Child of Chaos

Chapter 1: Peace

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed child skipped along the footpath, singing happily to herself. Her blonde-haired, brown-eyed father walked a little behind, watching her with a smile on his face. As they neared their house, the front door swung open to reveal a girl in her late teens with light-brown hair and deep blue eyes. The child called out, "Mummy!" and ran into the girl's arms. Aria knelt to embrace her daughter and then stood to give her mate a kiss. Luke smiled at her and brushed the hair away from her face, running his fingers gently over the scar above her eye.

"How was she? Did she give you any trouble today?" Aria inquired about their daughter, who had a tendency to run off on her father while they took their daily walk. She would also practice her magic in public, something definitely not safe to do on Earth. Luke shook his head, Annwyl had behaved surprisingly well today. Aria smiled again before turning and following their over-excited daughter inside.

Annwyl was only half magic, but somehow she still seemed to have just as much power as her mother. Aria couldn't quite figure out how this could be, but she had decided to roll with it for now. She wouldn't let it trouble her too much. She definitely wanted her daughter to limit her use of magic, aware that relying on it could get Annwyl into trouble quickly.

Aria would give Annwyl lessons on controlling her magic while Luke was at work. Then, when Luke got home, he would take his daughter out to spend some quality time with her while Aria used the peace and quiet to cook dinner. Once home again they would eat together, and Aria would put Annwyl to bed while Luke cleaned up the dishes. The system worked well and they'd been using it since not long after Annwyl was born. They had been mates for only a year, yet they had already learned to work as a team. Annwyl was three months old now, and Aria was proud of how her daughter was growing and learning so quickly. The pair had opted to keep Annwyl and Aria a secret from Luke's friends and family. While Aria could pass herself off as human, it would be far too hard to disguise Annwyl's fast growth and high intelligence levels. If Annwyl had chosen to use magic in front of Luke's friends, that also would have been a disaster, giving them another reason to keep quiet about both her and Aria's existence.

Aria and Luke had met not long after Aria arrived on Earth. He had found her wandering the street, comepletely lost. Seeing her cuts and bruises, he had stopped to speak to her, asking if he could help her. Aria had tried to get out of the conversation, but Luke had been persistent. He knew she needed help and would not take no for an answer, so Aria had relented. He had taken her to his apartment and looked after her. She hadn't talked much for the first couple of weeks, and Luke had given her space. He had trusted that she would open up when she felt safe, and eventually he was proven right.

Aria told him all about her history. She told him who she was, where she had come from and why she had run away. Luke had comforted her and promised to look after her. She lived with him for about a year and eventually they became attracted to one another, and then began to love each other. As Aria was a secret from the rest of the world, Luke did not try to marry her, but instead took her as his mate, which was the custom of Aria's people. It was much simpler and simply them declaring in private their love for each other and their desire to be together for the rest of their lives. Six months after that, Annwyl was born and they became the happy family that they were now.

That evening, as they sat down to dinner, Luke decided to have a discussion with Aria about her home world. He had noticed that something had been bothering her lately, and he was almost certain that she was becoming a little homesick. "Aria, do you want to go back home?" She looked up at him, startled. Before she could protest against the idea, he quickly stopped her. "I don't mean permanently. Just like, a quick visit. You can just look on from afar. I know something is bothering you and I thought that may be what it is." She thought about it for a moment before answering him.

"You're right. It's not so much the place that I miss, but some of the people. It would be nice to see my little sister again, even if she didn't see me. I'd like to know that she is okay, that she's safe." Luke nodded. Aria thought some more before making a decision. "It's your day off tomorrow. Could you look after Annwyl if I go home briefly?"Luke was slightly taken aback by her willingness to go, but he wasn't about to stop her.

"Of course I can look after Annwyl while you go." She smiled at him, happy that he was so understanding. Annwyl began to chatter on about the things she had learned today with her mother. Luke and Aria engaged with her and the conversation took up the rest of their dinner. After dinner Annwyl began to talk to her mum about everything she'd seen on her walk with Luke that afternoon, and so the conversation continued all the way up to Annwyl's bedroom. This was the way things usually went in their evenings, and Aria loved it. Little did she know that tonight would be the last night this routine would ever happen.