Where the Sky Meets the Sea [Virva]

[Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn]

October 2025

It was the first time Aidan could remember that the island didn’t feel quite like home. Regardless of the fact that he’d been living abroad for two years, there was never any doubt in his mind that Hy-Brasil would always be ‘home’ to him. He could always feel a palpable sense of relief whenever he came to visit – crossing the barrier and seeing everything as it should be.

The barrier. It was one of those things he had always taken for granted. Its constant presence around the island, the way it painted the horizon different colors, and the knowledge that it kept everything non-magical away – these were just some of the facts of life. Aidan had never imagined the day he’d visit home and not see the same sky as always. He hadn’t been around when the barrier had actually broken – probably for the best, since based on what Aidan had heard from others he might have thought the world was ending or something equally dramatic. But the moment the news began to circulate, Aidan had come home, and for once his parents hadn’t had anything to say about that.

Hy-Brasil felt empty in a way it had never seemed before to him. Nothing much had changed around the Ó Cuinn family home in the trees, but that was just about the only thing. Aidan had immediately made a beeline to his favorite tree for observing bowtruckles, but it had been completely empty. And when he walked down to the shore line to scan the water for plimpies, Aidan found only a fraction of the usual number that practically infested the beach.

It was also the first time he got a clear look at the sea and sky since returning to the island. A view of the barrier was difficult when one was deep in the forest – where his home and most of the family work was – but here in clear sight the temporary barrier looked flimsy and pale. And the sky looked as dull as it did from Hogsmeade. There wasn’t much that could depress Aidan, but the fact that something had messed with his home – well, he probably didn’t understand the full repercussions of what had happened to the barrier and what it meant for the druids, but there was no smile on his face today.

He sat on the sandy beach, legs curled up with his elbows resting on them for support. Aidan sighed into his arms as he tracked the movement of a pair of plimpies that had stayed behind. What a mess – he’d never imagined anything like this could ever happen here.

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Finding her cousin had been quite the task. For starters, he wasn't anywhere he was supposed to be. She'd wanted to hang out and catch up but work said he'd gone home. So it had been a long and somewhat tiresome process to enter Hy-brasil with everything going on there with the new wards and her not actually being a resident despite being a druid. By the time she got to the house of her aunt and uncle the best they could do in terms of his location was 'out there somewhere' which was vague at best and more than a little irksome. She loved Aidan dearly but he was making her life more difficult than needed.

With a slight groan of frustration the young auror trainee had finally found her way to the beach where her rather distraught cousin was sitting in the sand. She walked over, her arms folded over her chest. He looked shaken. He had never really been the type to go off on adventures, she knew that much despite having grown up far apart. She opted out of saying anything after a moment and just sat next to him and wrapped an arm around him. "It'll be fine. We'll find them and bring them home." Considering his career she was pretty sure he had to be worrying about the animals. She figured all the druids did. The worlds out there was no place for the rich variety of Hy-brasil, even less so with the cruel nature of the common wizards.

She considered that for a moment and decided that if the aurors were joining the capture and relocation at some point she'd be first in line. Maybe she could volunteer some of her free time? It was worth a shot. She sighed deeply. "Do they know what caused it? If it had been failing I think we'd all have known for a far longer time....." She hated everything about this situation but it was very hard not to feel compelled to talk about it, especially with somebody that would actually understand. The times she had to bite her tongue at work because people didn't understand druid culture drove her mad sometimes. Those were the times she almost got extremely violent. Luckily her self control was improving...

Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn

OOC note: All spoken words are (of course) in druidic.

[Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn]

Aidan didn’t hear his cousin approach. Saying he was lost in thought wasn’t quite right – there weren’t many of those to get lost in – but he did have a habit of settling into the moment and letting it dominate his attention. It had its benefits, the ability to enjoy something completely without being worried about or distracted by other things. But it also meant he missed things that were happening around him. Aidan didn’t startle when Virva wrapped an arm around him, but instead leaned into the physical contact (at a time like this, it was doubly welcome). He stretched out his legs in the sand as he considered what she said.

