The young man stretched his arms over his head, using his gift to replace the heavy barbells as his strained muscles fought to work normally. As usual, he was working out, something that, over the past five years, he found helped to take his mind off of problems, or things that bothered him about his past. Unlike normal, however, Hanvarus wasn't there to spot him, and to trade off when he tired. Gotta hand it to Varus, he can't complain about being able to find a date any day of the week. Of course, if I had come from a family with all that money, and was heir to a good part of it, I wouldn't complain either, I don't think.
The gym was anything but ordinary, and, according to Varus, larger than the one he had at his place. But, the older man was quick to point out that he also wasn't one of a pair that ran the Touminatos, port towers that consisted of an import and export Touminato, each run primarily by Ijael and his sister, Keigharia. There was something about running those that seemed, at least to Ijael, to give them privileges that most of the other students hadn't received, which had set them apart even more than their guardian, Masouna, had done since they'd known her. He knew that Keigharia despised being set apart, wanted so badly to fit in, and that was why she would refuse to use the Rakettobo-ru that Umrinc had made sure to have built on when he commissioned the place to be designed. Ijael despised the man as much as his sister did, if not more sometimes, but he couldn't see why he should let a perfectly good gym go to waste, especially since it seemed whatever room he was in, excluding Varus, everyone seemed to make room, or most likely leave, giving him the solitude he needed.
Varus was the only man who had, ten years ago, as a boy of twelve, nearly thirteen, not been afraid of Ijael and his sister. Well, if I'm perfectly honest, Rojarre wasn't either, but then, I prefer to delude my ways of thinking, I believe Ari would say. He scoffed at the thought of the green-eyed man now, before remembering his brother, and Jae's best friend.
He and Ari had been taking the midday meal off by themselves in the isolated park off the side of the school, in a little grove they'd found where they wouldn't be stared at. Their ears had pricked up at the sounds of footsteps, and their cat eyes had taken over, watching for signs of intruders. They'd figured on a few of the kids coming up to them on a dare, as was always the case, and were ready to send them back on their way when Ari had smelled... "strawberries!!" she exclaimed softly, her eyes wide. "Jae, let them come, at least, so we can have some." Back then, they hadn't even been allowed to leave the watchful eye of Masouna, other than for this meal, which was still under High Wizard Umrinc's power, should they do anything they knew better than.
He'd been a bit weary, but knew that his sister would be happy if he agreed: strawberries were out of season, and they both had a love for the sweet, yet tangy fruit. "Alright," he'd answered, thinking to himself, if nothing else, I can find out where they got the fruit, so that when Masouna tells us there aren't any strawberries to be had, I can tell her otherwise. Already, both children had a dislike of their caretaker, for they'd felt more than once that somehow, she didn't really want anything to do with them. Anything that they could do to irritate her, the twins were in agreement, was legitimate, so long as they weren't caught.
The preteens had been allowed to enter their presence, though both dark haired children were wary of the blond brothers. They hadn't waited to be invited before sitting down, the young of the two by his sister, the older by Jae himself. The younger boy opened his cloth-wrapped lunch, revealing the strawberries Ari had smelt. Holding them out, he offered the girl one, which she took after a moment's hesitation, and a nod from her brother. She smiled as she took a bite of the large one she'd taken, though to her, they were all large, and juice ran down her chin. She looked down at the meal she had, and offered the boy some cucumbers, which he accepted, and the two began to talk quietly.
Jae had been a little more suspicious, and asked, drawing all eyes on him as he directed the attention to the older brother, "why are you being nice to us?? Did someone dare you to eat with us?? What are you going to win??" The older boy raised an eyebrow. "Nothing, beside your friendship, I hope. Look, I don't know what you're talking about. Have you ever seen us before??" Both twins shook their heads. "Our parents just transferred here, and decided to send us to the academy here. We saw you go off together, and thought maybe that you'd let us join you." The young man, nearly thirteen, didn't seem bothered when Jae exclaimed,
"But then no one's going to talk to you, if you tell them that!! They'll all think someone dared you. Do you want to know why?? Because me and Ari are different, that's why. We can change into black leopards, and move things..." he stopped when he noticed a branch raise off the ground. "Stop it, Ari," he ordered, the surprised girl looking his way. "But I didn't do anything!!" she retorted, glaring at him, though there was astonishment in her eyes.
