Day of the Windwhistler Gathering...

“Mom, I thought that the Windwhistlers were a trading or merchant house,” Frances said her eyes wide.

Edana re-read the slip paper she was holding. “Our family does have other businesses. I just didn’t realize that they have been doing so well.”

That was because Frances and Edana were standing in front of what looked like a manor, except most of its front floor was replaced by glass windows that displayed dresses, suits, amongst a dizzying variety of outfits. To Frances, this looked surprisingly modern. Emblazoned atop the front door was the sign, Windwhistler Couture and Clothing.

There was also a lineup across the front, filled with eagerly chattering customers.

That was when a hulking man in an excellently cut black suit and waistcoat, ran up to them. He had an orc’s green skin and fangs, and yet his features looked quite human. The customers seemed to part around him, even as they watched with interest.

“Coz! Oh how wonderful it is to see you!” he exclaimed, grabbing Edana in a hug. Frances tensed as he lifted her in the air and spun her around, but she saw her mother was laughing.

“Don! Put me down already! I still remember when I could spin you around!”

Don, laughing, did put her down. “You look good cuz.” He turned to Frances and smiled. “Oh and you must be Frances. Welcome to the family!”

Frances smiled. “Honored to meet you mister…”

“Just Don. Don Windwhistler. But oh do come on. There are so many things to do today!” He practically half-skipped, half-dragged Frances and Edana into the couture house, past rows of outfits and tailors, and into a private dressing area with mirrors and racks of dresses.

“And what is it we are doing, Don?” Edana inquired.

Don turned around and seemed to give the mother-daughter pair a once over. “Well Grandma Emelia and Grandaunt Eleanor insisted you come here so we can quickly get you ready for tonight.”

Edana frowned. “But we are ready—Sorry, Frances, Don is my first cousin. His mother is your Great Aunt Emelia, your grandmother Eleanor’s sister, which makes you…makes you what exactly?”

“Let’s say niece. But you both do need a bit of a makeover. Nothing too fancy. This is just a family affair, but… I think there are some things to touch up.” Don pointed at Edana’s hair. “Your hair in particular looks really badly heat damaged, probably from all the fire spells you keep casting.”

Frances followed Don’s finger and blinked because the half-orc was right. She liked her hair short, but always saw her mother’s black hair as pretty. Now that she looked closer, though, the dry and frizzy ends of Edana’s hair looked like those of some of her more dolled up highschool classmates. Those who often used heating irons. Her mother… had also just worn her White Order mage robes.

“And you, Frances, you are very cute. I also love your dress. Light green really does suit you. But you need some jewels, maybe an earring? Something to draw out your eyes.” Don turned around and clapped his hands. “Ayax sweetie, are you around— Oh, there you are!”

Frances started, right hand dropping to her wand, left hand immediately catching her own wrist.

A troll girl, with a black cat’s tail, four-fingered hands and pointed ears, was standing quietly beside her. Black eyes regarded her with an unamused look. She had a wand clipped to a holster at the belt that held up a black skirt, a few pouches and a dagger. Her shirt, a matching dark blue, was neatly tucked in.

“Hi,” said Ayax coolly, one hand brushing a lock of her shoulder-length black hair back.

Managing a smile, Frances dipped her head. “Hello. Nice to meet you, Ayax. I’m Frances.”

Don smiled. “Frances is your newest cousin, just adopted by Edana. She’s an—”

“Otherworlder war mage,” Ayax said with more than a little wariness. Only, she immediately winced, “Sorry, Don. I’ll show her around.”

If Don registered Ayax’s tone, he didn’t react. He simply said, “Thank you, sweetie.”

Frances thought she saw the faintest trace of a smile on Ayax’s face, but then it was gone and she was gesturing with her four-fingered hand to a door. She turned to Edana. “Master—I mean, mom, can I really—”

“Dear, some gems would look nice on you. Every girl needs some accessories.” Edana smiled. “Go ahead, pick whatever you like.”

Frances smiled, and after briefly hugging Edana and whispering a thank you, followed her cousin out.

“So as I suspected… the real reason we’re here is to introduce Ayax to Frances?” Edana said quietly after the two girls left.

Don’s smile weakened just a tad. “Yeah. I mean, you do need a better dress, but… well Grandmother caught you up?”

Edana nodded. “Yes, but I’d rather hear it from you. You and Alex are her fathers after all.”

