Gifts of the Living Phoenix

Chapter 16

            Dante’s face showed a plethora of expressions in a matter of seconds. First, he was shocked, then it morphed into confusion, and then finally into understanding.  Had the conversation not been a serious one, Faith would have laughed at his reactions.  Instead she found herself not even entertaining the fact that he looked comical as he took in the ramifications of her statement.

            “B-b-but… you’re Colton’s daughter,” Dante countered.

            “Evidently not,” Faith said shrugging.

            “And you’re ok with this?”  Dante said plainly confused.

            “I’m not ok with anything.  I just came here to get some answers, to which I get none since he’s not here,” Faith hissed back.   Faith looked both livid and deflated, all at the same time.

            “This makes sense now,” Dante shook his head in understanding. “You were coming here to confront him.”

            “No, I wasn’t trying to confront him about anything. I just wanted to know if he knew.”

The food they had ordered with Helene came and interrupted their whispered conversation.  Both looked like they were relieved by the pause in conversation.  Neither wanted to be overhead and could tell that their rising voices would have had an audience.

“So, that should make Lucian your cousin, right?”  Dante offered.

            “Yeah I suppose so, but he doesn’t look like my father or my uncle- or rather my father.  Oh My God! I don’t even know what to call him!”  Faith said exasperated.

            “Hey!  It’s going to be ok.  We’ll figure this out,” Dante said finally.   “But you have to admit then, the prophecy was actually correct here too… “first born girl, of a first born son…”

Faith gulped.  He was right.  It had been right all along.

-----

Faith and Dante stayed one more night in the second realm and headed back to school early the next morning.  On the train ride back, Dante was quiet thinking about all the different things that had happened since meeting Faith.  He knew things were going to get complicated being one of the Living Phoenix’s guardians, but even he had not anticipated a few things happening.  One, the suspicious death of Colton Geniason, the secrecy behind Faith’s parentage, and the complexity of her new role, her transformation and becoming the Living Phoenix. 

No one really knew what the prophecy entailed, and now it was going to be confusing to figure out who could be trusted amongst all the different realms. 

Faith peered over at Dante, who was mumbling to himself slightly.

            “What are you thinking about over there?”  She looked at him with a half amused smile.

            “Nothing really.  Just realizing how complicated things are getting for us,” Dante admitted.

            “Yeah, it is, isn’t it.”  Faith said looking a little lost.  Then she genuinely smiled and said, “But we’re lucky to have good friends who are there to help us.”

            “I suppose you’re right,” Dante agreed.  “We have friends.”

Faith looked at Dante with warmth and leaned back into the velvety cushions of her seat.  Slowly she allowed the feeling of safety she felt with Dante let her be lulled into a deep sleep.

-----

            “Wait, wait, wait,” Interrupted Melody, “You freaked and went all the way to the second realm to confront your unc- I mean your father?” 

            “Why does everyone keep saying confront?  Confront sounds so negative.  No, I went to talk to him.  I wanted to know what happened, the why.  I wanted to know if he knew, if he cared that I was here the whole time.”  Faith said a little winded.

            “Right, you went to tell him off, is more like it,” Melody concluded.

            “NO.  I did NOT.  I wanted to know what he was thinking when he just cast my mother aside.  Why he didn’t fight more for what they had,” said Faith wistfully.

            “But you know the answer to that yourself.  You know they were already sent to be unioned with other people.  They had other obligations.  Commitments to those beyond their immediate desires and needs.” 

Faith knew what Melody was saying was true, but she hadn’t wanted to hear the totality of it.  To Faith, none of that should have taken precedence over the fact that they had once been in love, or at least would have been if fate had allowed it.

“Look, I’m not the best when it comes to these things, but I don’t think you know the whole story and it’s not really your place to judge him.”

Faith flashed Melody a look of defiance before changing the subject.  “Yeah well, it didn’t matter anyway, he wasn’t there and Dante ended up bringing me back home.”

“Yes, about that,” Melody smirked.  “Your twins are NOT at all happy about the fact that he was with you.  You might want to go and explain yourself.” 

