Aerynica woke with a start as a sudden jolt stirred her from sleep. She gave a sheepish grin to the passenger she had fallen asleep on and glanced up as the flight attendant walked through the aisle.

“Anything to drink, ma’am?”

“Just a water, if that’s alright.”

The woman nodded happily and quickly poured water from a bottle into a small plastic cup with two ice cubes. After handing it to Aerynica she gave her a warm smile and turned to the passenger seated next to her.

“And you sir?”

Aerynica couldn’t help but glance at the man as he spoke, but quickly averted her gaze when they locked eyes. The man looked incredibly familiar but she wasn’t sure why. He appeared to be in his late 60’s and had a full head of stormy gray hair. Even in his seated position, he towered over her, but not in a way that felt imposing.

“Nothing for me, thanks.”

The flight attendant nodded and moved further down the aisle. After a moment of silence, Aerynica turned to the man and gave him a slightly embarrassed smile.

“Sorry for falling asleep on you… It’s been a long day.”

The corners of the man’s lips twitched upwards into a grin and the lines around his eyes deepened as he chuckled softly.

“Think nothing of it. I’m glad I was comfortable enough to lean against for you to sleep as long as you did.”

“I’m Aerynica. I’m meeting up with… with…”

Her brows furrowed as she struggled to remember why she was flying in the first place.

“Your wife and daughter. You told me when I first got on.”

She nodded happily and pulled out her phone to check the time. As she clicked the button on the side, a picture of her wife holding their daughter in her arms filled the screen. She couldn’t help but grin widely as she remembered the difficulty of getting Aelynn to sit still long enough to get a decent shot. Her wife’s long blonde hair stuck to her head in a few places from the exertion of having to wrangle their daughter, but just seeing the beautiful woman made her heart soar with happiness. 

“She’s very pretty… and your daughter is absolutely adorable. I can only imagine how much of a handful she is. Kids always are at that age.”

Aerynica unlocked her phone and opened up her photo gallery. She extended the phone towards the man and he took it eagerly with a wide grin. As he flipped through the various pictures, he nodded his head happily before turning back towards her as she spoke softly.

“I take it you have children?”

“I do. Seven of them, if you believe that. But all mine are grown.”

Her eyes opened wide at hearing he had seven children, and the man chuckled softly.

“My wife and I felt very lucky to be blessed with so many little ones. Four strong sons and three equally strong daughters.”

Her brows furrowed slightly as she thought of the similarities between his children and her own family.

“What a coincidence… I’m actually the youngest of seven.”

She paused for a moment and studied the man as well as she could without openly staring at him.

“You’ll have to forgive me… I am total shit when it comes to remembering names… What was yours again?”

He shook his head as he handed her phone back to her.

“I don’t believe I ever told you… so no forgiveness needed. Oliver.”

A sudden commotion sounded from the back of the plane near where the flight attendants were standing and Aerynica craned her neck backwards to see what was happening. She looked around in confusion as no one else seemed to have heard the noise, and she glanced back at the man. He too was looking back towards where the noise had originated from, and as he turned back towards her, he wore a grim expression.

“Hmmm. Shame. I was hoping we’d have more time. I like this one.”

Aerynica gave him a puzzled look and he shook his head and pointed towards the aisle.

“I need to get something out of my bag. Would you mind standing up real fast so I can get out without having to squish against you?”

Her confusion only deepened, but she merely nodded and pushed herself to her feet. Once she was standing, she shuffled sideways and then took a few steps to make room for the man to get out. As she turned to look back at him, she found herself staring down the long stone hallway of a temple. She shook her head as a momentary bout of disorientation caused her to feel unsteady, but it cleared after half a moment.

She walked slowly down the hall, drinking in the sight of the ornate stoneworks inlaid in the walls and ceiling. She passed through a wide entry way that led into a much larger room, and looked at the various statues in the room. She moved towards the closest one and looked up at it. The stone visage of her eldest brother stared down at her with an expression that was almost a smirk. The ten foot likeness towered over everything else in the room, and she had to resist rolling her eyes as she thought about how vain her brother must be to demand his statue be the largest. 

As she slowly turned around, she saw a man standing in front of another statue at the far end of the room. She walked slowly across the stone floor, taking the time to admire each of the forms of her brothers and sisters. As she approached the man, he turned slightly and grinned before looking back up at the stone face that was an obvious likeness of her.

