Hi everyone, SK here.

So, you've met August and Valerie.. but there's still someone new that you have to meet.  I think you know who it is.  

Before I go overboard on this A/N, I'll start the chapter now.  Enjoy!

Verity

"Heliux, wait!"

I open my eyes to Layra's urgent voice flying past my room.  What time is it...?

From looking out my window, I can tell that it's late-morning.  Sighing, I get out of bed, stretch, and change into my day-clothes.  I slip on my royal blue romper with my purple shall; the shall has a beautiful yellow outline and is joined together by a star-shaped button.  I put on my red gem belt that has what I like to call a cape flowing out of it; the piece of fabric is decorated with pretty yellow spiral designs.  As I finish my look by putting on my dark purple boots and golden collar necklace, I can't help but sigh.  Couldn't I have slept for a couple more minutes at least?

Normally I would have just stayed in bed, but it's Layra's voice that really got me awake.  Specifically, the urgency of it.  No one should be sounding urgent on the weekend, so something must be wrong.  If something's wrong, I figure I should probably be awake.  

Dad should also probably be awake, and if I just woke up, he is certainly still sleeping.  He sometimes gets up early to train with Greninja, but today's Sunday.  He doesn't train on the weekend.  

I open the door to the hallway with a yawn, then walk down the hallway.  As I pass August's room, I hear him and Mom, but I also hear a new voice.  A new fairy?  I question.  But from the one line I've heard, Heliux seems upset.  I don't think he'd be upset by a new fairy... or would he?  That man is all over the place.

Frustration seeps through me.  I hate being left out of the loop.  I want to know what's happening, and I want to know now.

As soon as I'm about to push open Dad's door, I feel a hand on my shoulder.  Jumping, I quickly spin around, but I'm met with relief to see that it's only Mom.  

"Looks like someone's finally awake," she teases, making me smile.  "Did you sleep well?"

I nod.  "Are the Ministers okay?" I ask her.  "I heard them running past my room a few seconds ago.  Also, I heard a new voice in August's room, who is it?"

Mom laughs.  "Nothing escapes you, Verity," she tells me with a glint in her eye.  "Why don't you go to his room and see?  I'll go and wake up your father."

"Okay then," I agree, and I turn around to travel in the direction that I originally came from.  Once I reach August's door, I curl my hand up into a fist and knock three times.  He opens the door and peaks through, and once he sees that it's me, he opens the door fully.

"Look who finally decided to wake up," he begins.  "Valerie, this is my sister, Verity."

Who's- Valerie, I was going to think, but I suddenly see the girl sitting at August's desk.  She has long wavy chocolate-coloured hair, and eyes that remind me of the night sky.  She's... she's very beautiful.  I feel my heart flutter just by looking at her. 

She also doesn't have wings, so she's not a full fairy.  That's normal, though.  When someone new comes into the Colony for the first time, they don't have wings until they get Initiated.  

"Hi," I tell her, still sounding a little wary.  I don't know what her relationship with my brother is, but I sure as heck don't have one with her, despite her looks.  I don't know this girl yet, so I'm not going to act like she's my best friend.  "Welcome to the Colony."

"Thanks," she says in a light-sounding voice, and I can sense the shyness in it.  "It's nice to meet you.  August has told me a lot about you."

"Oh, has he now?" I ask her with a cheeky look at him.  I enter the room, softly closing the door behind me.  "And when has he told you all about me?"

The new girl- Valerie- seems a little phased by me.  "August, does she know?"

I stare at them both blankly.  "Know what?"

August sighs and shakes his head.  "Okay Verity, I know you're going to enjoy this, but I've been breaking the rules."

He's right, that brings a smile to my face.  It's always been me rebelling, least he could do is rebel a little more so I don't have to carry the torch for both of us.  "What have you been doing?"

"I'll tell her," Valerie answers.  She turns to me, looking slightly uneasy.  "He's been travelling to the human world for about a year now, every single night, to visit me.  We became friends."

He's been breaking the rules for a year?  I smile at him sarcastically.  "I'm so proud of you."

"Shut up."

"No."

I pause for a moment.  "Wait, does that mean you're not a new Elemental...?"

