I'm debating putting disclaimers in front of the chapters still because it's pretty clear I don't own it, but it feels kinda empty without it.

I do not own Magi.

Enigma

Chapter Twenty Four:

The Rain and the Sea

"What do you fear the most?"

"Fear?" Kali echoed, looking thoughtful as she watched her feet sway idly in the rushing stream that went through the palace gardens. "There's all kinds of things to be afraid of."

Kouen inclined his head. No words left his lips and she figured he was just waiting for her to sprout some kind of tangent on the things she didn't like or remembering her own encounters with fear—whether from something truly to be feared or a childish dislike. She'd begun to realize as of late that when this man in particular asked her questions, it sought a great deal from her answers, looking to engulf as much of her as he could into his knowledge.

Frightening, really.

Her bare feet were blurred within the rushing motion of the stream. The crystalline water cool and soft against her ankles. Kouen stood beside her, the smell of old scrolls and something sharp—like ash or the crackling of a hearth curling tight around his robes. The sun caught the glint of the metal dragon in her hair and glistened off the ornament pinned through his hair. Their eyes watched the water rush over the pebbles in the stream and Kali let her toes curl around them.

"Death, I suppose." Kali said finally, and Kouen's eyes strayed to her, thoughtful.

"Surprisingly human of you."

"You say that like I'm not," Kali grinned, eyes flickering at his words and he waited, eyes swallowing her whole. "Death is a very reasonable thing to fear."

Kouen narrowed his eyes slightly, as though to say that was his point and Kali laughed.

"But it's not my own death I fear," she mused, leaning back on her hands and wincing the slightest bit when a particularly jagged edge of rock cut into the bottom of her foot.

Instantly crimson began to stain the clear water, curling around her foot and rushing down the rest of the stream, flowing constantly and never ceasing. Kali's eyes followed the action and Kouen hand laid itself on his sword hilt.

"It's the death of others."

"You're just going to burn villages down at that rate."

"Maybe if you actually properly taught me something I could burn enemies down instead of houses."

"Well, we're not trying to burn people down now are we? We're trying to save the world, not burn it."

"I think I would know a thing or two about worlds burning," Koran said crossly, swinging his half blade in a wide arch and a circle of flames followed it, bright crimson just like Kali's own. "I mean, since I came from one and all."

Kali let out a noise of amusement, arching a brow. "You think you would know more about worlds burning than me?"

The two of them watched as Koran's arch of flames flared out a little higher than it should have and promptly set one of the shrubs on fire. Kali threw him a mindful look and the younger boy merely rested his half blade on his shoulder. Kali raised a hand upwards, but before she could do anything a splash of water curled up from the edge of the island and doused the fire out. Smoldering smoke rose upwards and a smile touched her lips as gray eyes turned upwards. "Now at least someone is learning."

"I do my best," silver locks were pulled back into twin braids and Amar beamed, clearly proud of herself as she brought the staff she sat upon down beside them.

"You can put out fires, very helpful," Koran teased, eyes glittering brightly and Amar grinned, tossing a braid over her shoulder as Kali nodded sagely behind him.

"Very useful with all these worlds burning."

"Such dark humor," Camio commented grimly. Kali winced, offering a halfhearted shrug while laughter filled the air and she watched the two siblings in amusement.

Several months had already come to pass since Kali had swiftly stolen the two siblings from their crumbling world and into this one. After the events at Sindria and Amar's recovery, she'd properly brought the two along to introduce them to all the generals and Sinbad himself. Sharrkan and Pisti had found it somewhere in themselves to thinking she'd finally gone and had kids with another man—to which Sinbad had turned to her with a look of death and tugged at her sleeve, praying for it to be wrong—"Oh, who knows~" Koran was proving to be a ruthless and wild, though fiercely loyal household member, and had begun to take several sword fighting lessons with Sharrkan. After a while he'd protested though saying he'd wanted to learn from Kali, and didn't want to rely on everyone back in Sindria, something Kali had looked on with fond amusement because that train of thinking was coming eerily close to her own.

"Well, just remember if anything ever happens, you can go to them for help." Kali said. "Despite how sneaky he seems, he's an honest guy and if it's for me, well..."

