June 18th, 1968
Dear Journal,
How do I get Anise to pay attention to her lessons? Today was the third time this week she skipped our lesson together and I'm reaching the end of my patience with her. She was with the oldest Neale boy again, and was so upset I was able to find them. Of course, if she didn't skip our lessons so frequently, she would know, not only how I could find her, but how to hide her own presence from me. Finding is one of the easiest ways to use our powers, followed closely by Hiding.
I am happy to see her friendship with L blossom into romance, I just wish they would take their futures more seriously. I suppose that's typical of youth. She is reaching the age when she will be tested as heir, the age when I must introduce her to the Timeless Ones so she may have years of experience when dealing with their ways before stepping into my shoes as matriarch of this family. The Neales are getting ready to introduce L's younger brother. L went through the process a couple years ago, and I'm hoping to have Anise ready by that time so she will not have their undivided attention. The less individual attention they pay to our children, the better. The last few times I've tried divining from wind, I've gotten unsettling whispers, the type of whispers that make me worry about my daughter being in the presence of the Elfennol for too long. I'm especially glad she is falling in love already. It makes me hopeful these whispers are wrong.
* * *
"You owe me a dollar." Those words, followed quickly by a decorative pillow, were my morning wakeup call.
"How are you awake right now?" I groaned to my intrusive cousin, who seemed to never sleep.
I'd been staying with my aunt and uncle for two weeks, and Cash had been an annoying, bossy, overbearing nuisance...and I secretly loved every minute of it. Even if he was causing me to roll my eyes so often I was afraid they'd fall out, he was also making me feel like I was a part of something. He had quickly wormed himself into the role of cousin, brother, and friend. I wasn't sure what the differences between those roles were, but I was certain Cash had become all three for me.
"I don't owe you anything," I told him when his words finally sank in, then I noticed him rifling through the few belongings in my dresser. "Hold up, what do you think you're doing?"
"Yes, you do. A dollar. Is this the only bathing suit you have?" As always, he completely ignored my privacy, and question, and had continued rummaging through my drawers until he found the bathing suit I had bought my first day in town.
I'd worn it every day these past weeks since I couldn't get enough of the beach, and was in desperate need of a new one. I hadn't forgotten that I'd exposed myself to an entire ocean of sea creatures because of that thing, but wasn't sure a new bathing suit would be any different.
"No, I don't, and yes, that is. What's wrong with it?"
"There aren't any straps on it, doesn't it fall off? You don't have to be back up at the house until later, right?" My brain just could not keep up with him.
"Uh, no. The roofers finished up yesterday and the electricians can't come out until late morning to get started. And the strap is right there! It comes off."
Cash wasn't the only thing that had given me headaches the past weeks. I'd been going full steam into the house repairs, which meant phone calls and work quotes and walk-throughs. There wasn't even anything I could physically do yet and I was still exhausted from it all.
"Well, hurry up! We're going to the beach in five minutes!" He threw the bathing suit at me and strode out the door to his room across the hall, not bothering to close my door behind him.
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