Song: A kind of magic (Queen) (518 words)
"This flame that burns inside of me... I'm hearing secret harmonies..."
"Promise nobody will ever know about that?" she asked sweetly, her eyes twinkling with the promise of happiness. He shook his head almost frantically, in a 'never-ever' sort of way.
He loved Solona with all his heart. She had always made the best music. Torrian would never know how she did it, but the leaves of the autumn elder trees seemed to sing along with her, humming a familiar tune that made him think of fairies and a secret world – something that was theirs and theirs alone.
The Circle didn't seem so frightening to him anymore because of her. She was eleven years older, and they had not met before he had been sent to Kinloch Hold, but as soon as they had set eyes on each other, they had known that they were brother and sister. They had the same sparkling blue eyes, and even though his hair was raven black and hers was fairer than the sunlight, they just knew. Many a night she had snuck into the apprentices' quarters to hold him while he was sleeping, and he had gotten so accustomed to her scent and warmth that he was painfully aware of the exact moment in which she had stopped doing it.
He had found her talking to a Templar in hushed tones – several times, in fact. He had noticed the soft blush that covered her cheeks whenever he was around, doing his rounds as all the others. When Torrian finally mustered his courage to ask her about the man, she made him promise that he would not tell anybody about it. How could he? He knew that it might mean trouble for her.
And it did. Her body had started to change rapidly – she had tried to hide it, but when the baby came, the matter could no longer be kept a secret. The baby was taken away, and his sister's health and spirit started decaying in life, consumed by the forbidden flame of desire. The Templar was sent away as well, and after that, Solona just refused to see anyone.
The morning in which everything happened, she had been forced to get back on her feet and work with her new apprentices. There was a new boy with bright red hair; the colour of her baby's hair, and that of the father's. She lost all control over her magic, and the Templars got to her before she could harm anybody else. Decisions were taken. They had to be.
A couple of years after she had been made Tranquil, Torrian was on his way to his sister's workstation at the Hold's greenhouse, when he heard the music of the leaves again. He looked for the source of it, hoping to see his sister, but knowing in his heart that it would not be so. He found his friend Gwyn instead, his fingers moving swiftly, creating the harmonies that Torrian had known a long time ago – the ones that he had thought to be lost forever. Gwyn's green eyes turned to him, a loving twinkle in them, and Torrian could not help but smile.
.
A/N: My headcanon Amell, Torrian, and his sister Solona, whose story is also told in the first part of Last of The Couslands. Lovely Gwyn Cousland makes a cameo towards the end. (I love that guy.)