Untold Truths {Nikodim & Rozenn}

Gaspard had been up nearly all night having been out DJing for a local club till the wee hours of the morning, and while this wasn’t unusual for the surly blonde elemental, rolling back into Inverness usually meant he could expect to grab a quick meal, a hot shower, and a good morph before starting the cycle over again in a few hours. What it didn’t mean, was walking up to his door to find a note from Nikodim requesting that he meet him in one of the many private meeting places nestled within the council walls before going about his business. It struck the Zealot that it was an odd time to meet to discuss the latest ridiculous council gossip that Nikodim was often privy to, but it wouldn’t be the first time, especially given that the odd hour, and thick stone walls helped to ensure that any passing or prying ears wouldn’t hear anything they weren’t supposed to.

Not to mention the trip over was only a few minutes’ walk away from his own quarters, so despite having heaved a rather dramatic sigh when he’d initially read the missive, Gaspard made it to their meeting place in good time, and slid into one of the more plush chairs, leaning back and closing his eyes whole he waited for his friend’s arrival. He was always wired after coming home from a gig, no matter how many times he had done them before, and it was an odd mixture of exhaustion and exhilaration. So while he laid there, his foot also bounced on its own accord, still attuned to some now silenced beat.

It wasn’t long though, before he heard footsteps coming up the stairs that separated the room from the rest of the building. He opened one brown eye to watch his friend enter, and was surprised to find that there were not one, but two people entering the room, Nikodim and Rozenn. Although Gaspard judged that by the way that Nikodim came bounding up the stairs and into the room, they hadn’t been travelling together.

Tilting his head slightly, and stretching languidly Gaspard greeted his companions “Niko….Rozenn. Fancy seeing you here at this hour…”


@Rozenn Seznec  @Nikodim Balaur  also let me know if I need to change or add anything to the opener ^^

This was the possibly the worst idea Niko had ever entertained. There were only one or two ways this could end even remotely well. Every other possibility was a disaster and more than one involved building being destroyed. But the Incin had received some news that had thrown him for a major loop and he was now faced with an unpleasant decision. He could continue to remain silent, or he could break a promise he swore to a mentor and a harbinger, bring to light truths that had been buried for decades, and possibly loose one of the most important people in his life for good.

It wasn't easy getting things arranged. Niko felt that no matter what, Gaspard would show up if he asked it of him. The man was a pain in the ass sometimes but he respected Niko and would even occasionally go out of his way to oblige the older elemental. Rozenn, on the other hand... Niko had agonized over how to get her to show up to this meeting. If he just asked, he knew from experience she would smile politely and say something cryptic about 'council business' and just never see him again. So he had taken a risk and done something which he knew would piss her off but would also guarantee her attendance. In an envelope he's placed two pieces of paper.

One was new and in Niko's own old-fashioned and spikey handwriting told her where and when he wanted to see her. The other parchment was stiff, carefully preserved despite being almost fifty years old. On it was a colorful drawing of a flat green lawn and a strip of blue sky. Three stick-figures occupied the picture, none looking too happy to be there. In childish scrawl, names were written underneath them. One stick with long blonde hair and grey blobs which could generously be called 'rocks' at its feet was labeled 'Momma.' The second figure, easily the tallest, had red flames in each hand and had 'Niko' written under it. The third firgure, small and curiously unadorned was unnamed. He knew Roz would recognize the handwriting immediately as belonging to her daughter, Katell. The memory of her beloved and short-lived daughter was a sure way to get Rozenn to show up when he asked but it also meant she would be absolutely livid when she got there.

Niko had rushed to get to the appointed location ahead of Roz and he only just managed. Positioning himself between the woman he had once thought of as family and the boy he considered a son, he flashed them both grateful smiles. "Thank you for coming. I am glad you took my invitation seriously."

Since returning to Inverness decades ago, Rozenn had developed the habit of rarely sleeping. At first, she was plagued with nightmares every time she closed her eyes; memories she fought so hard to lock out, scenes that replayed in her mind over and over as if hoping for a different outcome, and the sounds of young children and babies crying non-stop. In the beginning she thought she was going insane. Were the years she previously spent in her elemental form playing tricks with her mind, or had the loss finally caught up with her and taken her sanity? After years of reflection, Rozenn realized that it wasn't insanity, but rather she hadn't allowed herself to fully grieve, so when she wasn't tending to Council business or teaching her younger elementals, she allowed herself to feel.

