Brewing Up a Tale

Julian was waiting at a coffee shop, sipping on a decaf latte. Having a scientist for a father had interesting affects on his life, including knowing how caffeine would affect him. He tended to avoid it. He was waiting on his friend Kaleem to show up. The man had been over the moon about another friend visiting from another kingdom. Apparently the two were close enough to be called brothers, despite how they were obviously from different families. Julian sighed as he mentally went through the shock of having his father returned to him after almost fifteen years, and with a set of twin siblings for him. The story they had was shocking, and painful. Their family had been broken by a psychopath, and harmed. They were only now being able to piece themselves back together. Julian sighed as he took another sip from his latte. That psycho witch, Ellie, had also taken Julian’s cousin… Colin Junior. There was no telling where the toddler had ended up after all that time, if he was even still alive. Sometimes, Julian would swear there was a hint of him somewhere, some small thing that was left for him and Colin’s little sister to find, some letter sent to his uncle, Colin Senior. There were small bits of proof, but even with that, his cousin had yet to return. His father had told him that Colin Junior was busy with his own work now. It was hard to believe, given that he knew Colin had only turned 18 this very day. Julian sighed again. It was his cousin’s birthday, and the boy was only just becoming a man today. He wasn’t there though, as usual. Sometimes, he wished he could forget about his cousin as easily as the rest of their kingdom had. Their family were well known, but Colin Junior just slipped through the cracks, mostly because of his speech habits and his youth.

Sol, the magical language of their kingdom. It was a rare language, and even rarer were those born able to speak it. Colin Junior had been one. Julian had learned it so he could talk to his little cousin. The toddler had been surprisingly smart, even in their family of geniuses, and very polite, always blaming the royal wizard for his 8 hour long lectures on manners. Julian chuckled lightly at the memory. Those lectures had been helpful, but if Colin wasn’t the kid he was, they would have been very useless on the toddler. Colin, wherever he was, was brilliant. That was the only thing Julian was certain of.

“Julian!” The man in question looked up, his red eyes hidden behind special glasses to make them look brown. His eyes always startled people. The person calling for him was Kaleem. His vest hanging loosely on him, and his youthful energy reminding those around them that the son of the captain of the guard was still technically a teen, despite how he was the apprentice to the royal doctor. “There you are!” He grinned that overly cheesy grin that won over people, despite how dangerous the man had already proven he was.

With him was a rather thin fellow who had a dress shirt on, despite how they were literally in a dessert kingdom. He had black slacks and looked more professional than Kaleem did. His brown hair was a bit of a mess, and his square glasses rested upon a sharp nose. The other curious thing was the man’s hands were in gloves, despite how hot it was that day.

“Here I am.” Julian nodded. “This your friend?”

“Yep! This is Collin Kin, a doctor from Frost Kingdom.”

“From… Frost?” Julian was surprised the man wasn’t melting. The Frost kingdom was all the way on the other side of the world, near the northern tip of it, with plenty of ice and snow around them all.

The words that came out of the doctor’s mouth however were a dead ringer for Sol. “I am currently stationed there, yes.”

“Ugh, Collin, we can’t understand you like that, remember? Did you forget to make your translation potion?”

The doctor grimaced as the duo sat down. “No, I didn’t forget it. I still have it, I just don’t want to take it.” Collin now sighed.

Julian’s eyes widened. He knew that language, and all it meant. “He says he doesn’t want to take it.” Kaleem looked at him with shock while Collin snickered and picked up a coffee menu.

“You speak… magic?” Kaleem grimaced, trying to remember what the name of the language was.

“Sol, and yeah… I learned because of my cousin.”

“Hope speaks Sol?” Kaleem grimaced as he tried to think on that.

“Sorry about him. In all eighteen years I’ve known him, I was never able to teach him Sol. I think it might be because of that ear infection from when we were four.” Collin shrugged with a smirk as he reached into the brown satchel on his hip. He pulled out a small blue vial and shook it lightly in a stirring motion before chugging it. “Or he might just be dense.”

