Dreams of the Future

"I am leaving," Khaalida said, as her family gathered around her. Upon their return to Espeor, Aelin had gathered Synnove, Eisling and Sadira, and Khaalida had called her family together. Now they all piled into the great room as Khaalida made her announcement.

Exclamations of shock and worry echoed, as one Quirlicorn looked to the next.

"Where will you go?" Leesi asked, looking unnerved by the idea of her mother no longer in Espeor.

Aelin and Elantaire stayed in the back of the room, and were the first to notice when the door opened and Sidra slipped in.

But it wasn't long until Leesi noticed, turning to see the new arrival.

"Oh, Mother announces she is leaving and you come to try and claim the scraps?" Leesi spat, and her twin, Koa, blinked in alarm.

"Calm down, Leesi. Mother didn't say she was leaving forever," Koa reassured, but Leesi was having none of it.

Sidra paused in the doorway, looking between everyone gathered, before looking to Khaalida.

"You are leaving?" Sidra asked, her voice tinged with surprise.

"Khaaleesi, enough," Khaalida said, sternly. "I called Sidra here because I want to make sure you have the most support possible. Not to cause a fight. Now act like the daughter I raised, and be patient."

Aelin blinked at surprise at the tone, and couldn't help but think that perhaps this was the very reason Khaalida wanted to leave.

"Now," Khaalida said, taking a deep breath. "I am going back into the world. As it stands, all of you can and have been running your designated lands perfectly fine, without my interference. All I have been doing, Aurelion can do in my absence. I am not running away or leaving my duties. I am going back out into the world, to reconnect with it."

Khaalida let out a long sigh, looking between the members of her family. "I cannot be everything I can for my family, nor for my people, if I lose sight of the world around us. I cannot be isolated here, where I do not know the status of our allies. Our allies have joined us here many times, but I have not repaid that favor. So I am going to go, to visit them, to strengthen our bonds, and to bring perhaps even more allies in return. What I am doing, I do for you."

Leesi grumbled to herself, and Koa hushed her. Signe and Zehar were silent, and Feriae was looking contemplative. But it was Sidra who stepped forward.

"If I may be so blunt, why am I here?" she asked.

"Although you are my daughter," Khaalida replied, "We do not have a formal declaration of alliance. I would like to make one, and strengthen the bonds between our lands."

Aelin blinked at the formal words, looking between mother and daughter. So alike, yet so different.

Sidra considered the words, looking around at the family she had left behind.

"I accept your offer of a formal alliance," Sidra finally said, and Aelin watched some of the tension leave Khaalida's body.

"Let us draw up the papers," Khaalida began, but Sidra shook her head.

"We will form our alliance in the ways my land follows," Sidra said, "Through magic and blood."

Aelin really wasn't sure why she was there, as everyone gathered in the courtyard, forming a ring around Khaalida and Sidra. Perhaps it was curiosity, or something else.

"You know the customs?” Sidra asked, as they finished up drawing the rings on the ground. Two circles, crossing slightly in the middle to form an overlap.

“I do,” Khaalida replied.

“Then we begin.”

Aelin watched as the two mares stepped into their outer circles. The circles began to glow as magic poured from them, creating dazzling sparks and waves of magic that stunned Aelin. Khaalida barely had the upper hoof, and Aelin figured it was her experience coming to play. If Sidra reached the status of lesser deity…

This bloodline certainly was something to behold. Aelin thought of the Seer’s words and felt her stomach twist. This kind of power… Sidra rivaled her mother in ways Aelin hadn’t thought possible. Inheriting magic…

As their power built, a ball of magic began to glow where the circles overlapped, a melding of their titanic forces. As one, they stepped forward, matching cuts forming on their front right leg, and they raised them, letting the blood drop into the center circle.

As blood and magic melded, a light began to glow around them both, before settling into their skin. Aelin watched in awe, not sure what she was most baffled about. But as the light faded, and magic dispersed, the two looked the same.

“We are now tied by our alliance,” Sidra said, dipping her head to her mother.

“Let it be known, Espeor and Valisthea have entered an alliance. An attack on one is an attack on all. Welcome, Sidra of Valisthea, to the Espeorean Alliance,” Khaalida said, her voice ringing through the courtyard with a note that seemed to clang across worlds.

Khaalida could still feel the rush of magic in her veins, the bond now formed, as she readied herself for bed.

“Why did you choose to agree?” Aurelion asked, and Khaalida turned to see the stallion she had thought was her mate standing in her doorway.

Khaalida eyed him, a bit weary.

“I’m tired. Do we have to do this now?” she asked.

Aurelion just stood silently, and Khaalida sighed.

“I know Sidra has never been your favorite,” Khaalida began, but Aurelion snorted.

“Because she is not mine to begin with,” he stated.

Khaalida glared at him. “You know exactly how they came to be. I told you everything, and you said it was fine.”

