ch.24 Touch of Magic

With two days left in the unsealing process, Elric spent the mornings out fishing with Blaze and the evenings with his mother Ciara, talking about Princess Aalis. Elric wanted to take his mother out to the central island, but she said that they could go after she regained her powers and could perform the Ceremony of Awakening for Elric there. Elric agreed with his mother, and thought that if 2 bags of Sea Heart Grass would be of benefit to him if used in the ceremony, how much more would a island covered in be.

With her powers now unsealed Ciara could now awaken Elric's sleeping powers and begin to teach him magic. To test that her powers had truly been unsealed Ciara cast a few wind spells that would allow Elric's small sailboat to be faster. Seeing that her powers had definitely returned, Ciara, Elric, and Blaze set sail for the central island. The sailboat's new found speed made it hard for Elric to fish. It was a good thing that his mother thought ahead and packed a few days worth of food. The three of them reached the island in half the time it took Elric and Blaze to get there the first time.

On the way Ciara explained that witches and warlocks as male witches are called are born with magic in their blood. They only needed a family member to perform the Ceremony of Awakening and to learn the spells in order to use their inborn power of magic. While mages had to rely on an outside source of power such as a magical crystal or the blood of rare magical beast like unicorns to perform magic. Most mages were also limited to learning one type or school of magic such as healing or fire. Witch houses and covens typically were well versed in all sorts of magic, and only held a slight preference to any one type. Even in one family the preference could differ, Ciara liked to use runic curse magic and wind, while her mother was more a fan of fire and gravity magic. This did not mean that they could not or did not use other magic. Magic is everything to a witch of a House such as Pendragon. It was used to cook, bathe, do landry, build, farm and even to fall asleep. To have one's power to use magic sealed to marry was a true test of love, Ciara had a hard time adjusting to mortal life without the ability to use magic, because of how much its use was ingrained into her daily life.

Having reached the central island of the Midland Sea the trio ancored the small sailboat right up against the island so that Elric could plan out how far out he would need to build a dock if he was going to develop the island for his private use. While the area technology belonged to another kingdom He figured no one else ever set foot on the island so it should not be a problem. If the kingdom that controlled the area wanted to make it a problem, Elric did not mind feeding Blaze another prince or three. He was already a king of one kingdom and going to marry the crown princess of another, to him it was no big deal if he "expanded his borders."

Blaze tried fishing on her own with a line tied to her tail while Elric and Ciara walked to the center of the island to perform the Ceremony of Awakening. On the way to the center of the island Ciara was blown away by the amount of Sea Heart Grass growing on this island. Reaching the very center of the island Ciara used fire magic to draw out a twelve pointed star that looked like two Stars of David superimposed one on top of the other. This is where Elric would sit during the ceremony. With so much Sea Heart Grass on the island Ciara decided to use the entire island to form the ceremonial circle.

As there was no one besides the two of them and Blaze on the island it would be safe for her to walk alone. Leaving Elric sitting in the middle of the star, she walked to the four corners of the island using a standard compass to guide her she marked the North, East, South, and West most points of the island with the Pendragon House rune. That was in the shape of a shield barring a dragon upon it. After marking all four locations she returned to the center where Elric was sitting. Reaching his side Ciara cut a small X on her right palm and placed her hand on top of Elric's head. Ciara then began to chant, "Blood of my blood, magic of my house, receive the blessings of Kur bestowed upon our family, and awaken thy power on this holy day of your awakening."

As soon as the last word left her mouth the island lit up brighter that the midday sun with millions of runes. Each blade of the Sea Heart Grass had the House Pendragon rune on it. After five minutes every one of those millions and millions of blades of Sea Heart Grass turned into mist. The mist started to gather forming a vortex in the sky the size of a category five hurricane. It was fortunate that only those attuned to magic could see the mist or all the villages around the Midland Sea would have been able to see it in the sky.

The tip of the vortex was attached to the center of Elric's head and quickly disappearing into it, with the tiny seeds of the Sea Heart Grass falling back onto the island. While the amount of power a witch possessed was tied to the bloodline of the house it could be heavily increased by the amount of Sea Heart Grass sacrificed in the ceremonial circle at the time of awakening. Only fifty blades had been used when Ciara and her sister had their awakening, and her sister had been powerful enough to catch the eye of a man from the main branch of the family. The amount she just used to awaken her son was more Sea Heart Grass than had been used in the history of House Pendragon up to that point she imagined. Ciara thought that he might become as powerful as Morgana was said to be. According to the recorded history of the house she had once turned an entire kingdom to ice with a snap of her fingers.

Unbeknownst to Elric or his mother another power that was growing deep within him was also starting to awaken. The only one who felt it was Blaze. Over the next week they stayed on the island where Ciara started to teach Elric the magical spells belonging to House Pendragon. Elric being the ever quick learner was able to gain basic mastery over earth, fire, wind, water, and gravity magic in that week. By the time the three of them left the island new sprouts of Sea Heart Grass could be seen growing. If the two of them ever managed to return to Tera she would need to report the existence of the island to her branch of the family and most likely the main house on Vash.

When they got back to the small village Ciara told Elric that he should probably head back to his kingdom soon, his people and princess Aalis were probably worried sick for him. She also told him to return once he turned eighteen and that when he did she would tell him of their homeland and what she knew of his father and his family. A day later Elric was able to convince her that he was more than strong enough to protect her and that she would be much better off living in his and Blaze's old Dragon's Keep at Foust castle. He had a promise to keep to his future queen after all, if not he would insist on her living in Dragon City with him. With how fast Blaze could run now the time it took for him to travel between the two capital cities was not that long.

As Blaze was was ok with Ciara riding on her back, because she was Elric's mother, they were able to ride back many times faster than if Elric had to hire a carriage for his mother. As always he had Blaze stop to rest at night and he killed bandits along the way. The bandits gave Elric an opportunity to show off how strong he was and his skills with a sword and bow to his mother. While Ciara was proud of her son for using his strength for good, she had no stomach for violence, even if used against those that had used it to steal, kill, and force themselves onto women who traveled alone. She had to close her eyes and cover her ears when Blaze ate the unlucky bandits.

Once the three of them got to Dragon City Elric sent a twin tail bird with a message saying that he wanted King Foust, Odis and princess Aalis to come and meet his mother. He also sent word to Blake and Old Bell back at Odis' villa. Ethel whom was already in Dragon City's castle was also sent word, but she was asked to have the maids and cooks ready a welcome feast for his mother.

That evening a grand welcoming feast was held that lasted well into the night. Princess Aalis forgot how to act like a proper princess that night and refused to sit anywhere but on Elric's lap, but everyone just let it go as she had deeply missed him while he was gone. By the end of the feast Elric felt that he had set himself up for future troubles with how close his bride to be and mother had gotten. When everyone headed back to Foust castle the two of them even got Blaze in on it. They forced him to ride back the the carriage with his father-in-law and Odis, while the two of them rode on Blaze, saying that the stinky old men should all ride together, and let the girls have time to talk alone.

To make sure that his mother Ciara was comfortable and settling in to life in his keep, Elric spent the next week in Foust while riding back and forth to Dragon City each day to hold court. He made sure to announce Ciara as Queen Mother on the first day he held court. Getting to spend a week with Elric after he was gone for awhile made for one happy princess as she went to hold court with him as she was unwilling to part with him. The second night he was in Foust Aalis got him and her father King Foust to cave somewhat and let her sleep in a normally unused set of rooms below his chambers in the keep. In the end she calmed it as her new bedroom moving all of her stuff into it, and would use it as such until she was allowed to move into her already long built queen's chambers in Dragon City Castle.