Short Story: A Secret Revealed

Whenever Aldrias visits Raenelle before noon, he always expects one thing — no one will answer the door.

Knowing her tendency to oversleep, he always tries to schedule their plans later in the day when possible. Unfortunately, on certain occasions, he has no choice but to meet her early in the morning. Such as today.

At this point, he’s not really sure why he still arrives on time at her house, when he knows she won’t wake for another hour anyway. But he supposes it is a good habit to be punctual.

Except this time, someone answers.

And it’s not Raenelle.

Aldrias’ jaw nearly hits the floor when a man he’s never seen before pulls the door open.

Shirtless.

Aldrias realizes the impropriety of his reaction, but all he can manage to do is gawk.

He isn’t sure which part of this turn of events is the most surprising — the fact that Raenelle has a visitor who isn’t himself, or the fact that said visitor is lacking an important piece of clothing and is, a matter of fact, extremely attractive.

The stranger’s eyes light up in some manner of recognition when he sees Aldrias. “Oh, Aldrias. Raenelle mentioned you’d drop by today.”

Aldrias nods slowly. The man moves aside with a wave of his hand, inviting Aldrias inside. Still lost in the haze of his surprise and confusion, Aldrias mechanically makes his way to the couch and half collapses on it.

An awkward silence ensues. Aldrias finds that he suddenly has no idea what to do with his hands or feet. Fidgeting with discomfort, he hugs his bag closer to his chest — resulting in a sharp stab of pain as the pointy edge of a book buries itself in his stomach.

Aldrias has never been more thankful for his habit to bring along a few books to read wherever he goes. He reaches into his bag to fish a book out, and then he starts reading.

Or at least he tries to.

The mystery man has also decided to settle himself in the same room, having found a shirt and a book of his own, but have not yet bothered to explain his presence or who he is.

Aldrias buries his head between the pages of the book, while definitely not sneaking peeks at the unlikely company. The questions continue racing through his head. Who is this man? Why is he here? Why was he shirtless?

“Ahem.”

Aldrias nearly jumps out of his skin as the stranger clears his throat. “...Yes?”

The other man frowns just slightly as he shifts in his seat. “You’ve been staring at me this whole time.”

“Oh.” Aldrias’ face starts to burn with embarrassment. Was he that obvious? “I’m so sorry.”

“Well, you have something on your mind?”

“Um…” Aldrias tries to compose his thoughts, but somehow, it’s become rather hard with the man’s penetrating gaze on him. “Well…”

The man tilts his head, patiently waiting for Aldrias to speak.

“How… umm…. Why… ah… are you Raenelle’s boyfriend?”

The stranger’s face goes completely blank, and Aldrias wishes he could just sink into the couch and disappear. Of all the questions running through his head, why did that one have to be the one that decided to voice itself?

“...Boyfriend?” the man finally repeats.

Aldrias nods.

“Boyfriend?” He asks, almost as if he was hoping he had misheard.

Aldrias nods again.

“Boy-pfft!” This time, the man fails to stifle the fit of laughter that overtakes him as he tries to say the word a third time. Aldrias stares helplessly at the man clutching at his stomach, waiting to ask the next logical questions, which is, of course, what is so funny about that, and again, just who is he?

“What in the name of Zianna is this racket?” The man’s laughter is interrupted by the sound of a loud yawn and barely coherent grumbling from the hall. They both turn to see a still very sleepy Raenelle wandering into the room, scratching at the rat’s nest that her hair has become overnight.

“Sebastien, how many times have I —”

“Raenelle!” The stranger hisses, cutting her off. “I hadn’t told him yet!” Her lips part, no doubt with a retort ready on her tongue, but then her gaze lands on Aldrias and her mouth immediately shuts itself.

“Oh! Aldy, you’re here! Good morning.”

“Good morning…” Aldrias responds slowly, watching as Raenelle’s eyes dart between him and the man who is now revealed to be called Sebastien.

Sebastien? How odd. Now that he thinks about it, isn’t that the name of her cat familiar too? A cat he has not seen since he arrived.

Raenelle plops down on the couch next to Aldrias, shooting Sebastien a dirty look. “Really? I know we’ve talked about telling him, but I thought we agreed to ease him into it? How is this easing?”

Sebastien shrugs, unfazed by her exasperated tone. “He was knocking; I had to let him in since you weren’t going to. You know I’m tired of having to stay in my cat form and hold myself back from talking whenever he’s around, which is half the damn time apparently.”

Aldrias’ eyes widen. What did he just hear?

Raenelle gives Sebastien another look of annoyance. “What happened to your usual paranoia and over-caution?”

“It’s Aldrias. I trust him. Don’t you?”

“Well, obviously, but still.” Raenelle rolls her eyes, but she finally pauses her bickering with Sebastien and focuses on her friend, who has all but transformed into a statue in his shock at the conversation unfolding before him.

“Alright.” Scooting closer to Aldrias, Raenelle nudges him to grab his attention. Then she regards him with a serious look, all ounces of sarcasm and playfulness wiping off her face. “Listen, Aldrias. What I’m about to tell you needs to stay between us. It’s an important family secret that has been passed down for generations. You absolutely cannot let this slip or tell anyone else — not your friends, your family, the Authority, and especially, not my father.”

A derisive snort sounds from next to them. “Excuse me? Don’t you have your priorities a little mixed up here? How is the Authority not the most important ones who can’t know?”

“Oh, shut up, furball. I’m talking to Aldrias here.”

Aldrias watches the two bicker through the fog of his confusion. He has a feeling that this is an occurrence that he will soon witness on a daily basis, and what he’s about to hear will change how he views familiars, magic — and most of all, the fluffy cat companion of Raenelle’s that he’s always had a soft spot for — forever.

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The story is written by niku and edited by Nicole Wooden and me. It's set roughly less than a year after Raenelle graduated from the Academy and was assigned her job as a Reanimator — and the family familiar guardian, Sebastien. 

I hope you guys enjoyed the story! As always, thank you for the support, and take care! <3