CONTENT WARNINGS: Parental death, but positively reflected on
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This and the next few chapters will jump around a lot chronologically and between characters as it discusses what the characters got up to over the years after the main story. I will try to make the points where things happen as clear as I can. Also the names of these sort-of-epilogue chapters are a playful little parody on common modern fantasy book titles, so I hope you'll enjoy them, haha.
Katlego
Two months after the Magic Realm was created
"People here in Henford have not always been kind. People were ready to cast me out the minute Samuel Annorin spread his lies about me, and they were ready to cast me out the moment I used magic to defend myself in a way that ended badly for a witchfinder. In my early years of living here, I thought that Henfordians were naught but feral hounds snapping their jaws at one another whenever the opportunity crossed their paths - a country where people tell you to grow a thicker skin when their own is as thin as paper.
Where I am from, you are connected to all others around you. You cannot be well if your friends, family and neighbours are not. You do what you can for others. You build and encourage community and respect for one another. To arrive in a place like this, where no such concept exists, it was...quite the shock."
"That said, I have been lucky to meet many people in Henford who do believe in community and helping others, some Henfordian and some not. A man named Gideon, who I first had a terrible time with, worked to clear my name when he did not believe Samuel's lies. Samuel's son, Owen, defied his father and helped to secure my innocence, as well as getting my home and place of work rebuilt when it burned down."
I hear a quiet mumble in the crowd of 'he did far more than just defy his father' until someone lightly shushes them.
"Áine helped me with my early business when I was new here, and stood up for me in the face of a witchfinder - and was one of the first friends I made."
"Not everyone in Henford turned upon me, and many supported me and my business in spite of all the vitriol thrown at me. I want to give back to the community who was there for me by teaching Mischief casters like me the way of their abilities and by teaching what I can share of herbalism, arcane history, and literacy. Mischief casters are hard to come by, so hopefully we can unite them all under one roof."
"The people I should thank the most, however, are not Henfordian, and I have not seen them for almost seventeen years when I said I'd be back in a few months. Emene and Nanji may possibly no longer be with us, but they gave me such a pleasant upbringing full of joy and trickery and taught me almost everything I know about my gift. I will never forget anything they have done for me."
"How polite of you to say!"
Is my mind playing tricks on me? Have I been in this place for so long that reality and wishful thinking have collided within my mind?
A bright splash of colours weave through a sea of white, maroon and khaki. The crowd smile at me and part as the pair step forward to reveal themselves, now white-haired and wrinkled, but with that same warm smile. I get a sense of bursting excitement I haven't had since my twenties. I am transported back home to luscious fields, compassionate neighbours, majestic wildlife, vivid sunsets and the smell of my mother's cooking.
"Dumelang, my dear. Sixteen long years, and I finally get to see my little girl again..."
"Little girl?" Nanji asks. "She's in her forties now!"
"Doesn't matter! Katlego, my dear, you will always be my little girl - we will always be proud of everything you have achieved. That said...you have some stories to tell us, don't you?"
* * *
Emene loves stories. It was the first thing she would ask almost anyone she met. Half the ones she told other people were part truth and part tall tale to make the true story more exciting.
All this time, I have been dying to tell my mother and father my many stories. I had told her most of them in the letters I sent her, but not everything. With some things, I held back. A part of me wanted to wait until I got home to tell her certain things, so she had stories to look forward to. In the presence of my parents, however, my lips seal.
"Well? You know I like stories, surely you have something to say? Grand adventures, village gossip...anything!"
"Hmm...Why don't we start with you two instead? How have you both been?"
Mother tuts at me and wags a finger. "Katli, Katli, Katli, you have changed so much, and yet you have not changed a bit."
The name catches me by surprise; the last time anyone called me that, it was my mother herself, wishing me luck on my voyage.
"Are you worried because you think I would be upset that you defended yourself a couple of times?"
"No, Mother. I know you wouldn't be. I know that now, and I'm grateful that you are willing to overlook it."
I panicked so much what Emene would think of me for what I did to the witchfinder, and for me pouncing on another one in tiger form. It lifted a heavy load off of my mind.
"Your entire speech was about the achivements of everyone but yourself, Katli. My dear, you need to think about yourself more. You are amazing, talented, and you've come so far despite all of the obstacles. Why do you devalue yourself so much compared to your Henfordian friends, hm?"
