October 1st, 1989
Coralis and Nadilla sat quietly in Ms. Wagner's office. Looking down, sometimes shooting furtive glances at each other. They thought they were in trouble, once again. Coralis closed her eyes for a moment, thinking of what could have possibly led them to the administrator's office. Maybe they were about to be moved again, even if their social workers said that they would have to stay there until the trial was over, at minimum.
They arrived at this group home about a month ago, along with some other children. She didn't punch a kid nor instigate any conflict. She kept to herself, barely talking to anyone. She couldn't think of any reason to explain why she and Nadilla had to sit at the administrator's office, on a Sunday morning.
"You think they want to punish us because we are not talking to the social workers here?" said Nadilla in a low voice, just loud enough for Coralis to hear it.
Ms. Wagner's office wasn't small. In one of the corners, to the left side of the door, there were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, covering entirely the walls in that corner. Two couches were nested in front of the bookshelves, a one-seater sofa and a round table in-between. Her desk was at the other end of the room, in the opposite corner, next to more floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
"I don't understand. We get into trouble if we do anything they ask, and we get into trouble when we ignore them instead. Remember the last place, he kept saying he loved us for it, but other adults said it was wrong, that people can't love us like that, that it's not how it works. I don't know why we're here this time," said Coralis.
When Coralis finished talking, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" yelled Ms. Wagner from behind her desk.
A man and a woman walked in, holding a small leather briefcase. Ms. Wagner stood and walked toward them, while the girls stared at the newcomers.
"Ah! You must be Vallia Bilard and Roberto Swanson. Come in!"
"Yes, I am Roberto Swanson, the attorney representing the families of Ms. Coralis Golmar and Ms. Nadilla de Lima. This is Vallia Bilard, a social worker consulting for me in this case," he said, pointing toward the woman beside him. "May we speak alone with the girls, please."
"Sure. Give me a minute I need to grab some stuff and you can have the space for however long you need. The girls are already here," said Ms. Wagner, answering while pointing toward Coralis and Nadilla.
She returned to her desk, grabbed the documents lying on it, checked the drawers, to make sure they were locked, and returned to Vallia and Roberto.
"I'll be at my secretary's desk across the door. When you're done, or if you need anything, open the door and I'll be right there."
The girls watched them silently. Besides each other, they didn't have any family. Sometimes, they had been placed in foster homes, but never stayed there long and never were adopted, so they were both wondering what they meant by representing their families.
When the door closed behind Ms. Wagner, Vallia pulled a small ball out of her jacket, walked to the middle of the room, squeezed and threw it above her head. The ball floated toward the ceiling, then dissipated before reaching it.
Nadilla couldn't believe what she saw, she didn't know if she should be afraid. Coralis, however, was fascinated. Remembering an incident at their former home, something in this made sense to her. She could feel her cousin anxious next to her, so she grabbed her hand to reassure her. She didn't know who they were and what was going on, but she knew that they weren't in danger.
When the ball was fully dissolved, Vallia returned to where she was to grab her suitcase and followed Roberto to the couch next to the girls. They gently dropped their suitcases on the table and sat.
"I'm sure you must have a lot of questions after what you just saw, but there is something we need to confirm first," said Roberto. "Let us introduce ourselves properly and we will tell you why we are here."
The girls nodded.
"Before we started talking to you two, we had to make sure that no one else could hear us," said Vallia. "The ball you saw in my hand was a type of mute-ball. It soundproofed this room, deactivated any listening device, and still the cameras. What we will tell you no one else can know, not even your actual social workers. Understood?"
"So you're not a social worker or an attorney representing our families?" said Coralis.
"Yes and no. We are working for the Canadian Ministry of Mythical Affairs. More precisely for the department handling family matters and legalities. I am Roberto," then pointing to the woman beside him, "and she is Vallia. We are here for matters regarding both of your families, but we are also here for an incident which happened where you previously resided."
Coralis knew exactly which incident he was talking about. She didn't want to remember it. Roberto stretched his right hand to shake theirs. Coralis hesitantly shook it first, then Nadilla. Vallia did the same.
"You must be Coralis?" said Roberto while looking at her.
When he shook their hands, he also tried to get a read on their aura. Coralis had a strong one for a 9-year-old, while Nadilla's was faint, as it should be. They weren't supposed to meet with the girls until next April, but five weeks before that day, an unknown elemental energy surge appeared on their map. Seeing that it was coming from a place for out-of-home human children, Vallia and Roberto were sent to check if it came from one of the children staying there. When they went there a few days after the incident, the elemental source was no longer there.
"Hmm yes, I am," said Coralis. She just wanted to leave the room. She didn't want to talk about what happened at the previous home. She couldn't talk much about it anyway, because of the pending trial. She didn't even want to know about her birth family, and she knew Nadilla didn't care about hers: their families abandoned them, that's what they always thought.
"I thought so. You see, I remember well two children we had to place in the human system 9 years ago. At your previous home, I mentioned your name, just in case the energy surge came from you. I was told you had been moved recently. Now, I don't know exactly what led to it, but I can explain some of what happened. Vallia and I aren't humans, and neither are both of you. We are what we call an elemental, or a mage, to be more precise."
Coralis and Nadilla looked at him with wide eyes. Nadilla wondered what he meant by not human and elemental, while Coralis' mind went to other weird stuff that happened that she couldn't explain.
"In classic human lore, we could be described as some kind of witch, although I assure you, there are a lot of differences between a witch and a mage," added Roberto.
"Wait," said Nadilla, coming to a realization. "Do you think Coralis is the one who broke the windows and lights where we used to live?"
