The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Chapter 23

Part 4

The twins progressed incredibly quickly. They both developed very intense and focused personalities,

especially Helemia, and this tendency increased over time. Within two weeks they were both walking

without support, and at a month they were running gracefully, if carefully. At three months they began

asking for a taste of the foods the adults were eating, and had no trouble digesting the small, well-

mashed samples they were given. As they were gradually weaned from the breast, they were also

gradually weaned from the adults’ constant psionic contact and guidance, and they began to spend

some time away from the adults, outside or in their bedroom.

They spent almost no time on playing as other children played, instead they spent their time learning

and exercising with almost fanatical discipline. Even when their parents and Alilia played basic games

with them like tag, or hide and seek, (which was a challenge in psionic Shielding for all involved) the

twins competed with an intensity worthy of finalists in the world’s great tournaments. When they played

catch, they always strove to catch the ball and throw it back as quickly as possible, and as hard and as

accurately as possible, usually aimed at the other person’s head. They never laughed when they were

playing, for there was no room for humor in their almost-grim concentration, but they laughed about it All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

readily enough when a break was taken, and they were gracious in victory and in loss.

The first anniversary of the community’s founding came, was celebrated, and passed.

PART 5

Vanakit Lamitkeze crouched on the branch of a tree, watching those he’d conquered training on the

ground beneath him and in the trees around him. As always, his face was hardened with a glowering

expression of hatred. Thoughts of revenge consumed him. Since his recovery, his obsession was so

powerful that he no longer cared about anything else, not even his own status. Somewhat ironically, his

new viciousness and fanaticism had served to raise his status in the eyes of his people quite

considerably. But not as much as the conquests he’d made.

It had been a fiendishly difficult task to identify his tormentor without being noticed by her. For many

days he had flown a circle around the intruders’ settlement, kilometers away and as high as he was

capable, viewing the settlement with his people’s best magnification of vision spell. He knew which

direction his tormentor lay at all times, and by looking in that direction as he flew constantly around the

settlement, he had eventually triangulated his target to a single dwelling. At first, he was unable to

determine which occupant of the dwelling he was seeking, but then his target had finally gone with her

brother to the small valley behind their home without their parents. As soon as he knew that it was one

of two tiny elves, he knew which one he sought. He had a flashback to the nightmare of her attack, and

then he knew her.

He then knew she had still been a baby in her mother’s womb when she had nearly killed him, almost

by accident. The knowledge that he had been so thoroughly bested by such a person filled him with a

humiliation as great as his hatred. He knew he had best act soon, while she was still physically and

magically helpless. She was never apart from her brother, so he knew he would have to take them

both. Above all, he must kill her before any of his people could learn that it was she who had attacked

him, and that it was she who continued to torment him with her constant, nagging intrusion in his mind.

But he had to deal with her psionic power, and he had to take her without involving the rest of her

people, which required a plan of unprecedented stealth. The Lord had warned all of The Sylvan of

Stealth that the newcomers possessed great power, perhaps enough between them to destroy every

Sylvan on the islands, and that they were not to be interfered with. But the Lord was gone for a score of

years, and Vanakit was not capable of waiting.

He had recruited his chosen followers by defeating them with stealth and combat, then beating and

torturing them until they thought that doing what he instructed was not such a bad thing. Some of them

were far more dangerous than he was, but he’d saved them for last, and by then he had enough of an

army to overwhelm them. Some of his people had feared that he meant to conquer them all, but he

only needed about five hundred of them for his plan, all carefully chosen, including all of their most

skillful and powerful psionicists. Now his conquered trained under his watchful eye, and the rest

covertly watched with interest to see what he meant to do.

At four and a half months of age Reggie was already the size of a one-year-old human; ten kilograms

and seventy-four centimeters tall. Helemia had more than doubled in weight to three and two-thirds

kilos, and was almost sixty centimeters tall. They were sitting motionless on the floor, staring at a

pebble on a stool between them one evening, when Yazadril came by for a visit. They didn’t move as

their great-grandfather was greeted by their parents and Alilia.

“I’ve come because I’m concerned about your children.” Yazadril began as he accepted a cup of tea. “I

haven’t discussed this with anyone else yet, but I’ve noticed that they never spend time with any of the

other children.”

“And you don’t know why?” Mark asked in surprise.

“Well, I’ll admit that it’s a bit unnerving to see such young infants running around like eight-year-olds,

and I understand that the other children are a bit intimidated by them, but I still think it would be better

for them to develop some relationships among the other children.”

“Father, to say that the other children are a bit intimidated by them is a vast understatement.” Talia

laughed. “The other kids are scared witless of them. So are most of the adults, especially the humans.”

“Including most of my own family, unfortunately.” Mark chuckled.

“You may not have noticed this, as you have some of the best psionic Shields and you habitually keep

them up all the time, and you’re a very confident person.” Talia continued. “But with most people,

Reggie and Helemia can’t help but Read everything a person’s thinking as soon as they look at them,

unless they make a concerted effort not to, and even that doesn’t help if they get distracted. By the time

either one of them have talked to anyone for more than five minutes, they usually know everything that

person has thought in the last week. And many of the thoughts they receive are not complimentary to

them. Furthermore, the person knows they’ve been Read, and most people are pretty uncomfortable

with being Read that thoroughly by a couple of babies. The twins are well-liked by all, and well-

respected, but still, thoughts like ‘scary little freaks’ and ‘abominations’ have come up with disturbing

regularity.”

“And on top of that is the fact that some of Reggie and Helemia’s thoughts, words and behaviors are in

keeping with young children,” Mark added, “But they often act like teenagers or adults. They almost

never act like babies. So people find them strange, unpredictable, and disconcerting in the extreme.

“And if all that wasn’t enough, Helemia likes to scare people. Once we realized that she was doing it we

had her stop, but word gets around.”

“Helemia? Really?” Yazadril asked in surprise as he turned to consider the children.

“I just got tired of people being scared of me.” Helemia shrugged as she and Reggie ended their

concentration on the pebble. “I wasn’t surprised when we were at Uncle Theramin and Auntie Yzell’s

house and their kids were scared of us. But I didn’t expect it from Uncle Theramin, and when I realized

he was scared of me too, I was a bit hurt, and a bit mad. So I thought; fine, I’ll give you a reason to be

scared of me. And it was so fun that I did it to a few more people after that, until Mother told me not to. I

did it to Father once, and that was the most fun of all because he was so easy, but he doesn’t fall for it

anymore.”

“Now we only visit the ones that aren’t very scared of us.” Reggie added. “That’s you and Grandmother

Nemia, Aunt Dalia and Uncle Bezedil, the unicorns, and the Dragons. Nek Sibook isn’t very scared of

us, she likes us a lot, but her husband Prince Reen is one of the people Helemia scared on purpose, so

now we only see Nek when she comes here to visit us. Without Reen.”

“Can I scare Grandfather, Mother?” Helemia giggled.