Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
VANCOUVER
SUNDAY MORNING
DR. WALTER LANGKOWSKI’S PRIVATE LABORATORY
“It was good of you to see me this morning,” Narya greeted Walter Langkowski as she walked into his lab.“I know how precious your personal time is to you.”
“Nothing to it, Birdie,” the jovial Dr. Langkowski assured the cool blonde dem-goddess. “I’m only too happy to give you the results of that DNA test you took last week. Shall we sit down here in front of the computer?”
“Indeed,” Narya spoke coolly.
They did so, and with a few keystrokes on Walter Langkowski’s part, the computer screen sprang into vivid and colorful life.
Narya spoke wistfully. “Ever since I met the spirit of my mortal father, and the Talisman and I sent his spirit to rest, I have become increasingly curious about the human side of my family. Perhaps, I have relatives somewhere on the earth. If so, I would like to know where –and who—they are.”
“Well, this DNA test should do the trick,” Dr. Langkowski said cheerfully. “I can patch your results into a worldwide databank. Anyone who has registered with this company, and who would be related with to you, will be in here. We managed to separate your mother’s DNA from your father’s. At any rate, your maternal DNA is…like nothing on this earth.”
Narya smiled coldly. “That is because it is that, quite literally. It is Inua goddess DNA.”
“Well, we’ll find about your human DNA now,” Dr. Langkowski said matter-of-factly. “But first, a bit about your human ethnic background.” He pressed a key, and a small map of the world appeared, then. The map revolved. Then, it zeroed in on the British Isles.
“Well, it looks like we have a British lass on our hands,” Dr. Langkowski said on a chuckle. “Your father’s family came from England and Scotland. Precisely 50% English and 50% Scots.”
Narya stared in amazement at the screen. “This is quite fascinating. It makes the indignity of spitting into a small test tube worth it. I am one step closer to learning who I am.”
“Are you ready to meet the rest of your family, Narya? I can start pulling up the names and locations in the database.”
“Yes, please do. I am eager to see who they would be.”
Dr. Langkowski typed some information into the database. “Hold on….”
Within seconds, names and pictures stared to appear on the screen, along with their relationship to Narya. Dr. Langkowski studied the screen.
“Second cousins, Third cousins. All in the UK.”
“I shall never meet them,” Narya spoke sadly. “Unless they come to this country. You know that I can never leave Canada.”
“No,” Walter Langkowski agreed on the first somber note of the day. Then, he brightened. “But maybe, we can find some relatives closer to home. I will keep scrolling.”
“Please do,” Narya insisted with a trace of anxiety in her voice.
Walter Langkowski kept on scrolling, and his face lit up.
“Well, well, well. This is better. You have some closer relations here in this country. And right here in British Columbia! Let’s see, there’s a paternal aunt, and five first cousins….” He came to one name –and stopped. “Oh, my God.”
Narya looked at the screen, and gasped a little. She paled, and placed a hand against her breast, against a rapidly-beating heart.
Dr. Langkowski was the first to recover. “I never thought for a minute that ….”
“Yes. It seems as if I have met one of my kin already,” Narya ‘s voice was faint with surprise.