I don't know if I missed her striking me in the chest with arrows of truth like she always used to do. Emene was never unkind, but she would always tell you what you needed to hear - quite often, it was something you never considered, or tried to keep buried deep within. I thought I'd stopped doing what she accused me of. Perhaps I was wrong.
"Ellie told me I needed to start letting people help me - so I did. I let so many people do things for me, I tried to be less independent. I wasn't going to take all of the credit for that."
"But you gave yourself very little credit for your own achievements!"
"Mother, Father, you know as well as I do that building a strong sense of togetherness is important! What, you want me to be selfish? You want me to be like the people I met in my early days of arriving here?"
"No, my dear - I want you to realise that botho includes yourself - I want you to have the respect and kindness towards yourself that you show so many other people."
I try to think of everything I held back from telling Mother, though it wasn't much.
"Well, after the witchfinder situation, I fled back to Glimmerbrook, where I was kindly taken back in. I now have a beautiful horse named Sethunya. Recently, I managed to convince a rich bloodline caster family to start doing something about the witchfinders... that was a strange one."
"You are very good at getting rich people to actually do something, it seems."
"They were Mischief casters. I was hoping to reach out, and now we hope to try and be friends. Also her husband is now a green fairy lion...It would be easier if I didn't explain further about that."
"Ah! Excellent," Nanji says, clapping his hands together. "It's soothing to know that we are just about everywhere in the world."
"I was teaching in a small school in Glimmerbrook at first before the realm was created. Ellie works here as well. I think you'd both like her."
"Like her? I bet I'd adore her!" my mother exclaims, leading to Nanji hiding his face in embarassment at her excitement. He's always been a lot quieter than his wife. "I have been dying to meet her, you know. I'm so happy you found love! I always wondered why you'd never shown interest in the men back home, and well, now, I know," she adds, with a playful chortle. "Ah, Katli, how I've missed you, and how happy I am that you've come so far! So I suppose this is where you will be staying now?"
"Yes, Mother. You won't believe it, but I plan to stay right here in Henford with the other witches."
"Oh? They don't call themselves sorcerers and sorceresses here? I prefer the sound of that, don't you? It sounds more mysterious. More powerful, even," Emene says, taking her wand out of her pocket and flourishing it. A spark crackles at the end and nearly hits poor Nanji in the face.
A lock clicks off a memory I have had buried for years under a pile of Henfordian influence. I was raised as a sorceress, and not a witch. When did I last refer to myself like that - I don't even remember! I realise there is no difference between the two other than miles of ocean, but it's another element of home that got lost in my time being in Henford. She's right - it does sound better.
"I have a question to ask, Mother. Do you think you and Father might want to live here? The Glimmerbrook settlements would be happy to take you both, and I..."
"...I can't stand the thought of you going back home and me never seeing you again."
They love it back there, and I don't know if they would love Henford quite so much. What was I thinking, asking something so selfish and outlandish?
"No, Mother, Father, I'm sorry I even asked. You would have to leave everything behind! The cattle, your creations, your entire lives, your friends...I'm sorry. I thought of myself and only myself."
"Good," Emene chirps. "You never think of yourself."
Good? What's good about that?
"The cattle are being looked after by our neighbours. Everything we definitely needed came with us on the boat here. Everything else, well, we don't really need it, do we? Our friends are as old as we are. They wouldn't begrudge us living out our last years somewhere different."
"Of course we would miss what we have back home, Katli. That said, with our most precious treasure here in Henford...why would we ever return? What reason would there be to long for somewhere if you are not there?"
"We love you so much, Katli. So much that we would tolerate poor weather, poor manners and poor food for the remainder of our lives just to see you smile and thrive." My mother puts a hand on Nanji's shoulder. "You say there is no sunshine in Henford, but there is - she's sitting right in front of us."
The aching sensation in my cheeks gives way to tears. I was convinced that I would never see them again, and not only are they here, they want to stay.
"I don't think words can quite explain how much I appreciate both of you. Thank you both, from the bottom of my heart. I will make sure you live out the rest of your years in as much comfort as I can give you."
Owen walks into the staffroom, and my parents' heads turn to him like curious magpies.
"Katlego? Are you alright?"
"Ah! You must be a friend of Katli's. You're looking very regal. The embroidery is lovely."
"Thank you, ma'am. You must be Katlego's parents. It's a pleasure. I'm the new Sage of Alchemy - Sage Annorin."
