The scream that had ripped from Tasia had no beginning and no ending. It carried all of the latent power of her soul, including parts she had never before seen. Some went right back into lockdown because she was not ready, but others remained unlocked. Perhaps most significantly of all, her True Shadow power split apart anew even as her soul did, and then merged back together more violently. She could feel the sudden return of Light and Dark inside her body as wholly as True Shadow, but just could not care. Her eyes closed as her summoning power tore from her body in a tangle of all elements combined and spread to consume Blossom Field as a whole.
On every world except Iris, buried deep amid the fields of what had once been the home to the world's namesake flower, a small and round sacred stone had been buried for millennia and forgotten by one and all. In the wake of the Mystic Summoner's power, the stones finally pushed their way to the surface as a single new bloom of the world's special flower was born. The first sign of the future. The stones—opal, agate, citrine, rose quartz, apatite, ametrine, aquamarine, and chrome tourmaline—all exploded outward into fragments of dust that swirled into the air. Protea's namesake black flower had been blooming for millennia, but no one had ever seen the amber stone hidden beneath the land near the ruins of the kingdom. It, too, pushed itself to the surface and then exploded.
Something else happened on Protea as well. Within the sacred space of the High Priestess' home, the large marble stone's exterior melted to reveal the pure amethyst underneath. There, sleeping within the gemstone, lay a tiny creature finally ready to awaken. The amethyst egg shattered into clumps that fell onto the floor, and the baby dragon took her first breath of life.
The power continued to rise around Tasia until her Mask and armor could not contain it. Her Mask fell off onto the ground and her armor disappeared. Her clothes beneath melted away into swirls of rainbow-gray irises and True Shadow fog. Tears still streamed down her face against her will. She had no control over any of her power.
No one at all realized what was going on until Shana and Siobhan began to glow black and white, respectively. The crowd did not notice; their eyes had riveted to the sight of the grieving sorceress. The two Apexes suddenly shifted into their true form, and their clothes dissolved into their power. Whorls of pure Dark and black-pink protea blossoms surrounded Shana as black wings opened on her back and the crown of her Mark appeared on her left cheek. Swirls of pure Light and white-gold delphinium blossoms rose to surround Siobhan as matching white wings opened against her back, and her crown appeared on her right cheek. They looked at one another and then disappeared with such suddenness that their husbands narrowly missed grabbing their wrists to anchor them.
Yvonne made a choked sound and they all whirled to see the two women reappearing near Tasia. Understanding began to well. "Sh-she summoned the Apexes," Rocky managed to whisper. "She summoned the two highest of all beings. How?" He looked closer, and tears filled his eyes. The how seemed less important than the why, and he did not think she had even noticed her actions. She had not moved an inch.
"Tasia." Siobhan's voice was so soft that only the sorceress could hear her. "Anastasia."
She looked up slowly and found both Apexes hovering beside her. Their faces reflected their pain for her. "Why are you here? You can't change things," she whispered.
"No," Shana agreed as she knelt next to her, "but you summoned us all the same." Her heart ached painfully as she looked at the woman who seemed so much like another part of herself. Her kindred spirit who was like her sister and her best friend. They were closer to one another in some ways than anyone else. It killed Shana that she could do nothing to help Tasia weather these terrible moments. "You were reaching for any power other than your own to do something." She let out a little breath. "If you can't do it, honey, then neither can we."
"It will be alright." Siobhan knelt as well and gently eased Mark from Tasia's arms. She laid him on the rubble as carefully as she could and then she and her sister wrapped their arms around Tasia to rock her gently in comfort. "Somehow, you'll see," she whispered. "It always feels impossible before we find our reprieve."
Tasia's eyes closed and she relaxed. Her power leveled off and stopped filling the air as she returned to her normal clothes. She burrowed into the arms of the ones holding her and let them comfort her. She couldn't change this, couldn't stop time and make it go back. She just wished she knew why it had to happen, but her Sight had told her only that it would, not why. Not even her Pattern Mastery seemed to have enough information to make sense of it all. What possible need for the future was there in making this terrible thing occur?
