Amora found herself in the middle of a lake with the water reaching a bit above her calves. She looked around trying to figure out where she was, but she couldn't as the place didn't look familiar. She began to wade across the lake to get to the other side, and just then she saw someone, a blonde lady who had her back to her, trying to pick up something from the flowing water. Although the person had her back to Amora, she could still make out the person's physique to be that of Louisa's. Amora changed her direction and began to move towards the person while calling out. "Mum! mum! Is that you?" she kept moving deeper into the water just to reach the person.
"Amora my baby" Louisa turned to face Amora who already had fresh tears streaming down her face. "Mum!" Amora called again and tried to move to reach her but something held her to a spot. The water kept increasing and covering more parts of her legs.
" I'm happy you are home now my love, back to where you belong" Louisa gave Amora her signature smile that she had always seen on her.
"But I belong with you mum, we belong together" Amora was crying now and stretching out her hands to reach Louisa but the pull in the water wasn't letting her. "It's alright my dear, this is where you belong. I'll always be with you" Louisa was crying now.
"I want to be with you now" Amora insisted. Louisa shook her head and asked her to leave. "This place is not for you baby girl, go back my love, they are waiting," Louisa said as she slowly began to fade.
"Mum! Mum! Mummy!!!! Come back don't go" Amora cried and yelled as she watched Louisa disappear into thin air. The water had reached her belly now and was moving upwards to cover her. In the real world, Amora began to gasp for air which troubled the people watching her. Grandma Daeva quickly burned a scented candle and performed a spell that calmed her down immediately, but she was still unconscious.
Amora woke up two days after feeling so numb all over that Grandma Daeva had to put a hex on one of the chairs to carry her to wherever she needed to be inside the Daeva premises.
Bloom had dropped by to see her and also left her some pot of rare plants that she had made to bloom with her powers. Amora had met with her uncles; Easton the eldest son, Dorian, the one after her late father as she was told and Ruslan the last son but fourth child. She had been told that Quintina was married and was living with her husband at the other end of Vadina.
"get better before tomorrow princess, we have some touring to do" Bloom had said to her when she dropped by again to check on her. Amora did get better by the following day, she was strong enough to walk in the garden with Grandma Daeva. The garden, just as she had thought,was filled with different rare and common plants, mostly rare ones. She saw a Nelix Bloomer and steered clear away from it to Grandma Daeva's amusement.
Amora asked Grandma Daeva some questions about the family, mostly about her parents. The older lady told her everything she needed to know but Amora could tell that there was something she wasn't telling her.
"Now this is the family tree of the grand Daeva dynasty" her grandmother said as they stood in front of a wall that had a large painting of a tree , the tree had names and power symbols of all the Daeva family members, starting from the very first patriarch, Ruslan Daeva whom Ruslan, her father's brother had been named after. Grandma Daeva told her about all the members and what they could do. Amora searched the tree for her own name but didn't find it, rather she found her slot which was underneath her parents own. She wondered why her name wasn't embedded into the tree but she was a Daeva or so they said.
"Why is my name not here grandma?" She asked.
"Nobody writes their names on the tree Ulanni, this is pure magic, our family's history. Whenever a new Daeva is born or married into the family, they are taken up to this tree and their hands placed on this" Grandma Daeva showed her the hand print that was on the bark of the tree. " The tree recognizes the person's energy and the names are added up. Each child gets their names added up when they are six months old but you were barely five months when your mother left you in the other realm" The lady explained further.
"So can I add my name? Except I'm not a real Daeva and this must be some kind of mistake" Amora said. Grandma Daeva guided her right hand to the hand print and muttered some chants. The tree glowed from red , down to white and Amora's name appeared but as Ulanni.
"My name appeared" she said sounding very excited. "But my power symbol isn't there. I thought you all said I was a fire elemental" She added.
"That is very strange my child, but I think your stay in the other realm dampened your powers and with time, it would be recognized. Come now, don't you worry your pretty head , you'll be enrolled at the halls and the best tutors would be assigned to you, they'll help you reach your powers. It's just you being a late bloomer" Grandma Daeva smiled as she spoke. Amora felt reassured by her words and wasn't sure if she really wanted her powers or not, but if she wanted to blend in , she would have to know what her power was if she had any.
