Authors: K.L. Morton
"It must of been what Micah meant when he said your blood wasn't tainted Trinny, because your dad is one of the original Elementals and your mum is a princess, it makes sense now." Emma said as they entered the archway.
"There is one more thing Trinny." Lucille stopped at the door.
"There's more?" Trinny asked in an unbelieving tone.
"Your father called you Trinity for a reason. Did I ever tell you you were born with no hair, not one strand, you were three before you grew any."
"What's that got to do with my name?" Trinny was confused.
"Your father knew the moment you were born how special you really are."
"Mum, what do you mean?" Lucille looked into her daughter's amber eyes.
"You were not the first half cast. The day I met your father, he was aimlessly traveling through the Fae realm, he had run away in anger from Cassis. He'd overheard his parents fighting, and was struggling with what he had learnt."
Lucille paused, taking in Trinny's lost expression. "He had learnt that his mother had had an affair with the King of the Air Elementals, his parents kept it secret from him and of course their people, they were worried James would be rejected, but when he was born, he had all the traits of Earth, and his mother didn't worry any further. All Air Elementals are born with no hair, the males never grow hair at all, and the females only get hair when they are young children. Your father named you Trinity because it means 'threefold'. I was never really sure, but when I saw you stop the wind in that wheat field, I knew. You have the power of Earth, Air and Water Trinny, when you grasp hold of your abilities, no one will be able to defeat you, not even the Dark Empress herself." Trinny's mouth had nearly dropped to her chest. She couldn't speak.
"Mrs. Gaia, I think we need to give Trinny some time out for a minute or two and let her collect her thoughts." Emma could see Trinny needed to process all this information.
"Of course. Trinny, we'll be inside if you need us." Lucille and Emma left Trinny alone; her head was spinning from all the information. But she wasn't alone, Aarion came out from behind the tree, Trinny met his emerald green eyes she adored so much.
"You heard all that?" She asked in a whisper. Aarion nodded. "I guess you don't want anything to do with me now, all the mixing of races stuff and the half cast thing." Aarion moved toward Trinny, he cupped her face in both his hands, her lips slightly parted as she realized what he was doing. He brushed his lips against hers, his hands dropped to her arms; he squeezed them gently as he kissed her lips fully. She felt a tingle spreading over her body from where his lips touched
hers, and where his hands caressed her. His kiss became more passionate as his arms moved around her, he now embraced her so strongly she didn't even know if she could take another breath, but she didn't care, she never wanted him to let go, even if this moment was her last. His kiss softened and his lips parted from hers, his eyes were closed as he gently leant his forehead against hers.
"I just wanted to do that once." He said in a breathy whisper. "I wanted you to have a memory of me kissing you, something that can only be ours." He had opened his large green eyes and was looking with such tenderness into Trinny's.
"You make it sound like a goodbye." She could sense there was more he had to say.
"Your mother and father were never meant to be together, they had to hide their love and leave their families just so they could be. I can't do that to my family Trinny, I have a responsibility to my people."
"Why do you feel all this is your responsibility? Why would you give up your happiness and what you want, just to make your people happy? I am proud of my parents for the choice they made, they followed their hearts, I really hope that's a lesson I can take from them and put into my own life." Trinny's convictions hit a nerve with Aarion.
"I don't have the same luxuries as you. I'm sorry." He kissed Trinny slowly on the forehead and walked quickly into the darkness of the Willow trees. Trinny felt overwhelmed, she was just discovering who she was, and now her heart was being ripped out of her chest, longing to run after the person she wanted to be with more than anyone. But she also knew that she could never be with someone who wasn't willing to give her
their
whole heart. She didn't want to be alone
anymore, she walked into the old stone building and put on her bravest face, she huddled up beside her mum like she did when she was little.
"Are you okay honey, I know this is a lot to handle?" Lucille put her arm around her daughter.
"No, I'm not." Trinny looked up as Aarion came into the room, he looked at Trinny then quickly turned away, joining Morthos and Garus.
"You're growing up faster than I would have liked." Lucille spoke lovingly into her daughter’s ear.
"When we were in the forest, how much did you see?" Trinny asked her mum.
"I've been with you since you arrived in the Fae realm, I was waiting in the forest for your arrival. Once I organized someone to look after the cafe I used your fathers
Cipher
to portal me through. I haven't really missed much since then." Lucille smiled at Trinny.
"Oh...I don't really know what to say then, can we just not talk about it right now?" Trinny was feeling a bit embarrassed, the last thing she ever wanted was for her mum to see her kiss a boy.
"Why? What happened? Am I missing something?" Emma didn't like being left out of anything.
"I'm sure Trinny will share when she's ready." Lucille said with a knowing smile. Emma looked disappointed, but she respected her friend enough to let her share in her own time, Emma had a very strong feeling it was about Aarion.
