Chapter 117 - What does "sorry" do?

With winter in full flow, Elenie and Ieaun had organised a big Snowflake Day party.  Whilst waiting for everyone to arrive, Rhonwyn had a bright idea and slipped whoopee cushions under several of the chairs; just to see what people's reactions would be.

Unfortunately for her, it was Bronwyn who sat on the first one, and she knew immediately who was to blame, shooting her twin a decidedly dirty look but refrained from saying anything or reacting any further.

The party went well, although several family members were absent, Ieaun's parents having sadly passed away not long before and Coryn having a prior engagement.  Several of the twin's friends from school came and everyone went away happy with their gifts.

After all the guests had left and the children had been put to bed, Elenie and Ieaun sat in the kitchen drinking some hot chocolate and discussing their children, Rhonwyn in particular.

"Have you noticed the pranks she's been pulling?  They've been mostly harmless so far, but do you think we should be taking a stronger line with her?"

"I think it's a balancing act, she needs boundaries, but if we put too many in then she's just going to rebel against them and I'm afraid we're likely to have enough trouble with her in the future as it is..."

"What do you mean by that Ieaun?  Have you seen something?"

"Snippets, she's going to be a handful whatever we do, all we can do is try and keep a balance between telling her off when her pranks get out of hand and not being so strict as to make her rebel too much."

A few days later, Dory was out about the town when she ran into Coryn.  

"Coryn, I, I didn't expect to see you here..."

"Nor I you, mother"

They stood in awkward silence for a while, neither entirely sure what to say to the other, until Dory cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, I wish I could go back in time and undo my mistakes, but I can't and I'm sorry..."

"What does "sorry" do?    You can't go back and change anything, it's too late for that.  Saying sorry doesn't put anything right, it just brings everything back!"

"I... I... What do you want me to say?  What do you want me to do?  I know saying sorry doesn't change the past, but would you prefer I never acknowledge that I was wrong?"

Coryn was silent for a while, watching the snow fall and thinking.

"Why did you do it all?  Why did you trust him?  How could you not tell what he was doing to all of us?  How could you forget 'Leni was your daughter?  You let him put her through all that abuse - how could you let him do that to any child even having forgotten she was your own?  And grandma?  How could you let him treat her the way he did?"

"I don't know"  Dory looked down at the ground; "I look back and I can't understand how I didn't see his hand in everything, how I never realised all the times he attacked my family and even killed my love.  But at the same time I can remember how everything he told me seemed to make perfect sense, even though it couldn't...

"I remember him telling me that someone had kidnapped Elenie and left a changeling in her place and somehow I couldn't even see a child where she was - only some deformed little creature which couldn't possibly be my baby, or anyone's baby; but looking back it's like I can see two images in my memory - my baby girl and this hideous thing overlaid on top of her blocking her out..."

Dory's voice trailed off and they were both silent for a while.  Eventually Coryn shook himself visibly

"I'm going to have to think about this, but I don't know what sort of relationship we can build, even if we want to; you were so distant through most of my childhood that you're like a stranger.  Where do we even go from there?"

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Back at home, the twins and Celyn had been spending their free time building snowmen in the garden.  It had been Rhonwyn's idea and she'd dragged her brother and sister outside, despite Celyn's protests about the cold.

Although she'd eventually convinced him to join them outside, he refused to build the same snowman as the twins, leaving them to build a rather creepy looking snow-reaper together.

 

Ieaun and Elenie were inside reading, Elenie had identified that a number of elixir recipes required fresh fish and had decided that in order to ensure their freshness she would have to start catching her own.

The following day, after school, Rhonwyn convinced the other two to go down to the fairground for some snowball fights.

Bronwyn was quite happy to, but Celyn was only convinced to stay out in the cold by Bronwyn offering to make a team with him against Rhonwyn.  

When they all got home, their parents told them that since there was no school the following day they'd be going to the winter festival as a family.  The twins were highly excited about this and at bedtime sat on their beds discussing what they wanted to do the next day.

"We need more snowball fights!  Do you think anyone else from school will be there?  We could have a massive fight!"

