Ever since the night Jeeves' eyes glowed purple, Astrid's mind fought against itself. Questions in her mind fogged her willingness to connect and soon the impossible link between Natanstrelle and the non-magical realm was blocked.

True was convinced that they could easily make the link again, all they needed was Astrid to get back on board. However, he knew that he mustn't push her too hard for her stubborn heart would only harden. Instead he sought to keep the peace by letting her be and carrying on with life, within his small family, like, what had recently become, normal.

"Now, close your eyes, no peeking," True instructed the young copper-haired girl that sat on the sofa next to him. "Imagine a bright light, the brightest you've ever seen. Now, from that light, imagine rays of every colour flying out in all directions, displaying out, like a shining fan." True grabbed his daughter's hands and lifted them up in front of her. "Now, imagine that those various rays of light are different coloured cards." True's velvety voice danced within Amber's ears. "Do you see them?"

Amber nodded, squeezing her eyes shut; she didn't dare open them, she thought that if she did the vision in her mind's eye would be lost.

"Good girl. Now, focus on one card, just one."

Amber's left eyebrow cocked up as her face showed her decision making.

"What colour did you choose?"

"Blue," Amber replied with no hesitation or second guessing herself.

"Ooh, blue!" True said with a wide smile - for that would have been the colour that he would've chosen also. "Imagine that ray of blue spin and dance in front of you, and make it form into the shape of a creature."

He was still holding Amber's hands, as he watched the movement ripple under her eyelids.

"What creature did you create?"

"I made a blue dolphin!" Amber declared with glee.

"Open your eyes."

Amber did as she was asked, blinking multiple times.

"So, what do you think?" True asked his daughter.

"That's all light magic takes?"

"Yes, that's it. If you were standing in Natanstrelle with a light orb in your hand you would've made what you saw, a blue dolphin, fly above you in a beautiful light display. It's what Natanstrelleans do to entertain one another."

"That's so cool!" Amber said with a beaming grin. However, her happiness dissolved, like snow in the sunshine. Her eyes fell away from True's gaze and a sad frown took over her brow.

"What is it, my Amber?"

"I want to see it, for real," she began. "But I never will..."

"You don't know that," True said whilst stroking his fingertips along her long, red hair.

"What do you mean? Mum says I'll never get to see Natanstrelle."

"Well, that's not strictly true. Luchinda informed me, after I practically shouted her ears off when you guys were taken from me, that she had figured out a way for Natanstrelleans to return to Natanstrelle from the non-magical realm," True said, not noticing Astrid hovering in the living room's slim doorway. "It was then that we decided to work side-by-side to get me here to fetch you."

"So we can go back?"

"Yes, I believe Luchinda found a way."

"Wow! Let's go then. Now!"

A sharp cough brought both True and Amber's attention to the open door, where Astrid stood with her arms crossed firmly across her chest.

"Mum! Did you hear what-" Amber began to say excitedly but got interrupted by Astrid's firm voice, which was laced with annoyance.

"Yes, I heard."

Astrid's strange demeanour confused her daughter.

"What's wrong, Mum?"

"Amber, my darling, please could you go to your room, just for a bit, I need to talk to your father." The anger exhibited in every syllable that Astrid mumbled caused True to rise to his feet, and Amber slinked out of the room with no more questions.

Astrid paused as she listened for Amber's quietened movements. Once the click of the girl's bedroom door closing was heard, Astrid turned back towards her sheepish husband.

"Explain something to me, Eques Slànacus." True's heart fell to his stomach as he heard Astrid utter his ceremony name. He knew full well that it was not a good place for him to be.

"Explain to me," she repeated in a low hiss, aware that Amber may be trying to listen in. "Why, you think, it's a good idea to raise our daughter's hopes about going back to Natanstrelle?"

"What?"

"You heard!"

"Because we are going back, aren't we?" True responded, matching his wife's hushed tone.

"We can't go back, that was never an option!"

"What are you talking about? Of course it's an option."

"How can you say that? You know I can't go back!" Astrid fought against her emotions not to let her voice rise above her usual speaking volume, but it was proving difficult.

"You can't run away, Astrid, we must go back!"

"Run away? You think I am running away? How dare you, True! You are accusing me of being a deserter?" Astrid's outrage made her voice climb.

"I didn't say that!"

"What else could you have possibly meant by it? I am not running away. I am sacrificing my home! That's what I'm doing!" True watched Astrid rush to wipe a tear away. It looked like a desperate attempt to hide it from him.

"Astrid..."

"Luchinda saw it all in the smoke, she told me that one day my eyes will grow dark, and when that happens I must leave, to starve Noir-Astra's power out of me and that Natanstrelle would have to be a distant memory!" Astrid explained to the floor.

"But how does that mean that you shouldn't come back?"