The destruction was ruled as an accident as the result of a monster attacking within the studio. The only casualty was that of Mark Lambert himself. Mark, being a widower, meant that Anna had no one but her grandmother as family to stay with until Mark's will could be read and custody sorted. The first night, however, she was allowed to stay with Tasia since her grandmother lived in another city beyond Lux. When the old woman arrived, she made no waste of time in splitting Anna from Tasia. She had to physically drag the crying and screaming child away from her beloved sorceress, and it disgusted all who watched it happen. Anna belonged with Tasia, period, and Nathaniel and Clara alike—brilliant and proficient legal advisors—began planning how to ensure it happened.
The musical got put on hold to allow the cast time to grieve. They wanted to go on with the show in Mark's memory, but it felt near impossible to pick up the threads and continue on again. The new year came without any laughter or celebration this time. It came with grief and quiet for the very world had felt Tasia's pain and responded to it.
Neither she nor Rodi wanted to celebrate their birthday anymore. No one could even reach through to her in the first place. She had said not a single word since the incident, and Leslie and Rodi could see where her soul continued to mend from its latest shattering. They still felt sick remembering how it had felt to be ripped out of her by her own hand. They were joined again, and trying to bolster her, but it was slow going. The only words she had managed to find had been for Anna, and they had been simply 'I won't' when Anna had begged her to never leave.
Theo watched Tasia climb the stairs toward the attic, took a step forward, and then stopped. His hands curled into fists at his side. "It's so unfair," he whispered when Haeth flew over to land on his shoulder. "Why is she always the one who must be hurt so deeply?"
"Because she is one who feels the deepest. Those who feel the most, hurt the most, and no one feels more deeply than Tasia. She was meant to be the one who awakened the sleeping power, and in order to do that, she needed to awaken her own power first. She had to be pushed to a state where her volatile emotions tore apart her True Shadow anew and put it back together more . . . violently, allowing for her to use Light and Dark alongside her Shadow. That will keep happening now, Shadow pulling apart Light and Dark and then her Gray core pulling it back together."
"Is that dangerous?"
"Not to her. It is a more natural state for her, truly. It will allow her to push past her plateau and continue to evolve."
He stopped breathing. "She has further to evolve?"
"Much further."
"But what will she become in the end?" he demanded in frustration.
"Something beautiful, Theodore. Something wonderful. It is just that getting there will be terrible. More than any other in existence, Anastasia must endure the violent and volatile nature of her own emotions in order to bloom. For now, at the least, she is in the state she needs to be in so she may do something that has been waiting thousands of years. Only a summoner such as she could ever awaken what lays before her now."
"And what is it that she has to awaken?"
"I can't tell you," was the sad response. "I have already told you as much as I dare. Only Tasia can tell you the rest, when she finally discovers the truth of Mark, Liena, the play, and the reason why so many dragons are called to serve at her side."
Tasia let herself into the attic and the door closed behind her with a soft click. At first she didn't notice anything unusual and then she spotted the shattered remains of the amethyst globe sitting where her marble stone had once been sitting. It took only a second to realize the amethyst must have been encased safely inside the marble. She went over quickly and took care not to step on the pieces laying on the floor. What she saw in the broken remains on the table stunned her so much that she came to a sharp halt.
Sleeping, curled into a tiny ball, was a newborn dragon. She was no bigger than the palm of Tasia's hand, and she had been colored the same dark purple as the gem she slept within. Her wings folded against her body and glowed softly gray like the True Shadow of Tasia's power.
Barely breathing, Tasia reached out a finger and lightly stroked the top of the dragon's head. She stirred instantly, and her eyes opened sleepily to reveal that they looked the same caramel as Tasia's eyes did in the light, and a passing shadow turned them to chocolate. She lifted her head and gave a tiny squeaking noise that sounded almost like something a kitten might do. She carefully got onto her feet and took a step forward only to tumble off the edge of the altar.
Tasia caught her with one hand and gently lifted her up to eye level so that they watched one another. The baby blinked at her and then yawned sleepily and nuzzled her thumb. Tasia cuddled her close against her heart and felt her soul finally finish mending at last. Somehow, this tiny dragon's birth among the death had been all she needed to find peace.
To her surprise, the baby climbed out of her hands and into her low-cut shirt. As small as she was, and as busty as Tasia was, she was able to curl into a little ball cradled in Tasia's bra between her breasts. It took only a moment for Tasia to realize the baby sought the sound of her heartbeat, and that her position also put her head right below where Tasia's Ruler Flower Mark appeared. She let out a little breath and then left the attic and headed down the stairs. "Haeth?" she called.
