DragonBonds

Traverse

"And you are absolutely 100% sure you want to do this?"

The question was spoken gently, and the tall black and white cat looked her son's partner over as they got ready for what was about to happen. The ringtail had asked for something that had only been performed hundreds of years ago, and Merlot was more worried than anything that they wouldn't be able to come back from it in one piece.

She already had to witness one almost-failed bonding, she didn't want to witness another.

"Merlot..." Andi looked up at the cat with understanding, but determined eyes. "If I don't do this, we have very little chance getting Cloud back. Your son is the most important thing in the world to me, and if there's something, anything, I can do, I have to."

Merlot looked at the determined eyes the ringtail bore into her own, and the look of worry on her face melted into something gentler. Something prideful.

She pulled Andi into a gentle hug, pressing her cheek to the top of their head.

"I know, I know. I know you can do whatever you set your mind to Andi, I'm just... I don't want to lose you. Like you said, this might be our only chance to get him back, and even if I, Heath, and Pebbles try to do what we can do, and even if we would be able to stop Zephyr, Cloud's going to need you. So please... When we do this, be careful. None of us know what it's like over there right now."

The ringtail leaned into the embrace of their boyfriend's mom, closing their eyes and listening to her carefully.

"Of course, Merlot. If I'm doing this for him, I want to be here when he comes back."

And he will come back. I'll make sure of that.

"Alright," Merlot finally breathed out after a second, giving Andi a pat on their shoulder. "Let's go find that spell my great-great grandmother used."

Andi nodded. A part of history, forever ingrained in even the blood of the family they were now a part of, and they were going to be privy to the knowledge from centuries ago.

The two of them headed out to the old cottage, left abandoned after years, to find the spell. It was an interesting journey for Andi- they'd never really left the area all that often, and when they did, it wasn't to sightsee. They just passed through without any second thoughts just because they had to at the time. But now, they got to take this adventure with Merlot, someone they've started looking up to since all of this happened.

With adventure comes lots of opportunities as well, and one of those Andi wanted to take was the opportunity to ask questions.

"Merlot?" They asked softly. "Do you know what Anjelica was like?"

The black and white cat was taken a little aback at the question, but she smiled warmly at the ringtail and let out a soft sigh.

"I only know what I've been told from parent to child, from what my own parents have been told. Anjelica was... Something. She was wildly eccentric and incredibly kind, and just wanted to make a difference in the world. She was, and still to this day is, the only Colvi to ever be born with innate magic. Her parents viewed the act of magic as taboo and treated her very poorly because of it. When she had gotten older, she ran away from home and lived in the outskirts of a village, in a cottage she built herself. Being the first to bond probably wasn't an easy thing to come to terms with- sharing a body with another entity seems like such a foreign concept to other people when it's been routine throughout my whole life." Merlot took a breath and put her hand on her cheek.

"Right, Anjelica. Well, other than that, not much else is known. She lived with her wife and her son in the town near the cottage and they all grew together. Anjelica learned what happens to those whose blood is mixed with that of the ethereal realm when her son became bonded automatically on his 18th. and then.... she passed away. Her studies all in her cottage, our family coming and going as children so we know what we're going to be dealing with and learning our family history in the process."