“The sculptor did an excellent job capturing your likeness, Lady Aerynica.”

She glanced up briefly and then back down as she nodded.

“Indeed she did. I requested her specifically after seeing several of her other pieces. She’s a half-dwarf who uses magic to sculpt the stone with her bare hands. As you can see… the results are immaculate. Her work isn’t nearly as large or imposing as the others in the room, but I refused to allow anyone else to sculpt my statue.”

The man turned back towards her and nodded. He stood at least two heads taller than her and even underneath the simple dark robes he wore, she could tell he was rather muscular. His long fiery red hair was pulled up into a tight bun and his deep crimson eyes studied her carefully before giving her a questioning look.

“I see your statue, but where is the one of your wife or your daughter?”

She gave him an extremely confused look and scoffed slightly.

“I am a goddess… I have no intention of taking a wife… let alone having children.”

He looked slightly disappointed as he nodded slowly.

“Is Drusilia not your wife?”

She took a step back like someone had struck her, and had to fight against the feeling of loss from suddenly hearing Drusilia’s name.

“I… I… I don’t know.”

He nodded solemnly and reached out to touch her hand. She felt the urge to pull away, but instead allowed the man to take her hand into his. He stared deeply into her eyes, but instead of feeling any sort of unease, she felt strangely calm.

“You look so much like your mother, Aerynica. But you definitely get your strong chin from your father.”

She pulled away from him and furrowed her brows at his words. A crashing noise sounded behind them and she spun on her heel. She searched for the source of the sound and took a single step towards the hallway she had come through earlier. After the sound boomed out a second time, seeming slightly closer, she turned back towards the man.

“Order up!”

Aerynica blinked away the sudden dizzy spell and turned towards the kitchen. She closed the distance to the metal counter before reaching down and grabbing a small serving tray. She grabbed the plate and set it on the middle of the tray, grabbed a jug of fresh coffee, and moved back towards the dining area.

“Alright, two eggs sunny-side up with a side of hashbrowns and two strips of extra crispy bacon.”

She set the plate in front of the man and gave him a warm smile, showing her teeth slightly. Unlike with the majority of her other guests that day, this smile was actually genuine. The older man, likely somewhere in his late 40’s, seemed to put her at ease in a way she couldn’t explain. He had short cropped red hair, very similar in color to her own, and underneath his glasses he had the strangest dark red eyes she had ever seen. She was sure they were contacts, but the fact he wore glasses as well hinted that maybe that wasn’t the case. As he looked at the still sizzling food and then back up at her, he gave her a broad grin and nodded happily.

“This looks amazing, Aerynica. Tell Rodger he did an excellent job, as usual.”

She nodded and held up the jug of coffee.

“Top you off?”

He reached out and grabbed his mug and quickly downed its contents before placing it down and sliding it towards her.

“You know me too well, Aerynica.”

“Seeing as you’ve been coming here every day for two years, Oliver, I certainly hope so.”

She gave him a slightly amused look as he started to reply and shook her head.

“I know, I know… you come here for the music. To which I always reply… What music? So… is today the day you’re finally gonna tell me the real reason you come here?”

The man looked thoughtful for a moment and then shrugged.

“On one condition.”

She looked surprised at the change of routine they had established over two years, and gave him a curious look.

“You join me for a cup of coffee.”

She blushed slightly and started to object but he held up his hand.

“Not like a date or anything. I know you’re married and I’m not even remotely your type. Just a cup of coffee and a conversation.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly as she studied his face, but after a moment she let out a long sigh and shrugged.

“OK. Just one cup of coffee and then I have to get back to work. Alice will have me cleaning dishes if she catches me slacking off.”

“Tell her that Oliver was being a pain in the ass and demanded you join him for a cup of coffee and that he’s gonna leave you a 200% tip to compensate for your loss of time.

She rolled her eyes as she pulled out the seat across from him and eased herself down onto the chair. She reached behind her to grab an empty mug from the empty table before turning back and filling it to the brim with steaming coffee. She blew on it gently before taking a long drink and letting out a contented sigh. After setting the mug back on the table, she stared at Oliver with a quizzical expression.

“How’s your daughter doing?”

She scoffed at the relative simplicity of his question but retrieved her phone from her apron. She quickly opened up a folder that was filled with photos of Aelynn and held her phone out for him to take. He took it with a huge smile and eagerly flipped through the various pictures.