“Yeah. Except… she hasn’t called us dad once.” Don sat down on a nearby chair, steepling his hands. “Coz, I don’t expect Ayax to see us replacing her parents, but I’m getting worried. She’s always been quiet. I think that’s just part of her, but… recently, no matter what we or our family try to do, she just seems… uninterested, and increasingly irritated.”

“And you and everybody else think it has something to do with what happened when she was orphaned in the war?” Edana asked.

“Well, it has to be that.”

“And you, my mother, everybody else, think that just putting her with another traumatized girl is going to work?”

Don paled, his eyes widening. “Is it not going to help? Alex said it might be a bad idea especially given how Frances is an Otherworlder and Ayax is a troll from Alavaria. Oh no. What if they get into a fight? Frances will—”

“Don,” Edana sing-songed.

The half-orc took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m just so worried. Ayax seems to like it here but she wasn’t so sure about being adopted and well… she’s never talked about her past apart from telling us that she was orphaned. I mean, if this is a bad idea or a good idea, or maybe you have just… any clue of what to do?”

Seeing the worry on her cousin’s face, Edana took a seat herself, brow furrowed with thought. “How much has mom told you about Frances’s situation?”

“Just that she went through something traumatic herself and might be able to relate to Ayax that way?”

“So, Frances has told me I can tell you this, but her parents from the other world abused her.” Edana let that fact sink in and watched as her cousin’s expression changed to one of horror. “Given that, I don’t think she can relate to Ayax, at least not perfectly, but I trust her insight on this will at least help her understand what Ayax is going through.”

Don nodded slowly. “Wait, you told Frances about us needing help with Ayax?”

“Well of course I did. We are having her to help us. I thought it necessary to inform her.”

“Oh… I see. Yeah, that makes sense.” Don sighed. “I hope you’re right coz.”

Edana smiled. “Don, relax. Frances is a good kid. I would say everything is going to go perfect, but… I may be a bit biased.”

The half-orc shook his head, chuckling. “Edana the firecracker, a doting mother. Who would have thought?”

“Who would have thought indeed,” Edana conceded.

The room that Ayax led Frances down past a hulking ogre guard, to a heavy vault door, which the troll girl opened with surprising ease. A wave of Ayax’s wand and a Word of Power lit the torches.

What the illuminated made Frances’s eyes bulge. Glass cabinets contained a plethora of necklaces, bracelets, rings and all manner of jewelry that twinkled with a rainbow of gems and crystals. It was to put it bluntly, overwhelming, as Frances had never seen so much wealth gathered in one place. Being on the frontlines of a war meant she hadn’t seen that much finery. People were far more concerned about armor and protection. It certainly explained the vault door and the guard.

“Need a moment?” Ayax quipped.

Frances swallowed. “I… I think I might need a suggestion, or two.”

Ayax straightened the collar of her shirt. “I’m not very good at this either. Do you have anything you will be wearing or any colours you like?”

After a moment’s contemplation, Frances reached into a hidden pocket in her dress and took out her diamond magical ring. “Just this?”

Ayax’s eyes narrowed at the ring. “A focus and magic storage ring. I’m afraid that while it is pretty, it’s not something you should wear for tonight. How did you get this?”

“My mother did. There was an incident…” Frances swallowed, trying to find words to describe the near-death experience she’d have when human traitors working for the Kingdom of the Alavari had kidnapped her and nearly killed her.

“You were fighting Alavari.”

Frances looked up, finding Ayax giving her a very cool look. “No. They were human traitors, working for the Alavari.”

Ayax narrowed her eyes. “And how many of the Alavari have you killed?”

Frances briefly closed her eyes, thinking about how to answer her cousin. Someone who’d grown up in the Kingdom of the Alavari. The kingdom whose ruler she had to kill, or else she’d be sent back home.

“Too many. I didn’t want to kill them, but they left me no choice.”

Ayax frowned and studied Frances for what seemed like minutes, before shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like that.”

“No, it’s fine, Ayax. I know you came from Alavaria, and that your parents raised you there. I’m happy to answer your questions.” Frances held her breath. She could see Ayax shelling up behind her stoic facade, nervously adjusting the black bow around her collar.

“Frances, Don and Eleanor want you to talk to me for some reason. Why?” the troll asked, her black eyes narrowed once more.

Frances winced as the question slammed home. She wanted to be open with her new cousin, but this question… brought a lot of bad memories with it.

“Grandma and Uncle Don think that I might be able to relate to you better than they can. As to why…” Frances tried to find the words, but choosing them was far more difficult than it had been with Eleanor. “I think they thought what I went through would help me understand what you’re going through.”

