Tale of Four

”Edmund, come.” Tristan noticed Mary gaze at him for a few seconds before she called out to her son with loving affection, bringing him into an embrace and planting a soft kiss on his head. The boy, although embaressed didn’t pull away, simply resigning himself to his fate.

Tristan waited an appropriate time before stepping closer and resting a hand on his chest. Lowering his head, he smiled, ”I greet the Princess. Thank you for allowing me to join your son’s lessons.”

”Enough. Your Walters boy.” Mary stood up, finally letting go of Edmund and standing before Tristan. He didn’t realise at first, as she was sitting down, but now she was before him, he could tell how tall she was, standing a head taller than Tristan if he stood fully straight. Tapping his head, he felt her warmth as she carefully played with his hair, ”It is a shame he can’t teach you himself.”

Tristan looked up, feeling it was fine to do so without an order and met her gaze. In that warmth, he saw the calculating look that blended with maternal love. ”A shame. You don’t have my brother’s eyes.” Mary said with a soft smile and chuckle. Tristan smiled and put his hands behind his back, squeezing his arms. ’She saw through me in an instant. What an observant woman.’

”It is a shame I wouldn’t know Princess.” Tristan smoothly said, making Mary’s smile drop slightly.

”Yes. A shame...” Her words trailed for a second before she put on her loving smile once more and clapped her hands, spinning around. ”Ser Evan, leave us.” The knight nodded and stepped out. Wells went to the side of the room and took a seat, watching without interruption. ”Edmund. Get yourself ready.” Edmund nodded and stepped away, sitting on the ground and crossing his legs, closing his eyes. ”How much do you know, nephew?”

”Nothing, Princess,” Tristan said with a shake of the head.

”Aunt. I am your aunt. The only one who is a Princess is your cousin now.” Mary quickly replied and took a seat. From her body, blue smoke flowed out, forming into a giant blue bear. The bear looked around before lying in front of Mary and resting its head on her lap, looking up with eyes that begged to be stroked.

Mary indulged the creature, petting it like a cat. Tristan could see the disappointment in the bear’s eyes, and when it looked around, it locked eyes with him, chilling as they met, recognising him as the reason Mary wouldn’t stroke him as she usually does. Choking back his laugh, he waited as Annabell landed on his shoulder, watching bear like a threat.

”What’s her name?” Mary said, staring at the white dove.

”Annabell,” Tristan answered quickly.

”How much do you trust her, Tristan?” Mary asked. Tristan looked at her for a few seconds in confusion. The answer felt obvious to anyone in his family. Mary could see his confusion and chuckled, covering her mouth as she did. ”Don’t be mistaken. Some people in our family have temperamental summons who don’t exactly... like their summoner. Others see them as tools, and a few are outright disgusted with them. Trust is all that matters, so I’ll ask again, rephrasing it. Do you trust little Annabell with your life?”

”Of course.” Tristan didn’t hesitate. ”Why wouldn’t I?” He said easily, leaving out the informaiton that Annabell had already saved his life once when he was younger.

Mary smiled and looked to the dove. ”Annabell. Do you trust Tristan with your life?” Annabell huffed and touched Tristan’s face with her wing.

”Tristan needs me to protect him, not the other way around.” Mary nodded, able to see a true friendship and bond between the two. Looking at the dove, she couldn’t help but sweetly smile seeing the same attitude her son took when embaressed by her.

”Good. Sit down and take Annabell into your hands.” Tristan did as told. ”Understand the feeling when you summon Annabell. Inside everybody who carries strong Cosmaton blood, there exists a part of your soul that holds the power of the first King. Close your eyes and look within. Sense that power.”

Tristan did as told and looked within himself. Recalling every time he summoned Annabell, he remembered the feeling like a small part of him was taken out of his body. He could always sense where Annabell was, even if he couldn’t talk to her across great distances. ’It’s always strange. What even are summons? Why do they only exist when you have strong Cosmaton blood?’

”Focus,” Mary said, seeing Tristan’s mind wander. Recollecting himself, Tristan focused on what she ordered. ’Annabell, whenever she isn’t summoned, always exists around my heart. I know she’s not there, but she lives there. My heart, that feeling of her leaving it. The warmth when she’s inside it.’

