My cousins, Leila, Davyn, and Nigel, were awake, with a woman I assume was their mother chasing after them. It was early morning, but the toys were already spread around the room. The kids were cheerily yelling as they pursued each other, while their mother looked at the scene in despair. From what grandpa told me, the kids were seven, five, and three. They'd gone through the worst phase for magical children, the first two years, and now they were just developing their magic, their survival secure.
When I entered the room, the woman, my aunt, whose name I wasn't told, looked at me in amazement. And with what seemed like hostility. Why, I wonder?
"Cloris, dear," Azrikam said, "I'd like to introduce you to my niece, Amy. Amy, this is my wife Cloris."
Cloris, a woman in her late thirties,
