“Hey Nema, how was your day?”
SLAM!
“Sapphire, how about yours?”
SLAM!
Serrenia shook her head and set down the cake mix she had been making on the kitchen counter. It wasn’t the first time she had had this problem. As if ruling a world wasn’t enough, she had to come home and have the two children she was supposed to be raising ignore her as well. Pushing the fragments of the new treaty with Queen Rhana of the world Genabhii aside from her mind, she wiped off her hands and slowly made her way up the stairs to their rooms.
She knocked on Nema’s door and then Sapphire’s and waited. Nothing. Not even the faintest stirring could be heard coming from either room. She knocked again, and still she did not hear anything. Try as she might, she could not keep her patience. It was the same way every time she tried to help. It had been this way since they had been entrusted to her care.
“SAPPHIRE MAY! NEMA MARIE! GET OUT HERE THIS VERY INSTANT!”
She smiled in a satisfied way as she heard the quick scuffling of bare feet against the wooden floors. At almost the same time, their doors opened and dispersed the two young children. Even though she’d grown used to them, it was still a bit of a shock to see them. Both children looked so much like their own parents. Nema had her mother’s light brown hair and small nimble fingers, as well as her father’s deep, dark blue eyes, not to mention his ears and feet. Sapphire, on the other hand, had her mother’s dark blackish hair, light skin, and eyes, not to mention her father’s ears and feet. It was if the four of them were present in their own children.
She glanced from one to the other, trying to pick up what was wrong from their aura. Sapphire she could normally easily read, but Nema took some concentration and effort. Discovering Sapphire’s reasons for moping, she turned to Nema’s aura, only to find that it was securely blocked off from her. Frowning, she mentally searched for a flaw and after a few moments of intense searching, discovered a weak point and managed to worm her way in. Learning that which she had wondered about, she retreated to the safety of her own mind.
“Does anyone want to tell me what’s wrong?” Serrenia asked gently, hoping that one of them might let her in willingly.
“I hate school, and I never want to go back again.” Sapphire said sulkily. “Everyone calls me names and talks about me behind my back. I’m almost seven now…”
“Nema?” Serrenia asked her, but the now eight-year-old remained silent and would not talk to her.
“…And I thought that maybe people would have changed from last year and the year before that, but they haven’t. They still hate me.” Sapphire rambled on. She paused for a second in thought. “Why do they hate Nema and me so much Serrenia?” She asked, finally posing a question that had been on her mind for a while. “Is it because we’re different?”
“They hate us because of our parents.” Shocked, Serrenia and Sapphire both turned towards Nema. Her head was down, looking at her feet, but her hands were clenched in fists at her sides.
“They hate me because of my parents, they hate you because of yours.”
“Nema! Who in all of AP told you that? That’s not true, and you know it!” Serrenia said, scolding her for believing that her parents were the reasons for all this trouble they were having. “What would your parents think, they’d never have believed such a thing!”
“I wouldn’t know! I don’t remember them and they’re both dead!” Nema yelled, lifting her head up to face Serrenia. Her lower lip trembled and she tried to fight off the desire to cry, but it was too strong. Bursting into tears, she side-checked her door, pushing it open and, skirting around it, slammed it in Serrenia’s face.
Sapphire glanced up at Serrenia, a worried look on her pale face. Watching her reactions, she had grown to know what her caretaker had thought and believed. She now had a face that spoke of a strange mix between sadness, disappointment, worry, and for some odd reason, pity. Not only that, but a longing to tell her something. Shaking her head, Serrenia quickly threw away the notion, and stared at the door with a deep, blank stare.
‘Does Serrenia know something that she’s keeping from Nema? Could it have been something about her parents? Does she know anything about mine?’ Sapphire wondered to herself. Catching her thoughts, Serrenia turned and looked at the young girl before her. Had she really been that careless and had let on that she knew more than she had told them? She’d thought that she’d been more cautious than that. Perhaps that might have been what was annoying Nema.
“Sapphire, would you do me a favor and go watch dinner for me? Oh, and I need you to stir the batter for the cake for me. You can lick the spoon after you’re done.”
“Yea! I love licking the spoon!” She said, already bouncing to the top of the stairs. Serrenia watched as the now happy child thundered down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Turning once more towards her bedroom door, she knocked once more.
“Can I come in Nema?”
Receiving a muffled, “Yeah, whatever,” from within, she opened the door and then shut it quietly behind her. Nema’s room screamed of blue, her favorite color. She had blue paint on her walls and ceiling, a blue rug near her bed, a blue bed, blue pillows, and painted blue furniture, not to mention so was the door connecting Nema’s and Sapphire’s bedrooms. Even her clothes were mostly different shades of blue. Her and Sapphire had an obsession with the color, and she wondered if there was some sort of explanation for it. But no matter how hard she researched their minds, she could not discover any reason for it.