"We leave at midnight for Taeith, try and get some rest before then." Morthos bellowed out.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
'The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.' ~Marcel Proust
It was dark on the river, the evening was cooler than the last couple of nights, but the breeze felt refreshing on Trinny's face.
"This boat is pretty cool, kind of like those Viking ones, but without all the oars, good thing, because I wasn't going to offer to row." Emma declared to Trinny. The old style cog boat was very smooth on the water, it sailed through the river a lot faster than Trinny thought it could. It was about fifty feet long, with a curved bow and stern, there were carved scroll shapes on the tip of each curved end. The rear of the boat had a raised platform where Morthos, Garus and Aarion sat. One of the Elves was steering the rudder and another was keeping an eye on the square sail, which was on a tall single mask in the center of the boat. Trinny was pleased it had a wide flat deck, as she had always felt a little queasy on boats, but this was bigger than other ones she had been on.
"It's so dark tonight, no moon or stars, do you think it's going to rain?" Trinny asked her mother.
"I can smell it, most likely tomorrow, we should be fine tonight." Lucille said as she drew in the night air.
"You can smell if rain is coming?" Emma asked.
"It's just another form of water, I can smell or sense coming rain, or if there is a water source close." Lucille answered.
"Do you think I could do that?" Trinny asked.
"It will come to you, it'd be hard right now as we're on the river, but as your senses become more finely attuned, you should be able to know if rain is coming." Lucille stroked her daughter’s hair gently.
"So what
can
Trinny do Mrs. Gaia?" Emma asked.
"We have seen she can heal, and move earth mass, she has been able to stop the wind and use water to call upon her people, the Nixies, most of these things she has done without trying. Because she has a royal bloodline, she has more power than normal, like I froze the Gray Annis; only Nixie royals can do that. But I really don't know what she is capable of, I know she is powerful, I feel it." Lucille smiled at her daughter.
"Do you think I will ever be able to shape shift like you?" Trinny asked.
"I don't know, time will tell."
"Shape shift? What do you mean by that?" Emma asked excitedly.
"Nixies can take the form of many types of animals from this realm, no other human forms, just animals. It takes many years of training to develop the skill and not all Nixies even bother, but as part of a royal bloodline I was required to learn all of our ancient ways."
"That is so cool." Emma shook her head in amazement, she felt like she had opened up a fairytale book and jumped straight into the pages to join the story.
"It can have its perks." Lucille looked out along the dark water of the river, she didn't want to let Trinny or Emma
see
the worry on her face. She knew her daughter may not be ready for what was ahead of her, and she didn't know what Trinny was really capable of, she was afraid for her.
"Mrs. Gaia, do you think Nina and Micah are still alive?" Emma had thought often about Nina, in the short time
she had spent with her, she knew she had made a friend for life, she was just hoping that meant a very long life.
"The Elves have sent scouts out searching the realm for the Dark Empress's lair, there are no better trackers than Elves, we'll know soon enough if she has spared them. She'd only keep them alive if they were to serve some purpose to her, lets hope that's the case." Emma nodded at Lucille and
lay
back on the deck where she had laid her sleeping bag, hoping to get some sleep.
"Mum, when will we arrive in Taeith?" Trinny questioned.
"Early morning. I need to go ahead of you, there are a few old friends I need to see before you arrive in Taeith."
"Will you be safe?" Trinny looked worried.
"I'll be in the water, there is no safer place for a Nixie. I'll see you in the morning, try to get some sleep Trinny." Lucille gave her daughter a kiss and dived silently into the river, Trinny laid her head next to Emma.
"He kissed me!"
"What? Aarion? I knew it, I could tell something was going on...So, tell all." Emma had sat up on her elbow leaning toward Trinny.
"Well, I kissed him first and it was great, but he got all weird on me. Then tonight near the river when you and mum went back inside, he was there. He heard everything. He just kissed me, it was amazing, everything I had always imagined but so much better. But he basically said it would be the only time as we couldn't be together." Trinny looked sad.
"Oh yeah, that stupid 'no mixing races' thing. You two would have been a perfect match too, both being royal and all." Emma said as she lay back down.
"What do you mean? What kind of royal?" Trinny sat back up suddenly and Emma leaned forward to meet her gaze.
"He didn't tell you? Garus and Morthos said he was the crown prince of the Fairon, that's why he has that orb power. They said he would always choose his people and protecting the Ora over a relationship because that's his duty." Emma felt for her friend, she could see Trinny had deep feelings for Aarion. Trinny looked back at where he was standing at the stern looking out toward the riverbank, there was a flag flying high at the very rear of the boat behind him, the same gold symbols that were embellished on his sleeve, were on the flag.
"How could I have not seen it?" She asked Emma.
"He can't have wanted you to know, maybe it was nice to not be a prince for a while."
"I understand now, he said he had responsibilities and he couldn't hurt his family." Trinny looked back at Emma, "I'll be okay Em. And the bonus is, you don't have to try and set up my first kiss now." Trinny nudged her friend, hoping to make her laugh, but Emma didn't.