Whisked Away

47. Zyanister

Shifra's POV
I woke the next morning just as the sun was beginning to rise. I quickly freshened up and left my old office. As soon as I left, an old man stood before me. "It is good to see you again Godmother," he said.

"Cori?" I guessed, trying to recognize the little boy I had once known. His eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled.

"It is I," he replied. "Should you like to join me and my sons for breakfast?"

"I would be delighted," I replied. We walked on together and entered a small dinning room. Now when I say small I mean small compared to others in the castle. The royal dinning hall was the size of two football fields, but this one was about the size of a tennis court. Zyan and a boy who looked very similar to him were already seated at the table.

The other boy was almost exactly like Zyan apart from his eyes. While Zyan held his father's pure blue eyes, his brother Zyanister, had dark eyes, almost black in color. They glittered like beetle's eyes and as they gazed at me I began to feel mildly uncomfortable.

"This is my son, Zyanister," Cori introduced, "and this is my other son..."

"Zyan," I interrupted, "We met previously." Cori only nodded and pulled out a chair for me. I sat down, unfortunately for me, right across from Zyanister. I began to serve myself some food as Cori began to talk. I could hardly comprehend what he was saying, for my mind was caught up in the cold glittering eyes at stared me down, never blinking and never flinching. Their owner did not move either, he simply sat.

Zyan did not speak either and I found myself wishing I had declined Cori's offer when suddenly Zyanister interrupted his father, "Why'd you leave?"

Cori looked sharply at his son, but he paid no notice. "Well," I started, my chest tightening, "I had been living for over two thousand years. Those years come with a lot of baggage. Aslan..."

I was interrupted by a loud scoff from Zyanister. "Aslan...right." He began to stand up to leave before adding, "Next time you just don't want to meet someone tell the truth, don't just make up some lies to try and make yourself feel better." With this he began to storm off because his brother caused him to stop short.

"Zyanister," he said, trying to get his attention.

"What!" the other twin thundered. I flinched at the sound. Still after all this time shouting bothered me. I could deal with the sounds of battle, but not an argument. "You have been playing along with these lies for too long, Zyan! Aslan isn't real! He never was! If he was real then why the hell don't we have a mother? Why do we have a godmother who doesn't care?"

I clamped my eyes tight shut, trying to block out the shouts. My heart rate was picking up as the shouting continued. "You don't know that!" Zyan shouted back.

"Stop," I muttered, my voice shaky and small. I began tot remember as they continued to shout.

"Boys," Cori said as if in warning. When they did not stop, he rose his voice to a shout, "Boys!" I flinched again, my eyes still tight shut, and drew in a sharp breath. My breathing was uneven as I tried taking several deep breaths to calm myself, but they were shaky and uneven. "Look what you're doing to her." Cori's voice had softened.

"Whatever," Zyanister muttered, storming out of the room.

When he had left, I heard Cori come to my side and ask, "Are you alright, Godmother?"

"No," I replied honestly, finally managing to open my eyes. "I'm not." I stood up as well and left. Any appetite I'd had was now gone. I wandered through the palace and eventually came to the outside. I smiled as I remembered my one place of comfort here. Following a now rather faded path, I walked to an old tree that I had once found.

It's branches were stooped low and seemed to form a kind of stairway up to a sort of platform of branches and leaves. When I had gotten there, I saw with interest that Zyanister was already sitting at the top, his back facing me. I grabbed hold of the trunk and stepped on to the first branch, stepping up and up until I reached the top.

I sat down near by Zyanister and said, "You know I never knew my mother. She died in childbirth and I've only met my father once. I met him about seventy years ago, but likely as not he's passed on now."

"What do you want a congratulations?" he asked moodily.

I turned to look at him, but a strange thing happened. When I looked into his eyes I suddenly felt pain that was not my own. I felt anger and rage and even confusion. "I know how you feel," I said suddenly.

"No you don't," he replied, frustration lacing his tone. "I've heard it all before. You know that I feel hurt by my mother's death and blah blah blah."

"Actually I was going to say that you feel angry," I replied, "You're angry at Aslan for letting your mother die. You're angry at me for letting her die. You're angry at your father for the same reason. You resent Zyan because he has such unwavering faith in Aslan and because he seems so ready to replace your mother. You're confused because you know you love your brother and father, but you still feel such anger towards them. You also are angry at your mother for dying."

He had looked up at me at this point, giving me an unreadable expression. "You think so, huh?" Zyanister replied, looking away. I did not reply, but he asked, "Did you never wonder why you had to grow up without parents?"

I thought a moment before replying, "Yes. The first fifteen years of my life were very sad, lonely years, but then my life changed forever."

"How so?"

"Well I couldn't sleep one night, so I went walking in the woods. I came upon a pool. That's the first time I met Aslan. He made me what I am. He's the reason I have wings that I can produce and control light with my one hands." A long silence stretched after I spoke, but there was a sort of comfort in the silence.

The silence was broken by the sound of footsteps down on the ground. "Zyanister!" the voice called, "Father's going to kill you, you know that right? You can't just say that to the General Shifra like that in front of Father and expect him to be cool with it. You really scared her though, Anister. I'm not sure why yelling bothers her so much, but it clearly does so..."

He broke off, for he had finally climbed to the top and his blue gaze fell on our amused expressions.