The Past is Prologue

Chapter 1: Scarlett's secret, Olivia's frustration

Two years after Coronation Day

"When I first heard about Professor Torres' project, I confess I was skeptical. Why study the past when we should focus on the future? It simply opens up old wounds. But the more I thought about it, the more I started to warm to the idea. It's most often what we don't know that causes us the most trouble. We cannot begin to heal until we confront the wounds of the past." -Queen Elena Castillo Flores, Preface, A People's History of the Reign of Queen Shuriki, compiled by Professor Catalina de Torres

Admiral Scarlett Turner only half-heard the information her aide was telling her. "…Duke Cristóbal…escaped…explosion…capsized…only survivors…" Her attention was on the young man her sailors had pulled from the wreck of a fishing vessel in the waters near Nueva Vista. He was one of three survivors from a boat of twenty souls, and the one who mattered most to Scarlett as he was her own godson, David. He was wrapped in a blanket, and Scarlett supported the young sailor as her ship's physician tended the wound on his head.

"My parents are dead," David whispered to his godmother. "I have no one."

"You have me, and Daniel, and Naomi," Scarlett replied. "It doesn't make up for what you've lost, but you're not alone." Scarlett pushed her own grief for her best friend aside for the moment. David was more important right now. The admiral bitterly wished she'd found the right words to have kept the Fisher family from ever emigrating to Avalor in the first place. David and his family would have been safe in Norberg. But the Fishers pointed out that with Queen Elena safely on the throne surely the dark days of Avalor's past were gone. Of course, no one could have predicted Cristóbal's escape.

Scarlett had her own reasons for wanting to keep David far from Avalor, and especially from Avalor City. But it couldn't be helped now. As Admiral of the Avaloran Navy, she knew she must return to warn the Queen. And she couldn't leave David alone, not after he'd witnessed the death of nearly everyone aboard his ship, including his parents.

The physician finished, and Scarlett hugged the boy. No, not a boy. At twenty three David was a man. But Scarlett had known him since he was a baby, and it was hard thinking of him as an adult.

"I…need to give you my report, don't I?" the young man said, brushing dripping brown curls out of his eyes. He wiped back tears.

"It will take us two days to get back to Avalor City," his grandmother responded. She wished desperately that Daniel was here to support her, but she'd see him soon enough. "You should rest first, and we can talk later."

"I'm glad at least it was your ship that found us," the young sailor said. Scarlett helped him up, and one of the sailors came to lead him below.

As Scarlett tried to put her own feelings aside to compile a report of the information her Queen would need to know, she did not suspect that a member of her own crew was about to innocently blow her world apart. This crew member was also from Norberg, and an old friend of Rosie, David's mother. This crew member, years ago, had been given a letter to be given to David in the event of Rosie's death. And so he set the letter down by the sleeping boy, meaning no harm.

The next day when it was discovered that both a rowboat and David had gone missing, Scarlett felt a dread that seeped into her heart. She went to where he had bunked and found the letter. In disbelief, she saw Rosie had written down the secret she had sworn not to tell. The admiral ran to the deck and screamed David's name, heedless of the startled looks of her crew. She looked out over the ocean and whispered, "My son…"

"We took care of the duende problem," Mateo announced as he and Victor Delgado strode into his magical laboratory. Fifteen-year-old Olivia sat on her usual perch atop a table, despite her teacher's repeated remonstrations that tables are not for sitting, and that she could knock over a potion that way. Olivia always countered that she made sure the table was cleared first, and was always careful with potions. So Mateo, as always, let the matter slide with his otherwise responsible apprentice.

"I would have been happy to help," Olivia answered. "After six years, I know a spell or two."

"I knew you had to translate those Classic Maruvian spells I gave you…" Mateo stopped when Olivia held up a notebook and thumbed through it, showing the work was completed. And were those his mother's color-coded bookmarks, used correctly? Of course they were. "And you had lesson plans to prepare for elementary magic at school…"

"Right here," Olivia held up another notebook. "And the components I need for the alchemy lesson are on that counter, all ready to go and ready for you to check."

"No need. I trust you." And he did. Mateo was quite proud of his oldest and youngest apprentice – oldest in that she had been studying with him the longest, youngest in that she was only fifteen.

"Yet not enough that you'd let me face a couple of duendes," Olivia grumbled.

"Twelve of them, actually," Victor cut in.

"See?" Olivia turned back to Mateo. "You could have used my help."

"But you were the one who said you wanted to read Levitations and All of Their Manifestations…"

"Finished." Olivia pulled out the tome and a third notebook. Maybe Mateo should cut back on her notebook supply. "Annotated. Cross-referenced with this." She pulled out another book, again with his mother's color-coded bookmarks. "And I've written an essay of my own theories of the limitations of the approaches of both authors."

"I…look forward to reading that."

"And before you ask, I also cleaned the laboratory."

"I thought it was Carla's turn to do that," Mateo said, surprised. He glanced at Victor, who shrugged his shoulders, disavowing any knowledge of his daughter's possible misdeeds. Both men knew that Carla had a tendency to take advantage of Olivia's generally good nature. Mateo had tried to talk to Carla about it, but she didn't take it seriously, while Victor maintained that Olivia needed to learn to be less trusting and stand up for herself more.

"My point," Olivia said, trying to get the conversation back on track, "is that I had finished all of my work. There is no reason for you not to take me out into the field. I'm ready to put my magic to practical use."