Their noses wrinkle.
"Annorin?!"
"Mother! That's Owen Annorin! You're thinking of Samuel Annorin!"
"Oh? Wait - which one rebuilt your home?"
"Owen!"
"And which one did you embarrass in front of everybody?"
"Samuel!"
Nanji grits his teeth and shakes his palms. "Ah, yes, of course. My apologies, Owen! Thank you for helping our daughter. We are most grateful. We're glad there are some kind people here."
"And I'm glad that you are with us. Katlego has told me much about you both. You mean the entire world to her, and I can see why. You're both wonderful parents, and now I know where Katlego gets it from."
"You're far too kind. I must ask - I heard someone in the crowd say you did much more than just defy your father. I'm curious - what happened? Did you overthrow him somehow?"
Owen makes an awkward sound in his throat. "...In a sense, yes."
"I'd love to know more about it. He sounded like such a vile man - you must tell me how you dealt with him!"
"I believe that is a story best withheld, Mrs Anansi...My aplogies."
"Well, well, Sage Annorin - keep your secrets if you must, but know that I am grateful for all you've done."
Owen
Two months after the Magic Realm is created
Lydia's reaction to the news of my becoming Sage was about as expected.
I had told her of the glimmerstone as a quick back-and-forth, and that I had one for her and four for the children, so that they could visit as well - but it changed nothing. I had apologised to her for what I said about her and Róisín, but it changed nothing. Lydia told me that, whilst the witchfinders were slowly becoming a less frequent issue, there would still be a lot of work to do - much like there was during the pandemic in San Myshuno she worked hard to eradicate.
She told me that, unlike me, she had not found a way to make up for what had happened with Róisín. Even in the world of medicine, a world where your relationship with life and death changes entirely, she told me she would forever have a gnawing guilt inside of her that would never disappear.
"You don't have to do what I do, Owen. You don't have to sit with your remorse for the rest of your life. Most in this community have forgiven you for everything that has happened because of you. They will never offer me the same grace as they have offered you."
The children are overjoyed and want to see the Magic Realm as soon as possible. They're excited for the ascension ceremony, and they all want to study there when they are older. None of them have shown any signs of magic yet. I wonder how many of them will have magic in their blood, I wonder?
What Lydia said has been circling in my mind without stopping.
Some say there are no victors in conflict, and yet I feel as if I am quite possibly the only victor in all of this. I lost the career I dedicated my life to, of course, and I was nearly burned at the stake - but I was the only person to be spared by Volpe, at least initially. I have lost none of my family to all that has happened. Both of my biggest obstacles are long dead, but the same cannot be said for the rest of the magic-folk...
I have only gained from all of this. My actions towards Samuel and Volpe had wiped all my previous misdeeds and cruelty from the minds of most magic-folk and a good amount of the general public. I already had an astounding amount of fortune, but I realise that I may be the most fortunate man in Henford not just in the sense of power or finance, but in the fact that I have not lost as much as everyone else has. all I have lost is my career, and I have replaced one lifelong passion with the other one.
* * *
"I understand that I have made many mistakes in my lifetime, including having done nothing for many years to stop the likes of the witchfinders in spite of my position, influence, and my own blood."
"None of you owe me any grace or forgiveness, and yet many of you gave me a second chance when I was not deserving of it at all - and for that, I am deeply thankful. It is only thanks to the people who spoke out at the trial that I am still alive. My younger brother, Elijah, Katlego, Clementia, and Róisín, and many others bravely defended me in the face of one of the most dangerous people in Henford."
"He's hardly any danger to us now, is he? Thanks to you!"
"Do you remember that? I've never seen anything so amazing in my life!"
"And that gryphon!"
I realise I am never going to live this down, and I barely have any memory of the incident at all!
"I would like to offer condolences to all who have lost someone to this conflict, and I will ask you to join me in momentary silence for all those who were killed by the witchfinders later on. I would also like to offer a word for Róisín, the sixteen-year-old girl who stood up for me to Volpe and who was burned by a witchfinder. I know many of you knew her personally, and many knew of the kindness she showed everyone."
"I would like to thank my family, especially - my lovely wife Lydia, my brother Eli, and my four wonderful children - August, Simon, Constance and Ophelia. Thank you all for coming here to support me tonight."
