A Kind of Magic

Seventy-Two

Fiona kept her calm in the days and weeks that followed, rereading Peregrine's letter, containing only one line-- I love you, Bella-- every night, before she pushed it under her pillow, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes.

Or rather she tried to keep her outwardly calm surface, allowing her feelings to simmer just under her skin, biting the inside of her cheek when anyone tried to engage her in the useless court conversation, narrowing her eyes in silent anger at Alaric everytime he spoke to her as if Peregrine didn't exist, rolling them at Emrys who kept smiling like the Cheshire Cat, his belief in the old gods and destiny unshakeable. 

No one stirred into action until the morning a couple of weeks after Peregrine had left, which had passed without any communication from the missing Highlander, when Freddie vanished.

The boy wasn't in his bed when Fiona came to wake him up in the morning as she did on most days, he wasn't in the Great Hall for an early breakfast, not even in the kitchens where he sometimes followed his mother-- who couldn't sleep well since Peregrine had disappeared and took to her old habit of making bread in the middle of the night. There was no trace of him in the library or the Armoury either, and the maid whom Fiona had sent to check the stables where their horses and sometimes Gollum too slept, returned empty handed.

"Have you seen Freddie?" Fiona called, struggling to regain her breath when she and Aryana, who had followed her around the castle in search of the boy, barged into Gilderoy's chamber.

"No," he replied, surprised, as the werewolf girl rushed into his arms. She loved Freddie almost as much as herself, and so did Gilderoy, Fiona was convinced about it.

"Emrys..." she mumbled, rushing out of the chamber again, half-running down the gloomy corridor and the wide staircase opening at its end, towards the floor where the wizard's chambers were situated.

She stormed in without knocking to find him only half dressed as he tied the laces of her mother's gown, which she must have only just donned.

Seeing the two in such an intimate moment took Fiona's remaining breath away along with her anger and despair. Everyone knew that Emrys and Alexandra were a couple now at court, of course, but they never displayed their feelings beyond the walls of their chamber-- a thing they most likely did for her sake, to strengthen hers, or rather Freddie's claim to the throne, as Alaric's and not Emrys' grandson.

"I'm... sorry," she muttered, retreating, turning to the door and blocking it to Gilderoy and Aryana who had followed her, until her parents finished getting dressed, and Emrys motioned for the trio of worried-looking friends to enter.

"I can't find Freddie. He's nowhere, he's... just gone, like Peregrine," Fiona told them in the meantime.  

Alexandra, ready before Emrys, rushed towards her, pulled her in a silent embrace, then, even as Emrys returned from another room, carrying his orbuculum, led her towards a round table set by the fireplace and pushed her into a cushioned chair, motioning for Gilderoy and Aryana to join her daughter there.

Emrys placed his crystal bowl on the shiny, polished intarsia table, then pulled a couple more stools for him and Alexandra while the rest of them sat down.

"I... had a feeling that something would happen today... I just didn't know what..." he muttered, his wide opened hands hovering above the ball, coaxing the transparent crystal to blush baby pink, lilac, then turn a vivid purple, its inner moving light competing in strength with that of the fire burning behind Fiona's back.

"Are you telling me... that you know nothing about this... Father?" Fiona whispered. She felt awed by the crystal bowl which she had never seen come to life before, the thing was simply mesmerising...

Alexandra took her hand in hers, drawing her attention. Her mother's finger was pressed to her lips, bidding silence. Seeing that Alexandra had apparently more experience with what was happening, Fiona nodded and looked back into the ball silently, waiting for Emrys to speak when he was ready.

The purple, smoky light that swirled within the ball in tangled spirals was soothing, hypnotic, but it didn't reveal anything to Fiona, it simply calmed her anxiety, lulling her into a happy place where problems and worries didn't exist... It wasn't a bad place to be after the weeks of desperation growing into despair she had lived through since Peregrine had vanished...

Emrys' words, spoken to himself, pulled her back to reality, which felt even more harsh after having experienced the sensation of peace and calm induced by the orbuculum. 

"And just why did he do that...? Oh. Of course. Wise, selfless boy. He'll be the best ruler Silmarea had since..."

"What is it? What are you seeing?" Fiona called, thankful for Aryana's arm coming to lay promptly on her shivering shoulders.

"Freddie left. I suppose I could say he was kidnapped, but... he wasn't. He went with the dragons voluntarily..."

"What are you talking about? I don't understand!" Fiona called again, her desperation turning to anger tinged with depression. What was she to do now? She had already lost Peregrine... And this was her child Emrys was speaking about. 

"His ring told him about the men his father had sent for him. He was aware of the possibility of bloodshed, the loss of lives that would ensue should he not give himself up, a thing he knew none of us would allow him to do. He avoided all that by meeting them in the forest in the middle of the night. He just... obeyed his destiny," Emrys announced, voice laced with admiration. 

Fiona stood so fast that she made her chair fall to the floor and almost overturned the dainty table, orbuculum and all.

"And why didn't you know about this?" she seethed, eyes intent on Emrys through a veil of indomitable red curls as she walked backwards to the chamber's doors, ready to bolt after her son.

"The gods didn't want me to, Bells. This is all a part of a greater plan."

"Alright. Fine. I accept that you didn't know and couldn't stop him. But why are you all just sitting here? Let's go, we must find him..."

"No, Bells, there's no point. They flew, we'll never catch up with them before they reach the Highlands, and once there, they'll be in the midst of an army."

"Nonsense... Freddie can't fly..." Fiona insisted, her back pressed against the closed door as Emrys approached her cautiously, knowing well that any of the dragon shifters could have easily carried the boy...

"He can fly now," her father said, his smile hinting at the grandfatherly pride. "I saw him transform in the orbuculum just now; he makes a fine Highland Dragon. There's no point following him. This was supposed to happen, and there's Peregrine out there to keep an eye on him. They are all safe for the foreseeable future. I'll keep watch on them through the orbuculum, and should anything hint at the slightest danger, Alaric and I will march to the Highlands at the head of Silmarea's army personally. I give you my word, Bells."

Fiona took a deep breath. She was tired of arguing with everyone. She needed a break. A holiday... far from this stifling, lonely castle void of the two people she loved the most.

"All right, father. I trust you." 

Of course, that didn't mean that she wouldn't pack her bags and leave on the first suitable occasion. She had learned enough about Silmarea's geography to know it was almost a mirror image of Great Britain. She knew where the Scottish Highlands lay. 

She would find Freddie and Peregrine alone.