Chapter-XII

The dining room was... Majestic.

There is no other word for it. It was a large room with vaulted ceilings and exposed wooden beams with wooden wall panels and floral wallpaper. The dining table itself was a work of art with carved mahogany topped with glass. The table was adorned with three centrepieces and two candelabras. The crystal was finely cut and sparkling along with the silverware. Three seats were already occupied by two boys and a girl with long shining pink hair.

Karsyn, Kyan and Shalom

They felt like a dream. She knew of them, faces to the names that were a huge part of Trystan, Cadence and Bren's lives. Faces that were shadowed with pain and exhausted with grief. She could see the remnants of past tears tracing invisible tracks through their cheeks leaving dried out eyes.

The purple shadows beneath The pink-haired woman's eyes were deep and bruising. Twyll felt her heart cry out to her. She could feel all of their energies writhing with coiled tension. Shalom was stiff as a stick and Kyan was a dark roiling mass of vitalities. Karsyn's was just dull, grey and drab. Her ability to read auras was courtesy of her mind crystals. She could read a person's auras and immediately know what that person was feeling or thinking about, a vague replica of mind reading. 

Right now, she noticed that Cadence was unsure of what to do and that Trystan felt resigned. Bren was hard to read.

Twyll's face dawned with realisation. Bren was blocking her auras, and slowly covering up the others as well. In their dazed states, they head forgotten to protect themselves mentally. Bren had their backs.

Her cheeks heated at the cognizance of her actions. She had read someone psychically, violating their thoughts and boundaries.

"Are you just going to stand there like a muted statue or are you going to introduce yourself?" Trystan mocked.

"I didn't know that statues could talk that they needed to be muted." Twyll retorted lamely.

Sighing in resignation he gestured for her to speak.

"I'm Twyll."

"We know..." Kyan drawled.

Twyll was taken aback at his attitude.

"Kyan is just being a pain in the ass." The young man who she presumed was Shalom, stated. "I am Shalom and this is my Tavarys- Fiancèe, Karsyn." He corrected.

"What is Tavarys?" Twyll questioned.

"Tavarys is the term that is used for two people whose crystal energies are interconnected. This is also not to be confused with bratrství, who are a trio that has become connected through years of training." Kyan responded in a bored tone.

"So you, Shalom and Trystan are Bratrsví?"

"Aren't you the smartest cookie ever!" He replied in a mock enthusiastic voice making her feel extremely irritated.

Fuming she sat down at the farthest end of the table, between Cadence and Bren. Karsyn hadn't talked the whole time and had preferred to stare at her empty plate.

Shalom looked at Twyll with mild curiosity and asked, "I hear that you can wield all the elements and are still mastering death, blood, shapeshifting and mind along with a little healing and that Trystan's psychopathic, assholey father wants to kill you for that. Is it true?"

The entire table went still.

Twyll just stared at him blankly causing Trystan to clear his throat and break the awkward silence.

"Let's eat, yeah?"

And then he exaggeratingly flourished his hand and dishes filled with a multitude of food appeared on the table.

Dishes of roasted partridge and chicken with several different sauces and bowls of steaming stew and vegetables. A few loaves of light, feathery brown bread and yellow butter. Right in the middle, there was a large platter on top of which was placed the biggest roast turkey she had ever seen surrounded by rice tossed in spices. The aroma was heavenly and Twyll felt like she had gone to heaven.

Noticing her blissed look Trystan couldn't help but smile. Twyll was a mystery. A sassy mouth that gets embarrassed. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful. Her eyes were a muted gold with white pupils that bled into the gold in thin veins. Her skin was pale porcelain with a few red spots down the side of her face and he liked that she was not perfect. He liked that she had covered her lips in pink but had not bothered to hide her imperfections. If she was any girl at the club he would have asked her for a dance or a drink. But she wasn't. She was the girl who his father had invited to kill. To assassinate because she was most likely An Heir. The only one powerful enough to dethrone him.

His father was secretive. Manipulative. Trystan shuddered to think about what he could do to harm her. The great dictator is what the people called him. Great not because he contributed to the community, but because he was the Crystal Champion.

The Crystal Champion was the wielder who had defeated the last Dictator in a challenged duel. Trystan's father had won against the last dictator with harness power. He had used a modified amplifier that enhanced his abilities. His father was strong in the sense that he was calculating and instinctive. His only weakness though was the Fire.

"This is the most delicious meal I've had in year's!" Twyll exclaimed in wonder.

"This is basic food. The gluttonous sycophants at The Tower have even more elaborate meals." Bren stated matter-of-factly.

"It is truly a travesty the way they behave." A small voice added.

Karsyn

Twyll looked at her with fiery eyes. "She speaks."

Karsyn looked back at her.

"I apologise for coming off as rude. That was not my intention." She said in a blank voice.

"I don't blame you. I wouldn't want a stranger in my home as well when I am grieving." Twyll replied in a perfunctory manner.

The others at the table stiffened considerably.

Karsyn smiled.

"You have lost someone as well. Yet, you suppress. Your soul is burning, you will be destroyed unless you find a way to control the flames." Her eyes were burning with pink fire.

"You are a descendant of the Víla." Twyll whispered.

She was in awe.

Víla were a rare species. Beautiful, but rare.

Karsyn laughed. "I am." She admitted. "I do prefer to hide my heritage though."

Twyll nodded in understanding. Víla were not very welcome on the continent. They were wildly misconstrued as wild animals with dripping fangs. Instead, they were wise beings with abilities that unlike stoechìans depended on lineage. Karsyn was a descendant, so her abilities would mostly be shadows of what Víla could do in the past ages.

"Are you a seer?"

"More or less. I can pick up a person's fears, secrets. It's a lot like mind reading except I'm reading or sensing emotions. It's very hard to control what you are hearing though. Hearing the darkness and the demons. Feeling it's oil surround your mind." She shuddered. "Jenny had the same power. Hers we're stronger due to Shalom. She used to wake up screaming at night." Karsyn whispered. "At least now shed won't have nightmares."

After that, she turned quiet.

Twyll dropped her chin. She could feel the Duch that all of them were emitting. Trystan's was oddly a little stronger. Shining almost, in a figurative sense.

They quickly finished the delicacies until all that was left we're bones and dregs.

"That was a lovely meal Kars," Bren said warmly.

"You cooked it all?" Twyll asked incredulously looking at Karsyn.

"I had help." She said mysteriously.

Everyone got up and wished each other a good night.

Cadence slipped out the door to put up shields against the house lest The Dictator found out that Twyll was here early.

"Jenny's funeral is tomorrow. Would you want to come?" Bren asked.

"I don't want to intrude," Twyll remarked hesitantly.

Bren waved her off.

"Nonsense. You didn't get to light your aunt's pyre either. We will have a pyre for your aunt as well Twyll."

Twyll looked at her in confusion.

"They recovered her body from the manor," Bren explained.

Twyll could feel her eyes burning with tears.

"Thank you." She whispered, her voice cracking.

Bren nodded and walked off.

Twyll carefully started walking down the other side cursing herself for not asking Bren where her rooms were. She took a couple of turns and reached a door that was identical to hers.

She opened the door and the sight before her eyes made her jaw drop.

"Well, hello Twyll. This is quite a... Surprise."

Trystan said cockily.