"I'm sure it'll be okay." Sophie assured me as we got changed in my room. Days had passed and we were in preparation for my brother's arrival that night.
I shook my head. "You don't know him, Soph. He's always hated me, and his girlfriend looks right down her nose at me."
"But why?" she asked, confused. "You never said."
"I don't know." I scowled, head down as I tied up my pants' belt. "He seems to think I'm annoying. I mean, sometimes when he invited friends over, when I was little, I'd blurt out things I'd noticed about them or him, embarrassing things, but I was just a kid! My powers had only just developed and I couldn't help it!"
Sophie looked even more confused. "But I thought paladanians were able to understand anything, so surely he-"
"No." I interrupted, suddenly feeling bad about the one failure of paladanian understanding. "There's one problem; the Personal Flaw. It was discovered by our scientists long ago. If an occurrence has anything to do with a relationship you are in, it's like you have blinkered vision. Emotions get in the way, make people irrational."
"Oh!" Sophie looked like she'd just had a mind-blowing realization. "Is that why your leaders are so cold and detached?"
"Um," I bit my lip, still thinking of my own troubles. "In part. It just makes friendships between paladanians with different levels of understanding hard, because if one of them does something the other doesn't like, neither of them will think rationally. And when a paladanian thinks someone else is wrong, they will not back down. So, with my brother, he had friends, who he naturally wanted to impress, because that's how our world works, I suppose, and I came in, being a little know-it-all and made him look bad. His friends were all iffy about it and because he cared about their company he always took their side, meaning he holds an endless grudge against me."
"That's stupid." Sophie stated. I nodded.
"Ah well, I guess I'll just have to deal with it, won't I?" I sighed, flopping down on my bed. "I just hope he doesn't increase his vendetta to include you."
Soon we were ready and it was evening. Sophie and I sat anxiously in the front room, trying to hide our nervous anticipation by engrossing ourselves in different activities. Sophie opened her report on her digi-file but it was obvious to everyone that she was getting nowhere with it; she was being too quiet. I on the other hand was reading a book, and although I kept turning pages I was gaining no knowledge from it. It was a book on medicine, a topic I'd been focusing on lately as I'd decided that I wanted to train to be a healer, so I could help people. Therefore I should have been properly reading it, so that I could absorb the information internally, but I was honestly so worried about a visit from my brother that I could barely even look at one word without becoming instantly distracted.
There was a very good reason I feared my brother's return. You see, all through my childhood I'd had good, solid friendships with all sorts of kids in my town and more, but when I turned seven my powers developed. They allowed me a deep understanding of emotions, events and concepts far advanced of any of my peers, and had side effects such as telekinesis and fantastically acute senses. One important thing to know about paladanians is their thirst for intelligence. While also developing more bodily desires as most species do in puberty, as my people hit adolescence they yearn for knowledge and fulfillment. They want to know everything and learning gives them pride. Everybody knows that jealousy occurs when one person sees another person as better than them, and that jealousy is poisonous and causes dissent. So as my ability to understand and take in information from all things around me increased, my popularity lessened. I had a terrible habit of just telling people details I'd noticed on the spot, without thinking through the effects of my words, and this made people resent me. Nobody, however, resented me more than my brother Niles. I suppose having a younger sister with a higher intellect than you must be damaging on reputation and self-confidence, and it just hit him hard. Because of the personal flaw, the one thing that I never understood was how much my ramblings hurt my brother, and I didn't realize that I was doing any harm until he started taking his anger out on me, by spreading rumours, insulting me, ignoring me, vetoing every idea I ever had and encouraging others to stay away from me. The only real person that stood with me through it all was Leila. I tried so hard to be loving to my brother at all times, but by now I was terrified of him, and that is a terrible, horrendous thing for siblings to have between them; fear.
Finally, when my nerves were stretched to the limit, there was a knock on the door. My mother hurried to answer it, and in came bustling Niles with his girlfriend Mari hanging off of his arm. They both greeted mum and dad happily, handing them gifts from their home country, and exchanging cheery comments. Then, as they were ushered into the lounge room where Sophie and I sat, my brother tensed up and I made an effort to smile at him, rising.
"Hi Niles!" I went over and gave him a hug, knowing mum was watching me proudly and nodding her approval. His arms around me in return were stiff and awkward and I stepped back feeling rejected. After all this time I still wasn't forgiven.
