Donis sat before both parents. The kitchen illuminated by the early sunshine peeking through the window. A slightly worrisome mood had taken hold. Not sure what to do or say, Donis sat in silence, trying to avoid his mother's gaze.
"Sweetie, firstly we're not mad, we just want to know what's going on," said Morissa breaking the silence. Korrins eyes softened a little bit after hearing that. Clearly Morissa mulled it over instead of sleeping last night.
"Can you tell us where you got the bird?" Korrin chimed in. "Well uhh.. I felt this weird feeling in my chest and heard a bird crying outside.. so I went over and picked him up, and when I did he flashed and disappeared! Then I could hear her in my mind and we were best friends since!" Donis said trying to sound as close to a five year old as he could.
Morissa let out a sigh and a smile had grown on her face. "So you didn't know it was a monster?" Donis knew this was his chance, "monster? What's a monster?" If he could just convince them that he had no idea about any of this, they couldn't be mad!
Korrin then tried to explain to Donis what a monster was, with a little bit of exaggeration to scare the boy. Obviously not trying to break his character, Donis acted terrified.
"No no Etheria is a good girl!" Said Donis as he summoned her. Etheria then flashed into existence and sat there beside him quizzically.
They both recoiled, never seeing such an ability being used before, especially not by a five year old. "Sweetie, are you sure she's not dangerous?" Continued Morissa, trying to not make any sudden movements. "Of course mom, she's been with me for weeks now!" Donis trying to hide the fact that he's been with her for years at this point. He decided that it would probably be easier to believe and understand.
After a few minutes of tension, Korrin walked over and started petting Etheria, slowly saying her name and trying to show friendliness. Etheria was confused, but she enjoyed the petting so she didn't mind. Seeing this, Morissa herself then walked over and pet the bird. She noticed that the birds feathers were super soft and comforting. She dove her face straight into the feathers and began caressing Etheria. She was in love!
Morissa then coughed and sat back down looking a little awkward, continuing the conversation as if her little outburst never happened. "There's one more thing I want to talk to you about, Donis Laurent."
'Oh no she used my full name.. she's probably mad,' thought Donis. "Last night your father saw you do something. He said your hands started glowing. Tell me what happened."
His mind raced trying to think up a good excuse, playing the dumb card was probably going to be his best bet again. "I uh sorta felt something weird happen to me when I found Etheria! I started seeing things differently and could feel weird stuff! I found my hands feeling warm and played with the feeling and this GOLDEN light came out mom! It was so cool!" Donis almost shouted, trying to overplay his childish awe. Truth be told, he really did feel like this deep down.
Most of the worries had faded from the parents faces. Their son was still their son and nothing had happened to him. He was gifted though, that they were sure of. The true problem here is what to do now. Though they were slightly well off, neither of the parents could send Donis to any sort of magic school, he was far too young. The youngest any mage school takes is twelve years old.
Korrin told Donis that he was free to go and to play with his sisters. Seeing his way out, he happily took the offer. The two paced around the room, not from anxiousness, but from excitement! Their son was definitely a genius! Korrin donned a smug smile and proudly proclaimed "He's my son after all, taking after his father's skills! Ha ha ha!"
Morissa not wanting to sully her dear husband's mood just nodded with an almost childish grin!
Over the next few days the family prepared to throw a party for Donis. None of the sisters knew what it was going to be about, but there was plenty of excitement going around.
On the eve of the party, the whole family had sat down at the dinner table. The room was filled with magic candles, lighting up every dark corner in the kitchen. They floated in the air, ever unmoving as if they were perched upon something solid. All of the kids including Donis were amazed! Their parents never brought these out, it was definitely going to be big news.
Some of the sisters were snickering between themselves saying they might get a new sibling. Donis really had no idea so to him this seemed plausible, but he wasn't sure if that was going to be the best thing for their family. Morissa was already having enough trouble handling the whole family as is.
Before them were plates of all of their favourite foods, drinks and snacks. The kids were beyond excited now and munched away while waiting for the news.
Korrin cleared his throat and tapped his cup to get everyone's attention. When the room died down a little he began, "So everyone, we're announcing something very special today. I'm sure all of you we're guessing all week, but just to clear up - no we're not having another child." Priscilla and Karina both sighed, sounding almost hurt.
"We're celebrating something very special. We're going to be getting Donis a tutor!" Morrisa finished off. The sisters all gasped and immediately set their eyes on him. Donis was just as confused as them, but he had the brightest smile on his face. "Really? You mean it guys? Is it okay though, can we affo-" before Donis could even finish Korrin interrupted. "Yes of course we can, we wouldn't be doing this if we couldn't and you're far too young to be worrying about us! Anyway, your brother Donis here can use magic at such an early age so we decided that we could get a basic tutor in here to measure the talents of Donis and then teach him so he could grow into a wonderful mage."
The room was silent for the briefest of moments before the girls erupted with questions, laughter and just screams typical for girls their age.
'Yes! Okay great, I can actually learn more about the world and have some sort of structure. I'm so tired of trying to wade in the dark,' Donis thought.
Donis was the center of attention and with the girls not knowing anything about his abilities were easily awed when Etheria appeared. She was immediately the center of attention and the girls fell in love at first sight. 'Girls are so easily swayed with cute things,' Donis mentally sighed.
The party carried on with only merry chants of Etherias beauty and Donis's grand life ahead of him was a distant afterthought when compared to the beautiful bird in front of them.
Korrin had brought out his finest wine, not made of mushroom as he so adamantly pointed out, remembering that stupid carriage driver.
The evening ended very late with the girls passing out on the floor snuggled up to Etheria, and Korrin getting mightily drunk right beside them. Morissa and Donis we're the only two up so she pulled him to the side.
"Sweetie listen, I have something important to tell you." Donis then groggily walked over to his mother and sat beside her, "Yes, what is it mom?"
"This step is huge, and I'm worried about my baby boy, I want you to listen to your instructor, and don't be bold! I also don't want you to be afraid of telling us anything okay? I don't care how awful it is, I want to be there for my son!" Morrisa whisper-shouted, a little too tipsy.
"Of course mom, I'd tell you everything!" Donis beamed. Taken aback by his own answer he'd come to a slow realisation that he actually likes these people. Even though mentally he is older than both of them, he can definitely say he almost loves them. He definitely loves his sister's, as he finds himself feeling like their guardian.
'Maybe being with them isn't all that bad. I might even miss this chaotic house once I'm gone.'
Satisfied with Donis's answer, Morissa carried the girls up to bed and smacked Korrin upside the head, herding him to his own bed. With a small grunt, Korrin staggered up and eventually the whole family was sleeping soundly. The news of the tutor arriving tomorrow was celebrated and burned deeply in Donis's mind.
He was deep in thought once more, staring straight up at the ceiling, not able to sleep. 'Who is this tutor? Is it a man or a woman? What sort of questions are expected of me? Aaaah I can't wait!' Not only was he excited, he was terrified. He didn't know about what sort of ramifications revealing his skill would have. He didn't know if he was smart or if this was normal so he decided to just play it by ear. Maybe show off a little.
Tomorrow was a big day for him, so he decided to actually go to bed like the rest of the family, but now that everyone knew of Etheria, he could snuggle up to her when they slept. If anyone saw this, they'd die of adorableness.