Ian's smile was even bigger than before.
"And you changed them back before Mom caught me."
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Post by Taya on Jul 11, 2013 14:51:51 GMT
Kendra shifted awkwardly beneath the umbrella as the reunited siblings held each other despite the torrential downpour. Link pulled back with a smile through her tears. The she punched his arm as she spoke and wiping away rivers of tears and rain from her face,
"Are you just going to stand there like a sphinx with a riddle or are you going to introduce me to my sister?" Ian could still only stare in disbelief.
"Right. Uh, Link this is my wife, Kendra." He said wrapping his arm around Kendra's waist to pull her closer. "Kendra, love, this my sister, Link." A large smile spread across Link's face and she was embracing Kendra.
"Thank you for taking care of him." Link whispered.
"Okay," Ian pulled his wife back and eyed Link suspiciously now that he could think straight. "What's one thing only you would know?"
"Took you long enough." Link chided. "I could have easily slid a knife into pretty little Kendra. You're slipping, boyo. But to satisfy, on your eighth birthday, Kiara ate the the last sugar spaceship off the cake. As a bit of revenge, that night you turned her slippers into large spiders, knowing she hates them more than anything." Ian's smile was even bigger than before.
"And you changed them back before Mom caught me. But you were dead."
"No body. Anyway, I will be happy to go over details after you are done acting like an idiot. Take Kendra to Tamarask and I'll meet you there to explain."
"But Emily closed up..." Link gave him a patronizing look. "She knew." His mood was a bit darker. "I'm not taking Kendra there."
"Yes you are. Hell is about to rain down and that is the safest place for her."
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Post by Taya on Jul 11, 2013 14:52:08 GMT
Kendra shifted awkwardly beneath the umbrella as the reunited siblings held each other despite the torrential downpour. Link pulled back with a smile through her tears. The she punched his arm as she spoke and wiping away rivers of tears and rain from her face,
"Are you just going to stand there like a sphinx with a riddle or are you going to introduce me to my sister?" Ian could still only stare in disbelief.
"Right. Uh, Link this is my wife, Kendra." He said wrapping his arm around Kendra's waist to pull her closer. "Kendra, love, this my sister, Link." A large smile spread across Link's face and she was embracing Kendra.
"Thank you for taking care of him." Link whispered.
"Okay," Ian pulled his wife back and eyed Link suspiciously now that he could think straight. "What's one thing only you would know?"
"Took you long enough." Link chided. "I could have easily slid a knife into pretty little Kendra. You're slipping, boyo. But to satisfy, on your eighth birthday, Kiara ate the the last sugar spaceship off the cake. As a bit of revenge, that night you turned her slippers into large spiders, knowing she hates them more than anything." Ian's smile was even bigger than before.
"And you changed them back before Mom caught me. But you were dead."
"No body. Anyway, I will be happy to go over details after you are done acting like an idiot. Take Kendra to Tamarask and I'll meet you there to explain."
"But Emily closed up..." Link gave him a patronizing look. "She knew." His mood was a bit darker. "I'm not taking Kendra there."
"Yes you are. Hell is about to rain down and that is the safest place for her."
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Post by Mr Spock on Jul 11, 2013 15:24:57 GMT
Emily wandered in a haze of euphoria as she chatted to Taylor, put on the conjored coat and said their goodbyes to the staff, and then the opening of the front door and the gleam of the taxi in the rain suddenly knocked her sick.
She was suddenly very, very aware of what she had done and how vulnerable she was, and she was certain she could taste a hint of magic on the air. Now where the heart of a mother had beat with joy it now beat with desperate, all consuming fear.
She crouched down next to Taylor, who had pulled up the hood of her dressing gown, and spoke to her quietly.
"I'm going to pick you up, okay? You just hide your face in me because we're going to move really fast."
Taylor nodded, her face betraying a hint of excitement, and Emily swept her up in one arm with a surprising feat of strength, feeling glaring eyes on her as they disappeared.
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Post by Taya on Jul 11, 2013 16:27:23 GMT
The estate loomed in front of Link and she could hear the shouting from inside. The plain clothes faery guards looked a bit more than distressed. She approached them and showed a pass with the Prince family symbol on it along with the temple of Ash'na. Confused still, they allowed her entrance without lowering her hood.