The blonde often spent her nights meditating outside in a small garden she'd found. It was quaint and filled with douglas firs lining the perimeter, and bright purple thistle and pink twinflower inside. Over the years she added some stone benches and a stone terrace leading up to a gazebo that was covered in primrose and pansies and yellow irises. It was the only place she could go and rest, and the one place where the nightmares couldn't find her. It was here that she dreamt of Magnus and Katell, and the family that she had lost. It was here that she felt normal again. When she felt the stillness of the night she knew it was time to retreat to her quarters. Standing up from her seated position on the ground, she walked over to the stone statue of a little girl and pressed her fingers to the girl's cheek. "Goodnight, my sweet girl."

As she headed back to her quarters, she wiped the tear stains from her cheeks and allowed the hard facade of an emotionless woman dominate her face once more. Emotions were a weakness she couldn't afford anyone to see, especially in a place like Inverness where her enemies surrounded her. When she finally reached her quarters, she found an envelope attached to the door. She touched the envelope and toyed with leaving it there, but curiosity got the best of her and she quickly grabbed it and opened it, surprised to find two pieces of paper inside. She scanned the contents of the first piece of paper, pursing her lips and rolling her eyes. However, the second, older piece of paper soon caught her attention. Her stone facade instantly vanished as a wave of emotions hit her. Anger, shock, happiness, guilt, anxiety... Her fingers ran over the figures as her eyes began to well up with tears. She wiped away the tears as they trailed down her cheeks, and though her hands were shaky and clammy, she folded the letter back into the envelope and tucked it into a pocket of her dress and headed towards the location where Nikodim asked to meet, her hand clutching the drawing.

As she walked towards the location, her emotions began to focus into one single emotion: rage. Her pace quickened with each second that passed, her temper threatening to take over and once and for all. Once she arrived at the location, she quickly entered and her eyes locked on Nikodim. Holding up the drawing, she could feel the rage overwhelm her. "What is the meaning of this? Is this some sort of game to you? I demand you explain yourself!"

When, instead of answering her, he smiled and thanked her for coming, she realized, at the sound of another voice, that someone else was there with them. Gaspard. Looking back at Nikodim, she shook her head. "You better have a damn good explanation for this."

Nikodim huffed as the Demin harbinger stormed in, as angry as he thought she'd be. This was going to be a long and painful night. "Nice to see you too, Rozenn," he replied evenly, although the temperature in the room increased by a few degrees but cooled back down quickly. "I always explain myself, eventually. It just seems no one cares to listen." Calm as he always was there was still an edge to his voice that belied his anxiety. He had new which was likely to make the other two elementals in the room very upset. He would need all of his wits and his iron control to keep things from turning bloody once he had said what he intended to say.

"She told me to hold onto it for her. To give that to you when I thought the time was right." Niko didn't explain who 'she' was. Rozenn would know and Gaspard, well, he'd find out soon enough. "Katell always had more faith in both of us than we deserved. That, at least, is something I think we can agree on." He leaned on the wall, one hand running across his face, feeling exhausted despite the fact that he had been meditating all day in preparation for this meeting. He looked at Gaspard, then Rozenn, sighing. "There are things you both need to know. Secrets; ones I've been keeping for many years. Before I begin, though, I want both of you to promise me something."

Here he looked both of them in the eyes in turn, holding their gazes with his own. "No matter what happens, I want you to swear to me on whatever you hold dearest, you will not harm one another. Swing at me, if you must, but if you try to hurt each other then I will stop you." It wasn't an empty threat. Gaspard had never seen Niko in a real fight, or even truly angry. Rozenn and the Russian had fought before, once where Niko was trying to defend her and once when he was trying to kill her. Things were complicated, to say the least. "I think it goes without saying that the things I'm going to tell you do not go beyond the three of us."

Niko took a deep breath. Here was the reason he had decided to call them together, the information that he felt was going to force his hand. "Magnus has been spotted."

