As they ate their delicious meal with the ocean breeze caressing their faces they chatted carelessly. After the second course had been served a doorman appeared timidly. He bowed to Sir Nicolas graciously.
"Sorry to interrupt," the doorman apologized.
"It's quite alright. What is the problem?" Nicolas asked.
"You've visitors?" he replied bowing again.
"Who are they?" Nicolas inquired curiously.
"The…Decarté family…I think they said their name was," the doorman replied.
Emerald gasped as rose to her feet quickly almost knocking her plate from the table. "My family!" she exclaimed.
Madam Victoria's face lit, "Oh how splendid!"
Emerald could not contain herself any longer. She knew it was impolite but she rushed away from the table to greet her family. She burst into the foyer where her family waited anxiously. They looked very intimidated from the enormous and fancy foyer. Emerald raced across to them and slammed into her mother. Her mother hugged her back forcefully, tears streaming down her face. Her father and her younger brother joined in on the hug. They were all crying by the time they disentangled.
"My baby. Oh Emerald, we've missed you so much," Crea told her, affectionately stroking Emerald's hair.
"I've missed you too," Emerald told her, wiping away the tears freely streaming down her face.
Emerald noticed a person hovering near the door. It was Kavik. She excused herself momentarily to go speak with him.
"Kavik, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this," she told him. "I wish you would join us for dinner."
"I figured you were still angry with me," Kavik replied.
"Nonsense!" Emerald exclaimed. "Now come have dinner or I'll have to force you."
Kavik laughed, a wicked gleam in his blue eyes. "I'd like to see you try."
Emerald laughed and grabbed his arm. "I have my ways," she told him as she led him towards her family. They proceeded to the patio where the Ginghams and Derek waited.
She introduced her parents and Kavik to Victoria and Nicolas Gingham and Derek. She hoped there would be enough food for all of them. She needn't have worried though. Country bred people naturally eat less and there was more than enough food to begin with since Victoria had planned an overly exuberant feast.
Emerald talked endlessly about her new life and her friends and school. She conveniently left out the parts of her becoming a slave and the encounter with Master Ciaot however. She would wait until her and her family were alone until mentioning such personal subjects. Naturally her parents begged her to return home but luckily Emerald was spared the obligation to answer. Victoria jumped in at that point to save her.
"I'd rather hoped you all would stay here for a while. After all you don't want to take Emerald away from her school, do you?" she asked pleasantly.
Kavik who had been eating in silence until now looked up and added, "Sria School is one of the best schools in the country."
"That's nice, Kavik," Emerald's mother snapped. "I'll make the decisions concerning my daughter."
"Mother, I believe I should decide my own future," Emerald snapped angrily.
"Don't speak to you mother that way," her father chided out of habit.
"I didn't mean any disrespect but it is my life," Emerald replied.
"Can I go to school?" Kal piped in hopefully.
"Absolutely not," Crea snapped. "We can't afford Emerald going there let alone you too. You heard Kavik, it is one of the best schools in the country!"
"I've been paying for Emerald's tuition and I'd be more than happy to pay for Kal's too," Victoria said softly.
"I didn't ask for your charity," Crea replied angrily.
"Please. We have no children of our own to dote upon. We've grown rather fond of Emerald. We have more money than we know what to do with. Please take this as a sign of friendship, not charity," Victoria said.
"And another thing! Why didn't you send Emerald home immediately?" Crea demanded.
"We wanted to educate her and make sure she was safe," Nicolas informed her.
"You had no right to do that! She isn't your daughter and you should've sent her home right away. Do you know how worried we've been?" Crea exclaimed.
"Crea! Really, why do you need to bring that up? It is in the past now. Are you so proud that you will deny our children an education?" Lasan objected.
Crea's face turned a bright red from a mixture of embracement and anger. An awkward silence befell the table. They all ate silently for a few minutes, Derek and Kavik feeling extremely out of place. Finally Nicolas spoke.
"We were hoping that you all could stay here. We have three extra guest bedrooms you could sleep in," Nicolas suggested.
Crea, still fuming, glared at Lasan who shrugged. "I suppose we could stay here for a little," she relented.
"Yay! I get to go to school then?" Kal asked happily.
Crea and Lasan nodded in unison. Emerald beamed and thanked her parents. After the disagreements were put aside, dinner progressed satisfactorily. Afterward they went inside and a servant lit a fire in the fireplace. Then they sat around it talking. Derek excused himself, saying he had to get home. Nicolas had one of his coach drivers escort him home. Her foster and birth parents discussed Sria School. Emerald and Kavik soon became bored.
