"You know, I have always wondered how the mountain dwellers fared" said Ollie.
"But I was even more surprised to see mountain dwellers on Caligo, considering the fact that there is no magic on Caligo at all" said Ollie as everyone else just watched Ivor and Ollie talk, not like they minded it at all.
But had to agree with Ollie, he had been thinking exactly the same thing, how did these people live up here comfortably? They had no magic at all, it was like they were humans living, with no magic to make their lives easier.
"Well we fare as we can, it is not that hard to live a life without magic" replied Ivor as he smiled.
"Without magic, there are less problems than can be caused than with magic" said Ivor as that was the belief of mountain dwellers, they believed that the biggest problem of the Witch Realm was magic, because everyone had magic, they could choose whether to use it for good or evil, and that often caused many problems, the freedom of choice.
"In a way that is true, but what if something horrible happens, and you are unable to save others or yourself without the use of magic?" asked Ollie as he was curious, he always found their belief funny, no matter what, there would always be problems, even though they were right that without magic there would be less problems, but problems would always be there, no matter how peaceful a place was.
"Well if you die, you die, such is life, there is no need to interfere with something that is natural" said Ivor.
"So you are indirectly saying that if you had the powers to help and save someone from dying, you would not just because you do you want to interfere with something natural?" asked Ollie as Alina shook her head, this was getting too heated, no one had ever asked her master such a question before.
"With all due respect my Prince, you are entitled to your own beliefs, and so am I" said Ivor as he did not want to have to answer that question, if he said yes, it would go against the mountain dwellers belief, and well if he said no, he had a hunch that Ollie would ask even if it was Alina, and then his hand would be forced.
"I agree with you Ivor, we are entitled to our own beliefs, and we are all witchfolk after all" said Ollie as he smiled, he had witnessed many subtly hostile arguments between his Father and other High Council Members, so he knew better than anyone that sometimes it was better to agree to disagree, just in order not to cause anymore conflict than is already there.
"Wise words, we are" said Ivor as he smiled.
"Well yes, we are" said Alina as she laughed, she was so relieved that this did not end up bad at all, she did not know how she would have been able to stop a heated argument from starting.
"Something I still find odd till this day is the fact that Caligo takes away the power of the witches" said Ollie as for some reason he knew that Ivor knew a lot about Caligo, so now was the time to go digging for answers.
"Yes, that is true, I have always wondered why that is so" said Alina as she nodded her head and she agreed with Ollie, the truth was that since she was born on Caligo, she was pretty much used to living her life without her powers, in fact in all her seventeen years of life, she had never used her powers before, not that she wanted to, she was just curious to how it felt to use her powers.
"I agree" said Matt as both Annie and Maddie nodded as well.
"Well Caligo is an incomprehension of mystification, the mountain holds many secrets, and in order to protect itself from those who wants its secrets for themselves, it sets up many defensive measures, whether it be mist to hide itself away from the view of others, or taking away powers that could be used to destroy it" said Ivor.
"After all, Caligo is home to something that is coveted after by many people" said Ivor.
"You mean the eternal waters?" asked Ollie as everyone turned to look at him.
"Yes, the eternal waters may be one of it" said Ivor.
"Wait, it's actually real?" asked Maddie as she could not hide herself, sorry to say, but she still believed that they were going on some sort of wild goose chase for some legend told water.
"Yes it is" said Ivor.
"Oh my Master told me that once, back when he was younger, he journeyed to the top of Caligo, and he found the eternal waters, right there, they are actually real" said Alina as she smiled.
"Have you ever been there?" asked Matt as he looked at Alina.
"Well no, I have never gone past this colony of ours, only my master has gone there" said Alina as she smiled.
"You surely must have brought some back for yourself?" asked Curtis as Ivor looked at him.
"Well no, I did not disrupt anything up there, I only went to see if it was real, and I came back down" said Ivor as he was not one to be selfish to try to covet immortality, they all knew the story of what happened to the witch that tried to do so.
"I see" said Curtis.
"Yes, we all know the story of Azazel, and his whole obsession with the Grey family" said Ivor as Annie felt her heart skip a beat.
"Quite frankly, I believe that all of it is stupid, a thousand yearlong battle, between one man and a family, I find it shameful, those Grey's only want attention, to think that over all this time, they have not been able to defeat one man" said Ivor as Annie felt her heart sink, he did not know that she was a Grey, and yet she knew that his statement was directed towards her.
Maddie looked at Annie as she shot her a look that read "Are you okay?" and all Annie could do was bow her head and eat in silence.
"I doubt that anyone is in any place to say anything about the Greys, after all, they sure do not know what truly goes on, on the inside, they only hear what it is that they want to hear, whether it be good or bad, so I doubt that anyone has any right to judge them" said Curtis.
"You sure do seem to know quite a lot about them" said Ivor.
"Well have you met any member of the Grey family before?" asked Curtis.
"Well no, of course I have not" said Ivor.
"So I doubt that you know just how they themselves feel to have to face this problem" said Curtis.
"Well I believe that if they just give Azazel what he wants, then he will end his reign of terror" said Ivor as he looked at Curtis, he wondered just why he seemed to be defending the Greys so much, as if he knew them on a personal level.
"And do you know if what Azazel wants will spell doom for the entire realm, and those around it?" asked Curtis.
"It possibly cannot do so, because if that was to be so, Azazel would have taken control over the Witch Realm, it seems that all he is interested in, is playing some game with the Grey's" said Ivor.
"Well you have not been down to the Realm to know how things are faring, what if Azazel is no longer interested in the Grey's alone, but also in taking control of the Witch Realm?" asked Curtis.
"Well is he now?" asked Ivor as he could not care less, what happened down there did not affect him at all.
"Azazel banded with the rebellion, and his plan was to get what he wanted, which would be ultimate power, and then he would cease control of the Witch Realm" said Curtis.
"Which is why I say that I find it senseless that after all these years that same family has not been able to defeat this same man" said Ivor as Annie felt her stomach sink, she no longer felt hungry.
So this was what people actually thought about her and their family, this was as good as saying that they hated them, which they did.
"The Grey's are not to blame for the current situation of the Witch Realm" said Curtis.
"I believe that they are, because in one way or the other, what happens with them, affects the Witch Realm" said Ivor.
"I see" said Curtis as he did not want to keep on talking about this, it was clear that Ivor's views on their family, he could also sense that Annie was not taking this well at all.
"Yes, but I do doubt that we should get into an argument about one unimportant family" said Ivor as he smiled and Curtis just gave a slight smile.