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A/N: As promised I have started posting Shattered on Gumroad. It’s PWYW (and £0 is acceptable so there’s no risk) so subscribe today and check it out. Then hop on to the discussion thread an tell me what you think. If you like my stuff you”ll love Shattered.

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In the pool of light cast by one of the softly glowing gold crystals embedded in the pillars, Ophelia spied a woman who not only looked completely human but also did not look old enough to be anyone’s grandmother. As they entered, she looked up from the book she was reading, revealing one inhuman feature – bright gold eyes. She gave them a warm smile and rose to her feet, extending her hands towards them.

“Welcome! Welcome! Come in and sit down; we have much to discuss.” She looked Ophelia up and down. “Ah, so you’re Ophelia. Very good.” She bowed respectfully before turning to Sera. Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly. “So you’re Seraphina?”

“Call me Sera, please,” Sera said through clenched teeth.

“Sera it is,” she continued unperturbed. “I’m told you have the sight even though your aura says otherwise. Interesting.”

“Huh,” Sera said. “Silver said something like that. What does it mean?”

“A reasonable question.” She sat back down. “Please sit and I’ll try and explain.” She waited while they complied before continuing. “We can usually recognise Taloan sensitives by their aura, but yours lacks the brightness or movement I’d expect. In fact, there’s an almost studied unremarkableness to it.”

“Is the aura the light around people then?” Sera asked. Silver choked at the question but her grandmother nodded. Sera frowned thoughtfully. “I thought I was seeing things when I noticed that.”

“Wait, you can see auras?” Silver asked once she’d recovered from choking.

“Sometimes… from the corner of my eye.”

“You never said,” Ophelia said. “It would have been nice to have someone else who shared the experience.”

“I thought I was imagining it,” Sera said. “You see them too?”

“All my life,” Ophelia said. “I never mentioned it? I told Mum and Aunt Sophie.”

“Not that I recall. Maybe I just wasn’t there.”

“Maybe.” Ophelia frowned. “I thought you were, but it was when we were both little.”

“Were you expecting this, granny?” Silver asked.

“Maybe not expecting it,” she replied. “But I won’t say that I’m surprised either. Now be a dear and go and find your father.”

“Yes, granny!” Silver leapt to her feet and headed for the door.

“And bring something to drink! I’m thirsty.”

“Yes, granny!” Silver repeated.

Her grandmother watched her go with an affectionate smile before turning back to Ophelia and Sera. “She’s so young again. She always reminds me of myself at that age.”

“Was that during the first war?” Ophelia asked. Silver’s grandmother was quiet for a long time and Ophelia got the sense she didn’t like to talk about that time. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“No, its fine,” she replied.”I was just woolgathering. But no, the War happened after I was already through maturity by some years.”

“And you don’t want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “The War killed most of my family. So many millenia and a whole new family and that still hurts, and the Idri council seems determined to start a new war for some reason. That’s what we need to stop.”

—

A/N: As promised I have started posting Shattered on Gumroad. It’s PWYW (and £0 is acceptable so there’s no risk) so subscribe today and check it out. Then hop on to the discussion thread an tell me what you think. If you like my stuff you”ll love Shattered.

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