23. Chapter 23

Chapter twenty-three

T he next morning I wake up in the giant bed I had slept in the night before I originally left Skiora. Sandy knocks on the door and enters, laying out a lovely casual purple dress for me. It's made of hesen fabric, perfect for warmer days like today.

"This afternoon you must return to change into ceremonial wear for your knighting," she smiles.

"Knighting?" I question, getting up out of bed in a pair of pajamas I picked up from a thrift store that say ‘I Heart New York'. Sandy seems very interested in my clothing, unaware that I brought back a dress for her.

"Yes, the King has to knight you in order for you to join the King's Guard. He's very excited to have you."

"Oh, cool. Hey, I assume the Wizard's Tower has been repaired since I last left, and that's where he and his son are? I have some news for them. "

"Yes, of course."

"Great," I grin as she helps me into the awkwardly layered casual dress. This is something I need to get used to. She also plaits my hair with small pink flowers. Sandy really is amazing. I thank her, tuck an envelope into a sewn pocket, and start heading outside.

I can't believe it. This is my home now.

As I reach the bottom of the Wizard's Tower, Corvu joins me with a quick good morning kiss. It's a nice surprise. As we go up the stairs, I replay what I want to say in my head over and over again. Upon entering the room, I see Gildre busy with his many trinkets scattered all over the desk in the center of the room. I can't see J'san. I notice that many of his items have been moved to the right side of the room, likely to make space for a strange contraption he is building.

"Ah, Tia." He says, "I heard you had returned, although I apologize, not until this morning when I had some of the knights seeing me for a cure for alcohol induced headaches." I chuckled at that one, I'm going to teach them about easy words like ‘hangover'. "What can I do for you?"

"Before I left, J'san gave me a photo. He said it was of a lost sibling." Bringing out the envelope from the dress pocket I hand it to him.

"I'm surprised he even remembered I had this. It's been a long time. And it's his half sibling." That's an interesting development.

"By your half or his mothers?" I question.

"Mine." He sighs, pulling out the photo and looking at it with deep sadness. "You see I had once loved a Witch, and as kind as she was, the King at that time would not hear of it and ordered her head. She disappeared for some time after that. She was pregnant with our child at the time. Some, nearly twenty years later she reappeared, with a photograph of the child. She handed it to me and then pleaded with the King about the cause of Witches," He sighs, it was obviously a painful memory. ", but unlike his son, that King wasn't kind and she did not have the power to flee again. She had left the child in the other world and I was unable to travel there to retrieve them, with all my power I can breach immortality but I cannot help my own child." Corvu walks over to Gildre and leans over to take a look at the photo. The photo itself was of a toddler, around two years of age, lying stomach down on the floor with her feet in the air, leaning up on her hands smiling with crooked teeth.

"That girl has a birthmark on her foot like you do. Is that normal for humans in your world?" He states. I smile widely prior to responding.

"No, it's almost impossible for two people in our world to share birthmark similarities without being related. Or in this case, the same person." Both Gildre and Corvu's heads snap up to look at me. "I have plenty of photos of myself as a child. I know that's me. I could tell you even if the birthmark at the bottom of the foot wasn't there." Gildre stands and walks over to me, grabbing my face and turning it side to side.

"You have your mother's eyes. And chin." He smiles. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I had sworn to myself not to cry but as he embraces me I can't help it.

I did have family. Here . In Skiora. I was always meant to come here, to come home. Now I have. As he lets go, J'san appears from behind a few bookcases, oblivious to our presence .

"Son," Gildre begins, ", as it turns out, your lost sister is our Witch Saviour, Tia." Witch Saviour? Is that how I was known around here now? J'san looks at me and smiles.

"Okay." He says, turning back into the bookcases. That was not the magical brother and sister moment I had imagined.

"Wait for it." My father whispers to me. In a cloud of magical glittering dust, J'san appears beside me.

"Just kidding!" He embraces me in a hug big enough to lift me off the floor and settles me back on my feet again. "I had a feeling you'd find her." He winks.

I feel like we're going to get along just fine.