Echoes of a Memory (Mature)

Raden seemed utterly confused for a brief moment, "You're lying." he insisted, "There's no way. Are you...?" realization hit him like he had been slapped in the face, "Atara fixed that?"

Lathai nearly burst into laughter, though he only allowed the smirk to widen. "Your mother is more than meets the eye. I did not think that she could do so either, but she proved me wrong within hours of us meeting."

He looked toward his parent's bedroom where Aelwynn slept, "Do you think either of us could do something like that? Healing people, I mean."

He paused, unsure of how to phrase things properly. "As Maguses, we are capable of casting infernal healing. Your sister might be able to do other things, but only your mother and Grandfather are capable of healing to that degree."

Raden seemed a bit disappointed, eyeing the empty wine bottle, "When did you know you loved her?" he asked.

He smirked, "The moment she granted sight. No one asked her to, and the woman had gone nearly her entire life that way. It was not necessary, merely a gift granted out of her own heart."

Raden smiled, "And when did you decide you wanted to marry her?"

He hesitated, but the smirk did end up widening, a wink coming out. "It was complicated when we first met. Three months after that day, however, we began training together, showing each other our lives... I knew that first day. I showed her..." Lathai paused. There was so much of a story to tell him, and yet... It had all been said. "Raden." He said suddenly, "You are named after Radelia, but she is more than a mere character in a children's story. Your mother and I... Are the warriors we told you of."

Raden's face seemed in shock, and he wondered himself how many of these stunning revelations he could handle in one day, "So she died the day you met atara?"

He seemed slightly grim, his more depressing emotions curbed by the wine. "She did."

Raden thought, "Well, how did you tell atara you loved her?"

The blush continued to consume him as the boy questioned. "I told her that she was beautiful. And I... Kissed her."

Raden grinned, teasing, but happy, "Beautiful? What was beautiful about her? Did she look the same?"

"She was always beautiful, though there are two sides to your atara, one you have never seen. When we first met, I saw the hardened warrior, a fellow soldier, a comrade. When she is not doing battle, she is as you have always known." He smiled, reminiscent. "She was free in that moment."

"So she felt her fighting restrictive?" he chuckled, "I can't imagine doing anything else."

Lathai smirked, leaning forward and ruffling his hair. "And this is why I call you my warrior."

Raden grinned, a simple half-smirk that Lathai had seen all too often reflected in a mirror. "Then where does your nickname for atara come from?"

He narrowed his eyes, leaning his forehead against his son's, almost challenging him. "What nickname would that be?"

Raden blinked, confused, "You... call her your star...?"

He smirked, beginning to stand, though his legs wobbled as he did so. "And when have you....." He closed his eyes, suppressing a drunken belch. "Heard me say that...?"

"You call her that often!" he argued, his stubborn streak refusing to accept that his father was intoxicated.

He shrugged, the gesture far from graceful or controlled. "She is... Like the sun."

Raden raised an eyebrown, "Because she awakes with it?"

He shook his head, standing slowly, wobbling only the slightest bit, dizzy. "No. Because..." He sighed, shaking his head. "I will speak to her before...." He held his head now, apparently not as accustomed to the drink as he once was. "...ugh, until i tell you more."

Raden cocked an eyebrow, "Do you need to get to bed, atar?"