Legon Ascension (24 page)

She knew what he wanted, and couldn’t avoid the question. He looked into her blue- green eyes and the flecks of pink almost darkened. “I love Sasha like a sister, you know that.” He nodded and she went on. “I know you suspect that I am jealous, and it may look that way, but I’m not.”
 

“Then what are you?” he asked.

She looked down. “We both know where this is going. We may not have said it yet, but I love you and you love me. We will continue to connect, and someday when one of us dies, the other will follow close behind.” He liked that thought. She went on, “But here is the thing… you are so connected with your sister, which is a good thing, but at the same time, what happens when she grows old…” Her voiced tapered off and her thoughts continued on.

He understood now. He could see why this would bother her. As she let down her defenses, he saw how this would affect Sasha as well. Her life was intertwined with Legon’s permanently. More so, he saw that Iselin was angry because this would cause pain someday, and she was scared about what would happen, and ashamed for feeling negatively about it. On the one hand, when Sasha died, Legon ran the risk of losing his mind, and with that so could Iselin.

He could tell she didn’t want to talk anymore about it tonight. She didn’t want to share what she already had, and he wouldn’t force her anymore. He smiled. “You know, you’re wrong about one thing.”

She had turned to face the harbor and turned her head to him, her eyes red. He turned her to face him and wiped a tear that was about to escape from one eye. “You said that we hadn’t come out, and said that we loved each other, and, well, you kind of just did.” He smiled.

“Yeah, I guess I did, huh.”

He kissed her softly. “I love you too.” And in that moment nothing else mattered to him.

* * * * *

Sasha’s shoes made a staccato clack on the hard floor of the hallway. Edling had stayed for dinner and they spent all of the afternoon and evening talking about crystals. He joked that he didn’t know what he was doing, but he was very knowledgeable about most of the basics. She came to a stop at Legon’s door and opened her mind. “Knock, knock.” She entered his apartment and made her way to his study. He was sitting at his desk, reading reports of some kind.

He looked up, rubbing his eyes. “Hey, you’re up late.”

“You too,” she pointed out.

He smiled and put the report down. “Ise and I had a good talk tonight, and I couldn’t fall asleep.”
 

“A good talk, huh?” she questioned.

Legon took a moment to think it over and then showed her part of the evening. Sasha said, “That explains why she’s shown irritation before when I talk to her about our link. Poor thing, she must have been terrified to show you this.”
 

“I think she feels bad, but I’m glad it came up. It was something we needed to know.”

Sasha sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the table. “So, what do we do? I don’t want…”

“Don’t start that. We just need to take things into account. No one is upset with anyone, just the situation.” He changed the subject. “How was your lesson.”

She thought about protesting the change in topic, but there wasn’t anything else to talk about. The situation was what it was and there was no changing that, and everyone knew and accepted that fact. She placed a few crystals on the table. “We were at it all day. These are a few basic crystals.” Legon looked them over and she pointed to each in turn. “This one Edling helped me with because it’s plant-based, like all Elvin crystals. But you see, these two I did on my own. He taught me one of the few known Iumenta techniques. You need to be a Venefica to make them, and having a elemental minor is helpful too.”
 

Legon perked up. “I assume the technique is from the War of Generations. Is there much known about it?”

Her tone turned business-like. “Surprisingly, no there isn’t. Once we found a way to use plants, research on the Iumenta style was put on the back burner until the end of the war, and at that point no one wanted to study anything from them. They’re hard to do, and they can’t hold much power. They are really primitive,” she said, examining them. “I have an idea.”

Legon smiled, reading her thoughts. “I like it. Try and combine the techniques. Do you know if anyone has tried to before?”
 

“At first, yes, combining the techniques was the only way, but like I said, when Elves could make better, stronger ones without as much work, they did. The Impa Empire was just too much of a threat at the time to do much else. But, I think this could be good research. The Iumenta now have more advanced crystals than us, and I don’t think we could catch up to them just trying to mimic their work, but maybe by combining…”
 

“Good, why don’t you make this your priority? Talk to Edling’s father,” Legon said. She was happy to see that this was as much an order as anything else. Not an order to her so much, she could do whatever she liked, but he knew that this was what she wanted and was giving her permission to use his authority.