Valerie shakes her head.  "What's an Elemental?" she asks.

"Oh, um..." I scramble to think of a valid response.  "It's a person who's about to become a fairy."

"Oh, okay," the girl replies, shrugging.  "I don't think I am one then.  August just brought me here last night."

I flash my gaze towards him, waiting for him to explain the story.  "Well?"

"Lay off, will you?" he protests.  "I know you love to pry but still."  He sighs, then glances at his friend.  Or is she his girlfriend?  Valerie did say that they became friends, but something seems like they could be more than that.  "I can tell Verity, right?" he asks her.

Valerie nods, though I can sense that she's a little uncomfortable by the whole situation.

"Last night, her dad-"

"He's not my dad," Valerie interjects.  We turn to her and she has her hands balled into fists, her teeth clenched.  "A dad is a person that you can always go to for love and support, and someone who will always be there to drag you out of the mud no matter what you do.  That's not what he is."

"So your father then?" I offer.  I can tell that she's deeply troubled by whatever happened last night, but I'm already guessing that it has something to do with her dad- her father, or whatever.

She shakes her head.  "A father is just someone that supplies DNA.  He's not even that."

"Oh, so you were adopted?" I ask her, and she nods.  Valerie then looks apologetic as she turns to my brother.  

"I interrupted you, sorry," she tells him, but August waves it off.

"It's no problem," he tells her, then glances back towards me.  "Basically, her adopted father-" he chooses his words carefully- "had a little extra to drink last night.  He tried to kill her.  I was there, I saw the gun and everything.  She ran into the forest searching for me, and I found her and helped her out.  I brought her here so she could be safe."

"How dare he!?" I yell.  Even though I still don't know Valerie very well, she seems like a kind enough person.  How dare this guy try and do that to her?  "Why was he drinking?  Does he do that all the time?  What about your mother, did she try and help you?"  The questions come out before I can stop them, and I feel a tad guilty for overloading her.

To my dismay, she nods.  "He's been doing it for as long as I can remember.  Usually he does... other stuff, but he's never escalated to that extent before.  And as for my adopted mother..." her voice grows cold.  "She's been gone for as long as I can remember."

"I'm sorry," August and I both say in unison.  I know August's just saying it out of sheer politeness because he must know already, but I say it genuinely.  From her tone of voice, it sounds like she doesn't like her adopted mom much either.  It's horrible that she doesn't have a family to run to.  I'd be lost without my brother, and my parents.

I'm not going to question her as to what the supposed "other stuff" is, or why she hasn't gotten the police involved.  It's not my place to ask her about that. 

It is in my place, however, to ask what the hell happened with Heliux and Layra.

"So I'm assuming the Ministers were here earlier," I begin, and I catch a relieved glance from Valerie.  "What happened?"

August shrugs.  "No idea," he replies.  "I brought them up here to meet Valerie, but as soon as he saw her Heliux got really pale and he started shaking; he looked really sick.  He excused himself after a few seconds, and Layra followed him."

"She didn't look well either," Valerie adds.  "She was fidgety and she couldn't look at me for more than a second."  She looks down.  "Is there something wrong?"

"No, of course not," August is quick to reassure her.  "There's nothing wrong with you."

"Both Ministers have seen a lot of stuff in their lives," I explain to her.  "They're really old.  Maybe you looked like someone they had trouble with in the past, and that's why they were acting like that."

"How old are they?" she questions.

"No one really knows," August answers.  "I'm not sure that they even know.  They've been with the fairies since the very beginning; if I were to guess, that'd be a couple billion years ago."

"Wow," Valerie says in awe.  "I guess your theory makes sense then, Verity."

"We can go see," I offer excitedly.  "I can go eavesdrop on them and figure out why they freaked out!"

August sighs.  "Normally I'd object to you doing these kinds of schemes, but I want to know too.  Besides, I know I won't be able to change your mind anyways."

I grin.  "You're coming with me," I tell him before he can protest.  I grab hold of his arm but just as I'm about to leave the room, Valerie clears her throat.

"Um, you two won't get in trouble, right?" she checks.  

"I don't think so," I muse.  "Don't you want to know why the Ministers acted the way they did?"

