halfamoon | halfamoon day 14

Title: Until The Morning Comes Anew
Fandom: Gemfire
Rating: PG-13/femmeslash
Characters: Scylla/Gweyn
Length: 600 words
Tags: mid-game, Tordin!defeat, probably Lankshire!defeat, headcanon worldbuilding: Gem wizards
Summary: Gweyn writes a letter to Scylla while in exile.

A sudden strong gale slammed open the shutters on the window, where not even a calm breeze had been before. A flurry of leaves from trees that didn't grow on the Isle spun to the floor as she opened the window and held her hand out for an emerald green bird to alight onto. Rather like a large parrot in appearance, it patiently preened itself as she unwrapped the message tied to its leg. She already knew exactly who it was from. Her favourite messenger had succeeded. Few borders could keep out the birds or the wind. While she knew a few spells that would probably do the job, they would exhaust her far too much for it to be worth it, when all she would achieve was angering the spirits. She praised the bird, letting it groom her hair for a few seconds then setting it free again. Walking over to her desk, she examined the letter more closely.

Lady Gweyn was alive and doing fairly well, considering. This knowledge took a huge weight off Scylla's mind. Also to her great relief, she'd been thinking about the sorceress as much as Scylla had been thinking about her. While she knew not to worry that Scylla, a powerful wizard protected by a magical shield by all times and able to retreat at a moment's notice, even become incorporeal and return to her soul's true location within her Gem, would be harmed in battle. Gem Wizards could maybe do lasting damage to each other but were under an unbreakable geas not to, mostly because it would probably further damage the Crown. However, she did worry about the consequences for her of the Gems being separated in the first place, what might happen to Scylla when they were reunited, and what kind of evil acts the Gem Wizard, who was sworn to serve a rightful ruler, might end up being forced to commit during the senseless civil war. Mostly, thought, she worried about how much it harmed both of them within their hearts to be apart from each other, unlikely to ever be allowed to legally return and equally unlikely to sneak Gweyn back in or Scylla out. Gweyn had some wild plan about becoming a Pirate Queen but Scylla had quickly pointed out to her that forcing her way back in was the most likely thing to get them fighting on opposite sides.

There was some hope, though. Whoever won this war, it was not going to be Eselred, not at this rate. Sanity would resume when the outcome was decided - with the reuniting of Gemfire under a less corrupt ruler, the amount of wild magic running loose would go down, the seasons go back to normal, the dead stop rising again, the economy eventually recover. It would get to the point where, as long as Gweyn had no desire to disrupt the peace again, there would be no reason to police whether she returned or not all that strongly. Yes, Scylla would be within Gemfire again and the very rules of her existence might change - however, she'd at least be together with the other Wizards, who now had their own lives, their own problems, and therefore a motivation to help her. The six most powerful mages and possibly one dragon, working together, had to be able to work something out.

She spent a while drafting a suitable response to Gweyn's latest update, choosing her words carefully, using her most elegantly flowing handwriting, as the most important woman in her life deserved.

I miss you, she signed, as always.