Kali looked to the side, a little haughty as she grinned. "I'm sure he wouldn't say no."

"If anything ever happens," Koran had said in return. "We'll go to you."

Those words had struck a nerve Kali had begun to forget even existed. It warmed her, immensely, and also ran a chilling coldness through her veins because there were more lives now that depended on her, lives different from the thousands of people in other worlds burning and suffering while she stood idle. Lives that existed here, now, and she needed to do all that she could to protect.

Their lives are in my hands.

"No," Camio said quietly. "Their lives are in their own hands. I believe you have realized that as well."

Amar had turned out to be quiet the little sorceress herself, eagerly telling Kali of all the stories of their world, myths and legends that she'd spent endless days poured over. Magic was her calling, something Kali didn't have much knowledge of save for the metal adorning her figure, but she had Yamraiha to thank for any unanswered questions she could have.

"I don't want to bother Miss Yam too much though," Amar had admitted to her one night, curled up in bed with her and idly playing with the ends of Kali's hair. "Is there anything else that I can do?"

Kali thought of the looming city so many seas away. Thought of a blue haired magi with a tang of nostalgia and fondness. Thought of the looming shadows licking at their heels, the memories of thousands of worlds slipping through her fingers from the anger and wrath of a few people. Remembered the broken old man and the engulfing darkness. She knew exactly where Amar could go to get the full extensive knowledge she would need to be a proper magician, and with someone of her caliber and potential, she knew she could get the real help she would need.

But Kali could not shake off the lingering fear of what could become of her if she ever left her alone in a place like that. It was the same fear that kept her from letting Koran speak his mind about all those longing looks at the maps and gazing out far across the sea. She didn't want to keep them here on this island forever, to do so would be doing the exact same thing she hated and loathed from anyone else who tried to shackle her down. She'd just never realized how hard it was, to think of letting them slip from her fingers and lying awake at night in fear that she couldn't get to them in time.

"You trusted the others enough to let them go, without any meddling," Camio whispered. "Trust them as you did they."

"What's for dinner tonight?" Amar inquired eagerly, clasping her staff behind her back as she skipped after the two of them. Her staff had been one Kali had carved with care herself, coral and thickened yew wood intertwining to make quite the strange sight, but Amar had professed undying love for the thing curved into arching wings at the end of the staff, a single pearl glittering in its center.

"Should anything ever happen to you when I am away," Kali had murmured, bringing her bleeding finger over the pearl and curling around it, a trail of blood glowing and entering the pearl. "Call me, and I will be there."

"Not soup I hope," Koran said. Kali shot him a look of horror and he rolled his eyes. "You've gotten better but your specialty is still meat and fish."

"Maybe the grilled eel from Sindria?" Amar mused longingly, eyes a little dreamy. "I'm sure King Sinbad would allow us to dine with him tonight?"

Kali and Koran both rolled their eyes at Amar's little infatuation with the king. Something Kali had hoped to shield the young girl from, but alas, the Lady Killer of the Seven Seas had proven too strong.

Koran sheathed his half blade, tightening the sash around his hips and gazing out thoughtfully over the sea. "I was thinking roasted fruits and boar tonight."

"Now that sounds heavenly," Kali grinned, slinging an arm over both siblings and tucking them in close to her side. "Amar finds the fruits and Koran and I will hunt, how about that?"

"First one back home gets the biggest piece!" Amar cried, hopping onto her staff and zipping off. Koran spluttered, grabbing a knife from his satchel and plunging into the forest.

"You got a head start!"

Kali stood there a moment on the sliver of sand that stretched from her island and disappeared into the ocean. Water lapped over her feet, enticing her to recede back with it into its crystalline depths. Wind played with her hair, tugging at the ends of the braid Amar had put her hair into and coaxing her to come join the breeze. Kali allowed her eyes to flutter shut, inhaling and exhaling as the world curled tight around her, vibrant and tingling and moving and alive.

"Home."

Several months before, Kali would have danced around the word with careful tact. A year ago she would have merely grinned. Two and three and more she would have scorned it and what it meant on her heart.

"What ails you, my king?" Camio inquired and Kali looked up to the clear sky, shutting her eyes and feeling the sun on her skin.

