Dance of Magic - The Books of Beginning [1]

53. An Odd Group, For Sure

The day had continued on, with resting and eating, but not talking. No one was quite sure of what to say. It was only when night fell that Richard and Clare asked their children to come have a discussion with them. So, Kate and her siblings left Rafe and Wilamena in the library, where they had all been looking for reading material. As for Gabriel, he had left the house around an hour ago to pay the necessary visit to his village.

Kate, Michael, and Emma seated themselves at the kitchen table alongside their parents. They needed to have this conversation, they hadn't had the chance to talk, to properly talk, since before the battle, maybe since before all this began. It needed to happen, but that didn't mean it was easy or comfortable.

After minutes of silence that dragged on excruciatingly, Richard spoke, "this family is a mess, isn't it?"

"What made you think that?" Emma asked sarcastically, a small smirk edging onto her face.

Richard snorted, "fair. But I'm being serious. I... I was so glad to have you kids back. I thought from there it would be happily ever after. But... it wasn't. It was stressful and confusing and I've been so full of fear about losing you again... and you haven't been happy either, have you? I know that. I want to know what's wrong. So please... be honest, even if it hurts."

The three children exchanged glances. Their father was caring, they knew that, he was always checking on them to make sure they were safe, even going too far with his overprotectiveness sometimes, but he had never asked them how they felt about what was going on within their family.

Emma, ever bold, spoke up, "you guys are so scared of losing us, you're overprotective. I feel like I'm being smothered and treated like a little kid. I feel like you don't respect that we've gone through a lot too, and we're stronger than expected. All the hovering and coddling drives me nuts, to be honest."

Richard and Clare looked wounded for a minute, to see their daughter speaking so candidly about their mistakes. But they needed to hear this. So Richard asked softly, "what else?"

"You treat us like we were never gone at all," Kate chimed in quietly, "like you know who we are and how to raise us. But you don't, and you don't ask enough. You need to be more willing to learn who we are as people and what that means for us as a whole. And you need to respect that we're still learning about you. We were separated for a long time, it's not our fault that we aren't connecting with you right away. This will take time."

Clare pursed her lips but said, "I suppose that's a fair point. An- Anything else?"

The three exchanged yet another glance, full of meaning only they could decipher. Clare and Richard frowned instinctively, but were sure to clear that from their faces by the time Michael cleared his throat.

"We're not normal. You can't just treat us like we are because we aren't. And I'm not only talking about our experiences. Somehow, by fate or coincidence, we have magic inside of us and we all want to learn to use it. We want to be part of the magical world somehow. This is where we belong."

He continued, "Emma wants to be a warrior, like Gabriel, and you need to let her. That's who she is. I want to study magic. I've found it fascinating my whole life and now I want to learn everything. I want to be with my friends in this world too, because they're the people that understand me and like me for who I am, in a way that normal people don't seem to. And Kate-"

"I want to learn magic too," the eldest child cut in, "I have people I love here too. And I think I'd grow and heal better by embracing all of this than by pretending it never happened and that I'm normal."

"You guys studied magic and loved it. And maybe that's changed, but now we're here, and we love it, and you can't take that away from us," Emma finished firmly.