Nira walked back to the house completely lost in her head. Her heart was beating so hard that she felt as if life was escaping from her. It was almost dusk when she arrived at the house. Josh and Silion were still on the bed. As she stood outside the house, she hated it that she could see exactly what they were doing. For a moment, she despised her gifts. She wanted to be a normal person, may be settle with a man she loved and have a fantastic family to turn to every time for affection.
She pushed the door open as Josh and her sister covered themselves with a woolen sheet in embarrassment.
"Hey,where had you gone to?" Silion asked awkwardly. It felt like she was trying to distract her sister from seeing that they had finally gotten intimate. Nira did not look at them though. She walked to a seat and occupied it. She sat silently as the two dressed up hastily.
" Are you mad at me?" Silion asked as soon as she was dressed and out of the bed.
"I wanted to feel it..." She tried to defend herself, guilty that her sister, her younger sister in fact, had just walked in on them.
" You are an adult, do as you please!" Nira finally spoke to her sister, forcing a smile.
Josh sat on the bed staring at them. He was developing a certain hate for Nira. Whenever she was around, Silion did not pay much attention to him. In his mind, he felt that he owned Silion and nobody should divert away her attention to him, not even the special Nira. He was concerned with how Nira was always against him, their relationship and his honesty. Anytime he would find himself narrating his journey to Merria to Silion, Nira would always contradict some parts of it.
Silion's eyes were growing with concern. Her whole life, she has never seen Nira the way she was that day. She was quieter and frightened. She had lost her composure and emotions had finally taken over her. She was trembling, not sure in fear, but she was.
" What happened? Please tell me!" Silion inquired as she embraced her sister from the back. Nira did not like being touched but she did not resist. She held her sister's hands for a while, still dead silent and her eyes fixed on the floor of the house.
" You have to go back to Bernbute. They would have forgotten about you by now or Merria! Just not here!" She said as she stared into Silion's eyes who immediately stared away.
"It is okay, you can look at me!" Nira said softly as she touched her sister's cheek. She stroked Silion's hair gently then turned to Josh. " You got settled in Merria?" She asked calmly. Something in her voice felt like she was about to cry. It was like she was fighting several emotions at once.
" I am not leaving you here. You are my blood! My sister, the only family I have. No, if I am to move, I move with you!"
" You don't understand!"
" Make me understand then! Where had you gone to?"
" That is not important. I promise I will find you... As much as I hate your lover, he is the only one who can keep you safe!" She said firmly, as if giving command.
She was growing impatient with her sister's stubbornness. What did she not understand? It was not safe for her there, as simple as that. Josh sat quietly watching the sisters contest. Whichever decision would have been fine with him but if you asked him, he would have agreed to stay miles away from Nira. Their tension was slowly growing and according to him, Nira was not a person you would love to cross. He would say several times to everyone that would care to ask him about her.
" You leave tomorrow. Transport shall be provided!" She said stamping authority in it and sealing the conversation. She walked over to Josh and stared in his eyes. He tried to look away but he was already late.
" I have control over you know but I will let you go. If anything happens to her, you will beg me to kill you and I won't!" She threatened then released him from her spell.
Silion sat helplessly on the other side of the house as she watched her sister command them around. Tears had knocked and she failed to hold them back. In no time, they were flowing uncontrollably down her soft tender cheeks. She thought she had gotten used to her sister's domineering nature but at that moment, she thought otherwise. Her family was snatched from her once and she was yet over it and then again, Nira was now pushing her away in the name of keeping her safe. At times, she wished that she had a normal family. One that had no power or influence, be it supernatural or political. Just a normal family, with normal people and ordinary background like every other family in the land. She swore she could kill to live a normal life, to grow up in a home, not a forest nor a palace, a home.
Josh got from the bed and walked to Silion to offer comfort. He made her stand then gave her a tight hug, something that made her let it all out. She was angry and confused. She was also tired of all of that madness. Nira's madness. Who did she think she was? She was sure not to cross the line, if anything, she would be the one to get hurt, most likely. Withdrawing from him, she walked to Nira whose eyes were already foggy with tears and stood silently, looking directly in her eyes as if she was staring at a mirror. She seemed petty and childish but she did not mind.
