Chapter 30
It was early when Liam knocked on Gloria’s door. Anwyn’s water had broken, and it would be a little while before the baby was born, but if they were going to leave, it had to be now.
“But shouldn’t I be here for the baby? Mamma was there when uncle Joseph was born.” Gloria asked.
“Mamma didn’t have anywhere else to go when your uncle was born, you do. We need you to get checked out by the priestesses, you know that. Come on, you’ll be home for dinner and you’ll get to meet the new baby then. But we should go now.” he herded her out the door.
“Mamma didn’t seem like she felt good.” Gloria worried as they walked out to the boat.
“Having a baby doesn’t feel good, but it’s worth it in the end because you have a baby.. Your mom will be fine.” he assured.
They walked up the path to the greenhouse and Gloria remembered what it had looked like in her dream. The one before her now was old and rusted, the one she had envisioned was gleaming and teamed with possibility.
They went to the side and entered the portal taking them below. It was a small place, but it suited what the priestesses needed. The layout didn’t make much sense, but it wasn’t worth complaining about. She had been restored once here, when she hadn’t even been born yet, and the priestess were just as friendly to her as her family, if a bit secretive.
“Hello? Anyone home?” Liam asked, peering his head in further. Everstar came around the corner, and she smiled, a rare thing for her face to do.
“Ah, hello! How can I help the family of Medora?” she asked.
Liam smiled even though the name Medora bothered him. Yes, Anwyn had changed her life when she came here, but she hadn’t changed her name. That didn’t stop Everstar though, and she still called her Medora all these years after they arrived here.
“Gloria is having some odd things happen. She says she ‘magics’ things, and I think that you guys should check her out. I know that when Anwyn and her were restored, Midshore said that Gloria was- was special. I wonder if this is something related to it.” Liam brushed over what the spirits had actually said, and Everstar noticed, but she didn’t correct him. She could respect his wishes for his child to live a normal life, at least for now. He wouldn’t be able to stop destiny forever.
“Oh, that certainly is different. I’ll get Midshore and we’ll see what we can do, but it could take some time. Is there a time when you want her home by?”
“Perhaps six in the evening? And I would like one of you to return home with me, Anwyn is expecting the child and a midwife would be a great assistance.” Liam’s heart was worried. He knew that his wife and his daughter were in good hands, and that it wasn’t out of the ordinary for a child to be born, and Gloria was fine, but compounded they were sickening.
“Yes, I’ll get Midshore. We’ll do a quick assessment of Gloria, and we’ll see who is best to stay here with her.” Everstar turned her back and went back into the apartment. She returned a moment later with her wife in tow.
“Good morning, I hear that Gloria may have a special gift. I’m just going to sense your presence and we’ll see what's going on, ok?” She closed her eyes and her face relaxed, and the father and daughter looked like they didn’t know what to do with their hands while dancing. Should they be focusing on something, stay still?
Midshore’s brow finally crinkled and she opened her eyes. “I believe that I will stay here with Gloria, Everstar will be more than capable to help your wife.” she turned to Gloria. “We’re going to go into the ceremony room, will you come with me?”
“Sure,” Gloria said and with a final look over her shoulder to her father she went further into the apartment and closed the door behind her.
“She’ll be fine, we’ll get her sorted out. She’s a bit young to be showing spell casting ability, but it’s not unheard of. You don’t need to worry, from what I’ve experienced and heard from others, it can be awkward and clumsy at first, but it’s like learning to walk. Soon you’re much better at it, you just fall a bit first.”
“She deserves a normal life. She doesn't need to be special, she can be ordinary. I know I can’t stop her from being special, but I wish she didn’t have this path already laid out for her.” he paused, and Everstar went to move him out to the portal, but he resumed. “When Anwyn and I did all that we did, we were doing it because we wanted to, it was our choice, not our destiny. I don’t know that I’ve ever met these spirits you talk about, but I’m angry that they have already decided Gloria’s fate.” he looked anguished.
