#transvav

“Jonah, where is your brother?” Ianite asked quietly. The portrait painter, a man who’d travelled far at Ianite’s request for this painting, looked impatiently at his pocketwatch. Ianite gave him an apologetic look but then turned back to her son, an expectant violet eyebrow lifting over her emerald eye. 

“I don’t know. He was still asleep when I woke up but I haven’t seen him since then. He knew what time we had the sitting.” Jonah replied primly, smoothing an invisible wrinkle in his tunic. 

“I’m here! Sorry!” Jordan’s voice called as he ran into the room, shirt unbuttoned and hair disheveled, his bow clutched in one hand. “I overslept.” he offered by way of explanation, shooting his mother a small guilty smile.

“I reminded you last night, how did you forget?” Jonah questioned, accusation in his tone.

Jordan frowned back at him “I didn’t forget. I just overslept. But I’m here now so-” he stuck his tongue out at his brother, Jonah rolling his eyes at the childish behavior. 

Ianite said nothing, letting her sons get their teasing out of their systems. Oh to be young with a sibling. She remembered her own childhood growing up with Mia and Dia, the hours spent making mischief and arguing over the smallest things. It was with a bittersweet smile that she ran her fingers through Jordan’s unruly hair, straightening it somewhat, but not too much that he didn’t look like himself.

If this was to be the last image she had of her sons, then she wanted it to be as they were.

~

She’d known the fate her sons would face from the moment they were born. She, of the three divine Gods of this world, had been blessed with the gift of prophecy and far sight. The void that filled her home realm spanned across every dimension, it was because of it’s power that she could catch glimpses into other worlds and other futures. As she held her boys in her arms that first night, soft and small and so very fragile, she saw their destiny. 

She saw them, grown into handsome men, respected and powerful warriors. Leaders among mortals and proponents of Balance. She saw that one day they would leave the End, each coming into the service of another version of herself, her Champion in all realities. She was proud of them, even now mere hours after meeting them. She placed a kiss on each of their temples, whispering “You will go on to great things my sons.” 

As they grew, their futures became more clear. She had a great many years to come to terms with them. She would be forgotten by them one day. They would lose their memory of her when they left their home in The End. After that realization, she’d poured herself into researching spells to prevent such an outcome, but all she came to understand was that destiny was not something that could be tampered with. Her sons were needed by the other versions of herself. So she would have to let them go. 

Knowing that she would lose them one day only drove her to spend more time with them. She spent every waking moment she could joining whatever games they played and indulging their fantasies and wishes. They had visions as well, she came to realize. Nothing as concrete as her own, but visions nonetheless. 

“Why is Jonah the Commander and you the Captain?” She asked Jordan during an explanation of a game of make believe they were playing. 

“He just is. I like being the Captain and he likes being the Commander.” 

“Yar! Surrender your ship Captain Sparklez! Ye are being boarded by the notorious Commander Redd!” Jonah shouted, brandishing a toy cutlass that one of the pirates had brought when they’d last come to visit.

“Never! I will protect My Lady till me last breath!” Jordan retaliated with a smile, waving his own toy sword. 

As the years passed, a sense of melancholy anticipation began to grow within her. With each day that passed it only grew stronger. It was their 15th birthday that she finally realized what it was. They would be leaving her soon. One way or another she would lose her children. 

They began to notice her mood as the melancholy built to an almost crippling level. It was Jonah who suggested the portrait. Both he and Jordan had begun to discuss in passing what lay beyond the End, what worlds there were to explore together, for no matter how much they fought, they never planned to leave each other’s side.  He must have assumed that she was sad at the thought of them leaving, not knowing just how right he was. 

When Ianite woke the day of the portrait sitting, something in her knew this would be the last chance she had to create a physical memory of her sons. She did her best to keep the sadness contained, lest the boys catch wind and grow suspicious. She wanted their last day together spent like any other, not with them trying to comfort her of a future she’d known was coming their whole lives. 

Hours after they’d gone to bed, Ianite carefully crept into her son’s bedroom, closing the door softly behind herself. Without a sound she settled into the plush armchair she’d spent hours in when they were young, reading to them, cuddling them, consoling them. They were both sound asleep in their beds, tufts of dark hair poking up past the blankets. It had always amused her how different they were asleep than when they were awake. Jonah, so put together and proper, tangled himself among his blankets while Jordan, normally the one rushing from one thing to another, was still as the dead, his own blankets with hardly a crease in them. 

She took in the sight, not even bothering to wipe the tears that welled in her eyes. She’d known for a long time that they would leave her and she had come to accept it, but she would hardly let them go without one last gift. 

Ianite, the Goddess of Balance, lifted cupped hands to her heart and quietly began to recite the spell she’d spent much of their lives crafting. 

Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow Bless you with love for the road that you go

May you sail far to the far fields of fortune With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet And may you need never to banish misfortune May you find kindness in all that you meet

May there always be angels to watch over you To guide you each step of the way To guard you and keep you safe from all harm Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay

As she let her voice trail off, wisps of violet magic filled the room, drifting and swirling around her sons and blessing them with her power. Whatever they may face in their futures, whatever would bring them to their own Ianites and whatever tasks she set for them, they would be protected. 

She stood from her chair and moved to kiss each of their foreheads as the glittering magic settled upon them. 

~

The next day she watched from a window as they took off the edge of the island, elytras on their backs and laughter on their lips.