Family Values

Lubic felt his jaw drop. It has to be a coincidence! She can’t possibly be the same girl the witch was talking about!

"I’m sure this is quite a shock, meeting each other for the first time. Why don’t I leave you two for a moment?" Mary stood up. "I’ll go and get something to munch on."

"Okay," Lubic took a deep breath, "just what exactly is going on here?"

"I’m sorry," Elara whispered. "This is all so confusing! The whole world is so strange and terrifying! I didn’t realize I’d been gone for so long!"

"Easy there. It’s okay. Why don’t you tell me what you remember?"

"I remember the witch. Her face is burned into my memory. I can remember faces of people who are gone now. I remember my father visiting. And I can remember my grandmother." She looked up at him. "Where is my father?"

"Okay, first of all, who is your father?" Lubic asked, already sure he knew the answer.

"His name is Jared."

"I’m really sorry, Elara, but Jared is dead."

Tears started spilling from her green eyes. "I thought it was true! I hoped it wasn’t, but I knew, deep down, that it was."

"Is there anywhere else you can go to stay?" Lubic asked gently.

"All I remember is waking up with the clear command to ‘return to whatever family’ I have left. And this was where that led me." She peered up at him. "Everything is changed! The whole world is such a scary place now! This isn’t even my native language that I’m speaking. I don’t know what it is!"

"So how, exactly, do you know that I’m related to you?"

"Well, even if I didn’t just know that you’re my family, we have the same eyes. My father once told me that our family was gifted with eyes the colour of the sea. Only those related to us by blood, no matter how distant, will have eyes like ours. The colour comes from my grandmother."

"Wait a minute. You called me ‘uncle.’ Is that just a polite term for a relation?"

"In your case, no, it’s not."