"All I'm saying is-"
Cohle cut the girl off with his hand. "I hear you, but I can't force her to get along with you if she doesn't want to."
Reva pouted. "You could at least ask her to stop glaring every time she sees me."
"I have." He sighed, walking through the gate. "At least a dozen times."
"Wish my sister cared that much." She muttered.
"Speaking of-" He began.
"COHLE! I, Theine of House-"
"Grace, could I talk to you about something?" Cohle asked, walking past his cousin.
She nodded. "Of course. It's good to see you looking well. And you, Reva."
Reva nodded, but was engaged in a glare-off with Theine as Cohle and his cousin took a few steps away.
"What can I help you with?" She asked.
He stared up at the sky and hemmed. "I was wondering what kind of... authority I had."
"Though adopted, you are the last surviving member of the Venge family's main branch. Unfortunately, with the family's wealth and holdings dispersed as reparation for the insult, you're not left with much other than the family name." She said thoughtfully. "However, with no parents to arrange a marriage, you are free to choose your own wife."
"Following that logic, not that I'm looking to get married, that would mean I could grant my name to someone, right?"
Grace frowned. "It's a little more complicated than that. How Mara went about adopting and bequeathing her name to you was unconventional. Hence the insult. What are you thinking?"
He watched Reva and Theine struggle with fistfuls of each other's hair. "There's a woman at Celestia's house. Lost her family after the demon queen fell. Since I was taken in, she's become... important to me. I was hoping there was some way I could make it official."
"Like an adopted sibling?"
"Yeah. It's not a large enough word to describe how I feel about her, but I want something in writing saying that she's my family."
Grace thought for several seconds. "You're not blood, making your name inherited and not yours by right. That's the biggest hurdle to clear. Then there's petitioning the king, but that's easy if you've got two rightful family members. Which you do."
Cohle raised an eyebrow. "You and who else?"
"Theine, obviously." She laughed. "He may be an elitist snob, but it's more from personal pride than familial."
"I may have to give him that duel, then." Cohle mused, chortling.
"I can handle everything, but it'll take time and I'll need you around for signatures. You're not going to disappear on us again, are you?"
"I don't plan on it, but these things tend to happen to me more than I'd like." He sighed, then straightened. "I get that I asked the question, but why are you going to help? Sounds like a lot of hassle to go through for someone you don't know on behalf of someone you barely know."
"It's not out of the goodness of my heart, I can promise you that." She said, the smile no longer reaching her eyes. "I do have familial pride, but not for the current family. The only thing I can really say for sure at this point is that I've been watching you since I saw your name on the enrollment list and I have expectations."
"Always something beneath the surface, isn't there?"
This time the smile was genuine. "That's how the game's played. I want to restore my house and you'll need that influence. Consider helping you a down payment on both fronts, as well as putting me on the path toward earning your trust."
"What does earning my trust have to do with anything?"
"I can count on two fingers the number of people you actually have any trust in whatsoever. The girl you want to give our name to and her." She said, nodding her head in Reva's direction.
Cohle watched as she and his cousin glared at one another, no longer scrapping, and scoffed. "I'm not sure I'd count her-"
"Don't be ridiculous. Of course you trust her." Grace said. "You just don't know why yet, that's all."
They walked back over and pulled the teens apart as the bell rang signaling the start of the day. Grace dragged Theine away as he crowed about accepting his challenge while Cohle held Reva back, laughing.
"What did you two talk about?" She asked when they were out of earshot.
"I could tell you, but it'd ruin the surprise." He said, grinning. "C'mon, we're gonna be late."
~
"Names?" He asked as they took their seats.
Reva shook her head. "Not really. It's like they're on the edge of my memory, but I can't quite reach them. I do know that I can't stand them."
He smirked at how she didn't bother lowering her voice, earning her dark looks from the group of students. "Can't argue with that."
Birkin walked into the room just as the rat faced teen, Rickard opened his mouth to say something. But had no choice but to sit down as the professor called the class to order.
"Quiz time!" She announced, clapping her hands as questions appeared on the board. "If I catch any mana usage, that'll be an automatic fail. Understood?"
"Not that either of us can use mana right now." Reva muttered quietly, pulling out her notebook.