“Just because I had no choice but to accept that you were keeping her doesn’t mean I have to accept her,” Aurelion said, his tone cold.

“I accepted Synnove!” Khaalida spat back.

“I don’t accept that either,” Aurelion replied. “I told you she cannot stay here and you disregarded me in that as well.”

Khaalida raised an eyebrow. “It was never your decision, Aurelion. This is my land, and my people. You might have been my mate, but you were never king, and I was always Queen.”

“Used to be?” Aurelion said, his tone a bit incredulous.

“Yes,” Khaalida said firmly. “Used to be. You have been continuously trying to undermine my rule, and what I do for my people. I explained to you why Sonnet, Minuet and Sidra had to happen. You agreed that it was the right choice, but then took back those words once you saw the outcome. You insist I send my sister away, even though she is so new to this world and trying to adjust. I gave you the time to adjust to this world, to this body. I gave you chance after chance to become comfortable, and forgave many things. Yet you refuse to do the same for her. My land is a land where anyone, regardless of where they come from, can belong. Including Synnove, and any other of your exes who might show up.”

Magic sparked in her eyes, rising in her blood. So much magic had been handled, and now it was coming to the forefront once again.

“You may have been a god, but you are no longer. You will not disrespect me again.”

Aurelion glared, shadows swirling around him. “I can do what I please,” he shot back, eyes sparking with anger.

Khaalida smiled grimly as her magic surged, the very air feeling electrified with its power.

“Not in my lands,” Khaalida replied. “Everything I do, I do for the good of my people. I thought you could understand that, respect that. But I suppose not.”

“We have children, you can’t just kick me out,” Aurelion replied.

Khaalida snorted. “Can’t I? I am a deity, after all.”

Aurelion realized his mistake as he saw the power ripple around her, shoving him back through the doorway.

“Goodbye, Aurelion. Don’t come back until you pull your head out of your ass.”

With that, the door slammed in his face.

Khaalida sighed as she laid in bed. Her magic had calmed, but the storm in her mind and heart had not. Had she made the right choice? Aurelion had been distant since Synnove arrived. As Khaalida had come to know Synnove, she had also come to love her. They were family, in a way that Aurelion had never been to her.

She couldn’t help but wonder if she had done the right thing. But as she wondered, she felt a note of calm come over her. This had been part of the visions, part of the consequence of keeping Sidra. But she had accepted it, long before it happened.

She just hadn’t expected it to hurt as much as it did.

It took a few moments for Khaalida to realize she was dreaming. The world around her felt familiar, standing in a grove of trees. But there was a fundamental difference, too, a difference to the air, and the sounds around her.

“It looks just like home,” Synnove said.

Khaalida turned to see the mare standing behind her, looking around in wonder.

“Home?”

“Yes, the Great Forest in the south. Tall trees, just like this, with endless branches and a sky full of leaves,” Synnove said, her voice tinged with wonder. “The land was never more vibrant than here.”

“What was the rest of it like?” Khaalida asked, and the scene changed. They now stood in a mountainous area, with a city much like Khaalida’s own, made of sparkling stone.

Khaalida gasped, and Synnove smiled. “When I said your city reminded me of home, this is what I meant,” Synnove said. The images around them changed again, and they were standing on the balcony overlooking a city of shining white stone. Silver barked trees grew, with leaves of a rainbow of colors, glittering softly as they waved in the breeze.

“It is beautiful,” Khaalida admitted.

“This was my city. The Star City,” Synnove replied. “High in the mountains, everyone had wings. Great libraries and places of study, towers where you could land, great food and even better people.”

“Do you miss it?”

“I ruled for a thousand years,” Synnove replied. “My lands prospered, and nothing ever changed because everything was the same. We never grew. Aurelion disappearing was the first change that came to the land in hundreds of years.”

“I kicked him out,” Khaalida said, after a long pause.

“Oh?” Synnove asked, glancing over to Khaalida as the image around them changed once again.

“He couldn’t handle… well a lot of things. Sidra, my power, you, me focusing more on my land than him… Really, he couldn’t handle who I really am.”

“Then more the shame to him,” Synnove said, gazing out over the lands. “He has lived for thousands of years, and has yet to learn how to share.”

“I suppose not,” Khaalida said.

The images changed, and swirled around them. Eventually they began to meld, certain things familiar to Synnove, others completely foreign. A world began to build for them, full of mountains and forests, plains and deserts. A place of wild beauty and fierce terrain.

When Khaalida woke, she took a deep breath, and knew. This was the land she was destined to find, to claim. And find it she would. She smiled to herself as she walked to the balcony, overlooking her city of Queensbreak.

She would give everything for her people. She would become whatever she needed to be to provide for them, to make their futures possible.

She would learn from others' mistakes, and do her best to never let them down.

As she descended to the great hall, she got the news that Aurelion had left in the middle of the night, not giving a location. But this did not bring her sadness, nor grief. Only resignation and determination.

She would leave behind a better world, for everyone.