Interlude 6
Shyam found Cordelia staring as the last of the celebration of a wedding was wrapped.
She looked a little lost, as in a trance, staring without blinking at the gazebo. She was blessedly alone. The closest person to them a few yards away.
He said conversationally, "So, what year have you travelled back from?"
She was not even startled. A slow, small smile graced her lips as she looked at him askance, "What gave me away?"
"The buildings and their ways and facilities are newer, perhaps decades old. No magicae has come through here since then. That was the first. You knew the wedding would take place here, and this was just constructed last year. You somehow knew that Kshama was allergic to ginger, and you suggested a blend that included ginseng and hibiscus instead. You were supposed to be meeting her for the first time. But you know not of the lores of magicae, and that did not seem like deceit to me. You are clever with your words, and you use them enough to not lie."
"I am meeting her for the first time." Cordelia admitted, then went on, "But I married your grandson in this gazebo. He had the same allergy, and he told me who he got it from."
If he were less certain of what he had confronted her with, he would have staggered. His grandson. His granddaughter in law.
"I take it the magic had it much worse in your time." Shyam asked. His tone and body calm.
Any spectator would think they were both discussing weather.
"Yes. If you would believe the boundaries of this place had receded to the old temple."
"That is miles from the sea and we still, I can still maneuver the sea to help ships around the island." Shyam lost it then.
Cordelia looked at him mournfully, "He only heard about that from his mother, your daughter. Who had heard it said about her great grandfather, and grandfather before he passed away in Brittania."
"You interfered in my father's…He was supposed to die." Shyam was shaken now.
"It was dominoes. He never made it back. You did not learn everything you should have. The fight you mentioned where he died this time around, it originally wiped out a significant chunk of the population, particularly the ones with experience, wisdom. Outside, the world of magic got polarized in dark and light."
"This dark lord you mentioned Grindelwald ..."
"He was defeated, but there was another." Cordelia said softly.
Shyam murmured a prayer.
"I have such fond memories of here. I had forgotten." Cordelia said softly.
Shyam made a questioning noise, and she explained the memory conundrum to him.
"Good, resilient people, your bunch is. I had never felt more accepted than when I came here. But there was a loss in community. Rikor's mother was the best authority on magicae."
"Nima is so lazy. She slept through all her lore lectures and she brags about it," Shyam sniffed
"She told me. When I sought to change things, I had to know what points to change, where to come to have an impact. I wanted to preserve at least some parts of your people if I could," Cordelia murmured.
Cordelia offered him her arm, "Would you like to see? They inspired me. So much loss, and they were not willing to give up on magic."
Shyam touched her arm and it was like he was seeing a different gazebo, with Cordelia as a bride. And Sid, his grandson looked much like him.
"You had looked at me like you had seen a ghost," He gently murmured.
"You remind me of him in some ways," She offered, a wistful look on her face.
They both moved, and where a clearing was being cleaned for an arena, he suddenly saw her sparring against the man.
"You were old to be just learning, or did it take that much time for your memories…"
"I was 18 when I got my majority. There was a block. 19 when it got overwhelming and I found out, or more Sid brought me here when he got suspicious. We met in the continent. He found himself ill-suited to be the clan chief, he was gaining perspective." She was editing and being polite, painting his grandson in an acceptable light.
"Was he at least a good man?" Shyam could not help but ask.
This time the smile was genuine, soft, wide, light, tinged with grief, "The best. He helped me come here."
"There were dominoes in Britain too that I have been course correcting." She admitted abruptly.
"Was Tom always a part of it, the course correcting?" He asked.
"He was the origin of it. When I met Siddarth, I was already looking for a way to come back. For Tom. The magic things got added to the mix eventually."
Shyam couldn't place it, he had a nagging feeling.
"He abdicated in favor of his younger sister. She was better at the job. She told me to tell you this." Then she murmured back the exact words Sid's sister had told her.
Shyam's eyes widened, "He went that deep into Black magic."
"So, that is what it meant, a warning. So much like Sarita." Cordelia shook her head in bemusement.
"Not a warning, a plea. It is essentially asking me to help you show the essence of magic to someone very susceptible to the Black magic. It is telling me to help you at any cost, even if we are bitter enemies." Shyam informed her automatically.
Cordelia looked like she would cry.
"Two brilliant women, the same idea. You wanted Tom to come here to see how good magic, pure magic could be, didn't you?" Shyam murmured in realization.