Cohle grinned as he flipped his open and took out a pen before glancing at the board. His jaw fell open slightly at the questions and he made a mental note to thank Celestia for her tutoring. The quiz that the other students seemed to be struggling with was completed in no time by the pair.
Birkin coughed to hide a laugh as they handed in their sheets. "Should've expected as much. Very well, you're dismissed for the day."
Once outside, Reva sighed. "I remember my penmanship being better."
"It's the tremor. Cel said that should get better as you adjust to writing more. One of the downsides to her tutoring is that she expects you to remember without writing it down." Cohle said as they walked over to the courtyard.
Dropping onto a bench she looked up at him. "What's the deal with your cousins, anyway?"
"Well, you remember that I was adopted." She nodded. "Most of my extended family aren't terribly fond of that note. Those two seem to be the exceptions. Grace more than Theine. But they've each got their reasons."
"Families." She grumbled.
"You'd know better than I would." He laughed, sitting down beside her.
Her face lit up brightly. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Actually, I should probably be the one to apologize." He said, cutting her off and sighing as he leaned back. "And here we are again. Surrounding ourselves with those kinds of people. Wonder if that says something about us."
"That we were bored." Reva answered immediately, with a laugh. "But also... It's not like we can just hide from the world our entire lives. We need to have these experiences so we can learn and grow and heal."
He looked at her. "That way deeper than I expected."
"Celestia's the one who told me that when I could understand words again." She said, staring at a ladybug crawling on the ground by her feet.
"I suppose she's right. There's only so strong I can get training at the manor and the people are still gonna be the same, so what's the point in staying cooped up." He said, nudging her with his elbow. "What about you? What're you hoping to get from all this?"
She smiled and looked at him. "A choice."
~
"COHLE!" Theine shouted.
"Fine. I accept." He said before the teen could finish his speech.
"I'll serve as judge." Grace said as Cohle drew his sword. "No killing, please. Begin."
Reva laughed as Theine just stared slack jawed at his cousin, whose sword was patting his cheek. Even Grace snickered, covering her mouth politely.
"I actually have a demand as victor." Cohle said, sliding the sword into its sheathe. "No more challenges."
"What!? But... But..."
"Theine, it's not simply a matter of pride to him." Grace said, touching his arm. "It's a connection to the woman who raised him. He'll never lose to you with that as his motivation."
"I may have been adopted, but she was still my mother. And she died protecting me." Cohle explained. "Do you have anything of equal value to that to offer?"
Theine stared at the ground. "Could've just said so from the beginning." He lifted his head. "Fine, I recognize you as a cousin and member of this family until such a time as you behave in a way that is unbecoming to the name Venge."
Cohle pressed his fist to his chest and lowered his head. "Thank you, cousin."
He gave Reva a wink as Theine stomped away with Grace close behind him and she giggled. "How many times did you actually hit him?"
"He'll find out when he sits down." He grinned. "By the way, we've got eyes."
"Yeah, it's those kids from class." She sighed. "What is their problem?"
"Us, probably."
With a groan, she started toward the arena. "Me, I understand. The other Reva was kind of a bitch to them. But you've been here a total of, what, three days all year?"
"So you're remembering her now?"
"Vaguely. Mostly just her presence, I think? It's complicated." She said. "Celestia said that it'd probably happen since there were still fragments of the spell present."
"Hm." He knew his spell had left behind traces, but didn't think it would be enough to give her glimpses of her other self.
"I had the same concerns." She said, giving him a shove. "But the spellform was shattered, so it's fine. No danger."
"Yeah, but-"
"I know what you're worried about." She countered. "But my past is part of who I am now. Without it, I wouldn't be me."
He sighed. Her words didn't do much to assuage him, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it. "Alright."
"Good. Now that we've got that settled, what do we do about them?" She asked, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.
"Not much we can do until they do something first."
"Finally got my whole class together again!" Hodge said proudly. "Only took half the school year, but here we are. Mister Venge, Miss Alabaster, I heard that you're unable to do magic for the time being, so you'll be working on physical combat. The rest of you, pick up where you left off before. Minor attack spells and shield magic only."
The class broke apart and began casting while he and Reva walked over to a weapons rack. "I don't think I've ever seen you use a sword before."
"I'm not really good at much. Swords or spellcasting." She mumbled darkly.
"Just means you haven't found the right tool yet." He said, looking over the rack at the blunted swords. "You've got the right build for a scout, but knives rely too much on speed and accuracy. Maybe dual shortswords?"