Something in her thoughts had tipped him off. “So you like this Edling guy, huh?” he said with a smirk.
 

She was getting ready to fire up but came up short at his emotions. “You’re happy? I thought you would be all ‘overprotective brother’ and threaten to have him killed. Not that I think anything will happen, he’s leaving at the end of the week. He was just here visiting,” she finished.

“Sash, look in my mind.”

She did and saw how he and Iselin were. She saw that with the mental connection they had grown closer than people who had been together for years. In just a few months they had built something truly amazing, and each understood the other on a profound level. Further, she saw that with the network there was no room for deceit. You couldn’t hide anything, and it was hard to hurt someone you were with. Every time Legon or Ise would offend the other, they could see what each felt and the issue was resolved before anyone could get their feelings hurt.

“Do you see how happy I am, Sash?” he asked.

And she did see. She saw that while Legon and Sasha would always be connected, that it pained him to think that she wouldn’t have a chance at this happiness. That there was a chance that Sasha could find someone was the greatest news he had heard all day. Then his thoughts became playful. “But if he does break your heart, I’m going to tell Ise to eat him.” He smiled.

She laughed and they talked late into the night about Iumenta crystals.

Chapter Fourteen

Exodus

“Sometimes it’s not the how that matters, but the what.”

-Excerpts from The Diary of the Adopted Sister

Legon should have felt nervous, but he didn’t. He didn’t because he already knew her answer. The thing he was having a hard time with was deciding how to do it.

Iselin looked at him, her eyebrow raised, fighting a smile. “You don’t have to do this, ya know. Elves aren’t humans.” She pointed out for the millionth time.

“I know, I know, but it just seems so wrong to me. Look, I didn’t ask your father’s permission. I’m going to do this the right way.”
 

Iselin rolled her eyes. “We don’t do that… do not get on your knee…”

“Iselin, I love you more then anyth…”

She huffed, cutting him off. “Yes, the answer is yes. We’re mentally connected, have you forgotten we have a date picked out? We just need to get the crests on our back taken care of.”

Legon ground his teeth. “Fine. That was some proposal! Why am I going to spend the rest of time with you again?” Iselin rolled her eyes again, and Legon felt her call Sydin. It had been three months since they said that they were in love and now they were engaged. It was all so simple to him. Like she said, Elves didn’t even propose. Both parties came to the decision to get married and that was it. He remembered when that happened for him and Ise. Two nights ago when on a walk, they both just seemed to know. There was no pageantry about it, no ring, no nothing; they knew and that was that.
 

Soon Sydin came strolling to them at the place on the same little bridge where they stood not so long ago.
 

Sydin smiled warmly. “What can I do for you, Un Prosa?” he asked.

Legon squeezed Iselin’s hand. “We’re getting married, can you fix our crests?”

Sydin beamed. “About time you two, that’s great news. Did you tell your sister?”

Iselin laughed. “How could she not know?”

“Turn around, this will only take a moment,” Sydin said.

Legon turned and saw two flashes of black. There was a cold spot on his back and then everything felt normal. He craned his neck around to see Iselin’s crest on her back, a vivid pink that stood out. In the center, where there used to be a solid dot, now the dot was hollow. It would stay that way until they were married, and then his crest would be placed in the center of that dot, the same on his back. Their crests would repeat inside themselves, giving them the appearance of going on forever.
 

* * * * *

Sasha watched from Legon’s mind as his and Iselin’s crests were changed. Her eyes filled with tears and she felt a immense weight lift off her. Her whole life she worried that Legon wouldn’t find anyone. She worried that he would never try and instead put his efforts into keeping her safe. Now she didn’t have to worry about that. She disconnected from the two of them, giving them privacy. Still, the whole process was alien to her. After coming to the agreement to get married, there wasn’t much else. The whole affair was treated with the same level of energy as any mundane task. Sasha decided that their wedding would be a different matter. At her disposal were the vast resources of House Evindass. Images ran through her mind and she was surprised when an almost crazed giggle escaped.