“She’s getting so big now! It’s hard to believe she’s only 3.”

“Tell me about it, we keep having to buy her bigger and bigger clothes.”

“To be fair, her other mother is six and a half feet tall.”

Aerynica grinned and nodded.

“Indeed she is. I can only imagine how tall Aelynn is going to be. Although… that line of thought leads me to thinking of her as a teenager… which leads me to thinking of her driving… and dating… and then that’s where these gray hairs come from.”

They both chuckled softly as he handed her phone back. After letting out a happy sigh, he took a long drink of coffee and leaned back in his chair.

“She looks very happy, Aerynica. You seem like a good mom.”

She sighed through her nose and shrugged.

“God I hope so. She’s a handful. I swear it's like she is determined to find new ways to scare the ever living shit out of me and Dru.”

“That’s a kid’s job. To do things that terrify their parents in ways that we can never expect. It keeps us on our toes and gives us an opportunity to show them how much we love them and want to protect them.”

Aerynica gave him a soft smile and nodded at his words.

“You never told me… do you have children?”

“I do. Seven of them.”

“Seven?! I can hardly keep up with one.”

The two of them remained silent for a moment before Aerynica took another drink of coffee and stared back at the man across from her.

“Tell me about them.”

He nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment before leaning back slightly.

“My two oldest are twins. They are inseparable. A girl and a boy. Lisa and Kyle. Lisa follows her brother around like a lost puppy, but she also does her best to keep them both out of trouble. Then there’s Aaron. He’s always been a little resentful of his older brother and hated sharing stuff as a kid, but he has a fierce determination that is second to none. Olivia is my second oldest daughter. She is always sticking her nose in everyone’s business and is as keen and perceptive as a hawk. River has been nothing but trouble since the day he was born, but he was always the happiest baby in the world. He’s never really grown out of his “rebellious” phase though, so he and I were often at odds. Neil is the brainiac of the family. He’s very soft-spoken and tends to keep to himself, but he’s incredibly protective of my youngest.”

He paused for a moment to take a long drink of his coffee. As the empty mug hit the table, Aerynica quickly grabbed the jug of coffee and refilled the cup. He nodded once in thanks and let out a long sigh. When he didn’t continue she arched her eyebrow and gave him a confused look.

“Well… what about your youngest? You didn’t tell me about her.”

He stared at her with a contemplative expression and drummed his finger on his cheek.

“I never told you my youngest was a girl.”

Aerynica knitted her brows and pursed her lips as she tried to think back on their conversation, she shook her head a few times to clear the sudden bout of confusion before staring back at Oliver.

“I… I… I know it wasn’t just a lucky guess. But… I don’t know how I know that.”

He gave her a stern look and spoke in a serious tone.

“Yes, you do.”

The sound of dishes crashing against the floor filled the air and a sudden hush filled the small diner. Aerynica moved to get up but almost leapt back in surprise as Oliver reached across the table and grabbed her arm.

“Stay. Please.”

She glanced from him back to the kitchen and then started to pull away.

“I… I can’t. I have to get back to work.”

He let out a long deep sigh and released his grasp on her arm. She gave him a confused glance before rising to her feet. She was about to say something to him when another large crash sounded from the kitchen. She took a single step towards the kitchen before letting out a short sigh and turning back to face Oliver. To her complete surprise, he was no longer sitting at the table. She looked around the diner for a moment and when she didn’t see him, she looked back at the table and saw a crisp $100 dollar bill. Given that his meal wasn’t even a tenth that much, she grabbed the money and started moving towards the exit in search of him. She stopped suddenly as she saw a list of names written on the back of the bill. All of the names of his children were written in a descending order, and her heart started pounding as she read them.

Kyle
Lisa
Aaron
Olivia
River
Neil
Aerynica

As she read her own name at the bottom of the list, Aerynica let out a sharp gasp of pain and collapsed to her knees. The banging and crashing noise sounded again and again, and she winced as she heard it drawing closer to her. She forced herself to her feet and despite her whole body trembling she slowly turned around to face whatever was coming her way. When she got a good look at the source of the noise, her brows shot nearly to her hairline and her mouth dropped open slightly in shock.

“No. It’s… It’s… you.”

Roseofblades

This story is still on hiatus for a few more weeks, but I had the best idea for a chapter so I figured I'd post it so you all can enjoy.