“A brother? I didn’t know you had one Dakota! I do too, you know?”
“They are essential. After all, who could we blame when something goes wrong? I’m just kidding, come on!”
We went upstairs by the straight wooden stairs, arriving to a room full of toys spread on the floor and a small bed with a little boy.
“This is Abrus, my brother. He is six eclipses.”
“Hello Abrus, nice to meet you! My name is Lola,” I said lowering myself, smiling.
I was startled to see him playing with sandstone dices, which lined up and piled up by themselves many times. He had his eyes glued to the stones moving on the room rig, seeming like he didn’t hear me. He looked really concentrated on the game. Dakota explained.
“He is an autistic, Lola. He almost doesn’t interact with other prisms, more with my mom. He is a smart boy, developed his powers since he was a baby. He can move objects with his mind. Once he threw a toy car on my direction. He almost doesn’t talk, but only by looking at him we can understand what it is sometimes.”
Abrus was a beautiful child. Red head like Dakota, white skin and a little chubby belly under his clothes. He had a deep stare.
“Not everybody has magic powers here, right?”
“Magic power? Hahahaha Listen to you talking like this making it seems like this is a fairytale, Lola,” she gave out a little laugh, finding my naivety a bit funny and explained.
“Magic at Lumen happens in many ways. Some have it inside of them, as Abrus, Nefarious and Elof himself, but those are few. Even if they don’t have a gift mark, they are called to go to Valkyrie to learn how to control it. Some other prisms (the majority) create potions and work with daily tasks. It is amazing what we can learn in Chemistry and Potions classes. Everything is controlled very well by Valkyrie’s professors. It is like a weapon of the warrior’s army. It is not for everyone to learn how to create it. Most of the people don’t have “powers” like those, unfortunately. For them, many potions are sold at the pharmacy as medical use and controlled. I’m an example of a prism with no power, but I have my gift, I’ll be a Keeper!” she said, proud of her career.
“I get it.”
“In our family only me and my dad got the mark, mom didn’t. He has his magic, right Abrus?”
“Hey Abrus, did you know I have a brother, too? His name is Rodrigo, he is little, you would like to meet him.” He kept his attention to the dice.
We heard the door closing downstairs. It was Dakota’s father, Captain Hanstu, who just arrived. We got up and left Abrus playing in his room. I could notice looking over my shoulder that he watched me with a mysterious look on his face. I gave him a smile and we went downstairs.
“Honey, we have a guest! Dakota brought Your Hig… Lola, to have dinner with us!”
“We met at the castle yesterday. How are you, Lola?”
“Very well Mr. Rendall, thank you.”
“Let’s take a place at the table, dinner is ready! Honey, can you bring Abrus, please?” said Mrs. Rendall.
We all sat down. The scent of vegetables soup could make any stomach growl, looked delicious. My stomach wasn’t that empty. I guess for the most part it was anxiety of remembering I probable die soon on a battle and the other part was for knowing I would see Viggo later. I had a small space left to the soup, even though I wasn’t going to make that slight.
As soon as we were finished, Dakota took off to her room while I helped her mom clean the dishes.
“Thank you for the dinner, Mrs. Rendall. It was delicious.”
“You ate like a bird, darling! Thank you for helping me with the dishes.”
“Come Lola! We have to change clothing. We will be late!”
I ran to meet Dakota, who had started already.
“Try on this blue dress, it will look good with your boots,” she said, side braiding my long hair.
“But Valkyrie’s official luau is only tomorrow, why do I need all this? It is only a rehearsal.”
“Errr, you silly! All the hotties will be there, it will be a party the same way. Let me put some black eyeliner on you, it will bring your eyes up. Fix your bangs, they are parted at the middle.”
“They always are, darling.”
While Dakota was finishing my eyes, I took it as an opportunity to learn more about Viggo.
“Dakota. He, you know… has he been dating her for long?”
“Who? Viggo? Since first level at Valkyrie. Gyda was all over him. People say she asked him. I saw you turning red when he stared… Hahahahah.” My face burned again.
“Stop! I wouldn’t have a chance even if I wanted. Gyda, besides being beautiful, is popular, everything I am not.”
“You’re going to be the Queen of everything! Did you forget? And Gyda is a snob, like her mom! That one doesn’t even deserve the disgust I have. And you are beautiful too, lady! Now, hurry up, we are late. In a while Zyba will send us a post pigeon hurrying us.”
So, I put all my other questions in my pocket, put some lavender perfume on, and we were at our way to meet Zyba. He was at the corner of the block impatiently waiting among many of prisms and wagons crossing by.
“Finally! I was looking for a pigeon to send you already!”
“See, Lola? Calm down, hasty!”
“Humm, you two smell good. Let’s go,” Zyba praised us.
The outfits here vary from brown to green, to blue and the utmost would be a dark red. Light colors were for nature, according to them, they could use helmets or braids for the girls. It looked like a trip into one of the books Mrs. Lekholm showed us in our classes on Viking history. I was starting to like this look.
I was going to my second night at Lumen’s Kingdom. We walked over the wall border, where the noise of the Village was suppressed by the agitation of the party which was beginning to crowd around a huge bonfire. As a compass looks for its north, so was I, looking for him.
Kenzo welcomed us with his wine glass in one hand and the rebec (a type of violin) in the other.
“You guys came! Welcome to our rehearsal. We were foolish enough to invite more prisms than we should, that’s why it is so full. Run to get your glass of wine, before it is gone. You all can drink already, right?” he said, smiling in the other musicians’ direction.
I don’t like to do the wrong thing, but I needed to relax a little. Kenzo knew we couldn’t drink. But since when do teenagers obey orders? In the fourth dimension, it wasn’t different. We started a bit shy, one cup for each, like someone who takes a few bits of change from their dad’s pocket without been seen.
We were the only freshman invited. That would put us on a high popularity level at Valkyrie. After all, if we turned into people’s dust at Leike’s Land, at least people would remember us with respect. I didn’t get to say that out loud, it would not sound too encouraging.
Music started. Kenzo playing the rebec gave rhythm to drums, and they started making it impossible to stand still. In pairs, everybody started to dance around the bonfire. Dakota, who drank her wine in a gulp, was the happiest of us three. The kook started to dance by herself, and then was pulled by Keoma Aoki, Kenzo’s middle brother, a sophomore. Before vanishing into the middle of the dancing couples, she screamed back, stretching her neck.