Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

50 - End of the Road

Xyder Zephyr - POV;

"I'm going to miss you all so much!" Jaya cried out hugging each of her foster siblings and mother.

"I'm trusting my precious jewel to you Xyder. Take care of her," Ms. Ailani smiled.

"I'll do what I can but I'm sure Jaya is responsible enough to look after her self," I answered.

"Oh trust me she isn't," Naomi laughed and everyone else soon emulated.

"Thank you for everything Ms. Ailani. You've done us a great deal," I told the fairly young mother.

"I couldn't just leave you two stranded could I? I would have never forgiven myself," Ailani admitted, "Although, let me clarify before I forget that the jewel I spoke of wasn't Jaya."

Ms. Ailani looked to her sleek black sedan whose keys she had just turned over to me. In order to reach the tournament in time we were going to have to go much faster than walking and my ability to fly was far from perfect, not to mention that it drained my endurance quickly. As such, Ailani had offered her vehicle to us temporarily and we graciously accepted.

I leaned in closely and whispered into Ms. Ailani's ear, "We'll call home and stop this demolition as soon as we get to Fenix City. I promise you."

I went along shaking each member of the family's hand until I eventually reached Sid. We both stared at each other intently until eventually he broke into a smile extending his arm.

"An interesting change Sid," I chuckled grasping his hand.

"I thought of what you told me the other day and it's true. I was trying to hide and pretend it wasn't there. I decided that from now on, that's all going to change. By the way, I go by Zeliel now," he laughed.

"Glad to hear it," I told him.

As we drove off, we stared at the entire family who kept waving us goodbye untilwe were completely surrounded by the trees on the narrow gravel road. 'What a happy and complete family,' I thought as I smiled to myself.

* * * *

Emiko Ailani - POV;

After seeing our new acquaintances and our younger sister off, we returned to our house amidst a gloomy atmosphere. The five of us knew that things were only about to go downhill from this point, especially once our plan went into action.

I picked up my black backpack on the way to my room, locking the door behind me. Dropping down onto my soft, fluffy matress, I reached into the bag for my hidden little book of unmentionables. This was something I certainly didn't want any of the others to discover or my embarrassment would smite me instantly.

My expression immadiately changed to one of confusion as I felt along the cover of the book inside. Unlike my own paperback book, this one had a distinctly hard cover. I slowly pulled it out to have a look at it. My eyes opened widely as I stared at the diamond covered masterpiece. I reached in the bag once more grabbing the first piece of fabric I touched and yanking it out. My face spontaneously changed to a deep hue of red as I identified it as male underwear.

"Oh God he must have taken my bag by mistake," I thought aloud as I became more and more flushed, "And I have my lacey unmentionables in there."

Dropping the items back into the backpack and throwing it onto myself, I stormed outside to find the others gathered and conversing just beside the inn's refurbished outer walls.