It had been so long since she and walked these halls. The years seemed to fade in this familiar setting and it could have been yesterday when last he had been here. The shouting could be understood now and she winced knowing that the anger would soon be directed at here. But even now she knew she needed to protect Emily.
"Why isn't she back yet! You just let her go after him alone? It's been hours!"
"You think I could have stopped her?" Link paused at Uncle James' broken and defeated voice. "Maybe she's getting through to him. Maybe..."
Link swallowed the lump in her throat and knocked.
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Post by Mr Spock on Jul 12, 2013 10:06:49 GMT
Emily and Taylor reappeared in the roar of New York City streets, Taylor's small hands gripping at Emily's blouse as tightly as they could as Emily swayed, noting for the millionth time in her adult life how little attention the passers-by in New York, of all the places in the world, paid. She strode off, straight across the road, gesturing with the arm that held hers and Taylor's bags and getting into a taxi almost immediately. She gave the driver the address of the Star-Anise household without hesitation or any real forethought, putting the bags down on the seat next to her and settling Taylor in her lap more comfortably.
"Where are we?" Taylor asked, glancing out of the windows at the rainy evening.
"New York."
"That was travelling quickly," she said, the look of wonder on her face again as she crawled across Emily's lap to watch out of the window as they left the city and headed out to the quieter area that had always been home to the Star Anise family.
When they pulled up outside, the house was dark and for the first time in her life, Emily was met with a very sincere sense of foreboding as she looked up at a place she'd always felt safe in.
She paid the driver and swept up the child and bags into her arms again, glancing around as the taxi pulled away and she was stood alone in the rain again, overburdened, under-armed and very aware she was holding someone who was seen simply in existence as an act of aggression.
"Okay sweetheart. Hang on to me. Tell me if you see anyone." She said, banishing the bags back to her room in Paris and repositioning Taylor in her arms so she had one arm free and was able to press Taylor as close to herself as she could. She turned once on the spot, trying to identify the cause of her discomfort, before striding over to the front door and knocking loudly. There was no answer. In the silence, she heard Taylor gasp and instictively dropped to the ground, an arrow notching the door above them where Taylor's head had been. Emily began to shake, throwing up the shield she knew Link was better at, before standing and speaking as loudly as she could.
"Tell your queen her clock just started ticking."
Then she disappeared again, willing the shield to hold as they left New York, another city where her child simply could not be safe.
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Post by Taya on Jul 12, 2013 14:14:27 GMT
"Did you find her!" Tylir snapped as he yanked open the door. He narrowed his eyes and the cloaked figure.
"Are going to let me in to see my Uncle or just stand in the doorway like an idiot?" Link asked smirking and then pushing past him to get inside. James stood knowing the voice in an instant.
"Is that?" Tylir asked.
"Show him." James said with a sly smile. Link lowered her hood and Tylir could only stare. But Link's eyes were for James. Neither of them moved. They just stood drinking in each other.
"But ... How... Are you real?" Tylir rambled on. Link reached up one finger and pressed it to Tylir's lips still staring at James.
"It's her" James said not moving. "There would be no point to use the glamour of the dead." She couldn't hold back any longer. Link ran to James and in held her in the most fatherly hug she had ever had and despite her age she felt like a small child finally safe.
"Don't ever do that to me again." James said with a laugh and Link nodded. "But now you have to say why." She bit her lip and looked up at him.
"All together. I'll tell everyone together."
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Post by Mr Spock on Jul 12, 2013 14:55:31 GMT
Emily stumbled as she landed, turning so she fell backwards and landed with a barely restrained curse on her shoulder, still clutching Taylor to her chest.
"Okay, little Tryamon. Now we're somewhere else," she said, releasing her arms from around the girl who crawled away and clamoured to her feet as Emily did the same.
"Where are we now?" she asked, entranced again, looking around.
"Nearly home," said Emily gently, glancing at the little cottage on the distance of her vision.
"But we're visiting Aunt Genny first. Are you ready to run, sweetheart?"
Taylor looked a little scared, but then nodded and Emily gave her a reassuring smile.
"Right. Run right up to the door on that little house and knock. Okay?"
