Chapter 17: The Colours of Magic

Chapter 17

Seraphina thought, while she and Oliver consulted their advisors,  that the demands of war were nothing compared with the demands of peace.  There were ambassadors and treaties and negotiations and meetings and endless piles of paperwork.

It was a relief, really, when Rhea knocked on the door and asked if she was interrupting.  So Seraphina excused herself and stepped out of the room with Rhea, leaving Oliver to contend with writing formal letters and lists.  

“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting,” Rhea said.

“More like rescuing.”  Seraphina replied mirthfully.  

Rhea grinned, “glad to be of service, your majesty-”

“Seraphina.  It feels silly to have you call me majesty after everything.”

Alright then, Seraphina, I don’t know more than the basics about what happened with Duana, but I thought you’d still want to know.”

“I do,” Seraphina said.

“Ok, well, I’ve pieced together what she told me with what I already knew to fill up the gaps.

When she came to Odrana her plan was to become the Queen to gain access to your father’s notes to learn more information about the war, then use her power as Queen to end the war.  She spent ten years trying to find a peaceful way to end the war, without her magic.

The bloodstone, I believe, was her failsafe.  If she decided there was no way to end the war she could unleash the power stored in the bloodstone.  The reason she didn’t was because she knew what that would entail, that is why she didn’t use it before her magic changed.  I’m not sure how she managed to make such a powerful talisman but I suspect it’s tied to her with more than one type of magic, and more than just magic.

When your father found the bloodstone and intended to use it to vanquish the Sacian army she panicked.  Anger and fear overrode her other emotions, that twisted her magic and caused the change in magic and in heart.  I’m actually quite surprised, and impressed by her control.  Knowing the little I do about her past, I would have expected her to lose control over her emotions long before,” Rhea said sadly.

Seraphina was listening intently.

“Now that you have a bit more insight on what she did, I’ll explain why.

Duana spent years learning to master her power with the sole intention of ending the war.  The reason is that when she was quite young, and the war at it’s beginning the men of her family left to join the Sacian army.  All of them died defending their country and family.  

As the years passed and the war continued, your father paid men to raid and burn Sacian villages.  Duana’s family had the misfortune of living in the path of those men.

Duana returned home one day and found only the charred remains of her home.  No survivors.  

I hardly know anything about her family, only that she was devastated by the death of her family, especially her little sister, Rosie, she was only six years old,” Rhea said quietly.

Seraphina’s eyes widened in shock and her face drained of all colour, “Rosie?” she gasped.

Rhea nodded, “that’s what Duana said.”  

Seraphina said nothing as she was drawn into a distant memory.

She’d heard that name before, at the time she’d been ten, walking in one of the gardens with Duana.

“Can I have a sweet?”  Seraphina asked.

“Have you been good?”  Duana asked in return.

“No.  I hid in a tree instead of doing my lessons and my tutor called me a hellion.  Can I have a sweet anyways?”  Seraphina replied frankly.  

Duana laughed at her stepdaughters antics, then a funny look flited across her face, “you remind me of someone,” she said.

“Who?”  Seraphina asked curiously.

“A girl I met traveling.”  

“What was she like?  Was she pretty?  What was her name?”  Seraphina asked eagerly.

“She was silly like you, and always asking for sweets, she would play in the forest all day and could make anyone laugh.  That was, I think, the most beautiful thing about her, that she was always happy.  She had curly dark brown hair, her eyes were brown too.  And she had freckles all over.  She was a halfling and her magic was light pink, that’s how she got her name; Rosie,” Duana said wistfully.

“Can I meet her?”  Seraphina asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.  

“No, I’m afraid not,” Duana said softly.

“Why not?”  Seraphina asked.

Duana looked at Seraphina and smiled fondly, “well, she liked playing in the forest with the wild animals so much that one morning she went out into the forest and decided to live there with the animals.”  

“Doesn’t she miss her family?  And don’t they miss her?”  Seraphina asked.

“They miss her lots, her older sister especially, and I suppose she misses them too, but I’m sure the animals take good care of her.  Some people aren’t made to stay in our lives forever, they can only stay for a short time before they have to leave,” Duana explained.

“Why can’t they stay forever?”  Seraphina asked looking confused.

“Lots of different reasons, some people belong to the wind and are never happy unless they’re on the move, some people have things to do, and some people just have to be free.”  Duana replied.

“Well I won’t run away because then you and daddy would be sad, and I don’t want to make anyone sad,” Seraphina replied seriously.

Duana smiled and ruffled Seraphina’s hair, “that’s very kind of you.”

The memory ended and Seraphina found herself drawn back into the present, “is Duana awake?” she asked.

Rhea nodded, “I came as soon as I was finished with the healing.”

“I need to talk to her,” Seraphina said.

“Go ahead.  I’m going to get Aya from Jason, I’ll come check up on you after,” Rhea replied and started towards the nursery.