Oban (07.07.2014 – 09.07.2014)

(Alec)

In the middle of the town of Oban there was a hill. Houses climbed up it sides, the top kept clear. It was easy to see that this town was different from the other Scottish towns we had been to, just by looking at those houses. There were money here; money that the other towns had never managed to exploit quite as liberally. The houses here were bigger, more glamorous, than what I had considered the norm. Opening out into the Atlantic, this was a town of commerce, of export and import. Unlike Dundee, little industry had been driven here, but ships had brought exotic products to its harbor and that had been enough. - Enough, even, for one man to decide to crown the hill top in the middle of the city with what could only be described as a Colosseum knock-off.

The man had been John Stuart McCaig and he had wanted a lasting memorial for his family name. - The family had had other ideas, and when the project was unfinished upon his death, they challenged the provisions for the completion of the project stipulated in the will (A sum of a staggering thousand pounds pr. Annum had been awarded the project, which had by that point already costed £5000) and they had won.

The completed outer ring still stood, encircling the hill and framing a little park that had been erected within the grey stone walls. Through the arches Oban was visible, as was the sea on which the town so heavily depended.

I was sat on a bench, facing one of those arches, fighting the urge to grab the hand of my boyfriend who was sitting right next to me. I could practically feel him spacing out as I read the story of the 'Eccentric McCaig and his grand building project' out loud from my guidebook. I smirked, nudging him in the side with an elbow and innocently continued reading as he glared at me. The rest of the group was scattered around us, chilling on the grass or on benches, or strolling among cool shades of the trees. My dad was stood not to far off, not to subtly watching us, undoubtedly wondering why I was still spending so much time with the man he had warned me against. I ignored him in the same way as I had for the last many years.

Magnus sighed, stretching his long legs in front of him as was his habit, as I finished the paragraph.

"Well, that was boring," He said cheerfully, smirking at me. I rolled my eyes fondly at him, as my dad suddenly cleared his throat behind us. I jumped, not having noticed him moving.

"Alexander, may I have a word?" A lump lodged itself in my throat as I merely nodded, got up and followed my father a distance from other prying ears. - Had we been to obvious? I tried going over the last few minutes in my mind, but nothing extraordinary stood out. Or maybe being with Magnus was becoming to second nature for me to notice when we did something out of the ordinary.

"I have received an email from a friend of mine, that I think may be in you interest." my dad started, and I practically did a spit take. "Mr. Farrington. He works at the courthouse, and he just let me know that they are looking for interns this next semester, in the archives. He thought it might have your interest? You're almost done with your degree, now, Alexander. We need to start planning your future. This could be just the gateway you need." Starring wordlessly at my father was becoming somewhat a habit of mine, it seemed. - Yes, I was almost finish with my undergrad, but I still very much planned to go to grad school. What had even made my dad think I planned on working in dusty archives for the rest of my life? There was more to my field than that. I wanted to get out there and get people exited about history. There was so much people didn't know; I wasn't going to hide away. Of course, I had no idea how to tell my father that.

"I already spoke to one of my professors about becoming a teaching assistant," I mumbled, looking at the ground.

"Ah, very good. Well think it over. Lots of good contacts at the courthouse!" My dad almost smiled, before turning on his heals and marching away. With a deep sigh I turned back towards Magnus, who was watching me. Raising my eyebrows and shoulders at him, I shook my head and made my way back over to my secret boyfriend. I was not going to think about it, that was for sure. In fact, I very much planned on forgetting all about it as I pulled my boyfriend from the bench and led him over to jump on Clary and Jace who thought they could have a private moment on the grass lawn of the park.


"I want to sit next to Alec today!" Max exclaimed as we were making our way onto the bus. We were headed for the supposedly mysterious Loch Lomond, and I couldn't wait to see if the roumours of its beauty were true. I smiled at my brother ruffling his hair.

"Sure thing," I said, sending a pouting Magnus a winning smile. We didn't get to spend near as much time together as we wanted, and the bus was one of the times where we could normally get some quality time. But my brother seemed so eager, and I had sort of missed him. I really didn't go home as often as I should have. I was missing him growing up.

Max had been incredibly cool about finding out about Magnus and I. He hadn't said a word to anyone, though he did send me knowing smiles, and knock me with his elbow if I happened to stare at my boyfriend to much. He didn't seem to mind at all that his oldest brother was gay. He was incredible.

"Can I ask you something?" Max asked once we were on the road and everyone had disappeared into their own conversations and games.

"Sure thing," I said, turning to him. To be honest I had expected him to have questions.

"It's just, I've been thinking, you know, about the whole... thing. And I just... I just." he bit his lip, clearly unsure of how to ask whatever it was that was on his mind. He took a deep breath, steeling himself, then met my eyes confidently. "I was just thinking about that thing that happened, you know, that you don't want to talk about, and I just got scared that maybe... maybe it had something to do with that other thing, and maybe that's why you didn't want to talk about it." his eyes were round behind the glasses as he looked at me. I felt my heart jolt in my chest. No-one was supposed to make that connection.

"Max," I sighed, and knew it was the confirmation he had feared. His eyes got even bigger, and he blinked frantically. "I know, it sucks. But I'm OK, see? I'm fine." I reached over to squeeze his shoulder.

"Why do people do things like that?" my brother asked, his voice thin and wavering.

"I don't know, because they're idiots?"

"I don't want people to hurt you! What if they do it again?"

"Then I'll fight them. I'm not letting anyone hurt me if I can help it, OK? I promise." He didn't look reassured, tears gathering steadily in his eyes. He was too young to deal with shit like this. Heaving another sigh, I pulled him against my side.

