Misunderstandings
Author Note I know, but it was too cute to pass up writing.
Disclaimer I do not own the Black Jewels Trilogy.
Characters
Rei Daemon SaDiablo - Daemon and Jaenelle's son; 9 years old; Red Jeweled Warlord Prince.
Gaeriel Tersa SaDiablo - Daemon and Jaenelle's daughter; 9 years old; Sapphire Jeweled Queen/Healer.
Saetan Daemon SaDiablo - "Daemon"; Daemon and Jaenelle's son; 5 years old; Warlord Prince/Black Widow.
-
Gaeriel SaDiablo sighed dramatically and glared at her twin brother. He winced and handed the offending stuffed wolf back to his sister before grumbling.
"That's not Snuffie, Gaeriel! That's Smoke!" he complained. It wasn't his fault that his sister had lost her own stuffed wolf, but that one was his.
"Don't lie, Rei Daemon SaDiablo! It's not becoming of you." she sniffed, all high and mighty, nose in the air. Rei blinked.
"What's that mean?" the little Warlord Prince asked. He tilted his head to the side.
She sputtered. "It means... I mean, it's..." She growled. "That's beside the point, Rei!" She jammed the stuffed wolf under her arm and stormed off. Rei sighed again and wondered how he was going to get Smoke back.
Gaeriel stormed down the hall, but was quickly distracted by the overwhelming feeling of Jeweled strength entering the Hall. She furrowed her brow. She didn't feel when her Papa moved around the Hall. This strength was closer to her own Sapphire, though.
Two Green Jewels and a Sapphire, she decided after concentrating hard on the feelings overwhelming her. They didn't feel like her, so she guessed they were male.
The whole process took five minutes of Gaeriel's precious time, and the girl huffed before entering the room she and Rei shared. She'd left him behind in the playroom.
She sat Smoke down on the bed and sighed.
"I know you aren't Snuffie, but I need someone to talk to until I figure out what happened to him, alright Smoke?"
The stuffed wolf didn't answer, but Gaeriel nodded anyway.
"Alright. You wanna help me find Snuffie?" She didn't hesitate a moment before she grabbed Smoke in a tight hug and tucked him into her left arm.
As soon as she stepped into the hall, a warm and very familiar presence approached. Gaeriel turned around and beamed when she spotted her mother.
"Mama!" she yelled, throwing her arms around Jaenelle's neck. Jaenelle smiled fondly and lifted her daughter, now getting a little too big to lift. Though the girl aged like most of the other long-lived races, maturing slower than the short-lived races, she was still the size of a child of six or seven.
Gaeriel didn't look much like her mother, except in build. She had the black hair and gold eyes of the long-lived races, but her mother's grace and slender build even if she was too young to really show it yet. Rei, on the other hand, had more of the appearance of his mother. He was slenderly built as well, with lighter highlights to his black hair. His gold eyes, however, were like his father's.
The third child of Jaenelle and Daemon was his father's mirror, and aptly named for it. Saetan Daemon SaDiablo was five years old, but already showed signs of being his father in miniature.
"Mama, you look so pretty!" Gaeriel exclaimed, touching the Bernard original brooch that clasped the light wrap over Jaenelle's shoulders. Jaenelle smiled, hiding the expression that usually accompanied compliments when she dressed up. "Does that mean you and Papa are going to Armadah?"
Jaenelle shook her head.
"No, we're meeting with some very important people tonight, though, and I want you and your brothers to be on your best behavior. You can't interrupt us while they're here, alright Gaeri?"
The little girl nodded, her dark hair falling into her face.
"Your Aunt Surreal said she'd come up in a little bit and eat dinner with you three in the playroom."
"Yay! Auntie Surreal!" Gaeriel exclaimed, beaming. Aunt Surreal could always be conned into playing the rough games that some of the other adults wouldn't.
Jaenelle put Gaeriel back down and smiled.
"I'll sneak back up here later, but it won't be until after you three are asleep. Good night." Jaenelle kissed her daughter before moving into the playroom to check on little Daemon and Rei.
-
Gaeriel stuck out her tongue at Rei and fought the urge to scream at him. Again.
"You're so stupid, Rei!"
The argument? Rei had stolen back Smoke and hid him. Gaeriel, meanwhile, had found Snuffie. Rei thought that Gaeriel had Smoke again.
Their babysitter, an Opal Jeweled Prince named Shin who also happened to be a wolf himself, was curled up on her bed, trying to ignore the tussling of the cubs.
Gaeriel tugged on one side of Snuffie, Rei on the other. Tug. Tug. Tug. Rip!
Both twins landed hard on their rumps, but it was Gaeriel who started crying.
