An Owl's Rise

After Evelyn stated that she would not be providing extensive assistance to her siblings, her brother frowned deeply.

"So, even though you are in a much better position than us, you are still not going to help us, your siblings?" Verrader said, his tone incredibly sharp.

It was quite obvious he believed that Evelyn should be doing everything in her power to help her younger siblings who she had just met again after being separated for so long.

Aralee on the other hand was wearing a tense expression since she could feel that Evelyn was not very happy about Verrader.

"I did not say I would not help you, I said that it is best you learn to grow on your own. Certainly I could give both of you credits or buy things you need, but you would get no experience yourselves that way. My own master has taught me this way. It is fine to ask for aid when you truly need it, but otherwise you should do it yourself to gain experience. However, if you keep acting this way Verrader, I am fine doing nothing for you and cutting off all ties. We may be siblings, but ultimately we have been separated for years at this point, we might as well be strangers. I personally want to get to know you both again since we are related by blood, but I have lived my life perfectly fine without either of you and can keeping going just the same." Evelyn said, fixing Verrader with a harsh glare.

She was not going to drop everything to cater to the whims of her brother simply because they were related. If it came down to it Evelyn had no qualms with ignoring him and leaving him to his own devices.

"Verrader you are being too presumptuous; Evelyn does not owe us anything. We have all made it on our own up to this point and just because Evelyn has achieved greater success than us does not mean she should start going out of her way for us. Just knowing she is there for us in a pinch is good enough." Aralee said, once again trying to mediate.

Realizing he was outnumbered Verrader lowered his head and apologized to Evelyn for his rashness.

Though to Evelyn it did not seem wholly genuine.

'I really have ben trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if not for Aralee I would have already given up on Verrader, But I suppose for her sake, I will try to get along for now. Hopefully we just need more time to get to know each other.' Evelyn thought.

"Now, as much as I would like to continue speaking with the two of you, I need to go meet back up with my teammates. How about we meet back up again tomorrow?" Evelyn suggested.

Naturally Aralee was visibly reluctant to part ways with Evelyn at this point but understood that she had other obligations.

Verrader on the other hand looked conflicted, as if he was weighing the pros and cons of allowing Evelyn to leave at this point.

In the end, he decided not to force the issue and instead put on a smile and actively tried to schedule when and where they would meet up tomorrow.

"Okay, we will meet up the Records Hall early tomorrow. I will show you both the best ways to access information and guide you to a few places where you can gather valuable resources easily enough without too much risk." Evelyn said.

Once she had squared everything away with her siblings she left the ranking Hall and sent a message to Rehni and Bylur that she was free and ready to meet up with them.

She swiftly received a response that sated that Bylur and Rehni were already waiting at the restaurant that they had made reservations with to celebrate their victory.

When Evelyn arrived at the restaurant she was taken to a private room where a spread of rare and expensive food was laid out before Rehni and Bylur.

Normally they would not indulge in such extravagances since they could use their credits towards more valuable things, but today was an exception.

'We just got twenty million credits from Devurg's Faction, so I think we can splurge a bit. Anyway, the food is dense with magical energy anyway and will help us advance. Even if not close to as much as the magic spring.'

Sitting down at the table across from Rehni Evelyn greeted them both before filling up a plate and beginning to eat.

She had exhausted a great deal of physical energy fighting against Devurg's team, and a large amount of mental energy conversing with her siblings.

'I wonder what I should do from here on out?' Evelyn thought while reflexively eating.

Her mind was completely occupied with her siblings and how she should interact with them going forward.

Verrader had difficulty rubbed her the wrong way right from the start, but for Aralee she felt like she wanted to be a reliable older sibling. Perhaps because she saw a bit of herself in her.

'She is looking up to me just like I did to Mason. I really do feel like I want to help her out.'

For several minutes Evelyn just ate in silence her mind completely absorbed on her siblings that had appeared out of the blue.

"Evelyn!"

Eventually she was shook out of her stupor, when Rehni came up and pushed on her with her wing while shouting her name.

"What?" Evelyn said, truly looking at her friends for the first time since arriving.

"We have been trying to talk to you for several minutes but you have not been responding. It was clear that something is on your mind, and we were waiting for you to finish, but you have just been staring at you plate in a daze while occasionally eating." Rehni said, a bit of concern oozing into her tone.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about my siblings. Along with my sister, my brother is here as well." Evelyn revealed.

Rehni and Bylur both wore shocked expression wen they heard this, since they had only seen Evelyn sister, and whether they were actually related had not been confirmed when they had left.

"So that really was your sister, you had some suspicions to clear up, but you managed to confirm that is really her?" Bylur said, curious.

"Yes, she knows things that only my siblings would be able to. I suppose it is possible that some incredibly rare magic could be at play that can warp my perception, but I find that doubtful. And once I finished confirming it as her, she brought me to see our brother as well." Evelyn said, a conflicted look on her face.

She was not sure how much more to tell Bylur and Rehni about her past. They honestly knew pretty much nothing about what had happened to her.

"So, what happened when you met your brother as well? Did you not leave on the best of terms?" Rehni asked, taking Evelyn's hesitant expression to mean that there was some tension between her and her brother.

And while this was true, she was more concerned with what to tell Bylur and Rehni and what to leave out.

'It is far too soon for me to give them the full explanation of my past like I did with Melisandre. I will just tell them the bare minimum and leave out anything related to my first life and the Aethersphere.'

Having come to a decision to tell Rehni and Bylur a bit more about her past, Evelyn began telling them about her life.

She explained that the start of her childhood had been fairly normal. Her parents cared for her and taught her how to fly and hunt, but they had all been captured by humans save for her sister who had been left in the nest alone.

"They did horrible experiments on all of us and my parents perished right before my eyes. I managed to survive long enough for the facility to be attacked by other humans and make my escape in the chaos. I found out today that my brother managed to do the same. Us three siblings have been separated for a long time, but by some chance we have met again here in the Roost."

"I understand now why you were so suspicious and did not immediately recognize your sister. All of you have been separated since you were still just wild beasts. I had thought it odd that you seemed so surprised to see her, but now it makes sense." Rehni said after hearing Evelyn's past.

Bylur thought cared less about the situation with Evelyn's siblings and was more concerned about her difficult and painful past.

Hearing what had happened to her, he understood why she was so guarded against others, and had an especially difficult time making new connections.