She stood there with her arms crossed, glaring up at her brother, who was very much taller than her. She knew that the soldiers came here on kings orders, but they still terrified her. "Just.... Please," she whispered to him, before turning away and walking back to the table so they could finish their meal.
Their family had always been fairly well off, they were never poor, but they were never wealthy either. They had their troubles of course, but that was thanks to living in a time when they couldn't do magic without causing a big fuss. It wasn't forbidden, but people still thought that the ones who did magic were evil, and bad omens.
"Mother, if I may, I'd like to be excused from the table. I have a few unattended things I must take care of," she said, once she said taken a few more bites of the bread in front of her.
"Eidelyn you've hardly touched your food, is everything alright?" Her mother said to her. Eidelyn nodded, not wanting to make a big fuss over her just not feeling too good. Her parents could cure her sickness of course, but that would mean that she would have to tell them about her fear of the kings soldiers, and they would frown upon her reasons.
Pushing herself away from the table, she stood and left the three of them at the table to finish their meal. She went straight up to their room in the attic, the room that she and her brother have shared since they were small babes, fresh out of their mother. Shoving the thoughts of the soldiers down, she pulled out the spell book that their father had given to her as a name day present a few years back. She had read it cover to cover, but even as the summers passed she knew that the only way to be sure of her magic was to practice.
Every day, before the sun rose over the horizon, she would sneak out into the wood behind their home, and practice there. She loved coming home and showing their father what she had taught herself, and she always rubbed it in her brothers face when she could. Eidelyn was a fast learner, and she got frustrated when she couldn't get the hang of something the first or second try. She had to keep herself patient when it came to using her magic, she knew that it wasn't something that was meant to be easy.
Her hand mindlessly wandered to the brand on her wrist, running her hands over the brand on her wrist. "Jupiter," she mumbled to herself, knowing her God was directly connected to the planet in the sky. It frustrates her to no end that the king had no decency to people with magic. She know that he knew that Saturn is the goddess, and worships by females; and Jupiter is the god, worshipped by males. The brand on her wrist is a constant reminder of how other people loathe the ones who practice magic, the gods know that their children have suffered.
Opening the book on her lap, she began running the spells she had taught herself this week, repeating them quietly to herself. She hadn't noticed that her brother walked in until she felt the bed dip next to her. Pulling her eyes away, she noticed that he had a pained expression on his face as he stared at the book in her hands.
"Why do you read those things?" He questioned her, disgust evident in his features.
"Why do you not read these things? I understand that you are ashamed of our family but-"
"No, I am not ashamed. I will never be ashamed of my family, but was a normal life too much to ask for?" He sighed and stood up as fist as he sat down and slandered over to his own bed, falling onto the straw mattress.
"I don't understand how you think a merchants life can be any better," she mumbled, mostly to herself as she pulled the book off her lap and pushed it back underneath her bed. "Out of everyone in the village, you know that we have it well off-"
"At what cost Eidelyn? People ridicule our family, their hatred for us will never diminish as long as we are still alive. The only reason people come here is because they are pained, and cannot afford to go to an actual medicine man."
"At what point have you noticed this? Because I have not seen what you say. The people who come here come for help, and they are glad to. Yes there are some who hate us, but where ever we go we will-"
"We will be hated, anywhere we go we will be hated. Not just by a select few, no, most everyone in the town. Think about it Eidelyn, and stop being so naive on the subject. Although it is not illegal to have magic, they are still wary of it. With our family's history, I would be wary of us too." She knew what he was speaking of, but they hardly every spoke of it.
The two of them were direct descendants from the dragon-whisperers of the past, the ones who were able to bond with the dragons, and supposedly share thoughts with them through one single glance. She remained quiet, a hollow feeling in her chest. Her brother was right, she knew that, but she refused to be pessimistic about their situation. She loved having magic, when she was younger she loved sitting in and snuggling next to their father, while he would make his potions for the sick.
It was hard to imagine a life without her magic, because as she learned more each day, it was getting harder and harder to hate it. There would always be a small speck of wonder in the back of her mind, wondering about how different their life would be if they didn't have magic, but she ignored it for the most part.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to her brother as she lay down in her down bed. "I know that you aren't particularly fond of magic, but I'm not naive when it comes to how others feel towards us. I'm aware that they are wary of what we practice, but why should it matter?"
"It may not matter to you, but I always dreamed of something different." The two of them were silent after that, and soon thereafter she heard the light snoring sound that signified her brother had fallen asleep. She yawned, knowing that sleep would soon take her as well, and snuggled up against the wall, waiting for sleep to come.