Cyan! Ah, she’s good. Hopefully it fits with the others cause she has a pretty different perspective on her parents being so much older and more aware.

             “Gavin said you’d be dropping in on me.” Cyan said. Everett
sat at the bar, Cyan stood behind it, closing for the night. It was said, of
course, that Cyan never allowed anyone else to close her bar because the bar
was never actually closed. After hours it simply served a different sort of
clientele. For now, though, they were alone.

               It was
a classy place – dark wood, red carpet, gold accents, black marble bar, plenty
of art on the walls. On one end was a stage where there was either live music
or plays every night. Cyan herself sang as often as not. The windows were
stained glass and lent the place a bit of color and uniqueness. It had been
converted from an old-style home. Cyan lived upstairs, despite having the means
to possess a home in the most fashionable part of the city.

               “It
would be unthinkable to leave you out of any book on your family. The city
would revolt. Again.” He said.

               “True.
My fans would be so disappointed in you.” She replied. Everett felt like he
already knew Cyan. Everyone knew her. She was the loudest and flashiest of her
siblings, an actress, a socialite, a criminal entrepreneur. But he never would
have thought it so easy to get into to see her as just walking into a bar. Of
course he knew. But he didn’t believe.

               “You’re
the second oldest of the Silverwood children, correct? So you, I hope, won’t
give me any excuses about being too young to understand what was going on.” He
said. To his surprise, she laughed.

               “Knew
what was going on? Darling, I helped plan some of mom’s stunts. Not many, but a
few.”

               “So why
was she so against her father when none of the Drezhein were?” He asked.
Finally, someone would give him something! He should have seen Cyan from the beginning.

               “Look,
mom could lie with the best of them. She reveled in it. And she knew bullshit
when she saw it too. Seilez tried to use her, the way he tried to use all of
his kids and she’d had just about enough of that. That’s how it started. Not
out of some desire to save the Drezhein. No Drezhein would give two figs for
any others outside their own kids. They’re just not like that.”

               “So it
was to protect her family. Kaite thought-”

               “That’s
rubbish. Ithea didn’t want to protect anyone. Maybe if a burglar broke in or
something, but not government stuff. I mean we didn’t even live in Sanirra so
it didn’t affect us. Ithea acted out because she hated the Drezhein.” Cyan
said.

               “Uh…you’re
going to have to explain that one to me.”

               “Pure
and simple, Drezhein are monsters. The things that go bump in the night and eat
your children. They fight and they lie and they steal and they kill one another
and anyone else that irritates them. They’re emotional and impulsive and
territorial – like Ithea. Seilez hated that. He was trying to change them, to
make them into something else. Civilized and polite. He did as much as he could
and when he didn’t get the result he wanted, he started trying to eradicate
them entirely. Most Drezhein bought into his bull, though. He was charming and
persuasive and saintly and they were fanatical about him. Seilez is the only
First Lord who ever held the position through anything other than strength and
trickery and deceit. He was First Lord because the other Drezhein liked him. And that disgusted her.”

               “I
guess I knew Seilez was throwing his own people to the wind but I never knew
why.”

               “Because
he loved humans, I’ve heard. He never had a mate of his own species, ever. He
idolized the civilized and tried to trade in fangs and claws for a society. But
mom was left to grow up in Cylli, with human parents who thought she was a
demon. She was never around Seilez and his so called ‘civilizing’ influence so
she grew up the way a Drezhein should – violent and over-confident,
hot-tempered and pushy. Taking what she wanted by force and destroying what she
didn’t. She was an older breed of Drezhein and didn’t fit in with the others in
Tsime. She didn’t care much for her people but she had a lot of regard for
herself and she wanted to remind them of what they should be.”

               “And
you think that Ithea was a monster.” Everett said. He hadn’t heard that before,
from any of the kids!

               “Don’t
get me wrong, I loved her. I looked up to her, and still do. But if you had
ever seen her shape-shift so that she could go run down deer and wild boar in
the forest, you would know. I saw her, with matted fur and bloody fangs, with
blood and dirt under her claws. Mom said that Drezhein had to shape-shift often
to remember what they were, and Seilez tried to discourage it as much as
possible. But Keir, and Dumas and Kaite and Ro…she taught them it was very
important. They all hunt like that, regularly. They have to. It’s a pity she
died before any of them could shape-shift. I know she was looking forward to
teaching them.”

               “What
was her other form like?”

               “Wolf-like,
mostly. Big, and black, long snout, blunt claws, lots of teeth. Pointed ears. No tail though. And on the lithe side.
She was fast. It never bothered me, even seeing her like that. She and that
monster were one in the same. You could see it in her even in her human form.
The way she moved, the way she acted. What she thought was important. It’s the
key to understanding Drezhein. You have to realize that they’re more connected
to their beasts than Daemir or Draconians are. It bubbles near to the surface.
It’s why they hoard mates and children and possession and land. Why their
temper rises so easily and they fight so viciously. Why their alliances and
feuds are so short and ever changing.”

