Cassandra Pendragon

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… first Alassara and then Serena. I really was turning into a fairy godmother. Albeit a reluctant one with a temper. I might have already decided to let bygones be bygones but I wasn’t going to tell them that, just yet.

While I took Serena’s hand, my wings manifested for the fraction of a second and flooded the garden with cold, unyielding light. The proud woman closed her eyes reflexively against the glare and I pulled her into me. “You’re playing a dangerous game,” I whispered, only for her to hear. “And I haven’t forgotten your reservations, either. How come you suddenly decided to trust a beast, walking on two legs? Everything else I understand but I thought you’d never get over me having tails. Aren’t you an advocate for human supremacy… or rather purity? Am I not an abomination in the eyes of that patron deity of yours?” She hissed in surprise when she felt my arms and tails wrap around her, their suppressed strength easily palpable even though I wasn’t trying to hurt her. Make a point and maybe intimidate her, sure, but nothing more.

Despite my best effort, I had only managed to catch her off guard, but once the first moment of fright had passed I felt her relax, her arms snaking around my middle. Without a second thought she had turned my postering into a friendly hug and her quiet reply was warm, even cordial. “Maybe,” she breathed, “but that’s none of my business, not anymore. If he has a problem with what you are, he can take it up with you directly. But considering how things turned out the last time around, you know, when you effortlessly annihilated one of my strongest priests, I don’t expect it to happen. As for me… you’re right. I was raised to hate beast kin and my own experiences when I arrived on this island only served to make it worse, but I’m not stupid enough to ignore what I’ve seen. You… all of you have acted with more compassion, with more decency than anyone I’ve met before. Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong places but I’m not going to forget the lessons I’ve been taught. If you can find it in you to give me, to give us, another chance, I promise I won’t repeat the mistakes of the past. I would really like to get to know you, you and all of your people. I can’t promise I’ll embrace every demi human I’m going to meet openly, but I’m never again going to judge someone for,” she moved, her hands slowly trailing up my back and timidly brushing against my ears, “having fur or tails. I really am sorry.” Damn it all, now I even felt like a jerk for trying to scare her. Genuine apologies were truly a fearsome weapon.

While I honestly was a little miffed that I couldn’t even vent anymore, I felt the corners of my mouth twitch and soon I was laughing openly. The tension evaporated with my rising mirth and I heard the collective sighs of relief behind me. I might not have managed to intimidate Serena, but our audience surely had taken me seriously. Especially the two former slaves, who were white like parchments, the colour only now slowly returning to their cheeks.

“Was that really necessary,” Emilia huffed. “For a second there I thought you were going to turn us into stardust and memories.” She stretched and jumped to her feet lithely, uninvitedly turning my intended demonstration of power into a group hug. “Don’t do that anymore, please. I’d like to keep believing that you’re… more, that you’re better,” she added, her voice barely audible over the two heartbeats I felt against my skin.

My laughter turned into quiet chuckles and I retuned her embrace, my eyes still locked onto Serena’s. “I don’t think I’m in anyway better than most humans, as I’ve just proven, but still… thank you. I’ll try. Now, to answer your question, as far as I’m concerned, we can start over.” With a little force I pushed the two to arm’s length and spun us around. “Five are a great number to share a bottle of wine, or maybe two, if I can manage. What do you say, why don’t we return to the pond. I’m sure everybody else would also like to get to know you,” catching the gaze of Faelan and Anna I added: “and we have to find a place for the two of you to spend the night. I’m not going to make you sleep on the ground after everything you’ve been through. Unless you want to?” They shared a look and the she wolf said for the both of them:

“Thank you. Really. We… I don’t know if we can repay you, but…,” I cut her off again and shook my head.

“Will you stop it now? You’re very welcome. Truly. You don’t have to thank me for every little thing. We’ll have a nice, hopefully quiet, night and tomorrow we’ll try to figure out what to do. Don’t know if you’ve noticed but I, more often than not, don’t think things through completely. If you really want to, we’ll definitely find a way for you to return the favour.” Surprise and anxiety made them blush but they didn’t try to dodge my gaze anymore, instead they answered it openly and when they saw the truth behind my words, they even managed a shy smile.

“Your will, your Highness,” Faelan purred, her tail wagging excitedly.

