Elon Mistweaver's Arc

Chapter 4 of 6

The storm passed by morning. Elon flew Lunaria back toward her clearing, but he turned the dragon another way first. "I want to show you something," he said. "My home." She had listened to his stories all night. Now he wanted her to see where they were true. The dragon landed before a tall house of carved wood and stone. Living branches wove through its walls. Blue crystals glowed in the eaves. A deer grazed beside the door without fear. Lunaria slid down and stared. "Elves and animals share this place," she said. "I can feel it." Inside, Elon showed her a shelf of old carvings. He lifted one. "My family seal. The Mistweavers of the deep wood." He traced the mark with his dark finger. "We bound ourselves to the earth. Roots, soil, growing things. The magic runs in the name." Lunaria went still. She reached into her satchel and drew out a worn pendant. The same seal was carved into it. "My mother gave me this," she said. "She said our line came from the moon valley. But the name is yours. Mistweaver." Her voice shook. "We share more than a word. We share blood magic. That frightens me." Elon felt his chest tighten. He had hoped the shared name meant they were meant to meet. Now her eyes said the opposite. "You think we're kin," he said. "That our souls ring together because we're family. Not because we're matched." "I don't know what to think." She stepped back. "If we're bound by blood, then this feeling is a lie. A trick of the name." The dragon lowered its head through the open door. "Forest line and moon line," it rumbled. "The Mistweavers split a thousand years ago. Earth magic went to the deep wood. Moon magic went to the valley. Two trees from one seed, grown apart too long to be kin." Lunaria looked at the dragon, then at Elon. "Is that true?" "It is," Elon said. "My grandmother told it the same way. The lines parted before any name we know. Your blood and mine are strangers now." He held out his hand, palm up. "The name didn't make the resonance. Our souls did." Lunaria pressed her glowing hand to his. A warmth passed between them. She closed her eyes. "I feel it," she whispered. "Not family. Something else." When she opened her eyes, she did not pull away. "The name scared me. But this doesn't." She curled her fingers through his. The soul-bell in Elon's chest rang clear. The thing he had feared most, the shared name, had almost torn them apart. Instead it had proven the truth. They were two lines from one seed, and the bond between them was no accident of blood. "Stay," Elon said. "A while. Let me show you the rest." Lunaria smiled for the first time. "A while," she agreed. And she stayed.