Chapter 47: The Prophecy

They stared at her as she sat in shock. She glanced at Elric whose green eyes were turned on her. “Are you alright?” he thought and only she heard. She shook her head once, her eyes still wide with disbelief.
“How is this possible?” she voiced aloud. Oda smiled at her again, gently.
“It is in your blood. I can see that your line travels far back…perhaps even as far as the dragons. You are a Mender, yes?” Saffron nodded.
“I thought so. You have The Gift, my dear. No one in your family spoke of this?” Oda asked, her brows drawn together in concern.
“I learned Mending from my grandmother but my parents passed away when I was very young,” she replied quietly. Oda’s eyebrows shot up and she glanced at her husband.
“It is as it was written,” she murmured. His own eyebrows rose and he looked back towards the dragon and beautiful young woman that sat across from them.
“This has been an interesting turn of events,” he replied with a deep chuckle.
“What do you mean ‘it is as it was written’?” Elric asked. Oda looked at him expectantly.
“You are not aware of the prophecy either? Has no one taught these children anything?” she groaned and rubbed the small v between her eyebrows.
“Mother, you cannot believe that these are the two from the prophecy,” Sarah voiced, glaring at them. Oda turned a scathing glance towards her daughter.
“It is not a matter of belief, dear daughter. It is a matter of what I See. You let your emotions cloud your sight,” she snapped back. Sarah sat back, chastised, her arms crossed over her chest. She threw a withering glance towards Elric before staring moodily at the floor in front of her. “Perhaps you should excuse yourself back to your duties.” Without a word, she stood and left, slamming the door behind her.
“You’ll have to excuse our daughter’s manners. She feels as if she has been living in the shadow of her sister, your mother.” Havardr said with a sigh, looking towards the closed doors.
“What do you mean?” Elric asked, desperately wanting to hear more about his mother. He felt Saffron move instinctively closer and he appreciated her natural tendency towards comfort. If what his grandmother said was true, it made sense.
“Maeve was…well she was incredible. Not only did she posses the ability of the dragons but she also was born with Oda’s gift of sight.” Havardr said. Saffron could see the flash of pride that lingered in his eyes for his departed daughter.
“Sarah did not?” Saffron asked. He shook his head.
“Sarah has her own gifts but she was always jealous of her sister. Where Sarah runs hot, Maeve was cool. She was always level-headed and trusted her Sight to guide her. Which is why losing her…was the worst thing that we have endured,” he said sadly, his heart still broken after all of these years.
“Then why did you cast her out?” Elric growled. Havardr and Oda exchanged a glance.
“Cast her out? Why would we have cast out our own blood?” Havardr asked, his eyebrows raised in confusion.
Elric shuffled uncomfortably underneath his grandfather’s gaze. “I was told that she was cast out because she married my father,” he replied. Havardr shook his head.
“No, we would never shun our daughter for loving who she did.”
“Then why? Why did you leave her? She died without you being there!” Elric spat, unable to hold back the anger that had simmered in his heart since he was a child.
“Because she asked us too,” Oda replied quietly.
“What? Why? Why would she do that?” Elric questioned. Saffron felt his heat rise in his agitation. She laid a cooling hand on his neck.
“Her Sight was beyond what most can dream of. She saw the path that was laid before her. She knew she would love your father and she knew that you would be born.” Oda stated.
“And her death?” Elric retorted. Oda’s head dipped for a moment. She glanced back at him and he saw that her white eyes had darkened to a misty grey.
“She saw that too. She came to see us before it happened. We begged her to stay here, raise you here as you should’ve been. But she said that is not how it was supposed to happen.”
“Why? Why did she have to die?” Elric asked harshly, his fangs bared slightly.
“She had to make way for Ishild to rise to Queen. It was fated, as was the two of you meeting,” Oda said and pointed to them. Saffron looked towards Elric before raising her eyes to the older woman.
“Why? Does this have to do with the prophecy?” she asked, puzzling the matter over in her mind. Oda nodded.
“Maeve was to give birth to a man who would help change the course of history but to do this, he needed to find his Fated match.” She looked pointedly at Saffron.
“The prophecy states that
‘When air turns to ice, a great evil will rise. Only the two Fated ones can bring about the demise of this threat. One of destruction, one of healing.’”
“How can we be sure that is us?” Saffron asked, her mind racing. Oda smirked.
“You know of magic, you can feel it around you and yet you still doubt. Give me a moment,” she replied and swept from the room. Havardr looked at them.
“I can imagine this is a bit…overwhelming.”
Saffron snorted. “The past few months have been a bit overwhelming.” Elric was silent, thoughtfully staring at the rocky ceiling of the chamber.
“Elric?” his grandfather called his name. Elric brought his attention back to the man before him, the King of Dragons. “We never wanted to give you up. I hope you know that. You are our family. Our blood.”