"You know, Mateo," Victor offered, "I had Carla out picking pockets when she was younger than Olivia…"

"You're not helping, Victor," Mateo and Olivia muttered simultaneously. They looked at each other, and Olivia's scowl turned into a grin though she tried to fight it. Mateo smiled back. He of course had every intention of taking her out in the field at some point and face real threats, but not until she was older. Olivia was still a child in Mateo's eyes, even if she didn't agree.

"Besides," Mateo pointed out, "You are using your magic in the real world. You help with the farming in your village, and you're performing an illusion at Don Julio's and Doña Paloma's wedding in two weeks. You could have been practicing that today."

Olivia hopped off the table and banged her tamborita. Translucent red hearts and purple orchids ringed the room. She banged her tamborita again and orchid petals fell seemingly from mid-air. She said another magic phrase and drummed her fingers on her tamborita and the sound of harp music could be heard. Mateo drew in his breath, and Victor whistled appreciatively. Olivia was simultaneously maintaining three separate spells flawlessly. But she was not finished. Olivia deliberately turned her back on her teacher and casually banged her tamborita on her shoulder, casting an illusion behind her – of Olivia herself, pigtails, glasses, and all, with her hands on her hips as if to say, "Well?" Finally she banged her tamborita once more and said, "Levaluq!" She herself rose and turned to float through the room until she pierced the illusion of herself. Only then did she light down on the floor, spinning her tamborita to dispel all magic.

"I think I have it down," she told her mentor. "I'm capable of so much more if you'd only trust me…"

"First," a slight chill entered the Royal Master Wizard's voice, "you know I don't approve of casting spells backwards. You should always look to see what you are doing. Second, you should never cast more than three spells at once. That is reckless and dangerous. Third, if I didn't trust you, you wouldn't be teaching Introduction to Magic at Avalor City Elementary School. You and I, Olivia," and he took the girl's hands, "are bringing back the formal study of magic to Avalor for the first time in nearly forty five years. Can you imagine what that would have been like for me growing up? To have been able to learn magic without fear? That is so much more important than rounding up the odd monster here and there."

"But I need to know that I can fight monsters," Olivia told her teacher earnestly. "And I want you to know that, too. I have studied longer and I am better than any of your other apprentices…uh, no offense, señor Delgado," she added, looking apologetically at Victor.

"I'd say none taken, but I'm trying to be more honest these days," the former thief and traitor turned respectable wizard-in-training growled.

Olivia winced. "Sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

Mateo dropped her hands. "Oh, I think you did. I have no doubts about your abilities, apprentice. It's your lack of maturity that concerns me." He turned and left the laboratory. Olivia looked dismayed.

Victor caught up with Mateo. "I was too hard on her, wasn't I?" The Royal Wizard asked of his newest and oldest (Victor being sixty three) apprentice.

The ex-malvago shrugged. "Far be it for me to tell you how to train 'the best' of your apprentices."

"Yeah, Olivia shouldn't have said that. I'll talk to her when we've both cooled down."

"Except she is, actually, right," Victor admitted reluctantly. "I couldn't do five spells at once, or write the treatises she does. And to be fair, Olivia has never behaved disrespectfully towards me, and was one of the first here to make my daughter and I feel welcome. If our positions had been reversed, I wouldn't have been as gracious."

Mateo nodded. "Thank you for saying that. And I do respect Olivia a great deal. It's just lately she doesn't seem to realize it. When her parents agreed to let me teach her, I promised I would keep her safe. Letting the girl chase duendes doesn't seem in keeping with that."

"I remember when you first took Carla and me on. You insisted we train separately from Olivia; you were worried we'd be a bad influence on her. And yet, were we?"

Mateo shot Victor a sidelong glance. "I don't know. You heard how Olivia spoke to me. That didn't sound like Carla to you?" He grinned.

Victor snorted. "She sounded like a teenager. Mateo, you see Olivia as a sweet child. And she is, no doubt about it. But she is also an ambitious and powerful young wizard. If she doesn't try her strength under your supervision, she could easily do so on her own."

The Royal Wizard sighed. "I take your point. I will consider taking Olivia out in the field, sometime soon." He shook his head. "If you had told me three years ago I would allow you or Carla anywhere near Olivia, let alone take your advice…"

Victor chuckled. "Much can change in three years. Or even from one moment to the next."

Back in the laboratory, Olivia felt terrible. She hadn't meant to be disrespectful to Mateo or to insult Sr. Delgado. She just felt increasingly frustrated. She could do so much more with her magic if Mateo would just let her. But he still saw her as a nine-year-old.

Olivia knew what she had to do. She would apologize to both Mateo and Sr. Delgado. The young apprentice hated that she'd hurt anyone. She hadn't meant to be such a brat. Then, the very first opportunity that presented itself, Olivia would make sure that she would be the one to solve the next magical crisis…and she wouldn't wait for Mateo's permission. It was the only way to prove her worth.

AN: A story cannot contain a song, of course. But if you would like one, imagine this: Scarlett singing a song in the style of a traditional Irish ballad. She reveals that two years before meeting the love of her life, a dark, handsome, mysterious stranger booked passage aboard her vessel. One night pirates attacked, and the two of them found themselves fighting back to back. They saved each others' lives that night, and morning found them together in her cabin. They parted on friendly terms, but when she realized she was with child she chose not to tell him. She knew he was a dangerous man from a dangerous land, and she would keep her son safe even if that meant giving him up. She never regretted her decision…until now.