She placed one foot in front of her and leaned forward, as if she was going to speak, but instead merely rolled her eyes. Nikodim always seemed to indulge them with niceties and acted as if no one paid one bit of attention to him. She was not going to play this game with him tonight. "You have five minutes, so you better talk fast or I swear I will bring down the ceiling."

Folding her arms across her chest, she listened as he spoke. When he heard the word 'she', Rozenn tensed. The blonde fixed an icy glare at the older fire elemental and stood still, almost as if she were calculating the ways to kill him before he could say anything else. How dare he mention her! Her sweet, precious, beautiful baby girl. The tiny child who deserved so much out of life, but never got to experience any of it. Rozenn fought back tears as Niko continued to speak, swallowing hard as he said her name. Katell. What she wouldn't give to see her daughter once more, to hold her in her arms and sing songs, and even to comfort her when she had her fits. Instead, all she had left was a drawing, and while it was precious and Rozenn would treasure it for the rest of her life, it meant nothing if her daughter couldn't be here to share it.

"How dare you say her name! Of course she had faith in me, I was her mother! You do not get a say in who she had faith in." She had to strike now. She could not stand here any longer and listen to this man try to tell her what her daughter felt and believed in. Not when her death was on his hands.

She shifted her weight once more at the sound of him talking, and she soon turned her back to him. She had had enough of this. She didn't care if there were secrets she didn't know. The Council had made it good and clear that while she was a high-ranking elemental within the Council, she was not trusted. She knew about the whispering and the names they called her behind her back. She knew that they tried their damnedest to keep students away from her in fear that she'd say or do the wrong thing. They could keep their damned secrets for all she cared. But still, there was a part of her that was intrigued. She didn't know Niko to be one to spread gossip and lies, and the fact that he had requested a private meeting had to amount for something. She slowly faced him once more, glaring at him and daring him to make a move.

Glancing over at Gaspard, she narrowed her eyes in confusion and disbelief and then looked at Niko once more. "Why would I hurt him? He has done nothing." However, her question wasn't answered and instead Nikodim continued to speak. When he finally stopped, Rozenn watched him closely. He looked nervous and at a loss for words. She could tell that part of him was even afraid, but of what? What could be so horrible? When he finally spoke up, she grew angry.

"You called me here to tell me that Magnus was spotted? That was your earth-shattering information so secret that I would want to harm either of you? This is ridiculous." She began to pace as she collected her thoughts. She knew Magnus was around. She'd heard of him for years, but tried hard not to make any moves. But... what if Nikodim knew? What if he knew that she had played a part in the attack on Beauxbatons years ago? Or that she had helped orchestrate other events with the help of an associate of Magnus's? Her hands grew clammy once more; she had to stay calm.

"And what of him? Do you honestly think you're strong enough and capable enough to catch him? There is a reason he's eluded the Council for as long as he has. Not a single one of you stands a chance against him. He's much too powerful and much too cunning to fall for your traps. So tell me, why should I care that that man has been spotted?"

Niko could not believe how delusional Rozenn was, still after all these years. How could she not see that every moment of suffering Katell went through was a direct result of her and Magnus' selfishness and arrogance? The nights Niko had spend holding her hand, the letters and drawing he had carted between mother and daughter to keep Katell from feeling abandoned, the way her little body pulled itself to pieces in the end, how she had looked so peaceful once the pain was finally gone; Rozenn didn't deserve to be there for any of that. She had condemned Katell to a short and unbelievably painful life. And yet she still looked for others to blame. The council, Demi, Niko; everyone had a hand in Katell's misery except her mother and father. Because they said they loved her. He doubted Rozenn even knew what real love looked like.

The temperature in the room was rising with Niko temper. He took a deep breath, then another and another, calming himself down. He would not lose control here, not when Gaspard would be caught in the crossfires. He ignored Rozenn's comment about her husband's prowess. As far as he was concerned the only reason Magnus still walked the Earth was that the council, and more importantly Lario, had forbidden him to hunt the man down himself. "Of course that isn't why I called you here. It's leading into something important. Have a little patience, Rozenn." He huffed, running his hands through his short-cropped hair. He glanced over at Gaspard, giving the younger man a slightly pained smile. "This is all fairly abstract for you, it might seem. But it concerns you rather intimately." He spoke to Rozenn, although his eyes were still on Gaspard. "If you want to leave, then leave. It won't stop me from telling Gaspard what he needs to know. You can stay and find out now or wait to see if he decides you're worthy of knowing. Your choice."