"I will make sure that our family will fund the Magic Realm for as long as we, and the realm, lasts. I will have an orphanage built for the children who lost their parents to all of this, magic or not, in the hopes that we can give them new and loving families. I will make sure that Finchwick or Withernham has a memorial for all those we lost, and all those we found too late will be properly buried; I will not stand to see the bodies of our parents, siblings, partners and children tossed into a potter's field."
"I hope that you will consider enrolling, or enrolling your children, here with us to study whatever it is you would like to learn...without a sliver of bias, I would like to recommend that you study alchemy. Learn an art where science and magic collide - how to decipher the cryptic texts on the matter, sorting the real, working processes from glorified pseudo-science, and how alchemy can benefit us in daily life.You'd be surprised what it is capable of. Together, let us all work towards a bright future for our kind, and for our craft..."
"...and let us work towards a better world for the next generation of spellcasters...Oh, come on now, August, don't be so shy..."
Owen
Ten years after the Magic Realm was created
Over the years, our children's magic began to shine through.
Simon and Constance were the first to discover theirs, with much excitement. Constance cried when she accidentally broke an old vase with a spark of magic that she had little control over. I reassured her, and told her it didn't matter how much anything in this house cost. Everything was replacable. The only things that were not replacable were my family, and so long as they were okay, there was little need to worry about any damage caused.
Lydia and I took it in turns teaching the children their magic. Despite my issues, I wanted to have a part in my children's arcane education, so I stepped in on good days. There were some days where she had to take over from me, either because I had duties at the realm or because I was not well enough at the time.
August eventually showed his magic, but we saw nothing from him until he was about thirteen, which is unusually late. He took a longer time getting used to it than the other two did. Every spellcaster learns at a different rate regardless of their origins, and every spellcaster's magic is different. He often got upset and wound up by self-comparison. I told him not to worry so much.
Ophelia was also rather upset, and I had told Constance off a few times for making fun of her for not having found her magic as quickly as the other two. I told Ophelia that, magic or not, she was no less capable and no less special to me. I had told her that my own father had shunned her Uncle Eli, and that I would not do the same to her. She had asked me about alchemy, and so I began to teach her a little here and there so she didn't feel left out. As she got older, we realised that Ophelia was not capable of any magic at all, rather like my brother.
She took a liking to it and has been studying it ever since, being quite the capable alchemist and showing her older sister that her lack of magic had no bearing on her self-application or skill. Ophelia now is working on her alchemy skill so she can sell remedies at the apothecary ran by Henry's wife, and August, he's still unsure about his path in life. I tell him he has plenty of time. I planned to be a physician all my life, but I would never have expected I'd be teaching alchemy at forty and yet I never look back wishing anything was different.
About ten years after my children first discovered their magic, Simon and Constance studied once a week at the Magic Realm whilst Ophelia spent most of her time here. My children have exhausted themselves from study, with Simon and Constance both also working on medical studies at the time before they became a physician and a surgeon, respectively.
The students are a wonderful bunch. Many of them do what they can to assist me so I don't have to cast spells too much or get up and down unecessarily. My bad days grow more frequent, and when I am not well enough to teach, the students usually help each other, with the older ones mentoring the younger ones. I sometimes fear it defeats the object of me being a Sage, but thankfully no-one thinks as such.
With the mansion no longer having as much of a witchfinder problem - and all the stragglers being sorted out for no charge at all by some former witchfinders - Valravn now lives here at the realm, and sometimes I let her fish in the River Glimmer, provided she doesn't empty it entirely. The students and the locals are entirely obsessed with her. She does all she can to lend a helping hand to both myself and the students, and she's beloved by myself and everyone else at the realm.
Sometimes, I wonder if people come to the Magic Realm to study, or just to pet Valravn...not that she's complaining.
With the children wanting to take over the medical duties as soon as they can, learning alongside Mr. Reyes and Constance alongside her mother, Lydia and I have found our old spark in the peace we have both found in our advancing age. For sime time, I wondered if what we had would cease, but thankfully, being in our fifties had only reignited what we felt all the way back in San Myshuno all those years ago.
Katlego
Ten years after the Magic Realm was created
There isn't a day that goes by where I don't miss them, but my parents spending their last years with me in Henford with me have left me feeling complete. All I wanted to do for so long was see them again, and they lived happy lives, taken in peace in their sleep by old age days apart from one another.
