Nentarli [COMPLETE]

~ Thirty-five ~

It took a little longer than expected to explain everything and when we were finally done, the parents and Merkell looked blown away. They sat in silence, taking it all in and the only noise was Emy's feet shuffling aimlessly over the carpet as she paced.

"Someone please say something," I spoke up after the silence lasted far too long.

My parents finally looked at me and I was glad to see they didn't see me any differently after what they'd just witnessed.

"It is a lot to take in, Cassie... and you are sure she did not tell you who she really was?" My dad sounded unsure and I didn't like that tone in him, it made me wary.

"Nope, she just said she was the Seer you brought home and she'd had this planned for centuries."

I could still see and hear every part of our meeting with Nenny so clearly in my head.

My dad turned to Merkell, "This woman told them that you were her first warrior. Do you know who she is?"

Merkell was rubbing at his chin, now that he had gotten over his initial shock he looked intrigued.

"I do not recall meeting any such woman in my long life, but that does not mean that what she said was a lie. She may have chosen not to intervene directly, I never did learn how the other Sectors found out about my considerable magic, as it were. The Western Sector was very private about magic and I, even more so. Only my family knew I had any at all, never mind the level of that power."

That was new information, our lessons hadn't gone over the Western Sector that much. Except to say how very private they were about their goings on and now I realised just how much that was.

"So Nenny made it possible for you to go out and kick Riltresik's butt?" Emy asked from her new position by the fire.

"It would appear so, and she said I am to develop your magical skills now?"

The five of us nodded simultaneously, Merkell returned the nod as though he agreed to the request but the parents were not happy about it.

"We cannot take this woman at her word, she could be a spy for Riltresik. She could be setting a trap of some kind." Alacor sounded frantic and his eyes darted from Emy to Merkell and back again.

"I do not believe so, you did not meet her, she was a strong force for good, I could feel it." Kayle chimed in and the four of us echoed his words.

The parents still didn't seem convinced and I could understand why, their children had just been attacked somewhere that should have been safe; the third attack since arriving in this world, and now some stranger plucked them from existence to give them all if this new information to just blindly follow. If I hadn't met Nenny myself I would have probably reacted the same way, but I knew she was good. Something deep down told me that she was so much more than just good.

"You don't have to trust Nenny but trust us, we met her and we know what we need to do... sort of." I added quietly on the end, trying to sound confident after having an out of body experience was not as easy as it sounded.

"We do trust you, but trust is nothing if you get killed," my mum declared, there was more pain than anger in her voice and I smiled softly at her.

"We were going to do this anyway, it was already decided, it's just that this part of the training has been brought forward a bit."

"And there's the revelation itself that we have magic, that's gonna be so cool," Emy beamed as she skipped towards my chair.

"Emy, that's not helping right now," I tried not to smile back at the happiness on her face but I failed, happily.