His smile was warmer and a little nostalgic as he continued to look at Gaspard. "You first met me when you were a child, when your foster parents dropped you off at the council for the first time. But I had known you for much longer. I was the very first person to hold you after you were born." Niko chuckled, remembering. "You were all red-faced and screaming. Upset with your situation and not afraid to tell the world. I should have known you'd be a handful." Niko's smile turned sadder, his heart aching little, knowing the truths he would share would likely cause Gaspard to hate him. "Yes, I know who your mother and father are. I was ordered to remain silent, to keep the knowledge secret. Only three living souls know the truth of your birth and by sheer coincidence I happen to be one of them."

As tired as he was, Gaspard couldn’t stop the small smirk that that passed over his lips as Roz stormed in holding what looked to be an incredibly old piece or parchment and briefly hoped she hadn’t seen it. He knew that if the Demin Harbinger was upset, his best bet was to draw as little attention to himself as possible, and smirking at her was likely to do the opposite of that. It did seem typical though, he had to admit – Niko was as formal as ever, Roz was angry and looking vaguely threatening, and he had absolutely no idea what he was doing there. The blonde settled into his chair, ready to watch the scene unfold in front of him, wondering how long it would be until he would be allowed to go back to his quarters and sleep.

He felt the temperature in the room increase, ever so slightly and flicked his eyes over to where Nikodim was standing, both intrigued and annoyed by the temperature change. Niko’s discomfort was another matter entirely, seeing as it wasn’t often that Nikodim allowed himself to be nervous, and if he couldn’t help it now, it meant whatever he had called them here to hear would be interesting, and Gaspard was all about being entertained at another’s cost. Though, he found himself frowning slightly as the conversation shifted back to the ancient piece of paper that Rozenn still held, his confusion evident.

Who was she? Katell. It wasn’t a name he’d ever heard before, and as he continued to try and find himself some context for his being in the room, Gaspard only felt more lost. None of this was making any sense, and he was beginning to feel a mixture of frustration and impatience. Though, Rozenn’s words gave him some much needed context. Her mother? Blonde brows rose in sincere surprise at the news. So Rozenn had been a mother. The mother of the mysterious Katell, he guessed. It was uncomfortable for Gaspard to watch Rozenn show such emotion. If he was being honest, he hadn’t known her to be capable of such a display, and one of obvious pain at that.     

It was painfully clear to him now that something much larger than himself was going on here. Although his frustration bubbled beneath the confusion – there were still no answers in sight and his patience was getting thin. When Nikodim requested their word Gaspard rolled his eyes gently, but nodded in acquiescence “I will not harm Rozenn. As she said of me, she’s done nothing against me.” He was getting tired of all the talk of secrets and mystery, and he hoped he’d be given some answers soon, especially since Nikodim only seemed to be getting more unsettled by the minute, that told the young Zealot that whatever was coming was likely not good, and he didn’t like it.

When Nikodim announced that Magnus had been spotted with such seriousness, Gaspard couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up from inside his chest. He’d called them here for that? He looked strung out and nervous over that? It was almost ridiculous, and Gaspard nodded in silent agreement with Rozenn, but was stopped short by the rest of her reaction. And he knew he shouldn’t have said a word, but they were past his lips before he could stop them “If he’s so cunning and powerful, where is he?” It was an honest question, but even he knew it was ill timed.

Gaspard shot a glare in Nikodim’s direction. It was getting hot, and it was adding to his already mounting discomfort with the whole situation. Niko’s pained smile only served to make the knots in his stomach twist uncomfortably. He didn’t like that look, or the way it was obvious that Nikodim was afraid, and Rozenn was as equally upset. Under Niko’s continued gaze Gaspard felt his posture stiffen, and all traces of relaxation were gone from his face. Brown eyes eyed the Icin elemental warily, unsure of what was coming next.