Of course it didn’t turn out to be quite as uneventful as I had hoped. On the plus side, the two barmaids had found their courage, while we had leisurely been making our way back, and timidly approached us. On the other side… while Ahri had tried to explain to Astra and Aspera what I had been trying to say, with considerable less shouting and cursing involved along the way I might add, my mom had decided to chime in, which had left my little sister more or less unattended and to her own devices. Which meant she had managed to resist the temptation of joining Pete’s kids frolicking in the waters for about half a minute. Consequentially I had just about answered the first, nervous greeting the younger girl had offered, when my ears twitched violently, a surge of power close by thundering through my perception. Which a silent curse on my lips I whirled around, frantically searching for the source. Once I found it, though, I could only groan exasperatedly while I was already running, head over tails, my wings streaming through the night behind me.

The juvenile vixen had rallied her own army of troublemakers and Layla, Archy, Estrella and her had plunged into the pond, ready to challenge the newcomers to an epic water fight to the very last droplet. Unfortunately she had forgotten the seed she was still carrying around and my, oh my, what a surprise, it had become submerged the very second she had thrown herself into the azure waves. Would you believe it, the reaction between two nigh transcendent artefacts was nothing to scoff at and while the enchanted waters began glowing like a descending star, the seed pulsed and grew… in Reia’s gods damned pocket. If it hadn’t been so fucking dangerous, I would have laughed at her petrified and guilty expression wholeheartedly. But that had to wait. First I had to make sure she’d come out the other side unscathed and stop myself from strangling her, afterwards.

My body vanished in a shower of sparks and my heart leaped into my throat while I appeared at her side. “Out, get out,” I screamed, my voice giving the kids a swift kick up the arse. Before the rest of them even understood what was happening, they were already moving, streaking towards the banks as if in trance. As for my sister… that, unfortunately, wasn’t as straight forward. As luck would have it, the friggin cherry stone had latched onto her presence like a leech and even though I couldn’t interpret every little strand of energy that was freely flowing between her and the arcane plant, I had a rough idea of what was going on.

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The thing was supposed to react to my powers, feed off them, and while it was doing exactly that, gobbling up everything the pond contained, the consciousness it was binding to wasn’t mine. And Reia, as powerful as she was for her age, was no immortal. She crumbled, confusion turning into pure agony as her tail convulsed and reflexively wrapped itself around my middle. I heard her heart stutter, her breathing ceased and her eyes rolled into the back of her head when she collapsed into my arms and I, despite my age, froze, uncertainty and fear paralysing me instantly. Why? Why was there always a price to pay for the people closest to me? My thoughts became a jumbled up mess, the ones I had already failed marching in an endless line before my inner eye, my father, my first teacher, my friends, and as much as it shamed me to admit it, I wouldn’t have been able to help her, had I been alone. But I wasn’t. Warmth spread through me when Viyara’s thoughts mingled with mine, supporting me just as I had supported her when her home had burned. My own guardian angel didn’t rely on anything as flowery and found quite a few choice words while she was already stampeding towards us, a cloud of steam billowing around her burning figure. “Get your head out of your arse,” she hollered, “and do something! Anything! You had heaven and hell trembling at the thought of facing you and now you crumble? Cassy, I swear, if you allow your insecurities to kill Reia I’m going to personally clip your wings! It’s just magic, for Christ’s sake! Take it, devour it, if you have to, but done let it change her!”

I blinked and with an Herculean effort shoved the suffocating tide of pain away, focusing on the warm body in my arms. She was right. Even if I failed, I still had to try, the consequences be damned. My wings flared, sealing us behind a scintillating barrier of silver and blue while I allowed my perception, my consciousness to expand, to carry me along on the intricately woven web of energies surrounding us. Like a leaf thrown into a raging river I was propelled along, the world vanishing behind a veil of magic and purpose. The blurry silhouettes of those whose power had allowed the seed to become what it was bloomed around me, ghostly images of the past but real, none the less. There was an old and bent kitsune, her care and strength the core of what they had created, an overburdened fey, who had stumbled into a preordained play, so much bigger than he had ever imagined, a powerful spirit, the beating heart of Gaya, her unfathomable will channeling the forces of creation into something that wouldn’t tear her, our world, apart and lastly… an old and wizened man, wearing a burning crown of molten silver. His deeds, his drive, spanning aeons into the past and into the future, made the seed what it was: a bulwark that might be able to weather even a transcendent storm, but it also turned it into a death sentence for any mortal. And my baby sister was trapped in the middle of it, her frail form a fulcrum for forces that were supposed to be mine. Luckily she had the same advantage I had, she wasn’t alone.

