"...That's fine."

Alex takes the envelope. He stares down at it for a long moment. He only knows their mom's name because it's in their files. Her family, and their father? Nothing. 

He opens it, tugging out the papers within, and looking them over. 

"...Fuck." He reaches out for the nearest surface to steady himself on, staring at the words on the paper. 

"We have siblings." Older siblings. By their father, who is still alive. And- "We have a nephew."

Stephen comes closer to provide some support.

"Wow. How many siblings? Are they sorcerers?"

"Two - a brother and a sister, both older. The kid is the brother's. And I... don't know." He shuffles through the papers a bit, looking for information on that topic, and finding it pretty quickly. 

"...Yeah, they are." He leans on Stephen a bit, stunned. "The whole family is. They're from Elan. But Ragna, and Germund and his wife and kid, live in Elsewhere, apparently. Our mom's family is from Elan, too - we're related on that side." He looks over that page.

"They're all dead - or presumed dead. Her brother vanished before we were born."

"...I guess this explains why they couldn't find anything about where we came from."

"Yeah, do you need a hug?"

"I... maybe," he admits quietly. 

"Okay." Hug. He calls his dad over to join the hug.

He will be very hugged, then. It takes him a second to relax into it. He buries his face in Temple's shoulder and shudders a bit. 

(How many times had they wished for someone to come for them, when they were kids? How long had they hoped they had some family, somewhere, before they gave up?)

"...I want to know what happened. Why were we raised on Earth? Why was our mom on her own? Why did no one come looking for us?" 

"There are some theories. Do you want Temple to be here for the conversation? Maybe wait for your brother?"

"Jay's..." Busy. Alex has zero desire to call him down from the sky for a conversation like this. "I'll tell him later."

"Temple can stay," he glances at him, "If you want." 

"I absolutely want to stay, no worries."

"Alright, do you want to sit down." He waves at the chairs in front of his desk. "Or a water or something? I have liquor."

"I don't-" He stops. If there was any time for a drink. 

"...Sure. I'll have whatever's simplest." 

Stephen gets some glasses and mixes a brown liquid with a green one and adds some ice. Serving to the three of them.

It has a sweet minty taste under the alcohol. He waits until Alexei takes his first zip and has lowered the glass.

"I am going to be succinct. Your father was already married when he and your mother conceived you. A marriage of convenience for the alliance of the two families, which would explain why he wouldn't have acknowledged you two. And likely also why not even your family's mother took her in. Apparently her family was not in a stable situation, a war broke out in Elan ten years prior and the Starr family lost a lot because of it."

It's a good thing he waited, it would have been a shame to spit out the drink all over his nice floors. As it is, Alex still half-chokes and has to take a moment to cough. 

"...Okay," he says once he can breathe again. "Okay, so. A war? That..." Sounds terrifying, actually, given the addition of magic.

He shakes his head, "And he didn't help her? Help us? I-" Well, he's not sure he wants to meet him, now. A man who slept with a girl - he checks the papers - barely half his age, and then didn't help her and their twin sons when they were in need? Even with some kind of serious alliance on the line... he doesn't really sound like fatherhood material. But then, maybe there was a good reason. 

His thoughts are scattered, all over the place. Too much new information in too little time. He takes another sip of his drink, leaning over it with his other hand at his head.

"I don't know why he did what he did. I am sorry. Take a moment to collect yourself."

"Yeah," he sighs. He takes a moment, as suggested. And another, longer drink.

"...Do you know anything about our siblings?" 

"They work for the same organization that Temple does. The High Library of Magic. I believe your sister does research work on remote sites and your brother does some disaster relief around the dead city."

"It's a pretty big organization, I'm guessing. Do you think Felix and the others there might have run into Germund?" Pause. "Will they want to meet us?" He wonders, uncertain. "If... our father put that much stock in that alliance..." 

"Probably not. It is really big."

"Do you want to try contacting them?"

"Yes," he says, immediately and without thought. Then he pauses to actually think it through. 

"...Yes. Definitely. Not... right away, or anything. It can wait, until we're not in the middle of meeting this part of the family. But yes." 

Temple pats his back.

Stephen pats his hand.

"It's okay. I will arrange for things when you two are ready."

Nod. 

"Thank you." They've been very kind about all of this.