reunion (Thia)

It was hard to tell which plane they were coming on. Standing just outside the airport, they all looked much the same. I had considered for a while, after staying up with Jay most the night, whether this was a special enough occasion to dress up for. In the end, I decided to wear one of mom's old dresses. Purple with blue glitter and ribbon. One of her favourites if my aunt was to be believed. It was one of my favourites too. (Favourite dresses that is. I'm not really one for wearing dresses that much.) I thought about putting my hair in a ponytail but after how that had gone last time, I decided to just leave it down and attempt to keep it tucked behind my ears.

I got so distracted watching each plane coming in, wondering, 'maybe it's that one…or that one', that I didn't notice when the group of four adults, two of them holding babies, and two small boys were coming up to us. At least until I heard the cries of "Uncle Jay!"

They ran right into him and he opened his arms to receive them. Jordy was the first born of his nephews so it was somewhat surprising to see that Tommy was pretty much the same size as him. Tommy had only been a baby when Jay last saw him. He was a little over three now whereas Jordy was coming on five. Him being older, he was the most likely to remember the last time he saw Jay.

"Look at you two." Jay said, holding each by the shoulder. He looked from Jordy to Tommy. "You've gotten so big."

Jordy was a fair-haired, blue eyed, merry faced little boy, where Tommy's hair and skin tone was slightly darker and he must've been tall for his age for them to be so close in height, him being almost two years younger than Jordy. I wondered if that was what Jay looked like when he was younger.

"Keeping us busy." Called out a sharp female voice. "They get rowdier as they get older. You might be surprised…"

Brothers can be a bit rowdy sometimes. I held back a chuckle.

Releasing the boys, Jay made his way to the one who had spoken. "Helen."

The eldest of the carpenter children, Helendra was twice Jay's age. Her face had a certain strict wariness about it. I supposed, now she was a mother of two as well as an older sister, She must feel responsible for quite a lot. She had the same fair hair and blue eyes as her son and in her arms, a little toddler.

None of us had to ask who it must've been. "So, this is little Liz, huh." Jay said.

The child had short blond curls and a sweet smile as she grinded and reached out as he came closer. "Hello." Her blue eyes were much more piercing than her brothers or her mothers. "Hello, Hello, it's Uncle Jay."

She Giggled as he patted her hair.

"Aw, your lovely you are. Yes, you are. Yes, you are."

Her giggling intensified until I noticed me and several others were also starting to fight laughter.

"She's not able to talk yet but she likes to laugh." Her brother explained.

"I bet you do, don't you." Jay said, with a chuckle."

"I think she can understand us sometimes."

With all the laughter, we hadn't noticed the other couple sneak up behind them.

Addison, the first-born son, Jay's only brother. And next to him, his wife and child. Narcissa wasn't even out of the blankets yet, still just a babe in arms. At that moment, she appeared to be sleeping. When Jay reached out to touch her, I noticed her mother warned him not to be too hard. Sarah was a kind woman but she could be firm sometimes.

Gently, Jay stroked the baby's head. "Aw, you are beautiful. She is. Isn't she beautiful?" He looked up and everyone around him smiled and nodded.

I smiled too, trying to be happy for him. This was his family. A family he hadn't seen in years. I had my family right here. At least, most of it.

"Hay."

I blinked and looked up. In my wanderings, I hadn't noticed everyone was now looking at me.

"Don't worry." Helen told me. "We thought about you too."

She and Tom, her husband, parted to reveal a fifth party member. I barely had enough time to acknowledge my mother's other daughter, Tianna, my half-sister, before she came running towards me. I never thought I'd be so happy to see her. Without hesitation, I ran to her, my feet leaving the ground as I jumped into her arms. Perhaps it was a good thing I'd chosen to wear mom's old dress.

"I didn't know you were coming." Gasped, into her ear.

She sighed into mine. "It's a cosy catch-up with family." She kept her arms around me but pulled away so we could see each other. "How could I not come?"

Tianna wasn't as pale as me but her hair was lighter, and her eyes were more aqua than green. I viewed this as a good thing for now since it might've made it harder to tell that she was another daughter of my mother. I started to wonder how my dad would react to her being here.

To take my mind off that, I brought up aunt Rose, asking if she would also be joining us.

Her face dampened a little, "No, she's busy."

I shrugged. "Doesn't really matter. This is enough."

Just when we thought this day couldn't get much better, upon arriving back at Nebula's Rise, one of the first things Jay did was introduce the two boys to Buddy."

"Don't worry, he already knows us." Adison had assured. Even Tiana seemed alright with the golden Hypigriph.

Before they went running in and straight to the command centre and Jay had to hold out an arm to stop them from entering.

"Wheeere do you think your goin'?"

Jordy groaned in disappointment.

"We just wanna look." Tommy said with a shrug.

"Maybe later."

But one of them had already spotted my father's sword, sitting in its holder by the desk and went to take a closer look, meaning I also had to intervene.

"Careful with that." I said, grabbing their hand before they could touch it.

"Does it have a name?" Jordy asked.

"Shadow." It was the first name that came to my head, but then I caught my fathers' eye just outside the door and saw him smiling. He approved.

Most commanders probably wouldn't be smiling if they saw young children running around their command centre. I guess he's gotten used to it after seeing me there so often. Besides, once the boys saw him standing there, ominous in the doorway, they made a hasty getaway.

He patted my shoulder as I passed him but we didn't say anything. We didn't need to.