Flashback My Mum Exists in Twilight I

[Lani Stranger]

18th of Spring, 508AV
Name timeline

”Stop!” Her mother’s shrill voice rang out in mock horror as Leavou exited her room into the main area of the cottage. Adolescent legs were wrapped in a soft leather hide, forming a fashion typical of men: trousers.

”They’re just pants, calm down.” She told her mother, a slight irritation in the young teenager’s voice, a common detail when dealing with the Konti these days.

”You always want to be a boy, but you don’t. I don’t understand you.” Her mother tssked into the crocheting needle, Leavou turned away from the sight of her mother pulling a strand of dark green wool through. It was R’yse latest experiment. The Konti loved to try new things and was constantly picking up skills that made her feel more ‘domestic’. She never stayed with any one for long enough to actually be good at it though.

”I don’t want to be a boy, I just don’t want my life to revolve around marrying one.” Leavou drudged, snagging her scarf and mittens from their hook by the door and placing them on her lap as she sat down to watch her mother finish the patch. It was Spring, although Morwen still had a strong grasp on the city, so she scooted her stool as close to the dying embers of last night to gather whatever warmth from them that she could while she watched R’yse’s work. Her mother’s crocheting was absolutely dismal. Leavou herself did not know much about the art, but she had learned the initial knot with her mother, the one where you could simply make one long string, and nothing more. Whatever her mother was doing looked as if it had once been inspired by a pattern or perhaps an actual piece of threadwork. And then a rat gotten to it, and made a nest.

”You’re life is not about marrying a boy, Leavou. You can be an educated woman too, hell, you can marry an educated woman. You just have to earn a living doing anything other than serving stale beer to alcoholics. For your family, dear.” Her mother spoke with a tired tone, having repeated this exact lesson numerous times before. Leavou’s mother had been working for the Twilight Tower since arriving in this city, and had grown accustomed to their odd customs and traditions, and wanted to even impose such a culture on Leavou herself. They were not customs that she wanted to embrace. The child remembered when they shared a single bedroom in Alvadas, and when buying a new pair of shoes was a big investment because Leavou kept growing out of them too quickly. And now her mother attended the haughty taughties in the Towers ever other night and wasted a spool of wool crocheting for fun. Leavou twisted her face into a mockery of her mother’s, pulling her lips and miming the matron’s words. R’yse pointedly ignored her.

”Do you like it?” Her mother asked, holding up the patch, and Leavou squinted, not believing it was a sincere question.

”It makes great tinder.” She replied, honestly, and R’yse laughed.

”Yeah, I know. But practice makes perfect Leavou. If you want to try something, you should. If you want to get good at it, you have to commit.” Leavou nodded, not paying attention to the tidbit of wisdom as it was available to her.

”Is that how you got into Magic? In Alvadas? Where it is Illegal?” She asked, and R’yse nodded, ignoring her daughters attempts to goad an argument out of her. The Konti knew the half-Eypharian too well, and she was nearly a master at handling the onslaught of teenage angst first thing in the morning.

”Law is an illusion. If Ionu disagreed, they would smite me the moment I approached that mage.” Leavou shrugged, that made sense. Then again, followers of Ionu loved to use the ‘X is an illusion’ excuse for their behavior.

”And Zintila is far more forgiving?” Leavou questioned.

”Quite, in fact this city lives and breathes magic. All cities do, whether they admit it or not.” R’yse commented, pushing her hook through a thick looking knot and fishing out a strand of the puke-green wool.

”Alright,” R’yse sighed, sensing her daughter’s impatience. ”Let’s go. I want to introduce you to Tasa and Orath today.” R’yse said. Leavou had a literature lesson at the Alluvion Academy later, and her mother had an Alchemy lesson at the Twilight Tower. It was a very coveted position, very hard to get into, and very expensive, but somehow her mother had landed instructions with Tasa Twilight herself, not that the young girl knew who that was. And she only cared because her mother did, and she cared about her mother.