"We had one today, we should do something different - did you see the skating rink set up?  That looks great fun"

While Ieaun was checking that the kids were all safely tucked up in bed and the lights were out, Elenie was putting the final touches to an elixir she hoped might reverse the gold spell which had killed Ieuan and thereby reverse his ghostly state.

Having completed the elixir, she found him in the playroom, having just checked on the twins.

"I think I've got something, if I've done it right it should reverse the spell which killed you..."

As Elenie threw the elixir, they both held their breath, but apart from a flash of golden light nothing seemed to happen.  Elenie sighed in disappointment "Back to the drawing board I suppose then..."

Later, downstairs, however, Ieaun was looking at some of the ornaments in the living room and remembering the feeling of turning into gold, when his finger started to itch. 

He reached out towards a small plant on the table and was shocked when a spark of golden light leapt from his finger to the plant and turned it golden!

Chapter 116 - Consequences and changes

The morning after their little adventure the twins were woken up early and rousted downstairs to do their homework before school. 

Their parents did allow them to have breakfast before beginning their homework, but as part of their punishment they were restricted to a plain bowl of cereal and both their parents watched them carefully to ensure no dallying.

As soon as they finished breakfast Elenie insisted that they get on and do their homework immediately, pointing out that it was their own fault for not coming home and doing it when they should have the previous night. 

After they'd gone off to school Elenie sat reading at the table while her mother ate breakfast.  After a few moments in silence, she asked "Do you think I did the right thing with them? I feel like I was too harsh, but I don't want them disappearing off like that when we don't know where they are."

Dory thought for a while as she ate; "I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask given my history in bringing you and your brother up, or failing to, but at least you can reassure yourself that you're not making the same mistakes.  They'll need their schooling in life, even if they don't realise it now, and they need boundaries just as much."

While they were discussing the matter, Ieaun decided to pay a visit to his parents to ask the same advice.

Back at home, Elenie got little Celyn up and spent some time snuggling him close.  "I won't be able to do this much longer little one will I?  You're nearly ready to grow up and join your sisters at school..."

She spent a little more time playing with him before reluctantly putting him down with his toys and his grandma to watch him.  

She needed to do some more research into the properties of the plants and minerals she was using for her elixirs to see if she could understand more about why putting certain ingredients together had the results they did. 

The twins were subdued enough after their scolding and early morning to come straight home after school, but Rhonwyn couldn't be completely subdued for long...

"Why don't we go outside and build snowmen before we do our homework?  We don't need to go far and we can come back in to do the stupid homework before it's time for bed..." 

"Wyn, didn't you learn anything from yesterday?  Mam will have our ears if we don't do our homework before playing!  Besides, if we do it first then we don't have to worry about when we need to come in, we can just wait for someone to call us for tea." 

Grumbling slightly, Rhonwyn allowed herself to be persuaded and the two of them sat down together to do their homework, Rhonwyn completely ignoring the desks they'd been provided with in favour of sitting on the floor. 

For whatever reason she finished a little before her sister and went wandering round the house looking for something to do.  Inspiration struck her in Dory's bathroom and she quickly began playing with the shower... 

When she had done she floated over to look at herself in the mirror.  "Long hair's a nuisance" she muttered to herself, "I wonder..." 

Being an impetuous child, the thought was father to the deed and in no time she had found a pair of scissors and chopped her hair off short. 

Just then she heard her parents calling and floated back into the nursery/playroom to find the family gathering around Celyn. 

As they all watched and cheered the birthday sparkles enveloped him and he began the transformation from a toddler into a child.  

Rhonwyn and Celyn played for a while at the blocks table, but Rhonwyn's attention span didn't last without Bronwyn around to keep her interested.

She abandoned her little brother and went to find Ffion, giving her a good brush before playing with her.

Elenie meanwhile had been working on her elixirs when one went wrong.  She headed for the nearest shower, being the one in her mother's room, to clean the soot off herself... 

It came as a massive shock when her hair turned bright yellow before she'd even managed to get all the soot off, but she had a pretty good idea of who she could blame for this.  

Of course, just to make matters worse, the shower then broke just as she finished getting herself clean and she had to transform into her fairy form in order to fix it. 

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Just a quick update of what Rhonwyn looks like in CAS with her new hairstyle