Chapter 2 - We Are Family

Fiona

"If they think I'm getting dressed up for a worthless party, they have another thing coming!" I yelled out as I swung the sword at the training dummy standing in front of me as if the straw and wood were responsible for the ignorant old school ways of the fairies. Training always brought me peace and eased my frustrations, and this time was no different. Or so I thought.

"Fiona! What on Earth are you doing! If mom catches you she's going to completely come unglued!" the annoying voice that belonged to Niamph, one of my three sisters, caught my attention and caused my training to come to a halt as she walked onto the training grounds. I put the sword back in it's sheath and hung it on the training dummy where I found it.

"Gee wiz, sis! Thanks for your concern!" I rolled my eyes in irritated sarcasm. "And now, thanks to you, I'm no longer training. Do you care to tell me what you're bothering me for?"

Niamph's red and brown eyes sparkled and her fire orange-red hair flowed freely as she sent a ball of fire flying in my direction without warning, but I welcomed the new challenge that was literally thrown at me. I smiled as I pressed my heels into the soil and countered her fire ball with my own larger ball of water, dousing the flames. I laughed as steam formed in between her and I, making the sight of her almost nonexistent.

"Mom's looking for you, she wants to go over the last details of this party," her voice called from the other side of the steam. If only the stream was soundproof, too.

I closed my eyes and swayed my head back and forth, cracking my neck, "I'm so sick and tired of this party. You know what saves your life? Training! I have never once heard of a stupid party saving anyone's life!"

"The party is only stupid because you haven't found your partner yet. Once you find him, your views will completely change, but that's not going to happen when you're alone here on the warriors' training grounds!" I cringed as I heard Shaylee's voice from behind me. My sisters now out numbered me, and I didn't like it.

"You haven't found yours yet either, Shaylee. So why don't you just shut it instead of lecturing me on my life?" I turned around to see a very serious look on Shaylee's face. Out of the four of us, she looked the most refined with her beautiful white hair that she almost always kept in a tidy braid. But now I saw a tinge of anger along with what I thought was pain in her blue and brown eyes. Maybe I crossed the line this time?

"Maybe I have. Maybe I haven't. Maybe it's not what is meant to be for me. Everything will happen as it needs to," Shaylee replied as she squinted her eyes at me, her irritation only helped to fuel my own.

"That's so hypocritical! What gives you the right to pick on me about not wanting something that you don't even want yourself!"

The ground started to shake below, and I knew it was because of Sloane before I even heard her voice, "Will you two knock it off! I'm sick of your bickering! Why do the two of you fight so much?!"

Sloane walked out of the woods, making the gap between the three of them equal. Her short brown hair bounced as she walked closer, her green and gold eyes daring me to push my luck.

I was now officially surrounded by my sisters. The hypocritical evil witches. I never cared who caught me training, to my parents' horror. Training was something that I loved to do, and I'd do it any chance I could get. It made me feel safe and in control of my own life that I didn't need anyone to protect me. This upset the elders more than anything, but I really couldn't care less.

Niamph had caught me training years ago and asked me to work with her in private. When we could, we'd sneak out in the middle of the night to work together. Sloane quickly caught on, following us and asking to join in. Then there was Shaylee. Mom and dad's little princess. I've caught her spying on us before, but when confronted she completely denied it. I have my suspicions that she's training on her own, but asking would lead me nowhere with her. If spying on us somehow helps her to defend herself, then who am I to take that from her?

"We fight because she refuses to conform! This is not the way of a fairy princess who could become our next Queen!" Shaylee waved her hands around the training field as she spoke, making sure we all knew what exactly it was that she was talking about.

I didn't bother holding back my sarcastically amused scoff, "You know better than anyone that I'll never conform to their ways. I'm not like you, Shaylee. I'm not like our parents. I'm wired completely differently."

"It's one thing to be different, Fiona. There's nothing wrong with that! It's another to be so defiant that you put a target on your back by your actions!" she pointed her finger at me while her other hand sat on her hip.

"Fuck off, Shaylee!" my comeback was lame, I know, but I was over it.

Obviously, so was Shaylee, because as soon as the words left my mouth, a gust of wind knocked me on my ass, causing me to wince in pain from landing on the hard ground. The pain only fueled my fire, and from my seat on the ground I sent a tunnel of water from the nearby creek directly towards Shaylee. She tried defending herself and pushing it back with air, but it was easy to see that she didn't train with her powers nearly as much as she should.

"Fiona, knock it off! We're already late as it is!" I smiled as Niamph tried to get me to stop, and when her words didn't work she tried her fireball approach again.

I turned so I could have a better view of the two of them, my water getting closer to Shaylee as I extinguished one ball of fire after another from Niamph.

"Two against one? Isn't this cheating?" I chuckled in amusement at their attempt to put me in my place.