”Alright.” Leavou agreed, standing up and hanging her scarf over the back of her neck while she shoved her gilded hands into the mittens. She was already waiting by the door when her mother finally set the half-done mess on the seat she had been sitting in and moved to the door to don her winter gear and snag a cloth-wrapped jar from where it rested on the counter beside the cooking stove. Already she could feel a chill growing on her forearms as she stood only two feet from the thick wood that guarded their nest from the chilly embrace of winter.

[Lani Stranger]

As soon as the teen stepped onto the frozen winter ground, the wind leapt to kiss her cheeks. She welcomed her mortal daughter back into her stinging embrace with an unusually chilly gust of excitement. Leavou immediately stuck her hands into her pockets to avoid her fingers crackling as soon as Morwen took grasp of them. Her mother appeared behind her, just a few inches taller than the preteen, and slid her arm through the triangle inside Leavou’s elbow, stuffing her own fingers in her pocket and smiling at the child. She grinned back at her mother, bowed slightly as a mockery of respect, which made her mother laugh, and they began walking. The Sharai peak spread out behind her as the teen drudged through the thick snow with her mother towards the sky bridge which would eventually get to the Sartu peak.

It was over a bell of walking in the chilly cold before the giant spiral of the tower gained in their vision as they left the skybridge attaching the Tenten peak to the Sartu peak. The Twilight Tower was built out of magnificent skyglass, and she would be lying if she tried to claim it didn’t make her pause and admire it for at least a tick every time she saw it. Any of the towers that she happened to see in the distance of the bustling Lhavit peaks took her breathe away, as a new immigrant to the city, she was not quite used to the sight of them yet. The morning sun had started on its curve of the day and although she cast long chilly shadows to the streets on the Sartu peek, Syna lit up the top of the Twilight Tower with a majesty that practically glowed to the thirteen year old half-blood.

”Never get tired of the sight.” Her mother voiced Leavou’s thoughts exactly and the child just nodded, a sudden sense of insecurity falling over her. She was still relatively young, and had a loving family in her mother, and so insecurity and self-doubt were new and easily brushed off. Still, she had never been forced to be more aware of how odd she was just for existing until she had come to Lhavit. Her mother wanted to introduce her to Tasa, which meant Tasa must already like her mother. She just had to be herself.

”When we do get there, do I have to stay all day?” She asked her mother as the thought of sitting among tomes and scrolls while her mother scribbled lectures given to her by this mysterious Tasa loomed over her.

R’yse gave her a quizzical look, as if she was processing what Leavou had said. ”No dear, you have your reading lessons at noon… You are going to your reading lessons, right?” R’yse asked, a small knowing smirk tugging at the corner of the Konti’s lips, making the scales on her cheeks fold and indent, allowing the morning sun to glint off of her mother’s cheek in an uncanny iridescence.

”Of course.” She brushed off her mother’s concern as if the thought of not going to the expensive lessons hadn’t occurred to her. In reality, she had now skipped more days than she had gone and uncomfortable ratio of three to two. The Konti instructor was kind enough, but the subject was boring, and Leavou didn’t like being singled out for knowing rough Kontinese or being one of the youngest in the class. Her mother had made sure to brag about her heritage to the fellow Konti, Priya, even though Leavou was technically of some other humanoid that she had no name for. What she wouldn’t give to be born a Konti.

”Mhmm.” Her mother grunted, and Leavou let her gaze wander to the salted stone at their feet as they made their way through the beautiful snow-dusted gardens of the Tower. ”Not to worry, Tasa is a night owl, so we are simply stopping in for tea, shouldn’t take long. You’ll make it to class in plenty of time.”

[Lani Stranger]

Writing, how boring. The thought rang into Leavou’s mind as she avoided her mother’s gaze, her thoughts still on the class she intended to avoid for the rest of the season. What a privilege she never had before, that her mother was finally making a worthy living doing something she was passionate about, and Leavou could afford to blow off expensive classes with the confidence that she will not suffer because of it. How circumstances change over time, and how young and stupid she was not to realize. To Leavou, she had mostly learned how to read as a kid, and the writing lessons were really just to improve her writing and understanding of bigger words and pieces that she wouldn’t find in everyday life. It seemed massively unnecessary to the girl who would rather peek at cute boys hanging outside of the sketchy clubs on the Shinyama peak.

