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k_a_webbIt wasn’t unusual for Quartz to dream of Ildieu. Ever since he left the city, and his family, behind he’d dreamt of them at least once a month, although it was often more. Before his younger brothers left, following the orders they were given, the dreams would be of them, the siblings he was closest to, but with them gone he found himself dreaming of siblings he’d didn’t know. Due to their father’s plan to make certain that Ildieu could stand against the mages from outside the city they were the only two left – even his father had moved on, travelling to who knew where, leaving Falcon in charge of the Black Hollow.
Quartz sat up, biting hard on his lip. He’d always known that putting Kestrel with Ash, even though it was the right thing to do, was something that might go wrong. The more he dreamt of Kess the more he saw himself in her. If their father had told him that he wasn’t permitted to learn magic he could easily imagine doing the same thing that she had, because she knew, no matter how hard they tried to hide who she was from the world, that she was a target. It didn’t matter that the majority of people were only speculating that she was related to Falcon, as he did everything he could to protect her from everything. By following in their father’s footsteps and not teaching her magic he’d done her a great disservice, especially as it made her connection to him much more obvious.
Now, though, Kess and Ash had realised that everything they’d done had been a part of their parents’ plans. Well, everything except learning how to make poisons, which was something no one could have anticipated that Kess would do, even though it made sense. If they wouldn’t teach her how to protect herself with magic she would find another way. He smiled. Knowing her the way he did made him want to go back to Ildieu early, so he had a chance to get to know her, and tell her what he’d found out about female mages during his journeys. Ash would find it fascinating too, as it would answer some of his many questions, although Quartz didn’t think they’d ever find the answers to all the questions that could be asked about magic. Too much had been lost.
The war had changed the world in ways no one could have anticipated. Who could have thought that the mages would decide to create themselves a safe haven that would remove their memories of who they once what and what they’d been? It didn’t make sense to those who hadn’t been through the same things that they had… and Quartz knew it hadn’t made sense to all of the mages at the time, as there had been more who’d stayed out of the city, scattered around the world, than those who’d entered it, with their families. Everyone had had their personal memories removed. Fortunately the walls had been made of brick, otherwise there would have been more mages walking away from Ildieu than there were entering it, when they realised how big a mistake they’d made – but that was something they never had a chance to learn as they never worked out why they’d entered the city.
Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.