Seven years later, Alvar was steadily involved with the Neverseen, as it turned out they were named. The notes and bottles stopped coming—the Neverseen was sure of his dedication. All of the notes had been burned, and the bottles had been smashed.
Except for the last golden bottle. The one that had read: You are different.
Alvar kept that one as a reminder to never go back to the way he was before.
And it was even worse now. Fitz was viewed as 'The Supreme Golden Boy' , because apparently, he would manifest as an even greater telepath than his father. And their father was a great telepath.
Alvar found this out when Fitz had taken over his decrying session. Meanwhile, the decrying session hadn't been anything special for Alvar. He was pretty much destined to be a Vanisher. And one look in the Pool of Destiny told him so too. He would end up being a Vanisher, like his mother. In fact, They were alike in many ways. He had his mother's cobalt eyes, instead of Alden's teal ones. He also had his mother's quieter personality, and was overshadowed by something greater.
But he was different too. He was pretty sure he was the only one helping the enemy' in his family.
Why were they the 'bad guys' anyways? They were just trying to make the world a better place. And Alvar was going to help them.
Speaking of everyone getting special talents, one had been taken away.
The Council had banned pyrokinesis.
Just two weeks ago, five elves had died trying to spark something called 'everblaze'. It did sound dangerous, but that wasn't enough reason to take someone's talent away. Talent was the only thing that their world had. And if it were taken away, what would the world come to?
Nothing good.
And so, accordingly, Pyrokinetics were not allowed to have any special jobs. Which meant electing a new Councillor.
Fintan was a pyrokinetic. He was also a Councillor.
Replacing him would be an Empath. Getting rid of an amazing talent like pyrokinesis, only to replace it with Empathy? It was wrong. So wrong.
Alvar threw down the newspaper he had holding. He wished he were a pyrokinetic, and could burn it on the spot.
"What's wrong, Alvar?" His father asked, sitting at the breakfast table. Not that he cared much in Alvar's opinion.
"Oh nothing… It's just this article in the newspaper."
" What's it about?" Asked Alden, finally looking up.
"Pyrokinesis." His father's brows shot up, and his face tensed. "They've banned it. And they're removing someone from the Council," Alvar explained, even though Alden likely knew everything that Alvar just said, with being an emissary and all. He'd probably helped pass that law.
"I didn't know they would write about it," Alden murmured as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Is that wrong?"
"No… It just complicates things." His tone was icier than before. "Anyways," he said in a louder tone, indicating that the conversation on pyrokinesis was over, "I have one last place to look for the human girl before Fitz can take over." Even she wasn't likely to be human, they still called her that.
Alvar had mixed feelings about giving the job to Fitz. He liked going to the Forbidden Cities often, it made his dad somewhat proud of him, and he got to skip school. But Alvar's Foxfire sessions were getting harder, and it was getting harder to pass tests, not learning the stuff in the first place.
If Fitz did indeed find her, then that would be another accomplished thing added to his 'Golden Legacy'.
"Where am I going today?" Alvar asked rather bitterly.
Alden didn't seem to notice the edge to his voice, and just looked down at the newspaper he was holding. "Nowhere special. A place called Australia, I think, and right around one of the bigger cities." He looked up. "Let me hear your English."
Alvar sighed. Making sure that elves didn't look suspicious in the Forbidden Cities was one of the things Alden insisted on, even though Alvar barely talked to anyone.
"Can you tell me where the grocery store is?" Alvar asked in English. Humans had these weird stores where they sold food. Here, in the Lost Cities, gnomes just grew food right on the property, and no one had to buy anything.
Alden looked at him with an amused look, and asked, "The grocery store?" with a smile, also speaking in English.
Alvar forced a smile right back. "Hey, you never know when you might get hungry. Especially in human cities."
Alden laughed a little. "Good. Now try it with the Australian accent."
Alvar grimaced. Why would humans even make different accents? Wasn't one way of speaking enough? "Can ye tell me where the nearest grocery store is?" He said said in a ridiculously fake Aussie accent. Alden winced.
"Let me try," Alden offered, recovering from Alvar's attempt at speaking like an Australian. Alvar sighed internally.
"Excuse me, but can you show me the way to the east part of the city?" Alden said in a perfect accent. He wasn't a polyglot, but he could sure mimic like one when he tried to.
His dad smiled, and handed Alvar a blue leaping crystal. The top was connected to the bottom with a rotating joint, so you could turn the top, and switch the cut of the crystal to the place you wanted to go.
Alden turned it forty-six clicks to the left and handed it to Alvar, along with an addler and some Australian currency. "In case you do want to buy some groceries," He said with a smile.
"Thanks," Alvar mumbled and brought his dishes to the sink. Then he went to go put on some human clothes, and to brush his teeth. He walked outside, and held the crystal up to the light. He was going to Australia.
None of the girls Alvar met or talked to or saw were even remotely elven. Brown eyes, green eyes, brown and green eyes (Alvar heard them called hazel eyes, but that made no sense. Hazel wasn't even a colour of the spectrum.), and blue eyes. Out of all the girls with blue eyes, only a third of them were good looking like an elf. And out of the good-looking blue eyed girls, only a one of them was even remotely smart enough to be an elf. When Alvar had finally thought he had found her, he asked her a question in the Enlightened Language.
"Vous parlez français?" She had asked, looking very confused. When Alvar shook his head, she tried again. "¿Estas hablando Español?" Alvar shook his head again, knowing it was useless. "Stai parlando Italiano? Talvez potugêus? Zōngwén?" She looked at him strangely, and left in a hurry.
Alvar sighed. This was his last day to look for the girl, and it was fruitless. Fruitless, just like his life right now. Well, fruitless except for one thing. He was still helping the Neverseen, doing good things.
The truth was, if Alvar had found the girl, he would probably have told the Neverseen first. They were looking for her too.
He might have never told Alden.
As Alvar walked into a small nook where no one could see him while he was getting ready to light-leap, he thought about what he was meant to do in life.
Was he meant to do good? Or was he supposed to make the world a better place? Making the world a better place didn't always mean doing good.
Alvar had learned that much, working with the Neverseen.
He held his home crystal up to the light, and stepped into then beam. The one thing that stuck with him through the leap was the question he had asked the girl in the Englightened Language. He wasn't supposed to know this, but he had learned it anyways, when his father had left some super-secret scrolls out.
Are you the Moonlark?