"Kavik, why don't you step outside with me?" she asked softly.
Kavik nodded and followed her outside. Outside, they watched the ocean waves roll lazily in as the sun drifted towards the horizon. They both leaned on the railing of the deck that attached to the patio.
"How did you find out that I am a thief?" Kavik asked finally.
"Derek said he had heard of you," she told him.
Kavik hung his head sadly. "I'm sorry. I cannot help my background."
"Nor can I."
Kavik was startled by her response. "Why don't we go down to the beach?" he suggested.
"I'll get sand in my shoes," Emerald protested.
"I know that it'd be un-ladylike, but just take them off," Kavik said matter-of-factly.
Emerald shrugged and took of her delicate shoes the Ginghams had bought her. Then she took off her stockings as well and folded them neatly beside her shoes. Kavik took his worn leather sandals off too and laid them near hers. They walked own the beach watching the sunset over the ocean. Emerald feeling the cold, damp sand under her bare feet and smelling the salty water. The breeze whipped around them and her silk dress fluttered in the wind. Suddenly the harmless breeze that had been gaily tossing her hair around turned violent. A raging wind began to spin around them picking up the sand as it went. Emerald raised her arms up and the wind picked up more speed and soon they where in the middle of a cyclone of sand. The wind became so fierce that it lifted their feet off the ground.
"Emerald! What are you doing?" Kavik yelled in fright.
She suddenly realized what was happening and gasped. Her concentration shattered and the wind dies abruptly. The sand hovered in the air for a split second then fell harmlessly to the ground. Emerald and Kavik dropped back down to the ground easily, having only been a few feet off it. Emerald moaned and her knees collapsed. Kavik caught her before she fell. Emerald gladly nestled closer to him. He helped her sit down and sat next to her. His arm remained around her protectively. Emerald leaned closer to his warm body, resting her head on his sturdy shoulder. She suddenly realized that she had never flinched from his touch or pushed him away. Somehow his touch seemed…different.
"I do have magic," she marveled to herself.
"Wind magic if not more," he informed her, amazed.
They sat there in the sand watching the sun disappear beneath the horizon in a burst of pink, red, orange and purple. Emerald mused to herself. She had been told she possessed magic but had not actually believed it up until now.
"We should get back," Kavik said starting to rise.
Emerald nodded and Kavik helped her to her feet. Then they turned to head back. Instead of the house they faced a sheer, rocky cliff looming up over them.
"Where are we?" Emerald asked, scared.
"I don't know, we only walked down to the water," Kavik replied.
"I didn't think there was a cliff near the Ginghams," Emerald said.
"Emerald, do you think maybe the sandstorm did something. Like…what's the word…translocated us or something," Kavik suggested.
"I-I don't know," Emerald admitted, getting very scared.
"Well it's starting to get dark, we'd better find shelter. There is no way we could find our way back at night, wherever we are. We'd probably just end up getting more lost," Kavik advised.
"My parents will be worried though," she protested.
"It's alright, you're safe with me," he assured her, tightening his arm around her. Emerald shivered from the brisk night air and huddled closer to Kavik.
They walked along the cold beach searching desperately for some sort of shelter. The dark clouds rolling in did not look promising. Finally when the sky had almost gone completely black and the little light they had was fading fast they found something. There was a small crevice in the cliff. They managed to squeeze inside having to duck their heads considerably. Inside the crevice opened up into a cave. They still had to duck their heads but it was big enough.
"Stay here," Kavik ordered. "I'm going to gather fuel for a fire."
He hurried away and Emerald sat, curled up against the cold, uncaring rock walls of the cave. She could barely see the opening it was so dark. Water dripped from somewhere further in the cave. She shivered and hugged her knees tightly. It seemed an eternity passed until Kavik returned but in reality he had only been gone barely half an hour. He laid down some dried kelp and a few pieces of driftwood. He searched his pockets for some flint and steel and lit a fire. The dried kelp burned easily. Emerald sighed with relief seeing the light of the fire.
"I have to go collect more fuel to keep it going. Keep feeding it kelp and a few twigs," Kavik told her then her hurried back outside.
By the time Kavik returned with more driftwood and kelp the fire had grown considerably. Emerald had tended it carefully and unceasingly.
"Good," Kavik told her. Then he sat down near her and added a few pieces of driftwood. The rest he piled near the wall of the cave.
"Do you want me to add all this kelp?" Emerald asked.
"No. We can use it to sleep on," Kavik told her.
Emerald nodded and Kavik sat back down next to her. He hesitantly wrapped his arm around her. Emerald snuggled closer to him. They sat in front of the fire for an hour, just soaking in its light and warmth.