”Good morning, Frost.” Her mother’s voice rang out, warm and inviting as they stepped into the main lobby of the tower. Leavou was enamored with the detailed marble flooring, but looked up when her mother placed a firm hand on her upper back, gently pressing her forward in presentation.

”This is my daughter, Leavou.” R’yse offered, and Leavou looked up to catch the stunning blue eyes of the pale woman before her. Had she not known better, she would have though Frost a Konti for a moment, due to how pale the woman was. But there was a sharpness to the unusual coloring of the woman, it screamed not human at Leavou, but could not be compared to the iridescent shimmer of a water-thriving Konti, as Leavou realized.

”Hello,” She squeaked at the woman who offered her what was meant to be a warm smile. Instead, Leavou’s black gaze landed on the uncomfortably sharp and feline teeth that glimmered back at her. She wasn’t human. Leavou wasn’t sure what she was, but she relaxed slightly to know there were not any humans in the room, so she didn’t have to explain her eyes.

”Good morning, Leavou.” Frost answered, perfectly polite, but Leavou could see those sharp blue eyes burning with a question at her own. Leavou avoided her gaze, opting instead to examine the fine detail of the desk she sat at, balancing calendars and ringing servants. Someone had taken the time to carve the detail on the leaves that vined across the borders of the desk, it was exquisite work that even the egotistical child could comprehend.

R’yse brandished the gift to show Frost, distracting the inhuman woman from the burning question. It was a light colored orange cloth with a bright yellow ribbon that covered a simple umber glass jar, and whatever lay inside. ”I’ve brought Tasa a gift, and for her to meet my daughter.”

”I’m sure she will be pleased.” Frost offered a warmer smile, and nodded towards Leavou again. ”Is it a gift from her home city, if you don’t mind me asking?” The curiosity in her voice was apparent; it was a better worded question than most curious ones she had received since reaching Lhavit. Never before had she felt so odd, except in this human-infested city. Even the strange humanoid people that were not quite human were curious. At least in Alvadas they simply thought her a young illusionist with a knack for the uncanny, no one questioned her eyes.

”No, it is a personal gift for Tasa.” R’yse voice was perfectly pleasant, but Leavou knew her mother well enough to detect the slight tension. Frost didn’t notice, but didn’t push her curiosity further. Leavou just looked at her mother, not attempting to hide the confusion in her face as she tried to wrap her mind around the oddly polite conversation. She had witnessed R’yse snap at someone who called her a freak in the Azure Market. R’yse had even told her that she didn’t have to debase herself for other people’s curiosities, regardless of who they were. And yet here she was, faced with the assistant to her boss, and was evading any confrontation. Unusual.

”Wonderful, I send someone to retrieve her, and see if she is available.”

”Thank you. Do you mind if I show her around the lobby a little?” R’yse asked, and Frost nodded as she stood to walk into a side door of the lobby. Leavou looked at her mother, suddenly self conscious that her mother did not call out the woman for the questions.

”Do you think it would be better if I was blind?” She asked, not quite aware of tactical conversation yet. R’yse focused on something over Leavou’s shoulder and then pursed her thin white lips for a few ticks before answering.

”Maybe don’t speak so loud in front of Altelo’s second eyes?” R’yse asked, a slight irritation in her voice. She was nervous. What was she nervous about? She had been in touch with the Twilight Tower for years, and had been working with them for a season now already, which seemed like an eternity to Leavou. The Konti-raised halfbreed ran her words through her mind, trying to find something that may offend the Tower, or whoever this Altelo was, but found nothing.

”I just didn’t realize how different it was going to be.” She said in a slightly meeker voice, stuffing her hands in her pockets, more out of anxiety of her mother’s judgement than cold. R’yse had taught her to be brash towards unwelcoming strangers, and now was displaying the exact opposite. Leavou was in awe of her mother and young enough to recognize this change in path and grow concerned. R’yse unwrapped her own scarf and ignored Leavou’s words as she guided her towards one of the walls with a large painting of very regal-looking old man.