"I fear I've made the worst mistake of all, Cam," Kali mused, letting her eyes open and a smile touched her lips.

"A wise man once told me," Camio said suddenly and Kali was quick to attention, always loving hearing tales of the world she would never traverse. Camio's world. A world long, long forgotten. "That our weakest faults can rise to be our greatest strengths."

Kali imagined her running through the wake of a battlefield, though of Amar and Koran at the other end of swords and staves and realized with a small grin that yes, perhaps such things were true after all.

"Dinner isn't going to hunt itself, Kali! Get moving or you won't get any!"

"Yes, yes, I am your elder you know, treat me with some more respect!"

"Respect is earned not given~"

"Oh, you're looking for a real fight now aren't you?"

"Letters?"

Kali looked up from where she'd been sifting through a new collection of documents and scrolls in Sinbad's office. Faint streaks of light peeked through gathering clouds, and Kali made soft note of the gathering rain that seemed to be approaching. The office was bathed in soft light and a candle had been lit where there wasn't enough light.

Sinbad's fingers traced the glass gift she'd given to him so many years ago and nodded, motioning to the papers on his desk. "From Alibaba and Aladdin. We haven't heard much from Masrur yet, but he claims Morgiana is doing well."

Sinbad grimaced, looking up to the ceiling. "Although he had said it just by looking at the sky."

"Well, a master should know his apprentice better than any of us I suppose," Kali mused, disappearing and reappearing by Sinbad's side. "I'm happy to know they stayed in touch."

"They must've figured you would've gone to see them regardless," Sinbad mused, peeking at her from the corner of his eye and Kali grinned, eyes bright and glistening and he felt a tug in the corner of his chest. "Sometimes it's easy to tell when you are loved."

"They're long!" Kali reached past him, resting one elbow on his shoulder as she held up a letter from Alibaba in awe. "It's more than one too!"

"I'll have you know they sent some to me as well," Sinbad added. "And Aladdin has been contacting Yamraiha regularly."

"I was planning to visit sometime this week in all honesty," Kali admitted, having the audacity to look sheepish. "But the places they go are rather—ah, difficult to travel."

"I wonder why," Sinbad said.

Kali leaned against him, eyes drinking in every word as Sinbad's hands reached upwards and began to card through her hair, catching the occasional knot and smoothing his fingers over. Minutes slipped past, morphing into hours or days or weeks—time became a far whisper in the back of Kali's mind as she leaned against this man and smiled, heart warmed at the words that Alibaba shared and Aladdin eagerly scribbled down. Something caught on Aladdin's and Kali paused, reading it with new intensity and feeling the pleasant buzz that had started in the back of her head begin to die down.

Sinbad's hand remained in her hair, holding her close while he pressed his face into her shoulder, silent. Kali's eyes strayed to the darkened evening skies outside and she let the letters fall into a neat pile on her lap, gazing at the looming clouds in the distance. Kali thought again to Koran's searching eyes, to Amar's intensive studies piled over book after book that Kali could bring her, and everything enveloped in darkness.

"You're thinking about them, aren't you?"

Kali hummed, leaning back and reaching a hand up. Sinbad's hair shifted like silk beneath her fingers and the man let out a deep sigh, head pressed into her shoulder. "What makes you say that?"

Golden eyes peered up beneath his bangs and met her gray eyed stare. "I can tell when you're thinking of other people instead of me."

Kali's eyes glittered. "My thoughts can't all be about you now, can they?"

"A man can dream." Sinbad's fingers curled a little tighter in her hair, not pulling, not painful, but present and there.

You know when you are loved. "Sin?"

Sinbad hummed, the vibration coursing through her and she kept her gaze focused on the gathering clouds outside.

"Do you think I love you?"

The soft candlelight waned. It's golden warmth casted a dark shadow across the desk, illuminating the glass sword and causing colors to twinkle and glisten amidst the growing darkness of the office. The world quieted, the lull of the sea lapping at land outside, the call of the wind curling in the sky and the swell of clouds growing closer and closer.

"Yes," Sinbad breathed.

Kali's hand rested in his hair, slowly slipping through the silken locks until her fingers pulled free and grasped nothing at all. Sinbad's free hand reached for hers and he traced a finger over the back of her hand, curling over a scar that stretched across her pinky and ring finger and stopping there.

