Project File: Journey – Nimue of the North

A while back, the screenshot of a post tumbled through my FB feed. It read something like “Witches are sedentary but Wizards wander the land”. And my mind immediately popped up “What if that’s why Evan spends years moving around with no apparent goal; he’s a Wizard, following Magic’s plan”. That was the start of this plot bunny.

When this year’s challenges were announced, I talked to a friend about what I might want to write and she reminded me that I do have an inexplicable babies world building sitting in the wings. I came up with the concept of Spring Children years ago for a Big Moxie challenge. I didn’t get it done in time because the POV and structure fought me, so I set it aside. I’m trying to get it together now and will add the link here if I succeed. It’s not related character or plot-wise, not even the same fandoms, so it’s hardly required reading. But after some pondering, the two concepts merged together nicely and gave more depth to the Witches and Wizards idea I was toying with, and more direction to Evan’s individual journey.

That post that sparked the main idea for this story had a reply screenshotted in. It talked about Witches being tied to their cauldrons and herb gardens, and how Wizards wandered around and Lords and mayors would build wizard’s towers to try and entice one to settle in their town. It reeked of harmful, outdated gender stereotypes if you read Witch and Wizard as gendered terms—which they aren’s always or everywhere, but we’ve grown quite used to that divide, and it’s not inherently problematic. So, I’m stuck with that association in the context of this world building, hence why I will treat Witch and Wizards as non-gendered terms. Why there are still two separate terms and how they differ will be explained in the narrative.

Anyhow, I’m sending Evan on a long-ish journey that’ll get him where he needs to be, but in better condition, so he’ll be right there to help Eddie sort himself out.