The Stormyweather family – A Fratres story

The Stormyweathers

01Lillywhite Stormyweather just celebrated her birthday.  She put the babies in their cribs some hours ago and the older children just went to bed.  Lillywhite stood on the balcony and enjoyed the fresh evening air. She had the most beautiful view of the town from this balcony, and she was just enjoying it and soaking it all in.

She turned around, and watched the fire spitting pipes of the Smelters Crag on her left. She wondered why it still hurt after so many years.

02Her memories went back to the past. In her younger years she had been a pretty woman. She was engaged to Cinderly Bernewell, the nicer half of the Bernewell twins. In those days he was the most desirable young man in town.

03They could have been very happy if he wouldn’t have been obsessed with finding ‘something’ buried deep in the Smelters Crag. He was convinced that he would conquer that Crag.

Lillywhite smiled bitterly…; he hadn’t even been sure of what he was looking for! He promised to come back very soon, surely before their wedding day.  Cinderly went on his big adventure to never return again.

04Lillywhite had been very sad and thought she would never love again. But some years later a new lover came her way.

05Marinus (Merlin Shoredish’s uncle) was a fisherman and she panicked when he spoke about ‘water that could put out the fire’.

06The old obsession of all the people in Fratres came up again. Each family on Fratres was represented by the element they were born with, and most just refused to hang out with people from other elements. That’s the way it was… always had been…  All wanted the same… All wanted to reestablish harmony here on Fratres. They all pretended that only… and only their own element was the most important one.

07It was as if the Smelters Crag called out to the men of Fratres and come look for something specific in its bowels.
So once more she lost a fiancé to the Smelters Crag. As a matter of fact, they hadn’t been declared dead officially, they just had entered the Crag and never came out again. She decided to stay on her own, stay single and live a secluded life.

08But as it so happened, she ran into Woolf Woodcock, a young boy who had lost his parents. Nobody knew how, and she felt so sorry for him. He was pleased when Lillywhite invited him to live in her big house…. Now she had someone to live for and to take care of. Shortly after the boy’s birthday, Lillywhite  found a little crying girl, Arabella Clover, standing near the entrance of Moresheth Luminus, the Earth tomb.

09

The Police gave Lillywhite permission to take care of the girl until her parents would show up, but… they never did. As these children’s parents weren’t officially declared as deceased, she was not allowed to legally adopt them and could only be their tutor.

10They really started to feel like a family. It gave purpose to Lillywhite’s life and so it was, after some time, that she adopted two babies. Willoughby Furniss and Guinevere Sprodelwasser, children from different families and different elements.

11Lillywhite being the Air element herself, wanted to show the world that the different elements can live together ,and perhaps, just maybe… unifying the elements they would be able to restore the lost harmony. Could the children she took in bring her idealistic education to a good end? It was still an open question. She really hoped so, but lately she had seen the looks of understanding between Woolf and Arabella when they were close to the Transferium.

12Until when could she forbid them to go in there? She didn’t know Woolf was ‘investigating’ on his own already on he could contribute to restore the former glory. Woolf wasn’t really sure, but he thought that perhaps the Lighthouse had much to do with it. Why wasn’t it lit? Could he do something about it?

13He pressed his lips together and his jaws hardened. He was almost sure that each tomb would hold an element that would be needed. Needed for what? He didn’t know yet, but all seemed to be linked together, like a big master plan… He surely wasn’t going to tell Lillywhite, but he was planning his own strategies … He wouldn’t stay a teenager forever!

However… he was clever enough to understand he couldn’t do it all by himself… What… if friends from different elements would help him…? A revolutionary idea came to his mind but he wasn’t quite sure how to get his ducks in a row…

Maybe you can help him out?

***

If you are interested in this world with the tombs to explore, follow the next link to the Fratres World. You can download it for free at:

SuumSim

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His Father’s Son – 4

Father's son 01

Yes, Cynthia had found the book while cleaning up. She wondered: what on earth wants a boy with a book about pregnancy?’ She didnt think it over a long time and just put the book away.

Father's son 02

After finishing her daily tasks, she made a phone call to Ilona to ask her if she was all right. Ilona answered that everything was going as expected. She told Cynthia that she was still furnishing their new home and wanted to finish it soon because it wouldnt take long before she would have to go to hospital to have her new baby. Fortunately she was living in front of the hospital. When Im settled I will phone you and then I would be pleased if you could come over to see it.” Cynthia said that she would be looking forward to that.

Father's son 03

She hung up the phone and while preparing lunch for Raphaelito and herself, she made plans to spend the afternoon with the boy at the beach; not the beach at Old Fishermans Pier but the small quiet beach on the north-west side of town.
After school, Raph went straight home. He was curious if his mother had read the book. After kissing her he looked at her and she asked him: Whats the matter darling; is something wrong?” “No, no; I just wondered, no theres nothing.

Father's son 04

After lunch, Cynthia asked him if he felt like going with her to the beach because she wanted to do some fishing. Of course he was willing to go with her. He quickly made his homework and they went walking all the way to the beach.