The dragon flew up to her followed by Theo, and the latter watched as Haeth landed on Tasia's shoulder and rubbed against her cheek. "Why didn't you tell me you and Striker were mates?" Tasia asked softly, startling Theo.
"Well, there was never really a chance to tell you," Haeth admitted, "and we two were utterly shocked that so fast we might conceive a child. Normally dragons have to deliberately want such a thing, but accidents can happen. I had the option of carrying and birthing her in the normal way of mammals, or creating a magical womb—an egg, if you like—for her to be safely developed in. Striker and I decided that we wanted her to be hatched by you, that you should be like a mother to her as well. You who brought us together. I am another who always believed, given my age, I would never have a soul mate."
"How old are you?" Theo whispered.
She smiled at him. "I am one of the first. I served once at Tananeen's side before, millions of years later, I bonded with Liena. At this moment, I am the oldest living dragon, and one of the oldest living creatures. In the physical world, only Clara Memoria herself is older than I."
Tasia lightly lifted a hand and lightly covered where the baby was sleeping. Theo stepped closer and blinked downward in bemusement. "You have a dragon in your bra."
"She's a baby. She likes the sound of my heart." Tasia listened to the sound of the baby's heartbeat and felt her warm breath. "Her name is Anira. I guess I'll have to make sure she can be with me at all times but where she can't be seen. She will not have the ability to cloak herself using the Plane for a few hundred years."
"I recommend you keep using your bra. I mean, let's be honest: the only one who should be looking in there is your husband or friends."
The communal PCA line for the house began to chirp, startling them all, and they walked into the family room where the others had gathered together. They all made surprised sounds when they saw Tasia, and Leslie ran over to hold onto her tightly. If she was startled when she spotted Anira, she didn't say anything about it. She just closed her eyes and rested her head on Tasia's shoulder.
Rodi stepped into the room with a hand covering the phone and met Tasia's eyes across the space. "Tasi, Mark's legal advisor is calling. He needs you and me to come to his office today to discuss some things regarding the will. It would seem Mark named us both in there. Are you up to going?"
"Yes." While he told the advisor they would be there shortly, she went down the hall to their room and exchanged her lounging clothes for something more appropriate for such a serious meeting. As she buttoned her shirt, Rodi walked in and stopped. He blinked in bemusement at her and she blinked back. "What?" She glanced down when she saw where he was looking, and she realized Anira was peering over the top of her shirt. "Oh, her. She's Haeth and Striker's baby. They gave her to me."
Not much about his sorceress wife surprised him anymore. He changed into nicer clothes as well while Tasia pulled on a gray vest. They got their shoes and light jackets, and then left the house. Haeth and Striker hid themselves from all but majikal sight by moving between physical world and the Plane, and they joined their family to drive across town to the legal advisor's office.
They were shown right in when they arrived. Anna had been seated on a chair with her shoulders hunched and her face wet with tears, but she gave a hiccupping cry of joy when she saw Tasia and scrambled across the room to burrow against the tall woman's hip. "I had nightmares!" she sobbed. "I wanted you to make them go away but you weren't there!"
"I'm here now, baby." Tasia knelt down and pulled her into her arms. She buried her face for a moment in the girl's thick brown hair and let her majik well invisibly in a soothing silver-gold wave. "It'll be okay." She eased back and wiped at Anna's tears. "Everything will be okay. I won't ever leave you alone. I know what it's like to not be able to sleep, but we can make it better. Believe me."
Anna could believe anything this beautiful person told her. She wrapped her arms around Tasia's neck and clung on as she was lifted. She had never had a mother in her life, until she had met Tasia. The moment they had met on All Hallow's, Anna had just known this sorceress was her mother in all important ways. She had barely managed to not call her 'Mommy' more than once. Rodi himself also felt more like a father to her than even Mark had, and when she had shamefully confessed such a thing to her late father, he had laughed and told her that that was because sometimes family was determined by love, not blood. He had not been offended or upset at all. In fact, she wondered now if maybe . . . he had known this would happen. When Rodi stepped closer and gently rubbed his knuckles over her cheek, the majik inside him soothed her as deeply as what was inside Tasia, and she felt the pain begin to ease.