As he listened to Nikodim tell the story of, or at least part of, his birth Gaspard began to turn the facts over in his mind. He vividly remembered his first days at the council, he’d been all of seven, and just about as confused as he was now. But what didn’t make sense was that Niko had said he’d held him, just after he’d been born. He’d been abandoned, unwanted, so how had that worked? And then it was there, hanging out in the open – Niko knew who his parents were, and had known for years. The fact that Niko, the man who was practically his surrogate father, had kept something like that from him stung more than Gaspard would have liked to admit. He felt his pulse quicken as the information sunk in, but refused to let any of his warring emotions show, so instead he spoke, his voice even, calm, and demanding “Who?”

Niko was focused completely on Gaspard, everything else forgotten. This boy, his boy, no matter who his parents were. He had loved Gaspard since he was dropped in his arms, unprepared for how very much the son of the man he hated most on this earth would mean to him. How he would pretend not to see him cry when the other council brats teased him about his parents, about being a foster child; teaching him to fight, to stand up for himself; standing beneath the trees and rocks and buildings he always wanted to climb, encouraging him to go higher, there to catch him if he fell or pluck him down if an elder elemental was walking their way. All of it, and it would most likely mean nothing to Gaspard. All the years of implicit lies that Niko had to maintain would surely hurt the younger elemental. Merlin knew it had hurt Niko.

"They weren't rogues, not when you were born. They were at odds with the council but they had yet to truly abandon it. But they had done something unforgivable. You were not their first child. They had another before you. A Pythia child. She died very young. The Demin harbinger decided that they were not to be trusted with another one should you survive. You were miraculously of a single elemental affinity. So you were sent to a family unrelated to the council, to keep you away from the politics for as long as possible. I took you to your foster parents myself."

And still Niko hadn't said it, not explicitly. Finally he broke eye contact with Gaspard, looking to Rozenn. "I can't believe you can't see it. It's so clear. He's as stubborn as you are. He has Magnus' jawline. And he has Katell's smile." There. He looked down at the floor. He couldn't bear to watch the rest of it happen. Didn't want to see the knowledge blooming in their faces. Mother and son, reunited many years ago all unknowing and now again for the first time. He wouldn't leave Gaspard alone with the knowledge but he could give them at least something like privacy.

She pursed her lips in retort to his comment. Rozenn had patience, but she didn't have time for rambling idiocy and cryptic confessions. An eyebrow arched as she glared at Nikodim, becoming uncomfortable under the weight of the rising temperatures in the room. She watched him closely, like a wolf stalking its prey, ready to pounce at just the right moment. But this was far from the right moment. Instead, she held herself back and simply watched. As Nikodim breathed, she could feel the temperature lower and lower, and she was glad for it, however she knew that this was not the last of his hotheadedness.

What confused the blonde was what did any of this have to do with Gaspard? Why did her past have to include him? He wasn't there for it, had nothing to do with it... why was Nikodim digging up long past events that were meaningless to the zealot before him? She was about to ask the question when Nikodim spoke to her once more. If she didn't know better she would've thought that he'd taken one too many blows to the head. Perhaps it was time that he morph into his elemental state for the last time and just fade away. It was a better alternative to listening to his vague quips. Still, she was intrigued.

She let the rest of the information sink in. She knew that Gaspard had been brought to the Council at a young age, but so had other children from broken homes and all sorts of problem situations. It was not surprising that a child was brought into the Council when their parents could no longer care for them. But, she was beginning to realize that this was not a normal take-in for the Council. Rozenn smiled slightly at the anecdote, envisioning a very Gaspard being none-too-happy with the world around him; it seemed that nothing had changed. But yet... why the secrecy behind hiding who his parents were. Perhaps they were now working with Magnus. She almost felt bad for the younger elemental. Sure, she'd lost two children of her own, but he lost his parents. She wasn't sure, at this point, which was worse.

When Gaspard simply asked who his parents were, Rozenn stayed still. This was probably the moment he'd waited for all his life and she didn't want to take this moment from him. She could only imagine what he was feeling, but she came up short because she knew she'd never be able to relate. Once Nikodim began speaking, Roz focused on him. With his first comment, it was a declaration opposing everything she'd ever heard of the younger elemental's parents. Whenever she questioned, which wasn't often, she was told that they were rogues, but to hear Nikodim say the opposite was concerning. What was the Council withholding from him? She was all too familiar with the games that the Council played, and she could feel herself growing angry for Gaspard.

