A crushing throng

"There he is!"

"Hunter!"

"Good to see you!"

"You made it!"

"Well look who's here!"

His father, David, was the first in line to greet him followed quickly by his younger brother Gunner.

David Curze was a man in his early fifties. He had short, blond, hair that was slowly gaining a fair amount of gray that gave him a distinguished look. He had a square jaw with a light beard and hazel eyes, granting him the descriptive term 'classically handsome'. But something was different. he remembered the city planner, overweight, overworked, and underpaid. His dad had become haggard in his fifties, looking forward to retirement; he spent his evenings on the couch watching football and ESPN. But the man in front of him was fit, and energetic, slim and the walking definition of a 'silver fox'. He'd never been out of shape in his life and didn't mean to.

His younger brother Gunner... hadn't existed before that afternoon; another person literally created by his statement. But why did Gunner exist now? History lessons and genetics flashed through his head. Spell-casters were quite literally one-in-a-million. Meaning that there were little over seven thousand of them in the world. Magically inclined offspring weren't guaranteed from two magically gifted parents, but they were more likely. So part of being a mage or sorcerer or whatever people wanted to call them was the expectation that you breed. Mages married mages in arranged marriages; they were essentially an aristocracy.

Even non-magical children of magical parents had a chance of passing on the magic gene and so they, Hunter included, were very 'eligible' bachelors or bachelorettes. In fact neither Hunter's Uncle Terry or Aunt Rachel were magically inclined, but their marriage had still been arranged when they were kids. And that marriage hadn't disappointed as it'd produced four children, three of whom were magically gifted. Hunter himself was a part of his parents' negotiations with three separate families for a pairing. Something he wasn't too thrilled with, but he knew it came with the territory; and at least they were consulting him about it.

And because he hadn't been magically inclined Hunter had been afforded some degree of autonomy in the matter; unlike Gunner who, at sixteen, was already promised to a girl from Germany and they'd be married when she turned eighteen in three years. The fact that Elle was still single was something of a near miracle. But he knew his parents were only buying time until her nineteenth birthday. Then pretty much everyone would make her choose.

"I don't like the prospects." She'd told him last Christmas and Hunter couldn't fault her for that. How could you pick someone to spend the rest of your life with when you'd known them for all of forty-eight hours?

But the rush of information and memories caused a painful migraine, and Hunter was lucky his dad was giving him a hug hello. He shut his eyes and groaned in pain, the mood in the house immediately turned.

"Hunter!?" David asked, clearly concerned, "Are you alright son?"

"Headache." Hunter croaked out, "Need to lie down. Long trip."

David nodded and the others gave the two space. Hunter's dad was still visibly concerned but consoled himself somewhat by helping his son downstairs to a guestroom. The mansion was big, and in part built for large family gatherings with sixteen bedrooms. Still, there were a number of them staying and all of them were filled up. Hunter and his cousin Tyler who were the same age frequently shared a room with two twin beds. This trip was no exception, and David half carried Hunter to the downstairs guestroom.

"Rest up," David said after he laid Hunter on one of the beds, "I'll get you something for the headache." The older man stood, walked to the door and shut off the light to the room. "Dinner will be in an hour or so, do you want me to come check on you then? See if your up for something to eat?"

"Yeah." Hunter agreed, "Sounds good. Thanks dad."

"Don't worry about it. Just... feel better."

A moment later Gunner arrived with an Aspirin and glass of water. Hunter thanked him, downed the pill, took a sip, and promptly passed out.