"Look what you did, Rei, you... you... you KILLED SNUFFIE!"
Rei sniffed twice. "You killed SMOKE!"
Gaeriel marched over to his "secret hiding place" and extracted Smoke, throwing it at him.
"I didn't take Smoke! You stupid brat, I didn't take Smoke and now-... you killed Snuffie." she started balling, holding the ripped pieces of her beloved stuffed wolf. Shin jumped down off the bed and tried to nuzzle her and make it better, but she ran off, clutching the remains of her stuffed animal.
Shin hesitated. She couldn't get into any trouble in the family wing, and she wouldn't go any further.
Are you alright, little Prince? Shin turned to Rei instead. Sniffing, Rei cuddled Smoke.
"I didn't mean to hurt Snuffie. I thought she had Smoke again. I really did." he muttered, face buried in the pelt of the stuffed wolf. Shin nuzzled him instead.
-
Gaeriel clutched her ripped stuffed wolf and ran. She originally planned to go to her father over this, as she did basically everything, but quickly remembered that she couldn't bug him or her mother tonight. They had guests. Straightening her play dress, Gaeriel tried to think of what to do.
Grandpa always listened to her! But Grandpa was at the Keep...
But she wore a Sapphire Jewel. It wouldn't take her very long to get to the Keep if she rode the Winds. She was pretty sure she could find the way.
She hesitated. She wasn't supposed to use her Jewels except for at lessons until she was older. Her Papa said so. Well, she couldn't bother him and she had to tell someone what Rei had done!
That decided, she dried her tears and slipped down the back stairs of the Hall. Once outside, she ran around the building to the landing web where she caught the Sapphire Wind and rode in the general direction of the Keep.
-
Daemon SaDiablo barely suppressed a sigh. They were getting very little accomplished at this "meeting". Nothing had been settled. Nothing at all.
He was tempted to excuse himself for a few minutes to run up and say good-night to his three children. He hadn't gotten a chance earlier, and it was bothering him.
Besides, he'd much rather spend time with them than these stupid ambassadors from Little Terreille.
But being Warlord Prince of Dhemlan came with responsibilities, this being one of them. Glancing at Jaenelle for a moment of moral support, he turned his attention back to what the men were saying.
A quick thought upstairs, though, that wouldn't take long. Just a quick glance to check on his kids...
Rei was upset, but that wasn't surprising. He and his sister were often at odds with each other. Little Daemon was sound asleep, and Gaeriel.
He furrowed his brow. He couldn't sense Gaeriel. He widened his search to include the entire Hall, but still found no trace of his little Healer/Queen. He started snarling before he'd comprehended that Gaeriel was gone.
Jaenelle sensed it, if none of the ambassadors did, as he rose to the killing edge. She raised a hand to silence the man who'd started to speak again and looked at Daemon.
What is it?
Gaeriel's gone.
He stood and muttered an icily polite comment to excuse himself. Jaenelle hurried after him, wincing when she felt ice on the doorhandle.
She'd already tried to find her daughter, obviously, for she didn't ask him what he meant. She did, however, do exactly the right thing.
"Help me, Prince. Leash it in so we can concentrate on finding her."
Daemon closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.
"I'm going to talk to Shin." he said shortly. Jaenelle nodded. Rei and little Daemon would be with Shin, and Daemon needed his children now. They, like nothing else, could help him step back.
Jaenelle turned around and fluffed her hair. She was going to have a word with the ambassadors. If this was more than her daughter running off, she'd shortly find out.
She was still Witch, and few could stand before her when she was enraged. And she was now.
-
Daemon stood in the bedroom door, trying to fight the cold that his rage would create. He didn't want to terrify his sons, but he needed the truth.
Shin.
Before the wolf could respond, Rei spotted him. The little boy's tear streaked face hurt Daemon and threatened to push him back to the killing edge, but he knew he couldn't.
"Papa, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, Papa!" Rei jumped up and threw himself into his father's arms, so sure that his papa would understand and forgive him. But for what?
"What's wrong, Rei? Where's Gaeriel?"
Rei clung. "We were fighting and I didn't mean to, but we ripped Snuffie apart and Gaeriel ran off and I'm sorry, Papa, I didn't mean to hurt her but I-"
"Prince, where's Gaeriel?" Rei stood stock-straight, and looked his father right in the eye.
"I don't know, Papa. She won't talk to me."
Gaeriel and Rei were so tightly bonded that even shields couldn't keep them from communicating. That was a theory that Daemon and Jaenelle had tested.
"You can't talk to her, or she won't talk to you?"
He needed to know the difference.
"She won't talk to me."
Daemon straightened and looked straight at Shin.
