Danyel: Once Upon a Time is over at the Formerly Forbidden Cauldron right now. (He shudders.)
Tayel: Secrets may be revealed to one from another universe trapped in a crystal coffin that remain hidden to us.
Danyel: Do you think he’s telling Quartz his plans? Should we spy on him?
(A red curtain appears behind the twins in the misty landscape of the Cauldron. Yes, it’s the same curtain which often appears in Secondary Characters Speak Out.)
Voice of Dyvian: (It comes from behind the curtain.) There’s no need to spy on me, little ones. All I say is available for anyone who wishes to visit, including you.
(This is true. You can all read what Dyvian is saying to Quartz at inspirationcauldron.blogspot.com.)
Tayel: Transparency can be the perfect concealment for an opaque nature.
Danyel: Opaque?! Lord Dyvian is the very essence of darkness, a black which absorbs and devours all colour behind a pair of rainbow eyes, which are just a cold reflection of Christopher’s!
Voice of Dyvian: You wound me, little Hand of Seraphix. Not to mention you judge me most unfairly. Christopher’s nature isn’t that different than my own. I would think you all people would understand this, after what he did to you during Camp NaNoWriMo.
Tayel: Truth is on his lips, even if they’re truths meant to entrap and ensnare. Once Upon a Time would have more insight into Happily Ever After than you.
Danyel: No, he wouldn’t. Christopher isn’t Happily Ever After, not always.
Voice of Dyvian: Such denial of your flawed, hungry creator’s nature. I envy Christopher’s ability to inspire devotion in others, even his victims.
Tayel: You were nearly Christopher’s victim, Danyel. Not Happily Ever After, but Christopher. He almost drained you of your warmth, reducing you to a shadow of yourself.
Danyel: Why are you siding with Leiwell’s lord? Don’t tell me he charmed you as well?
Tayel: One can acknowledge the honesty in another’s words without being charmed by them. You view Christopher in the rosy light of idealization, much as you do our brother.
Danyel: Maybe I’ve met a side of Christopher you haven’t beyond the Door. Maybe you view both Leiwell and Christopher as part of a dark landscape filled with hungry creatures waiting to attack.
Tayel: (He looks furious, opens his mouth, only to close it. His expression turns thoughtful.) There may be some truth in your words. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any in mine.
Voice of Dyvian: (He chuckles behind the curtain.) You two are adorable. I can see why Seraphix dotes on you. I wish I could win your loyalty as well as your older brother’s.
Danyel: Never. We’re never going fall for your pretty words and promises the way Leiwell did.
Tayel: An opaque nature is not one which wins affection by revealing itself, but by presenting what others want to see.
Voice of Dyvian: And you see this only too keenly, little Eye of Seraphix. Consider this, even as you reject me. Wouldn’t Leiwell and the rest of your family, not to mention everyone you care about be safer if you were at my side, keeping that sharp sight of yours trained on me?
Danyel: Don’t listen to him, Tayel.
Voice of Dyvian: And you, little Hand of Seraphix, wouldn’t you be in a better position to act if you were at your twin’s side the moment he detected any naughtiness on my part?
Tayel: Nothing you say hasn’t already crossed my mind.
Voice of Dyvian: Well, just keep these cross thoughts in your minds, my dears. I’ll be waiting for you when you finally come to your senses.
(The red curtain disappears.)
Danyel: What a bad joke about cross thoughts. Not only is a villain, he has a terrible sense of humour.
Tayel: Terrible truths are sometimes worse than lies. Cross thoughts may well occur as Once Upon a Time draws closer to Leiwell, our mothers, to Damian and to Christopher.
Danyel: Please tell me you’re not considering accepting his offer.
Tayel: I consider many things. As do you.
Danyel: Maybe you’re right. Let’s consider other things as well before we go accepting the greedy hand of Once Upon a Time.
Tayel: Or the equally greedy hand of Happily Ever After.
Danyel: I still have a hard time seeing Christopher, my Christopher as Happily Ever After.
Tayel: He’s not just your Christopher any more than he’s simply Damian’s Christopher. He’s many things including Happily Ever After.
Danyel: I guess he’ll always be Christopher to me.
Tayel: Beware of that feeling. It could deceive and devour you, stealing you from yourself.
Danyel: It’s possible to steal yourself back. Christopher did.
Tayel: Not as he once was. I would grieve to lose you, Danyel, as Christopher once lost Damian.
Danyel: I’m not planning on going anywhere.
Tayel: We’re always moving, even when we’re standing still.
Danyel: All right, if I do go, I’ll make sure to look back, to be certain you’re with me. If not, I’ll come looking for you.
Tayel: Don’t make promises you can’t keep or that will put you in danger.
Danyel: Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet and we cannot help.
Tayel: What has happened will happen again.
Danyel: Don’t spoil the wave, remember?
Tayel: I doubt I’ve revealed anything a reader hasn’t already guessed.
Danyel: Let’s leave it at that.
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