Saifah's POV:

Sometimes I could not believe it. Chai had caught me spacing out multiple times. The first few times I told him nothing was wrong. But today he hadn't taken no for an answer. "Whatever it is, you know you can tell me," he said. "It's really nothing. It's just that I just can't believe Rain has come back. It feels so surreal," I replied. "You are right. It feels really weird. And what feels weirder is that fact that we will actually be attending a meeting with the King and Queen," he added, laughing. "Yeah, weird alright! My dorky, brainless twin brother is King. I am glad at least the Queen is someone sensible," I rolled my eyes.

We both walked into the biggest conference room located in the basement of the Royal Mansion. It could seat at least a 100 people at a time, and held a beautifully inlaid mahogany table, with chairs fanning outwards. There was a slightly raised platform with another desk, where the King and Queen sat if they were there, or whoever held the meeting on their behalf. I immediately saw Rain. He was sitting on a chair, swivelling around running a pencil through his fingers. It looked like a serious discussion as Phayu nodded, his head bent over some documents that looked they were made of old parchments. Their voices were too low for me to make out what they were saying.

That was another thing I found weird. Not just me, but everyone who had expectantly waited for Rain to come back. His seeming acceptance of Phayu. Had he really forgiven him? While I was not unhappy over this development, I knew that Rick was extremely pissed at his brother. Although he hadn't said so in so many words, or shown any outward reaction to the growing closeness between Rain and Phayu, I knew from my talks with Pa and Uncle Type that he was seething from within. "The whole house walks on eggshells when Rick and Rain are both at home together. I don't know when an explosion will take place. Zander is the only thing keeping Rick calm," Uncle Type had complained.

"Hello guys," Chai called out to them, and they both turned to look at us at exactly the same time. Mates were supposed to be attuned to each other, but there was something next level about their connect with each other. This was not the first time this was happening. A lot of people had noticed that they both said and did a lot of same things at the same time. "Hey P'Chai! Hey P'Fah!" Rain called out, his serious demeanour from a few minutes ago disappearing completely. It was like a 180 degree turnaround when he went from Queen to teenager in the blink of an eye!

He gestured us to sit, as Phayu smiled at both of us. Slowly others started coming in. Pai and Sky came in first, followed by Pat and Pran. Rick came in with Zander, Dean, Pharm, Don and Phailin. Dad, Mom, Uncle Tharn and Uncle Type came in with Uncle Kinn and Uncle Porche as well as the Elders in the Council. The next set of people who walked in surprised me the most. The Gods, Goddesses and the Archangels. Everyone, including Phayu stood up. Then I realised that not everyone had stood up. Rain was still sitting in his chair and Sky was sitting right in front of him, looking completely nonchalant. In fact, Rain had leaned back and was actually grinning. When we had been asked to sit, he called out, "So guys? How does it feel to be accorded so much respect?" he asked playfully. Sky snickered and all of them snickered right back.

"You don't think we should get it?" Lord Raejin asked, a stern look on his face. Both Rain and Sky shook their heads, laughing. "You brats better do that too," Lady Avani said, all of them laughing along with the two boys. This was true family, true camaraderie. They had only spent 3 years together, but I could see how close they were to each other. I looked at Rick, Zander, Uncle Type and Uncle Tharn to see their reactions. They were staring at the boys with longing and guilt on their faces. Longing because it was obvious that the two of them had slightly withdrawn from their families and guilt because they felt like they had failed the two of them. It was actually quite painful to see that.

I looked back at Rain and Sky. They were back to discussing something with Phayu and Pai. Lord Raejin and Lord Llyr were also part of it. They all nodded at something that Sky said. Lady Avani joined them and gestured to the room at large. Finally Rain stood up and they all made place for him as they moved to stand behind him in a concentrated show of support. All the others joined them as well, just as Rain raised a hand for silence.

Rick's POV:

I couldn't believe my eyes. There was pin-drop silence in the room with just one gesture from my brother. He was really powerful, and I was having a hard time accepting that. But what was harder was seeing him maintaining his distance from us, while being close to Phayu. After his outburst that day when he returned from the hospital, none of us had had a chance to talk to Rain. I had been shocked and felt quite upset at whatever Rain had said. I was taken aback by his support of Phayu and when he had stormed off, I had looked at Sky. He had simply shrugged his shoulders and followed Rain.

Finally Phayu started the meeting. "Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are aware, the Queen, Varain Kirigun has returned. He comes to us with his 2nd in command Naphon Thutanukul and his loyal team. Most of you have met Lord Raejin. For those of you who haven't met any of them, I will leave it to Rain to do the formality. I would like you all to pay attention to what he says, because a lot depends on us supporting him unconditionally," he said, his voice taking on an unconscious tone of command.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen," Rain began, a subtle transformation in his voice and the way he held himself clearly visible to those who knew him well, "let's begin with a story. A long time ago, the seven sins were trapped in a box that was opened by a young woman named Pandora. However, the sins were captured and trapped back into the box, seven locks created to trap them in and the keys hidden away for eternity. The box was then given into the hands of a guardian for safekeeping. This guardian was the protector of the prophecy. Unfortunately, she was still young and was easily deceived by the devil when he stole the box from her. He was then cursed to roam the earth, until the bearer of the prophecy was born and break that. His soul would remain the same through eons, even if the body in which he roamed would change," his story was so riveting that everyone was spellbound.

"Unfortunately for the Devil, and fortunately for us, the keys were hidden very cleverly, but the search had been set into motion. When all the keys would be found, the seven sins would be set free and they would look for hosts from the Supernatural world, who showed even an inkling of darkness within themselves. We now know that all the keys have been found and the sins have been released. They are already in search of their hosts and it will not surprise us if some them have already been found," Sky continued the story.