There was something about her that had Nira question her decisions. Was she wrong to send her sister away? What if that would be the last time they see each other? What if her sister meets trouble along the way and there is no one to defend her? She finally let out a single line of tear. Her sister's eyes fixed in hers made her feel as if she was being haunted for whatever mistake she possibly could have made. No one had ever stared deep in her eyes for that long. It was not right. She knew exactly what her sister was doing but she resisted not to give her the satisfaction. She was fighting with everything that resided inside her. If she would release one of her torments, she knew exactly what would have happened to her sister.
She tried to look away but she could not. Her limbs started shaking and she felt like throwing up. Was it possible that her sister was unexpectedly giving her a taste of what she did to people? What exactly was going on? Josh stood fixed on the ground, amused and at the same time confused. He felt like running, screaming, laughing, crying at the same time. He finally settled for fear but instead of running away, he sat down and awaited the next action.
Nira was almost losing it. Silion wanted her to torment her but she resisted. Why else would she stare in her eyes? Her insidious war with her several gifts were making her weaker. May be Silion intended to make her fight against herself and weaken her. If that was true, then it happened Silion knew her weakness. Of course she knew her sister's weakness. She was her sister after all.
" Please stop!" Nira cried. She was trembling more and more intensely as time passed and Silion locked her eyes into hers. Her heart was slowly stopping. Her body was becoming cold.
"Silion, please!" She called out again. " You will kill the both of us if you continue" she stated as she tried to look away but still she couldn't.
" Torment me and you will be free. Stop fighting it, you will die and I won't stop until you do!" She said as she moved even closer. Her words felt cold and cruel. She was clearly her sister's weakness,at least she thought.
It was almost half an hour. Silion's eyes were still fixed into Nira's. She might have not been born special but she was as wise as her father. At times wiser. She was once again using her wisdom to humble her sister. She thought Nira needed humbling. She needed to be shown she had a weakness or weaknesses if possible. That way, she would utilize her gifts well and in the greater good.
Nira's eyes were turned pale. She became weaker and kept on begging her sister to stop.
" Ple...please! We will both die!"
" You know what to do!"
" I ...I can't torment you! You are my sister!" She coughed blood as she collapsed to her knees but Silion still fixed her eyes in hers. Josh decided to intervene. Nira was clearly out of depth. She was self distracting to save her sister from her spells. He got up and pushed Silion aside and she fell on the bed. He went on top of her and held her down.
" You are killing her, she is fighting herself for you!" He said trying to pin Silion down. She resisted and tried to get him from her and get back to Nira. Nira laid flat on the floor gasping for breath. Blood was all over her mouth as she cried softly. She felt weak and naive. Silion had just made her day worse than it had been already. It was the day she had experienced two of the most scariest events in her life, as if the death of her parents and brother and living in the forest were not the scariest.
As she lay on the floor, she wondered why her sister would try to force her to destroy her. Her sister might have thought that that was her weakness but to her, she felt that she had made the right decision. If she had mistakenly let out even one of her torments, her sister would have died, even if not immediately at the scene, she would not have lived to see the other day. She had learnt much about herself by then. If only she would have gone back to her child hood days, when she stared into Robin's eyes and her parents', may be they would have been alive. Caleb would be alive too. She had learnt to tame her beasts but it was late, she had already let them hurt people she loved, as much as it was indirectly.
" Release Josh from your spell and we will leave!" Silion screamed at her after she had calmed down.
" I...d..did...!" Nira responded weakly. She might have appeared weak in the eyes of Josh and Silion bit in her soul, she felt she did the right thing and she was proud of herself. She cried again still on the floor and unable to get herself up. Josh offered to carry her up to the bed but Silion did not let him. Nira went all out, but silently as she weeped on the floor, cold and weak and angry. Whatever had happened to her, she felt she deserved it. The only thing that troubled her mind was did she show weakness or wisdom?