Faerie Folly and Wizard Wands

Chapter Fourteen

... ... swirling, whirling, incredible images flooded Saquoya all night, and her mind captured each image, and caught all the anguish, and all the secrets behind every word...she saw all alongside of a dark shadowed man...

...there was the time of incredible sorrow, as two bodies were buried side by side, their names engraved on the markers...she heard Sssssnnnnaa... whispered among the darkly dressed wizards and witches surrounding her. She was as air, none saw her, none heard her...and she looked downward to see a young child, male, but in shadow, his identity lost to her, but she followed him, and watched him, and felt the intensity of his sorrow...

...his loneliness tortured her, and she felt how he slowly and painstakingly closed himself off, during the ridicule of his school years...she wandered the halls of Hogwarts with him, and felt the sting of anger and shame as he was again and again cast from friends, finding solace only with those who gave her the feeling of evil. He was seeking something, but his search was endless...she knew he was lost in his heart, she felt his grief, his rage...and every time, it was closed off, more and more...

...he became bitter, and her heart learned bitterness. He became wrathful, and her spirit learned rage. He was sorrowed, and her soul learned sadness...each time, she learned how to feel more, and, more importantly, she learned how to close it all off...

She felt a searing pain in her arm, and looked again to her left. The man, now fully grown; tall, dark, and shadowed, was holding his left arm, where a dark mark burned into the flesh...evil surrounded her, and she learned to be suspicious, to be wary, to be cunning, all through the heart and eyes of this shadowed man...

...Magic poured into her. Not the magic she knew best, the pixie magic of her mother's side. No, this was powerful magic, wielded by wizards, and she knew she was learning more, more than her mind could understand...The man next to her began to grow watchful, and she watched too, and saw the blood, the horror, the ripping flesh, the torn virgins...there was mockery around her, and she learned to be callous to it, to close her heart in the middle of terrible deeds.

...People screamed, and the dark man beside her reveled with the evil, he laughed when the evil laughed, and joined in their horrible escapades. He enjoyed the pleading of victims, the screams that were ripped from their throats, and the malice that came powerfully from his wand...and Saquoya learned how to kill, how to feel vindication at the sight of blood...

...And she felt why this dark man did as he did...he was lonely...he had nothing, and not the heart to search any longer...he was full of anger at the world, and wished to banish himself and his feelings from all eyes, and let it pour out in visions of torture...

...But suddenly, there was a change in this man, and Saquoya felt his remorse hit him, suddenly, as an epiphany-he was repentant, and his conscious screamed at him for his deeds...this change swirled him, and he turned his back to the evil, in a decisive finality...

...The anger still existed, and the fear and loneliness persisted in his blood, but this dark shadowed man had changed...

..He no longer lived on fear, no longer lived on anger, or pain...everything had drifted to a memory of what was, what had been, what was the past, all rolled to a deep bitterness...a bitterness he did not know how to throw off...

...And Saquoya learned from everything, she learned the emotions she never knew existed: sorrow, anger, rage, fear, loneliness...and most importantly...

She learned how to close herself off from feeling...

But in that, she became slightly bitter, slightly caustic, callous, and more prone to anger...

She didn't know the difference in herself, she couldn't feel the changes...she didn't bother to start thinking about it...she still watched the life of the man at her side...

Respect for this man, fear of him, and sorrow for the torture and pain he endured...all of it poured into her through these strange visions. She grew to want to comfort him, wanted to help him...she was in debt to him for the way he taught her emotions and how to conceal them...

...Throughout a dark set of rooms in a castle, all filled with steaming, bubbling cauldrons, this man swept, his frame hulking over young bodies, training, sneering, barking out orders...she watched him fill cauldrons with ingredients. The feel and swell of his knowledge poured into her mind, and she began to learn magic, and learn potion making. This was only a further learning. Granna had taught her herbal medicines in America. Now she learned how to do even more complicated herbal mixes, and she understood everything.

...Her heart began to swell as she followed this dark man on his life, his experiences, his feelings...what did she feel? She felt affection and comradery. This man had imprinted himself into her life...

...And then he suddenly turned in her vision, and she saw his face with a hard jolt of familiarity...and heard the whispers...

...Snnnaaaaaapp....