            “There’s nothing to explain.  Dante said it was a coincidence and he had come home to visit his father,” Faith lied.

            “Suurrree he did.  And pigs can fly.”

-----

Faith didn’t understand why the Twins were upset with her, but she felt an urgency to see them both.  She hadn’t been to their room before, but she made her way down the colorful hall to the boy’s side of the dormitory.  Quietly she knocked on their door hoping to find the both of them.

           “Faith!  When did you get back?  Are you ok?”  Edric opened the door to Faith and ushered her in.  Everett who had been on his bed reading a book suddenly jerked up to confirm that it truly was her.

            “Why didn’t you let us know you were going to the second realm?” Everett said in earnest.

            “To tell you the truth, I don’t think I realized what I was doing until I was already on the train and on my way,” Faith admitted. “By then it was too late to reach out and ask you to come with me.”

            “We would have you know.  We were worried when your mother told us you had left without a word,” Edric said with concern.

            “What happened?”  inquired Everett.

Faith looked at the twins.  She had always told them everything. Even when they were children they had no secrets.  They understood her in ways her parents didn’t.  Looking down at the floor, she took a deep breath and explained.

“I found out after the funeral that the elf I thought was my father wasn’t my biological father.  I think Colvine Geniason is my real father.”  The words came spilling out of Faith in one quick whoosh. 

Both Everett and Edric looked stunned by her admission.  They were silent as each contemplated the fact that her father was not who they had thought he was and that someone else was actually her father.

            “Wait, Faith, does that mean, the prophecy was correct?”  said Edric.

            “Yeah I guess it was.  I just don’t really know what to make of this right now.”  Faith looked overwhelmed at the realization that the prophecy had been correct and that she really was the Living Phoenix.  “I thought that if it wasn’t really all correct that it could be a fluke, this Living Phoenix thing. I’m confused as to what is expected of me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do!”  Faith sounded desperate and inconsolable. 

Everett took her into his arms and embraced Faith while stroking her hair.  Faith let herself melt against him, feeling comfort in his touch.

            “I know it’s a lot Faith, but you have me and Edric. We would never let anything bad happen to you, you know this, right?” 

            “Everett’s right.  You’ve always been special to us, and this new revelation of being the Living Phoenix changes nothing for us,” Edric honestly declared.

             “Faith, do you love us?”  Everett inquired boldly.

Faith was taken by surprise.  The question seemed so sudden, yet Faith knew the answer even before he had asked.  After a moment of silence, which felt like an eternity to all in the room she responded.

            “You know I do.  I’ve always loved you, both.”  Faith said blushing.

            “We love you too,” Edric admitted.

            “Always have,” Everett concluded.

-----

Faith was wrapped up in warm daydreams of Everett and Edric.  Their declaration of love made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  Faith was torn between thoughts of one brother versus the other, but she realized that neither of them had asked her to choose.  Instead, it seemed that both were offering themselves to her, together.  She would need to tread lightly.  Faith loved both the twins and had no intentions of losing either one due to her actions.  She fell asleep thinking of them both and a possible future where they were all happy, all three of them, together.

-----

            “Good morning class! And welcome back Ms. Geniason,” said Professor Maudalin.

            “We are going to continue discussing the appropriate measures of compromise and tactics that can help you win over your counterparts in negotiation. Everyone please get into your groups and work on the two negotiation exercises in chapter 11 for the remainder of the class.” 

Students did as they were instructed and were soon having heated discussions among themselves.  At Faith’s table, Dante and Faith were on opposite sides about what compromises they should concede to. 

            “Dante, I don’t think a give and take approach is a bad thing, but it can’t be tit for tat.”

            “Wait, what is the difference?”  Dante said exasperated.

The other three students looked at the two of them silently amused.  They hadn’t seen Dante talk much when Faith first arrived so it was different seeming them interact so familiarly.

            “Tit for tat means that there is an expectation of a return in order to get something first.”

            “Ok… and giving and taking is different how exactly?”

            “Dante, giving and taking requires compromise.  Tit for tat means that the other party will always have an expectation of some kind of return for something that they provide at the time.” Faith said rolling her eyes.