Tasia turned to address the man behind the desk and then spotted an old woman sitting in another chair. Now alert and whole again, she saw something she had not seen that first night. Her hackles rose subconsciously and her arms tightened around her daughter as her deepest instincts warned her she was in the presence of an Other. The Others had been the mortal enemy of witches for millennia for they were the ones who thought they knew everything, hated what they did not understand, reacted with violence and fear when perceived wronged, and had led the first waves of the Majik War and the final fall without any remorse or guilt. They had diminished at this time of Rebirth, and would be all but extinct by Resurrection, but they did still exist. They may always exist until evil could be entirely erased, for nothing acted like a greater magnet than hate.
"Ma'am," she said coolly, though still politely.
"How old are you?" the old woman demanded.
"Is that your business? In fact, I turned thirty at the start of the year. I'm well above the age of adulthood." A little, warning, smirk touched her lips. "I am technically old enough to be Anna's mother, in fact."
The legal advisor came around his desk to interrupt before Tasia could tear the older woman into pieces. He offered his hand palm up to Tasia, and she placed the back of her hand there. "Hello, Aria. My name is Saad. I was Mark's personal legal advisor as well as his friend, and I've been handling the details of his estate and the custody of his daughter. Both of which are the reason why I've called you and your husband here today."
"Tasia," she corrected. "Formality is not necessary." She set Anna down on one of the chairs and hid a smile. She could tell that Anna of course still saw Haeth for she very surreptitiously patted her leg to invite Haeth to sit on her lap, which Haeth of course did. Tasia gestured to Rodi when he stepped up next to her. "This is my husband, Rodi." She watched the two men exchanged greetings and then tucked her hands in her pockets. "Please explain what's going on. I confess, I'm a bit puzzled."
"Shortly after you arrived in the city, Mark approached me and had new terms drawn up in his will," Saad explained as he leaned against the edge of his desk. He indicated for everyone to sit down, which they did. "He more recently left in my care a letter for you, Tasia, as well as new terms for the will. According to his wishes, full and complete custody of Anna is to be given to you should something happen to him. He had already been having me draw up adoption papers, believing that Anna would be happier with you and Rodi than anyone else, so those are actually already in place should you wish to go to that step rather than merely be her legal guardian."
Tasia's hands clenched into fists in her lap as the puzzle of Mark's final words finally made more sense. "Why? That . . . seems so unusual. Yes, I love Anna deeply, and I've been her caregiver and babysitter very frequently since All Hallows, and I know she loves me, but . . . I did not expect Mark to just . . . give her to me." Though, in hindsight, maybe she should have.
"This is ridiculous!" the elder Lambert broke in sharply. "My son must not have been in his right mind for all of this! What was he thinking to just give up his child to two such perfect strangers? They're just . . . weird. They and their entire household."
"I'll be blunt, Lambert." Saad looked at her. "What he was thinking was the happiness of his daughter. He spoke to me at length about why he wanted Anna to be left with the Arias, and after doing a bit of investigating of my own, I can see why. I heard about the scene made when you dragged a screaming Anna away from these two. I also saw her face just now when they arrived. Anna," he asked gently, "do you want to go with Tasia?" Anna nodded strongly and clung onto Tasia's arm, and he was not surprised. "There we are."
"I will fight this all the way to the government!" Lambert snapped.
"Good luck," Tasia told her derisively.
Saad somehow held back a smile. "The will is signed by several witnesses. Mark took every precaution with his daughter's future." He looked at Tasia. "On a related note, his estate stands very flush, and all of it is to go to Anna to be administered by you until she is an adult. Though, from what I understand, you have no need of extra income. You work for Chivanti Corporation, correct?"
"As a freelance advisor and consultant, but they pay me too much either way." Shana had forced her to take the job to provide income for the household even though the others had picked up jobs as well. She had jokingly called it a personal stipend like the government gave to people and families who could not work or did not make enough to survive on their own. Rocky called it an excuse to make Tasia help him build better security, and she did not mind. "However, the money is Anna's so it will stay with her." She looked at Lambert with a cool expression that hardened her chocolate eyes. "Suddenly it makes sense. You could not care less about your granddaughter. You merely want the money that comes with her." Her eyes narrowed as the old woman sputtered. "I know everything, ma'am. It's a gift." She turned back to Saad and was not surprised to see him hiding a smile. "I'll have my own legal advisors contact you to discuss the details."
"Names?"
