Chapter 9

Quinn turned around and frowned a little. She walked backwards, closer to Santana. She then touched her elbow in the process. "What?" She voiced and the brunette answered the same as she did before. The child she was looking at was not a cursed child.

"How do you know?" Quinn asked skeptically but Santana just shook her head.
"The feeling- I can't describe it. I just know. Besides, look at her marks." She said rubbing over the child's lower back. She winced a little when she touched the left part of the imprints. "They're sloppy, and feel here." She said directing Quinn's hand to where she wanted it. Quinn brushed over the scarred tissue. It made her gasp mentally. The wobbly feeling made it seem as if someone carved it in the skin. Santana then took Quinn's other hand and put it on her own lower back. Quinn tried to resist, but eventually let Santana lead her reluctant hand to where her own marks were painted on her lower back. She then gasped, not mentally and unintentionally, but inevitably, this time. The feeling, the difference, was startling. Her fingertips glided smoothly over the skin and Quinn's breath elevated in speed. She almost tended to whisper the words soft.

Quinn however voiced "Maybe, the skin is only wobbly when you're an infant." Santana scowled at her.
"I am telling you. This child, is not cursed. This was done to him." She said cringing at her own words. She then moved on to other infants, picking out another one or two that weren't cursed either.

"The tattoos, they're different. They're sloppy." She said shrugging as if she was trying to convince herself too. Was she imagining this? Her doubt then soon disappeared when she looked at a boy lying on his stomach in a crib with a white cotton dressing, which circled his waist. "One even has bandages. This is completely infected!" She said after lifting the binding that looked more like a rag neglectfully bound around a potato. She breathed out and leaned against the doorframe, while holding her little girl in her arms, protectively, as if it could happen to her at any moment too.

She said exasperated and also baffled "At least 5 in here are fake." She ended her sentence with a bitter tone to her voice. She couldn't understand who would put a child through something like that. Who would want to fake a burden, like the curse was? She then realized she was also angry. Angry at the audacity of these people. To think actual Xa descendants wouldn't notice? Yes, to this realm they were considered cursed children, but the stories let her to believe that, when in the realm of the Xa, they would just be part of their world. Not cursed. They would belong, and these children didn't belong in that reality. They would probably be stopped from even trying to enter the realm, and then what of those children? They wouldn't belong anywhere. Stuck between 2 worlds. This was shameful and a disgusting part of reality which didn't deserve to be inked down on the pages of history.

'They're not, nor will they ever be one of us.' Santana thought and then resented herself for it.

"I believe you." Quinn voiced after a moment of contemplation which made Santana heave her head. They moved on to the other room. Santana asked a child of 3 years of age or so "May I see your marks? Look, I have them too." She said lifting her shirt up, for the child to see. The toddler nodded and heaved her shirt, mirroring the action. She repeated this with most of the children and realized a good number of them weren't cursed. Some of them even professed tales of being branded by the townsmen.

"I need to report this to Mother Kaihlan." Quinn murmured and then looked at Santana. She silently almost ordered the girl to stay put. Much convincing wasn't needed. The blonde left the home swiftly and ran. She ran out of the town, through the gates; around the lake and up the steps, until she reached the school.

She then frantically searched the common room for any sign of life. She stopped a redheaded girl that slightly reminded her of Mara and asked her "Do you know where Mother Kaihlan is?" The girl slightly startled answered shyly while pointing to the gardens. Quinn nodded thankfully and hurried outside, the adrenaline still pumping. She didn't know which feeling was more dominant; the feeling of disgust at the deplorable condition of the children and the house they were living in, or the feeling of rage and betrayal at her own elders for letting something like this pass them by.

She finally reached the mother superior. Kaihlan, sitting crossed legged with her hands folded on the wooden bench outside, first smiled. Her smile faltered when she noticed Quinn's mood. She frowned a little and then stood up. Quinn beckoned her to a more private corner, behind the columns of the exterior hallway.

"My dear?" She said quietly trying to be as subtle as possible.
"I needed to talk to you." She stated waiting for her permission to continue, a habit she had picked up over the years. When Kaihlan nodded she then continued and said "The orphanage you told me about at breakfast this morning, do you remember?"
"Yes, of course."
"I don't know what that man's deal is, but his persuasion methods could be evaluated." She said announcing the lesser bad news first.
"Do explain."
"He basically only had to touch Santana's palm and without hesitation she gave the child over. It was only after I reminded her of what she had done, that she realized and desperately wanted to get the child back. And even worse, when we did get the infant Santana-" She said anxiously and then sighed in the middle of her sentence. This whole situation seemed mad! How could the elders of the Seven Sisters not have noticed this- this ruse? She had to remind herself of Santana's face and how she had looked. There was no doubt in her mind that the girl was wrong. She had experienced these vibes herself, and she knew Santana wasn't just an ordinary bar wench.

"Santana found the children that were housing there, not to be cursed. Not all of them anyways." After she was done rambling mentally as well as vocally, Kaihlan, without saying as much of a word, walked and chimed the old bell in the courtyard. Kaihlan quickly walked up the stairs without much regard for Quinn. Even though Quinn followed her she had to get the circle of elders together. This needed to be done without Quinn. The girl was like a daughter to her, but it wasn't her place to attend these things (not anymore anyways). So she waved her hand and blocked the blonde Woodling with a black, misting, temporary wall.

