See If I Care

~6~

*Gobbledygook*

~Parseltongue~

-October 31st, 991-

It had been two months since Salazar had found out about their gift of Parseltongue and their secret lessons on Parseltongue and Parselmagic had caused the two of them to become closer than they had been. Their shared gift made Alex the closest to Salazar out of them, Godric, Helga, Rowena, and Merlin. Even as they had gotten closer to Salazar, they had also gotten closer to the others as well, each of their teachers having a special nickname for them, although Salazar only used their nickname when they were in private together, since they had decided to keep their shared ability a secret.

Salazar called them Little Snake or Snakelet, still sticking with Alex when around the other four. Helga called them X, after they had instantly shut down her first suggestion of Lex, since that was way too close to their deadname to be comfortable. Rowena called them a range of bird related nicknames, such as fledgling, hatchling, and Little Raven. Godric called them Flame because of their fiery red hair, or Emerald for their eyes, which had a tendency to glow when they were angry or wound up, since that caused their magic to strain slightly against their control and it would find an escape through making their eyes glow, since that wouldn't cause any damage to anything or anyone. Merlin continued to call them Young One or Little One like he had been seen he first met them.

While the five had all given them nicknames, Alex had returned the favour and rarely used their full names, preferring their nicknames. Salazar was Sal, or occasionally Zar when Salazar was in a good mood. Helga was Hel. Rowena was Row or Rena. Godric was Ric. Merlin was the only one whose nickname was longer than his name, and not related to his name at all, having been gifted the nickname of Old One or Old Man, as the opposite of his nickname for them.

It was during one of their lessons on Parselmagic with Sal that Alex found out why he had been in such a bad mood and been acting so oddly while Celestine had been going through maturity. She had completed her maturity about a week after Alex had first met her, and they had been down to visit her many times since then; Celestine seemed to enjoy coiling around them in a serpentine type of hug. They had asked Salazar about the maturity that Celestine had gone through, and Sal had explained that, as her bonded, some of her pain and discomfort was filtered through their bond to him, especially the times when the pain was the worst. He couldn't do anything to numb the pain on his end, like he couldn't do anything to numb the pain for his familiar, but he also couldn't block the pain coming through the bond, since that would mean that Celestine would experience that pain on top of what she was already feeling; he basically syphoned off some of the pain, and that was the only way he could help her through her maturity.

Samhain came quickly and Alex looked forward to their celebration of the night. It was a night dedicated to the dead and honouring their ancestors that had come before them and was the night when the veil between the world of the living and the dead, and the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world, were at their weakest.

That night, like every Samhain that Alex had been there for, they would light a fire in the courtyard and welcome the spirits of their ancestors to join them and feast with them, before beginning their own meal. Once they were done with their feast, they would offer their remaining food as a sacrifice to their ancestors and burning the food in the fire. They would then offer a drop of their own blood into the fire. The offering of blood was Alex's favourite part, as it led to each of those who had joined in falling unconscious and communicating with a loved one or ancestor that had already moved on to the spirit world.

However, that Samhain, Merlin, Godric, Rowena, and Helga were growing concerned about Alex and Salazar. They were both running late, which in itself was unusual, but it was especially unusual for Samhain. Their lesson was meant to have finished ten minutes ago, and neither of them had appeared again. Helga had brushed the worries aside when they were five minutes late, saying that they may have started brewing late and were just finishing up. But as it reached fifteen minutes after their lesson was meant to have finished, even she couldn't brush it off as just a long brew.