"Nathaniel Matica and Clara Castlera, both of Chivanti as well."
Saad hid another smile as Lambert sucked in a sharp breath. His background check of the Arias had revealed connections to the most influential people in the city, including all ten Defender Cultivators and their Caretaker husbands. In fact, rumor had lately begun to spread that Tasia herself was the younger Iris Defender, and no one had tried to deny it. "I enjoy working with Nathaniel and Clara alike. I'll get in touch with them soon. Now, one last thing, as I mentioned before, Mark left me a letter for you. He said it was to be given to you when he was gone." He hesitated and then admitted softly, "It always seemed as if he just knew this might happen."
Considering Anna had gotten her majik from her father, it did not seem so surprising, especially if Mark had had Sensing. Tasia had never asked because it had never seemed important. It still did not, not really, though she now felt as if it might connect everything together. She took the thick envelope being offered and wondered what she would find within it. Suspecting she would want to read it when she was alone, she tucked it into her jacket pocket for later. "Thank you for everything, Saad." She got to her feet as Rodi lifted Anna up into his arms. "Prayers is reopening this coming weekend. I'd be honored if you'd attend as my guest."
"I'd be honored to accept. Everyone talks about your amazing voice, and since I missed Hallows, I'd love to hear it in person." Especially since Mark had been very precise in his directions as to why Anna was to be left with this brown-eyed woman. She had more than music in her blood, to be sure. "I wish you well, Tasia."
"And you." Tasia let Rodi walk out ahead of her with Anna and then she stopped and looked down at the old woman who was staring stiffly ahead. "I pity the rest of your life, ma'am," she said quietly. "Your selfishness has cost you the most precious of things: a little girl who could have loved you with all of her heart. Do not attempt to come near my house or my daughter, or I will take it as a sign of aggression and Karma will come down on your head. Goodbye."
Rodi drove the carriage home while Anna rode snuggled into Tasia's arms. "Do you want to go to your old house and get your things?" Tasia asked Anna softly. "Or do you want to start over new? You'll only need a few things for while we're here. When we get back to the Resurrection Era, there will be a lot more to do."
"New." Anna snuggled closer against her breast. She was almost nose-to-nose with Anira. "It doesn't feel like home anymore."
"You have a home with us, and you'll have a baby brother to dote on soon. That is . . . if you want to be adopted. If you want me and Rodi for your new parents, we'll take care of that in the future rather than doing it both here and there. Clara will be effectively erasing all of our presences when we leave; no need to make it harder on her."
"You're already my mommy," Anna whispered. She looked at Rodi and her lower lip wobbled. "Papa said it was okay if I loved you more than I loved him, because family is made of love and not blood. I think you're already my daddy, too. Is . . . is that really okay?"
His heart tightened painfully. "Yeah," he said roughly. "It's really okay. It means that everything is being made the way it was supposed to be." He reached over to brush her hair out of her eyes. "Just try not to be too much like your mother else I lose my mind entirely."
Tasia hid a smile. Anna was a lot like her already, and she would inevitably show more signs as she aged. "That's settled then. We'll get you some new clothes for the next month or so we might be here, and I'll start tutoring you at home instead of sending you back to your normal school." It would make her transition to the future much easier if she started learning things now. "We'll make the adoption formal in the future and then have a celebration to welcome a new princess to the Iris Kingdom." She smiled as she said it. Anna had no Seed and therefore was not a Ruler Cultivator—that would be Tasia's unborn son—but she was no less a Lower Princess now.
All of the Resurrection Cultivators waited for them when they got home, and not a one was surprised to see Anna. Beth immediately grabbed her PCA and called her mother. "You want to take a long lunch? We've got a kidlet to outfit, and she could use some overdosing on love and affection from aunts and uncles and greats and grands alike."
"Anna, right?" Virginia was not surprised either. She had seen Destiny at work for millennia. "A long lunch sounds fabulous. I'll grab Mike, and we'll bring Theo and Sherry as well. Mike and I will pick you and Theo up once we get Sherry. See you soon."
Beth ended the call and tucked the phone away. "Want to go shopping with me and your Uncle Theo?" she asked Anna.
Anna nodded quickly as she was put on the ground. She started to step forward and then turned around to look at her mother. Tasia knelt down to her height, and Anna leaned forward to hug her tight and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I love you, Mommy."
