Airlia · Lumi · Winter / Gael · Pyry · Winter

Here Is Music You Can Listen To While Reading

Airlia was sitting in her room looking out from her round bedroom window and watching kids play at the streets. They were running around playing tag and laughing as they caught each other and ran off again.

It was a cloudy day but once in a while a peek of sunlight would deep through the clouds and people would look up into the sky and bask in the warm light, even if it only lasted a second.

Airlia could hear her mother and father arguing again. There was a small vent that went from her room to the kitchen and even though her parents weren't the type to shout, she could clearly hear the cold undertone in their voices as they bickered over what to do about her brother.

Gael had left three days after Airlia's departure to Hogwarts. Without her to look after at home, he had nothing there to make him stay.

And just like that he'd packed his things and slithered away into the sheltering darkness of the night where he met up with his boyfriend and they apparated away together to start their new life. he'd run away from the pressure of being a Winter. He'd dodged the spell of being heir to house Winter and by leaving... He'd trapped Airlia into that position... Forever.

And Airlia... Well, now she sat at home, more lonely than ever during her summer break. Her second school year would start in one weeks time and soon she would pass the one year anniversary of her brother's escape date. In ten days time, one year would have passed since Airlia had seen her beloved brother. Even in her room where she had pictures of him around her, she felt like she was forgetting his face.

When a sharp knock by her window arouse her attention Airlia looked up. A black owl, with long feathers and yellow-toned eyes, had landed on her windowsill. And in its bead, it held a small piece of paper. Not a letter or a full parchment. Just a tiny dirty-looking piece of paper that was ripped from its edges.

Opening her window slightly Airlia reached out to take the note. She glided her fingertips against the bird's feathers and smiled at it slightly.

Closing back the window Airlia walked over to the middle of the room and stood under her small chandelier and suddenly... She froze. Her breath seized, her heart skipped a beat and her lips wordlessly sounded out the words written with a practiced swirl on the paper. A handwriting, so familiar to her.

Her hand slowly rose and touched her lips in pure surprise.

Usually so graceful now she lost her composure. She ran out of her room, down the stairs and like a gazelle she leaped out of her house and started running with all her might towards the forest.

The piece of paper left behind floated down to the ground like a feather, swaying through the air and then landed with the black ink visible for all to see:

"Meet me in the forest"

Airlia · Lumi · Winter / Gael · Pyry · Winter

When Airlia walked through the cold forest, wrapping her arms around herself so she wouldn't feel so cold. The damp leaves touched her bare arms and her feet could feel every twig and all the moss under her feet. But she didn't care. It didn't matter to her if she got sick, or if she'd sprain her ankle or scrape her skin from the harsh needled of the spruce.

All she cared about was getting to her brother.

There was a thick fog in the forest that clouded her view, but she knew the path she was taking better than she knew her own house. She was going to their tree.

"Gael?" She called out when she neared their usual meeting place and the large tree at the center of the forest clearing.

She hadn't seen her brother in a while and worried about him. He'd never been as reckless as to run away. But now here she was, seeking him out in their forest, her parents unaware that she had even left the house.

When a hand reached for her behind a tree she let out a squeak, only for it to turn into a relieved sigh as a familiar head of white hair appeared in her sight.

Gael was kindness and grace embodied in a person. Even after surviving in the world nearly penniless, but in love with the man of his dreams, he looked as he did before. Regal. His hair was down to his shoulders in gentle curls. His eyes still had that glint of adventure and excitement.

"Brother." Airlia smiled as she hugged her brother happily, a small smile appearing on her lips over seeing him again.

"Hello, dearest." Gael said, resting his head on top of hers. "How have you been?"

"I've been okay. School was great... But I've missed you. I don't like to be in the house alone with just mother and father." She whispered back, closing her eyes afraid that if she'd open them, he might just disappear again.

"I know. But you know why I had to leave. They were going to leave Taika in my hands. And here I could never be myself. They would never accept me as I am..." Gael said, feeling sad over his little sister's fate.

"I understand... They were going to wed you off to Helin De Anns next summer."

"Yeah. I heard about that. It was one of the many reasons that pushed me to go." Gael said, shaking his head slightly over the prospect of being stuck in a loveless arranged marriage.

"Now they'll make me marry someone when I come of age." Airlia sighed.

Gael nodded somberly, but then looked at her and smiled softly: "You're only twelve. You have time to change their mind about that until you're seventeen."

"You tried that at my age too and failed. And you're a master manipulator Slytherin. I'm just a meekly Hufflepuff with no skills in the department of cunning." Airlia looked up at her brother, distancing herself from the hug.

"Well with my leaving you also gain leverage. They won't soon forget that they drove their own son away with their foolishness. They'll probably go easy on you."

"Doubtful." Airlia giggled.