Everstar looked at him, pity on her face. “You haven’t seen them, but they’ve watched you for a very long time. Destiny and fate are quieter than you may think, and the path for Gloria isn’t paved, it’s more of a deer path in the woods, there are plenty of ways to divert and make her own path, but who’s to say that the path she makes for herself won’t lead back to the path she left? While we know that she is special, nothing is certain.” Everstar tried to assure, though she wasn’t sure that she was succeeding.
Liam nodded, pulling himself out of his sadness and wiping his face clean of it’s worry. It wasn’t easy, she knew that, but he was strong enough, he could pull himself together.
~*~
Midshore looked at the child, not sure where to begin. She hadn’t mentored a spellcaster before, this was new to her. Where should she begin?
“How about you tell me what you’ve done so far?” she asked.
“I summoned a quill from across a room and made a pair of shoes disappear and reappear.” Gloria said plainly without any inflection.
“And how did you do that?” Midshore asked.
“At first, I just wanted the quill, I didn't think about getting it through magic, it just appeared. With the shoes I wanted to get back at my uncle and my mind wandered and thought of his shoes, and then they were gone. I was able to focus to bring them back, but that took a bit more effort.” she explained.
“I see.” Midshore was baffled. The few people she knew that were spellcasters started with physical happenings, like making things float with some concentration, or being able to have more strength when pushing or pulling an object. According to Gloria, she had started with just summoning an object, not even having to move it to have it. That was abnormal.
“I see.” Midshore repeated. “And have you tested this ability on anything? Have you seen how far you can push it?”
“No.” Gloria shifted her weight. “I’ve been too scared to try it, I don’t want to ‘magic’ anything away that I can’t get back.”
“I understand.” Midshore smiled. “We’re going to practice on some rocks. Hold tight while I get some.”
She was gone for a few minutes in one of the adjacent rooms, and Gloria looked around. The room always fascinated her, with it’s glowing bluegreen elements. The walls glittered at different angles and the tiling on the floor was runes in glowing blue. Blue was the color of the spirits, what Midshore and Everstar used as a guide and tap for their power. Not all of the spellcasters on the islands used spirits, but they also weren’t as strong as Midshore. While the others had their freedom from the will of the beyond, Midshore had a will pointing her in a destined direction.
She returned with a few different colored and sized rocks. “Ok, I’d like you to focus on the purple one, and put it in your hand without moving from where you are now.”
“Ok,” Gloria looked at the object for a moment, taking in its size and becoming familiar with it, and then she closed her eyes and it was suddenly beside her, as solid as it had been at the other side of the room.
“That was very good!” commended Midshore. “Now, can you move the large blue one, but do as you did with Ben’s shoes. Where does it go when you teleport it? Try and focus on that.”
Gloria eyed her sceptically, then focused on the large rock, and thought to make it go away. To make it leave this space, just disappear. After a moment, it did. In the blink of an eye, it was gone.
Gloria focused again, and she tried to feel for where it may have gone, but she didn’t know where that was. It was simply gone, possibly somewhere else, but she didn’t know where.
“And make it come back?” Midshore prompted.
Gloria looked at the spot where it had been, and then focused slightly to the right, and thought about the shape of the object, and not quite as quickly as before, it reappeared. It took a few seconds this time to solidify, and it shimmered around the edges as it did so, until it was fully materialized.
“Wow, that’s astounding.” Midshore ogled as she did it. Gloria suddenly felt very tired, and she felt she had to sit down.
“Are we done? Can I go home?” she asked. She felt emotionally tired, like she had to cry, scream, or hide from everything. She didn’t know why she suddenly felt this way, but it was overwhelming.
“Are you alright?” Midshore asked, concern replacing her wonderment
“I’m not feeling good.” she looked like she was being a bit green around the gills, and Midshore went to get an elixir that would help her with the nausea.
“Here, drink this. You should feel better. I think we should spend some time trying to meditate,” she suggested.
“Meditation? That sounds boring.” Gloria said between sips.
“There are lots of things you can learn while meditating, and it will be easier to access your spirit while we do. I’ll be able to sense your ability while we share the moment, and perhaps I can see the depth of your ability. Think of it like calming the water so that you may see the bottom of a deep river.”
“I guess…” she shrugged and waited for Midshore to get some stools.
