the_debt_of_time

much—growing up without their mothers. The thought left a stinging pain in her chest
reminding her of how much she missed Dorea.
"Is that what triggers it? Witnessing death? Your Sight?"
The blonde nodded her head.
"Pandora." Mia sighed, feeling drained and defeated already. "What if your mother
didn't have to die?"
"But she did die," Pandora replied, apparently unaffected by the question. "No one
lives forever."
"But... what if she didn't have to die when you were nine?"
Pandora simply shrugged her shoulders. "Then she would have died when I was ten
or fifty, perhaps seventy-four and a half. Dying when I was nine made her no less my
mother."
"Yes, but.. ." Mia began, already feeling a similar frustration that she used to get
when trying to converse with Luna. "But you would have had her for longer."
"Or not," Pandora countered. "Maybe if she hadn't died when I was nine, she would
have been kidnapped by fairies. Mischievous creatures, really," the witch said with a smile
as though they were not currently talking about her mother's death. Just when Mia was
pressed to interject another argument, her friend added, "Or she could have been murdered
by Death Eaters."
The words sucked the breath right out of Mia's lungs, so forcefully that she clutched
her hand to her chest. She thought of her mother's stance on changing the future. While
their words were not the same, Dorea and Pandora's meanings were similar. Her mother
had been firm about her feelings in regards to the future. Saying that Death would always
take something if something was taken from him. Advising that if Mia prevented a tragic
but painless passing, Death could easily reclaim that same person, only to make them suffer
for it in the end.
Pandora's voice brought her out of her silent reflection. "Did you know that not
everyone can see thestrals? Not unless they've seen death."
Mia nodded, recalling the first time she had seen the beasts. "When you saw death
you started seeing more than just the thestrals, didn't you? Can you... can you see the
future?"