An Owl's Rise

"Neither of us have been willing to speak of it, but we went through something horrible together. You were there with me when we were dragged away to that lab and watched our parents die. I know that I am harboring some resentment for you from back then, and as much as I do not want to, I cannot help it. You got caught in that trap and that led to all of us begin captured. That was not really your fault, back then the bait that they used was alluring and you did not know better. Still, we went through so much pain and it is hard for me to forgive you." Evelyn said, a grimace on her face.

Bring this all up with Verrader was causing her to remember what happened vividly, and it was taking a lot for her to not break down in tears.

Luckily, she had faced her trauma before and while it hurt to look back at it, she was able to keep her mind focused enough to continue the conversation.

"Now I have told you what my feelings are, but what about you? Clearly you have some animosity for me from that time as well. I want to know why exactly that is? I can speculate, but unless you tell me I will not know." Evelyn said, fixing Verrader with a stern look. She was clearly not going to let him weasel out of this and wanted the truth from him.

Verrader, being confronted with something he never wanted to speak of, froze up.

He was not sure what to say in this situation. A part of him just wanted to lie, and another wanted to throw all of his built-up anger at Evelyn.

In the end though he stayed calm and told Evelyn a half-truth instead of everything that happened.

"You are right, I do resent you, Evelyn. Why did you get to survive instead of our parents? They both died, but you got to live. Then when you escaped, you did not even look for me. I watched you fly away, still locked in a cage in that collapsing faciality. You cannot imagine the fear I experienced in that place. Barely kept alive, and in the end, forgotten by even my sister. You left me to rot in that hellhole." Verrader said, seething with fury.

Despite his best attempt to control himself he could not help the anger seeping out into his tone.

Hearing this Evelyn frowned. Not because she felt bad for Verrader, but because his story did not seem to match up with what she had heard from Aralee.

"I thought that you managed to escape when collapsing rubble damaged your cage? But now you are telling me that you watched me leave and did not escape on your own?" Evelyn asked, a perplexed expression on her face.

"That is correct, I did not make some miraculous escape like you did. I was stuck in that cage hen the humans that attacked that place pulled me out. But in their cruelty, they left me for dead. They did not even give me the mercy of being put out of my misery. Those humans just left me there to wither away slowly. I spent another two days trapped in that cage. Slowly dying, until my true savior arrived. Unlike the other humans this one seemed to pity me and broke me out of my cage. So no, I did not escape on my own, but only survived thanks to the actions of another. I nearly died in that horrible place because you ran off without me. Why couldn't you have just taken some time to search for me. I believed that you would help me."

After saying his piece Verrader could not help the tears falling down his face. Yet he had not told the half of what had happened to him.

The man that had freed him did not simply let him go, he kept him as a pet until he could be useful.

"I can understand where you are coming from." Evelyn responded. "It is true that I left you there. When I was escaping I thought about searching for you, but prioritized my own safety. A part of me even believed that you desired whatever fate had in store for you. However, I am not the same as I was then. I no longer believe that it was your fault that our parents were killed and that things ended up the way that they are. Those humans that captured and tortured us are the ones that destroyed our family and caused all of our suffering. I do not want to hate you Verrader. If I did, I would never have allowed you to join my group. I don't know your motives for associating with me if you truly hate me. Perhaps you just want to leech off me, or maybe even harm me. I still do not really trust you, but I want to. If we just hold what happened against each other the ones that will be hurt are not the humans that took everything from us, but ourselves. Verrader, we have a chance to be a family again, and I do not want to allow the resentment that we both have to ruin things. I forgive you for what happened Verrader. It was not your fault that we were captured."

With hope in her eyes, Evelyn waited for Verrader's response.

Frankly she already had too much rage to be holding on to any directed at her brother, when it was merely an unfortunate circumstance, he could not control that led to the human's capturing them.

At the time he was still very young and low ranked, there was no way he could have recognized the trap set out for him.

Having listened to Evelyn's entire speech, Verrader just sat there staring blankly.

Deep down, he always blamed himself for what had happened. But in his anger, he liked to hold Evelyn accountable. He would think things like 'She could have done more' or, 'If she had just stayed away, I would have been the only one taken.' Still if he went to his core, he believed that it was his mistake that had gotten his family captured and their parents killed.

But hearing that Evelyn forgave him, made it feel like a weight had been taken off his shoulders.

"Evelyn I- "

Freezing midsentence, Verrader was about to tell his sister something that he had been keeping a secret, but the face of the man who had rescued him, his master, popped into his mind.

For nearly two minutes Verrader just looked forward in a daze, his mind racing with what to do.

"Thank you for forgiving me, Evelyn. I know that there was nothing you could do in that situation. I know I am holding what occurred against you unfairly. Please, just give me a little time to organize my thoughts." Verrader said, his head hung low.

He then turned around and walked away. Mumbling to himself incomprehensibly and giving Evelyn cause for worry.

Nevertheless, she let him go. It was obvious that he was trying to work through something on his own, and that any more intervene from her would just make things worse.

'I said what I wanted and got my feeling across to him. Now it is up to him whether he can let go. If not I will have to force him out of the group even if it means giving up on Aralee as well.' Evelyn thought, before heading back over the others.

"So, what was that about?" Rehni asked, curiously.

"I will tell you all later when it is fully resolved. For now, we have something else to discuss. However, Aralee, could you go and check on Verrader. He is pretty shaken up right now, and you are probably the only one that can help him. You are closer to him than me after all."

Nodding her head, Aralee, looked towards where Verrader had headed off alone and flew after him. Leaving Evelyn alone with Bylur and Rehni.

"Okay now that Aralee is gone, are you going to tell us what just happened?" Rehni said, one of her eyebrows raised.

Naturally she saw through Evelyn's deception of sending Aralee away.

"Yes, it might take a bit though." Evelyn said before relaying everything that she had just discussed with Verrader.

"That certainly is quite a lot. And he still hasn't figured out what to do?" Bylur asked.

",No something seems to be holding him back, I am not sure what though. He seemed ready to completely forgive me for a moment, but then held back. I am not sure what is going on with him, but my gut tells me it is not good. To that end, I want one of you to stay behind and keep an eye on him while I deliver the items Otis needs to evolve."