"Verity, she's new, she barely knows anyone, let alone H-"

"No no, it's okay August," the new girl says, interrupting him.  "You can go.  I just want to know if I did anything to upset them."

"We'll be back soon then!" I say cheerfully, dragging August out of his room behind me.  I continue forward while he shuts the door, and shortly after he runs to catch up with my pace.

"Verity," he says evenly, "I really don't think we should be leaving Valerie alone."

I look at him, puzzled.  "Why, what's going to happen?  The Colony is one of the safest places to be."

He sighs.  "I know, but... she's in a new place, surrounded by people who she's never met before; plus, what if she feels uncomfortable being with fairies?"

I flash him a sly grin as we continue down the stairs.  "You care an awful lot about that girl, you know that?" 

My brother just shrugs.  "Of course I do, she's my friend after all."

Lamest excuse ever.

We round the corner and approach their rooms.  I can hear a muffled yelling from Heliux's side, so I press my ear up against his door to hopefully hear better.

August looks like he's about to say something but I stop him.  "I can hear them," I whisper.

"I know you can, but I want to as well, you know!" he whisper-yells.

I sigh and move over, giving him space to listen in as well.  Through sound barrier, I can discern Heliux's deep-sounding voice and Layra's silky-smooth voice.

"Heliux you need to calm down.  We don't know-"

"Layra, did you even look at her!?"

"I did, but-"

"Her eyes, Layra!  Her eyes.  They looked just like stars."

Layra falls silent.

"Star?  Star as in Her Majesty's friend?" August whispers to me.  "They said that Valerie's eyes looked just like Star's."

"No they didn't, they just said they looked like stars..."

We blink at each other and I pinch the bridge of my nose.  Dammit, I think August is right on this one.  I hate when words sound the same.

"And what do you two think you're doing?" 

August and I jump as we turn around to see the stern faces of our parents.  Crap.

"We just wanted to see if the Ministers were okay," I say innocently.  I want to cringe at myself.  Verity, you're basically 500 years old.  Why are you playing this childish crap?

"And Tepigs fly," Dad retorts, though I can tell that he's trying to hide his smile.  "Why don't you both go upstairs and spend some time with our newcomer?  Your mom and I will talk to Heliux and Layra."

Both of us nod as our parents knock and enter the room.  August immediately goes to leave, but stops when he notices that I'm not following him.

"You're not coming?" he says, with an I-told-you look on his face.  

"I want to listen a bit more," I tell him, shooing him away.  "I'll tell you guys if I hear anything interesting.  Go spend some time with your girlfriend," I add with a teasing grin on my face, ignoring the small ache that arises when I say that.  

August doesn't have the reaction I was hoping for; instead he just frustratedly shakes his head at me.  "She's my friend," he points out.  "But fine.  I'll see you in a little bit."  With that, he leaves.

With a sigh, I press my ear against the door once again-

"You WHAT!?"

Mom's screech makes me jump backward, which means I probably missed a bit of dialogue.  With a huff I go to listen once again, praying that I won't be interrupted this time.

"Yes, Your Lightness..."

"How come you never... you never said anything!"

"We know.  We couldn't say anything.  It was a mistake that we made, and we have been paying the price for it for the past five centuries."

"Layra, you know that we would've liked to know..."

"We both apologize for acting out earlier-"

"That was mainly you, Love."

"No matter; we will both go talk with and inform her later today before the trial.  When are you planning to host it?"

They begin talking about the upcoming trial but that information isn't exactly relevant to what I'm trying to find out.  With a sigh, I go to return upstairs.

I guess I have a little bit of information to share.

Okay okay okay I KNOW what you're all thinking.  

I guess you'll all find out whether your suspicions are correct in the upcoming chapters.

Nonetheless, I do hope you enjoyed this chapter!!  I know these chapters have been a little long (at least 2K words) so I want to say an extra thank-you for reading them.

Oh, and before I forget, Verity's picture:

ALSO: If you'd like to see more Fairy Duology stuff or important updates, I recommend adding my random book (SK's Randomness) to your library.

Well, that's all from me today.  Until the next chapter! :)