The Last Spirit Wolf (Elena Norwood)

-Vera-

Elden walks quickly to the Beta's chambers and I follow close behind. When we get there, the guards are gone and he opens the doors. I step inside to find Beta Caleb sitting in front of at window and looking out with that distant look of his. He seems fine otherwise.

"I need you to try to heal him."

"Uhm, what?"

"The last time he had a moment of lucidity was when you touched him, back at the pyre ceremony, maybe it helped him."

"But I touched him later too and it did nothing for him."

"Vera, please. Just try."

"Elden, I could just as well fry his brain. I don't know how to use my magic yet."

"Just go by what you feel," he says as he takes my arm and guides me to Beta Caleb.

I sigh but comply. I kneel in front of Beta Caleb, taking a good look at him first. His beard has been shaven and his hair neatly cut; there is a semblance of the man he used to be.

"Did you do this?" I ask Elden, wondering about the haircut.

"It hurt my soul to see him in such disarray," he says.

"What is your connection to him, anyway?" I ask.

He growls lightly at me with a frown.

"Ok, ok. Here goes nothing."

I close my eyes, and try to 'go with the feeling' as Elden says, remembering the one time I touched the Moon Peonies and felt my intentions flow through to the flowers. I rub my hands together, concentrating, and then take Beta Caleb's hands in mine.

I stay like this for several minutes, with my eyes closed and focused on Beta Caleb, but I can't feel anything happen. With the Moon Peonies there was electricity running down my fingertips. but right now there isn't even the hint of a spark. I sigh,

"I'm sorry, Elden. I can't feel anything happening."

When I open my eyes, I find that Beta Caleb has closed his eyes and is resting against the chair. Great, I managed to put him to sleep.

"It's ok," Elden says, defeated, "I just needed to know."

He pauses,

"To answer your earlier question, I was Caleb's teacher back in the day. He was one of my first students and one of the most brilliant and honorable men I ever had the pleasure of teaching; and King Alexander? Oh, King Alexander was something special. He was everything I would ever hope a King would be. He was finally going to bring along absolute peace for the Kingdom, I was sure of it! His father made peace with your kind, and with witches gone, we only had to further nurture that relationship to be the Kingdom I always knew we could be. But then, Alistair took a piss on all of that."

Elden moves to a small table in front of another window, grabbing a glass and filling it up with what I think is wine. He pours a second glass for me. I join him and we both drink. It's very good wine, albeit on an empty stomach.

"All of them were spectacular, and all of them were stolen of their greatness," he says bitterly as he empties his glass and pours himself more wine.

This further explains why he hated Alistair so much, and why he stepped down from his Council position.

"Do you think he will ever get better?" I ask him, looking at Beta Caleb.

"I don't have much hope. Maybe he can have some moments of lucidity now that he's in a better situation, but I believe his mind is too far gone."NôvelDrama.Org owns all content.

I look down at my glass, feeling sad that this would happen to him at the hands of his own son. I also feel incredibly grateful, knowing that if Noah is in fact King Alexander's son, Beta Caleb protected him despite paying the ultimate price: losing his son and his mind. "Elden, I'm going to do everything I can to help him, maybe my aunt and grandmother can teach me."

He smiles and pats my hand.

"I appreciate that," he says.

I excuse myself and head out, hoping there is still something left for lunch. As I'm making my way through the castle, on my way to the kitchen, I stop suddenly at the entrance to one of the courtyards, my ears ringing. Something is guiding me there and I know better than to ignore this feeling.

Soon enough, I'm making my way to Charlotte's garden, the ringing in my ear becoming stronger with every step. I step inside and find Charlotte reading on one of the benches. She greets me but I can't really hear what she says. I turn to look at the Moon Peonies and they're glowing; the ringing is coming from them.

I kneel in front of them, cupping one of them in my hands, almost like in a trance. I examine them closely, finding that not only are they glowing, they're actually vibrating. A couple of petals drop into my palms and with that, the ringing, glow and vibration stops. I snap out of it immediately, shaking my head. I look down at the petals in my hands, wondering what all of this was about. Charlotte is kneeling in front of me with a concerned expression.

"I'm... I'm sorry... I don't know what that was about," I say, trying to brush it off and to erase her worry, "did you also see that or was it just me?"

"See what?" she asks.

"The flowers were glowing just now."

"The only thing I saw glowing was your necklace," she says.

"My... necklace?"

I look down at the necklace Doctor Owens gave me. I don't see it glowing and I turn to Charlotte.

"Maybe we're both imagining things," she smiles, helping me up.

I take her hand and we both smile. This is a little awkward, who knows what Charlotte must be thinking after what she just saw.

"Oh, hey." I say, "I hadn't had the chance to thank you for giving me these." I gesture at the petals, "they're the only way I managed to escape the King."

"So it's true?" she asks, "I knew that man gave me the creeps, I told Ethan the minute I saw him. I knew he was up to no good with you, us girls just have that sixth sense you know." I smile at her,

"Unfortunately, I do."

I stay here catching up with Charlotte about everything that has happened since I last saw her. She was immediately aware of my mark and she congratulated me on it, winking and making me blush.

It feels good to have a normal conversation with someone that doesn't involve war plots and murder and all of the unpleasantness we have been exposed to recently.

"You know, I've been reading up on Moon Peonies and they say they have amazing healing properties when ingested," she mentions, glancing at the petals in my hands.

"Really? But they're poisonous."

"Well, it's like selective poison," she takes one of the petals between her fingers, "see? They burnt Harriet and the King, but they don't burn you, Ethan, or me. I still haven't figured out how that works."

I examine the flowers closely. If they do have healing properties, maybe Elden could make Beta Caleb a tea with them and see what happens.

I thank Charlotte and head back into Beta Caleb's room. Maybe this is why my ears were ringing and the flowers offered me their petals; it sounds ridiculous, even to me with everything I have experienced this past month, but I have to try.