𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝔸𝕘𝕖 - ᵖᵉᵗᵉʳ ᵖᵉᵛᵉⁿˢⁱᵉ

꧁Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 14 - Aᴋᴏ́ᴍɪ꧂

It had been a week and a half since Katherine had been left on Akómi by Aslan. She had been given lodgings in the Royal Palace. It was massive. That was the first thing Katherine had thought of when she had seen it. It was made entirely out of black marble and the sun gave it a rainbow-like sheen in the daylight. Flashes of gold popped through the black giving it an elegant, regal look. 

She had assumed that due to the black marble the inside of the castle would be hot and stuffy but upon entering, she found it pleasantly cooling.

"It's the temperature runes" Kyros had confided in her when she had asked.

"Kyros!" Althea had called out sternly, "You cannot tell outsiders this knowledge"

"But Thea" he had spoken softly, "She will be living with us for a while so we might as well explain to her how it works."

So Althea had taken Katherine into the drawing room with Kyros and had called upon their sister Odele who met them there.

"Nice to meet you" she had grinned after taking Katherine's hand into her and giving it a firm shake.

Katherine whilst slightly surprised to have it shaken the way men greeted each other, returned the handshake. She internally winced as another sharp pain filled her head, why was it so hard to remember pieces of her past?

Sitting down on one of the chairs she watched as the three siblings exchanged words before looking back at her, it was little Kyros who broke up the group, bouncing over to her eagerly and sitting in the chair next to her. Odele sat down opposite the two and waited for her older sister to continue.

Althea cleared her throat before beginning, "There is a reason why our little  island never shows up on maps and is not visible to most who travel, there is a reason why boats seem to avoid this section no matter how much easier it might be to travel through it"

She paused to let it sink in, "Since ancient times our elders, the kidemónes, have protected this island with runes, the magic of our people. Each child is gifted a power by Aslan at birth and named after the power."

She turned to Katherine, "Yet you are the first person outside of our land to gain such a blessing from Aslan. Nevertheless we expect you to never share the knowledge or secret of our land"

"I promise you, I won't" Katherine answered firmly.

"Good" Althea responded, "Because once you enter the island's barrier you will always be able to find it afterwards, and we can't have others migrating to our land, we have too little of a capacity to look after both ourselves and others."

Katherine nodded.

"Now that those formalities are over" Odele began with an eager grin, "Let me explain each of our magic runes"

"No way" Kyros whined, "I want to do it" 

"Well I'm the second oldest Ky, you can do it next time" Odele spoke firmly.

"But there won't be a next time" Kyros pouted and Odele bent over to ruffle his hair, 

"That's the point kiddo. Anyway Althea's name means healer - She's the best there is, she can bring back someone on the brink of death. She activates her runes with a series of hand gestures, like this!"

Katherine turned to Althea. She sighed slightly at her sister's enthusiasm but Katherine didn't miss the warm smile on her face as she closed her eyes. Running her left hand from her right elbow to her palm, she curled her pointer finger as her left hand ran over it. Then she as her left hand fell back she unfurled her pointer finger quickly and a green and gold glow filled her palms. She touched the tips of her left fingers to her right and her left palm also lit up with the same glow.