‘General Sebastian Govad,’ so he addressed their uncle, bowing his head.

    ‘Captain Erick.’ Mr Govad returned the smile as he walked towards Erick with a hand held forward. As Erick and their uncle shook hands, Leo and Ursula’s bafflement could be seen across the room.

    ‘I didn’t know that you sir —’

    ‘Their Uncle?’ said Mr Govad.

    ‘Yes,’ said Erick looking pleasantly surprised. ‘They never give out much information.’

    ‘This is Teresa Donner,’ Mr Govad introduced his sister.

    ‘Of course, I heard a lot about you madam,’ Erick looked star-struck. ‘It’s an honour to finally meet you.’

    ‘Thank you,’ she said with a reserved smile.

    ‘Mum?’ Leo and Ursula chorused.

    ‘Congratulations my dears,’ said Teresa ecstatically, holding her gaping children by the arms. ‘We just heard at the Rest House that the new warriors will arrive tonight and I was praying all the way home that you’ll be with them.’

    ‘I believe I must go now,’ said Erick. 

    ‘We will take it from here,’ said Mr Govad.

    ‘I’ll go back the way I came if you don’t mind, general,’ said Erick. ‘I’m sorry for the way I entered the house but I’—Erick stopped and looked at Leo and Ursula then he added to Mr Govad privately—‘I think I was being followed and I was only trying to keep their address a secret, at least until we leave tomorrow.’

    ‘Followed?’ asked Teresa.

    ‘Security precautions, no need to worry,’ said Erick quickly with a smile, and then he bowed politely to Mr Govad not giving him a chance to enquire about what he said. ‘I’ll be waiting for you two,’ Erick told Leo and Ursula as he put his hood back on.

    ‘Everything will be in order,’ Mr Govad assured Erick as he put a proud arm around the shoulder of his older nephew, and with that, Erick floated back upstairs. After the man was gone, Leo and Ursula, who were still shocked beyond words, stared at both their mother and uncle and silently waited for answers.

    ‘Alright, alright, I’ll tell you everything,’ was Mr Govad’s answer to his nephews’ piercing gazes. ‘But first, I want you to read those papers.’ Ursula started digging into her bundle at once, but Leo had no desire for reading at the moment.

    ‘Before doing anything, I want to know who was that man and why do you know him?’ said Leo. 

    ‘Your mother and I are warriors,’ said Mr Govad simply, ‘just like you and your sister.’

    ‘I don’t understand. That man said it too,’ said Ursula. ‘What warriors? Of what army? Is this a joke?’

    ‘This is no joke, dear Ursula,’ said Mr Govad, ‘it’s the truth.’

    ‘What exactly are you asking us to believe?’ said Leo.

    ‘I think you’d better explain this from the beginning, Sebastian,’ Teresa suggested. So Mr Govad sat back in an armchair and took a breath. Leo didn’t sit as he folded his arms and waited impatiently for his uncle to start talking. ‘There is a—place, somewhere you can’t find on any map that you know. It’s more like the world you might’ve read about in fairy tales. People live in that world but there are also other creatures like the whoopa and the elves who call themselves the guardians of the forest. It’s strange and it can be overwhelming to think that such a place could actually exist, but it does, and it’s our true home. It’s called Hozafia.’

    ‘Our true home?’ said Ursula.

    ‘As strange as this may sound to you, we are not native Celavians,’ said their uncle. ‘Hozafia is where our true lineage comes from. Leo was even born there.’

    ‘I wasn’t born in Celavia?’ Leo was surprised and more so when he noticed Teresa looking unnecessarily scared; the conversation seemed to be going in a direction she didn’t wish to talk about.

    ‘First, let’s talk about Hozafia,’ Teresa said quickly.

    ‘Hozafia is only part of a bigger world. It’s a world that lies side by side with this one, but no one knows about it except those who originally came from it,’ said Mr Govad.

    ‘Hozafia,’ Ursula tried the word. ‘If it’s not on any map, how can you go there?’

    ‘There is only one way you can go there, and you’re going to see it for yourself,’ said Mr Govad. ‘Erick; that one you just met, is going to take you there.’

    ‘Take us there?’ Ursula repeated, her eyes open wide.

    ‘And who said we want to go there?’ asked Leo. His uncle smiled; he seemed to expect that. Ursula was always curious and adventurous, she would probably be tempted to explore a new, strange world even by herself, but it was no surprise, that Leo would be hard to convince.