I found a new life in Henford, I ended up as Sage after all the ups and downs, and I met plenty of other Mischief casters. I have my beautiful Ellie by my side, always, and my trusted companion Nia...I wonder if her life has been extended by her being bound as my familiar? She's lived a long time for such a small owl.
I suppose I have been fortunate in a way that Tsuna and Áine are not. I have found a kind of satisfaction where, if I died tomorrow, I would die happy and at peace with myself and the world around me. But when you may never die, how do you feel fulfillment? When are you ever satisfied? Do you ever stop inventing impossible goals for yourself? Do you ever think about anything other than losing all that you love?
I showed Emene and Nanji that not everywhere in this part of the world was dull. They loved the ancient arena, and they enjoyed evening walks along the River Glimmer together amongst the flowers and the wild foxes.
With a few people moving out of Xander's settlement to start their own, they replaced one of the little houses with a field for some cows. Emene had the idea when she'd helped them with some tips of her own on animal husbandry, leading to a healthy population of little goats and chickens. Emene and Nanji's knees were both bruised from many miniature headbutts over their course of living there.
The cattle were a welcome addition to the settlement, bringing in more milk, cheese and meat. Xander loved both my parents to pieces, and greatly missed them upon their passing.
With my permission, he buried them near the dragon statue, and the others that live there offer prayer and thanks to them every evening. Their graves are marked by stones beautifully carved by Xander himself, and nature returned it thanks by sprouting a joyful array of bright flowers over where they are buried.
At first, all seemed fairly simple in terms of teaching the students. Some stayed in the long term and others the short depending on various factors. Ellie enjoyed teaching arcane history as well as a few basics of magic. Of course, nothing stays simple for long in my life, does it?
Everything changed when the toddler came through the portal, seemingly unfazed by the transition. He just walked up to me and gave me a sad look. For years, we put out messages and calls for the boy's parents, but no-one ever came to claim him.
People raising each other's children had been nothing new for years amongst my friends or amongst the people of post-witch-hunt Glimmerbrook and Henford. The boy picked up speech a little slower than most, so he could not tell me anything about himself and has little memory of ever turning up here at all. I named him Moeti - 'wanderer'.
Moeti was a handful. If he wasn't interrupting dinner, he was wandering into the students' rooms in the dormitory. If not that, Owen kept finding him in the alchemy store cupboard, Áine once found him sitting in an empty cauldron, and Ellie would often have to run around the realm after him.
He also had a habit of interrupting Owen's frequent naps in the staff room. Owen didn't seem to mind, but he did find a good solution by complete accident.
Moeti took a liking to Valravn, who appeared to be rather protective of him and would keep an eye on him, putting her talon on the bottom of his trousers if he tried to run off. At one point, we found him napping under her wing instead of in his bed. No harm ever came to him with Valravn, and she did well to keep him out of a decent amount of trouble...even if he did like to pluck out her feathers on occasion.
Despite him not being born of a Mischief-casting community, at least not to my knowledge, I had decided to teach Moeti in the art of Mischief magic. Elli had taught him some Practical, though he begged us to teach him Wild magic. We refused - not until he's an older teenager!
I had broken a long-standing and strict rule doing this, but he was my child, even if not by blood, and therefore I considered him a part of our community by extension. The way things were going in terms of the blending of blood family and adopted family across the country, I think there will come a time where many of these previous boundaries will dissolve, either by choice or by time.
As the mundane and arcane worlds begin to mingle more, I feel some of our usual traditions may change. I'm not sure what will happen - what traditions do we need to guard, and what traditions can we afford to be more lenient about? I suppose there's a chance only time will tell. So long as I teach him not to abuse his gift or teach others Mischief magic without my permission, I believe it will be fine.
I made sure to take Moeti out into the normal world as often as I could, as opposed to letting him solely live his life in the Magic Realm. Owen has stressed multiple times to all Sages and students about the need of taking breaks, and has even been noting down possibly physiological and psychological issues that may arise.
He greatly prefers it here in the Magic Realm, but I cannot have him accustomed to a world solely built off of one woman's fantasy; he must learn to cope and thrive within the everyday world, something not built to suit anyone that we will have to try and find his toes in. He must learn to find friends his own age (and species), plenty of whom live amongst the Glimmerbrook settlements. The normal world is not so predictable as this one, I told him, but that is part of the fun. The Anansi family have thrived amongst unpredictability. He's a curious little boy; I'm sure he will do well.
He has Ellie's kindness and my cunning. What more could he possibly need?