Her Uncles Ruslan and Easton had heard their mother laughing loudly in the halls and were quite surprised that she was laughing so much.
"Isn't a wonder brother? Mother is laughing happily" Ruslan nudged his brother as they walked down the stairs. Easton was a little taller than Ruslan and his hair was lighter than his. The brothers possessed the same features but with slight differences in their eye color, hair shade , height and voice. Ruslan's voice was youthful and a bit airy, while Easton had an intimidating deep voice that could send anyone running when he laughed. "I haven't heard her laugh this much since Stellan's demise" Easton replied.
"I shan't be surprised that Amora is the reason for mother's cheery nature , she's such a cheerful soul" Ruslan added, complimenting Amora's nature. Easton couldn't agree more, he smiled at the laughing duo ahead of them. The brothers approached them in between their jokes.
"Aye mother isn't it beautiful when you laugh?" Easton commented on his mother's beautiful laughter.
"Oh Easton, Ulanni was just telling me about the other realm and the ridiculous thing they did there. She said they paid huge amounts of money to fly to wherever they needed to go when you could just put a hex on anything and fly away" The lady said again as she and her son's burst into laughter. Amora didn't know why they found her tale of paying for plane tickets funny, but she joined them in the laughter.
"Where is Dorian?" Grandma Daeva asked.
"He already left for the stables and might get mad if we don't get there sooner because we are going to check the breeds out, ahead of the fair" Easton answered.
"You own a stable?" Amora asked.
"Oh dear me! I forgot to mention it, pardon me my darling. This family is the third richest in the whole of Vadina you must have heard, and we get our wealth from our stables of beautiful stallions and animal farms" The words Grandma Daeva had said about the family's wealth brought smiles to Amora's face.
"They really do have loads of cash to spare" Amora said to herself.
"May I go with them to the stables grandma? Pretty please?"
"Of course you can my dearest, you should step out and get familiar with this place" Grandma Daeva smiled as she spoke which gave Amora a sense of warmth. Amora went back to her room to change her clothes and then she heard Louisa's voice in her head "don't go anywhere without protection". Amora didn't know if she needed protection in this place or not, but she decided to stick to her mother's voice , she opened the last gift she had gotten,which was the small box of tiny weapons. She took the lipstick taser,smoke balls and pocket knife, all these she put into the baggy pockets of her black sweatpants.
Ruslan brought two carpets and put a hex on them so it could take them to their destination. "Come on Ulanni, this carpet won't ride itself" He winked at her. Amora decided in her head that Ruslan was the fun one. Perhaps it was because he was the youngest son, she thought.
Amora got on one Carpet with Ruslan, while Easton got on one. Ruslan asked her to hang on tight and with one swoosh, they were up in the air , moving with so much speed that Amora felt her face turning inside out. When they landed, Amora felt uneasy in her stomach and then she rushed to a corner and threw up. "I'm sorry Uncle Ruslan, Uncle Easton, I just have problem with flying" She said as she puked some more.
They soon got to the stables, and she found out it was bigger than she had imagined. In fact, it could pass for a ranch back in San Geneva.
The ranch had a section full of huge and beautiful stallions, another filled with unicorns of different colors. Amora couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the unicorns just there eating dried barley. She had always thought that unicorns were wild but here she was staring at them being so calm.
"Is that what I think it is?" She asked as she saw a winged horse come out of it's stall.
"Oh that's the Pegasus stall and that is Thunder, mother's favorite one" Easton was brushing the hair of another Pegasus as he spoke.
"Wow! This is so good to be true" she squealed. The Uncles showed Amora round the ranch and animal farm. The animals in the farm were bigger than the normal ones she was used to seeing in San Geneva. She decided there and then that this new family of hers were the real deal.
"Hello Mora" the greeting made Amora turn and she saw Bloom standing there all dressed in the way Amora considered as ancient.
