Microstory 1247: Sadie Kovak

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It was kind of a taboo subject, but the truth was that some people just weren’t capable of having special time powers. No one really understood why, and those who might have had the tools to investigate, weren’t living on Durus. It was rare, though, so people didn’t really worry about it much. When Sadie Hartoria was nineteen years old, it was time for the Third Mage Games. Every twenty years, a new batch of contenders battled it out on the competition floor in an attempt to prove themselves worthy of becoming town mages. She had trained for this her whole life. In its forty year history, the highest number of mages were aged sixteen to twenty-two. People were at their competitive and athletic prime during this range of their lives, so parents would actually plan their pregnancies around it. Sadie was destined for greatness, everyone believed. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she would be one of the winners, and be selected for service. She proved everybody right when she came in first. Sadly, she was born different than normal people. Each one of them tried, just to make sure, but the source mages were unable to bestow powers upon her. Some people’s bodies and minds simply reject the transformation. She could not serve if she didn’t have powers, which she ultimately came to think was a ridiculous rule, because plenty of mage selects ended up with noncombative abilities, so they weren’t any more qualified than she would be as a regular human. She and her parents appealed the decision, but it was pointless. The rules were the rules, and nobody was going to make an exception for her. Fortunately, this was not the only way for her to contribute to society. There was still one other option that would effectively harness her skills and experience. Ecrin Cabral was one of the first mages ever, and enjoyed a special level of autonomy from the other divisions of the Mage Protectorate. She had created a small but important police contingency that would enforce the internal laws of the towns. For the most part, people followed the laws on their own, and the largest threat came from the time monsters, but there were still some issues that good old fashioned police work could handle. Sadie was perfect for it, so this is what she did for her career. But now there was something missing from her life, and it wasn’t her husband, Jörm. She realized she had another dream that she didn’t know if she would ever be able to reach, and had kind of let go before. Sadie wanted a child more than anything. She considered herself lucky to have found a husband who felt the same way, but gradually became more and more disheartened the longer it took for pregnancy to take hold, until there was no hope left. She would come to believe, however, that everything happens for a reason. She and Jörm discovered a child in desperate need of care, and this was when things got interesting.