"But I think," Sinbad began again, and Kali listened. "You love a great many things to a point that you cannot love anything else, including yourself."

Sinbad's fingers slid through hers, slipping through the gaps in her hand and filling them with his own as he pulled it close and held it tight, golden eyes swallowing her whole.

"I know though, that you love Sindria." Sinbad's voice curled thick around her, deep, resounding, and somewhere in the back of Kali's mind a flurry of faces flashed through, and bright, intense crimson. "I know you love the grilled fish. I know you love the fruits that grow on the wayside of the island and refuse to pluck any extra or use magic because you love the way the sun turns it sweet and full. I know you love the sea that curls around us and the salt in the wind. I know you love that troublesome lot of generals and that—"

Sinbad brought their joined hands to his lips, peering up at her with a look so full of warmth Kali felt her heart lurch. She felt danger ring in the back of her head, felt memories of this same hand in worlds where it was just as warm and frighteningly cold, remembered this hand limp in hers and remembered it holding her own impossibly tight like he did now. Sneaky. Cunning. Sly. Childish. Smart. Brave. Loving. Kind—so, so kind—

"—is how I know you love me."

Sinbad shut his eyes then, letting his head rest against her hand and smiling softly to himself. "Even if it is not the same way I love you."

There was a word that hinted the end of that sentence. A single word she knew Sinbad wished to utter but refused to say because he chose instead to treasure this moment. It was an action she wished he had taken instead so that she would not feel this horrid, curling ache in the left side of her chest and not feel the tightness behind her eyes that she hadn't felt for worlds.

"You really are," Kali said softly. "Such an awful man."

Koran never liked naggers.

He hated it when his teachers would scold him to be a certain way or direct him another. He hated it when the people he worked for constantly berated him and never seemed satisfied. He hated the way his parents had nagged him to do the littlest of things but found himself missing that part of his life dearly.

Koran had vowed once, watching Amar practice a new spell in the bright sun of their original world that he would never become a nag.

He wanted to eat those words now, however.

The small hut filled with the scent of smoke and rotting flesh. The iron tang of blood filled the air and he watched in horror as Kali stumbled to the floor and landed on her hands and knees. Kali heaved, smoke curling off her figure and the sword in her hands falling from her grip with a sharp clatter.

Amar was at his side in an instant, eyes widening as she scrambled for a bowl and began to call upon the Rukh for water. Koran stood there, transfixed, unable to ever commit this sight before him as a common occurrence even though it was. How many times had he seen her reappear in this house looking like that? How many times had she managed to drag herself to bed and he slipped into her room with Amar, sitting by her bedside and stroking back her hair and tending to cuts that the vines that curled around her hadn't already healed?

He hit the ground on his knees, reaching gingerly for Kali and running hands over her shoulders. Kali mumbled something, reaching up with a bloody hand and gripping his arm tight. It took him a moment before he realized she was saying, "Okay. 'm okay."

"When does this stop?" Koran whispered, as Amar appeared and began to dab at Kali's face, washing away blood and ash and dirt to reveal gray eyes that had never looked so strong before.

"When they do."

Koran's hands tightened on her shoulders and Kali finally collapsed forward with a sigh of relief. Vines curled thick around her body and Amar mindfully helped wash the woman before them of any blood left.

He thought about the maps lying all around the house. Thought about the thoughtful way Kali watched Amar train and the comments she occasionally made about a magic school across the sea filled with all the knowledge she could possibly seek. He thought about her quiet face as she sat the bench outside the hut and let the wind play with her hair and the grass curl at her feet.

Lonely. His mind supplied. She looked lonely.

"Brother?"

Koran jolted, looking upwards as Amar crouched beside him, eyes soft. "Let's help her into bed."

"R-Right," Koran gently reached under Kali, hoisting her upwards and he shut his eyes to the scent of ash and fire, inhaling instead the soft, underlying scent of earth and sea.

You gave me this life. Koran's eyes shone, glittering a furious red as he hauled Kali upwards.

I will protect yours with it.

The rain had finally come.

The clouds that had been gathering in a tight swell over Sindria finally burst. The drops of water fell down in a steady curtain, unrelenting and never ceasing.