[Lani Stranger]

”This is Weisur. You won’t meet him, but you should know who he is. He is the patriarch of the Twilight Tower, he is very important.” Leavou stared up at the sharp curve of the man’s nose, and the painted glimmer in his eye as the larger-than-life portrait glared down at her. She had no opinions on the man, but with how her mother spoke of him, Leavou began to feel the beginning tingles of respect. He was powerful, whoever he was, and there weren’t very many things that R’yse liked more than power.

”And Altelo?”

”His son. Less… um…” Important. Leavou filled the word her mother was grasping to disguise, whoever Altelo was, R’yse wasn’t the largest fan of him. It dawned on Leavou that her mother was playing audience to politics that Leavou was incapable of understanding. It reminded her of the very few times that Leavou had brushed with Madeira’s interesting family. Whoever this Altelo was, he was a black sheep in Weisur’s eyes, which meant he was so in R’yse’s eyes as well. And as Leavou already knew nothing of the man other than the infliction with which her mother said his name, she was uncertain if she would like him or not. Or if the thirteen year old would meet him at all.

”He is dedicated to his family.” R’yse explained finally, and Leavou looked up to study her mother, for the first time concern about what they were doing at the Towers was beginning to rise in her mind. The Konti was a very plain spoken woman, and very fond of sarcasm. These were things that Leavou had adopted from her, and so to hear her mother carefully wording things, or hiding irritation in the sight of someone else, felt… weird.

After browsing the art in the lobby and waiting on Frost’s return, a fiery redheaded woman waltzed into the lobby. She did not look upset, but she walked with a purpose, her bright cherry curls swaying with her fast steps as she approached the two foreigners directly.

”Good morning, R’yse.” The woman said sincere warmth on her face as she made eye contact with Leavou’s mother. It took R’yse half of a tick to respond, and when she did, her face lit up.

”Good morning, Tasa. My apologies, I almost didn’t recognize you.” The woman’s answering laugh was slightly harsh, which was refreshing to Leavou. This woman wasn’t keen on playing whatever game R’yse was trying to learn.

”I know, that is why I teach at night. My mortal form tends to… shock people.” She grinned as she got close enough to embrace R’yse in welcome. As soon as she released the Konti, R’yse gave a quick bow of respect, unsure of the casual greeting. She was shorter than R’yse but taller than Leavou, and all three women hovered closely by each other. Although the thirteen year old was the shortest of the three, she suddenly felt like the smudge of rust compared to the glittering water of her mother and the sharp fire of Tasa before her.

”Why?” Leavou asked, unsure of why being a red-haired human was any different than any other human.

”You must be Leavou.” Tasa turned to the half-Chaktawe who had voiced the question, unabashed. She opened her eyes and raised her eyebrows at the child, offering the hug, although they were just meeting for the first time. Leavou didn’t hesitate, not realizing the oddity of the move as she gave a light embrace to the much older adult. ”You have stunning eyes, little one. My mortal seeming is that of the Inarta, which is why many are uncertain around me. You know, with the importation of deks as slaves and all.”

Tasa spoke so plainly that Leavou found the tension and uncertainty of what was happening melt from her shoulders. This was why R’yse liked Tasa. Whatever polite game she had played with Frost, or how she spoke of Weisur and Altelo, was abandoned in the brash light of this Inarta. But Leavou was too young to understand what cultural prejudices existed. She had seen the slaves, but slavery in Lhavit wasn’t anything like what she had heard in some other cities. They weren’t exclusively sex slaves, or working fields, as far as she could tell. Owning a slave was not something R’yse would ever consider, and the topic was simply ignored, which left Leavou fairly ignorant on what a dek actually was.

”Oh.” She acknowledged, now having more questions than she had in the beginning. Tasa chuckled and opened her arm towards the staircase she had just descended down.