Tasia's soul ached so powerfully that a tender lullaby spilled into the air and made tears fill her friends' eyes. "I love you too, baby," she said huskily. "Go have fun." She looked up at Theo and Beth. "Nab a trundle bed for Rodi's and my room while you're at it. I want her close in case of nightmares. Rodi's black poppy presence will be as good for Anna as it is for me, for different reasons. Once we can ease the nightmares, she should sleep without any outside aid." She glanced at Leslie, who nodded. She would call Shana to help filter off the nightmares—which as Ruler of the Plane, she could do—if Anna could not get past them on her own.
The shopping posse headed out, and everyone dispersed back to what they had been doing. Tasia removed her jacket and pulled out the letter and then took a deep breath as she headed once more upstairs to her attic retreat. Once safely inside, she sat down on the floor with her back against her trunk. Anira rested her chin on the edge of her shirt so that she could see, and Striker curled up on the trunk behind her head. Haeth settled into place on her lap, and she pulled the envelope out of her pocket and looked at the front. Her full birth name was written across the front in Vericin.She opened it and took out a letter that consisted of several pieces of handwritten paper. She recognized Mark's handwriting and took another deep breath to compose herself. Maybe this would finally answer her questions.
Tasia, if you're reading this, then I am gone as I suspected I would be. I suppose I should have told you all of this in person but I just couldn't seem to find the right time or place. By now you're no doubt aware of the fact that I have left custody of Anna with you. I have two reasons for doing this. One is because I know that you're a sorceress and only you would understand her. Two . . . well, two is more complicated.
Let me start at the beginning, with the play. I wrote it as an apology for the past. You see, I was there five thousand years ago when the Royal War occurred that ended the kingdoms. When I met you in this life, I recognized instantly that you were Liena's third descendant, the one she once said would surpass her in all ways.
Prayers is my apology to you and to Liena. I was one of them, Tasi. I was one of the Others who hunted the witches after being corrupted by the evil in the land. I didn't have any clue of what I was doing, nor any idea of how to stop myself. All I knew was that there was something different running around, and that she needed to die.
It was I who followed Liena into the burning forest . . . and it was I who struck her down. Dear gods, Anastasia, I'm so sorry. The moment the blow was made, I came back to myself and hated what I had done. She knew. She knew I regretted it. I held her as she was dying, and she made me promise to take her children as my own. I could not deny her. I found where they had been hidden, and I took them home.
When you sang Witch's Prayer, it threw me back in time to that place and that moment. I heard Liena singing through you. I had known she would. I wanted you for the role of Lauren because I wrote the role of Lauren in Liena's form. No one else but you could have played that role.
There is more to our tale, however. Something only I know, that I only became privy to when I took in Liena's children. It has waited for many, many millennia to be shared, and the further time passed, the deeper it was forgotten. It explains a great deal about Liena's lineage and why all of you have such a powerful affinity with dragons: you have dragon blood in your veins personally.
You are not human, Tasia. Liena was the child born to Tananeen and his soul mate, Anastasia, and her birth sparked the Majik War for humans could not bear their jealousy at seeing a dragon and a witch produce offspring—and one Anastasia herself prophesized would play an important role in the future of the universe. Anastasia . . . well, there is more about her, but it is not my place to explain that. What is most important now is to know that she was an incredibly powerful witch whose gifts passed to her daughter and became sticky and enduring by the addition of Tananeen's dragon genes. Dragon blood can never leave a lineage; that is how the power has grown through your maternal line instead of diminishing, no matter how normal a mate was added. Every descendant of Liena in this world carries the dragon code without knowing.
The Majik War that killed Anastasia and made Tananeen disappear . . . as time passed, not even the dragons—save one—knew what had really happened. Liena escaped only because Tananeen's most important dragon, the first he had ever made in his image, took her away to Aria where she could not be found. She has borne that secret her entire life, sharing it only with me when I took in Liena's children. How it must have hurt her to not share such an important thing with her most important people.
I have often thought I could feel both Anastasia and Tananeen near you. Your name is no accident, and, truly, I do not think Anna's name is any accident either, though I did not know why until I met you. Please do not be upset with Haeth for never telling any of this to you. She loves you, very deeply, for in a distant way you are sisters.
