Enchantress And The Guardian

Dev hugged his grandfather and grandmother before boarding the boat that would take him back to Britain. He had just spent the year with his grandparents and among the WereTiger's of India. The experience was completely different from the one that he had known all of his life living on the Walker estate. Dev was excited and nervous about going back home. He missed his parents terribly, but he was also nervous of what he would come back to. When he had departed a year prior, the tensions were high between his mother and father. Dev had always worried that it was because of him. Azad and Sagara had done their best to try and reassure them that it was something they needed to work out among themselves and that Dev was not the source of their tension. However, the reassuring did nothing to lessen his worry about his parents and their relationship. Dev waved from the deck of the ship to his grandparents who remained on land. Sagara held a handkerchief to her eyes and wiped any stray tears that would fall. The past year she had cherished every moment of having her grandson stay with them. She knew that one day he would return. Dev had lived among their kind and seemed at home with the others. Azad was proud of the man that Dev was growing to be. A lot had changed in him in the year that he was in India. Azad noticed that Dev was becoming more of a man. He took responsibility for his actions and helped those less fortunate than him, and not just in the aspect of money. A few of the WereTigers had lost a limb in the first war and eating or walking was difficult for them. Numerous times, Azad had found Dev sitting with one of them helping them eat or helping them to their beds. Azad knew that Dev had the potential to be a great leader. Azad waved back to his grandson as the ship began to pull away from the docks. He put his arms around his wife as she blew her nose into the handkerchief. "Come on, my dear. How about I make you a hot cup of tea?" Azad asked. "Like how Dev makes it?" She asked. Azad chuckled and nodded. He knew Sagara was going to be down for a little while with Dev leaving. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Dev walked through the door of the mansion, a small group of people waited on the other side. Including his parents, his other grandparents and even the Blackwood's. Along with their daughter Quinn. Quinn was a year younger than Dev. "Welcome home," everyone cheered as Dev walked through the door. Dev could not help the smile that spread across his face at the welcome. "Wow, thank you everyone," Dev said as he put his satchel near the doorway. Tresa was the first to rush to Dev and embrace him. She had missed him every single day that he had not been at home. "Welcome home, my dear," she whispered. Dev squeezed her gently. "Thank you, mother," Dev released his hold and shook his father's hand, who ended up pulling Dev in for an embrace as well. From there, one after the other, each person embraced Dev and welcomed him back home. Dev noticed a spread of food laid out. He had not eaten much on the journey back from India. It took a lot longer than he remembered, but he was glad to finally be back home. As Dev filled a plate and turned around to the group of visitors, Dev saw some standing at the edge of the crowd not participating in the conversation. It was Lochlan and Cecilia's daughter, Quinn. Dev noticed that she kept her hands clasped together in front of her. Dev walked over and nudged her shoulder with his own. "Quinny, why are you over here all by yourself?" Dev used his nickname for her that he had given her when they were younger. Quinn just silently shook her head. Dev began to worry about his friend. He looked down at her and waited for her to meet his gaze. When she finally looked up, Dev noticed how much she had changed in the short amount of time that he had been gone. Although a year felt like a long time. Realistically it was not, but Quinn seemed to have changed exponentially. Quinn was becoming a young woman. Dev had to remind himself that she was still only sixteen, and he was more of a brother to her than anything. Dev shook his head and asked her instead. "Can you tell me what is bothering you?" Quinn let out a shaky breath. She kept her hands firmly clasped together. "I asked not to come." Dev was surprised by her answer. Why would she not want to come? Was she upset at Dev for leaving in the first place? "Why?" He asked her. Quinn pushed her toe along the smooth floor. She was trying to avoid his gaze, but the harder she tried, the more Dev wanted to know what he had done to warrant this. "Because my magic is starting to come, and I do not know how to control it yet," Quinn said quietly. She did not want the others to hear. She was told not to discuss magic in front of anyone outside the family, but Quinn had heard her father and Mr. Walker talking recently about Dev and Lochlan, had said that he was the most powerful that any of them had seen in a long time. "What have you done?" Dev asked. He said it lightly so as not to make her any more self-conscious than she already was, it seemed. "I may have lit things on fire by pointing at them," Quinn said. That would explain why she was keeping her hands tightly together, Dev thought. He had been dealing with little magic spells since he was a kid, so he knew how to handle them to this point. He looked at Quinn and wanted to help her. "Do you want some of my advice?" He asked. Quinn looked up at him quickly and nodded her head. "Don't be afraid of it. It will only make it worse," Dev reached for Quinn's hand. She tried to jerk away, but Dev held on firmly. He opened her hand. In the center of Quinn's palm a small spark began. Quinn watched in amazement as it danced around playfully. She looked up at Dev with wonder. He smiled at her and then looked back down at her hand as a second spark began and danced around the other one. When he was finished Dev blew out the sparks lightly. Quinn stared at her hand in wonder. Had that really just happened? She smiled at Dev. "Thank you," she said as she clasped her hand to her chest. Dev smiled and nodded as he walked back over to his parents and began a conversation with them. Quinn felt something inside of her beginning to feel something towards Dev. Up until this point, she had only seen him as an older brother to protect her, but as she watched Dev move around the room, she realized that she may feel something for him that sisters do not feel towards their brothers. The thought was unsettling, but not in a bad way. Quinn found that after Dev's attention and advice, she was able to relax more and enjoy her evening. