Something Lost, Something Found (Moonie!)

[Paradox]

Alastrom sucked in a breath through his teeth. He had, internally, already emotionally braced himself for an answer like this. Deep down, part of him understood that the reason he'd ended up where he had was a simple matter of being a mage. Al closed his eyes and nodded, 

But the comment about the church having been destroyed did confirm one thing which matched Bishop Geraint's claims. "The church was...destroyed. So he wasn't lying about that after all... " He shook his head, "Geraint said I was responsible. That I was...a radical." And the other mages whom had helped him and Alanna escape seemed to believe the very same . In fact, they claimed to be familiar . What did it all mean?

Releasing a soft sigh, Alastrom opened his eyes and looked across the room at Sadie again,"Thank you for your kind words.It is...good to hear someone say that."

Still, the curiosity towards his family ate at him, "My family turned me in, didn't they? "

In spite of asking her, he'd already reached a conclusion that he'd known the answer to this question all along.

He had no idea and perhaps it was better not to know that his father, the moment of discovering that his son was a mage, washed his hands clean of the young man and denied, denied, denied that Alastrom Gallagher was his son. His mother had been so distraught by the revelation and her son was tainted. But rather than doing what one should think ought come naturally from a mother which was to love and support her child in an obvious time of confusion and need, Mrs. Gallagher had simply prayed. As for Alastrom's sister...she had lapsed into a guilty silence for a few years , but moved on with her life and mostly forgot that she'd ever had a brother.

[Zero]

"I don't care what anyone says; I couldn't picture you as a radical – not back then. Now? Well, people change."

In Connlaoth you didn't need to commit any crime save being born if you were a mage, it was insanely unfair, but there you had it. Sadie's parents had seen it coming and fled for their lives, to protect her. So many were not that lucky, and her heart ached for them, even if she didn't show it very well. It was always awful to deliver bad news, but this was so much worse, she had known Alastrom all her young life, and now she didn't know him at all.

"I wouldn't have said them if they weren't true, not to you." Sadie was more than capable of lying, she found it distasteful, but sometimes you just did what you had to do. Lying to Alastrom, at a time like this, was just ridiculous. He asked if it was his family and she winced, avoiding his eyes. "I think your sister knew first, and then she told your father. I suppose they just thought they were doing what was right, following the law."

She hesitated, not sure that was really true at all. It had impacted the family dramatically, but she was there that day, and she knew how Mr. Gallagher had felt about it. How could anyone be so cold to their own child? "For what it's worth and I know it doesn't mean a lot now, but when my family moved away to Serendipity, I would have taken you with us – if I could have." Her voice was soft and sincere, if there had been any way to have saved him, she would have made it so, but she had only been a child, and once the church got ahold of a mage...

[Paradox]

Alastrom nodded, accepting the truth even though it hurt. Even though a part of him selfishly had hoped that his own family would have fought for him and denied that there was anything wicked in him. But why should they? They'd been raised traditional like so many people born native to this country. Al swallowed hard and nodded. Nothing he felt translated to his face, but there was the subtlest glint of pain in his eyes which he lowered to his frayed boots as he continued to nod. So there really was nothing for him to return to. He'd told himself that having few attachments made everything easier. He could just leave for Connlaoth with Alanna and not a soul would give a damn.

Though deep down he'd always hoped that ...

No. Better not to think about that. He took in a deep breath and released it slowly. "I can't blame them for being terrified. I guess if I wasn't a mage, I'd be afraid of me too."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and at her kind words, he shrugged, "I probably should have listened to my mother. I don't know why I was impolite , but ...it's in the past , I guess. If things hadn't turned out the way they had, Alanna would be dead. " He was eager to change the subject, "You moved to Serendipity? That's quite an adventure. How is it? " He'd never been, but he'd heard plenty of strange tales about it.   

[Zero]

Sadie could have pointed out that she had never been afraid of him, mage or not, but thought that maybe that was insensitive or inappropriate. What feelings she had nursed back then were for someone that really was essentially dead. The Alastrom of now was not the boy she had looked up to and cared about years ago. This man, a complete stranger in truth, didn't need, nor likely want, her thoughts and feelings regarding who he may have been a long time ago.

"Oh I don't know about all that, you had reason enough to be impolite, I was a pain in the neck. Looking back I can see that now, but back then I was just a little girl following around a boy I wanted to be just like." She laughed softly at that. Now that she was a grown woman she could see how irritating her imitation and mimicry had been for him, and felt a little guilt for being such a pest. Making him dislike her had never been her intent.

