Fall apart if you must- honor your emotions
Somewhere in Northern Ardeneon.
April 14
If there's anything River had learnt throughout the entire journey, it's that it's okay to fall apart, but still, he couldn't bring himself to do so, regardless of the stabs his heart had taken, it was like he was numb to it all.
Walking into a room on the plane at the request of little Seraphinius, he plants himself on the springy bed that is positioned at the center of the room and flips the journal open.
ORYN LADISTON'S
Notes on:
WATER MANIPULATION
"Oryn? But the book is for dad so he must manipulate water too... why did Rune say it was for me and Skai, she doesn't manipulate water" he mumbles to himself. That aside, it was all starting to make sense to him, "My name is River, and I manipulate water right, a river is a body of water and Skai manipulates air, Skai and sky are pronounced the same way, I guess some names do have reasons."
On another note, He realized Skai and him couldn't be from the same Kingdom, it's not possible, if they were they would have had the same or similar skills, "what's dad playing at?" he flips through the pages.
"Are Skai and I really twins? Do we actually share the same mother?"
"River?" Seraphinius taps him breaking him out of his self-conversation.
"Hmm?" he smiles at him "What's up kid?"
"Where are we going?" the little boy tilts his head in confusion "I've never been eaten by a big bird before"
River bursts out in laughter "You're funny kid, this isn't a bird Phinie, it's an aircraft" he corrects him realizing that the boy is out of touch with the world. "How about I teach you some stuff?" he asks and Seraphinius nods excitedly.
River spends the rest of the night teaching him some of the basic things he should know at his age. He knew Seraphinius would catch on quickly, he's a smart kid. Somewhere during their lessons, they fell asleep.
...
Soft sobs wake River from his sleep, he takes his scroll touch out tiredly turning the flashlight on, looking around the room he spots Skai in the corner with her knees up to her chest and her head hidden in them.
He slowly walks over to her and sits by her. Wrapping his arm around her, she looks at him sniffing before relaxing in his arms. he doesn't say anything, He just lets her calm down.
"Am I a douche, Riv?" she asks sniffing again trying to hold back her tears.
"I mean, sometimes" he answers honestly, and she sighs. "Why do you ask?"
"I like Dexter" she blurts out.
He was taken aback by this but tried to keep his cool, doing his best not to ask the 'did he reject you?' question. Because that was the only plausible reason he could come up with for why she's crying "Oh" he says not having much to say, he knew she can't control who she likes but he still would have rather she have fallen for Ferit, remembering how she was going on about how hot he is a week ago.
"I'm not going to date him" she adds.
"Okay" River pauses calculating his words "Does he like you?"
"We kissed" she starts to play with his fingers. "Well, I kissed him, more of made out with him" she blabbers.
River holds in his feelings. He couldn't stand to see his sister cry again over a guy. Skai was off limits. He thought Dexter knew that. She didn't need another heartbreak again and now he could only think that Dexter was already making her cry. "When did you guys even find the time to kiss?" River chuckles as calm as he could.
"That doesn't matter" she whines dropping his hand "I keep hurting him Riv" she sighs "I keep hurting him because I'm scared, I'm afraid."
"I think you should take your time, if Dexter is right for you, he'll wait, I'm honestly not in support of it" he pauses watching her play with her own fingers, "but I'm in support of your happiness, understand your emotions first, understand what you want- and don't say you want to suck his face off because first of all ew and secondly that's why you always get hurt" he flicks her shoulder and she winces "understand what you actually want"
"How do you have such inspiring words, but zero game" she giggles.
"It's not that I have zero game bubblehead, it's that I'm being careful" he huffs "I haven't met someone that has made me want to give my all to yet" he bites the inside of his cheek.
"What about Maliyah?" she looks up at him and heat rushes to his face.
"How did you-" she cuts him off.
"Just because you are dense when it comes to love doesn't mean everyone else is" she rolls her eyes looking back at the floor. "Glad you finally realized you like her" she says leaving him stunned.
"What if Maliyah is like us?" he asks her.
"What are the odds, doubt it though, we would have been closer to her, Dad would have found a way"
"He really used us like puppets in a show" River sighs.
"Yeah, but I can't bring myself to be mad at him" she returns to playing with his fingers.
"Yeah" he nods "come on, we'll land in a couple hours, you should get some sleep" he tells her gently pushing her off of his body.
He gets up and stretches his hand out for her to grab. She takes it and stands up.
Three months ago, if River had found out that Dexter and his sister had kissed, He would have made sure Dexter had to go for nose surgery, but now... he's still going to punch him, but his nose won't break.
As worried as he is that Skai could get hurt from this, Dexter is his friend too, He didn't want his sister to break his heart, and knowing her, he was almost completely sure she'd probably break his heart, and she wouldn't even realize it. Because Skai was used to short relationships, Dexter always wanted something lasting, he wanted that stability in a person, something Skai wasn't good at...being there for others.