Ayax arched an eyebrow and shrugged. “I’m fine.”

Frances felt an eerie sense of deja vu as she watched her troll cousin glare defiantly back. Except, where the troll girl stood, Frances remembered a depressed, shattered and starving girl, broken by abuse. The girl had been her, refusing to accept something was wrong with her life.

So, Frances nodded and smiled. “Okay.”

Ayax blinked and frowned. “Sorry, what?”

Frances smiled. “If you say you’re fine, then you’re fine.”

The troll stared at her. Incredulous surprise across her features. “You believe me?”

“Should I not?” Frances asked in a gentle voice, continuing to smile.

Ayax bit her lip, and averted her gaze. “Nobody has. Why should you?”

“Perhaps I don’t, but you don’t want to talk about it, right?” Frances asked. She remembered when she was younger, when she first arrived in Durannon. She didn’t want to confront her own trauma, and it had taken a long time before she was able to confront it. It still hurt to think about what she’d gone through even now. Trying to force Ayax to open up when she didn’t want to would be a terrible idea.

Sure enough, Ayax emphatically shook her head.

“What would you rather talk about then?” Frances asked.

Ayax looked rather flustered by the question. She definitely didn’t expect to be asked this. “I… I heard you beat Ophelia Voidsailor. How did you manage that?”

While Frances also didn’t expect to be asked this question, she was happy to answer. “Oh, you mean the girl in the orange robes?”

“Yes, those robes,” grumbled Ayax. She blinked and stared at Frances. “Do you not know who she is?”

“Before I duelled her, I think Eva told me she was the youngest finalist in Erlenberg’s Winter Tournament and a powerful mage.”

Ayax nodded, once stoic features now eager. “Yes, that’s right. How did you beat her? She’s really good, and has never lost a magic duel.”

Thinking back to the duel, Frances crossed her arms and took a seat by one of the glass cabinets. “I think I surprised her. She was expecting to duel a nobody, but she was fighting… me. I don’t mean to brag, but my mother, Edana, trained me well, and I have a few very powerful spells. She was using magic-activated cards and her rings to quickly cast magic, but I kept moving and blocked her with my shield spell. I’ve only recently learned how to produce a strong shield, but it bought me enough time to cast a lightning spell.”

“She couldn’t block it?”

Frances blushed. “No. My lightning spell is a true lightning spell—”

“Wait you can—but how? People can picture lightning in their head but actually creating the lightning and controlling it so you don’t just kill everybody—” Ayax clamped her mouth shut and looked away. “I’m sorry, I… overstepped.”

“Ayax. It’s alright. We’re family now. You can ask.” As the troll smiled sheepishly, Frances giggled. “You really are interested in combat magic are you?”

Ayax nodded, brushing some of her black hair out from her face. “Yeah. I… my father was teaching me before…before it happened.”

Frances nodded in understanding and made herself comfortable. “Well, I managed to cast lightning because back in my original world, Earth, the sciences had advanced so that we know how lightning forms and why it happens. It has to do with…”

After setting his cousin up for his makeover, Don checked in on the vault, having not heard from the two girls in some time. When he entered the vault however, he was completely unnoticed. For Frances and Ayax were sat down on stools, locked in an animated discussion about spells and magic shields.

Don stared at the pair, took in the genuine smile on his daughter’s features and smiled. “Hello girls.”

That drew Frances and Ayax’s attention. Both stood up. Frances looking abashed, Ayax trying to look expressionless, but not quite managing it.

Frances stammered, “Sorry, um—”

“Sorry, Don, I lost track of time—”

“There’s no rush, dear. I’m really glad you two are getting along. Besides, I should have realized that jewelry wasn’t your strong suit.” Don walked over to a cabinet and opened it. “Have you considered getting your ears pierced, Frances?”

And this was how Frances got her ears pierced, along with a pair of emerald earrings and Edana, got a long-overdue makeover.

“Mom, you look amazing,” Frances gasped.

Edana blushed. White robes had been exchanged for a dress of dark forest green which complemented her eyes. Her long hair had been done up slightly, and also trimmed, but in a way to show off its beautiful length. Light makeup had also been excellently applied to hide old wrinkles.

“Maybe I should take more care of my appearance,” Edana mused.

“Mm hmm.” Frances smirked. “I know Igraine would appreciate it.”

Edana’s spluttered as she took in Frances’s innocent smile, “Whaaat. How... Okay, well she would. When did you find out?”

