Ember of Hope

Val’s grandmother lived in a small town named Armas almost two hours away from Pericles. A carriage awaited them outside when Valiance walked her. His mother patted his shoulder while passing him. “We’ll come back soon. Don’t worry I’ll take care of her”. Raegan turned around in the carriage and from the back window; saw him standing there until their carriage got out of his sight. The way to Armas was spent almost in complete silence except for a few times when Tamara pointed at something outside and told her about it. She was clearly trying to take Raegan’s mind off of leaving Valiance behind but Raegan was too preoccupied with the feelings of sadness and melancholy she was feeling through her bond and couldn’t tell where hers ended and his started.

The house where Val’s grandmother lived was the picture perfect little cottage in the woods. Raegan immediately loved it. There were three rickety steps to climb up to the wooden door which was held open by a welcoming smiling old face. Tamara D’evreux was the spitting image of her mother. Both women were beautiful. They were the ones to give Valiance his warm smile.

“Hello mother”. Tamara kissed her mom’s cheeks and beckoned Raegan over.

“This pretty girl must be my Valiance’s mate?” Their host beckoned them inside and took her hands in her old ones as she beamed at her.

“Hi, I’m Raegan and it’s so nice to finally meet you”.

“Oh aren’t you sweet darling” the old woman continued on to the kitchen and sat them around a table for four. “You can call me Lilly or grandmother like my Valiance”.

“Or I can just call you grandma”. She smiled easily. Everyone in Val’s family had accepted her as their own and with as much love. She couldn’t be more thankful.

“I made some tea for us darling. I hope you like tea”.

“I would love some”. She pushed her cup forward for Lilly to pour her some.

When they all sat down with their steaming cups of tea; Tamara didn’t waste any time. “Mother I was hoping you could help us. Raegan is new to her powers and she has quite a lot of it as you might tell. I need your help with teaching her”. Then she explained to Raegan that Lilly could also read auras and power signals of every kind of species around.

“I can tell by her aura what lies inside. It’s so bright it almost blinded me. Tell me”.

“She is Katherine and Alex’s daughter. Katherine had bound her powers at birth and now that she undid the bind; we realized she has been growing in her power since birth. Its raw magic mother and I don’t know how to deal with it”.

“So it’s her dragon I’m sensing. I couldn’t put my finger on it when you first arrived because a hybrid signal is so rare and unique that I almost forgot about it. Her power signal almost matches Val’s, but her magic is stronger than his as his dragon is stronger than hers. They are perfect for each other.” The old woman smiled at her then.

Raegan just sat there, listening to the two witches discussing her weirdness and hoped they could help her so that she could go back to being normal... so that she could go back to her Valiance.

“I think I have something that might help you darling but let me tell you it’s not a permanent solution. You’ll need to learn control on your own but until then you can use its help.” She got up and patted Raegan’s shoulder, “Let me find it for you”.

Raegan sat there with her heart in her mouth and waited for Lilly with bated breath. Lilly returned with a rusty old metal box in her hands and sat back down in her seat. “Let me warn you beforehand my darling girl. It won’t be easy”. She wrestled open the jammed lid and next to her Tamara gasped. “Mother, is it…” her hands were covering her lips and her eyes full of wonder.

“Yes dear, it’s been handed down from generations. It’s one of the last few in existence so you need to keep it with utmost care.” Tamara nodded.

“What is it?” Raegan couldn’t help asking and Lilly took out a delicate gold bracelet shaped as intertwining vines and in the middle sat a small onyx stone. “This, my dear is a magic muting stone otherwise known as witch’s bane. It’s very old magic which has been lost to time. These are rarer than a horned Lindwyrm.”

“What is a Lindwyrm?” she asked, feeling dumb.

“They are a smaller kind of ancient dragons now gone extinct. They were used as keepers of scrolls by the druids. Lindwyrm were supposed to have great knowledge and thus they were the earliest historians of our species. Among them were even rarer horned wyrms who were said to have the ability to transform into human bodies like dragons. They are considered a myth now.”

“Wow, I still have to learn a lot apparently.” Raegan said sheepishly. “So how do these bracelets work?”

“You wear them and they’ll put a damper on your magic. It won’t be like binding but more like muting it to a bearable level. But power like yours wouldn’t want to be shackled. It will fight against the stone’s power. And you’ll have to learn to live with it”. Lilly explained.

Great. Now she’ll have two opposing powers fighting for dominance inside her.

“Don’t be afraid my dear. It won’t take more than a few days to get used to it. Besides we’ll be here to help you through it. Now, if you’re tired you should go rest for a while or we could go out and practice”.

“Let’s go and give it a try.” Raegan stood up from her chair and together they went out of the house.

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