Qolie Jacobsons

Chapter Three: Family Reunion

To shake off that horrid feeling, Tygren went to bed early, skipping his last two classes of the day. The next morning, before the sun even rose, Tygren heard a cheery voice but couldn't decipher what it was until his eyes opened. "Good morning!" of course it was Qolie. "Are you sick?" annoyed and exhausted, Tygren mumbled  a swear to himself and rolled over. "Oh come on! You're not gonna mope in bed all day right?" Qolie tried shaking him, but he wouldn't budge. "I'm not moping," Tygren groaned, still facing the wall. "Why are you even in here?" he retorted. "I made you an outfit for today. I assume your dumb dad would want you in something to feed his massive image." Qolie held out a box with black trousers and a crimson, ruby, and blood-red shirt with a deep red cape clipped to it. "What's going on today?" Tygren asked, grabbing the box. "It's open house! So my daddy's coming and hopefully my mom." a wave of fear rushed over Tygren's body. The Deathsinger was a very conservative man, so knowing that a human considered Tygren a friend would get him killed. "Are the parents required to come?"
    "Not really."
    "Good," Tygren said, putting the box on the floor and rolling back over. "Come on, please! Even if he isn't there can you meet my parents?" Tygren scoffed. "Why?" he complained. "Because I don't make any friends back home and they'll be super excited." Qolie's voice was the most somber Tygren's ever heard it, but he wasn't going to crack so easily. "Until they find out who I am." Qolie sighed. "Please?"
    "Take the dammed book with you,"
"Headmistress is gonna flip. Just change and meet me by the balcony over the great hall." as Qolie walked away, she heard Tygren swear to himself once more.

    ~...~

When Qolie saw Tygren in the outfit she made for him, she was extremely proud of herself. She had made the usually bloodied Tygren into the prince he was raised to be. "You look great!" she squealed, running up to him. "Here, let me brush your hair!" Tygren stood his ground to make sure he wouldn't be dragged away once more. "Wha- no!" Qolie rolled her eyes with a smile before they landed downstairs at her father who was conversing with the Headmistress. "There he is!" she exclaimed pointing over the balcony. When Tygren saw him, he nearly fainted. His father's troops used to storm Felora in hopes of gaining control of the capital city, which had access to the second most advanced weapons in the world coming close to Mendoria. Luckily, Ingressus never succeeded. "Your father is the King of Felora?" he breathed. "Don't give me the look, I know I'm adopted," Qolie replied before grabbing his wrist. "Come on," Tygren would rather die than confront the man whose father was killed by his. "No, no, no, no, Qolie!" despite any protest, Qolie dragged him downstairs and called her father's name. "Daddy! Look I made a friend!" never in Tygren's life would he have assumed his flight fight or freeze response would be freeze, but what else could he do? He was in the presence of a king. "Have you really? A Voltaris in the midst, where are you from, boy?" the King asked, kneeling to Tygren's level. "I-" Tygren gulped. "Mt. Velgrin," The King huffed as a way to laugh. "Naturally," he said, ruffling Tygren's hair as he stood up. When The King and Qolie walked away to chat, Tygren let out the air that had built up in his lungs. Nyoko didn't recognize him. Thank the gods. Suddenly, he heard pages flapping by his ear. When he turned to his side, he saw Mateo and almost immediately grabbed him and slammed him shut. "What are you doing here!?" he whispered. Mateo opened. 'I found something' he wrote on his page. "Found what?" Mateo tried to float away, but Tygren held him down. "No! Just tell me."

    ~...~

    After some convincing, Mateo led Tygren to the Headmistress' office. "Do you know how much trouble I'm causing because of you!?" complained in a whisper. Ignoring him, Mateo finally managed to escape from Tygren's hands and floated near a letter on her desk. Intrigued but still skeptical Mateo was making any sense, Tygren read it.

I understand you might be inconvenienced by this, but this matter has become more and more urgent ever since your boy arrived. Even though he's innocent in all this, his powers aren't. How long will you wait around until he finds them? He's already found the library and God knows what else. Tygren's a smart boy and it's only a matter of time before he sees you for who you are.

Tygren didn't know what to say. Why was the headmistress writing to his father? And his powers? What powers? While a sea of questions moved around in his head Mateo started to write again. 'You're father knows about Adina,'. He said. 'And so do I," just then, he turned to a page with a spell on it. There was a drawing of lavender plants and small cursive writing next to it. 'Nou erno geníalo teu, puda Dominus Ky sani erno gretinma' or 'There isn't anything like these here, but Ky'Dominus says it's all in good time.'. Dominus wasn't just the old King of the Voltaris, he was Tygren's Grandfather. Why would she mention him? Tygren's carelessness towards Mateo's existence turned into pure interest very fast.

~...~

Fortunately, the day hadn't ended, so Tygren took the opportunity to sneak into the Library and search for more information about Adina. But getting to the same height Qolie did when she first found Mateo was out of the question. "Tygren?" suddenly, a voice called his name. "The hell are you doing in here?" it was Trinity. She was in a shiny navy blue dress right above her ankles and white ballet flats. Enough to make Tygren's body subtly give him that terrible feeling from the day before. "I could ask you the same thing," Mateo had fallen in Tygren's hands just in time. "Coming from a boy who isn't allowed in here,"
"And you are? You're the one who has her parents here, not me." Trinity shrugged. "Supposed to come," Tygren furrowed his eyebrows. "They aren't here?" he asked. "My mother's too busy wishing she had a boy and my father's too busy figuring out how to make me more perfect than I already am. Other than martial skills, being a powerful witch is my purpose." Tygren scoffed. "I never understood that."
"What? Perfection?"
"No, parents wanting any child besides a healthy one." impatient, Mateo flew out of Tygren's hands. 'Stop flirting, we have things to do.'. Embarrassed, Tygren tried his best to close Mateo again, but he flew out of his grip just in time. All Trinity could do was giggle to herself. "You've got yourself a familiar, now?" she asked between laughs. "He's not mine. He's Qolie's." Tygren replied, his cheeks still red. "Not even Qolie's," Mateo had dropped in Trinity's hands and showed her his cover. "Who's 'Adina'?" she asked, showing Tygren the cover. "That's what I'm trying to figure out." Just then, Mateo flew to the highest shelf and knocked down another one of Adina's books into Tygren's hands. But this time it wasn't a spell book, it was a diary.

~...~

"I'm sorry about your parents," Tygren said as they left the library. Trinity shrugged. "The less we have to talk the better." suddenly, the duo heard Qolie squeal with a huge smile on her face. "Aaand that's my cue," Trinity said walking away before Qolie could approach the both of them. "Awww you two are working together!" Tygren rolled his eyes, handing her Adina's diary as she kept talking. "If you two are friends that means we all have to be friends, right?" when Qolie focused on the book her eyes widened. "This belonged to that Adina girl didn't it?"
"Obviously,"
"Who even is she?"
"That's what we have to find out."