It was a little confusing. Sure, she was talking about the creatures, but Aidan didn’t understand what she meant by ‘we.’ Maybe she meant we the druids as a collective people, because it certainly wasn’t his or her job to go out and look for them. But she was right – he was worried about how they’d be doing since the collapse of the barrier. “Thank you, Lahti,” Aidan said gratefully. “I know they can take care of themselves on Hy-Brasil, but how can they be okay out there around people who don’t understand them?” he fretted, pouting a little as he considered how scared some of the animals must be. “I was supposed to check on Pearl next week. She has a cold, and who’s going to comb the burrs out of her tail now?” Pearl was a unicorn he had been treating – and yes, he’d named her. It helped him connect with his patients.

Virva’s last question was the million dollar question, and Aidan frowned as he concentrated hard on answering it. He’d been wondering what had caused the barrier to collapse – the Elders hadn’t mentioned it was going to happen, so it must have been unplanned. But he was stumped. “Maybe the magic ran out,” he suggested unenthusiastically. He really had no idea, but… “But it’s going to be okay,” he decided out-loud as he gave Virva a weak smile. “The Council will make a plan and then all we need to do is follow it.” Aidan had faith in the island’s leaders – although he couldn’t be sure if Virva would feel the same way. As a druid from outside the main community, she and her family tended to see things differently (sometimes in positive ways, but mostly in weird ones that sounded a little crazy). But he loved her anyway, despite all her weird impulses (like joining the Ministry, Virva, really?).

@virvatuli
[All dialogue in Brasilic unless stated otherwise]

[Deleted]

Typical Aidan, really, hitting the nail on the head at the first try when it came to magical creatures. He was predictable in that sense but to Virv that was a very good thing. She scrunched up her nose and shook her head. "Wizardkind is almost as stupid as muggles are. They're doing the thing with the kännykkä now. And the other muggle machine things. They're only falling further down and away." Yes, Virva was judging the magical usage of muggle technology very harshly. They had ways to get messages across swiftly without having to pollute the environment for it but they opted for purchasing adapted goods rather than developing their magical skills. It angered her a little bit. They had to do better.

It took Lahti (as Aidan called her) just a moment to find out what exactly Aidan was talking about. Well, something with a tail that needed combing certainly did thin out the list of possible creatures. Probably some form of magical horse. Possibly a thestral? Could Aidan even see those? She'd been able to see them for quite a long time but well, she was always a bit odd. With everything out in the world she'd discovered that Hy-brasil was quite a bit safer when growing up than her hometown had been. Still, she'd accept the risk as this place? It wasn't home to her. She lived in the twilight between the night and day.

Lahti frowned deeply as he suggested the magic ran out. It didn't seem too likely, they would all have felt it before. "I don't believe that. The council would have known sooner and been able to fix it somewhat. It must have been caused by something. Either that or your leaders have been very negligent, which doesn't seem too likely since they are still druids." She then closed her mouth and mused it over in silence, her hands gliding over her spell casting focus, feeling the bone under her fingers to bring her comfort. It was a family tradition and a good one. Still, right now she was worried. "I do think it'll be fine. We just need to see how we handle the ministry. Not all of them seem to know how to use the full extent of their brains after all." Lahti said with an eyeroll. It might not have been smart to speak of her boss that way but it was true. Not to mention they were not around and would not have been able to understand her if they had been.

Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn

[Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn]

Virva was certainly making sense now with her observations on wizards from the mainland, and Aidan nodded along thoughtfully as he considered everything he’d seen in the last few years. He’d first noticed it at Hogwarts, how the students would obsess over their magicked technology and how they used increasingly foreign terminology that Aidan didn’t fully understand anymore. And then he’d seen it in Hogsmeade – the way Muggle culture was seeping into the wizarding world and making everything more complicated and artificial. Replacing portkeys with flying cars and owl post with cell phones. “They don’t see how reliant they’ve become on their machines. They have almost no connection to their environment anymore,” Aidan observed sadly.

Maybe it was a harsh stance, condemning the increasingly common mix between the magical and non-magical. But it was necessary – that separation needed to exist for a reason, because magic and a strong connection to nature was precious and needed to be protected. It got harder to remember that living in a house of brick and being constantly surrounded by insincerity.