"So now what? Why are we being told this story?" Elder Chatpokhin asked. Don immediately glared at his father. "Dad! Stop it! Let's hear all of it!" he hissed in anger. I could see how loyal he was towards Rain in the way he reacted to his father. "You are being told this story Elder because it's time. It's time for us to stand together and prepare for the battle ahead," Rain said. "And how will we prepare Rain?" Dean asked. "By starting training as soon as possible," he said. At the confused looks he got from everyone in the room, he continued. "As Supernaturals, we all get our powers from different elements of nature. These elements, that form our core energy, must be harnessed and trained along with the honing of the mind and body. Weapons training will also be necessary." "Are you going to train us Rain?" Don asked, smiling at him. "I will of course help to train you. But your main trainers will be our guardians."

"Rain, let's introduce everyone to them," Sky prompted him. "Ah! Yes!" Rain moved out of the way and gestured towards everyone. "This is Idalia, the Sun Goddess, Neoma, the Moon Goddess, Avani, Goddess of Earth, Raejin, God of Thunder, Alizeh, God of Air, Alaz, God of Fire, Llyr, God of Water, and Archangels Gabriel and Michael," she smiled. Everyone in the room looked properly shocked and awed. I think they were more shocked and awed by the casual way Rain and Sky treated the Gods and Archangels than by their actual presence.

"So how is the training going to happen? And who will get trained?" I asked. "Everyone," Rain said. "All our best warriors, you, Zander, and everyone present here, who wants to. In fact, even other Councils need to be informed and be prepared for tumultuous times ahead." "If they wish to send their warriors and help themselves as they help us, that would be even better. Everyone who can convince them to prepare with us, you are welcome to," Phayu said.

"As for how the training will take place. Pai and Sky will draw up detailed plans. You have to work with your powers with the god or goddess of your element. Physical training will be with Alaz, Llyr and Sky. Weapons training will be with Raejin and Alizeh and me. When I say everyone will train, that includes P'Pai and P'Venice. Just because you are King, you don't escape," Rain said, turning to look at Venice. He smiled softly at him. I knew at that very moment that I had to talk to my brother as soon as possible.

Rain's POV:

I knew Hia was itching to talk to me. After my outburst that day, I had felt bad when Sky had pointed out that my family had been waiting for me since the past three years. They had probably just wanted to know what I had decided to about my relationship with P'Venice. I knew that I had to talk to them at some point. I had hoped to push it back as much as I could, but seeing Hia's expression throughout the meeting had me realising the time had come much sooner than later. I could not afford to put off this conversation any longer.

I looked at Sky and he understood immediately what I was thinking. He nodded slightly and touched P'Pai's arm and whispered to him. He smiled at Sky and immediately took out his phone. Less than a minute later, Zan took out his phone, looked at it, then at me. He must have read the plea in my eyes, because he nodded at me as well. I touched P'Venice's wrist and he stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to close the official agenda of this meeting and discuss something a bit more personal. You are welcome to stay, because it is a joyous occasion after all," he said smiling at the room in general.

"What is the discussion about Your Majesty?" an Elder asked. "The mating ceremonies for P'Saifah and P'Chai, Hia and P'Zander and other mates, that was held off because of my accident," I said. "I know that war is coming, but before we get into the heat of training, let's create some beautiful memories," I continued. "Will these ceremonies include one of yours Your Majesty?" Rick asked, sarcasm dripping from his tone. "It could, but it will not," I said. "Even though P'Venice and I have been mates for a long time, the fact that we discovered each other very late cannot be negated. So no, this time we will concentrate on you." Sweetness dripped from mine, and Zan touched Hia's hand and shook his head.

"Pa, Uncle Type, I am sure you guys have planned everything. So why don't we leave the floor to you," P'Venice suggested, completely in tune with the undercurrents in the room. I got up and got down from the platform, everyone following me. when I crossed Pa, I touched his arm. He smiled and hugged me. "It will be okay," he whispered. I smiled back. My Pa really could not keep grudges. P'Venice had told me how he was the only one who never treated him with disregard in the past three years.

Phi and I had talked a lot this past one week, shared a lot of things that we should have actually done as mates. But it was better late than never, right? I had told him about why I had decided to learn skating. "It was quite a rebellion Nangfa," he said laughing. Then suddenly he stopped and looked askance at me. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to." "Didn't mean to what?" I asked. "Didn't mean to call you Nangfa. It just slipped out," he replied, looking pained. "So, I am not your Angel?" I pouted. "I mean, I don't know?" he sounded flustered. Man! That was incredibly cute! "You can call me Nangfa, but there are two conditions," I told him. "What are those conditions?" he asked.

"One, as long as it is something you didn't call Pensri. Two, as long as you don't do it in front of other people," I told him. " I never called her that. She was always Pensri. No nicknames," he said quietly. But in all our conversations, there was one thing he always mentioned. "Rick really missed you Rain. He wasn't able to function for quite a while after your accident. Your parents too. So talk to them. Don't cut yourself off from them. Don't feel bad for me, I only got what I deserved," he said.

Soon Pa and Uncle Pete were done explaining everything and after everyone had said their congratulations and left the room, I went forward to Pa. "Pa, can we talk? All of us? Uncle Pete, you and Uncle Vegas too? And the whole family?" I asked. "Of course darling. Let's meet in Phayu's office in 10 minutes?" Uncle Pete said. "Okay, 10 minutes then," I said. I would much need these 10 minutes to gather my thoughts. I looked and my guardians as they came forward. "We will leave now Varain. We will see you tomorrow bright and early at training," Alizeh said. "Have a good chat with your family," Avani whispered before she left. They all knew what had happened, and had encouraged me to clear the air as soon as possible.