“Sometime after the second time she visited Erlenberg,” Frances quipped.

“Oh, do you have a special someone coz?” Don asked. He didn’t wiggle his eyebrows, but Frances could somehow imagine him doing that.

“... I’ll tell you about it later. I don’t want to repeat myself,” Edana muttered. “Besides, our carriage is here.”

The carriages were just for Edana, Frances, Don and Ajax as Don’s husband and younger son were already at the gathering. Frances was surprised however to find the carriage escorted by two guards on horseback.

She was even more surprised to see them arrive at a complex that looked more like a scaled-down castle than a manor home. White plaster walls about the height of two-humans and topped with terracotta tiled roofs surrounded a cluster of buildings that included a stable, storage rooms, and living quarters for guests and servants. The three-story main building at the centre of the compound looked as if someone had put tiled Japanese-Chinese roofs on top of a Georgian mansion. (As to how Frances knew this, she had read a lot of history books and she still remembered some of what they told her). The complex also had tower-like buildings at every corner of the surrounding wall, small gatehouses with solid doors, and L-shaped walkways that turned upwards past arrow holes and gun ports.

“Ayax, did our family’s house always look like, um, a fortress?” Frances asked as they walked toward the great main building. She would ask her mom, but Edana and Don were chatting, and that didn’t seem like a very nice question.

Her troll cousin gave a short nod. “Inter-house warfare in Erlenberg used to be extremely vicious.”

“And by extremely vicious, we mean an entire house would be destroyed,” said Eleanor, approaching the party. She was helping along an elderly human man with a great white beard, and an unfortunately balding pate.

“Mother, dad!” Edana embraced the old man. She touched her lips to her mother’s cheek and asked, “What’s this about houses being destroyed.”

Eleanor frowned for a second, before groaning, “Oh dratted ears. Pardon me, I overheard Ayax telling Frances about our fortifications here. I am glad you two seem to be getting along.”

Ayax smiled briefly, whilst Frances smiled and curtsied. “Hello, Grandmother Eleanor and Grandfather Paul.”

A crinkly grin spread across Paul’s face. “You must be Frances, Edana’s adopted daughter. Come here and give your granpappy a hug.” Frances did and found herself in a very tight hug that belied the old man’s frailty. She also noticed anchor and sea monster tattoos on his neck and hands. “Aren’t you the cutest thing? No wonder Elly’s been absolutely tickled. She wouldn’t stop talking about you when she got back.”

“I wasn’t that bad, dear,” Eleanor protested as Frances blushed and Edana’s eyebrows arched with interest.

Paul laughed, and freed his arm from Eleanor. “Well come along Frances, let’s introduce you to the family.”

Frances nodded eagerly and followed Paul to the main house. Only then did she notice that Ayax, Don, Edana and Eleanor all suddenly looked rather worried.

“Dad maybe—”

“Dear perhaps—”

“Uncle maybe—”

Ayax, shaking her head, whispered, “Brace yourself. And good luck.”

Frances’s eyes widened. She was about to ask, “What do you mean by that?” when Paul flug open the doors to the mansion with surprising strength revealing a humongous front hall where what looked like a small sea of adults, teenagers and children, milled around, both standing or seated on couches. They looked to be from all walks of life, wore a plethora of clothing, some more formal, some more casual. Most were human, but there were many fae-kin, trolls, ogres, orcs, and Frances even spotted a centaur.

Paul gently pushed Frances to stand in front of him and bellowed, “Hello everybody! Please give a warm welcome to the newest member of the Windwhistler family, Frances, Edana’s newly adopted daughter who trounced Ophelia Voidsailor a few days ago in a duel!”

As the eyes of every single person of her new family rested on her. Frances felt her stomach do a flip flop and her legs freeze.

Frances had prepared to introduce herself to her family. She was even prepared to mention a little of why she was staying in Durannon and not returning home. She was not prepared for this.

“Dear… why?” Eleanor hissed.

“Doesn’t this help?” Paul asked.

“Uncle, it doesn’t even help the babies. They just end up crying,” Don sighed.

A warm hand squeezed Frances’s shoulder and she glanced to find her mother smiling at her reassuringly. Swallowing, Frances turned back to the crowd and curtsied, before saying:

“Hello everybody.”

The sea all smiled and grinned… before promptly surging forward toward her like the tide coming in.

The last thought Frances had before the first cousin, a familiar brightly smiling girl with black hair and green eyes ran up and re-introduced herself as Eva was:

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeep.”