He picked up two mismatched swords and handed them to her before pulling out a battered one of regular length. She held them awkwardly and raised an eyebrow at him. "You serious? With my coordination?"
"Never know until you try. Not that I'm a great teacher, most of my swordplay I learned from Wastkin." He said, giving his weapon a test swing. "But at the very least, you'll get a feel for reach and timing."
"If you say so." She said dubiously, not sure what stance to take while he lowered himself into a defensive one. "Wait, you want me to attack you?"
"Why not? If you come home with bruises, Cel might kill me. Not to mention Wastkin..." He shuddered.
Before she could think of a retort a fireball crashed into the ground at their feet. "Sorry! My hand slipped!" Lynn called over.
Rolling her eyes, Reva gripped her sword and prepared to lunge when she caught another fireball out of the corner of her eye heading right for her. She turned at the same time Cohle appeared in front of her and used his sword to shatter the spell.
"Let me guess..." He muttered, annoyed.
"Hand slipped." Rickard said, trying to keep the smile from his face.
"I'm pretty sure I could beat the smirk off him before the others took me down." Reva grumbled.
He grinned. "They won't try again for a few minutes and I got an idea."
Giving the girl a nod, she darted forward and swung her swords recklessly. "Aim for my hands or body, not the blade."
"Right." She said through gritted teeth, altering her attack.
After a while, she seemed to be settling into a groove, but was getting winded. Cohle caught the telltale preparation of another "slip" and reached behind him to the fine dagger he'd kept in his room from the attack on him and Lily.
With a flash of his hand he hurled it at Rickard, who froze as the spell died in his wand. A blink later, Cohle's hand closed around the blade just before it hit the teen's eye. He fell back while Cohle watched with a smirk on his face.
"Sorry." He said, offering his hand. "I slipped."
Rickard smacked his hand away. "You could've killed me, halfbreed. Professor, you saw what happened, please do-"
Cohle thought his ribs would burst as Hodge made a show of looking like he hadn't noticed. "What happened? Mister Venge, please return to practice. The rest of you as well! C'mon, folks!"
Reva had tears in her eyes and was as bright as a cherry under her dark hair as she tried to hold herself back from laughing. Cohle allowed himself a quiet laugh as she bumped her shoulder.
Reva
She sat up and wiped her eyes, sniffling as the remnants of the nightmare faded. While Celestia had told her they might never fade entirely, they were more manageable now that her life had stabilized. She was now a ward of her headmaster like Cohle was and school had become monotonous given her private education at home each day.
Her parents had fought tooth and nail to get her back into their possession, but after Celestia openly threatened to reveal the evidence she had against them, they couldn't wait to sign over guardianship. Athena had been present as well, but the girl was a shadow of her former self. Large, jagged scars marred exposed flesh, and they had hoped to use her to sway the local lords. But when the footage of the fight was shown, it was revealed that Cohle never landed a solid blow on her and that the damage had been self-inflicted.
Reva had heard the story around the fight, but never seen the fight itself. And since that day, each time she saw him, she'd feel a warmth in her chest that she couldn't identify but had grown to enjoy. Cohle, for his part, finally had a heart to heart with Lily about being nicer to her. She was hesitant at first, but quickly warmed to the girl once she actually let her get close.
She picked up the doll laying next to her and hugged it tightly, remembering the day when Lily presented her with it. Unlike the amateurish one always in her pocket, this one was well made and the woman was over the moon when Reva expressed excitement over how well made it was, dragging her to her private room to show off her collection.
"You up?" Cohle asked from the other side of the door, startling her from her memories.
"Yeah." She replied.
He opened the door and leaned against the frame still in his night clothes. A glance at the clock made her cheeks burn when she realized it was still too early in the morning for either of them to be awake.
"Must've been a bad one. I actually heard you." He said.
Normally, he'd tease her gently about how loudly she slept, but this time his tone expressed worry.
"It was the day he... Did that." She said truthfully, hugging the doll tighter. "Sorry for waking you."
"It's fine." He shrugged, walking into her room and sitting on her bed. "I get them too. Lily knows, but I never told anyone."
