Stalks of Gold Bonus: Aurelia Meets Junia

In celebration of Stalks of Gold hitting 50 reviews on Amazon, here’s a bonus scene bridging the gap between the end of Stalks of Gold and Aurelia’s appearance in Mirrors of Ice. Enjoy!

Aurelia wasn’t sure what she was looking for exactly, but she would know it as soon as she saw it. She hoped.

Aurelia looked over her shoulder at her fiancé, Sandor, who was loyally leading the horses behind her as the forest was too thick for them to ride side-by-side. He was the one with the maps and the books, but she was the one with the instincts. Sandor had gotten them to the Idresian forest, but now it was Aurelia’s job to figure out exactly where they needed to go next.

Gothel’s journals had mentioned someone named Junia, but the context wasn’t entirely clear as to what their relationship had been once upon a time. All Aurelia knew from the journals was that—at one point—Gothel and Junia had been close and Gothel regretted the way things ended. Other than that, Aurelia had no idea what she was walking into or who she’d find at the end of this, but she desperately hoped it was a teacher. That was if she could find Junia, and so far, after several days of travel through the forest, she hadn’t had such luck.

She was supposed to be looking for some kind of magic illusion that Junia was likely using to hide the same way Gothel had hid the tower from plain view. But Aurelia wasn’t sure if it would feel the same as Gothel’s had, or if she would even notice the magic. She still didn’t understand how her own magic worked—much less how magic worked in general. All she really had to go on were her instincts, and at least this time she was listening to them.

Or… she would be if they would say something, but as the leaves crunched under her feet and Sandor’s eyes were on her back, she had nothing. With each step she waited, but there was no humming under her skin, no prickles under her scalp. Her instincts were absolutely silent for the first time that she could remember.

Fine. Not the first time, but they were far quieter than they should have been since she was walking through a forest where a witch was supposed to live. Shouldn’t her instincts be buzzing and screaming at her that there was another magical user nearby, and she could just follow it to them?

Of course, they hadn’t when she’d met Gothel, but it would be nice if they did.

Aurelia really wished that Gothel’s journals had been more specific, or that more of them had survived the tower fire. The older journals surely had more information about magic and Gothel’s past—likely her past with Junia included. Unfortunately, that fire hadn’t been very considerate to Aurelia’s future desires. She had what she had, and she had nothing more than that, so she kept walking through the forest.

“Are we getting any closer?” Sandor asked. The horses huffed and pawed at the ground behind her.

She held back a frustrated scream and instead let out a long sigh and said, “As far as I can see, no, but I don’t really know what I should be able to see.”

“Hey.” A hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked back to see Sandor had stepped up to her side. He rubbed her shoulder and said, “Searching a forest takes time, even with magic. We’ll look as long as we need to. We’re not going to starve.”

“We might with your hunting skills,” Aurelia muttered but leaned into his grip anyway.

Sandor rolled his eyes. “Forgive me for being a guardsman not a huntsman. But at least I can set an acceptable snare.”

Aurelia nodded for a moment before pausing and tilting her head as she looked up at him and said, “The real problem is we’re terrible cooks.”  

Sandor let out a short laugh and shook his head. “Hate to break it to you, but there’s not many ways to cook rabbit while on the road.”

“It’s still getting old,” Aurelia said, but there was no real complaint in it. She gestured at the map in his hands. “Show me where we are.”

Sandor unfolded the map and gesture to the mountain they were right up against. “We’ve covered this area. Unless you have a reason otherwise, I’d suggest we should finish searching this valley before considering going up to any of these mountains surrounding it. If we leave now, we can get there before night fall and make camp.”

Aurelia really didn’t want to have to climb a mountain if she could help it. While she wasn’t afraid of heights anymore, she held a general distaste for them. She’d seen enough from great heights she had no desire to see any more. She liked her feet solidly on the ground and her view nicely limited in scope.

“Might as well get moving then,” Aurelia said.

Sandor folded the map up and led her horse to her, giving her a boost into her saddle. As soon as Aurelia had adjusted her skirts, Sandor was also in his saddle, and he started leading them out of the thicker section Aurelia had investigated.

Aurelia was happy to follow behind him, keeping her eyes open for any trails or thicker sections that reminded her of the area around Gothel’s tower. If she ever saw anything or felt her instincts flare up, she could stop them, and they could look around.

And that was how they’d been combing through the forest. Day by excruciating day.

Would it have killed Gothel to be a little more detailed?

She didn’t see anything or feel her annoyingly quiet instincts as they traveled. They crossed into the valley as the sun started to disappear from the sky, shifting through the canopy of leaves above them.

Aurelia pulled her horse a stop.

Sandor kept going a few feet before realizing she wasn’t behind him. He looked around and then over his shoulder. “We can keep going a little longer until we find a better place to make camp.”

Aurelia was already dismounting. “Shouldn’t we stop here?”

“Not really,” Sandor said. “This isn’t an ideal location.”