Nema was on her bed, lying on her back and staring aimlessly into the space above her head. Sitting down on the edge of it, Serrenia waited for her to say something, but she did not speak. She’d started to drift back into her own thoughts when suddenly Nema spoke.
“What were they like, my parents?” she asked softly, still staring into space. Serrenia turned and looked at her, and seeing the silent tears flowing from her eyes, she began to talk.
“Well, for one thing, they loved each other very much, and they loved you and-”
“No, I mean what did they look like, what did they act like. Do I look like them?”
“Yes, you look like them in many ways. They share many likes and dislikes with you. Although you do not, I am glad to say, have the obsession with things that are pink like your mother did. Your father used to hate that color with a passion, yet he never loved your mother less when she wore it, and she did so a lot.” Serrenia smiled, recalling the day that she had first met her, recalling how her hair had been spray-dyed a pinkish color.
“Was my mommy pretty?” Nema asked in a hushed voice. She had sat up to face her and was resting her head on her knees, curled up in a small ball.
“Yes, she was very pretty. She never truly believed it herself, but I think deep down inside she knew it.” There was an awkward silence that lingered between them. Thinking that perhaps Nema was finished talking, Serrenia started to get up when she finally said,
“Did my mommy love to sing?”
Surprised at this, Serrenia frowned. Not once could she recall ever mentioning to her that her mother had adored singing. Perhaps she had a memory of her singing to her, but that was impossible. Unless she had erred with the memory potion, she should have no memories of her mother and father until she was sixteen, almost seven years from now. But she doubted that she’d done so, for Sapphire showed no signs of her memory returning.
“…Yes, she was always singing something. Why do you ask?”
“No reason. I was just curious,” she replied casually.
She sighed, lying back down on her back, staring off into space above her once more.
“Oh… Well, dinner will be ready soon. Why don’t you change your clothes and come down in about 15 minutes, ok?”
“Alright,” she answered, still acting as if she was in her own world somewhere far away.
Still frowning, Serrenia tried to figure out something from her aura, but she found that it was completely blocked off, near impossible to find a way in without spending a good deal of time and concentration. Puzzled and slightly perplexed, she stood up and walked over to the door. She opened it and closed it softly behind her. Nema listened to Serrenia’s footsteps head down the stairs and into the kitchen. Sighing once more, Nema pondered the events of the day. School had not changed; the kids’ feelings towards her and Sapphire had not changed. She had not really expected things to be different, but was it so wrong to hope for a change?
An eager, yet soft knock came from the door connecting her room and Sapphire’s, interrupting her thoughts.
“Yeah, you can come in,” Nema called not at all surprised that it had come. Sapphire gently opened the door and shut it behind her, letting only the quietest ‘click’ be heard. She made her way over to Nema’s bed and sat down on the edge.
“Did you find out anything?” she questioned, lying down next to her as she waited for a response.
“Nothing. Except that I think Serrenia is beginning to realize that I’m an aura reader. I think I might have been putting up too strong of a block, making things look suspicious.”
“So why don’t you just lower it a bit?” she asked,
“That would be even more suspicious. Besides, she’d flip if she knew what we’ve been up to lately.”
“Tell me about it. She’d practically kill you if she found out that you’d copied that potion recipe out of one of her books.”
“I know, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I know that something is blocking my memories of my parents. And I’m determined to do anything it takes to get them back. Are you with me?” she asked suddenly, turning to face her best friend. She hoped that she wouldn’t be in this alone. First of all, she was terrible at potions. Sapphire’s strong potion-making skills would be a vital role to her plan. Also, the very fact of not having her by her side was kind of frightening in a sense.
“Of course I am. Don’t even tell me that you didn’t doubt that I might have said no, I could read your expression on your face,” Sapphire accused her friend, knowing her facial expressions as well.
Nema started to protest and then cut her objection short. If she did she’d not only be lying to herself, but her best friend as well. She’d vowed long ago not to hurt her in any way, and she planned on keeping to that promise as best as she could.
“I’m sorry,’ she apologized, ashamed that she’d ever doubted her loyalty to her.
“Nema! Sapphire! Dinnertime!” Serrenia called from the bottom of the stairs.
“We’ll finish talking later,’ Nema promised Sapphire as she got up and started heading to the door. “Tell her I’ll be right there. I need to change my clothes.”
“Ok,” Sapphire agreed. “And don’t worry about that whole thing, you were forgiven even before you asked for it.” Nema smiled her first smile of the day, knowing that she’d always be happy when Sapphire was around. She always knew how to cheer her up, even when she was in her darkest moods. Returning the smile, Sapphire left the room, shutting the door behind her, giving her some privacy to change.
‘Perhaps today wasn’t all that bad after all,’ Nema thought to herself.

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