Taylor nodded, and as Emily gestured she took off running towards the house, with Emily watching and casting running shields, knowing she wouldn't go fast enough to get Taylor in herself, waiting until she heard Taylor's rapid knock at Genny's door.
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Post by Taya on Jul 12, 2013 16:02:58 GMT
"Inside. Quick. Quick." Came a voice as the door to the cottage opened. The woman inside was old and young at once. Looking at her was looking at ancient ruins that had been reclaimed by the earth, beautiful, great, and years of reflection. Yet that wasn't even the feature that drew you in first. Her smile was sweet, kindly and trusting. The sort of smile that welcomed and healed all at once.
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Link had one last family member to collect now that she asked James and Tylir to meet her at Tamarask. James had rolled his eyes and collared his son-in-law at his protestations. She looked up the drive of the looming boarding school, Bearwood College.
Heading in to the administrator's desk, Link requested to see Keira Star-Anise. She produced a fake ID that claimed she was Kendra Star-Anise, saying she was her cousin-in-law and there was a family emergency.
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Post by Mr Spock on Jul 12, 2013 16:55:26 GMT
Taylor hurried in, ducking behind Genny, and Emily heaved a sigh of relief, feeling the energy drain from my body. She spoke again to the supposedly empty presence around her.
"It's over. Go home and tell your queen to pack her bags, because everything is about to change."
She heard a shift in the wilderness and darkness around her, and then an arrow notched into the tree beside her head, close enough that she could hear the whistle. She raised a weary eyebrow.
"I know she's not stupid enough to attack either me or the priestess. She's not in the business of starting her own wars, just those for other people."
She pulled the arrow out of the tree and turned her back, confident in her own safety.
"I'll just be keeping this."
And then she began the walk down to the cottage, the familiar light, the place that Taylor was safe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the second time that night, an orphan was roused from her bed for an urgent visitor. But this one knew exactly what a visit from Kendra would mean and thundered down through the school with no restraint whatsoever, taking mere seconds to skid into the admin office.
"Is Ian al-" her voice started breathless and desperate, but her eyes caught Link and she froze, exactly where she was, without blinking or moving. She swallowed hard and then adjusted her stance, saying all in a rush,
"4th of January 2045."
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Post by Taya on Jul 12, 2013 17:59:08 GMT
Link wanted to cry at Keira's words. The last day they ha all been together. The end of the Winter holidays before Keira returned to school. It had been Keira's eleventh birthday. It was a great tradition to have her party just before she had to head back to the UK for the rest of the school year.
She couldn't think of that time. When everyone was happy and laughing. Before Phoebe had been possessed and Kiara had to sacrifice herself taking all of Manhattan with her.
"I gave you a fresh blank journal with a labyrinth cover to use as your first Book of Shadows." Link said with a small smile and then opened her arms with hope.
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"Good evening, your majesty and little princess." Genny said as she shut the door behind Emily. "Go sit by the fire and dry off while the cocoa heats up. I'll fetch you girls some clothes." With a smile she petted Tryamon's hair before disappearing to the back room.
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Post by Mr Spock on Jul 16, 2013 13:56:24 GMT
Keira didn't hold on to her skepticism for a second and hurled herself at Link, wrapping her arms around her as tightly as she could. She didn't ask questions. She had thought she had lost every member of her family and here was one, in the flesh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taylor looked around in awe as the much damper Emily led her over to the fire and sat them both down by it, petting her daughter's hair.
"Thank you," she called through to Genny, knowing she didn't need to elaborate.
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Post by Taya on Jul 16, 2013 14:39:14 GMT
Genny reappeared with a a stack of clothing. On top of the stack were two sets of pajamas and on the bottom was clothing for the morning, a blue pinafore dress and blouse for Taylor and pants and a top for Emily. She set them on a chair and went about making three steaming mugs of hot chocolate.
"Perhaps the princess would like a song or a story." Genny suggested as she worked.
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Link kissed the top of Keira's head and turned to the administrator.
"I'll be back in a few days to get her things if things are not resolved soon. Thank you for understanding." Then she led Keira outside and straight to a portal to Tamarask.
"Welcome home, sweetie." She whispered as she led Keira to the gates.
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