She stared at him and he laughed quietly, making her blush. "It's just-"
"I put up a good front, don't I?" He said, stretching. "Celestia said it's a defense mechanism. Not letting anyone in so I can't get hurt when they... Anyway, yeah. Not sure why I felt the need to tell you. Guess maybe I wanted you to know that you weren't alone."
He got up from the bed and headed for the door. She didn't want him to leave yet, but she couldn't think of anything to make him stay. Her mouth seemed to know what to do, however. "What're they about?"
He stopped in the doorway and looked back at her. "It's the same dream every night. When Mara was killed."
Her stomach roiled and she panicked. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked!"
"It's fine." He said, looking out into the hall. "If it were a more comforting story, I'd tell you."
She shook her head. "I'd never ask you to."
"Maybe that's why I'll tell you about it someday." He leaned against the frame. "I trust you, Rev. I don't know why yet, but I do."
"I trust you too, you know?" She said, climbing out of the bed and walking over to him. "It's not just a one way thing. And since you saved me and I started living here, I trust you even more than I did before."
"Our paths kept crossing for a reason." He mumbled, then scoffed. "Cel gettin' into my head."
"She said the same thing to me, once. Asked me if there was a reason for it and I didn't have an answer then. But I think I do now." She said, mentally preparing herself to give word to a feeling she'd had for a while. "I think I wanted you to save me."
"What?"
"I'm not sure I can explain it. Not now, anyway. But do you remember that day when you caught my book?" He nodded. "I think that was the day I finally decided that I wanted to be free. That I'd had enough of trying to live up to my family's impossible demands. I know it was nothing for you, just helping someone who needed it. But then our paths kept crossing and you seemed to just... know that I needed help without my even saying it."
"Pretty good explanation for claiming you couldn't." He muttered.
"It goes deeper than that, but that's all I can really understand."
"Maybe it's fate." He said, stepping out into the hall and grinning at her. "Or maybe it's just coincidence. But I'm glad we got to become friends."
"Me too." She said, feeling the warmth in her chest spread.
~
"Now that we're all finally here, I have our plans for the break to go over with you." Celestia said as Cohle sat down. "Miss Alabaster, you'll be staying here with us so I can continue your education. We'll also be working on strengthening your mana channels and Wastkin is eager to show you how to use those swords you keep swinging around like a madwoman."
"I'm not that bad." She pouted, then looked up at Cohle. "Am I?"
"What about me?" He asked.
Feeling betrayed, she sunk in her chair and crossed her arms while Lily patted her head consolingly.
"Rys will be taking you to her place for-"
A fist pounded the table and all eyes turned to Lily, who had started shaking and was red in the face as she glared at Celestia. Reva couldn't blame her, this was the longest stretch Cohle had been home since his arrival at the manor.
"Miss Lily, you have something to say?" Celestia asked.
"Why do you keep trying to get rid of him?" She asked slowly, her weak voice was airy and high pitched. "If he isn't off training for months, he's hurt for weeks after."
"That's not what I'm trying-"
"THEN WHY DO YOU KEEP TAKING HIM AWAY!?" She yelled, glaring at the woman. "Why can't he be trained here?"
"Miss Lily, I'm not sure I appreciate your tone." Celestia warned.
"I don't care! You're the one that keeps-"
"Lily." Cohle said, silencing her. "Remember what we talked about?"
"But-"
Cohle rose from his seat and walked over to her. "It'll be okay. I'll be back before you know it."
She glared at him, her lip quivering slightly. "Okay."
"C'mon, let's go upstairs. You can yell at me there, alright?" He said, taking her hand and pulling her through the door.
Reva ate silently, trying to ignore the awkwardness of the nearly empty room. Celestia ignored her plate, sipping on tea instead with the occasional annoyed huff. Finally, her own annoyance won out and she set her fork down.
"I'm not terribly happy about it either. We've been so busy with school and training that we haven't really had much time to spend together as friends." She said.
Celestia glowered at her. "Is that all you were hoping to do?"
Try as she might, there was no other way to interpret the woman's words and she felt her cheeks grow warm. "Y-Yes! Obviously! And I resent the speculation, Madam Lightbringer!"
"He wants to get stronger. Rys can help him in ways I can't. His mana channels haven't fully developed and using magic still damages his body. I don't know how much progress he can make in two months, but it'll be more with her than here."
"No, I get that, but... Lily has a point too." Reva argued, grateful to sidestep any implications.
