Alitia: Welcome to Millenia

XVI: War of Starlight

Sunday wound up being filled with homework. The attack on Sophia had taken up a lot more of Saturday than originally anticipated. Only Tanith was finished early, her memory bringing her free time much sooner than the others. She still hung out in the same room, talking and providing assistance where need be.

When Monday came, Luce was more ready than ever before to see Alistair and Cessair. Hopefully one of them would have some time to talk to her. The day practically passed by in a blur. History continued a discussion on the founding of early planets started the week before, and Luce didn't have much to contribute to the chat. Instead, she stared at her textbook. She knew what they were talking about, but she couldn't register it for some reason.

After Michaela's class, Luce made a beeline for the library to see if Alistair was free. He was sitting at his desk, writing a few things in a notebook. Luce let out a small sigh of relief at seeing he was still there. "Professor Ogun?" she asked, clenching the shoulder strap of her bag tightly. "Can we talk?"

Alistair's face broke into a smile at seeing Luce. "Ah! Luce! I'm glad to see you. I apologize for not getting the chance to talk to you up to this point. Meetings have kept me occupied, I'm afraid... Today, I have about an hour to spend time with students, and if you're available, I'd be glad to help you learn more about the power you have," he said.

"Thank you," Luce smiled with a small nod. "I've been doing a little research on my own time to see what magic I might have at my disposal. My friend Tanith has been helping me. We found a book with a list of light magic and were using that to cross off possibilities. We've narrowed things down a little, but there are still a few things I want to check out."

Luce set down her bag and began rustling through it. She pulled out a small paper and smiled to herself. It had the list of magic she and Tanith had made. A majority of the names had been crossed off by this point, the few that remained being circled with a red pen. She handed it to Alistair after unfolding it.

Alistair looked over the list with a small frown. "You've been doing quite a bit, I see," he murmured. "Where did you start?"

"We began by crossing off magic that doesn't fit with color. Any magic that manipulates anything else also left pretty quickly. It seems that I can generate my own light rather than manipulate it," Luce explained. "That brings us to where we are now."

Alistair continued to read. He smiled to himself when he saw one type of magic. "Starlight... You crossed it off pretty early, didn't you?"

Luce nodded. "Yeah. I remembered what you told me about it only having one Keeper. Since no body was found of the previous Keeper, she must be alive, and I don't fit that bill."

"Plus, you have a father by birth. Keepers do not. They are created only from magic and, in most cases, have no genetic makeup and are impossible to track under normal means," Alistair pointed out. "Starlight is an easy impossibility..."

"I think my magic must have come from my mother, whoever she is. I don't have a clue. She hasn't been seen in ages. I've never met her, at least as far as I can remember," Luce sighed with a shake of her head. "Do you know of any way to figure out who she is? She's probably the key to finding everything out behind this mess."

Alistair frowned and shook his head. "I'm afraid not. It's a tragedy for sure... There are some places that keep track of who is related to who and such, but you were born and raised far from any major cities, yes?" he prompted.

"To my knowledge, yes, that's about right," Luce answered.

"Records like that are kept in hospitals. The parents give their names and have them double checked. Often, those who aren't recorded this way get their names on the papers at some point later on in life, but I somehow doubt that applies to you at this moment. Without a name, it's difficult to track anyone. All we know is that she has light magic. Anything more specific is beyond us. We can narrow it down somewhat by the type of magic you have, an exertion power rather than manipulation, but that's still a wide spectrum. Anyone with light magic and a child from seventeen years ago could be a possibility, which doesn't help us one bit," Alistair frowned.