The Raven's Source

Chapter 62 - The Raven

"Hey, anyone home?" Leena singsonged as she opened the front door and walked into her living room. "Oh my god, it smells delicious in here!"

"Welcome home," Ily answered from the kitchen. "I've got some ribs on low and slow in the oven. Figured I'd treat you guys to a nice dinner your first night back."

"Ily, you seriously should open your own restaurant downtown. I think the only thing that you can't cook is food that tastes bad!" Leena complimented.

"Well thank'ya kindly," Ily replied with a chuckle. "Not a horrible idea I might add. What would we call it?"

"Fat," she started. "With a big warning sign out front saying 'You'll always ask for seconds; All day, every day!' And you know there will be lines out the door! Reservations will have to be made months in advance!"

Ilyana burst into a fit of laughter at the thought.

A toilet could be heard flushing down the hall.

"Is that Leena I hear?" Twyn asked as he appeared in the hallway. He grinned seeing his sister. "So how was it? Worth the torment? I see you don't have a single tan line on that perfectly golden skin," he teased.

"I would rather not ever repeat those few weeks, but he definitely redeemed himself," Leena smirked.

"Well obviously he didn't really, otherwise you shouldn't be able to walk," Twyn grinned.

"Ha ha," Leena replied, sticking her tongue out at her brother before walking across the living room and saying hello to all three littles.

"Speaking of, where is Shej?" Twyn asked curiously.

"He stopped to talk to his brother for a few minutes. They're going to start brainstorming ways that we can all come and go from Isla Sera without Shej having to use his source for the travel."

"Is it even possible?" Ily asked.

"Well, people are able to create stones for resources, like heat. And Cerno's been able to use his source to imbue magic into buildings like City Hall or the prison beneath it. Shej's curious to see if Cerno could create something like that that can mimic Shej's ability to teleport."

"Holy shit, that's actually quite clever!" Twyn said with wide eyes. "It would revolutionize the ability to travel places! We could go home to Sundres for a visit in the blink of an eye, too!"

Leena chuckled. "We don't even know if Shej's ability can be transformed into an object like that though or how it could even work. That's why they have to brainstorm."

"Well, we can certainly ask them," Twyn said, pointing out the window towards the path. The two raven-haired men were walking side by side, both in smiles as they were talking. He smirked as he was able to tell from this distance that Shej was the one talking wildly with his hands—Cerno was as white as a ghost in comparison to Shej. Then again, all of them were currently pale compared to the couple who had just returned from basking in a tropic sunshine for three days.

"...I mean, anything can be done but this takes thoughts to work, too. How do the needed thoughts get implanted into an object when those are always changing?" Cerno asked Shej as they walked in the door.

"Maybe the thought of the specific place itself could be implanted. The object could specifically take you to one specific loca...tion...." Shej's voice trailed off as they entered his home. His nose wrinkled as the smell hit his nostrils and he found that it smelled delicious, but at the same time it wasn't at all enjoyable. He was instantly confused. "What is that smell?" he asked.

"It's ribs. I thought you liked ribs?" Ily said, leaning against the counter looking confused and borderline insulted at the image of Shej's disgust.

"Are you sure that's what you're cooking?" Shej asked with a grimace, touching the back of his hand to just below his nose.

All eyes were on Shej and his strange reaction to the smell of diner cooking. He was the only one reacting negatively to it.

"You look like you're about to vomit, Yaya," Cerno said, noticing Shej turning a little green.

"I'm sorry, Ily. I mean no offense but I need to go back outside until this airs out," Shej said as he turned back toward the door. He suddenly paused at the door before he turned another one-eighty and suddenly rushed down the hallway toward the bathroom.

"Did he eat something bad?" Cerno asked.

"I ate the same things he did and I'm fine," Leena advised.

"Doesn't matter, he's really going to heave when he gets in the bathroom if my delicious dinner is bothering him," Ily said with a smirk.

"Why?" Cerno questioned.

"Twyn just came out of there," Leena laughed. She nudged Twyn as she held one of her girls, "Go check on him, will you?"

"You're the wife," he teased, having just sat down and gotten comfortable.

"It's your butt stink in there! If one of us go, Shej won't be the only one hurling their guts out," Leena argued.

"Hurry up Twyn, he sounds pretty sick," Ily said looking down the short hallway.

Twyn was now on his feet and making his way down the hall, knowing there was no way that room had aired out yet and was most likely contributing to half of Shej's loud retching.

"Oh shit," Leena said, her eyes going wide as a thought struck her. She got to her feet and looked across the room at Ilyana. As their eyes met and Ily saw the look on her face, Ily's mouth gaped open slightly in her own thought. "...could it?"

Ily shrugged, "No...shouldn't."

"Will someone fill me in to what's going on?" Cerno complained at the two ladies, placing his hands on his hips.

After another few moments, Twyn reemerged from the hallway and grinned smugly as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Is he okay?" Ilyana asked.

"Oh yeah, he's perfectly fine."

"He's throwing up, clearly ill, and you're saying he's 'perfectly fine' while standing there looking like a tool?" Cerno said, eyeing him.

"With good reason," he answered, still grinning.

"...and that would be?"

"We collaborated and did a thing," Twyn replied.

"Wait...so he is...?" Leena started to ask, sounding excited.

"What the hell is with all the beating around the bush? Will someone tell me what the hell you're talking about?"

Twyn looked straight at Cerno and grinned. "Sheja's pregnant."