Chapter 25
Desmond knew that the dungeons under the school were dark, but he didn't realize they were damp and cold as well. He had expected the Jurors to treat their prisoners with respect and with dignity, but he was surprised to learn that wasn't exactly the case.
It broke his heart to see Reynolds looking pale and thing, sitting on the cold floor of his cell.
“Desmond,” Reynolds said, with a smirk. He was defiant, even now. “Have you come to gloat? Your happiness is sickening.”
“I have not,” Desmond said, softly. “Although I have come to inform you of some news.”
“What? Has the Jurors elevated your defiant ass once again? You always did manage to get away with murder.”
“I am leaving the Order,” Desmond answered, and Reynolds fell silent. “I have left my Tiro, and I am leaving magic behind. Mariah and I pledged ourselves to each other.”
“What?” Reynolds couldn't believe what he was hearing. “Are you mad?”
Desmond had not expected that reaction.
“No? Maybe?”
“You can't just... arr,” Reynolds replied. “You just threw away your whole life.”
“No,” Desmond said. “I walked a path I thought was right for me, until I realized it was right no longer. You feel my happiness because I am now on the right path. There are other ways to be happy, Reynolds, besides magic. Besides darkness or light, the whisk of our hands. And I wanted you to know that.”
Reynolds fell silent, not expecting this kind of lecture.
“If there is a glimmer of hope in all of this, Reynolds, I hope that you find it.”
“Desmond, I walked away from you and from the Order. I used Acheronian magic, I killed hundreds, if not thousands. I was your first Tiro and I screwed everything up for you. And now you come and tell me about hope?”
“I do,” Desmond replied. “And when the Jurors lay down your verdict for the crimes you have committed, I will be there, beside you, supporting you as I should of done.”
Reynolds looked at Desmond in disbelief. His mouth gaped open several times before he spoke.
“And what of the girl?”
Desmond tried to smile.
“Sienna has found her own path as well, outside of magic. If you have diabolical plans, you should know that the drugs have wiped magic from her system. She knows death awaits her if she comes off of them. She is useless to your cause now.”
“And your brave Nathaniel? Has he surged forward?”
“Nathaniel has stayed with the Order,” Desmond said. “So you may hear his name from time to time. That is the path he believes is right for him, and I'm not going to stop him.”
“Of course he did,” Reynolds shook his head. “So much for different paths”
“We have each found our own,” Desmond answered. “And I know that you will as well.”
“Unless they execute me.”
“They won't,” Desmond assured him. “You are too powerful; too blessed by magic to lose such a force to the world. Try to find a way without it, a way to be happy, and you will find yourself free.”
“Not from prison bars,” Reynolds replied, sarcastically.
“No, maybe not,” Desmond answered. “But your mind will be at peace.”
The two stood in silence for a long moment, and then Reynolds spoke, softly.
“You weren't a bad Maestro, Desmond.”
Desmond was surprised by this.
“I---”
“You weren't. It was nothing that you did or said. You were a good Maestro and it was I that strayed. Don't blame yourself for it. I hope you do find happiness, with Mariah.”
Desmond decided to accept this, bowing his head.
“Thank you,” he said. “I will leave you now.”
“Could you....Could you stay?” Reynolds asked, sounding so much like the boy Desmond had trained. “Not for long, I mean... but just a while?”
Desmond smiled at this, taking a step closer.
“I could,” he said. “If you wish it.”
He settled down in a chair placed outside the cell. The two fell into a natural rhythm of conversation; as if the past few years had never happened. They spoke of their time on quests, of their moments at school, of the people they had known. Desmond felt himself go back twenty years, to a time when Reynolds filled him with hope and when nothing was too big of mountain for them to tackle.
The path ahead was clear for him, but he knew it was only because of the moments that were difficult that he could walk it. It had taken forty years to get the courage to walk away with Mariah, and it was because his courage had been tested so many times before. He didn't fear what was to come; for everything behind him had been fearful enough.
And despite having not taken Reynolds through to the tests, he felt he had succeeded with him. For despite the darkness, the past, his former Tiro still had strength within him, and still saw that he could live beyond all of this. He had taught him that; he had taught all of them that. Broken Christa, after the death of her Maestro, Nathaniel in the face of anxiety; Sienna in her daily struggles. And they had taught him patience; hope; they had taught him how to live.
There was a life beyond the magic, and he was eager to live it.