She knows he isn't dead. Gilbert has never been very good liar, and if he is telling her this it must be because he asked him to. She knows, and she grieves. Her brother's servant leaves; and she thinks.

She knows better than to believe him dead, and she knows that if he wished her to believe him dead, she should accept it, as he has a reason. He never does anything without reason. But she will not accept this. It is one loss too many. Brother gone. Gil vanished. Uncle and Father dead. Not him too.

She knows more than they thought.

She knows his heart, and she knew something of Brother's nature before he knew, witch that she is. She knows that he is more than human. She guesses this to be why he left. But she is her brother's sister, and Brother never let someone escape for stupid reasons like that.

She searches.

She casts divining spell after spell, and the flame within her burns brighter and brighter, but power greater than hers swamps it. Not his power, although he is strong, but something foreign and familiar, something she used to taste around her when she attended school. She tries another tack, and seeks rumor of the Shinigami, wherever they can be found. The woman with pink hair laughs and wishes her well, but can't help further.

She grows in power as she searches, and the wind begins to whisper news to her, as it did once when she was a child, before Brother vanished. She sends herself out faster than one could travel by normal means, and listens for his passing. She finds traces of him, and knows she is drawing closer, and bids the wind to tell her secrets. He has come this way, it whispers, and she lets her power carry her on the wind until she sees the greater power that swamped her, and knows Leo. She returns to her Self, and her eyes gleam with triumph.

She walks the wind with ease now, in body as in spirit, and dons clothes her winds like, and it is freeing. After five years of searching for him she finds Leo, kin to him, and asks where he might be found. Leo is astonished, but tells her what he can, and offers to send him to her, but this is something she must do herself, or he can never stay. She knows this, and thanks Leo, before leaving once more.

The last Vessalius is mad, the people whisper, and the winds bring their words to her ears. She is a witch say others, and she is glad that it is known at last, though she is more than a witch. Others say she is no more human than her brother, but a creature of air.

She walks.

Earth and Wind have always been her friends, and as she travels she comes to understand Fire as well. Water evades her, but she knows she must master it as well, if she is to stay by his side when she finds him.

She masters Water, and it is as she is staying at a farm, repaying the family for their kindness with work, that she turns and sees him. Just for a moment, and then he is gone, but she has searched for eight years now, and will not let him escape a meeting.

She follows. He is near, he is near, her winds repeat, and she follows the whispers, until finally, she sees him. He doesn't notice her at first, but when she calls his name he turns, seeming afraid, and then he realizes what he sees in her, and he goes very still.

Ada Vessalius has not aged for eight years. Not since she came into her power, for she is more than a simple witch. She is a True Mage, and simple witchcraft was just the beginning. True Mages may only love once with all their heart, and she found her love nine years ago. A silly thing like aging will not keep her from him.


I wasn't happy with Vincent making Gil tell Ada he was dead, and I couldn't see her putting up with him pretending to be dead. So this just flowed. I haven't written something so fast since Hundred Cycles.

Feedback welcome.