Siren Slayers: Side Stories

Serena's World

"I am implying that Setsu is upset and you should watch yourself." As if on cue, I heard Setsuko yelling from the other side of the door.

"Nothing is wrong? Something has to be wrong Grandmother! No one, in our history has had a single child. Pairs, everything always comes in pairs. So why? Why is my daughter lone?" Setsuko obviously wasn't taking this well. I cautiously opened the room's door.

"Setsuko?" I inquired, making sure that I was using the door as a shield in case she had object that she could through.

"What do you- Oh hi honey." She gave me a smile momentarily. "You look like you were hit with an ice burg."

"Well you were in labor for sixteen hours and I wasn't allowed to see you." I complained. "Did you expect me to be playing poker with the other guys?"

"No need to be nasty." Setsuko pouted, in that cute way she always did. "Anyway....Granny there has to be so-"

"Child shut your mouth!" Grandmother Burrow yelled. "Everything that happens in the village, on this earth, happens for a reason. Obviously the powers at be decided that you were to have one child. It is not the end of the world. Now if it was a boy we would have to worry a little more. But look down at your child! She is a glowing beautiful baby girl that is in perfect health and has excellent strength. Instead of focusing on the fact that you don't have twins, marvel in the fact that you have an astonishing baby in front of you."

"We did make one good looking kid." I joked, closer to my wife and our new born child. "She looks like she was carved out of marble."

"Grandmother, you're right." My wife sighed, letting out some of her tension with it. "Look at her full head of gorgeous hair, look it's such a pretty blend of blue and purple."

"Not to mention those sea blue eyes." I raised my hand softly to move a few fly away hairs. I tilted my head down so I could look into Setsuko's eyes, and we just both smiled widely and the new bundle of joy that she had just brought into the world. "She is going to have the village wrapped around her little finger."

"She looks a lot like you." Setsuko smiled. "I'm just scared, how will we know what element she is? The dragons can't decide in their usual way."

"Well then I guess they don't get to decide for this child, the elements do." The old lady had a very creepy grin on her face.

"Grandma, you don't mean...." Setsu trailed off, not able to finish her sentence. I couldn't tell if it was excitement or fear covering her face.

"I do child." The old lady walked toward us slowly. "When you are fully healed I will grab the dragons and bring them over to the hospital so they can witness what happens when the child enters the world. She will go through the alteration process."

"The alteration process?" I looked at them both quizzically. I may not have been the best student but I at least made sure to pay attention to the really important things, and this seemed to be one of those things.

"All the twins we usually have are born as blank canvasses, they don't have a pull towards one particular element." Grandmother Burrow explained. "The dragons inspect the children and together decide which child will go with which dragon. However, there is one child so they will both want her and it would cause a conflict. So we will leave it up to the elements themselves. The baby will either be claimed by water or frost."

"And that will decide her training." Setsuko continued. "There will be a small ceremony and both elements will be place in front of her, and one will react either positively or negatively. If it's negative she is to learn the opposite power. And if it's positive....well I guess you can figure out from there."