”Good,” Mary said, hiding her shock at how quickly Tristan found it. It was subtle, but she could see the strain on his face relax as he found the answer. ’It took Edmund a couple of days before he sensed it. He did it in minutes. A bit shorter than Anton, but not by much.’

Looking to her husband, she thought about how his appraisal of Tristan and couldn’t help but agree at least in terms of the Cosmaton power. Anton was a genius amongst geniuses in their family in terms of his summon. The only reason she deemed Tristan lower was the subtle difference in how quickly they caught on, as well as the nature of their creatures. Anton’s spider was a creature that was near impossible to tame, craving blood and violence, yet her brother had somehow done so, in minutes no less, before reaching the next step in summoning. She remembered their lessons when they first started and still felt shocked by that distant memory.

Shaking her head, she collected herself. ”Recall how it feels when you resummon Annabell. Imagine that feeling, but instead of solidifying where she rests, have it spread around your body.” Mary said and carefully watched, wondering if she would see another Anton before her.

’Annabell. That warmth that returns. Like it’s filling a part of me that’s missing. That warmth that surrounded me when she used her power is similar.’ Tristan said to himself, ’Why can’t that warmth flow within me instead of hugging me?’

Mary watched as Annabell slowly turned into smoke, rising up and flowing through Tristan’s nose and mouth. Fighting the urge to stand up in shock, she waited to see if Tristan could complete the transformation.

Tristan felt the warmth return to his body, rushing towards his heart where Annabell always waited. ’No.’ He didn’t know why, but he spoke to himself like it was Annabell, ’You shouldn’t be caged to my heart alone.’ Saying more, he felt Annabell’s power rush through him and understood why Mary asked if they trusted each other. It wasn’t a simple case of letting Annabell power run through him, but instead handing over his entire body to her and letting them become one. If Annabell hated him or wished to be human, he felt she could easily, in their state, fight for control of his body, trying to take it for herself.

The warmth ran through his body, running along his veins, merging with a part of himself he couldn’t see. Before, he always felt close to Annabell, but now he felt like he knew her better than he ever could and vice versa. There was no struggle for who deserved what part, as Tristan allowed her to do as she pleased, treating his body as hers as well. All her thoughts about him flooded his mind, all centralising on a single thought. ’Protect silly Tristan.’

It made him lovingly smile, feeling that thought. He could have dug deeper into her mind, seeing parts she chose to hide about herself, but Tristan didn’t know it wasn’t his right to look at that without her permission.

Mary stood up, instinctively able to tell Tristan had succeeded. Watching the boy, he opened his eyes. His black pupils were gone; instead, his eyes were a pure, almost holy, white all over, brighter than any whites of the eye. With a twitching lip, she quickly covered her mouth and smiled, ”Well done.”

’He’s just like Anton.’ There was fear in her internal voice that she didn’t let show.

Tristan stood up and looked down at his hands. He didn’t feel much different, but knew that the powers Annabell would allow him to use could be done with the swing of his hand. ”Thank you, Aunt Mary.” Resting a hand on his chest, he bowed towards her.

Mary thinly smiled and nodded, ”It will take a while to understand your new state. Congratulations, Nephew. This is the first step.” Mary rested her hand on his shoulder and smiled. Looking into his pure white eyes, she could no longer read them; it was blocked by the overflowing purity of Annabell.

Tristan looked at Mary and smiled as she retook her place. Passing a glance over Edmund and seeing him in deep concentration, she turned back to Tristan. ”Tell me. Why did you approach my son?”

Tristan was shocked by the sudden forwardness of her question, not expecting it. Looking to the ground, he thought of an answer and looked back into her eyes.

’I wanted a friend.’

”I approached at first because of Lady Death.” Tristan’s body froze as what he wanted to say was trapped in his mind, his honest reasoning being said instead. Looking down at himself, he turned back to Mary, who looked at him with a protective, cold glare.

”Did you?” Her voice was cold as the bear by her side showed its teeth.

’Forgive me. It was what started it, but I found him quite nice.’

”At first, that was the reason, but I realised I wanted a friend. One without political reasoning.” Tristan caught himself again and looked down at his hands, chuckling to himself in disbelief. Mary seemed to notice exactly what happened and covered her mouth, chuckling.

”A dove is a pure being.” Taking a step closer, she looked down at him, ”And when you become that pure...”

”I can’t lie.” Tristan finished her words. Inside his mind, he heard Annabell crying out, apologising, not expecting soemthing so strange.