"We have to save it," Aspen finished for him.
"Shit, Shadow, is that why you're here?" I asked. "You need our help with the crowns?"
The thing pointed at me, then slowly turned, making sure its finger landed on all of us, even Bracken and Ms. Rhodes. Clearly, "we" wasn't only the court.
"Shadow?" Ms. Rhodes asked next. "Did you make another kind of magic for Keir?"
I got an uplifted thumb, then a rocking hand.
"Did you make it?" Keir tried.
Shadow turned its thumb down. After a short pause, it pointed at Keir.
"I did?" he asked.
Thumbs up.
"And it," Hawke said, "separated that out or something, making a third kind so there wouldn't be only two seasons."
Shadow rocked its hand then lifted a thumb.
"Closer," I mumbled, figuring out its limited answers.
Everyone began to mutter between themselves, trying to figure out the part we were missing. I was wracking my brain, and then a thought hit me. History. Segregation. Was it really that obvious?
"The line between sidhe and wildlings is too stark," I said. "Almost like separate societies. Shadow made a neutral magic that is more like Wild? Something to bridge the gap, but it was Keir's idea, since he didn't like either season. Humans become Morrigans because we're not tied to the sidhe, but we can communicate with them, right?"
Shadow gestured upwards, the motion coming across as encouraging me to keep going.
"Hawke is a Summer Duke," I said, thinking out loud. "Keir's basically neutral. Earth magic, we're calling it, which is what Poppy and Daivon seem to have, right?"
Shadow nodded quickly, looking almost excited.
So I kept going. "Ok, and people are swearing and having their magic..." My words trailed off. "Oh, fuck."
"What?" Ms. Rhodes asked, sounding both excited and hopeful.
"The Mad Queen tried to corrupt the magic!" I breathed. "Some sidhe had both kinds, right? Titania wanted a child with both, and she made Torian. He was supposed to take over the Winter Crown, then funnel that magic to her because she didn't have the ability to hold it. That means she found a way to break the rules. A loophole of the worst sort."
Now Shadow was jumping in place excitedly.
My brow creased as I kept following my thoughts. "People are picking. The old way was - " And I stopped hard when Shadow threw its hands into the air as if declaring victory. "They can choose now?" I asked, making sure I was on the right page.
Shadow thrust out its hand, pointing directly at me in confirmation.
"But I'm going to guess we can change if it doesn't fit?" I asked, needing to be sure of this. "Learn how to control the power from parents who know it, and while many will keep that, some may want to change?"
Slowly, Shadow rocked its head up and down, but then it did more. Clasping both hands before it, the dark silhouette knelt before me as if praying - no,begging.
"Instead of division, I think it needs harmony," Ms. Rhodes said. "Shadow is Magic. Not Winter, Summer, or Wild, but all of them at the same time. This..." She bit her lips together as if forcing herself to think before speaking. "This conflict between seasons can't continue. The two seasonal courts were supposed to support each other. We did for centuries."
"Until my mother got greedy," Torian said.
Shadow pointed at him. Then it turned its hand and pointed at its own chest.
"And that can't happen again," Aspen said.
But then Shadow moved its finger to be aimed straight at Hawke.
