‘Annabelle, why Annabelle?’ he almost gasped. The jagged white scar, the name it was all so painful. Those were memories that he never wanted to share and desperately wanted to forget. Yet here people he was hoping would become his family were unknowingly throwing it right in his face; would they accept him if they knew?
‘She told me her name was Annabelle. Ranee, child does that name mean something to you? They others can’t hear you if you want to talk about it.’ Star’s voice was soft and gentle as it filled his mind.
‘I need to think, can I tell you the story tonight if I am ready.’ His voice was broken and sad, he barely could hold it together.
‘Of course, and I am sure that Annabelle will want you here. The bond of a knight and a Whisperer is like that of a brother and sister…’ the tears came quickly as he burst from the room. He couldn’t take anymore. Star was only trying to help but he was hurting, the pains from that awful day still a fresh wound. One day he hoped that he could heal from this.
Watching the poor child run from the room broke Star, and Abwa Naomi’s hearts. They knew that he needed time, but seeing one of their own hurting in such a way was almost unbearable. Ranee needed space, and they would give him that, they could only hope that he would come back; let them share the burden and the pain. They wanted to help him heal.
‘Star what is wrong with Ranee? Is he not a Whisperer? Could he not hear you?’ Mis’s voice laced with concern, entered Star’s mind. Ranee had become her friend, and she would do anything for him.
‘Little one, he is a Whisperer, a great one in fact. He is hurting, and needs time to heal. All we can do is be his friends and family, right now he needs our love. That is all that you can do.’
“Amisira lets go. Star needs to rest; I have something that I would like to talk to you about, I know that you have some questions about your parents and I would like to answer those for you.” Naomi spoke distracting her granddaughter from all that was going on around her.
“Okay can I ask anything?” excitement was evident in her voice, but so was the concern she had for her friend. A part of her wanted to be with him more then she wanted to know about her parents.
“Yes anything child. I can’t promise I have all the answers but the answers that I have I will give you.”
“Alright, who am I more like? My mother or my father?”
“You are compassionate and beautiful like your mother, yet you are loud and mischievous like your father. You have got your fathers hair and your mothers eyes, your small like your mother was, yet hold the strength, and the sturdiness of your father. I would always call your mother my fragile lily, but you child you are my strong sunflower shinning and pure. You are the perfect balance of your parents, inheriting both their strengths, and having your own weaknesses.”
“What were they like? I have heard rumors, and stories my whole life, yet I have never heard what they were really like.”
“Your parents were the greatest whisperers to ever live, that is not a rumor or a story. That is a fact. They embodied what it meant to be a whisperer, their knights came before themselves, and their knights put the kingdoms before their own needs. Together they all made this kingdom a remarkable place to live. It was peaceful, and ruled justly. That was all because of your parents.”
“I know they were great Abwa. Why were they great, what did they do? What did they like? I want to know them; to really know them.”
“As I said your mother was compassionate, she was always taking in strays human and animal alike. That is actually exactly, how she and your father met. Your mother was a princess, and yes child that means that I was a queen. Being a princess, it was expected of your mother to act a certain way and spend her time among the nobles, and upper class, for your mother though that was boring, and she spent her times in the peasant villages, and in the woods. I recall many times that the palace was home to some injured animal of one form. The day that I remember the most, well that was the day that we first met your father. On one of her trips to the woods, your mother found a half starved boy buried in some underbrush. She had came screaming, and yelling into the palace grounds like she had been attacked, all the guards were on instant alert and stormed out into the forest only to come back, and ask the princess what had happened. She dramatically explained how there was a boy that needed our help, and marched half the army out to rescue him. Your mother was 12 at the time, and your father was 14. It was only when his knight was found circling the castle a few days later that your mother realized the boy that she had rescued was her soul mate. “
“My mother rescued my father! Why was he alone in the woods?”
“Remember how I said that your father was mischievous, well he had stolen his knight back from the black market. Your fathers Knight was a Black Phoenix, the same as your mothers, and she had been captured by members of the Black Market several years before when she was on her way to the castle. Well being the mischievous child that he was your father wanted the prize for himself. He had joined the market as a stall cleaner to keep an eye on his prize; instead, however, he realized that his prize was his Knight, and that he was a Whisperer. Seven years he served the market, waiting for his chance to rescue her, and when his chance came, he took it and fled. Having no knowledge of the woods he was unable to provide for himself and resigned to dying. That was until his angel swooped in and rescued him.”
“He resigned himself to dying; I thought my father was great.”
“He was great, at that time he was just a boy. Did you not hear that he spent 7 years waiting for his chance to rescue her? That shows the determination that your father brought to everything.”
“What made them great Whisperers?”
“That is a long story, and will be our final one for tonight little one:
Your mother was five when she met her very first companion Roran. Roran was a Black Phoenix, a companion so rare that they only came around every few generations, and then only to royalty and their soul mate. The love that your mother held for Roran was great, and defied the bond that most Whisperers and their Knights hold, she knew that he hated being trapped in the palace and wished to live a free life. Duty however kept both he and your mother from ever acting on that. When she met Sora and your father, they had felt the same, yet too stayed. Five years after your mother met your father two companions showed up on the castle doorstep, they had watched their Whisperers be killed by rebels, yet still had wanted to serve. Hearing the stories of your mother, they sought out the palace, and her for guidance. I am still not sure that those two knew not only would they be getting guidance, but they also would be gaining new Whisperers. As soon as their story reached your mothers ears she knew what she had to do. After bringing her idea to myself, and your father they set Roran and Sora free, taking on Amisan and Star as their new Knights.
In that one simple act, your mother and father gained the respect of every Knight out there. They had showed that no matter what the good of the kingdom and the good of their Knights came before themselves.”
“They did all that and she was so young.”
“Your mother was a smart young woman and she passed those genes onto you. I will tell you more in the morning right now little one you need to go to bed.”
“Goodnight Abwa.”
