The words of his first ratteled through his mind. "There are but two ways to have magic in this world: be born with it or learn it". his grandmothers words ment more this day than most, for he would never be able to hear her voice again.

adaidh's father was the only child of one of the great druids of her age. Ceit had lived over one hundred and twenty years, she rose to prominence durring the war 85 years ago when Crasan had annexed a portion of the fractured empires land, as her reward she was given grant to a track of land. the same land she would be intured in this afternoon.

Ceit had ruled with a fair hand, the iron she saved for her family. As the story would go she took possesion of the land and brought her two brothers with her, one brother lasted two years before he tried to burn down the mountianside and his sister along with it. the elder brother lasted longer, though many said he wished he hadn't, his wife had a trying childbirth. the child was born with magic, rare but it did happen. the girl, his fathers cousin, was gifted a form of earth magic which allowed her to shape metal. none knew if it was her father or ceit that planted the idea in her head, but metal came from the ground and as such if she just pulled it up the she would be rich. at the age of seventeen she used her magic to make a gift for her newborn cousin, the ground gave way and shifted thr course of the river, thousands of tons of stone and dirt was eroeded away and the land slide killed dozens.

even in his thoughts that cousins name was not mentioned to this day.

"Ceit, my mother lead this comunity since it was founded. She can not be replaced, for there is none who could do as much as she had done, care as much as she cared" his fathers drolling speach contained about as much imagination as he could muster, that is to say nearly none. in fact due to his fathers almost complete lack of magic this eulogy was the extant of his participation would be. Sadiadh was his grandmothers student and the one with the most magic in the family (his mother had most but she was barely trained) he was the one who would do the actual burial and grow the remembance tree.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

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two hours later his grandmother nurushing a newly sprouted tree Sadiadh was in the stable attempting to leave and return to the city, his wife was due any day now and if not for his grandmother he never would have left her.

on his way down the trail he passed erron a friend of his at the university. "what brings you here of all places"

"grandmothers funeral." he replied pointing back the way he had come. "how about yourself?"

"complications with a will, some estate up the mountian here has a named heir but we can't find any record of the heir. the magistrate sent me to investigate before the old woman dies." Crasan had a rule that land would pass through a maternal line, in the event of only a male heir he could only hold it for a single generation before the crown took possesion. the other option was to designate an heir, and if a woman had more than one daughter this was custimarily done regardless so the sisters wouldnt bicker. if his grandmother hadnt named an heir then his father had first claim, but his cousin might have grounds as well. "seems the old woman named a granddaughter, but we cant find hide nor hare of the child."

"glad my grandmother had her will straightened two months ago, she knew her time was almost here."

sadaidh parted with erron knowing he would likely see him for lunch in the next few days at work. both taught at the university as assistant professors, though in most cases that amounted to dealing with the childissh issues of the elite who sent them their children to turn into proper adults.