There was something else too. The name Alanna, that had to be Jon, then. She still didn't know if he realized what he was saying, but ignored it once again. If they wanted Alanna to be Jon, they had their reasons and she wasn't about to question such reasons. "Well, Serendipity is crawling with mages, I suppose. Probably more now than ever with the civil war here, my family can't be the only ones to try to escape. There are schools everywhere, for higher learning, for learning about mage, for all kinds of things, and no one judges you for magic, mages don't just fit in, they're practically the norm."

There was so much more than that. How could she even begin to tell him everything that Serendipity was or that it had offered and given her over the years? Connlaoth was her birth nation, but somehow Serendipity had become her home. It had been Donovan's home. Sadie felt a twinge of pain in her chest at the thought of her husband. "Women and men are equals in Serendipity, you're judged by your merit as a person – not your gender. I think I like that almost as much as the ability to be yourself as a mage without fear."

She closed her eyes, thinking about her home - about Donovan's home, back in Serendipity, and felt just a touch of homesickness. There was nothing there for her to go back to now, though. Donovan was gone, all there was to see was an empty apartment filled with memories of sickness and death.

[Paradox]

((Sorry for the major delay. Haven't been feeling well, as you know.))

Alastrom stared at her, "The norm?" Though he was a mage himself and had suffered persecution, he still held fast to his faith in Ansgar and in the belief that magic did more harm than good. The idea of a place that encouraged magic-use was disconcerting, but it didn't matter how he felt about the matter. Alanna mattered and that was the end of it. He rubbed his beareded chin thoughtfully, "How do these schools work? Are there any special requirements to enroll?"

[Zero]

Sadie could sense that Alastrom was uncomfortable with the idea of such wide-spread and accepted magic use. It was no wonder, they were Connlaothians, after all. Plus he had always been a pious man. She had adjusted well to Serendipity, but she had also been a child. It begged the question of if her old friend would even be able to tolerate life in a place that so freely and enthusiastically embraced magic. At least he was asking questions, she mused.

"It depends on which school. Some cost money, many don't. The only real requirements are a willingness to learn and natural talent or gifts don't hurt, that's for sure. Already having power isn't required though, or I never would have been taught. Not that I really learned any magic. Studied it, but that doesn't make me a mage. My inclination always drifted towards science, especially transmutation alchemy." She shrugged her shoulders. Some would claim alchemy was still magic, but she disagreed.

[Paradox]

His mind didn't quite grasp the concept of this alchemy or why people would be taught about using magic when they had not the ability. How odd. He looked at her even more bewildered than before. "Alchemy? What is that?"

[Zero]

"Alchemy is science. There are different types of alchemy, some focus on the reactions of combining different elements to create potions, salves, medicine, and the like. There's transmutation alchemy, which is my field, which is the practice of taking one raw material and turning it into something else. For instance, turning lead into gold, or any earthen material into gold, for that matter. If you are aware of the process, the correct quantities of the base material to accumulate the desired amount of gold..." Sadie blinked realizing that she might be rambling a bit and may have lost Al completely in the conversation, though she had tried to keep it simple.

"Anyway, alchemy is science, not magic, and I will vehemently maintain that position on the matter, regardless of what anyone else says to the contrary." It wasn't that she was closed minded, far from it, but some fools within the church would never change their ways. Anything and everything was "magic" to them.

[Paradox]

While Alastrom could follow what she was saying word for word, his mind could not distinguish the difference between science and magic. His experience with science was limited and perhaps this was why but whenever a concept had been explained to him, he considered that there was a science to magic as well. Of course, if one were to suggest that magic and science could coincide with each other in Connlaoth, that was considered blasphemous and ludicrous. For Al, it hardly mattered. A person could call something whatever the hell they wanted to as far as he was concerned. It wouldn't prevent a concept from being what it was.

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled a little at the woman's stubbornness, "Sounds like magic to me, but call it whatever you want." He wasn't going to argue about something he knew little of . Perhaps he had been narrow minded in his youth, but time and the world had changed him greatly. "So you are an alchemist and you take something like metal and you change it into something else? Is that very difficult? " It was a curious thing that he had personally never seen done before while he had been told the things he was capable of were amazing (and terrifying) , he found nothing particularly interesting about it. There were other geomancers about....somewhere, he was sure.