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We are so glad to have you home, son," Edmond said as Tresa, Edmond and Dev all sat on the back terrace. The others had left some time ago. Dev had asked to sit outside. He said that the night sky helped him to relax before bed. This was something new that Tresa noticed. She knew that some things would be different about her son upon his return. She had not expected, however, for him to have grown into such a young man. Dev had been courteous to everyone in the room when he had walked through the door. He made sure to visit everyone. Tresa had even seen Dev help Quinn. Whatever he had said to her, helped to change her mood for the rest of the time that the Blackwood's were there. Even now as Dev sat in his chair, his head tilted back as he looked up at the night sky, Tresa could feel a power aura coming from him. Kato could feel it too. "Dev is growing stronger," Kato commented. Edmond agreed. "I am curious how he is going to handle training with Lochlan," Edmond wondered. "He will be fine," Kato said. Kato always had the upmost faith in Dev. Dev had asked Lochlan if they could start Dev's training in the morning. Lochlan had chuckled and agreed. Dev seemed excited about learning from Lochlan and Lochlan seemed more than willing to teach him. Dev looked back down from the night sky and caught both of his parents staring at him. He smiled at them and was happy to see that they appeared to have worked through whatever started when he left a year ago. Dev noticed that they held hands more and gave each other loving looks from afar. "I think I will head to bed. Tomorrow my magic training starts," Dev said. He hugged each of his parents before walking back through the mansion and headed towards his old room. Dev was happy to be home but as he laid his head down for the night he also felt himself missing his grandparents. He surprisingly also missed the noise from India. The place never seemed to quite go to sleep and Dev found he had a hard time falling asleep without those noises around him. Eventually, the darkness did overtake him and Dev was plunged into a deep sleep that even dreams could not penetrate. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dev knocked lightly on the Blackwood residence. Their butler opened the door. Dev let him know who he was and why he was there. Lochlan must have let the man know that he would be over because he let him through the mansion and showed him straight to the back. Dev saw Lochlan sitting at a small table on the terrace. "Good morning, Dev," Lochlan said without turning around to look at the lad. "Good morning Lord Blackwood," Dev walked around so that he was face to face with the man that he would be spending a decent amount of time with for the next year. "I will just finish my tea, and then we can begin," Lochlan sipped down the rest of his tea and returned the cup to the saucer. Lochlan stood up from the small table and held his hand out to Dev. Dev did as instructed and walked out into the garden that began at the bottom of the terrace. "Let us see how much power you currently have to work with before we begin your training," Lochlan said as he came to stand a few feet from Dev. Dev was unsure what that meant. Suddenly Lochlan held his hand up and flicked his wrist lgihtly. With it came a large flame that barreled through the air and headed straight for Dev. Dev instinctively put his hands up, palms out, to stop the incoming attack. Within a matter of seconds, the fire was extinguished before it got halfway to Dev. Dev slowly dropped his hand and looked at Lochlan. A smile began to spread across his face. Before he could congratulate himself, Lochlan made the motion again, but this time, instead of fire coming towards him, a huge gust of wind was hurled through the air. Dev was once more able to stop the attack before it reached him. "Good," Lochlan said. Neither were aware of the figure that stood at the back door and watched them. Quinn stood just inside the door, far enough not to be caught. She watched in awe as her father barely made an effort to attacked Dev. Dev also was able to stop those attacks with nothing more than his hands. Not once did Dev jump out of the way like Quinn would have done. Once more, same as the previous evening, Quinn felt something that she could not quite put her finger on when it came to Dev. Dev had changed so much since the previous year that she had seen him. He held himself differently than the kid who used to run around the estates with her. The two kept at it for some time. Just as Quinn was about to turn around, her father bellowed from the garden, "You may as well come out and watch." Quinn froze. She had thought he had been unaware of her presence. Lochlan turned around and gave his daughter a crooked smile. "I thought you couldn't see me," Quinn tried to justify herself. Lochlan only shook his head in response as he turned back around towards Dev. After some time, Lochlan finally stopped sending attacks toward Dev. "Very good," Lochlan said as he walked back up the steps to the small table and took a seat. Dev followed behind and stood in front of him. "That is all for today. Tomorrow we will be in the study. Magic is part action but also a lot of knowledge can come from books." Dev nodded his understanding. "Tomorrow then. Thank you Lord Blackwood," Dev bowed slightly to Lochlan before turning to Quinn and giving her a smile. He then turned on his heel and headed to the front door. Leaving Lochlan and his daughter sitting at the small table on the terrace. "That was amazing," Quinn finally said. "One day you will be able to do it as well. Dev is a special case. He had much more power early on than most do," Lochlan said as he poured another cup of tea from the kettle that one of the maids put on the table. "When will I be able to start training?" Quinn got the nerv to ask her father. Lochlan smiled into the rim of his cup. His actions had the desired effect. Quinn was beginning to become more interested in the magic world that she was about to become a part of as well.