Hopeless Love

20-More Reunions

Weeks had passed, months maybe, and everything was as close to normal as it was going to get. Sebastian only cried when he saw something that reminded him of his mom. Things were running smoothly in the Pod and everything was peaceful. He started teaching some people to fight with my help in case we got attacked again.

I was in the middle of teaching Alex and a little girl named Koojung how to take out enemies with a dagger when Sebastian's fast growing kraken let out a weird meow sound. His kraken was jet black with large crimson eyes as big as Sebastian's palm, and it had learned how to make noises from me somehow. It only meowed when it was either extremely emotional or in danger. And I could tell the difference between the multiple meows.

This one was a danger meow, loud and almost a roar. I ran to the kraken and put my hand on it's leathery skin to calm it, looking to the horizon the zombies had attacked from. There was a small figure on some winged creature. It reminded me of when Colla and Ley came unexpectedly.

I waited with my dagger in my hand. Sebastian quickly joined me. But my dagger left my hand when I saw the bright golden curls and flashing green eyes. I hadn't seen her for 12 years. But I would never forget my mother's face.

I ran to her, throwing my arms around her neck and burying my face in her shoulder like I used to. Tears fell from my eyes. She was taller than me too. When I was 5, I was the tallest kid in town. Everyone thought I was gonna end up being the tallest sphinx in town. But I stopped growing when I left.

She rubbed gentle circles on my back and I calmed down. I stepped back and looked at her with a sad smile on my face. She was crying, although her smile showed that they were joyful tears. I pet her gryphon, Alis, her coppery feathers smooth under my fingers and her sky blue eyes watching me with joy and concern. I remembered Alis too.

"Mom...I have missed you so much. But...what are you doing here? Grimalkin is so far away...isn't it," I asked. I was suddenly afraid that my old town had been close and my wanderings had simply screwed with my sense of distance.

"Ari told me that he found you. Aish, that boy married at 15...are you not married yet? Anyways, I came as soon as I could when he wrote saying you were here. I always knew you would end up living with mermaids. You love them so much...like I do. I...you have a...a little sister. She was born two years after you left. I made Ari promise not to tell you if he ever found you. He has been intent on finding you since I had to make you leave. She is a Chimera Child. A merinx. A lion, like you and your brother, and a lionfish. If that isn't a coincidence I don't know what is. But...she is here with me...if you want to meet her," she said. She sounded uncertain.

Tears came to my eyes. A sister? She would be 10 then, born when I was 7. I nodded eagerly. I was taking all the family I could get.

A little smoke grey lion leaped from the back of Alis. It was smudged with purples and blues near the ends of it's fur. It bounded closer to me and stopped in front of me, looking up at me with inquisitive smoky white eyes.

I reached down and picked up the small lioness. She purred in my arms before clawing my arms to make me put her down. She shifted once she was on the ground again. She turned into a young girl, shorter than me thankfully, with the same smoky white eyes and purple and blue smudged smoky hair. It curled gently at the ends.

She hug attacked me and smiled. "Mom has told me about you for a long time. My brave big sister who had to leave and was able to survive all on her own. I know I couldn't have done that. You are so much cooler than I thought you would be," she said as she backed away. I smiled. "My name is Naju by the way," she added.

"Such a unique name. Mom is good at naming things isn't she," I asked, only half joking. We both laughed and I remembered Sebastian waiting behind us. I took Naju and Mom's hands and led them over to Sebastian.

"Mom, Naju, this is Sebastian. He is the Alpha of this Pod and...and he is my boyfriend. Sebastian, this is my mother Naiyo and my sister Naju. Naju is a merinx, if you can believe that," I mumbled the last few words and the part about Sebastian being my boyfriend.

My sister laughed at my blush as Sebastian hugged me and shook Mom and Naju's hands. "Are you guys going to be staying long," he asked. They looked at each other and nodded.

"If it's okay with your Pod of course. We would love to stay here. Grimalkin doesn't...accept us anymore, and I was starting to fear for our safety when Ari wrote," my mom explained. He nodded.

"I'll have to hold a council meeting of course. Probably tomo-"

"Make sure close your eyes when you go. I almost went blind the first time I went inside, I swear," I blurted out. Sebastian laughed at the memory and I laughed with him.

"You guys can stay in my tent for tonight," I said to my family. They nodded and I introduced them to Lucitania when she came close. Sebastian's kraken didn't have a name yet, but I told them it belonged to him.

We would have the meeting tomorrow. Sebastian went to spread the news about the meeting tomorrow and I led Mom and Naju around the camp. I showed them the pools and joined Naju in the saltwater pool when she shifted into her lionfish form. She and Mom were both surprised to see me swimming in my tiny lion form, I could tell from their faces. I explained how I had learned to swim with Sebastian and then showed them where the bathing area and everything else was. I showed them to the cursed tent and they laughed at their newfound understanding of my warning.

It was finally dark and I led them to my tent and told them I would be in the next tent over. I walked in and found Sebastian already laying down, staring at nothing. I thought he was sleeping with his eyes open again when he shifted his eyes to me and smiled. He opened his arms and I climbed inside them. We went to sleep smiling and excited for tomorrow.