"Yes," said Vallia. "She probably doesn't know how she did it, but we know it was her. Your parents were also elemental. Nadilla, both of your parents were water mages. As for Coralis, we know that her mother was a water mage, but we're unsure about her father, we think he's from a mixed bloodline. When we went to your former group home, there was still some elemental energy residue lingering in the air and it didn't have a water mage energy signature. That's how we know it must have been Coralis."
"If the energy discharge would have come from someone else, other than from Coralis, her aura would still have been faint and I would not have sensed that same energy signature on her, which confirmed that, indeed, it came from her," said Roberto.
Coralis remembered the intense emotions: the anger, the rage, the fear, the deep desire to end it all, all mixed into one.
"If you already knew what happened, why come here about it?" said Coralis. "Even if we wanted to, which we don't, we can't talk about what happened at the other place, until the court says that we can, which I'm sure will be never."
"It's not what led to it that we are inquiring about," said Vallia, "An elemental inner energy is deeply connected to emotions. If your elemental energy is awakening, you need to learn to control it, so you don't release it by accident, especially if you are surrounded by humans. You also need to control your emotions. They can't find out about us or it will lead to pure chaos." Vallia glanced at her colleague, before continuing. He gave her a small nod. "We also need to know if there have been more incidents… and if some humans saw something that could have revealed to them what you are."
"If our parents were elementals or mages, then why are we not with other people like us?" said Nadilla. She struggled to make sense of what she was hearing, but she knew they were telling the truth. "I don't know if something else like that happened, but if someone saw something, they won't talk. No one takes us seriously, so what would be the point? They would only get into more trouble because no one would believe them."
Roberto and Vallia looked at each other, neither were sure how to answer that, so they decided to drop their line of questioning. They weren't warriors and weren't involved with the department that killed their parents, but they were the ones who had to explain it to two 9-year-old girls who grew up clueless about their world.
"Your parents were involved with bad people," said Roberto. "We do not have the details of what happened exactly the night they died. We were not there but I was tasked to place you two in a human orphanage. What we do know, is that it wasn't safe to place you with a relative, because they were under investigation. It was recommended that we hide the two of you within the human system until you were of age to start elemental school, for your protection, and it was agreed by our elders."
Coralis looked at her hands on her lap, while Nadilla looked at her cousin.
"We were scheduled to meet with you two in April, but because of the amount of elemental energy Coralis released five weeks ago, we had to come to you sooner. It took us some time to find you because the people in charge of your files wouldn't tell us where you moved without proper paperwork," said Vallia.
"Coralis, your aura is still very raw, there is a thickness to it, meaning your elemental powers have awoken. Yours, Nadilla, is still faint, but I can feel some elemental energy buzzing from you. In light of what we sensed there, it became important to meet with you sooner, to explain to you what you are, before another incident happens," said Roberto.
"Does that mean you will teach us how to control it? I don't know how I did what I did and I think it wasn't the only time something weird happened around me... I can't explain," said Coralis.
"We are not the ones who will teach you that. You will go to an elemental school next year. Full-blooded mage children, and most of the half-blood ones, usually start attending elemental school at the age of 10 and will attend it for at least 7 years. To blend in better with the human world, our school system follows a similar calendar as human schools. Fays are usually there for at least 10 years, while elves usually only stay 5 years," said Roberto.
The girls' eyes went wide again.
"Fays? Elves?" said Nadilla.
"Yes," said Roberto, amused. "Fays and elves are also considered elemental beings. You will meet different kinds of elemental beings at school. Coralis, when you were born, you parents registered you to the school your mother went to, so you will go to Scotland Elemental School, located in the United Kingdom. Nadilla, although your parents also went there, they registered you at Winisk Elemental School, located in Northern Ontario. The school year will start at the end of August, but we will meet with you again before that."
"Hmm," Coralis looked hesitantly at Nadilla before continuing, "we don't have parents, obviously, and the administrator here can't know what we are, so how are we supposed to get there and pay for our school supplies? We will need to get some stuff and pay some fees, I suppose."
"In the upcoming months, you will be assigned an elemental guardian, the equivalent of a human godparent," Vallia said. "While they will not have custody of either of you, they will guide you until you become an adult in the eyes of the elemental community. They will also meet with you before the school starts to explain how you will get there and they will help you conciliate your ward of the state status with your elemental reality. As far as your social workers and administrators here are concerned, you will be going to a boarding school, as per the will of your deceased parents."
"Your parents did have a will," said Roberto, "and their assets belong to you. Unlike humans, you do not have to meet some conditions to access your inheritance, and your guardian won't decide for you how you will use it. Their assets are currently legally yours. Neither of you had any siblings. When we see you again, we will explain how to access it, but know that you do not need to worry about your finances."
"All you need to focus on, at the moment, is controlling your emotions," said Vallia. "Coralis, I will arrange for another meeting with you next month. I am not a teacher, but I can coach and give you some tips to keep your aura in check until you start school. Same for you Nadilla, it's a matter of time before yours becomes raw. Questions?"
Coralis and Nadilla looked at each other. Coralis could read uncertainty on Nadilla's face, it was a lot to take in.
"I am sure we will have a thousand questions popping into our heads when you leave, but I cannot think of one right now. We need some time to think about everything you told us. It's too much," said Coralis. "We were sure our parents didn't want us, just like no one else did. Plus, you said we aren't humans. What you said to us changes everything. We don't know who we are anymore. Can we make a list with questions we have for the next time we see you?"
"Sure," said Vallia. "Just make sure that no one else sees it."
Roberto and Vallia stood up, shook the girls' hands and walked to the door. Like she said she would be, Ms. Wagner was on the other side, sitting at her secretary's desk.
"Until next time!" said Roberto to the cousins.