December 24, 2002 – 19:10
"BRO!" said Stephanie and Frank at the same time.
They all stopped eating.
"Why would we?" said Coralis.
"Humans aren't our enemies, I don't see why we would kill you all just because we could," said Sebastian.
"I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I can't help myself from wondering if you're all into a fake bubble, feeling safe when you aren't, although I can hear myself thinking clearly, so I don't know. I'm confused about all of this. Coralis, if you grew up in orphanages, shouldn't you hate us all? Unless you didn't."
"BRO! That's enough!" said Frank, then looked at Coralis, "Luv, you don't have to answer him."
"It's fine," she said while massaging his thigh to reassure him. "It's a legit concern, especially considering the current heated climate among elemental clans and other supernatural. There are a lot of clans and factions out there that want me to hate humans enough to turn against them."
"But you would never, I know you would never, right? Neither would Sebastian," said Audrey.
"I would never, indeed. My upbringing taught me that some humans were bad and weren't worth it, but thanks to some of my social workers and some of the children I've been homed with, my past also taught me that not all humans were bad. When I started elemental school and my parents' past caught up to me, I found out that the worst people were among our kind and understood quickly why humans needed to be protected from us."
"Over the past years, a lot of radical groups have tried to recruit Coralis or to weaponize her, and she killed the majority of those who came at her for that purpose. My family believes that it's a good thing that me and Coralis both fell in love with a human, arguing that the world doesn't need more pure-blooded and that it ensures that neither one of us would join the lunatics. We aren't your enemies."
While Raymond and his family simmered what Coralis and Sebastian said, Linda got up and collected the plates.
"Your dad is a good man," said Molly.
"You met him?" said Raymond.
"Yes, when we found out about Audrey, they took us to watch a game of flyball live. Lizzy and I met him there with Sebastian's brother. They're good people," said Lizzy.
Lizzy got up to help Linda. Sebastian and Coralis looked at each other while Louis and Molly got up to head back to the basement.
"Let's refill our glasses and go back to the basement, shall we?" said Stephanie, getting up.
Stephanie refilled all of their glasses. She emptied the bottle and got up to head to the basement, grabbing a full bottle on her way. Coralis and Sebastian followed her.
"It's a lot to take in, I know, but trust me, Coralis and Sebastian are on our side. I've seen enough shit to know that with certainty and I will fight for her," said Frank before getting up to join the others in the basement.
A few minutes later, Linda and Lizzy got back from the kitchen.
"I wanted to ask you guys," said Linda as she sat next to Audrey and looked at Coralis and Sebastian, "when Frank spoke to Pier on the phone, he asked him how he knew she was like him, considering they never physically met. Pier said they could recognize their own kids without touching them… what did he mean by it?"
Sebastian coughed the wine he had in his mouth and Stephanie gently tapped his back. Coralis blushed.
"It's a hard one to answer because none of us have kids, so it's not something we have experienced ourselves," said Coralis.
"If I'm to make an educated guess based on what I've heard from my parents and relatives with children, it has to do with recognizing our own energy signature. Each bloodline has its unique energy signature. Unlike DNA, our energy signature isn't a blend of the parents' one, well it rarely is," said Sebastian, glancing at Coralis. "As for Pier, if he came near with Audrey and sensed a faint copy of his energy signature, it's probably how he knew."
"Based on my own experience with spirit magic, I'll add that Pier's response wasn't entirely accurate. I think that he could sense that Audrey was indeed his daughter when he sensed an imprint of himself in her soul… but he wouldn't have been able to tell for sure that she was an elemental based on that. If Audrey had been born human, the elemental gene would be dormant, but he would still be able to sense his own elemental imprint, I believe," said Coralis.
"Spirit magic… like summoning demons or things like that?" said Raymond.
"No, we aren't witches. A lot of witches are into that type of shit and it's more what we'd consider dark magic. Spirit magic is entirely something else. It relates to souls on this plane, not so much to the dark energies from the underworld," said Sebastian.
"These witches are what give mages a bad rep," said Frank.
"Some mages are well versed in this kind of dark magic and even among us, a lot of elementals associate spirit mages to demon summoning type of magic, but Frank is correct. Dark witches who are into that type of magic are the reason why most mages will take offence when called witches," said Sebastian.
"Personally, I don't care if people refer to me as a witch, but yeah, a lot of us get deeply offended when people call us witches," said Coralis.
"Oh wow, okay. This is a lot more complex than I thought," said Raymond.
"Yeah, it is. That's why I told you to let us explain before you jump to conclusions," said Stephanie.
"Could you summon a demon if you wanted to? Not trying to be an ass, I'm genuinely curious," said Raymond.
"We could if we wanted to. In theory, humans could summon them too, but the ritual surrounding it is very complex and varies depending on which demon is to be summoned. I fought demons, I would never summon them just because I can," said Coralis.
"I remember you mentioning demons once when we were talking about you saving Vic's life… but you didn't elaborate on it… you fought demons at school, right?" said Frank.
"Yes. We were 12, and Vic nearly got kidnapped by demons."
Frank slid his chair closer to hers so that he could pass his arm around her shoulders.
"Did you know?" said Stephanie to Sebastian.
"No. We didn't know each other back then and her school didn't publicize it either."
Louis got up to open a new bottle of wine.
"Sebastian, when you explained to us why Pier wasn't allowed to make the deal about the traditional duel with Frank, you and Stephanie mentioned something about mates and rituals, so I'm curious. If the ceremony for it is indeed the equivalent of a marriage, how does it differ from ours?" said Louis.
Stephanie blushed and Coralis chuckled lightly at Sebastian, who was glancing at Stephanie and quickly adverted her stares to look at the people around them. Frank stared at Coralis.
"Oh, that's a good question! What are your rituals? You said a mate is like a soulmate, right?" said Molly.
"I think it's the first time I've seen these two seemingly embarrassed, especially Sebastian," said Lizzy.
"Well, guess now is as good of a time as it will ever be to explain it," said Coralis.