Back to Dublin

After a few seconds of being hugged Aileen released me and went back inside not saying anything else, I carried on undressing and when I was naked I ran while shifting into my wolf form in the woods. Dashing through the trees I just kept running for a while, thinking of what to do with the muggle children, I could give them the skills to survive but would they actually be able to? They're just normal kids, after all, I could take them with me to Dublin but what then? Will I have to just keep them all? Maybe they can work in the smiths or in farms? But then again they're children.

Running cleared my head from all the unnecessary thoughts, I just decided to take it as it comes. I'll keep them alive and well till they decide what to do when we get to Dublin, speaking of that it'll take a lot longer to get back then it did to get here. I had the rations from the loot but if probably have to hunt for some meat on the way feeding a gang of children isn't simple.

After an hour or so of darting about the woodland, I made my way back to the house and shifted back just a leap away and got dressed again. Making my way inside I tried to be as quiet as possible, everyone was asleep if the silence was anything to go by.

Tiptoeing through the sea of bodies laid against each other on the floor was a task in itself, it was so tightly packed. 'I need a bigger place if I've got a whole bunch of kids to look after' I thought with a sigh making my way upstairs to the bedroom, when I got inside I shut the door and just flopped on the bed drifting off to sleep.

I was woken by rays of sunlight hitting my face from a little window in the room, getting up and ready I made my way downstairs, the sea of bodies was still there as it waved with the rising chests of the children that made it.

"Trippy start breakfast," I said to the little elves stood at the fireplace.

"Master Trippy will do it! Trippy found some oats in the supplies" her excitement was contagious with the other elves as they all popped away doing what I don't know.

A few of the children began to stir after Trippy shouted out, sitting up rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and glancing around trying to figure out what was happening.

"Alright, kids get dressed and ready breakfast won't be too long" I announced with a smile as they all looked at me and the confusion drained from their faces. They began to get ready rolling up the furs or throwing them on whoever was still asleep waking up the victim in the process.

After a while, everyone was sat down chatting away with each other as Trippy stirred the pot of porridge with a spoon as big as her body. I was sat at the desk sorting out the plethora of things that were in my belt pouch, it had loads of random stuff in that I didn't even know I had or when Toskr had gathered them.

There were all sorts of stones, jewels and pieces of metal scattered across the table, some knives and spoons with intricate designs even a sack of seeds that I couldn't identify by the appearance of them. One thing that fascinated me though was a small black wooden block that had dark blue veins running through it, it was only about the size of a matchbox but it thrummed with magic. There were more pieces of twisted bone as well but these were larger than the one Toskr used as a spear.

After sorting through them all and putting them on the shelves I started to write my own grimoire, I used the bone quill and some blue ink and wrote all my research down, it was written in runes and I was surprised when I drew a sigil I had made it actually activated, luckily it wasn't powerful and wasn't meant to hurt anything it was the magic gathering sigil I used years ago. The quill used my magic without me even sensing it, it could come in handy for the card battle game I was designing.

After breakfast and finishing my notes I rolled up the paper and tired it up and turned to the children.

"Okay, kids we best start on our journey to Dublin" I announced getting up from my desk.

"Mister Fenrisúlfr why are we going to Dublin anyway?" Aileen raised a question with a slight head tilt.

"Well Aileen that's where I was staying before I came to get you a lot, my friend Cliodna is waiting for my return and I don't want to keep her waiting too long" I answered with a smile as I realised something, "ah that reminds me! Lucky!" I shouted as the tiny green bird flew in through the window and landed on my shoulder.

"Lucky can you go tell Clio what happened please? Let her know I'll be back in a week or so and find a place for the kids to stay? I'm sure she's worried about you" I asked and was answered with a song of chirps as she flew away happily.

After the children got outside with the elves I exited the house and shrunk it down leaving most of the stuff outside apart from my weapons and belt pouch that I left rather empty, never know when Toskr would find something interesting.

Toskr was back in his usual spot on my shoulder as we began walking north, the witches and wizards we're closest to me asking a bunch of questions.

