All Encants are now required by law to be part of a guild in order to keep track of them. In order to control their magic.
Even with no family or friends to miss her absence, Maevus Kildaren is still uneager to be coerced into a life suddenly fille...
Maevus woke to the shrill of a train whistle and the soft glow of daylight beginning to filter through the windows. Her body was stiff and heavy with hard sleep as she rolled onto her back, groaning. She stretched her arms over her head, relishing the stretch of her muscles. It startled her when something landed gently on her stomach.
When she peered down, she found a chocolate bar wrapped in silvery foil waiting. She picked it up, turning it over in her hands to find the name Scholler written in scrolling purple script across the wrapper.
"This is my favorite kind," she said, mouth dry and tongue clumsy from how long she'd slept.
She looked over at Volt, who was snapping his own chocolate bar into pieces. Slowly, she swung her legs down and sat up. Her mouth watered and her stomach growled as she watched him lift a piece of the chocolate to his lips.
"Thank you," she said, unwrapping her own bar, careful not to slice her fingers on the thick foil. As the first bite melted on her tongue, she barely kept herself from moaning with delight.
Food such as chocolate and other sweets were often an Encant's best friend. The quick release of sugar helped sustain and recover magic, as it was easily converted to magical energy. Maevus sighed, practically able to feel her magic reserve fill even more as she ate. She was still low, but no longer felt miserable or exhausted.
She reckoned one more day of good rest and better food would see her more or less recovered.
The train whistle shrilled again and Maevus peered out the window, watching as the walls of a city loomed before them. Her heart twisted as her thoughts were jerked to why they were here. To how she would have to use her powers once they were restored. The chocolate turned sour in her mouth and she set the remaining fourth of the bar down on the seat.
A sigh filled the air between them.
"Eat," Volt said.
Maevus ignored him, swallowing hard against the stickiness in her throat. She leaned her forehead against the glass, watching as the city drew nearer and nearer, even as the train began to slow.
There was a rustle of cloth, then Volt grabbed her hand, slapping the remnants of her candy bar into her palm. Maevus bared her teeth, snarling as she turned to look up at him. Power flickered in the threads around her heart, fire sizzling in her veins.
It all rushed to her head, straining something in her chest and leaving her breathless and dizzy.
Volt pushed her gently back into the seat. His mouth was expressionless as he took the chocolate from her hand and held it to her lips. "You're useless like this. Eat."
Tempted to take a bite out of his fingers instead of the bar, Maevus turned her head. She clenched her teeth in an effort not to lash out at him. As calmly as she could manage, she said, "You forget that I don't want to be useful." She sneered. "At most, I just want to...to be able to fly above all this. To summon Koret and leave as fast as the north wind will let me."
Volt just continued to hold the chocolate up until it began to melt beneath the heat of his fingers. It annoyed her enough that she snatched it from him and chucked it across the compartment.
His shoulders bunched in equal annoyance beneath his cloak and he stood. As usual, he didn't speak a word as he turned sharply on his heel and stalked out of the compartment. Maevus refused to watch him go, instead training her eyes on the station looming larger just outside the walls of Fresi.
The train swayed and she put a hand on the seat to steady herself. Crinkling foil drew her attention, and she stared down at the last of the candy bar.
A tiny voice in the back of her mind chided, It was nice. He was being nice.
Maevus snorted, nudging it away with her fingers. She shifted her feet, making something skitter across the floor.
She stared at the crumpled paper, remembering how she had fallen asleep to the gentle sounds of pen and pencil on paper. It had been barely audible over the clatter of the train, but it had still soothed Maevus enough that she was able to drift off in spite of her motion sickness.
And then she'd slept the whole night, unaffected by the uneven rattle and sway of the train.
Maevus reached forward, picking up the paper. She hesitated with her fingers on the crumpled edge. It felt suddenly as if she were peering into some small, private space. Like she might witness something embarrassing. Or something so lovely it shouldn't be seen by just anyone.
That thought had her smoothing the page flat over her thigh.
"Oh," she breathed, fingers hovering gently over the paper.
There, rendered in ink and pencil, were wings. Beautiful, black-feathered wings floating in space. They were curved toward one another, each feather drawn with such painstaking detail Maevus was sure she would feel their soft bellies and stiff edges when she touched the drawing.
It was nothing near what she had been expecting from the moody, near-silent Encant. It was too...lovely, too free and wonderful. It didn't match her impression of him at all.
The compartment door slamming open made her jump out of her skin. She scrambled to crumple the paper up, hiding it in her hand as Volt came back. He didn't so much as glance at her as he lifted his suitcase down to the seat. He turned and did the same for hers, resting it on the seat next to her.
"We'll stay a day so you can recover." He picked up his suitcase and moved into the hall. "Or you can starve."
He disappeared down the hall, obviously intending to wait at the door leading into the train car. Maevus slumped back in her seat, knowing when her presence wasn't wanted. She didn't move until the train had finally drawn to a full halt.
Then, pushing down the bile rising from her writhing stomach, Maevus stood and picked up her suitcase.
She made her way to the door and stepped down into the bustling, early-morning train station. Volt was leaning against a brick pillar, arms crossed as he waited for her to join him. When he turned away from her and began moving effortlessly through the crowd, Maevus followed without a sound.
The image of those drawn wings was burned into her brain. As she stared at Volt's straight back, she came to the slow, uncomfortable realization that she wasn't the only one who wished she could fly away from this and never look back.
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Volt's drawing drawn by my sister. You can find this and more of her work on DeviantArt under the username Jiimn if you care to check it out there :)
