A/N: Here is some background information that didn't make it into the fic and a bit of an epilogue to give some closure to this universe.
- The Council is an institution that was meant to unite all kingdoms and help oversee their activity and resolve any issues whether political or magical. However, from very early on in its existence light magic users became the majority making it up and so it began thriving on the alleged superiority of light magic over its dark counterpart and the idea it was founded upon was quickly corrupted by the Council members who began exploiting their positions in order to tip the balance of the forces to where they wanted it to be.
- Griffin's kingdom is a kingdom of dark magic that has been ruled by a lineage of witches for a long time now, much to the Council's chagrin. They only have girls in the line and they all have their mother's last name (Sylvane) and inherit the throne. Emalyn might have jokingly warned her husband that if he wanted a boy, it was the time to run before he married her because they would have a girl. It was a matter of magic. Their kingdom is found at a very specific position in space, surrounded by stars, and the knowledge of how to connect to the stars and use the power they can imbue your magic with is passed down from generation to generation. It makes their magic unique and it always wins out in the genes, even when the father has magic too.
- Ediltrude and Zarathustra were the children of a lady in waiting from Emalyn's court whose husband had died into battle (they had some squabbles with the neighboring kingdoms that wanted to claim dominion over the whole planet but they didn't stand a chance against the magic of the Sylvane family and Emalyn's coven). They would play with Griffin when they were little and life was good with their parents protecting them from the reality of the cold war brewing between dark and light magic users. Their mother died after she was bitten by a snake that had sneaked into Griffin's room and would've killed her if not for Ediltrude and Zarathustra's mother. The poison saw her dead in seconds. There was no time for anyone to do anything. They just heard Griffin's screams and by the time Emalyn got to her room, it had happened.
- Emalyn decided to take in the twins as her own children. Not just because she felt like she owed their mother for saving Griffin. She actually wanted to take care of the girls because she'd come to see them as her own with how close they were with Griffin. She also had some suspicions about the whole incident with the snake since it wasn't a species natural for their land. It could've somehow gotten into the palace through carriages traveling in and out but Emalyn highly doubted that. So she wanted to keep people she knew she could trust close and the twins (who were 13 at the time) were Griffin's closest friends. So she adopted them which the Council was livid about because it put more people in line for the throne which would make it harder to take control over that kingdom. They couldn't do anything about it if they didn't want to look like assholes, though, and keeping up their image is their first concern since it is their most important weapon. So they allowed it. Very begrudgingly.
- Griffin got new sisters and all three girls were thrilled about being a family officially now. They formed their own coven along with Faragonda too, who at the time was supposed to be a witch. However, she turned out to be a fairy so she could no longer be part of the coven officially. She still is, though, having their backs as much as she can in her position.
- Faragonda's family rules one of the neighboring kingdoms. Yeah, the same assholes that tried to take dominion over the planet. Funnily enough, Faragonda and Griffin are looking to be besties which meant a peace treaty in the future aka if they wanted control, they had to act then. Well, it didn't happen quite how they pictured it. Faragonda's grandmother was killed by Emelyn's coven and Faragonda's mother was crowned queen. She decided that it was better to accept the peace and the slight advantage of Emalyn's kingdom over hers for now because she didn't have the resources to win a war against Emalyn currently.
- Lo and behold the next big shock came when it turned out that Faragonda wasn't a witch. Her mother was furious. She was ready to disown her and Faragonda was staying with Griffin and Emalyn who were a bit shocked by the reveal because it wasn't something you see every day but still supported her. However, the Council was rather thrilled by the turn of events and Faragonda's mother saw in that the opportunity to gain the upper hand in the conflict between the two kingdoms so she did let Faragonda come home.
- Faragonda was immediately engaged (at the age of 15) to a light magic user, of course. Which to her was kind of a slap in the face, especially considering she had a thing going on with a boy with dark magic from her parents' court. Well, so much for that. She was engaged to Saladin and was expected to behave like no one else existed for her while he wasn't really returning the favor. They did come to get along eventually when he made it clear that he'd been doing it so that they would have the engagement revoked but that didn't happen because the Council doesn't care about feelings. They cleared things up and are now married. It's not the love of the century but they get along well and have built respect in their relationship. It might be lacking a bit in passion but they both know they're lucky with how well that marriage is working out, considering it was arranged only on political basis and no one cared about their happiness.
- Meanwhile, Griffin's father died while he was away to represent the kingdom at a gathering with the Council and other planets. They said they'd been attacked and they hadn't been able to save some of the people present most of which had been dark magic users or married to such. It was very fishy but there was nothing anyone could do to prove they were lying.
