𝑩𝑬𝑳𝑳𝑰𝑪𝑶𝑺𝑬 | 𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑎 𝑥 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑋𝑋𝑋𝐼𝑉

─────⊰ ✧.*✦*.✧ ⊱─────

　　 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋 𝐎𝐅 Cair Paravel felt odd after what had occurred at the Western Wild only a few days ago. Standing on a grand, empty balcony that overlooked the Great Eastern Sea, it was as though it had never happened. The waves flowed peacefully over one another until they reached shore where they lazily lapped onto. The birds chittered through the soft sound of the waves in the distance.

The castle of Cair Paravel was so vast, it was easy to get lost in the many corridors. It reminded Victoria of her first year trying to find her way through Hogwarts. Both castles were positioned on peninsulas, though Cair Paravel was built within the ruins of the peninsulas. It reached far down cliffs, the castle having been built in an intricate manner to be an extension of nature.

Victoria's earrings clanged together in the soft breeze, her hair being blown off her shoulders. She closed her eyes to feel the tickling tingle of the wind gracing ever so slightly against her cheeks. Her hands held onto a piece of paper, which she'd been too afraid to read for months. On the front was her name written in her father's handwriting. She recognised it from the inventory sheets and other administrative papers he had to keep track of.

Alexis walked onto the balcony from behind Victoria and stood next to her, her arms resting on the cool stone railing. 'Have you still not read it?' she asked when she noticed the slip of parchment in Victoria's hands.

'What if they're mad at me?' Victoria replied in a whisper, her breath floating out of her mouth for the wind to take it elsewhere. 'What if they've written that I should never come home again?'

'You won't ever know until you read the note,' Alexis said and laid her hand on Victoria's shoulder. She cracked a soft smile of encouragement, which she'd hoped would be enough to convince Victoria to finally read the letter. She knew Victoria's parents almost as well as her own, and there was no way they would ever tell Victoria not to come home.

Victoria glanced down at the slip of parchment with doubtful eyes. Since her bloodbound had been broken, she'd been worried that her mind would be overloaded with everyone's personal thoughts and secrets, and that the auras she could once see would return despite her refusal. However, it was quite the contrary.

The bloodbound helped prevent Victoria from seeing auras of people's truest intention, and stopped voices of others involuntarily invading her mind. Now that it had been broken, her gift was no longer bound, however, she'd gained a new perspective of better understanding the nature of one's mind and body and the connection between the two. Narnian magic began at the root of one's body—the heart where all hope originated—and was strengthened by the will of one's mind. Once Victoria had found that connection, she could focus on her heart instead of her mind at will. She'd found the cure to her gift within Narnian magic.

The only voice that remained in her mind was her own, and it wouldn't stop worrying about the note from her parents. She could put it aside for months as she was too occupied with Grindelwald and later on Tom, but both were no longer a threat. All that remained unknown was the note. With shivering hands, Victoria slowly unfolded the parchment, her eyes gliding over the words as she read what her parents wanted her to know before she left indefinitely for the sake of their cause.