“It will be the wedding for all time, never to be outdone,” she said, and then just for fun added, “Muahahahahaha.”

* * * * *

Iselin woke in a field. She lifted herself, reaching out with her mind but finding nothing. She stood concerned, looking around.
What is this place? It looks familiar,
she thought. It looked like a dream Legon had shown her, but it couldn’t be. She heard voices and moved to them. As she walked into the mist she realized she was in a field of lavender and red roses. She was on a small path and the voices were just ahead. Two figures came into view.

“What is this?” she asked.

Legon and Sasha spun, looking startled. Legon spoke, “Iselin?”

Iselin walked up to him and she tried to take his hand. He flinched away. “Don’t touch me, it will end,” he said.

“What will end? Is this a dream?” She asked, perplexed.

Sasha answered, “Yes, it looks like you’re a part of them now, sorry Ise.” Sasha took a breath. “You need to get up to speed before he gets here.”

“Before who gets here?” She asked.

Legon spoke. “The White Dragon, we think. Ok, look at this field around you,” he said, sweeping his hands out around him. “These have been here for about a month. If tonight is like other nights, we are going to see a tree grow…” he stopped and she heard a THUD in the distance.

“Wh…”

“Shhhh… it’s happening,” Sasha said.

A little stung, Iselin stopped speaking and looked ahead into the mist. Just ahead of them was a small clearing. She jumped as a large, white-scaled paw parted the mist and drove one golden claw into the ground. She knew that paw, and the dragon that went with it—every Elvin Ascended did. Like the Iumenta, when an Elf ascended they saw one of the original dragons. The Iumenta believed this to just be a figment of their imagination—some learned response—but the Elves knew it to be otherwise. All Iumenta saw the black dragon because they were his, and all Elves saw the white. A chill ran down her spine as she watched a tree grow from where his claw had touched. The white bark shot into the air, unfurling long branches that grew thick. Buds burst with silver leaves that had gold coloring the edges. As the tree grew lavender and scarlet, flowers dotted it shedding some of their perfect petals to swirl and play in the breeze.
 

“Look,” Sasha said, pointing to the base of the tree, where a green vine was making its way up the trunk, bright pink roses blooming up its length. It took Iselin a moment to realize that the lavender and red flowers were the exact same shades of color as Legon and Sasha’s magic. She looked again, weary at the vivid pink roses, recognizing herself.

* * * * *

When Legon woke up, he felt Iselin’s fast approach. He got out of bed, putting on a silken rob and walked, yawning, out onto his terrace. The orange rays of the sun were just touching the hilltops on the opposite side of the harbor. Ise’s sparkling form floated on the cool morning air toward him. She swooped in, transforming just as her foot touched down. Legon’s eyes popped a little seeing her in a dressing robe.

He smiled. “I like being engaged,” he said.

Iselin didn’t beat around the bush, “What was that last night?” She demanded.

Legon breathed out a sigh. “A dream, we think.”

“You think?” She asked, a note of hysteria in her tone.

He motioned for her to follow him to a bench. She did, sitting down next to him, still facing him and waiting for a response. “Let me see if Sasha is awake,” he said, instantly regretting it.

Iselin’s confusion turned to anger. “No, you tell me Legon, what was that? You don’t need Sasha for everything.”

He held up his hands. “Love, stop. We don’t know exactly what they are. I want you to get both theories before you make a judgment, that’s all.” He tried to sooth her with his mind, but she wasn’t having it. “Ok, ok. I don’t know what they are, I had them before I was an Elf, but in those the Black Dragon was there too.” He felt her fear and rushed on. “But he hasn’t been there since I became an Elf, or at least if he is then he has kept quiet.” Legon shivered, remembering the red eyes and hulking form of the Black Dragon. He decided to show Iselin what he had seen in his first dreams and she shivered too.