Magic and Research

Main character quote!

"I never play with matches."~ Annie the Dark Child.

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The Hastur home had the pitter patter of little feet running around the house.

"Annieeee wait for meee" called Daisy as she ran after the sprinting Annie.

Her Bellswayer toy jumping up and down as she ran after Annie. Even Annie had found an appreciation for the toy. It was just the natural aura of a Bellswayer. Proud beautiful creatures were always attractive. Despite Gregori's somewhat crude drawing of the Bellswayer as reference, Leanna was able to create something that reflected the celestial nature of the creature. They were a small horned four-legged animal. Near spirit like in its nature. They had bulbous necks that were usually covered with feathers or fur depending on the type of Bellswayer. The shinier the neck, the more magical they were.

They were named so due to the bells that grew near its face and ringing of the bells is said to summon little nature spirits. Though no one ever speaks of having witnessed the spirits themselves but it is believed by many.

And this fascination from both girls led Annie's first bout of magic. Jealously was an easy emotion. Especially in the case of children. Despite Tibbers being all Annie had ever wanted, seeing Daisy's doll kept grabbing her attention. 

One day, as the two parents watched, Annie grabbed onto the Bellswayer and didn't let go despite in being in Daisy's hands. In retaliation Daisy did the same to Tibbers. Before either parent could intervene in the tug of war however, the threads in Tibbers arm came undone and the doll lost its arm.

As its arm fell, so did the two children. Annie in both tears and anger yelled out, causing flames to sprout from her hands and go onto Tibbers.

Surprisingly, Tibbers had remained unscathed by the fire but its one button eye lit of fire and stayed that way.

Gregori rushed to both children and raised his hand toward Annie.

As he did, the fire rushed to his hand and extinguished itself. 

The next hours went by consoling both children and helping them make up. After that, with Leanna sewing the arm back together, Annie gained a newfound appreciation of the bear and wouldn't even look in the direction of the other toy. This change, Daisy was quite happy with. They were each happy with each other's toys and that was that.

Somehow this led to them becoming closer. That night Gregori checked in on them and was left very happy. Rather than hugging their stuffed toys, they went to sleep hugging each other. Both with tear lines down their face.

He rushed back to his room and brought Leanna to witness this. 

The two went to sleep happy parents.

But in present time, the two ran around the house, posing questions to both parents and zipping around like arrows.

Annie inquired as she dashed into the kitchen seeing Leanna cooking, "When is lunch?" and ran out without listening to an answer.

"Yeah mummyy I'm hungry!" Daisy sprinted after Annie following her footsteps as she did the same.

"Ten minutes! Don't run in the house. It is not safe. You two!" Leanna called out while keeping an eye on the food.

Winter had rolled in and they had made the decision to let the kids play inside and prevent them from leaving without any adult supervision.

Annie ran to the living room and jumped onto Gregori's lap, who was seated on Amoline's favorite chair.

"Daddyy!"

Daisy ran up to him and clambered onto his lap, "Can we go outside today daddy?"

"Its too cold today, if it is a little less cold then we can go okay?" Gregori placated the two and hugged them firmly. Daisy leaned into the hug while Annie squirmed initially but then eased in.

He placed a kiss on each of their heads and leaned back on the chair, slowly rocking it.

Annie had been a little offended when Daisy had first called him daddy but after he told her that Daisy did not have a daddy and she could be his daughter, she let up and even started encouraging her to call him daddy.

A few more such incidents and both the girls, now sisters, completely accepted each other's existence as well as sharing a father. A father who made enough time for the both of them. Its not like he had a job anyway, his days of being Gregori the Gray were long behind him and anyone would be hard pressed to find any information about him.

He still used his name but no one would ever put two and two together simply because of how the Gray was viewed. His current look was a far cry from his previous one.

Looking into the crackling fire, listening to the soft snores of both girls he thought about all the Noxians who might want to find him.

But he had made sure that there was no one who would want to look for him left.

None would come for him...

The rest of their days went by with little to no change. Except for a little thing that kept irking Gregori.

The button eye catching on fire and not burning.

He asked Annie for it and did a through inspection. And nothing about it seemed out of the ordinary. Hence he did the one thing he could. He went through Amoline's research material, her books on magic.

He had gone through the them many times before. What wouldn't a man do to see his family whole again. But nothing in the books pointed to anything and that was terrifying. The chance that his wife had kept a secret that big, one that would sacrifice herself, a secret was something he didn't want to consider.

