I am so surprised by the feelings rushing through me, the words come out loud instead of speaking them through our bond.
“I thought you didn’t like that name.” He smirks out in my head. I can hear him chuckle. He is right about that. Could it be that he read my thoughts, felt the sting in my chest when he spoke those words? But the words are doing something different to me as well. I hate how the word honey start to change from pain to something else. Hate how the word changes from the only memory of my parents to a word that reminds me of him. A word I am almost looking forward to hear. If it is coming from his lips at least. So maybe I am not starting to hate it more. Maybe I am starting to like being called Honey.
“Well, maybe you’re right. But still, it is my nickname,”I mock, making him clear by putting emphasis on my, calming my self down as I switch back to mind speaking.
“Didn’t know you could be this bossy.”He sighs.“Well goodnight then, Honey.”I move my shoulders to make myself comfortable and can’t wipe this stupid grin off my face. I fall asleep before I can think of another good memory.
The red glory that her hair leaves when the sun shines on her, betrays where Hazel is. Besides, she isn’t hard to miss between the other eight candidates walking away. I haven’t informed Braxton that I am going to have a little chat with her. He doesn’t tell me anything, so I don’t owe him that.
“Hazel!” I call out to her. I wave my hand enthusiastically and feel the smile across my face spread fast as she turns to me with a twinkle in her eyes. She walks closer to me and the excitement changes into tension. Fuck, what am I going to say next? I look at the ground. What If I don’t meet her expectations?
“What is it?” she starts, smiling. I can feel the point of my ears turn red as I try to find the words. My heart starts pounding fast and for a second it feels like I can’t control my nerves. When I finally find the courage to look at her again, I laugh because she holds her head lopsided like a dog who tries to understand what you’re saying.
“I am sorry,” I whisper, waving the laugh away. “For not knowing I had a sister. If I knew I had, I would have come looking for you.” She wraps her arm around my shoulders.
“It is fine,” she answers. I hate the word fine, because it never covers the whole thing. “Our parents told me they had your memory erased and the last thing you would remember is our parents waving you goodbye. When they told me that, I knew I would make it my job to find you.”
The sun shines on our face, and a little breeze makes my golden blonde waves wiffle through the air. Hazel has her red hair on the top of her head in an easy bun. It is coppery red and somewhat reminiscent of a pomegranate. It looks fresh and sweet but also gives her a lot of character.
“Is this your natural hair color?” I chime in. She turns to me and has this funny look on her face. She smirks, holding her head tilted and one of her eyebrows raises.
“Of all the things you could have asked, you ask if this is my own hair color?” She chuckles. I feel my face turn red and I stare down, not sure what to say. It feels weird to talk to someone I should have known, but know nothing about. “But yes, it is. How come you have this beautiful blonde hair that looks like it gives light and I am this red as a tomato?” she breaks in. I shrug and look up again.
“I don’t know. I believe it has something to do with my signet.”
She stares at me with a kind smile in her eyes, and relief washes over me. This girl is doing fine and doesn’t hold any hatred toward me for not knowing about her. As I start to relax, I take a closer look. Besides her beautiful hair, she’s very pretty. Her features are stronger than mine, but overall, our faces are similar. She has freckles like me, and her eyes are brown, though with more of a hazel undertone. There is no doubt about why our parents chose her name. She is a bit shorter than me, but we have the same small athletic building. She has some curves like me but not excessively. I already know she is one year older than me. She just turned nineteen and I will turn eighteen in a few days. Her last name is the same as mine, but she must have changed it for these trials because at the introduction I didn’t hear Angevine rolling over her lips. My questions build up as we walk further through the garden, towards the bridge and village. I make a little cough before I ask the most bearing thing for me.
“How is life outside there?”
She looks at me. Beside her strong face she has something soft over her, something familiar. Maybe it is the first time I feel the thing they call a sister bond, like they talk about in the romance books I read. We are bonded through blood. She grabs my hands and warms them up.
“It is great. People are warm and nice,” she opens up, but something sad appears in her eyes, like she is hiding something from me. I don’t push her as she looks down to the ground.“It wasn’t always good. I always had the feeling I was missing something. Because I was so young I didn’t remember the fact that I actually had a sister, but it always felt like there was someone missing. Mom and Dad told me when I turned sixteen.” She stays quiet for a few seconds and bites her tongue before continuing. “They have been arguing a lot. I think it is because of their decision over you—over us, but they never talk to me about it. I am not the one to complain. We lived on Taploz and I could visit other cities whenever I wanted, and so I did. Friends would come with me too. I have been desperate to find you since I knew and started training too. I wanted to prepare for what I knew was coming,” she rattles out in one sigh. I stare at her, and my mouth falls open.
“What?” She shrugs. Should I tell her?
“It is a family thing,” I conclude. “You rattle, I rattle. I think a lot—like I am always dreaming and lost in my mind. But it seems like no one did that too. But you do?” I breathe out. She gives me a petty smile.
“Yes, I do. Out of all of that you only got that we are alike?” she teases, pressing her fingers in my flank. “We are sisters after all.” I laugh at that.
“No, and that you have missed me before you knew I existed and that I really want to go out there,” I answer, nodding my head towards the village on the other side of the bridge. “I get more desperate every day to visit the outside world.”
“I promise you we’ll go there together after all of this, alright? I want to get to know you better, when we have the time for it, after all of this,” she promises me. I nod confidently.
“Now tell me what our parents’ names are?” I smile widely.
“Our mom’s name is Anisha and our dad’s name is Kyan Yakim. Mom is blonde, more platinum than you, and Dad has brown hair,” she tells me. I freeze for a bit. I have always wanted to know more about them, but now that she tells me about them itfeels wrong. My stomach turns upside down. She calls them by their name, and I know they are my parents too, but it doesn’t feel that way at all.
I already found my own father.
And knowing my biological parents’ names won’t change that.
Hazel’s favorite color is green and she has a nature signet. She does not have a boyfriend, but I did see her talking to Prince Zephron after I left and it looked a bit too cozy. It is none of my business, but still, I am curious. Hazel does not like reading like I do, but loves to stroll to the village and visit cozy shops and dreams of opening her own shop once. She has the plans already laying on the table for after this trial. I look forward to the day we can go shopping together. Our mom has a water signet, and our dad is a flash. I always wanted to know, but a feeling of spite raises my throat. I focus on the book resting on my knees. This book is about the history of the manes. There are many books on the subject, but it’s never been clear to me who or what solved the problem, chased them away, and how everyone got their powers back. Maybe they don’t want me to know? I duck deeper in the book and flip through the pages until I find something.
‘Manes, some would call the souls raised out of the dead. They covered the continent, hunting people down that contained the strongest signets, and drained them until there was not more left than a limp body. There weren’t more than there were people, but they were fast and drained a whole population without much effort. The manes started a silent war, with no chance for the people to win. They spread slowly, like a disease.
‘The last time they were seen was around the same time the sun wielder was. Nobody asked questions or bothered. The whole continent of Drimyé aimed forwards and didn’t look back. Allthey did was pray and pray for a new population of people with signets to be born. The manes became the curse that nobody really talked about.’
I flip through the pages to find answers. What did the manes do with the power they took from people? What or who raised them and most important of all how did they vanish again and why? But as usual, there is no answer to be found. None of the books mention it, as if it’s a hidden subject. Manes seems to be only used as a curse word and nobody ever talks about the curse they truly were.
