The Sorcerer's Bride

When she heard the door open she glanced up in mild curiosity and then leaped from the chair, "Brother!" Hazel ran to her brother and threw her arms around his neck in an exorbitant hug. She peeled back to get a good look at him, "You look healthier than last I saw you."

"Jarenkul really did do wonders for my immune system." Heron ruffled her hair and placed a brotherly kiss on the top of her head. "How has my little sister been doing?"

"I"m fine." Hazel could not keep the bright smile off her face. She had always been close to her brother. She had a lot to tell him, bit was not sure where to start, or how much to actually tell him.

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It occurred to her that she might not be able tell her brother everything. That made her smile falter. She had always told Heron everything, well except for her crush on Asrar.

"What"s wrong, sis?" He brushed some of her hair out of her face, a look of concern on his face, "You are making a weird face."

She released and pulled away from him. Still smiling at him, "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, I needed to talk to King Jayesh. Thought that since I was here anyway I should say hi to you and Asrar." He turned and looked at the knight who was still sitting down, "Hey, Asrar. It looks like you have been doing a fairly good job of keeping my little sister safe."

Asrar smiled at Heron, "It tis my duty as well as my pleasure."

Hazel sighed. Asrar had been doing so well of talking normally lately. Everyday getting just a little better. She decided not to say anything though.

Heron sat down across from where she and Asrar had been sitting. Hazel was not sure whether to sit with Asrar again or sit by herself. She was not sure what her brother would do if he realized that she and her knight were getting romantically involved.

Heron had always been protective of her despite being in the frail side. It was one of the reasons he liked her knight so much.

"Are you going to sit back down, Hazel?" Heron laughed softly, "I want to warn you about something and it"s probably best that you are sitting for this."

Hazel frowned; she was a bit worried. "Okay," She sat back down in the chair she had been seated in.

Heron looked at how close they were sitting together, and his mouth seemed to have a smile hovering near it, "Looks like I might need to have a talk with Asrar, sis."

"What about?" She asked innocently.

"…." Heron raised his eyebrow slightly at her and shook his head, "Eh, I probably don"t need to. Honestly, I can"t even imagine him ever hurting you. For the record though, Asrar, you ever hurt my baby sister in any way and I will make sure that you regret it."

Hazel felt a flush come to her cheeks. She was a bit surprised that her brother had noticed it right off the bat. As far as she knew her brother had had no realization of her feelings towards her best friend.

Asrar smiled softly at the threat and merely nodded. He did not seem to surprised that Heron had said something like that.

"Anyway, what did you want to warn me about." She brushed a strand of hair behind her ears. She hoped that Heron had not gotten himself into any trouble. He had a habit of doing stuff that could get him seriously in trouble if he was caught. Nothing too drastic, just most people would be a bit upset to know that their prince had trained himself to be able to pick locks and had a habit of stealing pastries.

"Well," Heron frowned, "Amriel is going to go through a few changes. Or else they are going to lynch me for daring to mess with their sacred laws."

"What do you mean?" She frowned in confusion.

"I am going to legalize magic to be learned and used. With restrictions of course." Heron had a blank look on his face as he said this.

Hazel frowned. She was not upset by this but wondered why her brother would do this, "Why? Does father know you are doing this? Is he okay with it?"

Heron nodded, "I talked with father and he agreed that it might be best. After that attack, well, a good magic user could be rather useful for preventing such things. And then there are wicked magic users out there, and laws against magic hardly work against them as they simply do not care. So having a few magic using people with a contract stating that if called they need to come to our aid sounds like a really good idea."

Hazel was not sure when her brother had become so good at thinking things through. In her memory he tended to be quiet, and did not really speak his mind much unless he was scolding her and Asrar for doing something foolish. Even though he had his fair share of instigations of foolish activities. The time they had fallen off a bridge had been his fault.

"Okay." Hazel nodded. "Out of curiosity, how would the magic user"s prove that they are reliable enough to be um, allowed." She managed not to glance at Asrar as she said this.

Heron sighed, "Well, I think that I will take a page from some of the other countries and decide that sorcerers are immediately considered okay till proven otherwise. Wizards and others who study spells will need to provide a reason for their decision to learn magic and it will be decided from there what to do with them. That is what Jayesh suggested. Amriel is not ready to have the same level of openness as here, after all."

"Brother, can I ask you a question," When he nodded his head, Hazel continued, "What are your own personal opinions on magic?"

He seemed to freeze for a minute but then he laughed softly, "I bear no ill will towards magic users. If I could I would have our kingdom be like Carendlus in how it handles it"s laws on magic."

Hazel smiled brightly at the answer, "Can I ask why?"

Heron stared at her blankly, "I may know a few people who have magic I would like to see live in our kingdom without any fear of their life. And I think we may have more spellcaster"s living

among us then we might realize. Is that a sufficient answer?"

Hazel was not sure what to say to that, but Asrar suddenly narrowed his eyes and broke into their conversation, "Wait a minute, Heron. Did you know about me? You have always been observant, so-?"

"I knew. Not much I could do about it before." Heron shrugged, "I kept your secret for you though, both of them."

"How did you know about Asrar"s, uh, magic?" Hazel was not sure whether to be embarra.s.sed or not. Asrar was her best friend and she had never quite realized why he was pulling away from her.

Heron shrugged, "He did not have much control over it right after it awakened. I happened to notice something when no one else was really looking. Anyway, it made me think about the whole law against magic and how unfair it was to sorcerers."

Hazel smiled to herself, listening to this. She was glad, very happy that her best friend was going to able to soon be more open with what he was. Seemed like Heron had reached the same conclusion of magic that she had.