"Hello, Abigail. How nice to see you again!" Mari grinned fakely at me, but I could clearly see the way her fingernails dug into my brother's arm. She supported him wholly, and that included his hatred of me, which she took every opportunity to flaunt. I took in both her and Niles's expensive clothing, the relaxed looks on their faces, obscured slightly by their current feelings, and came to a conclusion.
"So work's going well then?" I asked, casually, and Niles inhaled deeply, clearly annoyed. He worked in the Capitol city of our neighbouring country as a trainee financialist, overseeing numerous construction projects and handling money, while he continued to study in a sophisticated college, the one where he'd met Mari. She was studying psychology and paying for her education through her job as secretary to Jean Ctoner, the head of the Ctoner Industrial Firm. Therefore they both saw themselves as very important, and were making a comfortable sum of money each year.
"Yes." he answered stiffly, voice tight. "Funny how you know that."
Suddenly their eyes both fell on Sophie where she still sat on the ground.
"Oh." Mari exclaimed. "Hello."
"Hi." Sophie replied flatly, clearly unimpressed. She stood up and held her digi-file tightly, already angry towards my brother and his girlfriend for their indifference towards her.
"I see we're still allowing rent to the human." Niles addressed me, and Sophie fumed with anger behind him. I beat her to a rebuttal though.
"Her name's Sophie, and she's a living, breathing being just like you, so I think she deserves some respect." I flared, arms crossed stubbornly.
Niles sighed. "And you're always right, of course." he turned to Sophie and offered her his hand, which she shook tersely. "How do you do?" he asked.
"Just fine." she answered, plastering a sickly smile on her face. "And how are you?"
"Superb." Niles replied, eyes cold.
By now, mum was incredibly distressed by the tension between us all, which hung in the air like thick fog, and so she clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.
"Alright, everyone, to the dinner table!" she announced, smiling widely at us all, but there was worry in her eyes. "Sit down, and I'll serve dinner."
"I'll help." Both Niles and I offered in sync and then locked eyes, both willing the other to step down.
"No, no, I'll do it myself." Mum quickly asserted, fearing a fight. So we all sat down, and she hurried to the kitchen where she already had steaming pans ready to serve from. One by one she served food to each of us.
The first part of the meal passed rather well, I think. Sophie and I sat directly across from Niles and Mari, with mum and dad at either end, and for about five minutes we just ate. I think everyone was avoiding having to talk.
Then mum spoke up, asking the couple how they had been going.
"Oh, very well." Mari replied, beaming at the man she adored, hazel eyes gleaming. "We've both almost finished our degrees, top of our classes!"
"That's wonderful!" Mum said, and dad agreed enthusiastically.
They started talking about work, and Niles went into some long anecdote about an event his company was organizing and how somebody had failed in some way or another and he had to pick up their slack, obviously painting himself as the hero in the situation. From the way he described the poor man who'd been fired, though, it sounded as if he was going through family trouble, and he hadn't even spared him any thought or compassion, merely dismissing him as a failure. That was something I detested about my brother; his lack of empathy.
Then our mother and father described recent events here, how work had been busy, and a lot of hype had been happening, what with the monumental occasion of the human attack on Flauraan, orchestrated by the Weraynians.
Finally, terribly, the attention was turned to Sophie and I with the mention of that topic. It was unavoidable, really, but I'd been hoping perhaps that we wouldn't be talked about tonight.
"Yes, that caused a lot of panic everywhere." Niles told our small group. "What with the threat of another war and all that."
Mari nodded, and I was interested to see a flicker of fear in her normally stagnant eyes. "Everyone was going mad when we saw the first broadcast, telling of the humans with their powerful weapons and the spaceship that had just fallen out of the sky! No one knew what was going on."
"Wait a moment." Niles said slowly, mockingly, turning his eyes to me. "Weren't you involved in that, Abigail?"
"Oh Niles, you know she was." mum sighed lamentably.
"I'm asking Abigail, mother." he stated patronizingly, eyes fixed teasingly on me.
My jaw clenched angrily. "Yes, Sophie and I were both involved in that, Niles." I answered. "And, in fact, we were celebrated as heroes because of it."
