Bigger Than The Whole Sky

Chapter Thirteen

And to my sweet cousin, Xaden, I wish him well. He is my little brother and he shall forever be aware that his Lina will always be there for him. Be it from the other side of the continent or battlefield, for he is and will always be, my Aiden, my little fire.

- Recovered Entry from Lady Catalina Kozivar's Journal

"You really didn't tell them we're cousins?" Xaden asked as Catalina trained. The woman created moving illusions of faceless people to attack her, once she attacks them on fatal points, the illusions disappear.

Catalina discovered that aside from making realistic illusions, she can make said illusions move. Only she and Xaden knew of this stretch in ability so far, seeing as the rest of the quadrant was led to believe she bends water, not make illusions.

"They didn't ask." Catalina answered as she ducked after an illusion sent a flying axe her way. She ran towards it to kick the illusion in the chest.

Normally, she would be sparring with Xaden, but she figured her cousin needed the rest after today. He insisted to accompany her though and Catalina agreed with him just watching her train on the side.

"You never talked about me to them?" He asked once again, a little hurt that his cousin didn't once mentioned him to her friends.

"I did." Catalina answered, picking up the hurt in his tone. "I always do." She laughs as she chops the head off an illusion, something she wouldn't dare do to anyone in real life. The furthest she has gone is send fellow cadets to a coma and amputate an arm.

"Then why did Sorrengail looked shocked earlier?" Xaden watched as Catalina swept an illusion off its feet and stomp in what would be its face. He grimaced, if that's a real person, the nose would probably be broken or worse, flattened.

"Probably because of the fact I never talked about you using your name." Catalina chuckled, she turned and saw two illusions left. After this round, she'll rest then head to bed. "They didn't have to know you were my cousin. If they wanted to know, they should ask. Those who doesn't see the resemblance are all idiots."

"Which isn't a lot to start with." Xaden sighed.

The similarities ended with their dark hair and eye colors. Xaden's warm tawny skin contrasted with Catalina's porcelain. The male is scarred, clearly a warrior with how he carries himself. The female however, not a scar in sight, as if she isn't attending a war college, she carries herself with grace like how one would expect a noble would.

One would say that Xaden Riorson is the loyal Knight to Catalina's Princess when the two stand side by side.

"It's none of their business." Catalina replied as she killed off one illusion. 'Fourteen down, one more to go' she thought as she headed to the last one. "We're cousins. As long as we know the truth, none of what those outsiders think matters. They don't matter to us, so why should what they think matter too?" She said as the last illusion crumpled down the ground and disappeared.

"Do you want to?" she started, making Xaden look at her in confusion as she turned to face him. "Do you want them to know? I can announce in front of the whole quadrant if you so wish you know?" She smiled.

"Well..." Xaden thought. "Do you?" He asked making the older female raise a brow at him. 'Sometimes I forget she's older than me due to her being in the same year.' He thought. "Do you want to? To announce it I mean."

Catalina didn't even think about it, "I do." She answered without hesistance. "But like I said, why should they know?" She walked towards him. "It's not like we owe an explanation of our familial ties to them. They did nothing for us." She sighed as she sat down beside him, dusting her clothes off.