“Hmm,” Esther nodded. “This eagle is still not yet an adult, probably equivalent to a teenage male if converted in human years. If he’s raised outside Agartha, that means he was kept out intentionally by his family.”

“What shall we do now?” Lady Tyra asked. “There is an unwritten law that our kind would not intervene with internal conflicts within other races…”

“For now, let him heal. Saving his life is what matters first,” Esther responded. “I have used my powers to heal him, but it will take time since his bloodline is not compatible with external powers. If it was a normal injury, it would have been treated right away. We will need to feed him elixirs.”

“I hope he gets better soon,” Lady Tyra said, only to hear Esther give instructions.

“I will be leaving him in your care till he gets better. I have placed an energy barrier on this nest so he won’t be able to fly away in your absence and he won’t be able to transform into his human form unless I allow him to.”

Lady Tyra received her orders without a word,  feeling relieved that Esther had already put measures in place, “It will be troublesome if he transforms into his human form when we are not around, especially now that the royal palace is filled with guests. Even if he escapes as an eagle, if people think of him as a game, they will likely hunt him. It might put his life in danger.”

“Young shapeshifters normally cannot control their transformations until they become adults, and this is especially harder for those with purer bloodlines like this young one.”

After leaving the young Divine Eagle in Lady Tyra’s care, Esther disappeared from her room, only to reappear inside her own bedchamber. She was greeted by the sight of a little devil sitting on her bed pouting his lips.

The moment he saw his mother appear in the middle of the chamber, he jumped down from the bed and ran towards her. Esther lifted him in her arms. “Why are you here instead of your chamber?”

“I could not sleep and I missed Mother.”

Esther smiled and carried him towards the bed. “You want to sleep with Mother?”

His eyes brightened up immediately. “Can I?”

“Hmm.” Esther nodded and put him on the bed.

“But I want Mother to tell me a bedtime story as well,” Little Drayce said as his mother joined him in bed. He hurried to snuggle into her warm embrace.

Esther caressed his head. “All right. What kind of story do you want to hear today?”

“I want to know about you, Mother. You never told me what kind of supernatural being you are.”

Esther smiled lightly. “My Dray is suddenly curious about me. May I know why?”

“Umm…” He felt hesitant as he pressed his lips in a thin line. After a little pause, he looked at his mother with shifty eyes. “I hear people say you are a witch. They make it sound like you are a bad person but I know Mother is not a bad person. Why do they call you a witch? Are you really a witch?”

“Hmm,” she nodded. “I am a witch.”

Drayce let out a tiny gasp. “Then are you a bad person?”

“Why am I a bad person?”

“Aren’t witches bad?”

“Why are witches bad?”

“Uhmm… because the books say so?”

She chuckled at the innocence of her adorable son. “Dray, always remember that not all words that  people  say are the truth. For example, what’s the color of my hair?”

“Gold!”

“If I say my hair is black, does it make it black?”

He shook his head. “It is still gold!”

“Exactly. That’s the same with witches. Just because they say witches are bad doesn’t mean all witches are bad. You have to trust what you see and experience for yourself.”

Drayce snuggled closer to his mother. “But why do they think witches are bad? You are very kind, Mother. You are the kindest person I know.”

“It’s just that humans are always scared of those they do not understand. In their eyes, they think all the witches are bad. Maybe in the past one witch hurt a human, and after that, the humans got scared thinking all the witches will hurt them as well.”

“That’s unfair!” Little Drayce exclaimed.

“Who is good and who is bad depends on their actions, not their identity. People sometimes act irrationally because they don’t understand each other. Even humans have good and bad humans too, isn’t it?”

“Hmm, so there are good humans and bad humans, good witches and bad witches…”

Esther nodded. “Smart boy. Among our kind, we call the good ones the White Witches, those who use their powers to protect people, while the bad ones we call them Black Witches since they use their powers to harm those around them.”

“Then Mother must be a White Witch, I am sure,” he said confidently.

“Do you think so?” she asked, smiling pleasantly at him.

“Hmm.”

“As long as my son thinks I am a good person then it doesn’t matter if I am a White Witch or Black Witch.”

“No one is as good as Mother,” he said and hugged his mother tightly with all the love and respect he had for his mother in his heart.

“But Dray, always remember that not all the White Witches are good and not all the Black Witches are bad. Remember what I said earlier? Who is good and who is bad depends on their actions, not their identity.”

“Yes, Mother.”

His eyes drooped as he yawned, looking as if sleep was getting to him. It was the effect of his mother’s comfortably warm embrace.

Once he fell asleep, she lay him in the middle of the bed and patted his head gently.

“I pray with all my heart that you will not come across these bad people too soon, that you will not face difficulties you cannot solve because of them. As my son, I know you will chance upon them someday but I wish you to remain strong and brave.

“If it’s possible, I wish you to be able to live a life like an ordinary human, the same life that I, your mother, had always wished for myself…but I don’t want you to suffer like I did. I will make sure you’ll be ready to face your fate.”

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