The Hanes Enigma

Chapter Eight - Unrealism

Nova Theasphreyei

"Tell me more about Pharaway!" I grin and shuffle closer to Taehyung.

He chuckles and bites his lip, thinking. "Well.. As I said, it's all in this massive woodland, even the drive is just a dirt track. The ground is reasonably sandy, unless it rains, of course. Quite a yellow-brown. There are six houses. They're paired into a brother and sister house. So you have my Jungkook, Jimin, Yoongi, Namjoon, Jin and mine: Vinder. Then the sister house is Chala, that's Etney and Laila's. The common rooms are all reds and oranges, bronze is the house metal. See this?" He smiles proudly as he rolls his sleeve up slightly revealing a bronze bracelet and holds it up to me. It has a small, circular charm on it with a very detailed inscription of 'Vinder' and an hourglass. "It represents time. It's supposed to be the thing we most value, or we're best at, something like that.." He shrugs. "We all have one. Etney and Laila's say Chala, obviously, but the rest is the same. Brynn's in Asto, with Stide being the brother house. That's all greens and blues and silvers. Their house totem is a feather. There's a lot of controversy surrounding whether that represents freedom or power because it's stood for both in various cultures. They wear triangle necklaces, I think... Lastly, there's Jyre and Ollox. They're associated with balance and purity so it's all white and gold. They have these signet rings that they always show off. It's slightly square and it has scales on, for the balance thing. They seem to think they're the best house because they have white and gold. It's stupid, though. No house is better than another, they're equal. Just like our totems: time, balance and influence. You can't pick which is more important and you can't do anything without all three. Say you had all the time in the world and you were also really influential, you wouldn't have anything to influence if you didn't have the balance of being influenced first. Or if you had a great balance and you were really powerful, good luck getting anything done with no time to do it. And-"

"If you have infinite time and a great balance, no matter how amazing you are at what you do, with no influence it won't make any difference." I smile at the thought. Pharaway sounds like my kind of place.

"Exactly! So saying they're the best house is just immature..." He pouts slightly and I think it's adorable.

"Tell me about the woods." I grin, obviously nature being my favourite part of any new place.

"Well. There's loads of wildlife in the forest. Sometimes the birds fly with us. I remember they did in my first flying lesson, and when I went outside to practice by myself!" He grins but his smile quickly drops as he flinches slightly when his wings flap excitedly.

I quickly change the subject. "And your friends? It sounds like you have so many..."

"I do! I'm really popular." He sits up straighter and wiggles his eyebrows slightly, making me laugh. "Brynn's my best friend, obviously. She's sweet and really intelligent. Always the top of her class, apparently! And we have a pretty similar sense of humour. But she's my sister, you know? Jungkook's probably my best friend friend. He's a werewolf so he gets so moody around full moons. And a Jeon so his ego's always a little too inflated. But most of the time he's a sweet kid. When he's not messing about with girls, that is. He's a bit of a player... And a bit mean to Brynn, to be honest. But I think that's just how he shows he actually cares about her, even though she's a girl. You know? He doesn't really talk to girls much..." Taehyung shrugs and then carries on. "Jimin's probably next. He's a faerie and a lot better than me, to be honest. But he's also from a True Clan and I think they always have a bit of a head start..."

"You're not?.." I blink, eyes wide.

He frowns. "No.. Isn't that normal?" He chuckles. "At Pharaway it's actually pretty unusual to meet someone from a True Clan. A lot of them are home-schooled. Jimin was supposed to be, Jungkook too. But because he's an alpha they decided to send him away to start his own pack. And Jimin wanted to get as far away from his father as possible... They don't get on..."

"I've never met anyone who wasn't from a True Clan before..." I stare at him in a whole new light. I don't think less of him. There's nothing anyone can do about the family they were born into. I'd never blame someone for that, it would be a little too hypercritical. But it's just... different.

"Oh.. Well... Hi?" He grins his cute boxy smile and I beam back at him.

"Hi." He laughs and I push his arm gently. "Tell me more."

"Okay... Well, Jimin has a boyfriend. He's called Yoongi and he's a demon. Controversial, I know. But they really love each other. And I mean really love each other. I honestly don't know how they've coped through so much and stayed together. They had some rocky moments, though. But they've only ever been with each other since they met. Even when they were broken up and pretending to hate each other for like three years! That's dedication..." I nod in agreement to his words. "Yoongi's great. He's grumpy and tired most of the time but that's just because he works really hard. Then there's Namjoon, a warlock. He's a genius and usually the word of reason when we get up to something inadvisable, which is most days..." He smiles cheekily. "Then his girlfriend, Etney. Kind of a Kalama princess, even though they don't have royal royalty. She's like a V VIP. An Adara, so.. Yeah... Then there's Namjoon's adopted brother, Jin. He's Seokjin, but everyone calls him Jin. He has some really dark past that no one ever talks about. A little too into dad jokes. And the same goes for his girlfriend, Laila. She's an angel and one of the sweetest people you've ever met."

"You talked about her before." I smile, remembering the first time Taehyung woke up, almost a month ago.

"Right! Who's left? That's pretty much it..." He shrugs and smiles at me. "For the inner circle, anyway."

"That's just the inner circle?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Yeah.. What about you? What's being homeschooled like?" He beams excitedly.

I shrug, looking down at my ankles. "Kind of lonely, to be honest... My inner circle consists of Euclea and Ash."

"Okay, Euclea is your bodyguard. Is she your friend too?" He frowns and cocks his head to the side.

"The closest I have to one." I smile trying to pretend that it doesn't bug me.

"What about Ash? Who's that?" He offers.

"My bunny..." I chuckle slightly. "My best friends are my bodyguard and my pet... Wow, I'm sad..."

"Hey... You have me too, now. Right?" He grins, tilting my head up by a finger on my chin so I look at him, and I can't help but smile too.

"Right." He blinks, smile falling slightly. His hand is still on my chin and I can not only feel, but hear my heart rate speed up slightly. He leans in and I don't want to move away. I close the distance between us and let his lips meet my own. It only lasts a second before he hurriedly pulls himself away.

"This is stupid, we're being stupid." He gulps and looks into my eyes panicking.

"Wow. Not soul-crushingly demoralising at all." I deadpan.

"No, not like that! I'd be happy to-.. I mean, lucky to.. You know.. That... But I'm just saying it would be stupid starting something that we know can't really happen." He looks away nervously. He looks cute when he's nervous.

"Why couldn't it happen?.." I frown, puzzled. I thought he didn't know who I was...

"Because we live over a two day drive away from each other..?" He blinks, clearly thinking it was obvious.

"Right... Good point..." I bite my lower lip, suddenly dreading what I know is coming next.

"And I'm going home soon."

Yeah. That.