Alchemists of Windermere

Prima Materia

The first time Sebastian remembered seeing Lily was not actually the first time that he saw her.

Memory is an unreliable mistress that way.

The first time Sebastian Allsaires saw Lily Perkins was in the City. He was running for a cab, face flushed, hair wild, and his bag knocked her things from her arms. He glanced once, incuriously, over his shoulder at what had obstructed him.

He did not stop to help her pick them up.

The first time Lily saw Sebastian was at the Midtown Duelist’s Club. She watched him dodge and cast, as if his life depended on it, as if Magic itself gave him life.

When he took off his helmet, victorious, his joy was its own sun.

She sat in the back row of the bleachers and wished she loved anything the way that boy loved Magic.