Harry returns to his domain after getting Susan into the Other so she can practice navigating. There he finds Daphne with her wand out and the ball dancing around the meadow with a happy Cerberus chasing it. Harry pauses for a moment to watch as she picks it up after he catches it with just a point of her wand. Once the Cerberus is occupied again, he walks over smiling, "Well done."
Daphne colours slightly, "I can't really take the credit, Ephi was the one that reminded me about the core of magic being want or desire."
Harry nods, "That sounds like her, she's still a child by fae standards, younger than we are. That brings with it a certain simplicity of vision. What was it you wanted help with?"
"I was worried about a letter I received from my father. Because my occlumency is in tatters. Ephi said that hiding yourself is the same as hiding your magic. So why wouldn't it be the same to hide your thoughts."
"Hmm. Come on, we're going to see my mum. She'll know the answer."
Harry disappears into the mist, quickly followed by Daphne, leaving a whining Cerberus staring at the space they were standing in. This lasts until a rabbit runs across the meadow off to one side, and the Cerberus bounds of happily to hunt rabbits for dinner.
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As Daphne exits the other into Morgana's domain, she collapses to her knees under the pressure of Morgana's un-occluded presence. Harry is by her side almost immediately, and whispers into her ear, "You need to release your own concealment, your magic will help you stand against the pressure here."
As she does, Daphne is able to stagger to her feet and lean on Harry for support as they make their way into the unguarded round house.
There they find Morgana tending to an unconscious woman while Marianne and an unknown woman chat off to one side.
Harry rushes over to his mum's side, "Mum! Is everything ok?"
Morgana nods sadly, "This is Marie, you might remember her from 'A Celtic Day' and re-enactment, though she left for university a few years ago. She's decided to try and become a battle crow."
"Isn't that the one where only three of your followers ever survived?"
Morgana nods sadly, so Harry embraces her in a hug, "What can I do to help?"
"There's nothing you can do except be around. She's drunk deeply enough that there's a chance she will survive, but she's still going to have to fight for it."
"Is this like when you blood adopted me?"
Morgana nods, "But she doesn't have any of her own magic, so she'll need to drink deeply every day until the next full moon."
"That means I'm going to have a sister."
"I suppose it does, I never considered it like that."
"Does she have to be here for the transformation?"
Morgana shakes her head, "Only for the first and last day. However, I can't take her to the mortal world as my unguarded presence would cause too much trouble."
Harry smiles, "Then bring her to my realm, it is a place of peace and healing."
"I don't want to damage it."
"Mother, she's family and you're family. If it would help, then you are both welcome into my domain."
Morgana looks around as her domain shudders imperceptibly at Harrys proclamation, "I believe that we will take you up on that offer."
Harry smiles, "I'll meet you there."
As he disappears Daphne looks around confused, "What just happened?"
Airmed looks over at the blond girl, "Who are you child?"
Startled, Daphne looks over at Airmed, "I'm known as Daphne, who are you?"
"I was once known as Airmed, though I no longer know if I deserve that name."
Daphne shares a glance with Marianne as Morgana leaves with Marie, immediately allowing Daphne to breathe more easily, "Um, I may only be 11, but I can listen if you want?"
"I fear I have horribly misjudged my grandmother, and as a result been holding her responsible for things she couldn't control."
"Um, ok? What made you change your mind?"
Airmed waves her hand around, "This did. All of this."
"Um, I don't know much about that, but I do know about closing yourself off to avoid harm. Why don't we find somewhere we can all sit down and have drink and chat, as it doesn't feel right being here without Morgana or Harry."
Marianne smiles, "I know somewhere, The Bell Inn, Harry and I spent quite a bit of time there during the summer."
Daphne confesses, "I don't know where that is."
Marianne just smiles, "I do, and I've got some wizarding money in my bag. If you can get me into the Other I can lead you there."
The three of them make their way to the Inn and chat about Daphne's training in Occlumency and what she did to protect herself from her father's 'tests'. Airmed doesn't really share much about herself, though she does provide some advice on how she protected her domain from discovery by redirecting searchers perceptions. After pointing out that hiding her thoughts with the mist would also hide them from herself, she promises to help Daphne adapt her technique to protecting her mind over the next few days.
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Harry releases his glamours and concealments as he arrives in his domain, by the stone cottage that stands beside the forge. A minute later, his Domain shudders as Morgana arrives with Marie.
Formally, Harry opens his arms, "I offer sanctuary to you and your kin. Be welcome in my home. My home is your home, my family is your family. May you find peace and healing while you reside within my grounds."
Respectfully Morgana responds, "Thank you, I will treat your home as if it was my own, I will treat your family as if they were my own. My sword will be raised with your own in defence of this home."
As the final words are said, the Domain rings like a bell as the conflict Morgana's presence was causing is replaced with harmony.
A moment later, the three of them are bowled over by two tons of Cerberus as it charges around the hill to greet Harry.
"Off, Off! Down. Sit. No!"
At the last word the Cerberus steps back and lies down whining. Harry gets up and dusts himself off before walking over to scritch two of the heads, "Good boy, you can't just jump on us as we're not as durable as you. You could seriously injure some of the people that are allowed to come here. Do you understand?"