"Make that three!" Sloane yelled as I felt the ground start to crumble beneath me.

I couldn't help but shake my head. I quickly formed a spinning platform of water, standing on it as the ground caved in. These three really needed to work on themselves a little more.

"What the fuck do you four think you're doing?!? I knew it was bad when mom and dad sent me out looking for you, but come on!" Cerulean's voice immediately made us all stop. Being our oldest brother, we respected everything about him. He was the glue that kept us together and sane, and probably kept us from killing each other as well.

"They started it Creu. I was out here minding my own business and ..."

Sloane quickly interrupted me, "You knew what time mom wanted to see us! Don't even pretend you didn't!"

Cerulean moaned and slapped his forehead. "I swear, having the four of you as sisters is going to send me to an early grave. You're basically adults, I shouldn't have to come out here and find out where you all are and what's going on!"

"But Cer!" Niamph whined.

Ceru pointed a finger in her direction, "I don't want to hear it! We need to get back home before I get in trouble because of what's going on out here!"

Niamph, Sloane, and Shaylee all had irritated looks on their faces as they glared at me before turning to head back home. Cerulean went to follow them, but I placed my hand on his arm to stop him for a minute.

"Thank you, Ceru."

He softly chuckled, knowing exactly where this conversation was going, "You don't have to keep thanking me every time, Fiona. You know that."

"Yes, I do, because I want you to know how much I appreciate you risking getting caught helping me with training and what not. Not like anyone would know for sure you left things out for me, but you never know. And it means so much to me. "

"By helping you, I'm in turn also helping the other three. You know as well as I do that they'd never take advice from me on this subject. The fact that everyone believes a fairy woman's place is barefoot in the kitchen with a baby on her hip and toddlers running around is a joke. If that's what they want for themselves, what they really want, that's one thing. But I'll be damned if you all don't at least have the ability to protect yourselves if needed," Cerulean's voice was quiet enough so that no one could accidentally hear him, but it still contained his passion and determination. He always put our safety and well-being first, even on days we drove him absolutely crazy.

"Well, Sloane and Niamph are already on their way there. I'm pretty sure that after this stupid party they'll end up uniting with Ainsley and Kalama as soon as they're settled into their new roles and Sloane gets moved into Aunt Cybele's house. Niamph lucked out in the fact that she doesn't have to move."

Cerulean was quiet as and we started following the others, staying just far enough back to keep our conversation private, but not so far back the other three grew suspicious.

"So, have you decided which one of us you plan on living with?" I asked as I turned my head just enough to look at him out of the corner of my eye, trying to catch a physical reaction.

"It's not going to work, Fiona. Stop trying to put me on the spot like that," he simply smiled and shook his head, which didn't give me any insight as to what he was planning to do.

"Well, as soon as we leave, you know that you need to choose your realm as well. Your powers won't be true nor come into full strength until you do so."

"I kind of like having the ability to tinker around between the four elements, maybe I don't want to give that up?"

I couldn't believe the stupid things that came out of his mouth, "You know that the only reason you can do that is because the four of us are still living here together. As soon as we're gone, all of those nifty abilities you have will go with us."

"I could stay on the outskirts and be a warrior."

I stopped in my tracks and looked at him with wide eyes, "Really, Cerulean?"

My brother shrugged his shoulders, "What?"

"You have the chance to join any one of us and stand by our side, sharing our strength and ability, and you want to stay here and be a warrior?"

He continued walking, making me hurry to catch up with him, "I won't piss any of you off by doing that."

"No, you'll piss off all 4 of us by doing that!" I informed him before punching his upper arm. I can't believe how the male brain works!

Cerulean lightly rubbed his arm where I punched him and furrowed his brows, "So basically I'm screwed either way, huh? Can't get around making you all upset?" A smirk formed across his face. He could be such an ass.

"Pretty much, but you know all of this. You're smarter than you look, but that doesn't say much."

"The joys of being the male first born child of a future fairy Queen," Ceru let out a sigh as we made our way inside of the castle that was built into a mountain located in Arizona.

I'll miss home when I move, but I won't miss the heat. The only good thing about this coming party is it means I get to move into Aunt Nixie's place afterwards and finally get to experience life with other water fairies.

"Ceru, if you think being the surprise son is bad, you should try being one of her four daughters."

"Fiona! Finally! Hurry up and come pick out your dress!" Our mother's overly feminine voice could be heard echoing down the hall from one of the rooms in the back wing and I groaned in annoyance at hearing it.

I could hear Ceru trying to contain his laughter as he watched me sulk away. I lowered my head and dragged my feet down the hall, trying to procrastinate even more. Maybe if I take long enough I'll be lucky and my own powers will consume me, exploding me all over so that I won't have to play dress up.