The branch lowered, and the younger blond murmured, "I did it. We're not all that different. Varus and me, we didn't have that many friend at our old school either." After that, the days found the four become fast friends, because their differences bond them. As they grew older, Jae had come to find that he didn't like Rojarre's attitude towards women, for, while he was always courteous and polite, he was a player. If his sister hadn't been best friends with him, he would have told the man off. As it was, he'd come close to it several times when he'd thought that Rojarre had come too close in contact with his sister. Varus thought that his brother was a bit out of line, but reassured Jae that he'd never hurt Ari, he trusted her too much, cared too much.
All this flew through his mind as he picked up his gym bag, pulling out a towel to wipe his face off, and stripping off his shirt to cool down. The crystal and chain he wore round his neck caught the light, causing it to reflect upon the wall. The work-out had been well worth is, for not only had he lifted, but he'd used several other machines there to run, ski, and row, exerting his muscles as normal. He wasn't a large man, that was for sure, but he did have a good amount of muscle, more than Jarre did, at any rate, though far less than Varus. As he neared his guardian's door, getting ready to inform her of his plans for later than night, he heard Umrinc's voice and paused, curious why the Wizard would be in Masouna's room.
"... it's obvious he's suspecting, you wench, if you didn't allow him and the girl to be apart as often as they are, he perhaps would be too influenced by her gifts, her power, to reasonably do more than ponder their birthing place!! She may be away from her studies, but that time, I've come to realize, is as important to keeping them from the truth as her constant concentration on her power!! The boy, he's getting to where he's starting to question, I can feel his unease whenever I'm in the room, even through his sister's hatred of me!! The little witch and her brother are going to be too much to handle soon, and what do you think is going to happen when they realize that their shifting can be used against us?? When they realize that they really weren't genetically altered when they were young, that only their grandfather was, and they were a product of his genetic reproduction??"
His hands shaking with anger, fear, anything that could constitute as something abnormal for him, Ijael took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerve, which at the moment were only millimeters from being pushed over the edge. He couldn't have heard what he had, he knew it was impossible. And yet, somehow, it was, he knew, the truth. All these years, all the things he thought to be true, had been a lie. Everything the high wizard Umrinc had told them, all of it, was a deceiving falsehood, manufactured to keep them from finding the truth, from being distracted from what he'd wanted. Moving so that he didn't pass Masouna's room now, he went around the other way, letting himself into his quarters, seething, angry enough that, had he the power of fire, he'd have melted the wide silver band round his right ring finger, destroying the intricate workings upon it's surface.
He shook his head, arguing with himself, knowing now beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was anything but what he'd been told all these nineteen years, that he and his sister were so much more. ~Ari, you'd better be fully clothed, at home, in our quarters.~ Anger seethed from his mind, boiling over, and, unconsciously, being poured out upon his sister. ~I swear, you'd better not be naked and in bed with that... leech you call Rojarre, or mark my words...~
~Jae, dear, I wouldn't be in bed with him... not right now. It'd be too early in the day, if I had so much as an inkling to do so.~ came the reply from Keigharia, a bit bemused and wary of the young man whose emotions were usually somewhat checked in relation to hers. ~Besides, for your information, he is related to Hanvarus, and you've said yourself that that man is the best friend you could have ever found. Could anyone related to him be that bad, seriously??~ The underlying current the young woman received back was anything but humorous.
~At the moment, I don't care if he's related to a god of peace and goodness or not, you had better the heck not be in any bed with him!!~ Ijael couldn't care less if he were shocking his sister with his sudden attitudinal change, he wasn't in the mood for the joking manner that usually sedated any stirrings of anger within him. ~Now listen to me, I know you're at his place, and I'm coming over there NOW. We have to talk, and then, we have to find some way to leave here. Expect our Vettura in ten minutes.~ He broke off his connection with her suddenly as he began to search for the keys to the midnight blue compact, growling at he searched in vain.
Under normal circumstances, he'd have known where they were in the first ten seconds of searching, had he been his calm and reasonable self. However, after what he'd heard, and having his suspicions confirmed, he had more than a legitimate reason to be crazy with fury. All these years, all the lies, the way they used us, honed us when we were but five and six years old, took away our freedom. We were never free, unless I heard Umrinc wrong. That was never in their plan. Those fools, came his last thought as a true growl emitted from his throat. Had he been looking in the mirror, he would have seen that his longish black hair had sprouted large cat ears, and his clothes, made with the technology of this advanced planet, had melded with his body as a long tail began to emerge. He would have noticed the hazel eyes that caught most women's attention had begun to take on the cattish-flecks of gold within their honey-brown depths.
Of course, under normal conditions, he most likely would have let his sister drive, seeing as how she loved to do so. However, desperate times called for desperate measures. Something had to give, and he and Ari weren't going to be it.
Ari's Dream