”Come on, ladies. Let’s go have tea.” She offered, and Leavou watched her mother walk confidently with her instructor before trailing behind the two women. It didn’t feel rude as the two women immediately delved into conversation and ignored the young teenager following behind them, as adults tended to do. It was shallow and polite, talking about the changing of the season, the success of various projects, boring stuff. Leavou was distracted with the impeccable architecture anyway, not paying attention to the adult conversation as she eyed the ornate carvings and painting within the tower, brightly illuminated by the sun through the large skyglass walls and windows. She rarely felt out of her league, but the idea that each individual tile she stepped on was likely worth more than her, was a little daunting.

When they reached the office, Leavou was fairly bored, and quite hot as she had not taken her winter layers off yet. She was stuffing her mittens into her pockets and unbuttoning her cape to sling it over her arm as they entered the office.

”Here you go, dear.” Tasa tapped a coat hanger to the left of the door as soon as they entered. Instinctively, Leavou bowed in thanks and hooked her scarf and cape on the rack, and then taking her mother’s to do the same. While the child hooked the winter clothing on the rack, R’yse presented Tasa with the mysterious jar.

[Lani Stranger]

”Oh how beautiful.” Tasa exclaimed as she unwrapped the orange cloth and peaked at its contents. Curious, Leavou followed the women to the couch at one end of the office. Tasa sat in the middle, slightly to the right and then held the jar up to the light to examine its contents. R’yse collapsed onto the soft cushions to the left of the woman, sighing after the long walk across the city to get here. Quietly, Leavou realized there was not quite enough room for her, so she looked around the room for a stool or something to perch on. Not finding anything, she folded her legs were she stood and sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the women. It felt more like a casual meeting of friends than a proper chat over tea between an instructor and her pupil.

Both the women were content to ignore the child in the room as they threw around big words and words she had never hear before to describe the jar. Leavou was looking at it too, clearly seen with the bright sunshine that lit up the room from the skyglass windows. It looked like a jar of brown goo, and nothing more. But as she looked closer at it, she realized it had a strangely wood-like texture to it. Impossible, but she had no other explanation for it. Leavou had to blink at it a few times to make sure she was seeing what she was seeing, gelatinous wood. Like the little cherry gummies made out of animal fat at festivals, but with wood… and perhaps not edible.

”Is that… wood?” Leavou asked, unsure if her eyes were deceiving her. She had not been paying attention to the conversation, and although she hadn’t directly interrupted, she was far off-topic of whatever they had been discussing. R’yse glared at her daughter for half a tick before Tasa answered.

”No, dear. Well, sort of. Do you know what your mother does for me?” Tasa asked, engaging the young teen with ease.

”Yeah, magic. Alchemy. She turns things into other things... in theory.” Leavou answered, squinting at the jar as her words made sense.

”Exactly, she helps assist for some of my bigger projects.” Tasa answered, seeing the child put two-and-two together as she spoke.

”Oh, that is cool.” Leavou whispered under her breathe. She had heard some of the theory behind the magic, she had even skimmed her mother’s notes to try and make more sense out of it (which hadn’t helped), but this was the first time that Leavou was seeing an Alchemy product… for real.

R’yse laughed. ”That is what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

Tasa cut a worried glance at Konti.

”You’ve explained this to her?”

”Yes, but she doesn’t often pay attention.”

”Well, how have you explained it to her?” Tasa asked, leisurely handing the jar to Leavou for inspection, seeming to re-evaluate some earlier opinion. ”Don’t open it.” She told the child, who inspected the umber glass with much more interest now, but followed instruction.

”I showed her the ring, my notes, I tried to explain glyphs last season. She is a bright girl… but only if it interests her.” R’yse’s grey eyes looked pointedly at Leavou. Her mother didn’t have to say anything, and the child shrunk, remembering the literature lessons that she was pretending to go to every third day.

”Well, I suppose it is okay. Magic is too dangerous to interest someone this young, after all.” Tasa waved the thought away, and Leavou dragged her black gaze from her mother to the teacher, enticed by the idea of something dangerous. Tasa knew what she was doing, but Leavou didn’t.

”How is it dangerous?” She asked, cupping the jar in both hands, now significantly more curious about the scribbles and equations her mother sat studying every night, which looked far more boring to the child than she wanted.

