Camelot's Legacy

Sensing that the first twin was staring at her, Oleandra decided to meet her curiosity-filled gaze. And then, it clicked— both pairs of Mystic Eyes recognized each other as sisters. Oleandra had just found her soul sister: the current incarnation of the terrifying Morgan le Fay. Oleandra unconsciously tensed up, mentally preparing herself for a difficult fight.

The second twin was utterly ordinary, just like her mother; merely a powerless Squib. However, the first twin, Viviane's sister's current incarnation, was an unknown quantity. The only saving grace was that she was underage, and thus, her magic would be much weaker than Oleandra's. In theory.

Even so, she had probably received training from one of the most feared Dark Witches of all time since the day of her birth. Magic power wasn't everything in a Wizard's duel; one needed experience, knowledge, good reflexes, good aim, battle IQ… Oleandra's four years of Hogwarts and half a year's worth of Viviane's training likely didn't amount to much compared to what this little girl had probably learned…

If this little girl was responsible for the rain that had stripped Oleandra's enchantments from her, then she likely did not stand a ghost of a chance in a head-on fight.

"Mother," said the first twin, looking back and forth between Oleandra and her mother. "I don't think she's a bad person, we can trust her."

"Huh?" Oleandra couldn't help herself but say. Just like that??

The gears in Oleandra's brain spun. Firstly, Merlin's memory had sent her here for a weapon; secondly, Morgan had killed Viviane with the Elder wand. Put two and two together, and… could it be that the legendary Wand of Destiny was here?

The uncomfortable realization that she was being manipulated sent shivers down Oleandra's spine. Just how far had legendary Wizard Merlin seen into the future? Despite her best efforts, was she merely a marionette, dancing on the strings of a puppeteer?

But that couldn't be; Viviane had told her that Greater Fairies weren't supposed to have a predetermined fate while on Earth; not since the world had erased Avalon from existence. Wasn't she supposed to be free to make her own future? Or had she been mistaken?

While Oleandra was pondering on her fate, the woman appeared to come to a decision.

"Very well," the woman said, relaxing her guard slightly. "I trust my daughter's judgment, so I'll answer your questions. You wanted to know why we wanted to read your memories and to know about our goals, yes?"

"Hm?" said Oleandra distractedly, tearing her eyes away from the girl. "Oh. Right, what's up with that?"

The woman then began her tale:

"We are a collective of like-minded people; Wizards and Witches, ordinary men and women both," she explained. "We are the descendants of the Knights of the Round Table who survived the Battle of Camlann, and of the Court Wizards who assisted King Arthur. We have inherited their spirit and traditions, their drive to create a perfect world."

Oleandra stared at her in disbelief. It wasn't that they had learned about the Wizarding World at some point in history; they had just never forgotten about it in the first place! Back when the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was instated in 1692, Wizards hadn't gone around erasing memories; there were simply too many Muggles for that. They had gone into hiding, and then Muggles had simply forgotten about magic after a while, like toddlers lacking object permanence.

And now, the enlightened modern man very snobbishly dismissed magic as a relic of the past; the superstitious beliefs of an uneducated people… despite magic being very real. It was all very ironic.

"For now, we are secretly building up our forces so that we may one day contest the Ministries of Magic of the world," the woman continued. "So that we might one day overthrow the Statute of Secrecy. To reclaim humanity's shared birthright of magic, and to protect the helpless from those who would abuse its power."

Wizardkind often liked to claim that Muggle persecution during the Middle Ages was the reason why they absolutely had to go into hiding, but the truth was that it was human to err; neither side was completely innocent. Yes, Muggles often reacted with fear, hatred and extreme violence to the unknown, but Wizards and Witches had also Transfigured many a Muggle into a toad for no better reason than for a laugh.

In the end, Wizards and Muggles were both different sides of the same coin of humanity; just as capable of cruelty and of resorting to their baser instincts. It was just that one side massively outnumbered the other…

"As for why we wanted to read your memories," the woman said, "it's just standard procedure when a foreign Wizard or Witch enters our town; we need to make sure that their visit is just a coincidence, that our existence is still kept secret. Until we gather enough power, we will keep to the shadows…"

She paused for a second.

