The Kingdom of Orenda

Chapter 12: The Painting of Madea

"Your highness, Izarra ran in here and we were just chasing after her," Acer quickly apologized. "We're very sorry."

Absyrtus looked at the portrait and sighed, face going from upset to a tired sadness.

"Its- its fine. Just please leave."

"Will do sir-" Acer said as he began to walk backwards.

"Wait." Lidya said, confusion in her voice making her loud.

"This painting." she pointed to the portrait, struggling to talk out of shock.

"That's me and my sister with our parents." Absyrtus explained, somehow not catching onto Lidya's shock, "the last painting we took together before she disappeared."

"That's my mother." Lidya managed to blurt out.

Absyrtus stared at her, confused.

"What?"

"Madea, that's my mother. That looks exactly like her, it has her birthmark and necklace too." Lidya held out her necklace's pendant. Absyrtus looked at it, then at her, and then at the painting of his sister.

"That... you..." he looked between her and his sister a few times. "Do you have a birthmark on your left shoulder like she does?"

"Yes." She showed him her birthmark. His jaw dropped in shock and he stumbled back, nearly tripping over his cape.

"Stars and Skies." he mumbled.

Acer and Cersie were shocked too, Izarra managed to squirm out of Acer's grasp and ran over to Absyrtus. He looked down at her in confusion for a moment before leaning down and looking at her name tag.

"Izzy!" he shouted, Izarar jumped up and licked his face. He laughed and wiped it off. He looked back at Lidya, who was still bewildered by the whole ordeal unfolding in front of her.

"After so many years of false leads I had just started ignoring anything that could be a sign. Even something so blatant as the same necklace as her." Absyrtus said. "Even now part of me doesn't want to believe it."

He looked at Lidya,

"Lidya.... You're my Niece." He said.

"...and that was when they decided to start doing travel journals. While they had some trouble finding someone to publish them they ended up finding a magazine company who was willing to publish them. I still have some of them at home in Mom's old desk." Lidya had been telling Absyrtus as much of her mother's, his sister's, life prior to her birth as she knew it. Axle and Eryd were called to the throne room and informed of such, as were Zephyr, Avery, Lani, and General Misurah, who were tasked with informing the rest of the castle hands about the news.

"I should have figured Madea would find a way to see the world she ended up in. She was always the one dragging me and Zephyr into adventures when we were in school you know." Absyrtus chuckled, his tired sadness seemed nearly gone from his face as he listened to Lidya from his throne, as she sat on a chair beside him that had been brought in for her.

"She did the same with Aunt Nora, Uncle Leroy, and Dad when they were kids. If I remember correctly they took a break from adventures when they found out about me, and I was born in Riverbend Kentucky. We stayed put for a while till I was old enough to have all my booster shots and they started traveling again, and homeschooling me." Lidya continued.

Axle, Eryd, Acer, and Cerise were at the stairs of the platform, half listening to Lidya tell Absyrtus of his sister's life in the magicless world she came from, half talking amongst themselves about this strange revelation.