Kaihlan sat down at her desk as the Student-Senior sat down next to her, while holding a quill in her hand. A Student-Senior was elected every year. It was a student attending her last year of education at the all girls Seven Sisters institution. She was elected by the whole student body and was to represent it. She, therefore, held a mandatory presence at these meetings. Quinn was Student-Senior in her day, which is why she probably felt like she could be present, out of habit. She, however, was not part of the council anymore. The Student-Senior: Penelope Rope, a brown haired girl from Eagle Eye Bay, was to write everything down, what was said. Such were the tasks of her status.

"Write down: Eleventh day of the spring cycle, year 5402, Dianeas Isle." One could hear a pin fall in the small study. The only audible thing was the scribble of the quill that left the room echoing with desire for sound. Kaihlan took the sheet of paper and was heating the red wax, by holding it above the candle on her desk. By the time the red gooey stuff was bubbling, most of the elders had entered the room. She poured the wax on the sheet and then stamped it with the her emblem. She gave the sheet back to Penny and then started talking.

"The orphanage is indeed corrupt. I have just had my confirmation." She stated while the women stayed still, again only the quill making any sound. She knew, most of them had had the vision of the man keeping the orphanage, getting knocked out. They knew it meant something, they just didn't know what. Some of them had contemplated it being a robbery, or one of the mothers recollecting their child. Others had voiced their opinion on the orphanage, and their suspicions on its purity.

"Lucile Quincy just confirmed our visions. She or her mate probably knocked out Marone. She told me that the 'cursed one' found some of the children not to be cursed." She stated which consequently was answered with a number of gasps, including that of Penelope Rope. "You may now discuss the problem." She said formally, hoping that they could just order the city guards to take hostage of Marone and leave the place in the authority of the institution for the time being. These children were after all a kind of magic, even though it was from a different realm. She remembered telling Quinn that cursed children did cause trouble. She now regretted that, because she didn't entirely agree with what her statement meant.

"What do we do about the children?"
"How do we know this girl is right? I mean she might just be sticking up for her own kind and then we're all be stuck with these kids."
"Yes, but they're magic beings, still. They are from a different realm, yes, and I feel it is our duty to make them feel like they belong. Whether that is by getting them to The Wall or keeping them here with us."
"Don't be foolish, we can't keep them here."

"Well what do you suggest we do then?"
"We allowed the cursed ones to stay here, but maybe it's time for them to go."
"No." Kaihlan said and the other elders looked at her. They were humbled. "We can't agree to make these unfortunate people who had no choice in who they are, outcasts. We would have the same intellectual capacity of any ignorant farm buffoon. Besides we're not talking of what to do now that Marone is gone, we're here to discuss the non cursed children being passed off as cursed ones." The elders looked down, some a little shocked others felt ashamed even.

"I understand Elder superior, but we have to do something. People are dying and we don't really know why. Now there's a business

The discussion went on for another half an hour when they finally concluded what Kaihlan wanted all along; to have the city guards take Marone in to custody and leave the children in the care of the institution for now until they find a solution.

When Quinn accompanied the guards, who were told to take Marone into custody, she noticed the door of the orphanage to be open. Her instincts were giving her queasy vibes as her heart rate speeded a little. Her feet mimicked her heart's rate consequently and she set the example for the rest of her party. They hurried inside and found the orphanage nearly empty. When she hopped up the stairs she found Santana in tears clutching onto her child. She quickly crutched down and lay her hand on the brunette's shoulder. She then realized the brunette had been restrained by a see-through shield and the scenario, which had played its part, swiftly placed itself in Quinn's presumption.

When she finally popped, what you could call the bubble in which Santana had been confined, the audible cries had become louder. The guards quickly swept the place for clues but none.

Meanwhile Quinn was rubbing patterns over the brunette's back. Santana was looking at the long built windows, or maybe she wasn't looking at anything at all.
"Santana, what happened?" The Woodling tried once more. Santana now looked at Quinn. The agony in her eyes made Quinn want to swap eyes with the brunette and also claim the anguish for herself. She couldn't handle seeing her friend this way.
"I don't know. He wasn't there and then all at once he was and he imprisoned me. He then made some kind of vortex and forced the children to step into it. I have never seen anything like it."

Quinn knew what Marone had created. A vortex, or more like a magical portal. Few people possessed the power to make portals. This notion made her more worried than she already was. If Marone possessed the power to create portals, he possessed great magic and therefore great power.

"It wasn't your fault. No one could've done anything."
"You might've." She mumbled with a frail voice. She looked up at Quinn with vulnerable eyes. The dark brown orbs had somehow become more mellow and lighter. Not lighter in colour but lighter in intensity, as if she had two pair of eyes. She shook her head to tell Santana she couldn't have. It was the truth.
"He seems to have a great deal of magic. I had to use a lot of strength to get you out of this bond. And it only worked because I was on the outside, which usually is softer than the inside." She said trying to reassure the brunette.

Santana looked at the fenestralled interior again, longingly. She wanted to create a vortex of her own or spin back time.