    ‘I’m afraid it doesn’t matter if you want to go,’ said Mr Govad cautiously. ‘It’s the duty of every Hozafian living here in Celavia, to go back and become who they’re meant to be, and there comes a day when every Hozafian is asked to fulfil that duty. For you and your sister, that day has come. Curtlane town is only a temporary refuge.’

    ‘And who exactly are we meant to be?’ Leo asked.

    ‘First, you must learn how to control your gift, and then, you’ll become a warrior, that’s who you’re meant to be,’ said Mr Govad.

    ‘Gift?’ Leo remembered how the stranger named Erick had said it too.

    ‘The Gift is the ability to have control over a certain element in nature. It is your very special talent,’ said Teresa, ‘and since you two were born in August and March then both of you are fire-gifted.’

    ‘I don’t think we have that,’ said Leo but Ursula’s obvious nudge to her brother to stop him from almost lying to their mother, made Teresa realise that they might have been keeping their gift a secret from her.

    ‘A gift is not something you should be ashamed of, on the contrary, you must be proud to have it,’ said Teresa. ‘Those papers over there are proof that you’re not only fire-gifted but that you’re gifted enough to become warriors—the best of Hozafians.’ Teresa proudly stressed the word warriors. Leo laughed but Teresa was quite serious.

    ‘How come we were never told about this?’ asked Leo.

    ‘I’m sorry Leo, I couldn’t tell you,’ said Teresa, ‘not until you had those papers, which are the only proof that you’re Hozafian. Nobody else is supposed to know about the existence of that place. Besides, without being officially invited to go there and see Hozafia with your own eyes it would’ve only sounded like fairy tales to you.’

    ‘So, you’ve been there before,’ Ursula asked her mother. Teresa smiled wistfully.

    ‘I have,’ said Teresa, ‘but I haven’t gone back in a while.’ 

    ‘What about you, uncle? When was the last time you went there?’ asked Ursula.

    ‘Actually I—live there,’ said Mr Govad, both Ursula and Leo were shocked. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t invite you to my place before, but now, after you’ve learned about Hozafia, you must come sometime.’  They didn’t know how to respond to that; an invitation from their uncle to visit him at his place for the first time, should have been met by polite, delighted responses of acceptance, but apparently, their uncle had a bigger life, which he had been keeping from them; they had nothing to say, yet many things were starting to make sense. They looked at their mother, and they found her eyes welling up.

    ‘I always knew you’d be warriors too. I wished it with all my heart,’ said Teresa.

    ‘You can’t be too surprised, it’s very unusual that warriors’ children don’t turn out to be warriors too?’ said their Uncle.

    ‘So dad was a warrior?’ asked Leo.

    ‘Yes,’ Teresa’s expression hardened as she wiped away her happy tears. ‘Yes, he was,’ she said briefly, and it was clear from her tone that she wanted to say nothing more about that. Leo and Ursula knew how uncomfortable their mother could get when she spoke about their late father. They knew he drowned at sea in a tragic accident, but Teresa always spoke so little about him, and they understood that it pained her to do so. They only just realised that perhaps it was largely because she couldn’t have spoken about him without revealing their guarded secret. However, now that they’ve decided to share, Leo and Ursula were hoping to hear more details about their father’s life, but as usual, they got nothing. Teresa treated the subject in the same way she always did; with awkward silence.

    ‘Your father was the perfect Zodia student, he was destined for greatness,’ said their uncle. Seeing that their mother looked uncomfortable, Ursula attempted to change the subject.

    ‘So what do the other Hozafians look like?’ she asked.

    ‘Oh yes, um—what do they look like?’ said their uncle who sounded as if he was brought back from a dream. ‘They look exactly like us, they’re just not warriors. The people there have their own style of life. Most of them are merchants. Some of them know nothing about Celavia or this side of the world. You will find that most of your colleagues at the academy do not know anything about Hozafia.’

    ‘Academy?’ asked Leo.

    ‘It’s called Zodia. It’s where you’ll learn to control your gift.’

    Teresa took a rolled paper from one of the two bundles that Erick had left on the table, among which there was a map of Celavia and another one of Hozafia, and there was a brief explanation about Hozafia, one similar to what Mr Govad had just given them, but the paper Teresa was holding was the most important one of them all.

    ‘Now you’re Hozafians, but you still can’t go there without these papers that are sealed by the king himself,’ said Teresa. 

    ‘Who is the king?’ asked Ursula. 

    ‘His name is Sorin Albenroy the first son of King Bylon Albenroy,’ said Mr Govad.

