Good Morning Brother
Zorian’s eyes abruptly shot open as a sharp pain erupted from his stomach. His whole body convulsed, buckling against the object that fell on him, and suddenly he was wide awake, not a trace of drowsiness in his mind.
“Good morning, brother!” an annoyingly cheerful voice sounded right on top of him. “Morning, morning, MORNING!!!”
Zorian glared at his little sister, but she just smiled back at him cheekily, still sprawled across his stomach. She was humming to herself in obvious satisfaction, kicking her feet playfully in the air as she studied the giant world map Zorian had tacked to the wall next to his bed. Or rather, pretended to study – Zorian could see her watching him intently out of the corner of her eyes for a reaction.
This was what he got for not locking the door and setting up a basic alarm perimeter around his bed.
“Get off,” he told her in the calmest voice he could muster.
“Mom said to wake you up,” she said matter-of-factly, not budging from her spot.
“Not like this, she didn’t,” Zorian grumbled, swallowing his irritation and patiently waiting till she dropped her guard. Predictably, Kirielle grew visibly agitated after only a few moments of this pretend disinterest. Just before she could blow up, Zorian quickly grasped her legs and chest and flipped her over the edge of the bed. She fell to the floor with a thud and an indignant yelp, and Zorian quickly jumped to his feet to better respond to any violence she might decide to retaliate with. He glanced down on her and sniffed disdainfully. “I’ll be sure to remember this the next time I’m asked to wake you up.”
“Fat chance of that,” she retorted defiantly. “You always sleep longer than I do.”
Zorian simply sighed in defeat. Damn the little imp, but she was right about that.
“So…” she began excitedly, jumping to her feet, “are you excited?”
Zorian watched her for a moment as she bounced around his room like a monkey on caffeine. Sometimes he wished he had some of that boundless energy of hers. But only some.
“About what?” Zorian asked innocently, feigning ignorance. He knew what she meant, of course, but constantly asking obvious questions was the fastest way of frustrating his little sister into dropping a conversation he’d rather not have.
“Going back to academy!” she whined, clearly aware of what he was doing. He needed to learn some new tricks. “Learning magic. Can you show me some magic?”
Zorian let out a long-suffering sigh. Kirielle had always treated him as something of a playmate of hers, despite him doing his best not to encourage her, but usually she remained within certain unspoken boundaries. She was downright impossible this year, though, and Mother was wholly unsympathetic to his pleas to rein her in. All he did was read all day long, she said, so it wasn’t as if he was doing anything important… Thankfully the summer break was over and he could finally get away from them all.