2 Leaves in winter

As I wore my clothes in the room, I heard my father and mother whisper in the kitchen. I couldn't make up a word of what they were saying but it sounded really serious.

"You're doing it again," Gresha stared at me awkwardly while knitting a sweater.

"Doing what?" I asked ignorantly.

"Eavesdropping silly," she smiled mischievously. "It's grownups talk. You putting your ears down to the ground won't save you if you get caught."

"I wasn't doing anything," I smiled back before laying into the bed amidst her knitting tools.

"Rey," Founder knocked on the door.

"Go away this is the ladies room," Puya gave off hastily.

"Like you're anything short of an elf with horns," he chuckled from behind the door.

"Okay that's enough," Mary declared with finality in her tone. "Leave the girls be."

"But I just want to talk to Reya," he protested.

"Well if you want to talk to someone, go talk to your father or better still talk to me, I am your mother."

"No, Reya is better," he held onto his words.

"On second thought I need an extra set of hands in the kitchen," Mary said as I heard her lead a grumbling Founder away from our door into the kitchen.

"Serves him right for trying to disturb our peace," Gresha sighed. "Could you pass me the wool?"

I picked a wool from the bed handing it over to her, "What joy do you derive when you knit?"

Her face brightened up as I immediately regretted asking such question. Gresha took pride in her artwork and whenever someone asked her questions concerning it, you better believe that a narration was going to follow suit.

"The art of creating something so beautiful is an artwork itself and as a woman I think I speak for all of us when I say that we should be there to help our husbands with the chores at home, meaning we should be able to cook, clean and take care of the babies when they are not around. Knitting is one such skill you should learn as a woman of society."

"What if I don't want to knit and cook and clean or take care of the babies?" I inquired with a frown.

"Well what would you want to do then?" Puya stuttered.

"I don't know, maybe join the Kings forces or be in the military."

"Are you a mage or a Xaj or do you have magical powers of any kind?" Gresha asked.

"No."

"Okay do you have the powers of the Klax clan or can you use the powers of the Vladians," Puya chipped.

"I cannot."

"Are you a goblin, giant or demigod?" Gresha inquired further.

"No I'm not."

"Then what good are you in war if you're not one of these?" she went on crushing my hopes of being a warrior.

"That's enough Gresha," Aurora the first one to be adopted in the family snapped. She had been named after Aurora the goddess of the seasons.

"I'm just trying to tell her that..."

"That what," she chirped in. "That because she's not some kind of flying monster or magic filled being she can't protect her country if need be? If you want to be a slave to your husband or societies laws that's fine with you but don't put it up as a standard for non magic beings to follow."

That was what I liked about Aurora, she was not afraid to face off against anyone who dared oppose her with degrading words. Early in the year she had found out she had magical abilities thrilling everyone in Vlagsir about the news. She had started off her training with the local magicians expecting to be an asset to the country, however her dreams were cut short when she found out that only the Xaj's were sent off to protect the country while the magicians were kept in the Kings palace awaiting the day when they would have a chance to replace a fallen comrade as a palace soldier. It had broken her so badly that out of rage she destroyed the magic school she attended at the time. A Xaj who had been present saw her as a threat thereby extracting her powers making her human. It was a sad day and ever since then no one mentioned what had happened on that day to her or even said a word about it.

"It's not what I mean," Gresha said defensively.

"Well then what did you...?"

"Children, dinner is ready!" Mary called from the dining hall breaking the already rising tension in the room.

I hurried out of bed leaving the girls in the room as I locked eyes with Forlan outside the boys room.

"Race you to dining!" he roared as I shoved him aside running to the dining amidst the cries behind me.

"First!" I claimed victory sitting at the table with an evil smile directed to his wrinkled face.

"You cheated!" he cried out.

"I did not," I revolted.

"No talking at the table," Gephire objected settling down to eat before the older children arrived.

The rain intensified with increasing claps of thunder while seventeen of us ate at the table in silence.

***

After dinner we all took our plates to the kitchen washing them in turns, dropping the items into a bucket stacked on top of each other to dry. The twins James and Cloister were always given Mary's and Gephires plates to wash after each meal so they always had to wait at the end of the line until everyone was done before washing theirs.

When I was done, I said goodnight to my parents before heading for the girls room. The candle had been blown out leaving me to believe the girls had all slept off.

As I groped my way to my bed, I heard someone sob in the dark.

"Aurora?" I called to which there was no answer. "Goodnight."

There was no need forcing an answer from the girl. She hated everything after losing her powers. A piece of her was gone and she had been miserable since that day. Groping for the bed, I found my blanket using it to cover myself up when I had settled in.

"What would you do if you found out you had the power to do anything you wanted to do?" Aurora asked in the darkness with a sniff.

That was an odd question to ask seeing as I did not have any magical power but I decided to give an answer anyway.

"I would fight against the enemies of the Kingdom without fear proving everyone who had walked out on me wrong," I answered with conviction. If we were going to deal with hypothetical questions I was going to give a hypothetical answer.

"You're odd," she chuckled softly. "Goodnight Rey."

I laid by the window watching lightning shoot across the sky in quick succession. Uranus the sky god must be angry at something. Legends had it that Uranus, Oceania, Zemeta and Mephistopheles once fought against each other and ever since that day the lightning Uranus tossed around the earth still zapped across the skies whenever it rained to showcase his powers. Of course these were all myths but it was what we all had to go about with.

My eyes started to droop over while I dreamed of nothing but falling iced leaves in winter.