Stakes

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Thane was met with a round of applause as he opened his eyes inside his mindscape and looked up to see Thalion, Solara and Elara all seated on their thrones politely clapping. 

"Now that's how it's done!" Thalion exclaimed with a boisterous laugh, "Oh my that was near perfection. I guess nature truly does overrule nurture." 

Not knowing how to react to such direct praise Thane could only glance away awkwardly, "Thank you, I tried to use everything you all have taught me." 

"You certainly did, creating a spellframe from scratch no matter how minor is a grand feat, you should take pride in your accomplishments," Solara replied with a brilliant smile, her aura exuding pride and praise.

Elara nodded along in agreement, "And while you unfortunately weren't given the opportunity to use your spellblade properly I commend you for keeping up with my standards. You've come a long way in a very very short amount of time." 

"Indeed you have, which is why it's about time we have a much more serious conversation about your place in the world Thane," Thalion said, his tone going from joyful to serious in a matter of seconds, "You are the last of our kind Thane." 

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Thane nodded, "As you have said many times before." 

"Yes and for good reason, sooner rather than later that secret will become fact beyond your control and discretion." Thalion continued his voice still grave, "And while it may seem as if the Fae have been forgotten by the world, powerful echoes of our influence still mark this world. Echos that people will follow back to you with less than pure intentions." 

"You've hinted at this before, but what aren't you telling me?" Thane asked with a frown waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

Solara leaned forward and Thane's attention shifted to her, "When the world learns what you are, it won't be as Thane Carter a british muggle born wizard. It will be as Thane, King of the Faerie Kingdom. You'll have entire nations judging whether you're friend or foe, and as my husband said many will label you as foe to justify their own greed and lust for power." 

Thane fell silent for a long moment as he tried to imagine the future being painted in front of him, "All of you realize it's only been a week since I learned that wizards were real right?" 

Thalion's smile returned even if it was a bit strained, "We aren't unaware of the tremendous burden on your shoulders Thane but after observing you for the past few days we decided it was best that you understand the full scope of your destiny." 

"But I don't know the first thing about running a kingdom," Thane stated the obvious, "Also you keep talking as if I only have a certain amount of time before my secret is revealed." 

"Why do you think we've been having our nightly sessions?" Elara responded to Thane's first question, "If you maintain your current trajectory you will have no problem learning everything you need and more to be a competent king."

Thalion grunted in agreement, "As for your second question…there's no easy way to say this but you only have seven years before you will have to announce yourself to the world whether you wish to or not." 

Thane frowned as he was suddenly present with a timeline far shorter than he imagined, "Seven years?! I'll barely be old enough to order a beer? What could possibly force my hand so soon?" 

"In seven years, Yggdrasil, the world tree and birth land of all Fae, will re-emerge after centuries of dormance. You must lay claim to it and defend it from those who seek to harm it," Thalion replied gravely his eyes not leaving Thane's for a moment, "If Yggdrasil falls it will not have the strength to resurrect itself again, a fate that will be disastrous not only for the Fae but for all life on Earth." 

---

"Where is it…" Hermione muttered to herself as her eyes scanned the bookshelf in front of her looking for one book in particular, only to arrive at an empty placeholder. 

Cursing under her breath Hermione spun in a huff only to crash into a wall that she was positive hadn't been there before. Before she could fall to the ground Hermione felt a large hand come to rest on the small of her back arresting her downward momentum. 

Blinking Hermione looked up only to find Thane leaning over her, his dark green eyes only a few inches away from her face which Hermione felt flush with heat at the embarrassing situation. 

"Are you alright Granger?" Thane asked, still looming over Hermione, his eyes roaming over her face with an intensity that made Hermione's heart hammer in her chest. 

"Y-your hand," Hermione stammered out her voice barely above a whisper, "C-could you please move your hand?" 

"What was that?" Thane asked, leaning in even closer as he tilted his head to the side. 

"Please move your hand!" Hermione practically shouted, making Thane wince and flinched back as his hand disappeared from Hermione's back. 

Catching herself Hermione glanced over at Thane who was holding his ear in pain, "I-I'm sorry I-I didn't mean to…" 

Hermione's apology petered out as she watched the hand cupped over Thane's ear pulse with a silver flash of light. A second later the pained expression on Thane's face melted away and he stood back up with a relieved sigh. 

"W-was that wandless magic?" Hermione asked and Thane glanced over at her while massaging his ear, "Yeah I can't exactly go whipping out a dagger everytime I want to cast a charm, so I picked it up." 

"What do you mean you 'picked it up'? Wandless magic is supposed to be a high level skill reserved for Mages." Hermione asked incredulously. 

Thane shrugged before he reached into his robes and pulled out a book, "Here I think you might have been looking for this." 

Hermione glanced down at the heavy tome in Thane's hand, the exact book she had been looking for, 'The Eternal Almanac of Alchemy.' 

"I-if your not done with it then I'm fine wait-" 

"No I finished it already, also fair warning most of the practical information about alchemy in here is outdated by a few centuries. Though it does summarize the craft's history fairly well and has a few biographies regarding famous alchemists," Thane interjected as he gestured for Hermione to take it once more. 

"Thanks," Hermione muttered as she took the offered book, "D-do you come here often?" 

Thane blinked, "To the school's library? Yeah I guess so, but often is a bit of an understatement. There's surprisingly little you can do at this school by yourself, I gave up trying after the third week. " 

"You don't hang out with your friends?" Hermione asked, clearly confused. 

"What friends? After my stunt with Draco my housemates either pretend I don't exist or actively hate my guts and try to jinx me at every opportunity. Everyone else just stares at me when they think I'm not looking and whispers behind my back." Thane ground out through clenched teeth before he took a deep breath, "So I come here, where I don't have to worry about anyone bothering me." 

"Well have you at least tried talking to people?"Hermione asked without thinking and almost immediately regretted it as Thane narrowed his eyes at her. 

"Yeah I did, with you. Remember how that worked out?" Thane asked sarcastically as he turned around to walk away. 

"Wait!" Hermione shouted as she reached out and grabbed the hem of Thane's sleeve, "I-I'm sorry about that…I was rude when all you did was save me from falling. And I haven't talked to you after that because I thought you thought poorly of me." 

Thane froze before he glanced over his shoulder at Hermione who quickly let go of his robes, "A-and you should know that people only stare at you because they want to talk to you but don't have the courage to do it." 

"What are they afraid I'll summon a snake to attack them?" Thane asked, making Hermione snort, "More like afraid of making a fool of themselves in front of their crush."

"I-I'm there what?" Thane stammered and Hermione froze as she realized what she had just admitted.

"Oh no."