Sisters

The grand chamber door swung open with a melodic creak, flooding the room with golden sunlight that seemed to dance across the polished stone floor. Eren, nestled in Princess Elysia's arms, blinked against the sudden brightness, his infant eyes still struggling to focus on details beyond blurry outlines and vibrant colors.

"They're here," Elysia whispered, her lips brushing against his forehead. Her arms tightened protectively around his swaddled form as she rose from her carved chair. "Remember what I told the attendants—the child is delicate and must not be overwhelmed."

Before Eren could process her words, a flurry of movement and excited voices filled the chamber. Three figures burst through the doorway, their movements too quick and graceful to be entirely human. Like Elysia, they moved with an ethereal lightness that defied gravity.

"Mother! Let us see! Please, let us see our new sibling!" The voices overlapped in a chorus of musical tones, each distinct yet harmonizing perfectly with the others.

Elysia laughed softly, the sound like wind chimes in a gentle breeze. "Patience, my daughters. Come forward one at a time. Lyra first, as is proper."

The tallest of the three approached, and Eren felt himself being studied by intense silver eyes. This sister—Lyra—wore her hair in an intricate crown of braids, adorned with what appeared to be actual stars, tiny points of light woven into her midnight-blue tresses. Her face was angular, her features sharp yet harmonious, and her pointed ears extended further than Elysia's, decorated with delicate silver chains.

"My little elf," Lyra breathed, her voice catching with emotion as she extended a slender finger to touch Eren's cheek. "So perfect. So tiny."

Elves,' the word resonated through Eren's confused mind. 'I'm an elf? Elves are real here?'

"May I hold her?" Lyra asked, already extending her arms.

Her?' Eren's thoughts spun in confusion. 'Did she just say "her"?'

Before he could make sense of this, he felt himself being transferred to new arms. Lyra held him with practiced ease, cradling him close to her ample bosom, the warmth of her body enveloping him.

"Look at these eyes," she whispered. "Already so aware. You will be a great warrior someday, baby sister, just like your eldest sister Lyra." She bent to press her forehead against his, and for a fleeting moment, he felt something—a spark of connection, a flash of emotion too complex for his infant brain to process.

"Don't monopolize her, Lyra!" Another voice, lighter and more musical, broke the moment. "I've been dreaming of our new sister for months!"

This sister practically bounced forward, her movements brimming with barely contained energy. Where Lyra was tall and imposing, this one was lithe and quick, her expressions changing as rapidly as clouds across the sky. Her hair cascaded in loose azure waves down her back, adorned with what looked like living blossoms that opened and closed with her breathing.

"This is Naia," Elysia explained softly. "Your second sister."

Naia's eyes were the color of a summer sky, and they sparkled with mischief as she took Eren from Lyra's reluctant arms. "Hello, little starlight," she cooed, spinning in a gentle circle that made the room blur around them. "I'm going to teach you all the best hiding places in the palace, and show you how to listen to the trees, and help you find your favorite colors in the night garden!"

Eren felt dizzy from the motion and the overwhelming sensations. 'Baby sister? Why do they keep calling me that?' His thoughts struggled against the limitations of his infant body. 'I'm not a girl. I'm not their sister. I'm... I was...'

But the memories of who he had been were growing hazier by the day, replaced by the immediate reality of this new existence. All he knew with certainty was that something felt wrong about being called "sister."

"Naia, you'll make her dizzy," chided the third sister, stepping forward with more reserved grace. "Remember how fragile newborns are."

This sister was different from the others—her skin had a subtle golden undertone, and her eyes were the deep green of forest shadows. Her hair was shorter, barely brushing her shoulders, and seemed to shift between brown and green depending on how the light struck it.

"And this is Sorrel," Elysia said as the third sister carefully accepted Eren from Naia's arms. "Your third sister, but first in wisdom among my daughters."

Sorrel cradled Eren gently, her touch featherlight as she ran a single finger along his cheek. A small smile played at her lips. "So soft," she murmured fondly, then lightly stroked his tiny ear, as if memorizing its shape.

Eren remained still, bracing himself for another remark like Lyra's or Naia's, but Sorrel simply continued petting him, quiet and thoughtful, before handing him back to Elysia.

"That's enough for today," Elysia announced firmly. "Your baby sister needs rest. You may all return tomorrow."

The sisters protested, but Elysia was firm. Once they had filed out, Elysia carried Eren to the window, where the strange dual moons were now visible in the darkening sky.

"They suspect nothing," she whispered, more to herself than to Eren. "But Sorrel senses something... she always was the most perceptive."

She looked down at Eren, her emerald eyes filled with a strange mixture of love and worry. "In all our recorded history, there has never been a elf born like your kind. Never. Not in existence."

Eren stared up at her, understanding far more than any infant should.

"I knew from the moment I first held you," she continued, her voice dropping even lower. "You are unique. Unprecedented. Perhaps even dangerous, in the eyes of some. That is why I keep your true nature secret, even from your sisters. For now, you are my child and will always be, as all elfin children have always been."

She turned away from the window, carrying him back to his cradle. "I do not know how this miracle came to be, my little star. Perhaps your soul comes from beyond our realm, from worlds I cannot imagine. But I know this—you are mine to protect, and protect you I shall."

As she laid him down in the cradle, Eren's mind was awhirl with new information. 'A world without my type of elves. I'm something impossible here. Something unheard of.'

"Sleep now," Elysia murmured, drawing a light blanket woven with silver threads over him. "Your sisters love you already, though they know you only as their baby sister. Someday, when you're older, when you can understand... perhaps then the truth can be known."

As sleep began to claim him, Eren's last coherent thought was both simple and profound: 'I don't belong here. I never will. But maybe... maybe that's exactly why I came.'

The following morning, Eren woke to find Naia's face peering down at him, her sky-blue eyes wide with excitement.

"Good morning, little star!" she whispered conspiratorially. "I snuck in while Mother was meeting with the Council. Don't tell!"

She lifted him from the cradle with surprising strength, cradling him against her chest, the softness of her ample bosom surrounding him.

"Look out there, baby sister," Naia continued, moving to the balcony. "That's our kingdom —Moonlight, realm of the starborn elves. Someday you'll run through those forests with me."

Eren blinked at the vista spread before him—an impossible landscape of silver-blue trees stretching to misty mountains, with structures that seemed to grow from the living wood rather than being built upon it. Crystalline spires caught the morning light, sending rainbows dancing across the forest canopy.

'It's beautiful,' he thought. 'Alien, but beautiful.'

"I made you something," Naia continued, shifting him to one arm while she pulled a small object from a pouch at her waist. "It's a starstone. Mother says you're too young for gifts, but I think you're already more aware than she realizes."

The stone in her palm glowed with an inner light, shifting between blue and purple as it caught the sunlight.

"When you're scared or lonely, hold this and think of me. I've sung my essence into it. It will comfort you until you're old enough to come find me yourself."

She pressed the stone against his tiny palm, and to both their surprise, Eren's fingers closed around it reflexively.

"See!" Naia laughed delightedly. "I knew you were special!"

As the warm stone pulsed against his skin, Eren felt a strange connection forming—not just to the object, but to this vibrant sister who saw him only as her baby sister, never knowing the truth of who and what he was.

In that moment, despite all the confusion and displacement, Eren felt the first tentative roots of belonging beginning to take hold in his new world.