Raven Saga 01 - Raven

me and began hugging me enthusiastically. I noticed that one person remained behind them all and stayed quiet while they all made their noisy introductions.
    “Hi Lillian. I'm your Aunt Meredith,” said a rather short cuddly middle-aged lady with long black hair, and a tear in her eye.
    “And I'm your cousin, Cormac. Meredith is my mum,” said a shy chubby, spotty boy in his mid teens.
    “Hello Lillian. I'm John. I'm Meredith's husband. It's a pleasure to finally meet you,” said a tall grey-haired man with glasses as he shook my hand energetically. “We have two other sons, Shayne and Bailey, but both are away studying at the moment and couldn't be here, I'm afraid,” he added.
    An attractive man with an uncanny resemblance to my father stepped forward next. He had long black hair tied at the nape of his neck and was probably in his early forties. He patted me gently on the back and said, “Lillian. I wish this had been under other circumstances but it is a great pleasure to see you at last. I wish that you had been able to visit us long before now. I am your father's brother, Wyatt. This is my wife, Sonya.” A beautiful slim woman with long bright white hair took my hand in hers and smiled kindly.
    “I am so happy to meet you, Lillian. I believe we will be friends,” she whispered in the most angelic voice. Instantly, I felt the same way. We would be friends.
    “I would like you to meet our daughter, your cousin Josephine.”
    “Mum... please don't call me that! Hi Lillian, you can call me Jo. All my friends do,” said a girl a little older than me with a scowl at her mother. The scowl was given with a laugh so it was easy to see that this mother and daughter shared a close bond.
    Jo was the image of her mother. Beautiful with long hair that was as black as her mother's was white. Both of them carried themselves with confidence yet neither seemed aware of the incredible beauty that emanated from them.
    “And this old boy here is your grand-father, Gabriel,” said Ben with a smile. As he said the words, the group parted to reveal a broad old man with short greying hair waiting patiently to be introduced.
    “Grand-father,” I said approaching him slowly.
    He nodded and took both my hands in his, “We have waited many moons for this day to come. Lillian Tulugaq, welcome home. Welcome home,” he said pulling me towards him. He hugged me tightly just for a moment before we all bundled indoors out of the cold. My hands and feet were freezing.
    As Ben talked to my grand-father the following morning, I jumped out of bed and rushed into the kitchen where they stood, eager for them to see that I was not asleep and that I had heard every word they'd said.
    “Oh... you're awake, Lilly. I'm sorry if we woke you,” said Ben, blushing slightly.
    Gabriel just shook his head as if to say, 'Well, now look what you've done.'
    “I just popped in to have a quick word with Gabriel about... er... Oliver's party. Yes. Well, I'd better be going now. I hope to see you tomorrow, Lilly,” he said as he put on his thick coat and gloves, adding with a wink, “but I completely understand if you'd rather give it a miss.” And he was gone, leaving the two of us standing silently in the kitchen.
    “Lillian...” said Gabriel. I waited.
    “This is your home now. You must treat it as your home. Everything that is here, is now yours.”
    I waited for the crunch but it didn't come.
    “Grand-father?”
    “Lillian?”
    “Please call me Lilly. Nobody has called me Lillian since... since before I can remember. But last night you called me something else, after my name. I didn't understand. My surname is Taylor... isn't it?”
    Shaking his head, he said, “Tulugaq is the name of our forefathers, Lilly. It is your name, it is my name. It is your father's name as well as his brother's and sister's. It is in you. It is in here,” he said, placing his hand over his heart. “It would do you well to remember this. This is where you come from, Lilly.”
    “But what does it mean?”
    “Tulugaq?” he asked, and I nodded.
    “It is the great black bird of the sky. The Raven.”
    “It means raven?” I gasped.
    “You are surprised, child?” asked Gabriel.
    Unsure whether to tell him or not, while at the same time a little irritated at being called child, I walked over to boil some water to bide my time. Maybe he'll think I'm totally mad, I thought. Although I got the strange impression that nothing would shock him. I decided to