"You should come back," Morgan said remorsefully, "Your lips are blue and you're shivering.." Alaric turned and let Morgan lead him back to her home.

                        ~~~

Morgan watched Alaric sit and stare at the fire she had made. Morgan helped him dry his hair and get out of the clothes that had gotten soaked from the rain. Comforting others was not something she's ever had to do before so she walked over and sat next to Alaric. She glanced at him only to see he was crying again; tears flowed down his face and onto his pants. 

What do you say to someone who's crying? What do you do? Morgan's thoughts ran wild as she sat there unsure of what to do next.

"I-If you're hungry I made some stew..It's probably not as good as you're used to but it is edible." Morgan rambled on as her nerves got the better of her. 

Alaric shook his head, how could he eat when he felt like this? Like his life had ended and there was nothing to go back to? Alaric stood up and trudged his way over to the makeshift bed and lied down turning away from Morgan. Alaric could do nothing but think about his Father and Caellon. 

Were they okay? Did those men hurt them or worse kill them? These thoughts rattled around his head until he fell fast asleep.

Morgan watched Alaric, as someone who had nothing very early she knew what he felt...dread. It's been so long since she was first alone, but one never forgets this feeling of dread, like the world is ending. Morgan stayed infront of the fire for a long time before she too had fallen asleep. 

Nightmares plagued them both that night. Gasping awake, Alaric lookedaround franticly searching when his gaze landed on Morgan who slept infront of what remained of the fire. Quietly, he tiptoed over to her and sat down next to her. She was muttering in some strange language and shivering.

Alaric grabbed a stick and moved around the embers jumping when Morgan's hand shot out and grabbing ALaric's arm. 

"It's magic," she whispered, "I have to cast the spell again." Sitting upright she looked at the fire place. 

"Ignis." As the word left her lips a fire blossomed like flowers in the spring.

"Are all your spells that simple?" Alaric asked curiously cocking his head to the side. 

Morgan thought for a moment, "For something simple like that, yes, but if I want to do something more complex I have to chant." 

Morgan began to explain the inner workings of her magic as Alaric lisented closely. The two spoke about many different mundane things after that for hours.

"You know," Alaric begins, "I lost my Mother at a young age. From what I can remember, she was very kind and loved to read." Alaric looked at the fire as tears threatened to fall, he rarely spoke about his Mother for obvious reasons. "She also smelled like lilacs...." With a trembling he trailed off.

"It's nice to have something to remember. I know that there was someone with me, but..." Morgan looked down defeated and shook her head, "That's all I can remember, a presence and then it's just gone."

They sat in silence sharing in their lonliness with one another. Morgan was the first one to break the silence, "I had a dream about you, you know."

Alaric whipped his head to look at Morgan his eyes wide, "You did!? What was it about? What did you see!?" 

The questions quickly flew out and Morgan just shook her head. "It wasn't anything concrete just a lot of images of you, your home and..." She trailed off unsure if if she should continue telling him.

"What!? What else did you see!?" Alaric couldn't hold in his excitement.

What could she have seen? His future? What happened to his Father and Caellon? He waited anxiously for Morgan to speak, but she just looked uncomfortable.

Morgan sighed, "I saw you and a sword and a lot of.....death.." 

Morgan was anxious, she didn't have dreams like this often, but they always came to be and that terrified her.

"You...you saw death..?" said Alaric terrified.

There was already the fire and now she tells him that there's death! Who knows what kind of death she had seen! 

"Is there anything else? Did you see anything else about me?" Alaric was frantic now, there had to be more to Morgan's dream. Morgan just shook her head no, "There was nothing, but what I told you. I don't have these dreams often, but when I had that one something in me knew I had to help you."

Morgan looked at Alaric, determination painting her face. ALaric nodded slowly and looked back at the fire. 

"Do you think that's why those men came to my manor? I-I mean of course I know your dream didn't show that, but.....maybe it's already coming true.." Alaric whispered that last part. The two sat in another wave of silence trying to come to terms with what they were talking about.

"Do you remember what the sword looked like, Morgan?" Alaric asked suddenly remembering she said something about a sword.

Morgan's brow furrowed in thought, "Well...it was long and...I think it had writing on it.." She scratched her head unsure. She didn't exactly focus on that with everything else the dream had shown her. 

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "There was this purple stone glowing where you'd hold the sword!" 

Alaric chuckled, did she really not know the anatomy of a sword? As if she knew what Alaric was thinking she gave him a playful shove.

"I may not know things about swords, but I know a great many things about magic." Morgan said this matter of factly.

Morgan was so strange, Alaric thought grinning. She seems to know about a lot, but this interaction made him realize that she was just a regular person. 

"Why do you think that sword showed up in the dream with me? I was never really one for sword fighting. Of course, Father had me learn but books were always my favorite." Alaric shrugged, but something in his eyes made Morgan sad. 

Alaric had spoken to her about his Mother, but he he had yet to mention anything about his Father. Morgan assumed his Father had passed as well, but it was too difficult to talk about.

"I'm not sure, but you and that sword are connected in some way." Morgan sighed, she was never a part of these dreams so she felt useless. She was able to have prophetic dreams, but this one was extremely vague. 

"Do you think your Father might know something about this sword? From what you said, he seems to have a lot of intrest in swords."

She's not exactly wrong, Alaric thought. His Father had a rather large amount of history books on swords and other weapons. Alaric had always thought it was his hobby like reading was his.

"If Father's study still stands, maybe we could find some of his books to see if it's in any of them." Morgan smiled at this.

Alaric's home may have sort of burned down, but with her magic to help them with the search it would go much smoother.

Morgan clapped her hands together, "What a great idea! We have to go back to your manor and search for any and all books." Alaric hesitated.

Talking with Morgan may have helped him feel better in the moment, but to go back? He didn't know if he could handle it. Morgan, sensing his unease grabbed his hand.

"I'll be with you, Alaric. If it turns out to be too hard we'll come back." Alaric squeezed her hand, "Let's do it."