"I love you, Alec," Max mumbled into my side, resting his head against my shoulder. Those were not words we often used in our family. We weren't really big on sharing emotions like that. I felt my self choke up sligtly.

"Love you, too, kid." I mumble back, squeezing him in my one-armed hug.


(Clary)

The sun, still on its climb towards Zenith was sharp and yellow, as was it painted by a child with only standard wax crayons at its disposal. The sky was the same, a clear, unblemished, radiant sky blue almost by definition. Yet here on the ground that blinding summers day felt miles away. The tree-covered peaks rising around us were clouded in dark green shadows, only the very tops shining emerald where the golden rays of sun would hit them. The water was dark and silent, hiding deep secrets never to be discovered under the blank surface. Where the sky was full of contrast, each passing cloud and bird standing sharp against the unchanging backdrop, the ground was a mesh of colours blending until hill and water became indistinguishable in the distance.

It wasn't cold here, though the air was crisp and fresh in my lungs. It wasn't musty or humid despite the illusions of mist hanging over the sun-backed forest and mystical waters. It just was. A deep sense of solitude clung to my body even as voices and people milled around me. I could feel the ancient breaths of the place despite the newly paved road behind me and the blinding white hotel across the shore from me. It was uncanny, what this place did to you.

The lake, or Loch as if was called here, Loch Lomond, the largest of its kind, cut its way along the narrow canyon created millenniums ago when Scotland was all volcanoes and mountains ten times the size of today. How long the Loch was, I had no idea, though we had bee driving for a fair while along its shores, and had yet to reach its end. The opposite shore felt like it was but a stone's throw away. How deep the waters went was impossible to say, though judged by the rise of the land on either side, it was quite possibly a long way to the bottom.

A sly hand suddenly wrapped around mine, intertwining our fingers. I turned to find Jace stood next to me, face turned towards the water, an almost serene smile on his face. At first, I had feared the teasing that would inevitably come with hooking up with one of the participants I was meant to guide. - I had definitely not predicted even wanting to consider such a thing when I first signed up to be a guide. - I had found the advert in our school newspaper, and recognized it as a great opportunity to expand my studies. That had been my objective – finding new and exotic inspiration, expanding my horizons. - An artist had to be the presenter of the new and exiting, not the old and known. Jace had been determined to distract me from that goal, and the more I had resisted the more he had pushed.

In the end I had given up fighting what the both of us wanted, and here we were. - In a relationship far easier and simple than I had ever been in before, even if it still was so very new.

Jace turned his face to find me watching him. He smiled at me, quickly leaning in to press a quick kiss against my lips.

"That is a lot of water," he smiled, gesturing to the lake with both our hands.

"Yeah, it is," I mumbled, leaning my head against his strong shoulder. A sudden shriek had us turning towards the shore a little ways from us. Izzy Lightwood, who had made it her mission to befriend me, was stood by the water, arms raised and face dripping. Even from here you could see the fire in her eyes. In front of her little innocent Max was kneeling, shoulders shaking in laughter as he twisted to high five Alec who was stood just behind him.

"Oh, he didn't," Jace laughed, "She's gonna kill them!" it seemed he was right. In that moment Izzy lunged towards the brothers.

Max threw himself to the ground, rolling under Izzy's feet as she skipped over him. "Run, Max!" Alec shouted, sidestepping Izzy as she hurdled straight towards him. In a surprisingly smooth move, Alec managed to wrap both his arms around his sister's tiny waist, and simply picked her up, kicking and screaming of the ground, swinging her effortlessly over his shoulder. Max was on his feet in an instant, springing over the ground and taking shelter behind Maria and Magnus.

"Put me down, you Idiot!" Izzy screeched, gaining enough momentum to knee her brother in the chest. He huffed out a breath, nearly dropping her to the ground. She was up and running towards my fellow guides in the same breath.

"Hand him over!" she demanded. Maria and Magnus had stepped closer together, flanked by Steven and Simon. (Why Simon was siding with the Lightwood brothers I had no idea – I though he was trying to impress her.)

"Who?" Magnus asked innocently, raising one of those ridiculous eyebrows, even as Max' laughter rang clear and light through the clearing.

"Mum," Izzy demanded turning to where her parents were stood, shaking their heads, next to the Millstones.

"What?" Maryse inquired as if she had no idea what was going on. Sensing that no one was coming to her aid, Izzy screeched irritably, throwing her hands in the air and marching away. A nudge by Magnus encouraged Simon to jog after her. At fist she shoved him away by the shoulder, but then she miraculously allowed him to walk with her.

Jace was still laughing next to me, as was most of our group. He let go of my hand to wrap his arms around my shoulder instead. Together we walked over to the rest of the group.

"Nice one," Jace high-fived his elder brother as Alec joined us as well. Out of everyone in the group, I knew the least about the eldest of the Lightwood children. Somehow he managed to keep his walls up even as the rest of us let ours fall to the ground. Alec smirked at my boyfriend, mock bowing. Max came bouncing over, all smiles and laughter. Alec wrapped an arm around his shoulder, ruffling his hair with one hand, as Jace reached over to punch him lightly in the shoulder. When I had first met the Lightwood siblings, this teasing and fighting was not at all what I had imagined. I was, however, starting to like it better and better. This trip was so very much worth it, boyfriend and all.


AN: Thank you for reading. Next week we're moving on to Stirling, and things are about to take a turn towards somewhat darker topics. I hope you continue to enjoy the story. Let me know what you thought... See you in a week.