“Alright, take a seat, try and clear your mind, and think of nothing. Just,” she breathed in and then exhaled. “Nothing.”
It’s not easy for a eight year old girl to sit still and think of nothing, so she put her hands in her lap and tried to close her eyes like Midshore was. The apartment under the greenhouse always smelled like earth, like things were growing. There was no noise, and Gloria sat very still in case the old stool she sat on creaked.
If she listened very carefully, she could hear Midshore’s breathing. As she became calmer and more relaxed, her thoughts went to the dream she had the night before and the boy she had barely seen. The sky changing color, the odd things on the shelves, the world that she felt pulled to explore but hadn’t had the chance.
“What is this dream that you think of?” Midshore’s gentle voice reverberated in her mind.
“I had a funny dream last night, that’s all.” Gloria assumed that her conscious thoughts would be heard if her wanderings about a dream had been.
“May I see?” Midshore pushed aside the barrier between her mind and Gloria’s with ease and stepped into her dream.
Gloria pushed her out and broke the link. “What are you doing?” she asked, standing from the stool and backing away.
“I wanted to see what you dreamt of. That is all.” she opened her eyes.
“Is nothing private? Can I not keep my own mind? To have you see my ability is fine, but don’t step into my mind like that!” Gloria urged.
“I am sorry.” she looked sorry for disturbing her. “You should know that I was able to see your ability, but I wondered if you had been visited by the spirits that guide Everstar and myself. You have no magic in your family line, and yet I sense a wellspring in you. I can only guess that the spirits blessed you when you were restored before your birth. Your potential is vast, and I cannot see the edge of it.”
Gloria looked amazed by what she was saying. “Seriously?”
~*~
Midshore teleported Gloria home promptly at six in the evening, and she walked up the steps with her. “Are you excited to meet your new brother or sister?” she smiled.
“I hope so. Babies are weird. Cute, but weird.”
They opened the front door and Everstar was standing outside the parents’ room, a smile on her face. She opened the door and Gloria went rushing in, happy to see her parents after the grueling day of practice and to meet her new sibling. Anwyn stood beside the cradle, and introduced her newest child to her oldest one. “Gloria, meet Robin, your baby brother.”
Liam exited the room to talk to Midshore about what had happened with Gloria.
“It’s deep, I think she’s only touched the surface. It’s not easy for her to access now, that will get easier with practice and age, but there’s something else.” she looked to make sure the door to the bedroom was closed. “I saw her dream from last night, and I saw a boy there.”
“Well, that’s no big deal, there are lots of boys in books and on the Islands. Why is that out of the ordinary?” Liam asked.
“It must have been a very strong and lucid dream for me to be able to enter it. She could see and remember his face, but the boy does not live on the Islands, I would have recognized him. I thought, perhaps, he could be a spirit visiting her, but he had color and form, not the shape of an apparition. And spirits don’t visit in sleep, only in meditation. I don’t know who the boy is, but if he can visit her in her dreams, he could be dangerous. I don’t need to remind you that there are entities outside of the islands that wanted Gloria for the throne.” Midshore explained gravely.
Liam blinked and paced away from her, thinking. “Yes, thank you. But we can’t keep her from dreaming, the girl has to sleep.”
“I felt that for now, while her power is still limited, it is stronger with the full moon. I propose that on nights of a full moon, she stay with Everstar and I to practice her abilities. It would be a more productive use of the limited time than sleeping besides.”
Liam looked at her with skepticism. “I’ll have to talk to Anwyn, but that doesn’t sound out of the question.”
I decided to name the littlest Reed Robin because one evening while I was talking to my family about baby names and if I would ever name a child after someone famous or inspiring, I thought of Robin, after Robin Williams. It works well for both a boy or a girl, but I'm one of those people who already has a name picked out for their first daughter. It's Genevieve, after my grandma, if I ever have kids (Fingers crossed).
Currently, to keep my game moving, I have aging on for a little bit of time, and thusly Robin has already aged into a toddler! He's so cute! and I checked to see what he looks like later in life and he looks like a good adult too! Gosh I got lucky.
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