But there were bigger issues to worry about right now, and for once Aidan could feel the worry reaching him because the trouble seemed so close to home. Virva negated his theory on the barrier and responded with thoughts of her own. Aidan screwed up his face in concentration because it was a lot of big things to take in all at once and Virva had a habit of piling on words until it seemed like a giant mountain of ideas. “Caused by something?” Aidan repeated. “Like what? An earthquake? Did something attack it?” His eyes widened. “A creature wouldn’t attack it, right? Maybe it was something Dark. A vampire? Did vampires infiltrate the island?” He was catastrophizing a bit, but it was an explanation that checked off some boxes. Fact: Dark magic could corrupt other kinds of magic. Fact: Vampires were Dark. It made more sense to him than the Council being negligent, because that just wasn’t something they’d do.

Aidan snorted slightly as Virva brought up the Ministry. “Lahti, why do you work for them if you know that?” he asked, playing with a handful of sand by letting it run through his fingers before scooping it up again. “They’ll try to take advantage of us losing the barrier. Tell us they can do it better or something crazy.” He wouldn’t put it past them – every new Minister meant the Council had to renew the fight to keep their rights, and the druids suffered every time they lost. He’d met mainlanders that he liked – his coworkers at the reserve, the occasional person he met around Hogsmeade. But their Ministry was another beast entirely.

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Virva scoffed rather loudly in agreement with Aidan. "Call me mean but I hope the magic abandons them. They are so incredibly disrespectful to nature and just use magic to further the destruction of the world. Going like this there will come a day that the druids have to choose to isolate themselves completely or go down with the rest of the world in destroying it." She shook her head regretfully. "I know I'll abandon everything and go for the survival of our world." She perhaps was a little extreme but she saw more and more that showed how muggle technology and wastefulness was taking over the wizarding world. The influx of machines, the diminishing use of nature. Replacing owls with enchanted paper memo's. It just used so much more paper than needed. They never did much in terms of recycling either to make up for the bad things. It was just a shame and a waste all around.

Aidan actually had a pretty good point. She had to consider this from the perspective of more than just a druid. She was employed by people she didn't even like but the work was fun enough. Not to mention that it could help her gain a better understanding of what was going on. It was mostly why she even bothered with the ministry. She shrugged. "I mean, it could be. We'd have to consider who holds grudges against us and I'd definitively put vampires on that list. Them and witch hunters but I don't see how they could break the barriers when they can't even get here. I just don't see what they'd have to gain from all the creatures escaping. It won't make it easier for them to feast on humans, will it? Or did they develop an appetite for druids?" It was a very disturbing kind of idea and Virv certainly didn't want to chase that train of thought.

Virv shrugged. "I like the actual work. Countering dark magic, a bit of thrill and adventure. I have some really nice co workers too." She pulled a face. "I love being home and living a quiet life from time to time but I'm not a domestic person. I need more than that. I want to feel that thrill of a chase and all that stuff. I don't see myself settle down in a domestic life unless I have no other choice and definitively won't happen before I have like.... at least six kids." Then again, even at that point it was highly unlikely that she'd actually want to retire or pick a less dangerous job. At most she'd work a bit less to have more time for the kids but she just couldn't even imagine sitting around doing nothing. She'd always been searching for adventures that would help her make the world a better place. Catching dark wizards certainly seemed like the right way to go.

Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn

[Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn]

Aidan smiled at Virva as she wondered out-loud about non-druid wizards and their increasingly tenuous relationship with magic and tradition. “You’re not mean,” he responded sincerely. She still had her arm around him, so Aidan shifted himself until he could turn the gesture into a side-hug. Virva could be rather blunt about her thoughts, but she wasn’t saying anything wrong and everything came out of a place of love. There were very few people Aidan would send ill wishes to, but that didn’t mean he would condemn others for it. There was usually a root cause for these kinds of troubling feelings.

“You’re worried about the future of our people, and that’s a very good thing to worry about. And you are not any less druid for being outside Hy-Brasil,” Aidan scolded lightly, just in case she had any such thoughts wandering around her head. He was a rather traditional person, but blood was thicker than water and he’d always stand by his family. “And I know you will always choose us first,” Aidan decided definitively before dropping the topic to consider the much-bigger and less-clear topic of what had happened to the barrier.

He loved his cousin, and so reaffirming their solid friendship and mutual concern for the future of the druids was easy to talk about. But the fate of the barrier was troubling, and shrouded in mystery, and ultimately the responsibility of the Council to resolve. But Aidan was worried sick about the animals and maybe Virva could sense that to a certain extent if she was talking about other things to distract him instead. He wrinkled his nose in concentration. “Maybe you could suggest these ideas to the Council,” Aidan suggested brightly. Virva was much sharper than him, and he was sure they would welcome her observations. Ministry worker or not, she understood more about the outside world than most druids and Aidan certainly thought she knew what she was talking about. “But do you think many people hate us?” That was a sad thing to think and Aidan pouted. “Besides the Ministry and those blasted witch hunters.”