"We'd better set up our beds a little ways from the fire. We don't want it to catch on fire," Kavik said, rising. He moaned and stretched, it wasn't exactly comfortable to sit on the rock ground. "We'll be a bit cold but it's better than catching on fire."
Emerald nodded and fixed some of the kelp into a make shift bed near Kavik's. Then they curled up on their seaweed beds, attempting to go got sleep. They were more than 'a bit cold' however. The brisk air killed the heat from their small fire quickly. Emerald was too cold to even try to go to sleep. Her silk dress wasn't much of a help either. This is stupid, she thought to herself, gathering up the courage to move closer to Kavik. As if reading her mind, Kavik had moved and slipped in beside her. His strong arms encircled her in warmth and she gratefully nestled against him. She fell asleep almost instantly with Kavik's arms around her. Kavik did not fall asleep as quickly. He still marveled at the sudden affection between them. A small part of his mind told him she was just cold and that he was taking advantage of her, he pushed it away though. He didn't want her to freeze to death and he certainly didn't want to either. After all she was very pretty. He watched Emerald sleep, stroking her silky hair. Then he lightly kissed her cheek and fell asleep.
They woke suddenly early the next morning to the sound of their names being called. They scrambled up, Kavik bumping his head on the rock ceiling. Emerald rushed towards the crevice opening and squeezed out of it. She saw Derek walking along the beach calling their names.
"Derek!" she called happily.
He turned suddenly, nearly losing his footing. "Emerald!" he yelled excitedly. He practically sprinted over and pulled her into a tight hug. Kavik appeared as Derek kissed her thoroughly. Kavik rubbed his head and looked away, embarrassed. Derek separated from Emerald and noticed Kavik.
"Kavik!" he exclaimed, gruffly patting him on the arm. He used a little too much force in the 'pat' and nearly made Kavik loose his balance. Kavik shot a glare at him but Derek wasn't looking. He grumbled silently to himself and put a hand on Emerald shoulder. He could barely hide his satisfied smile when Derek's face angered seeing his hand. Derek had to restrain himself from tackling Kavik, he knew that he would lose in a fair fight; Kavik was an experienced fighter. So he just shot a warning glance at Kavik as if he was going to challenge him. Kavik smirked and kept his hand on Emerald's shoulder.
"The Ginghams and your parents are extremely worried about you Emerald," Derek told her. "You could have at least told them where you were going."
"We don't even know where we are," Kavik snapped.
"I lost control of my magic, Derek," Emerald explained.
"M-magic?" Derek repeated in disbelief.
I told you I have magic," Emerald said impatiently.
"I know but you've never actually used it."
"Where exactly are we?" Kavik asked.
"Five miles from the Galindale border! I've been walking all night. Sir Nicolas came to my house wondering if I'd seen you after I left," Derek explained. "So I agreed to help them search. I was just turning back when you called my name."
Kavik whistled, impressed by the extent of her magic.
It took them several hours to arrive back at the Ginghams. Her parents were extremely worried. Victoria and Nicolas hadn't returned yet from searching. Her mother was pacing the room anxiously when they walked in. As soon as Crea saw her she pulled Emerald into a tight hug. Emerald could barely breathe.
"Where have you been?!" Crea demanded.
"I'm sorry Mama. I lost control of my magic," Emerald explained tiredly.
"Magic!" Crea repeated hysterically.
"Yes. But can I tell you about it later? I'm exhausted," Emerald asked hopefully.
"Absolutely not! I want to know why my daughter was out all night with a man! And now you think you have magic?" Crea said hysterically, her voice raising several octaves.
Kavik blushed and excused himself to go retire to the guestroom the Ginghams had set aside for him.
Emerald blushed too. My mother can be such a pain, she thought to herself. Emerald reluctantly launched into the story of her kidnapping, becoming a slave and ending up with the Ginghams. After being hugged by her parents again she proceeded to how Master Ciaot had visited their school and told her that she had magic and was distantly related to the old royalty.
"Royalty?" Crea asked, her voice sympathetic after hearing Emerald's horrific story. "My dear, I think you took a knock on the head."
"Mama! It happened. Even ask Mistress Thor-Rosette. Master Ciaot is even coming back to tech me!"
"You are talking nonsense," Crea insisted.
"I am not! Why can't you just believe me?" Emerald protested.
"Why don't you go rest and if this silliness of being royal and having magic is still in your head then we will talk about it," her father said firmly.
Emerald sighed and did as she was told. She happily settled in her bed letting her comfy blackest surround her. She fell asleep instantly.