"Heroes?" Niles scoffed. "Now I doubt that. They're clearly exaggerating; as if you would have done anything more than muck it up."
"Yes," Mari supported him, with a twisted smile on her face. "We were saying, when we saw the report, that it seemed like pure luck you didn't get everyone killed."
Sophie snapped at that. "Abigail was the most important person there! She was the one who worked out how to foil the Weraynian's plan, and organized everyone to do it!"
"Aren't you human?" Mari regarded her distastefully. "It's your people who were to blame for all that trouble, I hardly think you get a say."
"Now girls-" Dad tried to calm everyone down.
"She gets more of a say than you!" I retorted hotly. There was no way I was going to let them insult my best friend. "Sophie was amazing there. She got us on the spaceship, she worked out what was going on, she regained control of everything so the invasion fleet could be stopped! I doubt you could do any of that."
Niles's eyes flashed. "Don't be rude to Mari!" he shouted at me. "She's worth ten of you."
"You can't make that decision, you're entirely biased!" I yelled back at him. "You think I'm worthless, therefore you would never compare me well with your beloved girlfriend."
"Yes, well, I have a point, don't I?" he quipped angrily. "You'll never amount to anything, you're just wasting everything you've been given!"
"What?" I exploded. What on Flauraan was he on about?
"Humour us, Abigail." Mari placed a hand on her boyfriend's arm protectively. "What job are you aspiring for?"
"A healer." I replied, confused. "But what does that have to do-"
"See?" Niles gestured to me while staring at dad. "She's been given a brilliant mind and she goes and throws it away on a mindless job like that."
"You mean helping people?" I exclaimed, sickened at his thought processes. "What is wrong with you?"
"It's you I'm worried about." he answered back. "You're so self-righteous that you think you can save the world, and your human friend is feeding your ego, wading into warzones with you like this is all some game."
"DON'T TALK ABOUT SOPHIE LIKE THAT!!" I roared.
"Silence!" Mum burst, rising up threateningly from her seat. Niles and I immediately stopped, meekly taking our seats. No matter what differences there had ever been between us, we both still listened, always, to our mother. Beside me, Sophie lowered her gaze to her plate. It was a subtle movement, but I could tell that she was overwhelmed already by my brother's visit. This kind of thing was exactly what I'd been fearing. My brother's hatred of me I could deal with but I was not happy at all when it extended to collateral damage. In fact it was quite the opposite and in that moment I cursed the personal flaw because I knew that my mind would not be allowed to overcome my emotions and, similarly, that tonight would not be allowed to end without a raucous fight between Nilesand I.
For now, though, I calmed down and tried to avoid looking at my beloved brother, who was scowling quite clearly and disdainfully at me. I diverted my attention as he turned to Mari, and nudged Sophie's arm gently. She snuck a glance at me, eyes pained, and I nodded assuringly, biting on my bottom lip as I did so. She managed the slightest smile in reply, and I knew she'd manage. That was the best thing about Sophie and I, we could practically read each other's minds, we knew each other so well already.
The sounds of cutlery and eating filled the room. Mum and dad looked worried, and Mari and Niles had a private conversation with their eyes that I failed to tune out of. Finally Niles looked up. He wiped his mouth on a cloth specifically placed there for the purpose, and placed it back down, suddenly retaining a serene disposition. He turned to face father.
"Although Abigail has managed to put a damper on our visit," he began tersely, naturally insulting me as he did. "Mari and I cannot delay in telling you the reason for it."
He suddenly looked so excited, like he'd been waiting to divulge this information for years. I knew he hadn't though, in the same way I had known exactly what their news was from the moment the couple had walked in the door. I'd assumed dinner had been the time for it to be professed, and evidently I had been correct.
Mari took Niles's hand, and he grinned at her. Mum's eyes widened, as she realised what was coming. Dad watched patiently, waiting for verbal confirmation.
"Mum, dad." Niles began, squeezing his lover's hand as he motivated himself to spill. "Mari and I have thought about it for a long time, and we finally have come to a decision."
"Yes?" Mum asked, anxiously.
"Well," he finally built up the courage to spit it out, thankfully. I don't think I could have stood it if the anticipation had extended any longer. "We're getting married!"
"Oh my word, yes!" mum exclaimed delightedly, jumping from her seat to tackle her son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law in a warm embrace. Their eyes all shone, and even I smiled. At least they were happy. "That is amazing news!"