The question of Virva joining the Ministry was an old argument and Aidan shrugged lightly. “You should have come with me to the reserve then,” he said with a laugh. “Some of the dragons can be very playful and they don’t let the mainlanders get too close. Plenty of thrill and excitement.” He smiled to himself as he thought about his favorite dragon and her recently hatched egg. Baby dragons were adorable and he was already thinking up names before its next checkup.

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Virva had never even considered herself less druid for living on the mainland. She didn't consider herself less of anything, just different. She was used to being different, even back home. There was no problem in that. Still, it gave her something else to think about. People could consider her less of a druid because she wasn't actually from the island, even though her habits were similar if not the same as most druids. She briefly wondered if their interaction with the mainlanders was influencing their culture. They seemed different than the druids back home, but she wasn't where the branches came together in ways of life.

She chuckled as he suggested the ministry hated them. "I don't think the ministry hates us. They just find us very annoying because they can't control us and order us around. They don't really understand our way of life anymore." She said but there mere thought made her sad. It was hard to explain, but she wanted to give it her best shot. "The people out there, they lost that feeling of community like we have. If somebody hurt you or your loved ones the community will stand up for you and defend and help you out here, you know? With them the ministry and laws are supposed to do it. But it doesn't really work because everything is out of balance." She sighed as she tried to decide how best to explain it. "They are almost obsessed with ownership. Not even gifts are truly free. If you get something, it's expected you give a gift in return at a later moment. People feel you owe them things and some people feel they deserve far more than they might have earned. Some men believe a smile from a woman earns them the right to her attention and affection. Since the feeling that everybody constantly builds bonds based on what they owe each other it's very hard to build laws around that, especially when those making the laws also feel the world owes them things. There are no simple gifts or kind gestures that can't be misunderstood out there. It's like the best thing you can do is make sure you have more people that owe you something than vice versa. Some even do that with their pets. They feel the animals ought to provide comfort simply because they opened their homes to them and they get upset if the animal just wants to do their own thing. People out there don't give to help others survive out of kindness only. Even if it seems that way they usually do it for prestige or to feel better about themselves. I guess they forgot we need each other and it's not about who has most but more about making sure everybody can live properly." She stopped talking at that point and shook her head sadly. "Best not to think about it. You have a good life here so hold on to that."

His suggestion made her chuckle. It was excitment, but just not the kind she was looking for. "I don't think I'd fit in there. I think the spirits may have led me to a place where I feel like I can make a difference. Either that or the ancestors are playing pranks on me." She fell silent for a brief moment as she wondered if she should tell Aidan about Luke. "I met someone. I think I like him as more than just a friend. It's very weird, considering he's not a druid." She wasn't going to mention the fact he worked with her unless provoked into saying it. She wanted to bring it gently, if possible.

Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn

[Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn]

The outside world was a mind-boggling topic. Aidan wouldn’t say he understood it, because a couple years in the mainland had taught him that he really didn’t know much, but he was starting to understand some parts of it. He’d memorized some phrases in English very early on, because they constantly came up in every conversation. Where do you work? The Magical Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. How much do you make? Where do you go on vacation? Oh, that doesn’t compare to mine. All in all, how do you define yourself as the best by making yourself exactly like everybody else? There was such an obsession about how things seemed and constant competition to be ‘the best.’

Virva had it exactly right, there was no sense of community among such lost souls. “No sense of loyalty,” Aidan said out-loud in addition to her thoughts. The comments she made about how they treated animals made him curl in on himself slightly – even the thought of animal cruelty made him queasy. “Their world is scary. But I guess they must like it, or they wouldn’t do things that way.”