”Well, think about what Djed is.” Tasa said, settling into a tone that seemed comfortable to the woman. ”It makes up everything, everything.” She emphasized the concept without explaining it.

”So?”

”So, do you think if something was not created naturally by the Gods, or formed by the djed over time, or however you believe everything just came to be, that it wouldn’t be dangerous? Alchemy tears apart the djed of objects and bends and mixes them to create things that have never existed before, and may never exist again. It’s unstable, it is built on the concept of creating something that doesn’t occur naturally. Wood that can be shaped like clay, for example.” Tasa held her hand out for the jar, and Leavou wordlessly handed it to her, now realizing what the substance was, eyebrows rising at the concept of it. ”True skill is being able to account for that instability, to make something new that lasts and is useful in ways that just putting other things together is not. It’s very dangerous, but very rewarding.”

Whenever Levou found her interest in something caught, the flame warmed her chest and grew in her mind until she could focus on nothing but the concept of her interest. And she did not rest until she had uncovered all that she wished to about it. At such a young age, she was well seasoned at shallow curiosities and new concepts, but for the first time in her life, she was beginning to feel that strange, undeniable, yearning. The need to uncover what this concept was, what it meant to the world around her, and what it meant to her. She didn’t know it yet, but something had started burning in her, and she would only be able to put it out when she found answers for it.

”Well she definitely never explained it like that.” Leavou muttered in slight awe at the passion with which Tasa spoke of her craft. Her mother spoke about it with passion too, but Tasa was more skilled in conveying those concepts to new minds, and her mother didn’t want her to learn at all. The women laughed at the teen’s words, and Leavou uncrossed her legs to bend them in front of her and lean her head on her knees as she watched the woman’s conversation further. She still didn’t quite understand what they were speaking of, although she was now paying attention nonetheless.

[Lani Stranger]

Halfway through confusing talk of fonts and filters, the door opened. In walked a stunning man, tall as the day is long, and with emerald horns curving out of his golden hair. And Ethaefal, like Tasa, but one whose patron deity was the sun herself.

”Hello Orath.” R’yse said warmly, and Tasa sprang up to greet her lover, pulling him into a very familiar embrace, unlike the shallow hugs she had greeted R’yse and Leavou with.

”I heard that Tasa’s shining student had brought her daughter in today.”

”Did Frost send you to get an answer on her eyes?” Tasa asked, a slight joke in her tone.

”Yes, but that’s not why I am here.” He said warmly to his lover, and waltzed over directly to R’yse to shake her hand before turning to Leavou. Unprepared for a proper greeting, as she had relaxed into the casualness of her mother and Tasa’s acquaintance, Leavou scrambled to her feet, wiping her hand on her pant leg just in case there was sweat and offering it to Orath. He made no acknowledgement of the blush in her cheek at embarrassment over the lack of respect, and she bowed as she shook his hand.

”Hello, my name is Leavou.” She introduced herself, and Orath nodded.

”Orath, pleasure to meet you.”

”And you.” She nodded, reciting basic manners, much to her mother’s pleasure.

”Do share, dear. Are you enjoying our tower so far? It is quite exquisite.” He spoke with a weird false accent that one would expect from someone who put a twenty foot portrait of themselves in their foyer. The grin on the stunning immortal’s face was enough to show Leavou that he was kidding, and she grinned but did not respond. She was pretty sure he was messing with her, but she was sure her mother would slap her when they got home if she managed to offend another one of her mentors. Orath seemed to understand her hesitation, slapping a hand on her shoulder as if she was a fellow man and give a very slight reassuring squeeze. ”You’re in good company.” He acknowledged, the false accent had completely vanished from his grin.

”I see we are giving children lessons now?” He said, not at all acknowledging Leavou’s eyes or skin and joining the conversation with the women, to ease the social pressure on the nervous child.

”Ha,” Tasa snorted, and Leavou looked at her mother, almost hopefully, who shook her head. Of course they were not going to actually teach her the craft, of course. Logically she knew it was nothing more than an abstract concept, but the thirteen year old had allowed such a small part of her to hope so, that she did feel the rejection, if only a little. Tasa handed the jar back to Leavou, as if understanding that the child was bored with all of the adult talk, and needing something to distract her.