"It's strange, though," she then added after a moment's thought, "there's not supposed to be lightning storms when the Thief's Rainfall triggers…"

And there you had it: there existed a rival organization to the Ministries of Magic system, composed of both Wizards and Muggles, right under their very noses! It had to be known that the various Ministries of Magic had their spies deeply entrenched in their mundane counterparts to facilitate Wizarding affairs and to get information in advance of possible breaches of the Statute of Secrecy.

There were Wizards in the various levels of Muggle government in most countries, to help keep magical events unnoticed and to help things run smoothly. For example, they worked to keep Muggles from wondering why certain people (Muggleborn children) simply disappeared from society, when they should be going to school.

In general, only Muggle prime ministers or presidents were made aware of magic, but they could in no way influence magical policy, so Wizards might as well not bother with the practice. Knowing all this, how could anyone have ever suspected that a civilian organization of all things, not the government, knew all about magic?

"Well, now that you know," said the woman, "would you be interested in joining us? We could always use more capable members…"

"I— I don't know," said Oleandra dizzily. "It's so much to take in… I only came here to look for something…"

 "Oh, right, we never introduced ourselves, did we?" the woman said. "My name is Stephanie Dulac, and these are my two daughters Mai and Maelie. We are descended from Galahad, son of Elaine of Benoic and of Lancelot of the Lake. Oh, and I'm the mayoress of this charming little town of ours."

"And I'm Oleandra Greengrass," Oleandra responded, shaking each one of their hands. "I actually came here to pay my respects to someone dear to me, and to find a weapon. Ah, but I have no idea where to look for either of those things…"

The woman raised an eyebrow when she heard the name Greengrass, but she didn't comment on it.

"I might be able to help with one of those things," the girl with the Mystic Eyes said timidly. "But we'll need to go into the forest. Mother…?"

The girl's mother looked torn, but in the end, she nodded.

"Very well, dear… but take Enora, Gwen and Julianne with you," she said. "I believe they're listening to us from downstairs… You three, come up here, please!"

It seemed that even though she'd been told to stand down, the gorilla woman hadn't spent the time idly; she'd gone to wake up her companions, before assembling downstairs to prepare their next move; though that wouldn't be necessary any more.

"By the way," said Oleandra, "why have I only seen women in your organization? Is this some sort of Amazons thing you've got going on here?"

"It's just a coincidence," said Madame Dulac with a smile. "Those three are good friends, so they do everything together. They all work at the inn in the evening; Enora is the maid, Gwen is the receptionist, and Julianne is the cook."

Oleandra had a hard time picturing the gorilla woman in an apron, but she didn't have any problems imagining her devouring the food she had just made. She quickly shelved her thoughts when the three women clambered up the stairs, looking worse for wear.

"Shame on you," Madame Dulac scolded them. "How could you let this little girl get the better of you? I'm doubling all of your training."

"Little girl?" Oleandra frowned. "I'm fifteen."

"That's even worse!" Madame Dulac continued. "At any rate, you'll be accompanying my daughter and this young lady." She then turned to Oleandra, adding, "I'm very grateful you didn't hurt these three too much; it must have been traumatic being woken in such a fashion in the middle of the night…"

"It's fine," Oleandra said in an understanding tone. "I've been through worse."

================================================================

Incidentally, the only reason why Madame Dulac had come to work so early with her daughters was because the thunderstorm had knocked down a tree over her house, piercing the roof of her cottage.

With the Thief's Rainfall triggering and her roof being leaky, her house had quickly become unliveable. Since she couldn't sleep in a wet bed, the mayoress had come to her office in the evening with a sleeping bag and her two daughters… Which was why Oleandra had even met her and her daughters there in the morning after giving chase to the gorilla woman.

Coincidences kept piling up suspiciously, but Oleandra was unwilling to give up and go home empty-handed. One day, she told herself, she'd get to the bottom of things and give Merlin a good slap for sending her on this voyage. After all, if everything was preordained, did free will even matter?