Aidan frowned as he tried to formulate one of the deepest thoughts he’d contemplated since the collapse of the barrier. “Life is good in Hy-Brasil,” he agreed as Virva told him not to worry about it. “But…what happens when life out there messes with life here?” He chewed his lip contemplatively. “A druid wouldn’t have done this,” Aidan decided, “so one of them must have. But was it a Dark creature? The Ministry trying to get back at the Council? Were our animals the target or are they just…collateral damage?” The thought made Aidan shiver and he hugged himself to try and regain a semblance of comfort. He’d never really thought about the bigger picture before – he still didn’t want to. He wanted to come back to Hy-Brasil and be happy and follow in the footsteps of his family. But it was hard to remember that when there were creatures in danger. And when it put his family in danger. There must be some way to protect the druids’ way of life without letting the Ministry boss them around or pull them into the outside world’s drama…right?

If there was anything that could pull Aidan out of walking down such a dark direction, it was family drama. “I don’t understand, Lahti,” Aidan said as he furrowed his brow. “You like someone, but they are not a druid? How can you like someone if they aren't a druid?” The two things seemed mutually exclusive, and his brain was having a hard time putting them together.

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Virva shrugged at the suggestion they must like it to have it be that way. "I'm not sure Aidan." She said softly. "They tend to do the same as caged or trapped animals. They have the same look in their eyes. Like they are living automatically rather than naturally. It's just hard to see most of the time since they spend so much time distracted or running from their problems that you rarely catch them looking as lost as they seem to feel. It's the vacant stares in the busses, the empty looks and the tears when they think nobody is watching. People need each other, but they were trained to believe otherwise. I feel sorry for them." It was hard not to really, if she looked at they way they lived their lives almost like cogwheels in a machine rather than rich and powerful individuals. Or maybe she was just biased due to her dislike of muggle technology and the integration of that in the magical world.

She fully agreed with Aidan on the lack of loyalty as well. "Or to the wrong thing, although I've found some exceptions already." She was totally talking about Luke of course. To her, he was vastly different and yet so much like them that it was almost disorienting. He held loyalty to his family higher than the ministry at least, which was something. It wasn't as if he was a free soul, but he at least was willing to see what life was like outside of the machinery of the society he grew up in. To Virv that was actually pretty important.

Aidan wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. Virva had the unfortunate fate of having grown up with knowing that life on the outside would never leave the druid community alone. Life on the outside would never leave anything alone, the Sami had noticed that much in their history. The machinery world preferred anything that didn't assimilate to be destroyed beyond repair and then forgotten. Virva sighed deeply, remember her own inner turmoil and where it had led her. "I don't have the answers. I wish I did, but the elders will figure it out. If not, I'll be trying with and within the ministry to get more information to tell our elders to resolve this." She then looked at Aidan very seriously. "This is why I joined them Aidan. Those practising the dark arts will never leave us alone if they think they can get something out of us. They'll destroy anything to get what they want and I can't let that happen to our communities. I don't trust the ministry, but I've seen what the aurors do and they do their best. Almost all of them are people that want to free the world from dark wizards and the other just want the money or ego the job brings. Just because they aren't part of our community doesn't mean they won't fight to protect it if the ministry calls upon them to do so. It's both reassuring and worrying to me. It'll be fine in the long run though. I'll make sure of that."

She laughed a hearty little laugh, full of joy when he expressed his lack of understanding at her liking a person that was not a druid. She nudged him playfully. "Everybody back home is like family to me. The idea of dating them isn't bad, but it's also a bit strange. It's like dating your best friend. It just doesn't seem right. I could have fallen for somebody from Hy-brasil but I wouldn't want to live here..." She shrugged, hoping he could understand. While almost home, it wasn't home to her. Her home was up in the far north and it seemed unlikely a druid would leave their safer home and the roots of their community to live amongst a partially non-magical community, no matter how connected to nature they were. "The person I like.... they are curious and have a good heart. I didn't consider liking them as my mind wasn't on that at all. I never planned to like anybody that wasn't one of us but this one is special somehow. We went to sauna after work one day and before we knew it we were kissing and all. It's all still kind of new and confusing to me too. It feels like it would back home, except they're very conscious about being naked. It's so weird." That was one of those things she commonly forgot. How not normal it was for people from different places to handle things such as nudity. It was very normal to her but she was child of both nature and had grown up with sauna. It was as natural as breathing to her.

Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn

[Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn]

When they were discussing such a difficult topic as the mainland witches and wizards, Aidan found it easier not to maintain eye contact and instead fiddle around with his surroundings. Making eye contact meant that the only thing he was focusing on was the conversation, and that just made him fidgety. So he picked up a fistful of sand and watched it run through his fingers, then did it a couple more times while Virva described what she saw in the eyes of the mainlanders. It was something unique the two cousins shared – unlike most druids, who tended to stay in the communities and not wander far, both Aidan and Virva had chosen (or rather, in Aidan’s case been forced by his parents) to spend time among the other wizards. Live among them, work with them, observe them from an angle most druids never got. Maybe that could be considered a blessing in its own right, but it felt less so when the results made Aidan so sad.

“I do too,” he echoed as Virva said she felt sorry for them. “They make life so…so complicated. And about all the wrong things. I mean, no wonder their world is falling apart. All these bad people who get away with so much evil. What else can you expect from people when they aren’t taught right?” he huffed with a little pout on his face. Druid society placed the ultimate emphasis on family, and living in peace with the creatures and environment that surrounded you. There wasn’t this notion of domination like he’d seen in Britain. Dominating in your career. Dominating other people. Becoming the best version of yourself at the expense of others meant you weren’t being your best at all. And what sort of life was the kind where you lived apart from your family and your community? The mainlanders spent their whole life searching for happiness. They didn’t understand that they already had every tool they needed not to find happy but just to be it.

He locked eyes with Virva as she defended the Ministry again, but he only shook his head slightly and looked away again. He stopped playing with the sand and leaned back on his hands, craning his head back to take in the sight of the slowly rising sun. “The Ministry isn’t a machine, Virva,” he said, a little venom entering his tone at the word ‘machine’ although, per his usual way of doing things, the venom quickly left. “It’s made of people. People who choose to do this to us. People that want us to be below them. Maybe it was the Ministry that did this to our creatures,” he said sullenly. In the end, it always came back to the creatures for Aidan. There were very few things he wanted out of life, and therefore very few things he actually paid attention to. He didn’t know if there were bigger games at play here, that was for the Council to determine, but someone had definitely targeted the creatures and that made Aidan shiver.

Aidan gladly seized on the new topic and rolled his eyes at Virva. “You don’t want to live in paradise?” he asked by rephrasing her earlier thought that she wouldn’t want to live in Hy-Brasil. He supposed it was different for Virva since she’d grown up outside of the island, but Aidan just couldn’t imagine setting down roots anywhere else. There was nowhere a tree could grow as sturdy and strong as it could in Hy-Brasil.

He studied her as she described the person she liked and he rolled his eyes. “Of course it’s weird. They’re not one of us. There are things in our blood that they’ll never have, so how could they even begin to understand? And what’s wrong with dating your best friend? Don’t you want someone who gets everything about you? Where you don’t even need words because knowing everything about them is as…as natural as knowing yourself?” Aidan sighed as he waved a hand idly in the air. He’d never put these thoughts into words before but it was only a matter of saying what he had always known. What he’d seen in his own family. “Being with someone should be like…sailing a canoe across a calm lake. Or pulling a plow across good earth. There might be some drag, but if you find resistance then that means something’s wrong. And you can’t tell me it could ever be like that with an outsider.”

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

There were some complications in the fact that Aidan, bless his soul, simply didn't have much of an open mind. He loved his life as it was and didn't need much more than what he already had. What'd he'd always had. The same seemed to go for most druids, they were content and happy with the life they had and everything that was already in it. Unfortunately the same didn't ring true for Virva, which often put her on the outside of the druid community, no matter how much they invited her in. She wanted more than the simple life of harvest and field. She wanted to see the world, maybe even change it. Such a thing could be difficult to explain to those that didn't see the world as anything beyond their own borders where everything was fine. The world was so much bigger than just that. Virva shook her head sadly as Aidan spoke with such venom. "The majority of anything out there is a lot of people like us, people that have little say in what the leaders do, except our leaders care about us and our happiness. Their leaders care only for money and power. It's different there, you should know. You've walked amongst them. How many did you see able to live freely? They spell their children to hide the magic from the muggles! I don't think people out there are as free as they think they are."

That was enough on that subject of course. Her not wanting to live in what he considered paradise had her rolling her eyes. "Your paradise, Aidan, not mine." She said and motioned to the sea and the mainland beyond view in the distance. "I want more than the simple life. I want adventure in the great wide... somewhere. I want to see the world beyond the maps and books and pictures. I want to live in it fully. I want to see both the good and the bad, not just the parts I enjoy to see." She sighed ever so deeply. It was part of what she was and what drove her to move forward. She wasn't the quiet life kind of type and she knew that very little would get in her way of living the way she wanted. She didn't see herself as the type to live safely even if she ever started a family. She knew nature could be cruel and she knew that if she'd have orphaned kids, they'd be adopted by the druids without question. They were a safe haven that wouldn't throw her children out because of her.