Kali stood a little ways toward the edge of her island, watching the rain dance across the sea and become part of the larger whole. Her gaze never left the graying waters, feeling the cold droplets soak her hair and clothes as she inhaled and exhaled, shutting her eyes. There was a soft clamor inside the hut where Amar and Koran were preparing for dinner. Laughter barely broke through the hum of rain and Kali let the world envelope her whole.

"The news just came in," Ja'far said calmly. "The Emperor of Kou has passed."

Crimson filled her mind, thick and engulfing. Kali let the sound of the rain drown out everything else.

"And his empress has ascended the throne."

"You're going to get sick like that."

Kali's eyes flickered to the side where Amar stood, a soft little bubble of magic casted above her head and stretching outwards toward Kali. Rain ceased to pelt her form and Kali's eyes warmed, tilting her head to the side. "I like the rain."

"Not enough to catch a cold," Amar padded forward, fingers clasping Kali's wet hand tightly. "Come inside and have dinner. Koran makes the best soup."

"Amar," Kali said suddenly and the young girl halted, looking up at the woman before her with impossibly wide eyes. Kali thought about the world and thought about herself and then gripped the small hand in hers tighter. "Would you like... Would you like to train with someone who can make you a great magician?"

Amar's breath caught and Kali waited patiently as a flurry of emotions flickered across her face. "Miss Yam teaches me very well—"

"More than even she can teach you," Kali whispered.

"But I don't want to go to that school—"

"Not the school," Kali shook her head. "He... He's someone very special. Someone who has time and time again never ceased to amaze me."

Kali's eyes warmed. "If you're willing to put up with me I think you would get along with him grandly."

Amar stood there, frozen. Kali waited, eyes impossibly warm and filled with all the understanding and love she could muster and Amar finally looked up at her. Tears swam in the young girl's eyes and she nodded, lunging forward and clutching Kali tightly around the waist and the older woman held her tight in her arms, a smile playing on her lips as Amar sobbed.

"I would love that very much."

"Sin?"

Rain streaked down the glass of the hallway. It dripped and fell in a constant stream across the glistening panes and Sinbad halted in his steps, turning around to face the woman that had suddenly appeared before him. A puddle was beginning to form at her bare feet and Sinbad had half a mind to sweep her up into his arms and get her into something dry for the sake of her health and for the sake of being able to hold her in his arms once more because the look on her face was one he had come to loath and recognize all at once.

"I know you love the rain," Sinbad mused, golden eyes staring her down intently. "But it's no need to get yourself sick over. Well, I suppose if you did get sick I could nurse you back to health now, couldn't I?"

Kali's lips curled upwards and Sinbad risked a step closer, and then another. "Ja'far would never let me live it down."

"He just cares." He was standing toe to toe with her now, gazing down at her as she gazed up at him.

"I'm going now."

His gaze flickered. "You never really took the time to tell me such things before. What's brought this on?"

He wondered if it had anything to do with the news Ja'far had brought the other day or the maps he knew she gazed at stretched across his desk. He had a thought to ask her if it had more to do with the fact that two world powers were about to go to war, but figured he already knew the answer himself just as he knew the fingers on his hand.

"If it's those children," Sinbad started again, eyes earnest. "You can rest at ease and know they will be well cared for should they seek it. We already took in the bunch Aladdin and the rest had sent back. What's two more?"

"Amar and Koran will be fine," Kali agreed, and she shut her eyes, pressing her head to his chest and Sinbad's hands twitched at his sides.

I know I am loved.

"Take care, Sin."

It was a warning and a plea all in one. Sinbad stilled, hands reaching upwards to pull Kali away slightly and found himself loss in the storm of emotions that clouded her eyes. He wondered, for a moment, if he could get away with snatching a kiss from her before she charged off into what he knew would cause trouble for the both of them. But Kali's eyes flickered and he settled instead for getting the final word.

"Come back to me."

A wry smile touched her lips, eyes twinkling and then just like that she was gone, leaving him behind with nothing but the faint scent of earth and a puddle of water at his feet.

"You're going somewhere."

Kali stopped, her hand halfway through stuffing a few rations into her bag as she turned to Koran curiously.

"I always go places."