"What's brought this on so quickly?" my father asked inquisitively, clapping Niles on the back in an encouraging matter. Marriage wasn't just about romantic relationships in my culture, it was a ceremony done to mark big life changes. It was a little bizarre that they were aiming to be married before even finishing their degrees. I could see why my parents would question it, but I knew the answer.
"Well..." my brother said awkwardly, embarrassed, rubbing his neck.
"It's because of the impending war." I blurted out, suddenly, unable to contain myself. Silence settled instantly as everyone turned to stare at me. I gulped mildly but continued nonetheless. "They're worried that something very bad is coming, and want to enjoy their remaining time together while they can still be sure of it."
The lack of utterance from everyone in the room continued. Mari had a look of complete disbelief on her face, whilst my parents had expressions of shock due to the meaning behind the coming happy occasion. Sophie shook her head, fear in her eyes, and Niles, he was entirely blank, features empty of emotion. Then he clenched his jaw, and absolute fury flared in his eyes.
He shot up, slamming his hands on the table and glaring at me. "You should've learned by now not to go rooting around in people's minds." He snapped at me and then stormed from the table.
Luckily mum was quick and caught his arm before he could sweep his way out of the house.
"Niles," she murmured quietly, eyes flicking momentarily to me. I averted my gaze, feeling bad. I hadn't meant to upset him, it was merely that it had become instinct to voice my observations and when my father had asked the question I just reacted. "Stay in here, please. Abigail didn't mean any harm."
"Yes she did! You know she did!" he replied, still fuming. "I am not staying here to be insulted by her, like always. Mari, come on, we're leaving!"
"No." mum placed her hands on his chest, pleading. She looked at me. "Abigail, go wait outside."
I nodded, and scurried from my seat to the hallway. It wasn't fair, but mum and I both knew Niles wouldn't be calmed until I'd left the room.
Before too long Sophie joined me in the hallway.
"Hey." I greeted mildly, but internally I felt like screaming. Every single visit from Niles turned out similar to this, and it kept getting worse. I knew that I should just keep quiet. Ignore him and he would most likely stop, but I was a person who stood up for what I believed in and therefore could hardly stop myself from opposing my brother.
"Hi." Sophie replied quietly, coming over and slamming her back against the wall beside me. She felt as strongly about this as I did, and that scared me because I feared her getting hurt. Suddenly she turned to me, eyes alert with angry curiosity. "How do you even put up with that? What's wrong with him to want to treat you like that?"
I shrugged, though I was prepared to give a full explanation. "I told you, the Personal Flaw. Not everyone is as accepting as you. In fact the majority of people are mostly selfish, and I'm not excluding myself from that either. We fought a lot as kids, and my powers make him feel inferior. I believe that's the basic reasoning for the hatred between us, but it goes much deeper than that, and I can't say that I'm not in the wrong."
"You really believe that?" Sophie asked, scowling. "You're kind, clever, amazing Abi! You could never do anything to deserve that creature in your life!"
I looked down at my feet, not enjoying this argument. "Sophie, please remember that despite the dissent between us, 'that creature' is still my brother and I do love him." I told her softly, looking up into her eyes at the last part.
Her expression contorted immediately in shame. "Sorry." she said, and I merely shrugged again, sadly. "You know what, you need to get your mind off this, stop worrying about a confrontation with him. Remember when we talked about going on a trip? To that jungle? Let's go tomorrow."
"I can't Sophie." I replied, feeling worse. I really wanted to go, and I appreciated the attempt to cheer me up, but unfortunately there was something integral preventing me from embarking on that journey. "I have to go to the Learning Centre tomorrow, for my classes, and the two days after that as well, and I still have training with Reeina. It's important so I cannot miss it."
"Oh." Sophie scratched the back of her neck. "What about on your next day off school then? Would you still wanna go?"
I smiled. "Actually, I would love that, Sophie."
I didn't talk to Niles again that night as he and Mari took mum and dad out to town to get away from me, and Sophie and I eventually went to bed, me on the mattress and she on my bed. I lay awake for a long while as my brain refused to shut down and then as if I'd blown a fuse with all that excessive thinking, my conscious thought ceased and I fell into the deep embrace of sleep.