"So Mister Fenrisúlfr what does magic feel like?" Aileen asked walking on my left,

"Well when I first felt it I was like my chest was bubbly and warm, after I used it a while it became comfortable but still bubbly, this is because of the stage my magic was in, I have gone through 3 stages and I'm sure there are more. The first stage is like gas then it's mist after is water which I'm at right now. When we take a rest for food I want you all to search inside yourselves for your core, you do this with your mind, just sit with your eyes closed and feel the magic inside you" I explained my experience with magic to Aileen as a look of realisation crossed her face with many of the others as well.

"I've felt it! When you made the snail shell big my chest got all bubbly and warm!" Shouted a dark-haired girl with brown eyes, I didn't know her name, in fact, I only knew the names of the elves and a couple of the kids I'd have to rectify that later.

"Ah your magic must have stirred when I used my own" I stated with a smile, it would be easier if they knew what they were looking for after all.

"So Mister Fenrisúlfr what spells can you do?" A ginger-haired boy asked with shining eyes,

"Not too many actually and I use my language and runes to cast most of them, but I have a few simple one's ill teach you later, magic is all willpower, intent and control of the magic supplied, but first you need to move the magic around your body to get used to it, it will help you heal and strengthen your body a bit"

"What's will power?" Asked a timid girl with light brown hair

"Hmm well, will power is the commitment to doing something, for example, say you were really tired and you needed to complete something, will power is the resolve to see it done, do you understand?" I asked not too sure I explained it well for 10-year-olds.

"Ermm I think I get it, so like if I was really hungry but had no food, willpower would be seeing through the idea to steal something?" She asked still slightly confused but I guess that's about right.

I nodded my head and said "it can also be used for the opposite like having all the food you would ever need and not eating it on the first day, you would need the will power to save the food for when you needed it" I chuckled as the kids started to realise the meaning.

'So what's the intent?" I heard from behind, honestly explaining the meanings of something I always knew was harder then I thought it would be.

"Intent is the aim of what you want the spell to do, for example, when I made the snail shell big my intent was to make it big, I used my willpower and magic to make it happen" I described as we continued to trudge through the woodland at a slow pace.

After hours of questions and slow ambling through woodland, we came upon a field of tall grass and took a break for food, I would probably run out soon but I could hunt and buy some with the coins I had acquired so I wasn't too worried. The kids with magic all did what I told them to and got a feel for their energy and began manipulating it throughout there bodies, as time went on our journey continued until sunset where I placed down the house again and we all had dinner and slept for the night.

The next day was pretty much the same but I gifted a few bows I made to the muggle kids to hunt birds and rabbits they spotted along the way, the journey was peaceful and not much happened apart from Patrick scowling at myself and some other kids. The journey sped up a bit as we came across a mud track north, it was easier to traverse then woodland floors after all.

After a few days travelling I tasked the kids with levitation charms, I didn't say a chant or use a wand and just explained what I wanted them to achieve, basically make it float, Aileen was the best of all the children she had a strong will which she had shown standing out among the crowd to question me after being saved, her magic wasn't very abundant but she had great control over it. A few accidents happened from magic exhaustion but other than that all things progressed smoothly.

The next spell I tasked them with was actually the warming charm I read in a grimoire, it was simple and the kids appreciated it as the autumn winds were cold. It was learned fairly easily, I knew it was because of the way they were performing magic with their intent and willpower, not wand movements and incantations. It always seemed overly complicated to me after I had used magic, sure some spells with wand movements helped its direction and incantations helped visualise your intent but that was it by my evaluations. I wouldn't even give the kids a wand until they could master the basics or they would become accustomed to them. The Magic dispersion would be mitigated by the wand and if their control could improve without it that was a plus in my book.

After about 10 days of stop and start travel, we were at the outskirts of Dublin and I was so glad to be back, I set my house down in its old spot and mounded up some earth around it and told the kids to wait inside while I went to get Clio.

As I jogged through the town and waved at the locals I couldn't stop the bright smile forming as I saw her, luscious black hair blowing in the wind, her usual purple cloak hood was down and her milky white skin was shimmering in the sun, I'd never seen a more beautiful sight. I didn't stop running and when I was just about to hit her I scooped her up into my arms spinning her around in a tight embrace.

"Wha Fenris?!" I heard her shout in shock and her voice just brightened my day even more as I put her down for her to a pin around and lunge at me, catching her in a hug, I brushed the hair out of her eyes behind her ear with a hand, looking into her shamrock green eyes that were building up with tears as a smile blossomed on her face.

"I'm back Clio"