Fearless

Pie in The Sky

Red

What was with my mom? And my Aunt too for that matter. Why were they acting like Andy and I are five? It's not like this came out of the blue, either. They were the ones who put forth this condition in the first place.

The family, consisting of my parents, Aunt Emilia and Uncle Desmond as well as Uncle Alex had migrated to Earth years ago. Well, not all at once. Andrew's folks had moved here before we were born. My parents moved just a few months later. Uncle Alex was the last to join us, when I was around two.
We lived in the same neighbourhood, so I had to deal with Andy's stupidity all my life.

We were homeschooled on Cathlegonian education and skills by Uncle Alex, and at first balancing between regular school and this was quite the challenge.

As we entered the rollercoaster that is adolescence, Uncle Alex suggested sending us to Cathlegona. It was about time. We could no longer continue with the homeschooling, it was becoming a pain. But his sisters, my mom and Andy's, threw a fit claiming we were too young. They said they'd send us once they thought we were mature enough.

Knowing my mother, she'd deem me to be immature even in my thirties. And forties, and fifties. And probably ahead of that. They also made an excuse as to how Earth education is important, in case we decided to settle here in the future (ah, keep dreaming Mom). My Dad and Uncle Desmond were in the grey about the whole ordeal.

To settle the matter, Aunt Emilia suggested that the moment either of us were to acquire our gifts (which generally happens around the age of sixteen to eighteen) they'd readily send both of us.

But now that it was time, they're making a huge deal out of it. I was seventeen. It was going to happen sooner or later. Every time I'd tell mom to stop crying, she'd glare at me through tear -filled eyes and mutter something about how I wouldn't understand her concerns. Trust me, I did. I just didn't think it was that big of a deal.

After Andy and I promised to call them every week (they wanted it to be every two days, like really?), they were calm enough to hug us and shower us with kisses and all that motherly stuff that I was glad no one from school was around to see.

"Robert, have you got my key?" Uncle Alex asked Dad.

"Here." My Dad handed the key,
a strange old fork like thing, to Uncle Alex. The key which could cut through millions of miles like it was nothing.

"Great. Now we are good to go."He thrust the thing in front of him and muttered something under his breath. Coordinates. And there it was. The gateway to Cathlegona. We waved goodbye one last time before entering the gateway with all our luggage.

On the other side, we arrived at the CNC taxi stop. "We'll have to go to the CNC by road. Gateways don't open ahead of this point." Uncle Alex explained. But I knew that already.

We hauled a taxi and piled in, barely managing to fit all that luggage in the trunk. Earth could definitely take some notes from here as far as cabs go, I thought. The cab we were riding was sleek, shiny and speedy and had an extremely comfortable interior. What brand, year mileage? I didn't care much for those details at that moment. What I did note was that there were no dilapidated seats or creaky doors. No loud radio music and unwelcome karaoke by the driver either. But I guess that varies from driver to driver.

"You guys should realise that getting into the CNC is no easy feat. Students struggle forever just to enroll. You're getting this opportunity on a silver platter. So please don't make them regret enrolling you." Uncle Alex said, for like the hundredth time. He then continued to lecture us about how to behave and to not show off and not get a big head and blah and blah. And blah. And, well, how do you say it? Oh yeah. BLAH.