A pythia child. To Rozenn's knowledge, Katell was the only pythia the Council knew of those years ago. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The Demin harbinger... Nurasyl. Her anger flared at the mention of the man, and her heart pounded in her ears, so loud that she could barely hear. However, when Nikodim looked at her, her heart sank and the she could hear his words loud and clear. Stubborn as you... Magnus's jawline... Katell's smile...

Katell's smile.

She stood still and didn't acknowledge a single thing he said. Instead, her mind took her back to a time, so long ago, when she thought the world around her was ending. To the time when various Council members stormed into her house... to when she tried to fight them as best as she could, knowing they didn't care about her, but wanted her only child... to when she was taken back to Inverness and she found out she was pregnant... to the fear she felt when she realized that she was going to bring another pythia into the world... to when she cried and cried for her husband, only to find that he was not coming to her rescue... to when she was so frightened that she was willing to kill herself if it meant that the baby inside her would die as well, for she could not bear the thought of the Council taking away another of her children... to when she was imprisoned and to when she begged Nurasyl to let her see Magnus - only to be told no - and to when she screamed herself hoarse, just needing someone to comfort her... to when she finally had the baby, only to have her grandmother take it away and then tell her hours later that the opposing elements had ripped it apart, and it had died within fifteen minutes of its birth... She... she couldn't hold on anymore...

It wasn't possible. The floodgate of emotions came crashing down and the blonde felt herself shaking. She could barely look at Gaspard, but she found herself trying to take in as much of him as she could, for she knew after this moment things would never be the same again. Tears ran down her cheeks and she tried desperately to wipe them away. Shock and sadness and anger coursed through her veins and she didn't know what to say or do. As the emotions overcame her, she could hear herself repeating the same word over and over. "No, no, no, no, no..." She trailed on and on, refusing to believe anything Nikodim said. He was trying to play with her mind; he was just like the rest of them! But... could it be possible?

She began to fall to the floor, dropping to her knees as her heart felt like it was on the brink of exploding. The ground beneath her began to tremble, and as she dropped to her knees the earth began to shake. She could feel more and more memories that she'd locked away return to the surface, and as they did the ground shook more and more. "It's not possible," she finally said. "My grandmother and Nurasyl... they told me my baby had died. How... how could you? How could you keep this from me?" When she finally stopped talking, the earth stopped shaking. She had no more strength in her, no more fight. Her fire had finally gone out.

Bewildered. Dumbstruck. Flabbergasted. Flummoxed.

There were no words – Gaspard was sure – in any of the multiple languages he spoke that could begin to describe the whirlwind of emotions he was feeling at present. If the knowledge that Nikodim had been lying to him had been the stab in the back, the knowledge that his mother was Rozenn, the same woman who had become his teacher, and his father was Magnus, one of the most powerful rogue elementals of all time was yet another painful twist of the knife. Katell, his sister, he had a sister, was another issue entirely, one that his mind couldn’t fully comprehend just now, but he was still keenly aware of the fact that she was someone he would never get to know, to love.

Gaspard hadn’t been able to turn his gaze away from Nikodim, and didn’t until the older man had broken his gaze, turning his attention to Rozenn, too. He was sure he would have things to say to Nikodim’s assertions and explanations, but for the moment, he could do little more than to continue to dumbly watch the scene unfold, too caught up in the surge of emotions and questions. It was then that Gaspard finally understood what his muggle friends had meant when they’d used the phrase ‘like a train wreck that you can’t look away from’ but wished he didn’t.

Despite his best efforts to keep himself in check, it was becoming a losing battle. His pulse had skyrocketed, and his quickened breathing gave away his rising anxieties. It would have only taken a glance, though, to see that the Zealot was struggling. His face might have remained passive to someone he didn’t know, but the shock, pain, and fear in his eyes would have been apparent to those who knew better. And if that wasn’t enough, one hand had moved to grab ahold of the fabric of his chair and gripped it so tightly that his knuckles were white, while the other had made its way to his hair, and was buried there. It was then that Gaspard noticed, detachedly, that there were small spots of frost on the furniture throughout the room. He’d been so taken by surprise that he hadn’t even noticed he’d already lost control of his element. Grimacing briefly at the realization, Gaspard fought to slow his breathing and tried to bring the temperature of the room back to normal. But wasn’t entirely successful as Rozenn, no, his mother began to fall apart at the news. 