But thinking back to how she had almost religiously created the bear for months led him to believe something was special about the bear. He would find out what she had done to that bear by any means necessary and going straight to the Kiosar family for any information on her and her actions.

He had never met her parents. She hadn't even spoken about them and he hadn't questioned it. It would not be a small amount of hypocrisy if he asked to meet her parents while not taking her to meet his.

She probably had a bad relationship with them and he didn't mind that. A lot of people had bad relationships with their parents, especially in Noxus where parents used their children as a stepping stone for climbing up social ranks. Her parents might have been similar and it was not in his position to interrogate her about her family. She wasn't any sort of spy who had come after him for information, he checked her thoroughly before accepting her advances.

As he thought this he shuffled through her books.

Magic and its Prolific Uses.

A standard book on magic. It spoke of grand feats of magic, like burning through the Freljord, controlling hundreds of men through their blood, an ever running source of water through the deserts of Shurima. He did however find the author to be a little on the wacky side. Most mages can barely create enough water to fill a bucket. They are almost completely dependent on runes. That is discounting the mage's natural connection to an element or a particular type of magic. 

In Annie's case, she might be able to do feats of magic that far outshine most mages even with their runes.

Even then, most mages would be able to easily kill the average person. 

It was normal for Amoline to have this book, she had probably gotten this to teach Annie one day.

Runes and their Applications.

An in depth book on runes. Understanding each individual rune is the mark of an accomplished mage in Noxus and anywhere really. The book teaches the use of runes, basic combinations, runes for everyday usage and then it goes into more obscure uses.

Common rune combinations were in use in his own home. Gregori installed a purifying rune combination at the start and end of the creek that passes near his house. Clean water was a necessity. And an obscure rune combination was in play in and around the forest. Runes engraved in stones and strategically placed in regions of the forest to ward against bad intent, enemies and large animals. It also masked its own existence by giving strong mental suggestions to leave this place alone. The best safe house was one no one could reach. 

This book was a gift to her. He gifted it to her when he had completed building the house. 

Wars on Runeterra : Battles on the Continent.

This book was something he didn't expect her to possess but that was all there is to it. It was a book about the wars among different regions. There were no names given to the lords who stepped up for their lands but their work was recorded. He had heard that this censorship was only limited to the Noxian libraries and books sold in Noxus. He hadn't ventured out to disprove that claim.

Again after going through this book he didn't find anything important. Just assuming she might have had an interest for historical events of the past, he left it as is.

Compendium of Creatures.

Another normal book. Nothing out of the ordinary. It stood out a little because of its very thick cover but the thickness of the book itself warranted no suspicion.

A large book detailing creatures the author had witnessed and catalogued. Its greatest value came from its accurate illustrations. He didn't know how she came to possess this book but it was valuable. Illustrated pieces like this were rare and heavily sought after.

Abstract Magic and Non-actual Elements.

This book aroused his suspicion the most. Enough for him to read through it multiple times. She had it for as long as he could remember, this and the creature book. He himself and realized his particular magically affinity. It was not anything extreme but it complimented his fighting style. Having developed most of his modern arsenal using this book as a reference he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. It even steered clear of any ritualistic magic and discourage its use stating powers out of the human comprehension.

There were other books but none of them pertained to magic or magical in nature not even anything dangerous. Random books like these wouldn't have any dangerous information. Still, just to be sure, he checked them.

He walked down to the kitchen and handed Leanna some of the house keeping and basic survival books. Simple stuff on sewing, knitting, foraging and even his singular recipe book. Leanna accepted it with grace, now that she had learnt to read and write, what better way to practice than put it to the test.

Not only that, she had wanted to impress her new man. He had a lot on his mind and was a man of few words. Not that he wouldn't speak but he just got to the point instantly. He was relaxed yet rigid, calm yet alert.

The only time he dropped that attitude was in front of the kids. And she liked that about him. She knew he would throw his life away for the two and only she knew how happy it made her every time Daisy called him daddy.

Annie had completely grown on her as well. She was feisty and fiery. A complete opposite to Daisy. But she welcomed that difference. Individuality was always good. And Annie was really nice to cuddle, she just seemed to find the right spots to nuzzle into.

For Leanna, all the struggles of her past were made up for by the happy days she was currently experiencing and the chilly weather did nothing to change that.