    ‘He is not that loved by the people, but he is the monarch of Hozafia now and is honoured and respected by all warriors. He is mostly honoured for his father who was a way greater king,’ said Teresa.

    ‘Teresa please,’ said Mr Govad, ‘can we not talk politics for now?’

    ‘How exactly are we supposed to be warriors?’ asked Ursula, ‘does this mean we’re expected to fight?’

    ‘Oh no hardly,’ said Mr Govad. ‘Hozafia had long been in peace—no wars and no fighting, but Hozafia is just like any other country it has an army and the warriors are the leaders of that army.’

    ‘Are we going to join an army?’ asked Ursula.

    ‘Not now of course. You must first spend three years training in the academy.’

    ‘Three years?’ Leo’s shocked question was followed by a quick sneer.

    ‘Yes, three years. You will stay there for seven months before you can come back in April for the summer break. Each year only twelve are chosen to be trained as warriors there, it’s actually very prestigious. Zodia is the academy for fighting arts in Hozafia, and only if you’re good enough you may hope to join the army.’

    ‘Why twelve?’ asked Leo.

    ‘Since the main reason for choosing warriors, is their ability to control the elements, Zodia has a big regard for astrology. It is believed that each sign of the twelve shines brighter for only one Hozafian every year and at the beginning of the year the twelve most powerful warriors are selected.’

    ‘But I’m only fourteen and three years from now I’ll still only be seventeen,’ said Ursula. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to join an army. I don’t even think I want to.’

    ‘Only the best warriors join the army. Not to discourage you, but it is not that easy to be chosen for it. If you don’t want to then you probably won’t. That said, a warrior’s strength is not measured by age but by his or her ability to be in full control of their gift,’ said Mr Govad.

    ‘Erick called you general. Are you a general in that army?’ asked Leo.

    ‘Yes,’ said Mr Govad. ‘There are seven generals in charge in Hozafia. We’re like ministers. There is the Academy General, that one in charge of Zonica’s prison, the General of the Entrances to Hozafia—that’s me—the Army General, Society Needs and Finance is the fifth one, the General for all Hozafian Creatures and Beings—and then there is the Armed Guards and the King’s Security General.’

    ‘The general of the entrances, ha? We don’t need these sealed papers then,’ Ursula said jokingly.

    ‘Actually, you still do, I have a good reputation in Hozafia and I intend to keep it; I cannot let anyone through without their papers,’ said Mr Govad with a smile. ‘I think it’s about time for you two to go meet Erick.’

    ‘Now?’ asked Ursula.

    ‘That soon?’ said Teresa who didn’t seem ready either.

    ‘How are we supposed to find him?’

    ‘He’ll be at the Rest House,’ said Mr Govad.

    ‘Where is that?’ asked Leo.

    ‘There are maps among your papers that will take you wherever you want,’ said Mr Govad.

    ‘Why can’t you just tell us?’ asked Leo.

    ‘Aren’t you going to come with us?’ asked Ursula.

    ‘From now on you’ll have to do things by yourself. Finding the Rest House is the easiest task of all,’ said Mr Govad, then on seeing how Ursula looked disappointed he added. ‘You’re a warrior now, you must depend on your skills. At the academy, no one will be there with you to do things for you. We’ll stay in contact of course, but there you’ll find yourselves in situations where you’ll need to find your strength.’ Ursula sat on the coffee table. She seemed discouraged as Leo looked spaced out. ‘Now go upstairs and start packing.’

    ‘And I thought this fire thing was just my imagination. Apparently, I was wrong,’ said Leo partially to himself.

    ‘I know how overwhelmed you must be feeling,’ said Teresa tenderly, ‘but I once went through this too, and I promise you, everything will be okay, you might even find yourselves enjoying Zodia—as I did.’ Teresa smiled. Leo hesitantly smiled back. ‘Don’t even worry,’ Teresa sat down and put an arm around Ursula, ‘your strength is greater than you think; I know you can do this, it’s time for you to believe it too. You’ll be okay.’ Then she looked up at Leo. ‘Take care of your sister.’ Leo nodded and pretended he wasn’t scared himself.

    ‘It looks like you are the one who is worried here, mum,’ said Ursula playfully poking her mother to make her smile. ‘Whatever you just told us sounds—interesting. And the fact that you went to that place—and Dad—makes it all the more interesting to us. Right, Leo?’ Ursula winked at her brother who was still in disbelief.

    ‘Um—Of course,’ said Leo forcing a smile. ‘Come, Ursula, let’s go pack our bags.’ Leo hurried out of the living room followed by Ursula. He couldn’t wait to be upstairs.