“Wait, were you mocking me?” Kaleem grimaced.

“No, merely pointing out that you have no idea what half of what I say is in Sol despite how often I say certain things.” Collin smirked before flagging down a waitress for his order. “Hot Chocolate, with whipped cream and honey, please.” The waitress nodded. “Oh, and a lemon soda for my friend here.” He indicated to Kaleem who rolled his eyes. The waitress smiled and went to get their drinks.

“Why are you ordering for me, Collin?” Kaleem scowled.

“Because I know what happens when you drink caffeine. You’re just as bad as Uncle Julian.” That got Julian’s eyes to narrow. He shared his father’s name, just as his cousin did. It was a bit of a joke in the family. Both the first born sons bore their fathers’ name, and had no mothers. It was just how their life had ended up being. It had to be a coincidence though, but the man in front of him… why was he so similar to his cousin? “Jay, don’t look at me like that, you’ll mess up your eyes.” Now Julian’s eyes widened in shock. Only one person ever called him that, and it was always in Sol. “That’s not much better.” Collin snickered as the waitress came back with their drinks.

“Who are you?” Julian took deep breaths to try and steady himself.

Collin takes off his glasses and looks over the disgruntled man. “I’m Doctor Colin Rakin Junior, but everyone just calls me Dr. Collin Kin.” This got both Kaleem and Julian to look at the man with wide eyes. Collin just snickers and takes a sip of his cocoa. “Don’t be like that, gentlemen. I don’t lie. I just had a hard time saying Rakin as a child. Speaking Common without my potion is rather difficult after all, and Kaleem, both you and Horatio hate it when I do the little spell.”

“That’s cuz it requires you cutting yourself and using blood!” Kaleem scowled. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”

“No, old friend. You aren’t an idiot.” Collin smiled gently.

“I am though.” Julian grumbled as he clutched his head.

“For what?” Collin raised a brow.

“For not recognizing my own damn cousin.” Julian grumbled.

Collin rolled his eyes. “Julian, let me remind you that the last time you saw me was my third birthday.”

Kaleem then glared at Collin again. “Are we the same age or something?”

Collin snickered. Julian then started laughing. “He doesn’t know?”

“Look, Jay, I remember so many things, but I absolutely hate my birthday. Of course only family knows when the accursed day is, nevermind my age!”

“Pfft, Kaleem, he’s 4 months younger than you! Today’s his 18^th birthday.”

“WHAT!” Both Rakin cousins were laughing. Though it had been many years, it seems that Collin still loved pulling a prank or two. “But he’s a freaking Doctor, and has been for almost ten years now! And he’s a knight!”

“Pfft, by the gods, what the heck did you do to get that accomplished, Colin?”

“Hehe, I may have avoided answering about my age and studied a lot… Oh, and proved myself via trial by combat!” Collin couldn’t help but laugh at Kaleem’s face. He was so flustered, and it wasn’t that surprising since Kaleem had been Collin’s own apprentice at one point. Kaleem was in shock to find out that he was older than Collin.

“You are younger than me? W…” Kaleem pursed his lips and frowned. “You know what. After all the crap we’ve been through, that’s fine! That’s perfectly fine!” He downed his entire soda as though it was a beer. “We are messed up, ain’t we?”

Collin grimaced and patted his friend on the back. “Yes, but we made it full circle. We eventually both got back here to where we started.”

“…” Kaleem sighed.

Julian grimaced. “You owe me quite the tale then, cousin.”

“Pfft, sure. Can you handle trauma, drama, and some of the worst cases of just barely survived you’ve ever heard of?” Collin snickered.

Julian sipped at his drink. “Its your birthday. I’ve got all the time in the world to spend with you, cousin.” He smirked. This was going to be painful, and they both knew it.

“Well, it all started with that fire, you remember that day, right? My goodness, that was intense…”