Only she wasn’t actually that bored. She held the umber jar regardless, neatly folding and unfolding the cloth into various shapes to distract her hands while she listened. After Orath’s entrance to the conversation, there was more of the shallow chatter, which bored her, but then they dove right back into the jargon of the educated Alchemists. Although she hardly understood it all, Leavou’s ears were tuned making mental notes of things she would quiz her mother about later. She wasn’t able to grasp many concepts, as the adults already understood them and were talking about much grander projects, but Leavou was curious enough to remain entertained with the questions she had, but was too nervous to ask just yet.

At some point, Orath had dragged over a chair to participate and a stool for Leavou. A servant had brought them tea, and Leavou now knew to pay attention to the stark red hair, and how he was treated by the company. Not knowing anything about Inarta, but having gotten to spend some time with Tasa, she was able to see the woman’s warmth towards the tea-bringer, and recognized that maybe this slave-business that Lhavit currently held… perhaps had not always been so.

Still, Leavou had gotten a chance to impress the adults with her studies before the tea was done, sounding off some bullshyke that she had learned on the first few days when she had actually attended. There was a knowing glint in her mother’s eyes, but R’yse did not want to out her daughter as a lazy child, so she allowed the Leavou to pretend, at least for this conversation. At the very least, Leavou knew when to shut up when she approached a topic that was out of her league. As the conversation wrapped up, the sun was nearing noon out of the windows, no longer casting the long chilly shadows of the morning, but instead melting the heavy winter coating of the city with her warmth and making the city of Lhavit truly live up to its name as the diamond of Kalea.

”Well, I’m going to walk Leavou to the Academy now, and see if I can petition the library for that book we talked about.” R’yse nodded to Tasa when the conversation finally slowed, and stood from her comfortable seat on the couch. Lavou sprang up from the stool, setting the clay-wood gift on Tasa’s desk carefully. It wasn’t that fragile, but she was in awe about the contents of the jar, so she was careful with it, despite its durability. It was Alchemy, so in Leavou’s mind, with what little she knew, it was dangerous.

[Lani Stranger]

As the woman and child left the Twilight Tower, winter layers donned once again, Leavou waited for her mother to call her out on skipping her lessons. It wasn’t until they reached the steps of the Academy, with their scarves hanging loosely on their shoulders, because the sun was warming up enough that they were not so necessary as in the bitter cold of the morning. It was then that R’yse pulled herself out of her inner thoughts to address her daughter.

”So, how did you like them?”

”Tasa and Orath?”

”And Frost. The Twilight Tower.” Her mother added. Leavou did not readily have an answer. She didn’t not like them, but didn’t think the small introduction was enough to have an opinion.

”I liked them. I’m happy you are getting to work with Magic now, and not just serving drinks at a tavern with a different name each day.” She answered, a slight twinge of jest in her voice as she recalled her mother’s occupation in Alvadas, when Alchemy was a secret and did not pay.

”I like them too.” R’yse said, opening her arms for her daughter. Leavou hugged her mother, lightly though, because a question burned at the tip of her tongue. R’yse knew her well enough and pulled away from the girl, leaving a hand on her shoulder to keep the physical connection, helping the child open up. Leavou couldn’t hold it in any longer.

”Do you think I could learn from them too?” She asked, and although her question was not a surprise to R’yse, the Konti gave a tight smile.

”First, you have to show me that you can actually sit in a class for a whole season. Especially if it is a literature class, because no one can read your chicken scratch for shyke, dear.” R’yse’s tight smile grew into an amused grin as she jested her daughter. Leavou sighed and gave an exaggerated pout in response. Her mother was just messing with her, but there was a weight to her words, and the half-blood knew it. ”And then, maybe you can come to tea more often. But no lessons.”

Not yet. Leavou grinned at her mother, giving her one more hug and then turning into the Academy. It wasn’t until she ducked into Priya’s classroom that she realized the Konti would have opinions on the Konti-raised half-blood skipping class as well. Ugh..