"Hey there Bloom, What's up?" She asked as she washed mud off her hands. Bloom didn't understand the question,she looked up trying to see what Amora was asking.
"Oh jeez! Nevermind it Bloom, it's nothing" Amora rolled her eyes. "How did you find me?" She asked.
"I went to house Daeva and Lady Olette had told me you were here" Bloom answered.
"So let's go now Mora, we'll start with the Grand square and since the Grand fair is in three days, we'll sure see lots of things coming in" Bloom adjusted her cloak as she spoke. The last statement had made Amora understand that Bloom was referring to the market.
"Sure we can but isn't it far from here?" Amora asked.
"Don't worry about the distance , I'll open a portal for you" Easton offered with a smile. Ruslan brought out a small sack of coins and threw it to Amora. "You might want to get something nice" He had said.
"Thank you very much" Amora said.
Easton conjured a portal for the two girls, who were exceedingly happy not to walk all the way to the square. Amora felt very relieved that she wasn't flying on one of those hexed things again as they turned her insides to soured jelly.
The Grand square was really huge with so many stalls and peddlers moving their goods on wooden carriers. Bloom showed Amora the temple of the eight gods that stood some feet away from the main square.
"What's that?" Amora asked pointing at a statue that stood in front of the temple of the eight gods.
"Oh! That's the statue of Lord Glendifer the warrior who sacrificed himself to the dragons to save Vadina during the dark times" Bloom said.
Amora and Bloom kept looking from stall to stall with Bloom telling her about every stall owner she knew. " That over there is Asturias Emporium Mora, they make the best ball gowns in Vadina and that's where I would be getting my gown for the next ball" Bloom said. Amora simply listened to what Bloom had to say, nodding and smiling where it was necessary. She was carried away by the strange beings that appeared and disappeared. Just as they were walking, they heard a female peddler scream that her purse had been snatched by green goblins. Amora saw the goblins laughing hysterically as they got away. She then remembered Athil's words "stay away from green goblins" but she couldn't just let them get away with the lady's money so she made to chase after them.
"What in the name of the moon goddess are you trying to do? Go after green goblins? They are the nastiest creatures in the Mystian lands, don't be stupid, they'll make you their joke. We should mind our business" Bloom said trying to stop Amora but Amora wouldn't listen. "Oh dear!" Bloom sighed and then followed Amora who was hot on the goblins.
The Goblins , four in number threw the purse amongst themselves as they ran and jumped stalls. Amora kept up with them also taking advantage of gymnastics class. She saw them disappear behind a building to come out from the next, so she passed another route and got there before them. The goblins not knowing that Amora was waiting for them, bumped into her. She could see only three of them and they couldn't go back as Bloom blocked the other way they had come from with long crawling plants she had manipulated from a pot.
"Give me the purse you nasty things" She said to them as she held her lipstick taser. The last Goblin tried to sneak up on Amoa but she was swift to turn and used the taser on him. The laser electrocuted the goblin who was yelling at his friends to give Amora the purse.
"Please don't use your lightening wand on us" one of them begged and the other threw the purse to her. Amora picked up the purse and nodded at Bloom. Bloom used the crawling plants to hold the goblins upside down.
"That's right hideous things, just how you belong, topsy turvy" She laughed at the goblins who were struggling to get the plants off them.
They returned the purse to the peddler who was very happy to receive it. As a reward, she had asked them to each pick anything from her goods. They had declined at first but the lady insisted. There were so many weird things in the peddler's cart but Amora picked a necklace with moon pendant while Bloom picked a bag of unknown flower seeds.
Amora returned home just in time for dinner. She noticed that there was an empty chair beside Easton at the table, she had wanted to ask but just let it go. She was told that she would be joining the Learning Halls the following day. She didn't know how to feel about the news, but thanked Grandma Daeva for enrolling her. She was sure Bloom was aware of it but hadn't mentioned it during their sight-seeing, and she had also forgotten to ask her what the cauldron test was and if she knew what powers the other members of the family possessed.