The Cerberus whines but also wags his tail. Meanwhile, Morgana uncurls from around Marie and quickly checks her over for injury before carrying her into the one room cottage. Suddenly, all 6 ears perk up and he goes bounding off into the distance before Harry thinks to say anything.
Susan steps out of the mist into Harry's domain and collapses with a squeak as Morgana and Harry's unfiltered magic pushes down on her like a physical thing. Just as she's getting to her knees, a massive three headed dog comes charging at her before it stops and starts barking at her while it leans back to pounce. Dropping back to the floor, she screams and covers her head with her hands. She is certain that she's about to die when she feels it's hot breath on the back of her neck, and is thus surprised when it picks her up by the back of her clothes and trots off with her dangling from it's mouth like a puppy.
When she's unceremoniously dumped in front of Harry, he helps her up, "Are you ok? Did he bite you?"
"I…I'm fine, but I thought I was going to die!"
"Did he jump on you or knock you over?"
"No?"
Harry scratches the Cerberus, "Good boy, well done, where's your ball?"
As the Cerberus runs off Harry helps Susan over to the forge, where she perches against the anvil.
"How are you bearing up?"
"I can barely stand, how are you managing to move around so easily?"
Harry shrugs, "I've been exercising my magic since I can remember. Susan, I want you to try pushing your magic out around you. You've been practicing concealing your magic, this is the opposite of that, and it will be hard and exhausting, but it should make it easier to be here."
It takes a few minutes for her to figure it out, and then several more minutes to push it out enough that she can stagger around, but Susan manages it, even as perspiration starts to form all over her body, "Merlin, this is hard."
Harry nods, "It will be a bit easier in the mortal world, but you're basically forcing the world around you to acknowledge your existence. It's one of the few things we have to thank the Christians for."
Susan looks confused, "How so?"
"Let's go and sit by the brook where it enters the forest and I'll tell you. My mothers presence should feel less overpowering there."
It takes them nearly an hour to walk the mile to the forest, with Susan leaning on Harry most of the way. Eventually, they arrive and Susan collapses against a tree and releases her magic.
"I'm beat, I don't think I could make it back to the dorm tonight."
Harry smiles, "You did well, and I promised you a story."
Sitting down against another tree, Harry begins, "From what my mother's told me, before our people had to develop a way for our children to hide from the Christian magic users that were kidnapping them. The magical people in our communities either stopped progressing magically, or they gradually had to separate themselves from their communities. This was true across the ancient world, which is why there are so many stories about the old wise witch or wizard living in a forest or on a mountain. Possibly with their young apprentice."
Susan nods, "I've heard those stories."
"Do you remember me saying that Celtic magic is like becoming fitter. If you keep pushing your magic, doing and learning more, and continuing to attempt things that you find hard. Your magical strength will grow. While you're young, your reserves will grow with it. A consequence of this is that it will start to naturally impress itself on the world around you. Eventually even affecting mundane people, though they won't be able to feel it the way that we do.
"Personally, I also think this is one of the reasons why wand use is the only way of actively using magic in modern times. In your mundane history lessons, you'll learn about the witch hunts from the mundane point of view. One of the things you'll learn is that they went after women that lived alone, usually at the edges of the towns and villages, or away from people. Just the sort of traits that those who practice traditional magic have to live with once they get stronger. Unfortunately, we know that the Church has it's own witches and wizards, such as Nicholas Flamel, inventor of the Philosopher Stone, and Roman Catholic.
"This brings us back to the Celtic people, by kidnapping our children, we were forced to learn how to hide them. That skill then allowed our magical elders to live with our villages rather than apart from them. It may have only been for a matter of decades. However, my mother says it made a big difference to her people's moral." Harry sighs, "Even with that, my people couldn't match the shear versatility that wands brought when combined with the insidious teaching by the Merchants that brought the necessary supplies, and the prayers they insisted on speaking at meals. That's why I gave up my Danu given power and became mortal. I cried when they kept the letter of their promises by slaughtering the merchants that had been corrupting my people. I wept when those leaders of the church returned to Rome and sent Patrick, a snake speaker, to convert my people by claiming to speak for me."
Susan crawls over to Harry and shakes him, "Harry, Harry! You're not Brigid, you're Harry. They weren't your people, and you didn't sacrifice yourself."
Harry blinks rapidly, "Huh? What do you mean?"
"At the end there, you were talking about the past as if you were Brigid. I think we need to tell Morgana. And Harry, I want you to promise me that you won't give up your heritage to save people."
"I can't do that Susan, I don't know what's going to be surrounding me choice."
"Then teach more people your magic, so that when the time comes you have peers and companions you can rely on."
"I'm trying, but until Daphne is able to move seamlessly between the Other and the world, I can't take on another student. It's the same for you, until navigating the mist is as easy as walking through the door there's still a danger that you could get stuck or lost. You're almost ready to start trying to enter the mist yourself, but you need to practice more."
"But how, I still need you or Daphne to pull me into the mist."
Harry laughs, "Can you not see? The mist is all around you here. In two paces you would be as lost as if you'd stepped in from Hogwarts."
"I feel stupid now. We should get back to Hogwarts as I'm getting tired so it's probably past curfew."