“That’s the spirit,” Greta’s voice suddenly filled my mind, but it wasn’t hoarse or cracked. She sounded like a young woman, a perfect blend of the girl I had seen in my memories and the ancient mentor I had come to know so well. “Now show me that I didn’t waste my time. Nothing will escape this place, I promise. Cross the threshold, make us real and free your sister. You can do it… I know you can, I’ve seen it before. Let there be light!” There was no doubt, no fear in her voice, only certainty. She knew who I was, she always had known, much better than anyone else. I didn’t question why she was here, I didn’t burden myself with what I couldn’t control, anymore. Her trust was enough to calm my mind and with a twist of my awareness I relaxed the iron hard grip around my core, the infinite torrents thundering forth as if a dam had been broken.

The surreal apparitions dispersed and I found myself at the centre of a raging maelstrom, silver and blue dancing around Reia and me in an infinite circle of power. I raised my gaze to the heavens, a silent scream twisting my mouth into a snarl. Light erupted from my eyes and my wings became solid, unyielding bands of silver, anchoring me and my precious burden. I might not have been able to free her, not without tearing asunder the complex spells around us, but I could very well take on her burdens, just like Greta had taken on mine in the final hour of Boseiju’s fall. I just hoped neither of us would have to pay the same price. Even though the wily vixen had apparently cheated.

What happened to me, to us, is almost impossible to put into words. Up was down and down was up, colours became sounds and sounds turned into smells as reality went to war, confined by a translucent barrier of dubious origins. But I didn’t care. There were only two things on my mind: providing enough energy so that the ravenous cataclysm wouldn’t consume what little Reia had to offer and wrapping myself around her soul, her life to, ensure she wouldn’t be harmed or transformed by magics, not meant for the mortal world. My power became her armour, my will her shield, and while the thundering tides of eternity tore through her I felt them divert, gravitating to the only source that could satisfy their transcendent needs.

From the outside it must have looked serene, maybe even hallowed. A storm of light, hazy images flickering across its surface, surrounded by frothing waves of pure azure, sparks rising to the surface and vanishing into the depths in an endless cycle. A soft glow pulsed, igniting the magic in the waters and with a spherical sound the waters rose, enveloping us in a soft cocoon of life. Only the flaming outlines of four fiery wings didn’t quite fit, but there wasn’t a force in heaven or hell strong enough to prevent Ahri from reaching us. She would be too late, though. By then, I would either have succeeded or I would have lost my sister.

I was reminded of the time when I had been forced to transform my mom, my power pouring into an endless, insatiable void, but since then a few things had changed. One, I was much stronger, my magic willing to do my bidding and two, however impressive the whirlwind of living light might have seemed, it was in no way comparable to what I had done, back then. I wasn’t trying to create or animate a creature born of a transcendent spark and an undying wish to protect. All I had to do was fill a mould, which had been created for that very purpose… and make sure the precious conductor wouldn’t suffer any damage. As much as I had panicked in the beginning, the daunting task reminding me of the many instances where I had played with forces beyond my control and had been reduced to a praying child stumbling along, as easy, as natural it felt once I had overcome my insecurities. Reia would survive, I’d make sure of it.

At the centre of the shining sphere, torrents of energy swelled around the seed, its dark lustre becoming streaked with veins of silver. While my power, taken from the pond and my core, raged through me and by extension through Reia, my presence still wrapped around her like a shimmering blanket, it grew. Quite literally, at first, it expanded, swelling to take in everything it was offered but quickly enough it cracked, its skin flaking away to reveal scintillating roots that shimmered and vanished, drilling deep into the weave. A tiny leaf unfurled, green and silver with the faintest hint of golden spots, resting on a delicate seedling. From one heartbeat to the next the seedling turned into a small tree, its shining bark reminiscent of Galathon’s black scales, impenetrable and unyielding.

Branches grew before my eyes, laden with flowers of the palest red, their stamps apparently made of solid silver with streaks of gold. The trunk shot up, growing several metres in the blink of an eye. Real roots exploded outwards, digging deep through the azure waters and into the earth of Free Land below. A sweet smell, a mixture of ozone, cherry blossoms and molten gold, enveloped the garden. I felt a tug on my awareness and a last torrent of power was drawn from my core before the light receded, leaving me, dripping wet and panting, in the middle of a pond, form which a cherry tree grew, an unconscious vixen with two tails snoring in my arms.