Private Tales A World Worth Dreaming In

[Bannon Quinnick]

Bastard, thought Bannon as he donned a smile and moved across the pub to seat himself in the only available chair, across from his little sister Livia. She had grown considerably in the time she went to train with the Dreadlord Academy, which he had seen at the family dinner not too long ago, but seeing her again in the uniform she was required to wear now? He was not sure if he was proud or concerned.

"You look surprised." Livia's eyes twinkled with glee at the thought of tricking her brother, but she moved to pour the tea she had ordered. Black, botanical. His preferred tea, which he knew his sister was not one for the bitterness this particular brew brought on the tongue.

"Well, you certainly do not look like Okko, whom I assumed was the Quinnick I was to meet. You know, I would have still come if you had signed your full name." If the Quinnick children had not learned how to sign their name in a similar fashion that one summer.... "Thanks," he said as he accepted his cup of tea. "Just as I should not be surprised only you could order tea in an establishment like this? What? They do not have rose or lemon tea?" He chuckled.

He watched his sister add a little honey and milk to her tea, shrugging at him. "No, and I was not in the mood to ask them to find any." Her smile did not reach her eyes, and that instinctively had him leaning forward.

"Livi..." He said softly, keeping his hands around his steaming cup. She no longer liked having her brother's reach out for her, a softness he knew that was trained out of her at that Academy. "Why did you want to meet?"

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Liv brought her gaze up to meet the similar hues of her brother. It was so wonderful to see them again, to feel part of the family once more.

"Something about that dinner... you said something that I cannot help but think of ever since..."

Bannon's face betrayed him. He was never good at the lessons of composure their mother tried to teach the boys, but Livia was just as impassive as Idella Quinnick.

"There. You did it again. Guilt." Livia smiled as Bannon sighed heavily and drank from his tea to avoid speaking. "Not going to comment on my headscarf? I got it during a mission in Tell Arran."

"I thought your head might be cold."

Livia pulled at the emerald coloured silk, patterns subtly embroidered in gold and ebony. Her braid had poked out at her shoulder, the usual silver, but without the scarf now, she revealed the full head of silver.

Bannon froze.

 

[Bannon Quinnick]

"Forget what I said, Liv."

Fuck. He wished Ko was not right about it, but their father's journals were proving to be right.

"I want to see the other journals you and Okko are keeping from me."

"Livia, that is no---"

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Annoyance flashed on her face.

"Oh, do not deny it, Ban. Not only can I see it all over your face, I can sense it with my magic. Remember, I always know when you and Ko lie to me." And there were times she let it slip by, appreciating her brothers will to protect her where they could, but she was older now. Wiser, even.

"The journals you both gave me that night... there is so much missing from it. I remember our father to be meticulous, to keep every detail in the books concerning the trading and business. So why would he not have every detail written on the experiment he did on me? That he already tried something similar on another child?" Livia pierced him with a look that could rival that of their mother's.

"And you think this child is me?" Bannon murmured through gritted teeth, speaking lowly and meeting her gaze with his own steel.

"Cannot be Okko. He was not the strongest in our game of Possession." A game between siblings and sometimes their father, stealing the treasure from each Quinnick that had the compass magic. Livia always won her treasure back quicker than her brother's, but Bannon on the occasion made intuitive plays to get his returned. "I know when you lie to me." She reminded him.

 

[Bannon Quinnick]

He suddenly knew why she had asked of him to meet her.

They had realised too late that Livia was now in possession of a journal that they should not have let go. It as this piece of information that Bannon thought Livia had not registered, had not fixated upon. With what he had said that night, of course it struck her curious.

Father liked to go on his business trips. He also liked to sample the women, but you would not have known how mother felt with her steel heart being stronger than his will.

"It is not me." He escaped anymore comment by drinking his tea. It was not a lie.

Livia frowned, but Bannon knew not to relax so soon. She was like a bloodhound, a term she hated growing up, but as Bannon heard in the past, it had served her well at the Academy.

He looked to her hair once more, holding his breath as he debated what to tell her to ease her interrogations. Releasing in a heavy exhale through his nose, Bannon reached a hand across the table towards her.

She looked at it, as if the memories were something she was cautious of... but her hand went to warm his. Bannon let his magic pulse, nudging that of his sister's. It's presence was nowhere as strong as her own, but it was more than he had shown her in the past.

"Okko is going to kill me for telling you... so please, use your Initiate training to keep me alive, yeah?" He smiled weakly.

 

[Livia Quinnick]

His humour did not break her steady gaze, pinning Bannon to his seat and he raised his arms and shrugged.

"Is it really that awful?" She asked, just about ready to take her hand back from his, but her brother held it firmly.

"Our father... mixed in with magic that we have learned is stealing power." He began, giving her time to react. When only her face twisted with unease, he continued on. "He tried to take power from some dying orphan, but that never manifested or strengthened Okko. He stole power from one of the stable boys, who had the power to manipulate metals... but that never did much for either of us. I guess... he was really sick, Livs. You read some of his journals... what he wrote."

Livia now took her hand back and let it sit in her lap, her eyes falling to her forgotten tea before her. "I did."