"But you never take anything with you." Koran said. "You only take yourself and your weapons."

"I just need a little extra this time—"

"I want to come with you."

Kali stood, turning fully to face the boy—no, the young man in front of her. "Koran."

"I want to come." Koran took a step forward, hand on his blade. "I'll fight you. If I win then I get to go, if you win then I'll stay."

"Koran—"

"I'm tired," Koran breathed. "I'm tired of watching you disappear and come back on death's door. I'm tired of being so helpless. You granted me this power—this life and I want to be able to do something for you."

"Staying alive and living a good life is more than enough for me," Kali murmured. "You don't need to do anything else."

Koran stubbornly shook his head, striding forward and gripping his sword tight and Kali tensed. "If we fight, you know how this will end."

Kali's eyes glittered, feral. "And how will it end?"

"You will lose," Koran said fiercely. "Because you're tired of being alone."

A laugh suddenly rang loud in Kali's mind, sharp and surprising. Kali jolted at the sound, blinking in surprise as Koran waited and she frowned, brows furrowing. Cam? What on earth—

"You and I both know," Camio chuckled, voice filled with mirth and pride. "How this will end, my king."

Kali let out a low snarl of frustration despite the irreplaceable fondness coloring her eyes. Koran stiffened, eyes growing wide as his lips began to curl upwards into a grin but suddenly Kali stood before him, pressing her face close to his and he froze, red coloring his tanned cheeks and Kali grinned, feral and wild.

"Then brace yourself, Koran, we're about to plunge headfirst into chaos."

Koran swallowed. "I've watched the world burn at my feet."

Kali's eyes glittered. "And I have seen the same sight a thousand times over."

Kali's hand gripped his tight, reaching out with her other she grabbed the bag she had been packing and before Koran could say anything else.

They vanished.

"You, there! What do you think you're doing? We have preparations to begin—our lords are mobilizing!"

"Yes, of course," the maid quickly responded, but she turned back again, transfixed. "But the other day there was nothing here and now look—white lilies."

Even footsteps halted in their path, waiting.

"What are you babbling on about?"

"These lilies were never here before." The maid protested. "They've gone and shown up overnight—would you imagine that? It's as though the world itself were in mourning."

"We have more important things to worry about than flowers," the other maid quickly ushered the one who had stopped away and the disappeared around the corner. "War is coming, you know."

A steady thrum of rain fell over the palace. Kouen's eyes trailed slowly from his path toward the side of the strip of grass and stone that curled around the palace walkways. There, pressed softly to the edge of the wall, barely noticeable less someone had been searching for it on purpose, was a plentiful bundle of lilies breaking free of the earth and curling upwards to the sky. They swayed to the curtain of rain falling over them, battering and standing tall against the onslaught.

Kouen broke from his path, walking across the courtyard as he heard a servant gasp to the side and felt the rain begin to fall upon him in a gentle lull. It soaked his hair and dampened his clothes, but he continued his pursuit until he came to a halt beside the bundle of flowers.

Slowly, he stretched a hand outwards and in return the flowers seemed to shift with his touch, a leaf curling around his finger before it receded and continued doing as flowers do.

White lilies.

Kouen gazed at them a moment longer before he reached forward and swiftly snapped a stem in half. The other flowers seemed to wince and he brought the one he had ensnared close to him, eyeing it a moment longer before he tucked it away and continued to meet with the rest of his council on the war planning.

I'm coming.

Extra:

Kali suddenly yelped, putting a hand to her chest and face growing pale as she grimaced. Koran at her side looked up from his food, brows furrowing. "What's wrong?"

"Just..." Kali winced. "Just tried to do something thoughtful. Though I may come to regret it."

Koran eyed her critically as Kali sighed, rubbing her hands as though to shake off some unseen force and he frowned.

"You actually have a lot of enemies out there, don't you?"

"W-What makes you say that?"

Oooh, I have been dying to finally be able to write the next chapter because the next arc and everything comes to follow is just super awesome and tense and amazing to write until shit really hits the fan.

Midterms are coming but I'm going to try and bust out another chapter within the next two weeks, so stay hopeful and look forward to it! Love you all so much for all your amazing support, and thank you for reading!

Marshmellow-

-OUT!