We'll talk later, Prince Shin. With that, Daemon left the bedroom and paused in the hallway. Where would Gaeriel run to?
Father!
Daemon? was the fast response. What's wrong?
Gaeriel's missing. Is she with you? Did she come to the Keep?
The response Daemon received was icy. No. She's not at the Keep.
Stay there in case she does come there. We'll find her.
Fly, Prince.
I plan to, High Lord.
Daemon ran, the raging storm building at the Black threatening to break the leash he had on his temper. He arrived at the front door where Jaenelle stood. It was Witch who looked at him.
"The ambassadors know nothing."
He nodded, knowing that she would have been the only one to get anything out of them had there been knowledge there. Daemon sent a thought out, but Gaeriel was one Sapphire among dozens in the general vicinity of the Hall. It would take more concentration than a passing glance to find a specific little Sapphire among many.
Jaenelle knew it, too. "I'll spin a web to find her. You head towards the Keep. That's probably where she went."
Daemon nodded and walked towards the front door. Jaenelle didn't hesitate and ran towards her workroom. Rage consumed her, but it was Daemon who needed to find her. He was ready to snap and only his little Queen could ease it now.
-
Gaeriel wasn't sure where she was, and that terrified her. It was dark and she was lost. Curling up next to a large oak tree, she shivered. She wasn't at the Keep, and she didn't recognize where she'd dropped from the Winds.
She could try to catch the Winds again from here, but she was tired. She was terrified, too.
Every noise sounded much louder than it should. She jumped when the wind rustled the branches of the tree she sat by.
She was crying and clinging to the useless remains of her stuffed wolf, wishing she'd never left the Hall.
-
Daemon rode the Gray Wind. Faster than Sapphire, so hopefully he could catch Gaeriel, but not so fast he would pass her up.
Gaeriel!
-
Gaeriel jumped when her father's voice filled her mind.
Papa! she screamed both aloud and on a wide Sapphire thread.
"I'm not your Papa, but will I do?"
She jumped and turned around. An Eyrian approached her, but she didn't recognize him as one of her Uncle's batmen. She did a quick check.
A Gray Jeweled Warlord. She shivered.
"Who are you?"
She managed a semblance of a physical shield, but it was useless anyway. He wore the darker Jewel.
Papa! Real terror filled her voice that time.
-
Daemon dropped to the Black Wind when he pinpointed Gaeriel's call.
Her second call drove him back to the killing edge. He dropped from the Winds at the point he'd sensed her and saw he was a split second too late. Gaeriel was on the ground, and appeared unconscious. The Eyrian bastard who'd touched his daughter looked pleased.
Well good. If he liked hurting children, this would be fun.
A Black shield snapped up around Gaeriel, and the Warlord hesitated before turning and truly seeing Daemon for the first time. The facade of indifference fell onto Daemon's face, but the air became so cold that even Gaeriel shivered unconsciously.
It was a quick kill, but hard enough that he paid for touching his daughter. Quick enough that Daemon saw to Gaeriel within moments.
She was just unconscious, but her breathing was steady. He scooped her up, and the two pieces of Snuffie, and caught the Black Wind. He could shield he well enough to get her home.
-
Gaeriel's eyes drifted open slowly. She blinked once, twice, and then three times before she really dared to hope that she was really back in her bed at SaDiablo Hall.
"Papa?" she called. A gentle hand brushed the hair away from her neck and she turned over to find her father sitting on the edge of her bed. He smiled fondly down at her and she sat up, fast. A little dizzy, she threw her arms around him and held on tight. He returned the gesture without hesitation.
"Papa, I'm so sorry! I didn't want to interrupt you and Mama, but I wanted to tell someone that Rei had hurt Snuffie. I didn't think I'd get lost on my way to the Keep, Papa, and-" she started crying and buried her face in his chest. He pulled his little Queen onto his lap and rocked her gently.
A few moments later, the door opened slowly and two figures entered. Jaenelle sat on the other side of Gaeriel's bed and Rei stood hesitantly a few steps away, holding two stuffed wolves.
"Gaeri, I'm sorry we hurt Snuffie. Here!"
Gaeriel turned to face her brother just as both stuffed wolves were thrust at her. Snuffie, newly stitched up with inexpert stitches and Smoke both sat next to her. She picked them both up.
"You fixed Snuffie! But why are you giving me Smoke, Rei?" she asked.
He sniffed. "Cause you got hurt after I hurt Snuffie, and I'm sorry, Gaeri."
She leaned over and hugged her twin. "It's ok, Rei. You keep Smoke."
She pushed the stuffed wolf back into her brother's hands and smiled. Daemon petted his daughter's hair and exchanged an amused look with his wife.
Gaeriel, for all her fire and temper, would make a good Queen.