December 24, 2002 – 19:10
"BRO!" said Stephanie and Frank at the same time.
They all stopped eating.
"Why would we?" said Coralis.
"You and other humans aren't our enemies, I don't see why we would kill you all just because we could," said Sebastian.
"Besides, if she wanted to kill us all, Coralis wouldn't need to use any sort of spell. She's just as deadly with a knife in her hand," said Stephanie.
"Most definitely," said Sebastian.
"I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I can't help myself from wondering if you're all into a fake bubble, feeling safe when you aren't. I'm confused about all of this. Coralis, if you grew up in orphanages, shouldn't you hate us all? Unless you didn't."
"BRO! That's enough!" said Frank, then looked at Coralis. "Luv, you don't have to answer him."
"It's fine," said Coralis, massaging his thigh under the table to reassure him. "It's a legit concern, especially considering the current heated climate among the non-human-kinds. There are a lot of groups and factions out there wanting me to hate humans enough to turn against them."
"But you would never, I know you would never, right? Neither would Sebastian," said Audrey.
"I would never, indeed. My upbringing taught me that some humans are horrible people, but thanks to some of my social workers and some of the children I've been homed with, my past also taught me that not all humans are despicable. When I started elemental school and my birth parents' past caught up to me, I found out that the worst people are among our kinds and quickly understood why humans needed to be protected from us.
"Over the years, a lot of radical clans of nasties have tried to recruit Coralis or weaponize her, and she killed the many of those who came at her for that purpose. My family believes that it's a good thing that me and Coralis both fell in love with a human, arguing that the world doesn't need more full-blooded and that it ensures that neither one of us would join the lunatics. We aren't your enemies."
While Raymond and others simmered what Coralis and Sebastian said, Linda got up and collected the plates.
"Your dad is a good man," said Molly.
"You met him?" said Raymond.
"Yes. When we found out about Audrey, they took us to watch a game of flyball live. It's a popular sport among mages. Molly and I met him there with Sebastian's brother. They're good people," said Lizzy.
Lizzy got up to help Linda. Sebastian and Coralis looked at each other while Louis and Molly headed back to the basement.
"Let's refill our glasses and return to the basement, shall we?" said Stephanie, getting up.
Stephanie refilled all of their glasses. She emptied the bottle and headed to the basement, grabbing a full one on her way. Coralis and Sebastian followed her.
"It's a lot to take in, I know, but trust me, Coralis and Sebastian are on our side. I've seen and heard enough shit to know that with certainty, and I will fight for her," said Frank before getting up to join the others in the basement.
A few minutes later, Linda and Lizzy returned from the kitchen.
"I wanted to ask you guys," said Linda as she sat next to Audrey, looking at Coralis and Sebastian, "when Frank spoke to Pier on the phone, he asked him how he knew that Audrey is like him, considering they never physically met or touched. Pier said they could recognize their kids without touching them… what did he mean by it?"
Sebastian coughed the wine he had in his mouth, and Stephanie gently tapped his back. Coralis blushed.
"It's a hard one for us to answer because we don't have kids. It's not something we have experienced ourselves," said Coralis.
"If I'm to make an educated guess based on what I've heard from my mother and relatives with children, it has to do with recognizing our bloodline scent, and the feeling when the elemental energy of our kids is awakening. Each bloodline has its unique energy scent. Unlike DNA, our energy signature isn't a blend of the parents' ones. Well, it rarely is," said Sebastian, glancing at Coralis. "As for Pier, if he came near with Audrey and sensed a faint copy of his essence, it's probably how he knew."
"Based on my experience with spiritual spells, I'll add that Pier's response wasn't entirely accurate. I think that he could sense that Audrey was indeed his daughter when he sensed an imprint of himself in her soul… but he wouldn't have been able to tell for sure that she was an elemental based on that. If Audrey had been born human, the elemental gene would be inactive, but still there, and he would still be able to sense his elemental imprint in her, I believe," said Coralis.
"Spiritual spells… like summoning demons or things like that?" said Raymond.
"No, we aren't witches. A lot of witches are into that type of hellshit. Demon-summoning is entirely something else. A spiritual spell, or spirit spell, is something else. It relates to souls on this plane, not so much about the Hell-realms," said Sebastian.
"Those witches are what give mages a bad rep," said Frank.
"Some mages and other types of elementals are well-versed in that kind of hellshit and even among us, many elementals associate spirit mages with demon-summoning type of spells, but Frank is correct. Witches who are also into that type of hellshit are the reason why most mages will take offence when called witches," said Sebastian.
"Personally, I don't care if people refer to me as a witch, but yes, a lot of us get deeply offended when called witches," said Coralis.
"Oh wow, okay. This is a lot more complex than I thought," said Raymond.
"Yeah, it is. That's why I told you to let us explain before you jump to conclusions," said Stephanie.
"Could you summon a demon if you wanted to? Not trying to be an ass, I'm genuinely curious," said Raymond.
"We could if we wanted to. Humans could summon them too, but the rituals surrounding that are very complex and vary depending on which demon is to be summoned and what species the summoner is. I fought demons, I would never summon them just because I can," said Coralis.
"I remember you mentioning demons once when we were talking about you saving Vic's life, but you didn't elaborate on it… you fought demons at school, right?" said Frank.
"Yes. We were 12, Victoria nearly got taken by demons."
"The story behind your scars?"
"Yes, for some of them."
Frank slid his chair closer to hers so that he could pass his arm around her shoulders.
"Did you know?" said Stephanie to Sebastian.
"No. We didn't know each other back then, and her school didn't publicize it either."
Louis opened a new bottle of wine and refilled the empty glasses.
"Sebastian, when you explained to us why Pier wasn't allowed to make the deal for the traditional duel with Frank, you mentioned something about mates and rituals when Stephanie compared marking a mate to the werewolf notion of it, so I'm curious. If it is indeed the equivalent of a marriage, what is your version of it?" said Louis.
Stephanie blushed, and Coralis chuckled lightly at Sebastian, who was glancing at Stephanie and quickly averted her stares to look at the people around them. Frank stared at Coralis.
"Oh, that's a good question! What are your rituals? You said a mate is like a soulmate, right?" said Molly.
"I think it's the first time I've seen these two seemingly embarrassed, especially Sebastian," said Lizzy.
"Well, I supposed now is as good of a time as it will ever be to explain it," said Coralis.