The Rebelero Brothers' Curse

Twenty-four

"Get to reading," she scolded me and averted her lips as I tried to kiss her.

I frowned and grumbled, "We should have fun tonight. After the events of last night we should get our minds off of all of this."

We awoke around midday to the elders wanting directions for our next steps. Jessamine withdrew many warriors from their current assignments and redirected half of them to find Adrian and the half to protect me. She sent Amelia to search for my mother. They assured me she was alive and that bringing her home would help us solve all of this. Jessamine would not answer me in how, but I did not dwell on it. Upon discovering she was alive, I had to bite down the bitter emotions that arose in me.

"No, we have to stay ahead of Adrian. This is our one chance to gain the upper hand. We have the book, so get to reading!"

"How do you suppose I read with all the celebration out there? I can barely hear myself think." I said a little louder than necessary to prove my point. The sun was surrendering the sky to the moon and people were out celebrating Scanra's independence day as should I. Jessamine had different plans for my evening though.

"Oh you will be just fine, read and I will be right back. I have to meet with a few warriors." She was out the door before I could say anything else.

I sighed and sat back down. Two books lay unopened on the table in front of me. One is a journal held by the previous generation of Santeri elders and  the other is my mother's journal. The guardians journal was hundreds of pages on combat, strategy, and history. I spent all morning skimming pages with Jessamine looking for anything useful. Considering the circumstances of this Convergence, there was nothing of use. Sure, there was insight to how a normal Convergence worked. That part was fascinating , but sure made my skin crawl.

Every one thousand years a pair of male vessels are born. The first born is claimed by Darkness and the second by Light. Both are raised by their mother who has the closer connection to Light. All male generations shared the same birth date. The winter solstice. The solstice of their 21st birthday, Convergence begins when the Great Spirits hold dominance over the male twins to battle. The weakest vessel falls and Convergence is over when one defeats the other. The winning force reigns until the next generation is born. Simple.

The problem is, this Convergence is different. Many rules have changed. My brother and I were born through she of Darkness earlier than expected and my connection to the Restorer is weak. Jessamine does not have to tell me, but I know Light is not in me as Darkness is with Adrian. The answers have to be my mother's journal. She is the only one to really know of the curse she inflicted upon herself and our family.

I would not be looking through the guardian's book anymore for we had scoured each chapter, page, word, and letter for anything at all that could be useful.  Jessamine thought that I should be the one to read my mother's journal, but it was all in random pieces. That was a challenge. An even bigger one was getting myself to even open the damn book. I sort of lied to Jessamine saying boredom was preventing me from reading, but in reality, I was scared and saddened. I never knew my mother and here I was, about to open the book of truths for a present that I never imagined myself having. I needed my mother now more than ever...

Taking a slow breath and centering myself, I opened the black leather book. It only had a few pages attached, the rest were scattered and stuffed in the front. It seems like she ripped out the pages she wrote on and hollowed out the rest to preserve a lightning ridge black opal similar to the one I gave Jessamine. That one housed the Rebelero crest while this one was smooth all around. The main difference is the blue and black of this stone are more centered revealing more of the clear on the edge. They could easily be mistaken for one another. It was strange, the stone felt warm in my palm and it gently pulsed, as if it were alive. I had the desire to put it on especially since it was my mothers, but decided to put it aside for now.