Father's son 05

Once there, Raph went exploring if he could find something for his stone collection while his mother was fishing. They spent a great time together and when it was getting dark, they walked home.

Father's son 06

During their walk, Raph asked: Mom, did you find the book in my bedroom? She answered: Yes, why? Raph said: A friend gave it to me and you really should read it because its very interesting.”Well, if you say so I will read it one of these days.”

Father's son 07

After a week, Raph asked his mother if he could go to Mattie after school. Cynthia answered: I dont know if its a good idea because the day before yesterday, his mother told me that she had to go to hospital to give birth to her baby and I havent heard of her since then. Its fine with me but perhaps it would be a better idea if you take Mattie home with you.

Father's son 08

No, Mateo preferred to take Raph home with him. They talked about the book and if there was already some change in Cynthia. Raph looked sad when he said that she didnt wear wide dresses.

Father's son 09

Then Raphael made his homework while Mateo’s twin brothers were playing. He commented that he liked them very much and that he hardly could wait to have babies in the family.
Mateo said: Dont worry, the book works all right! Come; Ill show you something and he took him to another room.

Father's son 10

Then, Raphael looked around and couldnt believe his eyes. There were cribs all over the place.

Father's son 11

His mouth fell open and his friend said: you see? Twins were not enough, now she had triplets; three girls!” Mateo was even worse humored than ever: Now I’ll have to write my mother a letter to ask her an audition but, in spite of himself, he smiled over his own joke.

Father's son 12

Raphael stood there in awe. He thought about the nightmare that he had about having to share his bedroom with many children. He got very nervous and said: Sorry Mat, I have to go home. Im going to take the book away from my mother!
He ran away still hearing his friend laughing and saying I told you so!”

Father's son 13

When he came home, his mother was standing in the garden and when he saw her, the only thing that he could utter was: Too late!
Cynthia saw the expression on his face and said: Come here young man and tell me why you said that.” Then he told her about his plan with the book but he was sorry because his friends mother had triplets because of the book.

Father's son 14

Cynthia stood there in silence until the childs logic filtered into her brain and then she understood She laughed and before the boy could feel ridiculous she took him in her arms and said: No honey; its not because of the book that a woman gets a baby; when a woman knows that she will have a baby, she reads the book in order to know what she can expect and how to be a good mother. Why havent you asked your father about it?
I have… but he just said that there are so many children in the world who need to be taken care of.
Did you get that answer?
Yes, I did not know what he meant with that. Do you know what he meant?”

Father's son 15

“Im not very sure yet she answered. Why dont you go and make your homework?”

 Ive made it already.Honey, make yourself a cake and play a while with your construction set. I must go for a short walk. Ill be back within half an hour. Can you manage without me?
Yes mom, of course.”

Father's son 16

Cynthia changed into something comfortable and started walking. In reality she was trying to sort out her thoughts. Raphael had said to the boy that there are so many children needing love and care. So he wanted her to adopt a child?

Father's son 17

While walking she tried to get used to the idea. Adoption is not something to do only to please your child. She had to be sure if that is what she wants as well.

Father's son 18

When she came home, Raph was pointing very proudly to the construction he made; the mere sight of the boy was heartwarming.

Father's son 19

After tucking him in, she kept thinking of adoption and then she made her decision. She took up the phone and dialed a number.

Father's son 20

A few days later, Raph went to school. It was Friday and the boy went to school thinking about the coming weekend. Where would his mother take him to? That always was a nice surprise for him.

Father's son 21

She had told him to go to the grocery store after school to buy some fruit. So, before he went home he did the shopping and ran into a classmate. They had a few laughs and then he went home.
Cynthia thanked him for the fruit and she said: Go to your room; theres a surprise…”
He went to his room but didnt see anything and went back to his mother: Whats the surprise? I dont see anything new.”
The surprise must be there; have a good look.”

Father's son 22

The boy went back and wondered what it was until he heard a sound; his heart started beating like mad when he saw a little boy hiding in his toy box. This was the surprise!; he was sure of it.
Mom, is he really my new brother? How did you manage that? Oh, you have adopted him. Great! May I play with him? Can I give him the baby bottle? What’s his name?”

Father's son 23

Cynthia laughed with joy and she answered all of his questions. While the children were playing peek-a-boo, she remembered how they had brought the baby.

Father's son 24

How he had reached out his little arms to her. She was sure that she would love him very much and had started already to teach him how to walk, thinking of the big surprise it would be to Raphael. She decided to call him Risto, that’s short for Evaristo. She liked that name.

Father's son 25

Sure Raphael was very, very happy to see their little family grow; the only thing was that he couldnt sleep very well due to the baby sounds. Cynthia noticed that and she invited Raphael once more to sleep with her in the big bed.
She was planning to spend some money and would make an extra room.

Father's son 26

In the meantime they were all happy and Cynthia had found a new love in her life.

The End

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