The Vampire & Her Witch

Chapter 1708: The Missing Piece (Part Two)

"You and Lady Nyrielle... are you...?" Adala asked, unable to say the last few words, but her wide eyes and trembling hands said everything her lips couldn’t."Mmm," Ashlynn said as she saw comprehension dawning on the young lady’s face. "In the Vale of Mists, no one would dare to judge you for loving another woman. Not after Nyri and I assembled all the leaders of the Vale to announce our betrothal and pledge our love to each other."

"The Vale of Mists isn’t immune to being surprised by love," Ashlynn admitted. "When Ignatious started courting my lady-in-waiting, Heila, it caused a bit of shock because he’s an Inquisitor and she’s Eldritch... But people got over it, and Heila’s father managed to demand that Ignatious court her for a full year before they marry, even though he had to stand up to one of Nyri’s most powerful progeny to do it."

"Love finds a way," Ashlynn said. "Even if it needs a little help sometimes."

The more Ashlynn spoke, the more the image in Adala’s mind shifted. What had at first sounded nightmarish and frightening slowly softened and brightened in her mind. An academy shrouded in soft mists where she and Charlotte could attend classes together sounded... It sounded like a dream.

"Are you really going to marry, um, Lady Nyrielle?" Adala asked awkwardly. "And does that mean that, if she says yes, Charlotte and I could marry too?"

"Yes, I’m really going to marry her," Ashlynn said, smiling brightly enough to push back the gloom of the overcast day. "I love her, with all my heart," she said, placing the tips of her fingers on her chest. "And she loves me. Since we know how happy it makes us to be together, why would we ever deny that to anyone in our domain?"

"It sounds wonderful," Adala said, doing her best to keep her heart firmly in her chest, even as it felt like it wanted to dance among the snowflakes drifting in the wind. "But you said you had two goals for the academy," she said, trying to keep from getting lost in a daydream in the midst of an important audience with Lady Ashlynn.

"What’s the second goal?" Adala asked.

"To transform the role of women from the march," Ashlynn answered directly. "The days when only men could inherit are coming to an end along with the days that women are forced into marriages to suit their family’s needs. But women need a power of their own if they’re going to claim parity with the men who have been knights and lords for generations."

"That’s why you want to teach this ’sorcery,’" Adala said, her eyes going wide before shifting to the pot of tea that Ashlynn had so casually warmed. "But, can sorcery really make a person as strong as a knight? Is it that powerful?"

"Yes," Ashlynn promised. "Not only that, but it can give you different kinds of power beyond the strength to fight. Let me show you an example," she said, standing up from the table and walking out into the snow. "This isn’t witchcraft; it’s sorcery," she explained. "Heila is better at doing this with snow than I am, but it should be enough to understand," she said.

Before Adala could ask exactly what it was that Ashlynn was about to do, the witch made her move.

"Mistwalker: Dance," Ashlynn said, a heartbeat before she stepped off the ground and into the air as though she were dancing on... on nothing at all!

Ashlynn’s skirts flared briefly as she took a quick turn of several steps around the gazebo, spiralling higher and higher as she went until her feet were even with the wooden shingles of the gazebo. And then, like a vision of a Saintess in one of the Church’s stained glass windows, she slowly descended from the air, walking as if there were stairs beneath her feet until she finally returned to the ground.

"You, you can fly," Adala said, staring open-mouthed at the mighty Mother of Trees. "You can... you can go anywhere like that. You can be... Completely free..."

"It isn’t that exaggerated," Ashlynn said before the young lady could get the wrong idea. "I’m not flying. I’m walking on water," she said, as if that was somehow any less shocking. "In the Vale of Mists, where there’s almost always fog in the valleys, it’s the most useful, but it works on snow almost as well as it works on mist," she explained.

"Sorcery’s power is widely varied, but it’s also dangerous for most people to use," Ashlynn warned. "You saw how drained Abbat Recared’s Inquisitors looked after summoning their ball of Holy Flame last night. That’s because they used sorcery and called upon more power than they could reasonably provide."

"It takes a keen mind and discipline to use it safely," Ashlynn warned, tapping Adala on the forehead as she returned to her seat. "Somehow, I don’t think that will be a problem for you."

"But if I go to this academy," Adala said, her growing interest completely undeterred by Ashlynn’s warning. "I can learn all of these things? To fight as well as a knight and to walk on the mist and... all of it?"

"We’re a long way from having a curriculum," Ashlynn said. "I imagine that I’ll be looking to you and Liam and others who studied in formal academies for inspiration on how we should organize courses. If you want to learn to fight, no one will tell you that you can’t pick up a sword, or a set of claws for that matter," Ashlynn said with a knowing look in her eyes.

"Zedya, Nyri’s handmaiden, fights with the same darksteel claws that the Clan of the Great Claw use," she explained. "The point is that, within a few years, women like you, who go to the academy, should be able to hold your ground against most men, even the ones who went to the academy with you."

"Nyri and I can set an example. We can be the roots and trunk of the tree," Ashlynn said. "But we’ll be counting on you to be our branches and our leaves, spreading change across the Verdant Hills. So, are you willing to follow me until the fall, and enroll at the academy when it opens?" Ashlynn asked, looking for confirmation of the desire she could already see growing in the other woman’s shining eyes.

"Yes," Adala said, nodding eagerly. "Thank you, Ashlynn," she said as grateful tears spilled from her eyes. "For everything you’ve given me... Thank you."

"It’s only what you deserve," Ashlynn said as she pulled the younger woman into a warm embrace. "There are hard days ahead, but beautiful ones too. Just remember, don’t be afraid to share what your heart truly desires... If not with me, then with Charlotte," she said with an extra squeeze. "Once you do, a whole world of wonders opens up to you."