January 4, 2004 – 15:00
Coralis got out of the taxi and looked at the house standing in front of her. Frank wanted to come, but he had an event to cover and couldn't find a replacement. Part of her didn't want to be there and wanted to call a taxi to go back home, but she knew she couldn't. It was time for her to meet Dawn, her dad's sister.
She took a deep breath and walked to the door, hoping it wouldn't get emotional, not like it did when she met with Dorothy for the first time. She rang the doorbell. No answer. She rang it again, thinking that if she had to ring it a third time, she would leave.
A few minutes later, a small woman opened the door. She looked like her, but shorter. Coralis wanted to remove her binds to see if it was true that her aunt lost all of her elemental powers, but decided against it, especially not in the open like that. She could only hope that she was walking into friendly territory, that she didn't have a foe waiting for her behind the door.
"I wish I could say I was happy to see you… I am happy… but I wish we'd have met under different circumstances," said Dawn.
"If you wanted to meet under better circumstances, you could have reached out to me before we got to that point, or after I destroyed Meozo for good."
Dawn's eyes widened and she looked frantically behind Coralis, making sure no one was listening, before letting her in.
"It was better if I stayed away. Dorothy was the only elemental who knew where to find me and I needed to keep it that way. As much as it pained me to know that you were alive when I couldn't watch you grow, that's the way it had to be."
"Why?" said Coralis, following her to her living room.
They both sat on the same couch.
"I knew you'd have all kind of people searching for you and Dorothy is the only elemental I trusted, despite her involvement in Donny's death. If more people knew where I was, I'd risk leading them to you. Especially after Dorothy told me what you became when she realized you were playing with the national flyball team… I couldn't get close, or more people would realize who you were. Whoever came up with the idea to have you known as Blue Thunder is brilliant."
Coralis couldn't argue with Dawn's reasoning. She tried to walk away from Frank for very similar reasons.
"Lord Meozo found me when I was at school. The elemental guardian that had been appointed to me didn't want more people to come after me, especially after I destroyed him. She suspected that my mother's family would seek me out. People came, anyway."
"Anita…" said Dawn, staring at nothing, her mind lost in memory lane. "If they haven't found you already, they probably are searching for you. Blue Thunder's pseudonym can only protect you so far and you're hunted now by just about everyone on this planet."
"I know for a fact that her mother is dead, and so are three brothers, but I don't know if she has more relatives I need to worry about."
"Oh my God! Were you the one to kill them?"
Dawn was playing with her hair. Coralis could tell that just like her, she didn't want this conversation. Neither wanted to meet, but Coralis knew it was overdue.
"Yes, but not all at the same time and I didn't kill all of them directly… it's a long story."
"Hmm… then you're a bigger threat than Dorothy had let on, but I think I can see why you rank so high on the global lists of witches to kill. You want coffee or something else to drink?"
"No thank you. It's like you said. They were searching for me. Better I take them out before they find me."
"Definitely. Anita had three brothers and a sister. Last I heard, both of her parents were still alive, so unless you're not telling me everything, her father and sister are probably still searching for you and probably know your real name. You can only hope that Lord Meozo never gave them your true birth name."
"They would already have summoned me if that was the case."
"They would have, yes. I don't think Anita spoke with her family before they died, so there is a chance they don't know your first name, but I wouldn't put it past them to comb through all Golmar and de Lima with a residing address in this country or the UK."
"I'm getting married in less than 3 months. I have been suggested to take my partner's surname after the wedding and I agreed to it, so they will soon have a dead trail on my name."
"Oh no no no. Dorothy mentioned that you were engaged, but for the love of our gods and goddesses, you should walk away from it all and go into hiding. How can you possibly think of bringing an innocent human into our family mess and endangering him?"
Coralis got upset. This woman clearly was disconnected from everything concerning their world, so she tried to not let the anger get to her and to stay calm.
"I know that you have lived among humans since I was born and the only thing you know about me, is the little Dorothy told you, otherwise you would have known that I'm in no position to hide. I tried to walk away from my human partner when things got heated. Gods from above know how I tried… see how well that worked out?" said Coralis, raising her hand to show the branding underneath her engagement ring.
Dawn got up and started pacing.
"You should have never accepted."
"You haven't seen that game, have you? Do you even watch flyball sometimes or did you cut every single tie you had with the elemental world? As if I could have said no with the stunt he pulled. He made his point very clear in the middle of our field, in front of an entire elemental crowd and honestly, I'm not regretting it. I love him, and it's also why I needed to meet with you."
Dawn stopped pacing and stood still. Her eyes were shut.
"From what I was told, your dad told mine that he can never mark his mate. Why?"