"You know why!" Astrid's biting response caused a shiver to spike at True's spine. "Come on, you do know! Everyone in Natanstrelle was forced to know!"

True shook his head. Then asked in hushed whisper, "Are you talking about the prophecy?"

"Are you kidding me? Yes I'm talking about the prophecy! What else could I possibly be talking about?" Astrid hissed, the resentment she felt on the subject seethed through her still rising voice. "I'm the cursed one, born under the red moon, eyes of violet, who will bring the end of light magic. That was spoken over me by many including my grandfather and your pal Luchinda!"

"Luchinda never believed you were cursed."

"She told you that, did she?" Astrid questioned, with doubt parading through her words.

"Yes, she did, actually!" True said in a pleading tone, then stumbled into an awkward explanation. "She told me that the smoke showed her the truth about the whole situation and that her family had tricked everyone!"

To True's despair, Astrid snorted with scepticism.

"Well, she couldn't be trusted. She has deceived you, the same way she clearly deceived me!" Astrid's words fell from her mouth in a jumble of resentment.

"How has she deceived us?"

"Oh come on, True! Open your eyes! What she told me is clearly not the same as what she told you!" Astrid's stance became more and more aggressive as her frustration bubbled relentlessly in her stomach.

"But she may have her reasons for that..."

"Why must you always do that?"

"What?"

"Blindly believe everything that family says! We get it, you love the Fiosolim!"

"I don't!"

"Oh yes you do!"

"Did you not just hear me say that Luchinda found out that her family lied? Her father and grandfather tricked everyone!"

"Yes and you're getting this from Luchinda who is also a smoke slave!"

"Astrid..." True's warning fell on deaf ears.

"She's a traitor just like the rest of them!"

"She is not a traitor, Astrid!" True's voice began to compete with the volume of Astrid's yell.

A veil of blood red stretched across Astrid's mind and all her bottled up anger from her childhood, all her dark thoughts, came out in a chaotic heap.

"It was them that saw fit to publicise the prophecy. It was them that decided to make my life a wheel of torture! They saw my face in the smoke and they cursed it! They turned their backs on me, before they even got to know me and they turned their backs on James, their own child!" True began to pace as his wife's yells flew through the air, surrounding him. "She is one of them!"

True then stopped.

"That is not fair and you know it! She was a child when all of that happened. She wasn't a seer then!"

"But she is now, and who trained her?" Astrid asked rhetorically with an angry sneer.

"Astrid, you're being unreasonable!"

"Am I? You spent so much time with her, right? So much, you trust her with all your heart? Are you joining Fiosolim then? Are you a smoke gazer now?" Astrid's angry accusing words grabbed a hold of True and rattled his insides.

"By the stars! Astrid!" he shouted in exasperation, throwing his hands in the air.

"WHAT?" Astrid's scowl was so deep, True was sure that her face may crack under the pressure.

He knew better than to push her any further. He decided to back down. Defeated, he felt the energy he once had dissolve, leaving a dull pain that embedded itself within his core. He stared into the abyss as he sank to his knees.

"You left me, Astrid," he announced through labouring breaths. "That was your choice. You decided to do that alone. Luchinda did not decide that for you."

True's words wrapped around Astrid like a straight-jacket. Guilt squeezed at her throat and clamped her mouth shut. She no longer felt like she could fight. She no longer felt that she needed to fight. All the hatred towards her past repressors; all those sneers and jibes, all those random attacks from peers and elders alike; she took it all out on True - the only person to have seen her for who she really was amongst the blind prejudices and hate. He loved her unconditionally from the very first time he set eyes on her.

She felt so ashamed. She had to leave!

She left the flat, without her phone.

"Dad?" Amber hovered at the living room door once the yelling stopped and she heard the front door shut.

"Oh, Amber!" True rushed to wipe his tears away, before his daughter could see him crying. "I'm sorry, you must have heard more than you needed to." His mouth stretched into a forced smile, that he hoped would reassure the young redhead. But, of course, it failed to do so.

"Is Mum okay?" Amber asked, her voice full of worry.

"Come here." True held out his hand towards his daughter, who slowly made her way towards him. She placed her trembling fingers into his grasp and knelt beside him.

"Your mother has been through a lot, more than most of us. She had been keeping that pain in for far too long."

"B-but y-you didn't deserve her to take it out on you," Amber said, her young heart trembling.

"No, no," True agreed. "But darling, who else could she say all of that to? Who else would hear her out and still be there no matter what? It's better that she let her anger out on me, than on somebody who doesn't love her like I do," True explained, whilst caressing his daughter's wet cheek. "Don't fret, my baby, your mother said more than she truly meant."

"But..."

"Don't worry, okay? Once she's calmed down, she'll come back to us and we'll speak about this. All of us. As a family."

True then wrapped his arms around Amber and pulled her into a warm, comforting hug.