Things Lost and Found (a Waglington and Mianite fanfiction)

Chapter 34

Thank you all for the prayers for my aunt and all the support and the great questions. :) She's out of the hospital, but still really weak and not able to eat much. I'm still worried about her and stressed out over things. Work has been really depressing the past few weeks too. :/ Thanks for waiting patiently for this chapter. I hope you all enjoy. :)

*Tom's POV*

"So how come we never saw you back in the Realm?" Tucker asked. We were chatting with the wizards' apprentices in the tavern while waiting for word on Wag. We had been banished when we tried to follow Martha and Donella into the house they were working on Wag in. I mean literally banished; Donella teleported us all back outside and warded the door to keep us out. I guess she didn't want any distractions. I hope Wag's okay; they've been in there a long time.

We'd introduced ourselves, and the girls had been telling us about their time apprenticing to Matt, Tom, Phil, and Wag. Apparently Kay had been Wag's apprentice back in the Realm, and Echo wasn't old enough to be assigned to a specific master wizard yet. Then there was something about a college and graduating. I didn't understand the whole system personally.

"What part of 'we don't trust mortals' don't you get?" Echo retorted, crossing her arms.

Kay intervened before the saltshaker and Echo could do more than glare at each other, "Our detection spells could sense all of you miles away. We had more than enough time to get back inside Fyre HQ when you were headed our way." She had been fine before Echo asked what gods we followed; now she acted like Tucker and Sonja were live grenades. Why was she afraid of Mianitees?

"Okay, but why don't you trust mortals?" Jordan asked from his seat. Sparklez had been a bit late to the party. It had taken him a few hours to make it back over here from his reactor, and he had to stop and check in on the Ianitas on the way. We had all sorta agreed not to tell him it was his fault that Wag collapsed before he got here.

Kay glanced at Tucker and Sonja before carefully asking, "What have you all heard about the war between Mianite and the wizards?"

"Donella didn't tell us much, just that they were duking it out for some reason," I answered. "Don't worry about these two biting your head off; they're about as dangerous as kittens," I added, pointing to the Mianitees.

"Hey!" Tucker yelled, scowling at me. I ignored him.

Kay still seemed a bit nervous but continued, "Centuries ago, a powerful wizard tried to assassinate Mianite. No one currently living knows why. His attempt failed, and Mianite retaliated with open war."

"Mianite would never do that!" Tucker interrupted, clearly angry.

I gave him my best "I'm gonna murder ya if you keep talking" Dianitee glare, and he shut up. I motioned for Kay to continue.

"Think of it this way: If a Dianitee tried to kill Mianite, wouldn't that translate as a declaration of war? One Dianitee declaring war speaks for the whole group, because they all follow Dianite. That or the person would be harshly punished for going against their god's wishes." We could all follow that line of thinking. "What Mianite didn't understand at the time was that wizards aren't organized that way. We didn't have a strict 'leader'. Every wizard was their own man; no one had the desire or authority to get involved or punish that wizard after the assassination attempt. Mianite took our lack of punishment as approval. And so, the war against all wizards began." Her story made more sense now. Mianite in our world could be a stick in the mud, but he wasn't a pushover.

"Even after the war ended, the mortals had so many horrifying memories of wizards defending themselves and slaughtering armies with magic that they held grudges and feared us. Wizards are still hunted and murdered in some parts of the Realm." Kay had a slightly haunted look on her face as she finished. Surely she wasn't hunted, was she? Is that why she's so jumpy?