All's Fair in Love & Magic

Chapter Five

Brandy walked to the right of Hatsuharu, Mark to her left with their fingers laced.

            “There is a story there, that you aren’t seeing,” Haru said, her attention turning to the young Apprentice.

            “What?” Brandy questioned, looking up at her.

            “With Ephraim and Kaius—the reason she doesn’t want you there—”

            “Haru, I don’t think you should go around telling their story…,” Mark interrupted.

            “She has a right to know, Mark. She is Kaius’ Apprentice.” Mark sighed and shrugged, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop his girlfriend. “They’re in love with each other.”

            “Kaius and Ephraim are in love with each other?” Brandy repeated with a question.

            “Yes, but they don’t know it yet,” Haru confirmed.

            “Ephraim knows it,” Mark pointed out.

            “That’s true,” she admitted. “I’ not sure how to go about this….”

            “It’s the way they act around each other, the way they look at each other, the way they talk about each other,” Mark said.

            “Kaius acts all tough and know-all but you have to understand the time she is coming from. In her day, women did not amount to much—they basically married or became old hags because they possessed magic; Kaius would have been one of those hags. Female Wizards were not heard of until she came around. She was extremely gifted. Her abilities rivaled those who, basically, ruled the world. Kaius is the way she is, tomboy and stubborn, because she was raised by twelve brothers and countless Wizards. They taught her well but she was a woman and they kept things from her. Her abilities were so great she could have succeeded everyone she knew there.

            “Now, Ephraim is a slightly different story…. He was the first Wizard born with only one side of the magic—he was a black sheep. His magic is only the Light, whereas Kaius has the Light and the Dark—I don’t know how the different sides work, I just know they exist. Ephraim was just as low ranking as Kaius but for different reasons. He could use both sides, but one was a Calling and the other was a Gift—again, I don’t know the difference, you’ll have to ask Kaius. He was a freak of nature to the Wizards of Old. A disgrace. There was only so much he could learn.

            “Ephraim was married when he and Kaius met, married with one son and one daughter that loved Kaius more than their own mother. Ephraim’s wife, Sheila, was a nice woman—or so I have heard—and a childhood friend of his. Ephraim was entirely devoted to his wife; he thought the world of her… even after she went insane. Kaius witnessed all that love had to offer through Ephraim’s situation and through the failed marriages of eleven of her twelve brothers and never wanted any part of it.

            “Since then, however, Ephraim and Kaius have been in this frozen romance full of stolen glances, hands touching but never meeting, and words unspoken.”

            “Neither one will tell the other how they really feel,” Mark said. “It’s been a few thousand years and they’re still children.” He shook his head.

            “What does any of this have to do with why I cannot be there to learn how to change him back?” Brandy questioned.

            “Kaius needs to be alone to concentrate. She needs to be alone with him to talk,” Haru explained. “Maybe Kaius is starting to realize she may love him.”