Take care of Anna. As Liena once gave me her children, I close our circle by giving mine to you. She is already yours in all of the important ways. She will love you and Rodi as she never loved me, and that is how it should be. I gave her life, but she was never truly mine. Raise her in your image. She is already so much like you, and the universe can only improve if she is more so.
With love,
Mark
Tears slowly dripped down Tasia's cheeks to land on the letter, and she closed her eyes as she felt not only her pain, but the echo of Liena's as well. She opened her eyes and found Haeth watching her solemnly. "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.
"Because it wasn't my place. He had to be the one to tell you because he was the one who had made the mistake in the past. Now you understand, don't you? You understand what you are and where you come from." Haeth took a long breath. "Tananeen . . . he disappeared, yes. But what truly happened was that he split his essence into ten stones of power and scattered them to the worlds. Anastasia had been caught in limbo and could neither ascend nor descend. He did not want to exist without her until she could be freed, so he sacrificed himself. Losing them both is what made the High Goddesses of the Realm so infuriated as to smite the humans and end the war. They never knew about Liena either; Tananeen and Anastasia had kept her birth secret from everyone to protect her, but some humans still found out and the War began. By the end of things, those of the humans and witches who had known the truth . . . they had fallen already. Only I remained as a holder of the truth, but I vowed to keep the secret until it became safer to reveal. As I more fully understood what Destiny planned . . . as I saw you . . . I began to better understand everything that went into your creation, as well as my own role."
Tasia softly smoothed her fingers over Haeth's horns. "I'm not mad. In a way, I'm relieved. It really does explain so much. That's the sleeping power, isn't it? I, and my friends, have to actively summon Tananeen to put him back together, and along the way we will likely free Anastasia from limbo." She frowned as she thought about Mark's words, her own echoes, and even suspicions she had had for all of her life. "Anastasia . . . she was not a normal witch, was she?"
Haeth smiled. "No, she was not. She was a very important person to many people, including all members of the Faith and all gods and goddesses—rather like you in that. But that's another thing I am not at liberty to tell you. I'm sorry. I think . . . that maybe Tananeen needs to be the one to tell you. Because it ties to how they met, and it's sort of sweet. Almost the sort of tale a grandparent should tell their grandchild about how they met their lover. It explains everything else about your lineage, and the Faith itself, that you may have ever wondered, actually."
Tasia took a long breath as she felt stability returning. She folded the letter once more and tucked it into the envelope carefully. "I think we will keep this between us for now. Three of my team have not yet evolved to their next tier and gained access to their summoning gift. Other questions actually do still linger, but only around this particular war. We only know Alloran is our enemy, but we don't know if he's the only one or if there is someone pulling the strings. There must be. You've both sensed something sinister in the distance." Anira gave a little squeaking noise, and she smiled. "Alright. You three have sensed it."
"Very true," Haeth agreed. "What about the play?"
"It's already being moved to another studio while the main one is repaired and rebuilt. It was Mark's apology to me and Liena for his actions of the past. So, as our acceptance, we'll finish the play through." She scooped up Haeth and settled her on her empty shoulder as she got to her feet. "I need to talk to Nataya."
Saturday rolled around and the play had settled into its new studio. Recreating the sets hadn't been too difficult, for people across the city had gathered together to do in a week what had before taken a month. The seats once more filled to overflowing, and once more the landmass eagerly anticipated the response to the play, particularly since it would be the last work of the late Mark Lambert.
The before performance speech was normally made by Nataya, but this time it was Tasia who walked out between the curtains. She was already in costume, and the audience applauded loudly upon seeing her. She waited for it die down before lifting the microphone she held. "Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the new opening night for Prayers. As everyone is well aware, this play's original opening night ended in tragedy as the world lost a good director, and a good man."
She took a deep breath. "Mark was the sort of person who always thought about the happiness of his loved ones. Though we mourn his passing, we're not thinking of this as the end. He laid down the groundwork for so many of us, gave us the needed light to walk our own paths. For me, in particular, he gave something even more important. He has helped shape my destiny, and it's not something I will ever take lightly. When the show starts tonight, don't grieve for it being Mark's final work. Rejoice because it is. Because he may have left us, but he has left us with a legacy. Not many get to say that. So, enjoy the show, and always remember to let love win the way he did." She took a bow as everyone began cheering, and she walked back behind the curtains to find Theo waiting for her. Mark had made his apology, and she had accepted it. The circle had finally closed.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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