He wouldn’t cry now, of that the Garth elemental was certain, he would wait until he was alone to reckon with those demons. But watching his mentor, turned mother, fall apart was hard to stomach. Did he try to comfort her? Not that he would have known what to do, or what to say, but he knew that emotion like hers didn’t come from a good place, Rozenn wasn’t just sad, she was in anguish. He decided against it, not wanting to end up intruding. His heart still broke for her, based on her emotions alone. Nobody deserved to know that kind of pain, not that intimately. Still, Gaspard hadn’t been able to look away, semi-aware of the fact that they were both seeing each other, really seeing each other, for the first time. Mother and son. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the wizard knew that later, after he’d let himself break, he would be as curious to see Magnus’ face.To see for himself if there was any real familial resemblance, that he really was their child.   

And, while it was possible that Rozenn was right and there was some mix-up, that he wasn’t her son, he knew that Nikodim wouldn’t have come forward now with this kind of information if it wasn’t true, nor would he look as defeated as he did. It was almost certainly the truth. It could explain a lot of the poor treatment and dirty looks he had received over the years, why the elders had been so nervous and chitter-y when he’d announced he would be studying Demin as his second affinity. And while he had always trusted Nikodim up until that point, he knew there was one way to be sure. Drawing a deep, deep breath and exhaling – Gaspard ran both hands though his hair, his exhaustion and bewilderment showing themselves in earnest for the first time “What day did you lose your baby?” this time his voice was quiet, although a little raspy, just as tired as the rest of him was. The question itself was almost asinine, but it was the most logical way to confirm what they already knew to be true.

Nikodim ached. He ached for Gaspard, the boy he had practically raised. He knew how much pain and suffering Gaspard had gone through because of his family, his parents. How he had never really felt like he belonged at the council, how everyone was against him. Watching him grow, become so angry and bitter, knowing he had a piece of the puzzle to the boy's true family; it had been so very hard. All he ever wanted was Gaspard's happiness. He's tried to be there for him, be the kind of man the Garth could turn to for help and for comfort. Niko knew all the while that if he ever did reveal what he knew, the truth he'd kept secret, that Gaspard would likely hate him, never trust him again. He was just one more council member who had betrayed him.

But the Incin ached for Rozenn, too. He was as intimately tied up in this family as anyone could be. When she sank to the floor, tears streaming down her face, he saw her differently. He remembered a time, not too long ago for an elemental, when they had been close. Niko had thought of Rozenn like a niece or cousin while he studied under her great-aunt. They had talked, debated council rules and positions, played games. Those were good memories. He wondered if Rozenn thought about what they had lost as often as he did. He knelt next to her, head bowed in supplication, acknowledging her grief and the role he played in it.

"I am sorry," he said, his voice cracking. "I know you won't believe me, but it's true." He shook his head. "I fought them over this. Your grandmother and Nurasyl. I never wanted to take your family from you. I should have told you, should have done more. I failed you and Katell and Gaspard and I am so sorry." He wished he had done something, had been allowed to do something but the council had kept him away, not allowed him to see her or Magnus. Then Katell's death, Demi's injuries, and the murder of Aias; after that he thought neither of them deserved to know. They weren't worthy of the child he was trying so hard to make into a good man. But Gaspard deserved to know.

He shook his head at Gaspard's question. "I don't know if she knows the date. The Demin harbinger had hidden her in their temple. I only knew she was there because I was smuggling letters from Katell to Rozenn. I couldn't get her out. I wasn't even suppose to know where she was." Niko closed his eyes, recalling the day vividly. "She went into labor late in the night of the second of November. You were born the following afternoon. November third."

He looked back at Rozenn, hoping she would understand. "Now do you see why Magnus is important? If he's moving again, it means he's planning something. I couldn't just stay quiet any longer. No one on the council knows the truth. Not Lario, not Demi, not anyone. If he attacked, if Gaspard was summoned as a Zealot to fight... Rozenn, Magnus would kill him." Gaspard was a strong elemental but he would be no match for Magnus if he ran across him. As much as Niko hated to admit it, Magnus was strong, at this point likely stronger than Alva had been when he disappeared.