"And I wanted him to have a semblance of family outside of me, should he need to retreat for any reason. Someone who treats him just as he is. Unconditional regard." Cordelia whispered back.
"I do not see any trace of it in him. The darkness, the …you have already turned him away from that path Magicae." Shyam said seriously.
It was like Cordelia entire body heaved a sigh of relief, her knees gave away, and she slumped on the ground.
Shyam placed a hand on her shoulder, "You cannot feign the kind of love you have for him. So, it was not Black magic that made you travel back in time."
"His childhood was like mine. I understood him when I got to know." Cordelia whispered, "I was called June."
"I got chances, people who looked out for me, partly because of some fame, but I was seen and heard. He never stood a chance with how Slytherin and Hogwarts are right now."
"And of course, his curiosity about the arcane magics…" Shyam made the connections in his head.
They stayed quiet for a bit.
"He is very, very fortunate to have you regard him such. I have never heard of any way to accomplish what you have." Shyam said eventually.
"Truly, I did not think it would have been possible for me to come if it was not me. A Magicae and …"
"So, the shadows of death around you are for something." Shyam murmured in realization.
"The process. It was, it burned out magic, and the agony should have killed me. Being magicae meant that magic was me, endlessly. And dying could be prevented with the interference of a deity. Azrael also helped in setting me up. He is the one who interfered that night. Two souls should have died, and two souls lived. Cordelia Faye Black got to live for another 14 years until my soul came into hers."
"He is very well-regarded then, isn't he?" Shyam said softly.
"Sid knew, from the beginning what I planned. What I was looking for. You must not think I simply used your people. I loved them like…" Cordelia beseeched.
Shyam smiled, all the wisdom of magicae, and so painfully young, "I know. Like I said, it is hard to feign love like yours. Love for magic, love for these lands. You must have loved Siddarth very much too, to come and save his people from extinction as well. I am sure he understood that. I was already considering you family Cordelia. You are Sandarbh's godmother now. But this makes you even more so. This place will welcome should Tom need to retreat, but remember you also have a home here should you need to retreat as well."
They stayed silent, watching the birds, the dance of the grass against the wind.
"How do you plan to tell him? I know you do. I see it eating away at you." Shyam asked.
"Tom…I needed him to believe in my love and affection at first. Then the memories, I had not meant to drag it for so long. He is skeptical of things, rightly so. I thought the best way might be to pull him into my mind and let him see all of it. He would believe then. Right now, my brain is a jumble. Even I am not functioning well with those shields. They will need to break completely, and then need me to reassemble my brain into something…" She trailed off.
"You are worried about his reaction?" Shyam stated the obvious.
"Shouldn't I be? I essentially deceived him for such a long time." Cordelia looked up at him, outrage on Tom's behalf. So painfully young. He thought even if she looked older in years in the memories, she must not have had much of a childhood from what she described.
"You love him. He loves you. You did not lie about the most important part. In fact, you have only hidden the magnitude of your devotion to him by not telling him what you have done for him. He will see reason. He will see your heart. He will know." Shyam consoled.
Tears were apparent on her face, free flowing like a waterfall. She made not a noise.
Shyam let her. It must have been a lonely year, hiding such big parts of herself from everyone, leaving behind people she loved though she had not mentioned anyone besides his grandson, but there had been people, those chances, those who saw her and heard her.
How much of it had she been holding in? and her worry about how Tom would, how Tom would take it seemed to overpower things.
There was more to the story there, things she had omitted. He supposed she felt Tom had more of a right than him, and he was inclined to agree.
He was sure that things would be well.
Shorter because it is an interlude, I did not want to stretch it unnecessarily.
I think the end is soonish, at least for the first arc that I have promised to do completely. In case you have not guessed, it is basically when Tom finds out. It will be a solid conclusion.
At some point, I had charted the story to include Grindelwald more (which happens after this arc) but I am not certain if I will get to it. If I can, I will post short post-snippets if I can, and inspiration tickles my muse. But this work would be self-contained.
Also, I realized I may not have responded to reviews in quite some time. So, just shoutouts to all of you who still bother to do it.
I just recently re-read one of my long favorites, but incomplete fics, and I cried a bucket. I have empathy as a fellow writer whose life has come in the way a lot, but I also empathize as a reader, it is painful to have no closure on stories you love.
Thank you for believing me when I say I will complete this. Thank you for sticking by. You are the reason I do.
And please stop by, and say hello!