Taming the Rogue King

The Etheral Witch

Ira

Sarena listened to her with rapt attention, which was very befitting of her personality. She asked a few questions in between as Ira narrated her experience since the time she had entered the Battle of Myponga with Draco and Noah.

Sarena interrupted sometimes to understandd Ira's feelings, but otherwise, she remained quiet and continued to listen patiently.

Ira reached the part where she mentioned the morning incident with Liam, where Liam had come over to her room, knowing what she was dreaming about. She skipped the details and Sarena stopped her.

She looked at Sarena, panicking at what Sarena wanted to know.

"In the past, have you ever had such dreams where others around you have been able to see them?" Sarena's wise eyes glinted as if she was onto something.

Ira stared at the old woman. Witches aged very little. Many witches could even freeze their youth when they got the knowledge of using time as a matter, but for some reason, Sarena looked ancient. Even Ira, who considered herself a human, looked almost like a teenager, yet Sarena looked like she was a hundred years old. Did wisdom come at the expense of youth? Ira thought and Sarena interrupted her thoughts.

"You need to focus darl. I know it must be disturbing to land up in a different place. But please focus. We all want you back here, with us! We are all worried. Even Liam is absolutely distraught."

Ira sighed. "Yes. Mum had been able to snoop into my dreams sometimes when she was close by. But I thought it was because of her witch powers. I was utterly shocked to see Liam know about my dream, too!"

"Mmm... Please continue." Sarena beseeched.

"Nana?" Ira needed to know something else. "Why have you aged so much? I never thought about it before."

"That's a story for some other time. Right now, getting you back is a priority, and I can't do that unless I know where you are. Please continue. What happened after... How do I phrase this...? Mmm... After Liam left?"

Ira blushed at the memory and continued her narration. It was embarrassing to accept that her soulmate was getting engaged to someone else right after spending the morning with her, but if it would help Sarena understand how to get Ira back to her times, she didn’t mind sharing.

Once the story was over, Ira waited silently, hoping that Sarena had figured out the issue.

“Oh, my f*cking God! What I suspected is true! You are an ethereal witch!” Sarena exclaimed in an addictive enthusiasm.

“Really? Why did it not manifest earlier?” Once the initial enthusiasm settled, Ira felt cheated. She had been almost r*ped, she had been abused and yet she was powerful enough to have prevented it. Why did she not know that she was a witch?

“It happens in a few witches. Their powers are suppressed. But that’s usually done by another powerful witch. I need to speak to Myra.” Sarena said and fell silent as she rubbed her chin with her fingers. By now she had taken a seat on another bar stool and was sitting across the table in front of Ira.

“So what now? What does an ethereal witch even do? I don’t think they have cool powers like the smell and taste!” Ira clucked, feeling disheartened. Her witch side of the family was very strong, so why did she turn out to be such a weakling? But then, a few hours back, she believed she was only human. So this was still better than being powerless.

"Have you gone mental?" Sarena chided. "Do you know nothing about the witches?"

"I do. A little. I did not bother to know more because it did not matter." Ira mumbled, checking Sarena out. She knew the old woman could get very dramatic sometimes.

"Does not matter? Your ethnicity doesn't matter? A woman whose maternal grandparents were royalties? Whose dad IS a royalty! You really don't care about it?" Sarena huffed in exasperation.

"Dad's island got flooded and lies at the bottom of the Bay of Bengal! He isn't a king any longer. All his subjects have dispersed. I never knew my grandparents. And until now, I believed I was the black sheep of the family... The only female human! What did you expect?" Ira shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant. But her indignation crept through and Sarena shook her head.

“Have you ever felt the need to talk to entities that are unreal? I know you have been able to connect with books but have you ever spoken to them” Sarena muttered as if speaking to herself, but Ira knew the question was to distract her.

“Mmm..” She stalled, thinking of all those times when she could hear the books whisper to her. She had always believed that it was her nerdiness. Was it a reality? “Yes? I could hear the books talk to me.” She responded with a wavering voice. She was still unsure of her connection to the books.

“And yet you never told me about it? Sarena chided.

“I thought it was just in my mind!” Ira huffed. How would I know the sounds were real? No human hears books. For God’s sake! Hallucinations indicate a mental disorder!” Ira spoke evenly.

“All the more a reason to share it with your family sweets! Why didn’t you? Did you believe we wouldn’t support you?” Sarena prodded.

“Maybe! Or maybe I believed it was unreal? I don’t know!” Ira cried in frustration.

“It’s okay! Relax! Although I could have helped you better if I knew about this. I suspected, but you never shared anything, so I thought my guess had gone wrong. It wasn’t so wrong after all!” Sarena mused. She peered over Ira as if seeing right through her.

“I guess I wasn’t confident enough! I thought you were interested in James as he was the talented one! A prodigy who was going to fulfil a prophecy!” Ira muttered, speaking out her insecurities.

It wasn’t as if she resented James, but she felt overshadowed. The complex had set in when Sarena had started training him.

That evening, both James and Ira had fought her bullies, yet Sarena had started training only James and ignore Ira. Plus Sarena was James' Aunt. For Ira, she was still a distant relative. So she had pushed this away into her subconscious, locking it off, hiding it from her consciousness so that the resentment did not build up. She loved her cousin, and she considered him to be closer than a brother. That was it! She was happy with his progress, and she wanted it to remain like that.

“Silly girl! James might be my sister’s grandchild, but you are the bright little baby of Myra and Roy. I love your parents. Witches stick together! They stand with their own! We have been persecuted long enough to know that strength lies in unity! Remember darl… Stand for your own tribe! When it comes to all races, no one loves the witches. They persecuted us because they feared our powers and that will always continue!” Sarena said in a grave tone. It was strange to see Sarena so serious. Her talk was otherwise sprinkled with a healthy amount of chuckles.

Ira nodded. The exhaustion was slowly catching on, and she felt drowsy. As her eyes fought to close, Sarena smiled and said, “you must rest now. I will figure out what needs to be done. Keep yourself safe.”

Again Ira nodded. Unable to remain awake, darkness engulfed her as the comfort of sleep took over.

Maybe she would be back in her world when she woke up! Maybe this was all a bad dream! She can't be a witch!

*****