Aurelia looked around. They should stop here.

Aurelia ran her hand through her hair, the length brushing her shoulders. She closed her eyes.

There was a soft breeze rustling leaves, and a few birds were singing. And something under her skin was humming.

Magic was in the air.

Aurelia turned on her heels and took a few steps forward, the horse following her as the reins were still in her hand.

“Aurelia? What is it? Is it your magic? Are we close?”

Aurelia kept her eyes closed and stretched out one arm. Her fingertips brushed the rough bark of a tree trunk.

“Aur—” Sandor’s voice was cut off in the middle of calling out her name.

Aurelia opened her eyes and turned around, but Sandor wasn’t in sight anymore. All she could see was the forest, her horse, and the two trees she’d just walked them through. She looked back ahead, and the forest that had been in front of her a moment before was gone. In front of her was a wide-open clearing, overflowing with gardens full of flowers and fruits. A large cottage sat off to the side, vines and flowers growing up the side, and the whole area screamed life and Aurelia’s blood sang in response at the magic in the air.

“Aurelia—Is this it?”

She looked over her shoulder to see Sandor appearing through the gap in the two trees, leading his own horse.

The door to the cottage opened, and a woman with warm brown skin, freckles, and dark brown curly hair stepped out.

“Who are you?” the woman called out as she took a few steps toward them, eyeing them. “How did you find me?”

Sandor quickly stepped up to Aurelia’s side, putting himself between her and the woman slightly, not blocking her completely, but able to defend if need be.

“My name is Aurelia, this is my fiancé, Sandor. Are you Junia?” Aurelia said, putting one hand on Sandor’s shoulder.

“I’m willing to bet you already knew that if you knew how to find me.” Junia continued to eye them as she approached. “How did you know where to find me?”

Aurelia took a deep breath and ducked around Sandor, but staying close enough that the back of her shoulder pressed into his front. “Gothel.”

Junia’s eyes widened, and she came to a dead stop. Her mouth fell open. “Gothel sent you?”

“Not exactly,” Aurelia said. This could go poorly pretty quickly, and she had no idea how to best approach this. Who was Gothel to Junia? What had happened between them so long ago? What had Aurelia walked them into?

Sandor grabbed Aurelia’s shoulder, and she leaned into his touch.

“Are you her apprentice?” Junia looked over Aurelia’s short stature.

“Not exactly.”

“But you have magic, and Gothel told you where I was, or where she thought I was?” Junia narrowed her eyes.

“I do have magic. Gothel didn’t exactly tell me about you. Junia… Gothel died,” Aurelia spoke softly. Sandor rubbed her arm.

Junia took a step back. “She… No. That can’t be. Gothel can’t be—She’s not—No.”

“I was there. I’m so sorry,” Sandor said.

Junia shook her head, but then she paused. She looked up and narrowed her eyes. “Did you two kill her?”

“No!” Aurelia stepped forward and out of Sandor’s grip completely. “No, she was helping us. She—I don’t know much about what happened between you and Gothel, but after she died, we found one of her journals that mentioned you. And she deeply regretted the way things ended between the two of you.”

Junia startled at that. “Gothel didn’t do regret, and she didn’t help anyone unless there was something in it for her. I especially doubt that she would ever even think about me given how long it’s been.”

“I don’t think the Gothel you knew is the same person we knew. I can tell you everything I know; it might help explain things, but I promise we’re not lying. We just want to talk, to tell you what happened, and maybe get some answers ourselves.”

Junia nodded. She gestured to her cottage and said, “Well, I have a good feeling about you. Come in, let’s talk.”

* * *

Aurelia tried to keep their story brief, but that wasn’t an easy task given both she and Sandor had to cover their sides of the story, particularly regarding Ruskin. Junia occasionally asked questions, but Aurelia and Sandor rarely had an answer. There was still so much they didn’t know about magic, imps, and witches.

But at least Junia’s home was warm and organic, and it made Aurelia feel safe. They were all gathered in the main room of the first floor, Aurelia and Sandor together on a sofa, legs pressed against each other, Sandor’s arm around her shoulders, as Junia sat in a chair across from them. When the sun had vanished from the sky completely, Junia had simply looked over her shoulder, said an incantation, and a fire immediately sparked to life without interrupting the story at all.

“—this wave of magic, and he was just… gone,” Sandor said.

Junia nodded. “Magic has this way of balancing things out. If his specialty involved making deals, then when he broke his own deal, magic needed retribution. It needed to rebalance itself. He might not be dead, but wherever he is, it’s a punishment.”

That’s what Aurelia had been telling herself. It was the only way she slept at night—the nights she was able to sleep. Hearing it from a skilled witch, or at least more knowledgeable than her, lifted a weight she’d feared would never leave. She was safe from him.

