At the moment I saw her face, tears started streaming down my face. I ran towards her, lifting her in my arms as we finally hugged.
"Goddesses, I've missed you so much!" I exclaimed as I cupped her face and examined her new image. She looked like a fairy, dressed in a light pink gown, her wavy red hair let down with cherry blossoms decorating it. and not to mention this glow around her, she was thriving here and it brought so much peace to me, seeing her this happy.
"Alex, this place is amazing!" she said excitedly, grabbing my hand and taking me to those trees. "I've learned so much-and the other priestesses, they are so powerful and very patient with me-and the other witches are a lot of fun, too. You should have seen Sera summoning a vampire last week, it was so funny. Although I was kind of sad when it burned away with the sun, we just forgot to hide him in time. Oh, and the dragon fire! I need to tell you about the dragon fire-"
"Wow, wow, wow!" I interrupted Ro's rambling, "someone summoned a vampire?"
"Yes, Sera. She is the high priestess of the Selene clan, you'll like her." Ro giggled. "You should've seen him! He was gorgeous! So pale and his skin so cold, but yet so soft to touch. The smoothest skin I have ever touched, oh, and the eyes black as the night, the hair, too. The claws were kind of creepy, though…" and I listened to her as she continued to ramble about everything that happened while I was gone, a small smile playing on my lips.
"Did you know we have the powers of dragon?" She asked as we ate our lunch at the peaceful meadow some time later.
"What?" I asked. "I heard about Adoni and the legend, but I thought that with time that power stopped passing on within the clan."
"Well, apparently it didn't! Our clan just stopped using it so it fell asleep within us, but in theory we could still reach it." Ro explained excitedly. "Do you know what that means? It was exactly the power of dragons that made our clan so respected and powerful. And now with only the two of us remaining, I think it would be very smart if we tried to reach those powers within us again. Especially with the war coming and all…" She trailed of and I almost choked on my apple with shock.
"What war?"
"Oh, the witches are preparing for war against king Rikkard. Which reminds me, how is working with the asshole prince going?"
"Um…first of all, I think you disregarded the whole war topic too simply? What war? When?" I felt the panic rise within me. The witches are preparing for war? They're preparing Ro for war? No way, we need to leave. She's just sixteen, she can't fight in a war, are they crazy?
"Oh, it's still months if not years from happening. Right now it's only being considered as an option. First we'll try to negotiate with the king, but even for that we all have to gather and discuss our strategy, which is easier said than done, considering how splattered we are around the world." That calmed me down a bit. Thank goddesses for Ro's ability to stay calm. Still, I couldn't help but think about it.
A war?
Equally terrifying and satisfying thought. It would be nice if we finally stood our ground and fight back the tyrants, but still…a war?
"That dragon power? How did you find out about it?" I asked, after I recovered slightly.
"Oh, I read about it in books. You should see the library they have here, all knowledge of the world gathered at one place, it's incredible." Ro gushed, again.
"And those books…is there anything in them about accessing the power? About awakening the dragon?"
"Yes, actually there is. I was going to give you a book about it, so you could practise accessing it when you go back."
"And what about you? How will you learn?" If there really will be a war, we needed to be as prepared as possible. Still, having Ro reach her potential was more important than me having these powers.
"Oh, there are several other books about it, this one just kind of summarises the others. I doubted you would be willing to read thousands of pages about it." She teased.
"And how long is this book?" I asked, slightly nervous about the amount.
"Just slightly over hundred. And most of it are spells and tricks, so it should be interesting enough for you."
I sighed with relief. At least that.