Virva couldn't help but laugh as Aidan asked what was wrong with dating ones best friend. "I mean, nothing. But there is no excitement in dating my best friend. There's nothing we haven't seen of each other since we go to sauna together all the time. It's not that I would be against sleeping with the guy but it's no butterflies. It's comfortable but not exciting. We're great as friends and maybe if that was what I wanted I'd be all over him but well....." She shrugged, no matter how much she loved her bestie back home, she didn't want to run off and get married to him and settle down in a quiet druid cottage, weaving baskets. Not her. She wanted something exciting. His description had her smiling, although she shrugged it off. "That sounds boring to me. Boring in a good way, but still boring. I want it to feel like riding a hippogriff. Every dive gets your heart beating faster and it can be terrifying but in the end it always feels good. It's not so safe it's boring but it's a thrill that never gets dull." A very different idea, clearly so. But it was what she dreamt of, which was very different from his view, but exactly what she wanted. Luke seemed to give that to her.

Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn

[Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn]

Aidan always liked talking to Virva – they were family, of course, so he would have liked talking to her anyway. But she always said such interesting things that he rarely heard anywhere else, things that were absolutely crazy but funny to think about. She talked about wanting to have adventures and see all of the world – the good and bad parts. That seemed like the perfect recipe for being perpetually unhappy, though, because Aidan knew if you wanted to go find bad things that, well, you were going to find them. Or really, they were going to find you if you put yourself in that position. He knew there were a lot of unhappy people in the world – witches and wizards that were looking for nothing more than to know that they were loved, to be around people who would stand by them in any situation and support them in times of uncertainty. It seemed…unusual, if not ungrateful, to have all that and still not be satisfied.

But he didn’t say any of that, because as much as Aidan knew he had it all figured out, he’d learned non-druids weren’t interested in hearing it. And evidently Virva, because a lot of her behaviors didn’t quite reflect druid values in a way he understood. He knew she was a druid – it wasn’t a choice, and she lived life mostly the right way anyway – but wanting to put yourself in danger by choice far away from the community that needed you, well…he just didn’t understand that. If you’re out in the big wide world than you aren’t at home, and if you’re having adventures then you’re not fulfilling your duty to your family. It seemed like a simple enough train of thought to him.

Still, this decision of hers to fall in love with a non-druid (because let’s not kid ourselves here) captured his mind more. He cocked his head at her (much like a dog might) as she used the description ‘comfortable but not exciting’ in response to his words. “We have hippogriffs here,” Aidan said slowly, although he wasn’t sure that was what she meant. He processed her words slowly, thinking about what she said she wanted. He leaned back on his hands again and gazing up at the (barrier-less) sky. “I just don’t understand,” Aidan said with a pout after a few moments of silence. “Why do you want to be terrified? You should feel safe with your love. You should know they’ll take care of it, and you, so all the fear just…trickles away, and you’re left knowing you could survive anything with them.” Aidan liked the metaphors, even if they were hard to come up with, and he flopped onto his back as he squinted up at the sky. “A relationship should have firm roots,” he finally decided. “It might feel nice to ride on the wind over the clouds, but the wind won’t tear through a mountain, or a tree with deep roots. Love needs to be grounded, or it just can’t survive. And I know that’s what I want – something that will last.”

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Aidan was not a boy of the world. No matter how much Virva loved her cousin it was more than abundantly clear that he wasn't built to ever leave the druid community behind. He was more like her brothers and sisters in the sense that he sought out a life of comfort and security. She was always the odd one out, seeking more than the simple life and the solid tilled earth of the world to sow her fields. She had known that being afraid of the outside world wasn't going to keep it from harming her. The small town in Lappi wasn't as protected from the rest of the world as Hy-brasil was. That in combination with some interesting artefact had brought dark wizards to their doorstep. It hadn't ended beautifully. It had shown Virva that sometimes one could support the community more by not being a direct part of it but by ensuring that you were not forgotten by the world at large. Working with the ministry was less than ideal but at least she felt they tried to do the right thing when it came to the aurors. The people were good at their job but it wasn't very organic. Everything worked like a machine and Virva hated that part. Still, there wasn't something she would feel better doing, especially not back home. Borderguard didn't exactly have the same type of workload or effect as auror did on the world.

