Editing Virra Amalia

Amalia...you were so different then. I wonder if your mind now returns to those days; because you can't look to the future, do you cherish the past? Mother was gone then, you never knew her; she died the day you were born. The void she left was hard on us all, but you didn't have even the memory of her face for comfort. We tried so hard to make up the difference, Father and I. And you did seem happy. Then came the day the world shifted forever. 

That day, the last day, we were walking in the garden, and you were telling me all of your adolescent woes and triumphs, As I remember it, the crisis of the morning was that Cynis Rega had started flirting with Iselsi Kalia, and just when you were prepared to confess to him your undying love. "What does he even see in her? It just makes me so mad!" you fumed. Then, without warning, the air around you burst into flames. 

It stopped almost immediately, you were so shocked at what you had done. The heat of the fire didn't touch you. I was standing close enough to you that my sleeve began to burn, but I threw myself to the ground and smothered it before it did much damage. For a few moments we just looked at each other in wide eyed awe. 

"Do you know what this means?" I broke the silence. "You must be Dragon Blooded. One of the Outcaste." I didn't know what else to say. You sat there in a daze, as I took your hand carefully, and led you back to the house, my mind reeling and my arm throbbing with pain. 

If we were awed and amazed, how much more so was Father. When we told him the news, he cried with joy. He cried, for the first time since Mother died. And he decided then and there, that we would use all we have to see how far your gift could carry you. Perhaps if he could have seen how things would work out he would have done otherwise. It's not for me to say. The fact remains that he didn't, and one more cobblestone was laid in the road that got us here.

-- ''from [[Sapphire River at Midnight]]'s private notes''


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[[Heaven's Mandate]]