"No, it doesn't make sense!" Ripha replied. "I've seen what she can do and this has never happened before. Elysia hasn't asked me to do anything, she made my hair move against my will.
"Can you do the same, Lith? Do you have this degree of control over your Demons?"
"It's possible but right now I can't." He shrugged. "I evolved in this form and I'm still getting used to it. Elysia, instead, was born a Tiamat. She can do by instinct things I need to discover and train for."
"La." Elysia sucked on a lock of hair, unaware of the content of the conversation, only of its general tone. "Mama?"
The babble word made Ripha's dead heart beat again.
"No, sweetie." Solus rushed to explain. "The beautiful lady looks like mommy Solus and is bound to your father, but she's not your mother. Elysia, this is Auntie Ripha. Say-"
"Grandmother Ripha." Menadion glared at Solus, cutting her short. "If I have to stay here and you won't give me a grandchild, I'll take what I can. Elysia has our hair, after all."
"Mom!" Solus blushed up to her ears. "She's not related to me more than you are to Aunt Loka or Friya! Having six elemental streaks-"
"Gama!" Elysia giggled.
As long as she was fed and loved by her parents, the number of grandparents was but a minor detail to her.
"How smart you are!" Ripha tickled the baby, making her giggle. "Can you say Ripha?"
"La." Elysia shook her head.
"Close enough. As I said, I'll take what I can." Menadion caressed the baby. "Prepare yourself, old lizard. Your measly trinkets will pale in comparison with the toys I'll make for her."
"Dream on, old hag." Leegaain scoffed. "Even if that was the case, I'll be the favorite grandparent the moment Elysia sees the treasure hoard I've prepared for her. I'm not above bribing children to like me."
"Speaking of children and introductions, Elysia, I want you to meet your younger brother." Kamila neared her scaled hands to the baby.
"Wait, didn't you do that already?" Lith asked.
"No, silly. There was no celebration in your absence. I wanted to share this moment with you." She replied, making Menadion miss her husband even more.
Elysia was confused by the sudden development. Her mother had never had scales, making their conversations most frustrating. Her young brain dismissed it as Kamila being an airhead and grabbed her finger after shapeshifting into a Tiamat.
"Ba?" Elysia felt something besides her mother on the other side.
A level of peacefulness and silence she had never experienced before, not from herself or even from her father while he was asleep. It wasn't quite a person but the potential of something that with time would become one.
The feeling spread to all aspects of Elysia's life force, creating a bond with the unborn child. It was the third person the baby girl had ever met who resonated with her almost in a perfect tune.
The first was her mother. During the final months of gestation, Elysia had become cognizant of many things by experiencing the world around Kamila through the sensations shared by the Dragon scales.
The second was her father, who Elysia had only felt through Kamila until the day she had been born.
Elysia had never understood why the bond with her mother had been lost and its restoration filled her with joy. The love and affection Kamila felt for her eclipsed the quiet peace of the embryo but Elysia loved them both because one heralded the other.
"No, he's not a bad boy." Lith tutted. "He's your little brother. Say something nice to him."
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Supreme Magus