               “You’re
the only one who’s mentioned anything about that. And the only one who’s called
her mom, instead of Ithea.”

               “Oh, we
all called her mom back in the day. Or mama. She liked that better. It feels
wrong to call her anything else now, even though I’m older than she ever was.
Perhaps my siblings feel differently. As for the other, I was the oldest girl.
Mom loved all of us but everyone knew that Charlie and I were her babies. Who
else did she have to mentor? Kaite was always a tomboy – which mom accepted
completely, don’t get me wrong – and Ro was too young. But me? She had years
with me. She taught me how to dress and do make-up and how to dance, and how to
flirt. How to present myself. How to read people. How to schmooze a crowd.
Everything important.”

               “So she’s
partly responsible for your success.”

               “Partly.
I made it on my own but her lessons helped, yes. Of course it was dad who
taught me about business and how to manage my money and affairs. Drezhein have
a different view of such things. She taught me the glamor and he taught me the
infrastructure that supports it.”

               “What
do you think about your father then?” He asked.

               “Dad?”
She shrugged. “He was fine, a little awkward sometimes. He didn’t like kids,
you know, and didn’t really know what to do with us. He wanted us perfectly
behaved and presentable. If we could be that he was fine, otherwise he lost his
temper easily. But then sometimes he was really fun too. Definitely by the time
Kaite and Ro were born he had relaxed a lot and was able to handle us a lot
better. I got to see a different side of him because I had magic. He was so
excited about that, and so eager to teach me. He put up with a lot more
mistakes from me than from Charlie, for instance.”

               “Ah,
Charlie. Somehow he keeps coming up.”

               “He
would. He was mom’s darling, her absolute favorite. There were a lot of
problems there. He was the oldest. Mom really wanted him because she couldn’t
have her own children and dad really didn’t
want him because he didn’t like children. Mom spoiled him too much and dad was
way too hard on him and their relationship never improved. Charlie used to act
out a lot. He was perfect for mom but he could be bratty and insolent and
destructive when dad was in charge. And then mom would have to step in to
defend Charlie so it was always a point of contention. As for me, I liked him
fine. I got away with a lot of things by blaming them on him which didn’t help
matters I’m sure. But I was just a kid then so I didn’t know. I apologized to
him years ago, though. We’re fine now.” She said.

               “What
were the other relationships like in the house?”

               “Complicated.
Dad was like a mentor to me and a father to Gavin, and a completely doting daddy
to Kaite. Mom would do anything for any one of us. Charlie got along fine with
the younger kids but he was cool with me and was constantly bickering with Gavin. Those two really didn’t like each
other. Keir and Dumas and Kaite formed a trio of trouble-makers. If there was
trouble to be had, those three would be in it neck deep. Ro, of course, was the
baby. She was the sweet one and everyone doted on her. Especially Gavin though.”

               “Why
him?”

               “Because
Ro was so young when our parents died. Because Charlie and I left, Gavin was
pretty much in charge. But Ro was really the one who needed him so they got
pretty close. It was good for him I think. He could be horrible as a kid.
Bratty and condescending and stuck up and constantly causing trouble for the
other students at school, though he never got caught. He grew up a lot after
they died, and got a lot more serious. He was a good kid after that. He and I
do a lot of work together, though you know that.”

               “How
often do you see the others?”

               “Not
much. Keir and Dumas are always off doing some. Ro was always too busy with
that massive family of hers to leave even if she wanted to. And Charlie didn’t
really want to be contacted but from what I heard he had a lot going on.”

               “But
you know how to contact them.” Everett said.

               “Oh,
sure. I know where they all are. I can get that to you if you want. I’ll have
one of my girls get it to you later.”

               “Thanks.
Here’s the question everyone has answered differently. Did they love one
another?” He asked. Cyan considered.

               “On
some level, yes. Sometimes the way they looked at each other… well I’ve never
had that with anyone. But that’s what made it so easy for them to hate one
another too. They were both strong willed.”

               “Ro and
Kaite said the same thing.”

               “Well
it’s true. Dad wanted to be in charge, and mom was the Fifth Lord. She was used
to being in charge. To be honest though, mom won that fight most of the time.
Dad would get so tired of her drama that he would just give in to her a lot.
Because their actual fights were not the physical fights that everyone saw and
talks about. Those were more like foreplay honestly. I know that with the same
awkward disgust that every child has when she walks in on her parents. They got
along best when they were fighting, and when they were flirting of course. It
was when they weren’t talking that you had to be scared.”

               “Do you
have anything else to add?”

               “Don’t
think about them the way you would a human. Neither of them were human. By your
standards they were criminals, and not good folk. And maybe they weren’t good
folk but they were our folk. And their decisions were based on different ways
of thinking. Just keep that in mind.”

               “I’ll
try.” Everett said. “I’ve never written about non-humans before but I want to
do my best with this. And not just
because your siblings keep threatening me.”

               “Oh,
get out of here.” Cyan laughed. “I’ll have those addresses to you by noon tomorrow,
at the latest.”