Virva listened to Aidans point on love and smiled slightly. For most people that was the goal and destination. Somebody to be absolutely comfortable with. She chuckled at his mention of having hippogriffs though. "I know Aidan. I'm not about to date a hippogriff though." She said playfully. "I mean, the entire firm roots thing works best when you have the roots down for yourself." She said, looking out over the water. Paradise or not, Hy-brasil wasn't where she wanted to be. She would probably have been happy in Lappi if not for the attack all those years ago. Something inside her had been woken and it just refused to go back to sleep. "After the attack on Stuorraguovssahasat when I was little I was so scared. Scared to lose my family if people attacked us again. I realised I was scared because I didn't want to lose them. My wild streak and running about became a stronger urge to protect and eventually I knew I couldn't live a quiet life. I used to think I'd be a part of herding the reindeer with my mother and brothers but I never really felt at ease. I never managed to forget that attack. It was my parents that suggested I try something unusual." She had a very peculiar kind of smile as she happily looked at Aidan for a moment. "One of the druids had seen my future they said. I went with the will o whisps, following a strange path. I guess I started following it now. I feel like I belong, Aidan. Strange or not, this is where I'm supposed to be."

It was at that point that a glimpse of silver caught her attention and she quickly scrambled to her feet, grabbing her wand. It usually meant news. She wriggled her nose as a patronus shaped like a ferret approached her. It spoke then, asking her to come in due to an attack. She nodded, memorising the specifics quickly as the ferret spoke. It was probably going to be a risky one. She nodded and then looked at Aidan. "Duty calls. They need extra hands on deck." She gave him a quick hug. "I'll probably visit around the Yuletide. Stay safe and grow your roots and may a star shine on our next meeting." She said before smiling, kissing his forehead and apparating back towards the mainland to join her co-workers.

Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn

[Aidan Evander Ó Cuinn]

Aidan sighed lightly to himself. He wasn’t much of a hard thinker, and his life mostly worked because he didn’t question things that he intuitively knew were right. His family had been in Hy-Brasil for generations, and they’d carved out a place for themselves within the small druid community. They were well-known to the other neighboring families, and they knew everybody in turn. Some members of the family were more involved – like Abria with her Elder duties – and others were happy simply to work the land or study magical plants. But none of them ever made it a habit to leave, and the ones who did for brief periods of time always came back. It was a simple life, and Aidan was happy to continue that legacy. Still, it helped that Virva was always straightforward with him. He couldn’t understand the impulses that drove her, but she always used the terminology he knew. She didn’t have roots down anywhere, she knew she’d follow a strange path, she could never just herd the reindeer with her family.

He nodded haltingly to show Virva that even if he didn’t understand, he supported her anyway. That was the bottom line at the end of the day – it really didn’t matter if he approved or disapproved of her choices, because he’d always be there for her and she for him. It was the blessing of having a cousin so close to your own age – you had someone to be there for you who was close enough to be family, but far enough that you chose to stay together. He gave her a lopsided smile. “Yeah, I get it. Sometimes our parents know better than we do,” he nodded along. It had been his parents’ idea to send him away for a time, although probably with the intent that he would return after his apprenticeship. He didn’t understand their logic, but he trusted them anyway.

When the Patronus arrived, Aidan stood along with Virva, even though it was clearly for her. He made a point of not listening to the details – he didn’t much care about Ministry business – but turned to her once she began to speak. “Oh, okay,” Aidan said, the disappointment in his tone bleeding through. He returned her hug with a tight one of his own. “Visit soon! You know Ma loves when you and the other cousins come to see us. And she already has big plans for this Yule season.” He sighed a little again as he watched Virva disappear, off to go chase adventures and undoubtedly danger. He worried about her, even though he knew she could take care of herself. Aidan sat back down on the sand to enjoy the quiet a little longer before he needed to head back home. He just hoped that Virva really did know what she was doing, and that this balancing act of hers between the druids and the Ministry wouldn’t collapse on her. But then he brightened as he thought about her promise to visit soon.

@virvatuli
[End post Aidan!]