            “Same thing.  Seriously, just different semantics.”  Dante countered again.

Sighing, Faith looked to the other group members for some help but they all looked quite amused and seemed to be entertained by the bickering.  None of them injected themselves into the conversation, seemingly satisfied with watching the drama unfold.

As class came to a close and with their assignment finished, Dante walked with Faith out of the class. 

            “See you later in the library?” Dante looked at Faith expectantly.

            “Yes, we’ll continue our research,” she glared in jest.

            “Faith!  Come on, we’re going to be late for our class,” Both Melody and Everett hurried over to Faith and ushered her away from Dante, but not before Everett scowled at Dante giving him a dirty look.   Dante sighed and went off to his next subject.

-----

            “We just want to know why Dante keeps following you around,” Edric said to Faith.

            “Is there something we don’t know about?  Between you two?”  Everett continued.

             “Guys, where is this coming from?  He’s just a friend.  It’s not like that between us,” Faith said baffled. She honestly didn’t know where this had come from.  Completely out of the blue, similar to their admission of love she thought dismally.

            “Wait… are you two jealous?”  Faith said incredulously.

            “What? No, we’re not jealous,” Everett sputtered.

            “We just want to make sure he’s not dangerous or has inappropriate intentions,” said Edric, smoothly lying and covering for Everett.

            “Right, well… given that we aren’t really official here,” said Faith waiving her hands between them, “We don’t have anything to worry about, anyways.”

            “Faith, you’ve always known we loved you.  Even if we never came out and admitted it.  You can’t deny that you don’t want to end up with, or at least the fact that you want to be with us.”

Everett looked so honest as he said this, Faith had trouble catching her breath at their meaning.

            “What are you implying Everett?  I mean, you guys know we’ve already probably been unioned with someone.  Are you saying you would actually go against who they joined us with?”

Everett hesitated only a little, but Edric was confident in his reply.  “Yes, I would not accept anyone but you,” he said.  “I love you Faith, I always have, and always will.”  This time it was Edric to wrap his arms around Faith pulling her closer to his chest and bringing his lips down to hers into a deep kiss.  Faith was the one to break the kiss first and whisper, “Are you sure about this?  Your father may be against this.”  Faith noticed how her body was reacting to Edric’s touch and realization made her blush as she put her forehead to his chest.

            “We’ve never been surer about anything before in our lives,” the twins said in unison.

-----

The days passed by in a set routine. 

Faith and her group of friends would help her develop her gifts as best as they could.  They had found so far that her first gift was the gift of fire, with the second gift being the manipulation of water.  There were supposedly two more gifts, but at the moment, with no one to teach her, Faith had little time to discover what they were. 

Faith continued her research with Dante, but that seemed to yield little results.  Frustrated at their lack of progress, Faith suggested they put a hiatus on their search until the winter formal.  The winter formal was a combination of a holiday party for those that continued to celebrate holidays like Christmas and New Year’s.  Over the years, holidays had gone to the wayside.  This time of year, as the year came to a close, it was more about decorating the homes in white to honor the Ogacio and celebrating another year of survival.  The mayhem of gift giving and purchasing goods to exchange long forgotten for hundreds of years. 

            “Are you going to the winter formal, Melody?”  Faith asked absentmindedly.

            “Yeah… I may.  Kyle asked me, but he’s so young,” she emphasized the word “young.”

            Faith laughed.  “He’s the same age as you!” 

            “Yeah, but he seems younger,” Melody huffed in her defense. Redirecting the conversation she asked, “Are you going with the twins?”

Faith turned a slight shade of pink and replied, “Yes, with both of them.”

            “GOOD GOD WOMAN!  You’re going to have TWO dates?”  Melody screeched.

            “Please!!  Inside voice!  And yes, I’m going with them both.  They both asked at the same time.”  Faith paused a minute before saying, “They both seem to have an understanding that I’m not in on.  I’m both frustrated and aroused at the same time!”

Melody shook her head at Faith laughing, “Of all the problems to have my friend, that can hardly be considered a bad one to have.”