Chapter Text
Vesuvian citizens crowded in the palace hallways, making their way towards the ballroom as if swept along by a current. Overhead, twinkling lights obscured by draperies of sheer purple fabric brightened the way, turning the mass of partygoers into a sparkling sea wave as they reflected in the jewels and fineries of masquerade costumes. It was difficult to see much detail in their glittering silhouettes; I’d had to give up my glasses in order to wear the mask Aunt Sibyl had gifted me that morning. To match your ocean eyes, she’d told me, and she wasn’t incorrect. It was like I was wearing waves on my face, crested with glitter and embossed with pretty little shells.
Some part of me always belonged to the sea. I’d known it since the day I came to Vesuvia to live with Aunt Sibyl, sailing south alone at age ten, unafraid. Since arriving, I’d not left land again, but that didn’t mean I didn’t stray down to the beach every chance I got. That didn’t mean I didn’t dream of leaving everything behind just to sail again.
“You’re away again,” Sibyl’s voice broke through my reverie and drew my gaze back to her. Dark curls streaked with silver were piled on top of her head and she regarded me curiously from behind her own mask, brown eyes turned warm from the complimenting greens and golds. “One day, you’ll have to take me with you, wherever it is you go.”
“It’s nowhere you can’t go on your own, auntie.” I let her take hold of my arm in an effort to keep me grounded.
I knew she’d be sad if I ever left Vesuvia, and I also knew she would never come with me. She claimed she could never imagine herself anywhere but the city she loved. It was very far from the rest of our family, however, and she’d been alone -- and lonely -- before I came. There wasn’t much family left anywhere else now. If I was gone, she’d have no one again. Maybe that was why I stayed.
Emerging into the ballroom, I was overtaken for a moment by everything around me. Perfume and the aromas of food laid out on a banquet table filled my nostrils, while chattering and music filled my ears. Everything was a sea of color and movement, blending and shifting together while people danced. On a raised platform on the far end of the room, the Count and Countess sat enthroned, resplendent. There was something else, too, something thrumming just underneath the liveliness. I could feel the reverberations in my chest.
It was magic, I knew it as surely as I knew that the sun would rise again tomorrow. Sibyl emenated the same kind of aura, although not this strongly. Someone here was gifted, and I was determined to find out who, especially since the energy felt vaguely… familiar. I may not have spent time with its source before, but I’d definitely been in close proximity to them at least once.
I reached out with my own magic, searching, and followed where it guided me. I pulled my arm free from Sibyl but she let me go without protest. I nudged my way as politely as I could through the crowd, standing on my toes occasionally in an effort to see over shoulders and heads, turning this way and that the closer I got to be sure that I wasn’t somehow missing them. In retrospect, keeping my head forward would have been the smart decision when approaching the magical source. Instead, when I bumped into it, I did so backwards, knocking shoulders with the stranger and only realizing it was exactly who I was looking for as we both turned to face one another, apologies interrupting one another awkwardly.
He was handsome. It was the first thing I noticed. Snowy white hair offset against tanned skin, violet eyes both soft and piercing sweeping over my face. I felt my cheeks flood with color immediately and by the smile he offered me, I was sure he’d noticed it too. He was already removing his fox mask and reaching a hand to my shoulder, to be sure I was steady on my feet after our collision.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes,” I managed, trying to ignore the feeling his touch gave me; like I’d been unexpectedly dunked into the sea on a winter’s morning. His magic mingled with mine. He must have felt it. The reaction was too strong to be overlooked. “Have we met before?”
“Not in an official capacity. I’m Asra.” He offered his hand, and when I went to shake it, he caught me by surprise and instead lifted mine to press his lips to my knuckles. “I tell fortunes in the street, often behind your aunt’s shop when she’s kind enough to allow it.”
That explained the familiarity. I spent a lot of time at Sibyl’s shop, maybe even more than she did. There was always magical impressions lingering there, too many overlapping in too many places for me to make sense of all of them. I knew she allowed a fortune teller to practice in the alleyway behind the shop, but I’d never ventured out to see them, considering I could read my own fortune.
“I’m Aurora.” I expected he already knew, but it was polite. “It’s nice to meet you, Asra. You don’t look completely comfortable, though.”
“I’ve never cared much for crowds,” he admitted. “But when everyone in the city is attending…”
“How many of their fortunes have you told?” Curiosity was burning inside me. Sibyl insisted that was an advantage I possessed, endless curiosity; others insisted it was a flaw, that I asked too many questions, wanted too many answers. I liked knowing, almost as much as I found not knowing to be intriguing.
“Ah.” He considered for a moment, turning to cast his gaze out over the crowd. He looked back at me after making a full sweep of the ballroom. “At a conservative estimate, perhaps a hundred of them.”
I didn’t need him to read mine. I’d never even wanted him to before. But that had been before I’d actually met him, spoken to him, seen the glimmer in his eyes. He showed promise. I couldn’t be sure just how powerful of a magician he was, but I knew he was powerful. All of a sudden, I wished I’d ventured into the alley just once to let him cast his gaze into places I thought I’d seen before. A pair of fresh eyes never hurt.
“What do you see in mine?” I prompted finally. If he was making any sort of shocked expression beneath his mask, I couldn’t see it.
His hand reached for his back pocket, only to seemingly realize that whatever he was looking for hadn’t been brought with him tonight. It moved again then, and stretched out towards me. His eyes fell on my hand, and I brought it up to his. He took me by the wrist. A thrill rushed up my arm and to my head when his fingers made contact with my skin. Asra leaned forward then, intently studying my palm, tracing the lines and patterns with his gaze and with the fingers of his other hand. His touch was feather light. The thrill came again, stronger.
I dropped my cerulean eyes down to my palm too, then, and the world around me changed. It could only have lasted for half a heartbeat, but it felt much longer. The glittering chandeliers suspended overhead dimmed, and the candles burning between the crystals changed hue, from flickering oranges to pure reds. The people around me were dancing slower, and slower still. Their forms were overtaken by shadow, one at a time, vanishing into the air until no more than a third of the attendees remained, still dancing as though nothing had happened. I felt myself tugged to look up then, and for just a moment, I was sure I’d locked eyes with the Count.
Asra released my wrist and my attention snapped back to him. Everything had returned to normal. I risked glancing back towards the Count’s throne, but he wasn’t looking anywhere close to me. I found that relieving. The magician seemed to understand that we’d both seen something, but I wasn’t sure we’d seen the same thing, even though he looked as confused as I felt.
“You’re marked for tragedy, I’m afraid,” he began, hesitantly. “There are dark times ahead. But I believe that with courage, and a little luck, you’ll light your way through.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about the dimming, reddening lights, and the disappearing dancers… and Count Lucio. He had something to do with whatever direction my life was going to take. I think Asra sensed the uneasiness I was feeling, because his hand found my shoulder. His touch was strangely grounding.
“I believe you’ll be alright.” His lips curved into a soft smile.
It was a magician’s smile; the kind that’s encouraging and sympathetic, with the slightest hint that they knew more than they were letting on. I couldn’t help but return the smile. Something about him put me at ease. I felt like I could trust him.
“Aurora!” Sibyl’s voice broke through the crowd before I could respond, and he was already removing his hand from my shoulder. I wanted to linger there, talk more, maybe try and get a read on him and his future, but my aunt was already on the hunt for me and I didn’t need her to cause any trouble trying to find me.
“Thank you,” I told Asra. “Next time you find yourself outside the shop… you should come in. I think you and I have a lot to talk about.”