- Valtor is from Obsidian aka "the realm of all evil". Meaning the realm of the Dark Dragon Fire. It was destroyed by the misguided army the Council had raised when Valtor was just a baby. His mother barely saved him by sending him to the Kingdom of frost which was about the last place someone would look for him. She was certain he would survive the temperatures thanks to the fire burning in him and hoped that someone would find him so that he wouldn't die from starvation. He was found by a couple and they raised him until he turned 8. His powers started coming in then and they scared them so they abandoned him.
- He was found by Belladonna when her granddaughter - Icy (who was just 4 at the time), bumped into him as she was running away from her grandmother. His powers came out when he felt the ice magic of Belladonna and she was impressed by the power he had. So she took him in the palace and started "educating" him aka torturing him for hours on end with merciless practice in every area you can imagine. She made him wish he'd died a hungry death with how hard she pushed sometimes. She had her suspicions about the source of his power but the only way to confirm them was to bring him back to Obsidian and see if the planet would respond to the heir of its throne.
- She settled for manipulating him first to make sure he wouldn't turn against her. She made sure he knew how horrible the Council was and made him study the history of the magical dimension until he knew every horror that the light side had subjected the dark side to. Then she led him to Obsidian and she had her suspicions confirmed. It was time to put that power to good use and take down the Council to replace them with her own rule.
- Valtor was sent to Emalyn's palace to make his entrance as a distant cousin of Icy and he was specifically looking to start a conversation with Griffin and charm her enough to make her agree to help him with a project of his and get him a stay in the palace since there was a big celebration coming up for the 2800-year anniversary from the foundation of the kingdom and there were going to be a lot of Council members present. The perfect target to start his mission of getting rid of the Council.
- Valtor did his best to charm Griffin but it only seemed to work when he was showing something real and he got lucky to get that second dance. He adjusted his strategy, though, and soon they'd left the ball hall and were outside in the garden. They talked and Griffin introduced him to some of her favorite species of flowers which Valtor made "dance" for her. It was an illusion trick he'd learned from his aunt Lysslis. Griffin figured that out but was still impressed.
- She also shared her passion for the stars with him which he decided to use against her and tell her about that "project" he had to do. It was about the connection between stars and magic and Griffin agreed to help him since that was her specialty. Her mother allowed him to stay despite not being fond of him and warning Griffin to keep away from him. She knew Belladonna still ruled the Kingdom of frost even if her daughter was the queen officially and she didn't want to start an unnecessary feud with her since the witch was quite the formidable opponent by herself, and even more so when she joined her powers with her sisters. And the only threat Valtor seemed to pose was of getting Griffin to become fond of him but as much as Emalyn wanted to protect her daughter from that, she couldn't risk starting a war just because she'd denied a perfectly reasonable request.
- Valtor and Griffin started working together but what neither of them realized at first was that they were also falling in love. Might have been the chess parties they played together when it was always hard to predict who would win. Or it might have been Griffin quoting poetry at him and him quoting right back, the feelings he put in the words just for authenticity, not because he was falling for her. Or it might have been the knowledge on magic they shared with each other and the way their powers seemed to flow together perfectly the more time they spent with each other.
- They found themselves kissing one day and Valtor knew that he had to stop because that wasn't part of the plan, and Griffin knew she had to stop because of "honor" but they didn't find it in themselves. They had their first time under the stars and it was magical (both their opinions, not just Griffin's). It became a relationship which Valtor couldn't make himself drop despite knowing how much it would hurt them both when he had to betray her. But she was the one good thing he had, the thing that made him want to wake up in the morning and he couldn't give that up while he still had a choice. He knew Belladonna would come after all of them and raze Emalyn's kingdom to the ground if he abandoned the plan, though, so he stuck to it.
- He couldn't leave without seeing Griffin, though, because while no one had seen him assassinate the Council members, she'd most certainly recognized his magical signature. So he had to explain. Unfortunately for him, Emalyn had recognized his magic as well and she and her coven caught him in Griffin's room before he could even get to explain to her. Emalyn handed him over to the Council because she didn't want them thinking she had anything to do with the attack and she wanted to keep him away from her daughter, for he had the potential to drag her into the whole mess too.
- After the execution failed, Valtor and Griffin go back to Obsidian where Valtor revives the planet and with their converged magic they have it thriving again, plants and animals everywhere. They offer refuge to people who are sick of being trampled by the Council since Obsidian was announced a dead planet and is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Council. They repopulate the planet, get it back running and on the map. And the Council can't do anything about it because they can in no way make their actions look evil. They just created life and revived a dead planet. And those are only things that the Dragon Fire can do. So the balance of power starts shifting, slowly but securely and together (along with Faragonda and Saladin, Ediltrude and Zarathustra, and other kingdoms that join them) they deal both with the Council and the Ancestral Witches to finally achieve peace between the two sides of magic.