SURVIVE (THRIVE: Book Two)

Chapter 5- Intrigue

I can't believe my eyes. Nixi is one of the Eternal Family, we were literally talking about her in school and now, here she was, standing in front of us. After glancing at everyone, we all hesitantly step forward.

    "Hi!" Nixi shouts and waves at us "Thanks for helping my daughter out, I was starting to get worried." she says appreciatively.

    "It was no trouble at all," I state, unable to stop staring. She glances across all of our faces and giggles as she shakes her head.

    "Alright, get the starstruck stares out of the way. I'm just a person, nothing more." she laughs. Rynn seems to be confused by our shock but doesn't say anything.

    "I... uh..." Alex is at a complete loss for words.

    "Holy shit," Aria mutters under her breath, then looks up embarrassed "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she suddenly bows.

    "Seriously, not necessary." Nixi laughs "So, what are you four up to out here today?" she asks politely.

    "I'm not sure if we were relaxing or having a water fight." I state as I start to laugh "Pretty much a mix of both."

    "Sounds like fun." she laughs as she wraps her arm over Rynn's shoulders "Look, I'd like to thank you for helping me out. Wanna get something to eat?" she asks. Everyone else seems to freeze up at the offer.

    "Sure, that sounds great," I answer for all of us. It would be crazy to turn down a goddess.

    "Cool, my brother runs a tavern in town," she states as she waves for us to follow her. As we walk, I'm still in complete surprise at running into her. I knew that people would randomly run into the Eternal's, but I never expected us to. Especially after helping one of their kids that I didn't even know existed. Suddenly, I start to think about that fact. Nixi was only twenty-nine. It seems odd that she has a daughter that's thirteen or fourteen.

    As we walked through town, people bow their heads kindly at her, and she seems to wave happily at everyone. It seems so natural for her, but she doesn't seem like she cares about praise. To her, she's just a normal person like the rest of us. When we finally make it to the tavern, we walk inside and look around. We had all heard about this place before. Nearly six generations ago, Rain helped run this place with her family before the gap years. Now, it was being run by members of the Eternal Family. Right now, it was Eli and his son Jasper. Eli was the second oldest of the family right now at nearly fifty years old. His son was about the same age as Nixi.

    "Hey sis, come on in," Eli states as he waves from behind the counter. It was the middle of the day, so the place was empty aside from us.

    "What's up?" she says casually as we all file in behind her "I brought some friends with me, I hope you've got something good cooking back there." she laughs as she grabs a table.

    "Crab cakes, I hope that's okay." I hear a man shout from the back.

    "Sounds good." Nixi shouts back "Come on, sit down." she motions to the table. Rynn hops up on a stool at the bar counter and Eli rustles her hair.

    "You scared the hell out of your mom earlier, you know that?" he says as he looks at her "I suppose that's my fault. I didn't mean to be that big of a distraction." he sighs.

    "It's okay, these guys helped me find her." Rynn smiles back at us.

    "Good to hear it." Eli says happily as he looks over at us "You guys look a little young in the tooth for the good stuff, so how about some smoothies?" he offers. We all nod excitedly as he heads to the back.

    "So, you four are from Nanea's home, aren't you?" she asks, and suddenly, we're all in shock again.

    "You know Miss Nanea?" Aria asks, surprised.

    "Oh, absolutely. I helped establish that home a long time ago, I like to keep up with how things are going there." she smiles.

    "Wow, I had no idea." Pearl says in awe "Things there are great honestly, I don't really have any complaints." She smiles happily.

    "Yeah, Miss Nanea and Brendan are great to us." Alex adds "I mean, I'm a pain in the ass but they put up with me, so..." he stops himself and suddenly looks embarrassed.

    "Yeah, he's the worst but we still love him." Pearl laughs.

    "They could use a challenge sometimes anyway. Keep up the good work." Nixi winks and looks back at her daughter "I'm honestly a fan of the chaos." she smiles.

    "I'm not that bad," Rynn states as Eli and Jasper suddenly come out with a tray full of smoothies. Rynn's eyes widen as Jasper places one in front of her and immediately dives in to devour it.

    "She's a handful, but I love her." Nixi laughs as Jasper delivers our drinks.

    "How old is she, anyway?" Pearl asks curiously.

    "Thirteen." Nixi answers, then scans our faces "I know you're doing the math. I was a teen mom. I didn't announce her arrival for a lot of reasons, giving people something to judge me on would have been pointless." she explains.

    "I can understand that," I sigh. "My mom was a teen too."

    "I heard." Nixi states "Nanea was upset that you were left alone on her doorstep, but she knew that if that girl wasn't ready to be a mother it was probably for the best." she explains.

    "She talks to you about us?" Aria asks curiously.

    "Of course." Nixi smiles "She's proud of all of you, so she likes to brag. I haven't seen her in a while though, since I ran into you guys I should probably get in touch with her again." she thinks to herself "Maybe I'll snag her at the festival tomorrow after all the fuss is over."

    "Oh yea, I forgot about that," Alex states as he sips on his smoothie.

    "It feels like just yesterday Phoenix was a little boy, now he's a man again and he and his sister are gonna cause just as much mischief as before. I love it." Nixi laughs "Scara, ...Roxie has her hands full now that she's on her own, that's for sure."

    "I can imagine." Pearl states "Wait a minute... I thought you had a son too? How come he wasn't your first-born? I thought that was how it was supposed to work?" she asks curiously.

    "You're right, it is. And since you're asking, he actually was." Nixi explains as she smiles at Rynn "Joey was never really a boy, this time, nature got it right." she turns back to us and grins.

    "Holy shit." Aria states "That's incredible."

    "It's amazing that she was able to be herself this time around," Pearl says excitedly as we watch Rynn hold her mug bottoms up, chugging the remainder of her mango smoothie.

    "So, are you guys excited for tomorrow?" Nixi asks happily.

    "Yes and no, it's always way too crowded on this side of town." Alex sighs.

    "Amen to that," Nixi states as she sips on her drink.

    "You guys are always welcome to hang out here if you'd like." Jasper offers kindly "Some of the others usually drop in around midnight if you'd like to meet them." he explains. I suddenly feel excited at the invitation. We just got to spend the entire day chatting with them, and now they want us to come back tomorrow during one of the biggest festivals of the year. Talking with Nixi feels so natural; she's right, she's just a person. She has so many great stories to tell, and learning about them in school is one thing, but hearing what it was like to go from a pirate captain to a goddess in one day was fascinating to hear from her perspective. She lived it, and she was still going strong all these centuries later. It's hard to believe that this kind young woman we're talking to had fought in one of the hardest battles in the history of our empire. Hearing her talk about how they took down Gael was terrifying to even imagine. When we were taught about it, it was incredibly vague since it was a hard topic for the Eternals to revisit. This has been one of the most intriguing conversations I have ever been a part of. Like I was thinking before, I couldn't be happier.