Junia shook her head. “I still can’t believe it—not that I think you’re lying, but Gothel—I don’t doubt her getting a familiar, and I can probably tell you who told her about how to get one. Summoning an imp is… I always hesitate to call magic dark or evil because it’s more of a tool and it’s all about how you use it, but when you summon an imp as a familiar, you bind them to you, eliminate their will, and siphon magic off of them to boost your own. It’s not the act of someone with compassion and goodwill in their heart. The same person who advised her to summon one is likely the same one who encouraged her to experiment on him when he turned obstinate.”

“Who? You were the only witch she mentioned in her most recent journal.” Aurelia leaned forward in her seat.

“He’s a wizard. I don’t know his given name. No one does, but he goes by the Scholar. He’s the reason why things didn’t go well the last time I saw Gothel. That was… about fifty-five years ago.” Junia sighed. “The Scholar… You’ll have lived a good life if you never cross paths with him.”

“He’s worse than Gothel was?” Aurelia gaped. She couldn’t imagine that, not after the way Gothel had described herself before her exile, not after hearing the details of the horrific things she’d done to Ruskin.

“Far worse from what I know. Gothel and I, we were both trained by the same witch. We grew up together—here, actually—not sisters by blood, but as close as,” Junia said. “Our mentor passed away, and she was barely cold in the ground before the Scholar showed up, offering his condolences. Apparently his predecessor and our mentor had been close, according to him, nothing our mentor ever said or left in her journals indicated that, but it got his foot in our door, and that was enough for Gothel. She’d been ready to leave the cottage for a while, but had stayed when our mentor fell ill to help me take care of her. But… Gothel wanted power and influence and to learn things our mentor wouldn’t teach her. The Scholar offered her those things, and it didn’t matter what I said. Gothel knew best, according to her.”

Aurelia sat back, er mind spinning. “So you never heard from her after that?”

Junia gestured to her cottage and shook her head. “I prefer to keep to myself, like my mentor before me. I hear things occasionally, but I’m much happier to stay out here with my garden and practice magic in peace.”

“You—” Aurelia glanced at Sandor who gave her an encouraging nod. “Have you thought about taking on an apprentice?”

Junia frowned. “Not the way Gothel tried it. The way our mentor took us on… My father was a wizard, he asked my mentor to take care of me when he had to travel through Kadure, where he was eventually caught and executed. That’s how I came to be with my mentor, and that’s where my ability came from, but it’s not technically the only way to make someone a witch. As you know, your magical ability came from the deal Gothel made with your parents. It’s why there’s a faint aura of magic in your hair, why it’s a unique sort of gold, why Ruskin was so fixated on it because it also held traces of his magic. Gothel’s mother was alone, I don’t know what happened to her father—if he ran off, if he died, Gothel was never interested in her own past. But I do know her mother was struggling with the pregnancy, and when my mentor made a trip to her town, Gothel’s mother sought her out and asked her if there was anything she could do to help her baby survive. My mentor did what she could to heal her and stayed with her until she gave birth, but unfortunately she didn’t survive, so the spell my mentor used to help heal her is how Gothel was born with an aptitude for magic. But she wasn’t as strong as a witch born of a witch would be. I always suspected that’s why Gothel was so hungry for power, she never hid her jealousy well at my more natural inclination. It wasn’t long until she’d eclipsed me through her own hard work, but nothing was ever enough for her.”

Aurelia could only stare.

Finally. Finally, there was someone with answers. She could almost cry.

“Does anyone who has ever had magic used on them have the chance to have a child with magical abilities?” Sandor asked, his fingers intertwining with Aurelia’s and his grip tightening.

“Not always. It’s not a guarantee, just a possibility. It’s far more likely when you intentionally use a spell to transfer magic into someone with the purpose of producing a magically inclined child. Doing that also takes a lot of magic, which is why Gothel used her familiar to do it without diminishing too much of her own power.” Junia inclined her head. “The more magic used on someone, especially on a woman, during or right before pregnancy, increases the odds, according to the journals and research I’ve read.”

Aurelia touched the ends of her golden blonde hair. “So…” She looked at Sandor, and heat flooded her cheeks as she quickly looked back at Junia. “Any children I might have would have a chance of being a witch or a wizard even though I’m not a natural born witch?”

“It’s a possibility. The more magic you use during your lifetime increases those chances. There are children born who might never know they have the ability to use magic who then go on to give birth to children who don’t have that ability, and one theory is that occurs because they didn’t use their magic, so it sort of…” Junia gestured vaguely as she said, “dries up.” Junia tilted her head. “It sounds like Gothel didn’t have the chance to tell you much about your abilities.”

“Not at all. That’s why I went through her journal. There are no witches or wizards or even enchanters or sorcerers in Astren thanks to the previous laws against magic. I was looking for answers, for someone who can help me understand my abilities.” Aurelia leaned forward.

Junia nodded, a light entering her eyes as she spoke slowly, “You want to be my apprentice.”

“If you’ll have me.”

Aurelia held her breath, and Sandor squeezed her hand, his own breath hitching as well as he watched them both.

Junia smiled. “Well… I suppose I can teach you some of the basics.”