Wyrd: Book One of the Witch War Trilogy - WATTYS 2018 WINNER!

Chapter 22: In Which Rowan FINALLY Meets her Siblings

Her sister.

Laina Aary.

Rowan had not believed. Not truly. But now she knew without the shadow of a doubt that the girl standing in front of her was her family.

Her face ...

"You look so much like our mother," Rowan said, not letting her voice break.

The mother who I thought was dead. The mother who abandoned me, left me, let me be taken.

And yet, none of this was what had struck Rowan in the gut, more surely than a knife to the stomach.

It was how familiar Laina's presence had been. The twinkling kindness that lay in her pretty eyes, the energy of affability that drew people in, the compassionate but imperial stature the girl carried. It was something that, try as she might, Rowan knew she could never cultivate. While Laina looked like the mother that had forsaken Rowan, her sister's aura was of the dead father the ruler she wished she, herself, could emulate. The ghosts of Rowan's past and the insecurities of her present peered back at her through her long-lost sister, like a walking reminder of past grief, of the future with her family of which she was robbed, and of the parts of them she could never embody.

As Rowan grappled with her own reactions, Laina's eyes brimmed with tears that spilled out, streaming down her cheeks. "I..." Laina said, trying to wrestle control over her emotions, "have dreamed of you my whole life. I feel like I already know you. My sister! Ever since I found out you existed – you were really real -- all I have wanted every minute of every day has been to finally meet you."

Rowan's own flesh and blood peered back at her eagerly, openly, raw love and deep familiarity shining from the depths of her soul.

Just the way Rowan's father had once looked at her.

But blood or no, Rowan didn't know Laina, not yet, and she balked at the forced familiarity like a horse straining against a bit that was pulling too hard.

"I'm General Rowan Aary," she said, rather formally, the only hint of emotion colouring the greeting a slight, cold indifference. "I'm the firstborn Aary, which I suppose makes us siblings."

Rowan could see confusion cloud Laina's face, and then on its heels, a dawning of the slight rebuff, a trace of hurt that now lived there because of Rowan's callous, barbed response.

"Hello dear sister," said the boy-man beside Laina with warmth as he stepped forward, a huge grin across his face. "I'm your brother, Will."

Her brother. Will.

He was tall, very tall for one so young, with golden curly hair and an easy smile that was so contagious it made even her own lips turn upwards at the corners in this tense moment. He swept her into a hug and lifted her off her feet, shaking her side-to-side, then he placed her gingerly back on solid ground.

It was as if Will had single-handedly relieved the moment of its gravity, dispelling the collectively held breath of the present company with his easy manner and jovial comradery. He was like an eager griffin pup, jumping up on her enthusiastically. And for whatever reason, even though he resembled their father in his own way, it was easier for Rowan to accept him. In just a few moments, her feelings for Will were simpler and fonder, whereas her emotions towards Laina were more complicated and complex. Then again, it had always been easier to get along with boys for Rowan. Relationships took time, she decided, and eventually her sister would be more than just a stranger. One that reminded her of rueful recollections. It wasn't, Rowan thought, the girl's fault.