Celestia sighed. "I know that. But Reva, he's too weak to defend himself from what's coming."
She felt a spike of fear pierce through her. Celestia only dropped pretenses when it was serious. "What do you mean?"
"I can't explain it right now, dear. But you need to grow stronger too. You're children right now, but the adult world will soon crash into yours and you need to be prepared when it does."
"I'll do my best."
"Cohle will need more than that from you when the time comes." Celestia said quietly. "And I will make sure that you can give it to him."
Lily
She stared at the envelope Bella had given her. It had her name on it, but it was from the Virileque Court.
"That's where Cohle's family is from." The maid said. "Should I go fetch him?"
She nodded absently and the woman disappeared from sight. If there was a trick to how they did that, she didn't know it and Wastkin refused to teach her as he had the rest of the staff. She shook her head to clear the bitterness toward the older man away. He had been like a father to her for nearly thirteen years and she owed him her life. That bought blanket forgiveness.
"Oh, it came." Cohle said, walking up to her with Reva in tow. "Grace told me it might. She works fast."
"She did say that things were a lot more straightforward on the matter than she predicted. Benefits of acting on behalf of the main house or something like that."
Lily held the letter out, trying her best to piece together what the duo were talking about. Cohle shook his head and pushed it back toward her with a grin. "That's for you. Go ahead and read it."
She split the wax seal and pulled out the letter, which was handwritten on expensive feeling paper.
To Whom it Concerns,
In accordance with the wishes of the current head of the Venge house, Cohle Venge, and backed with vehement support by Grace Venge and Theine Venge III, the Court of Virileque hereby allows the naming of Lily of Veralys into House Venge as the current head's adoptive sibling.
The Court of Virileque will bestow a stipend to aid in the rebuilding of the main house as the aforementioned is of age to be wed. The current head of the Venge house may choose a suitor or allow the aforementioned to choose her own.
We hereby decree that Cohle of House Venge is the rightful and true heir and restore his titles until such a time as we seefit.
Reva
Lily seemed aghast once she finished the letter. Her hands were trembling violently and Cohle carefully extracted the papers from them before they were damaged and passed them to her. There was the letter and two documents, one of them legitimizing Cohle under that country's king and the other held Lily's new name and title as baronness.
"I didn't realize there was so much to this." She said quietly.
Lily wailed and clung to Cohle, sobbing so violently that it looked like it hurt.
"You're alright. It's alright." He said reassuringly, holding her tightly.
It took her nearly ten minutes to calm down enough to accept the paper from Reva, who was struggling to hold back her own tears as the young woman beamed and showed it to the gathered staff.
"Lily Venge!" Zeke, the chef boomed, a large smile on his face as he scooped the much smaller Lily into his arms. "My little Tiger Lily!"
Wastkin's eyes glistened as he walked over to them. "Master Cohle... Anything you need, dear boy."
Reva finally let the tears fall as Lily ran from person to person, showing them the paper. Celestia conjured an ornate frame and Wastkin deftly installed the paper into it before handing it back to her so she could continue on her way.
"I take it you're happy with having me as a sibling?" Cohle asked wryly as she ran back over to them.
She wrapped him in a hug so fierce, Celestia opened her mouth to voice concern, but Wastkin pinned her lips closed with a smile.
He managed to push himself up so his face was exposed and after taking a breath, wrapped his arms around her. "You deserve so much more, Lil."
"As long as I have you, I don't need anything else." She said so quietly, Reva barely heard her.
"I may be gone a lot, but I'll always come back to my sister." He murmured, sniffling. "You won't be able to get rid of me if you try."
~
He was gone before she was awake the next day. And as angry as she was, Lily Venge was wrath incarnate. She'd fallen asleep next to him the night before and Rys had shown up, startling them both before abducting Cohle before he'd had a chance to pull his boots on.
Even Celestia seemed to be going to great efforts to avoid her. But for Reva, it felt like the first time they'd truly bonded as their anger at Cohle being taken so suddenly and without warning echoed throughout the manor and onto the grounds.
"Next time he comes back, we won't let anyone send him away." She said as Lily nodded firmly in agreement.
Cohle
He tried desperately to suck in air as the wild woman smiled cruelly at him. "Ready now?"
"Ready?" He gasped.
Mana swirled around her as she dropped into a combat stance. "Training begins now."