A Jaded Life

Knowing that there was a group of survivors moving into our tower, I made my way downstairs, moving as fast as I could while remaining quiet. I didn’t want to appear hurried, I wanted to project an image of control and command, not one of urgency. Just as I made my way down the last set of stairs, a familiar voice reached my ears.

“Now, who might you be?” Luna’s voice was filled with a calm, curious tone, making it obvious that there was nothing bothering her, projecting just the air I wanted to project myself. So, with that in mind, I paused, made sure I looked properly put together, pulled the shadows around myself so I was nearly invisible and continued onwards, planning to observe what was going on between Luna and these visitors.

“Just a few curious people, looking for interesting things,” their leader, the guy named Jack, told Luna, his voice trying to be as calm and casual as hers had been, but there was a small, yet audible, bit of confusion in his voice.

“Curious people are wonderful and we have many interesting things here, things one might want to know and, even more important, things one might want to understand,” Luna continued with her spiel and I moved into the shadows of the room, so I could get a good look.

What I saw was almost enough to crack my composure and make me laugh, it was just such a wonderful image. Luna was dressed in simple, flowing attire, I had no idea where she had got it, but it looked like something out of a fantasy novel, or maybe as if somebody had stolen the sheets and made a gown out of them. Yet, despite the utter simplicity of her flowing garment, she managed to pull off the diaphanous, white sheet with a casual grace that belied her age, though her body did that, too.

Opposite of her, standing in the open portal of our tower, was the party of five, with Jack obviously in the lead, while the other four were guarding his sides and back, all of them visibly armed but not ready for combat. The contrast between the two sides, one side cautious and vigilant, the other side calm and casual was quite amusing, especially as the calm side was numerically and physically inferior. It wasn’t as if Luna was about to jump on them, though they couldn’t know that, yet.

“And what is this place?” the guy I had seen using magic earlier, Daniel, asked, stepping forward a little as his interest was clearly roused. From the brief look of consternation I noticed on the faces of Jack and Murray, he wasn’t supposed to leave their formation but their positioning hardly mattered if we wanted to do them harm. Alas, they didn’t know that just yet.

“There are many names you could call it, a shrine, an observatory, a laboratory or a library, all would be suitable. But to me, it simply is home, at least for the next few months,” Luna told them, her voice becoming whimsical and I noticed her eyes flare with a small amount of power, making me think she was using her special sight to learn more about these people.

Mirroring her curiosity, I pushed my concealment to the maximum, wrapped it around the Observe-ability and quickly checked these people out. My grin only deepened when they didn’t react to my actions, only to fade a little when I considered their levels. Sure, being around level fifty-five wasn’t all that terrible, all things considered, but if levels around fifty-five meant one could venture through the city unmolested, we might be a little bored in the area. We’d have to see if their successful travels were due to luck or skill, or maybe both.

“So you made it? And what sort of laboratory?” Sam, the lone female of the fivesome, mirrored her companion and also left their formation, making me shake my head. It was quite interesting, the five of them had essentially been in a triangle formation, with Jack, Murray and Jonas acting as the corners, while Sam and Daniel had been between them, giving them a fair measure of protection, without blocking any of the more physically inclined people. But now, with the two of them moving forward, their formation fell apart, leaving them somewhat exposed. Alas, it was a good thing that I wasn’t planning to attack.

“No, it was my mother who raised the tower. And the laboratory is for all of us to work in, big sis, mom and myself, we all like to test things and figure them out,” Luna explained and I saw the fivesome exchange quick glances, while Daniel and Sam moved even further out of formation in a quest to look around the room and take in the decorations we had carved into the walls.

“Your mother? She built all this?” Jack asked his tone one of utter disbelief.

“Well, not all of it, I made some of the parts, as did Alex and Carnelia, but the stonework was all mom’s doing. She’s quite good at that,” Luna confirmed, just a hint of pride in her voice, while she watched Daniel and Sam as they moved through the room, entranced by the decorations we had put in. Given that we were planning to set up the open library down here, there were a few fairly nice graphics and descriptions. I had even started on my primers for runic magic, though it was quite difficult to carve it into the walls due to the complexity of the subject.

“You built parts of this? It’s fascinating,” Daniel spoke up, after tearing his eyes off parts of my graphic explanation of runic magic. There was no way I was willing to write it out in English simply because it was getting harder and harder to use the language as if it was turning into a foreign language, and I just happened to speak it fluently.

“Why, thank you. But no, the descriptions you are staring at were made by Mom,” Luna told him, before turning back to Samantha, who was studying a different part of the wall, one used by Alex and Lia to engrave some of the alchemical basics, the tenant of perfection or something like that. Apparently, a basic principle of alchemy was that one had to hunt for perfection, though what ‘perfect’ meant was subject to interpretation and change.

“Do you think we could meet your mother?” Jack spoke up again, maybe he had decided that he wanted to meet the one in charge. His tone certainly spoke of impatience and a bit of confusion. Regardless, his request made for a perfect opening to let me step in.

“Why, yes, you could meet me. Well met, and all that,” I stepped up next to Luna, keeping myself well hidden until I spoke up at the same moment I let the concealment drop, making it appear as if I had materialised from thin air. “Enter without malice and leave without hindrance. Do harm to any within my tower and the harm will be reflected a thousandfold on yourself,” I warned them, my voice calm and cold as a glacier, trying to project power and intimidate without acting outright hostile. Not that I needed to act hostile, my whole ‘appearing from thin air’ was enough to have Sam whirl around and make Daniel jump, while the three still at the door startled and almost moved into combat readiness.

“You are the mother?” Jack focused on me, his eyes flickering between Luna and me as if trying to decide if we were actually related. Not that I begrudged him the confusion, but with the specks of light in my hair, the blue skin and the pointy ears peaking through my hair, I was obviously not fully human, white Luna only had the slightly glowing, silver eyes to give away her special circumstances.

“That, I am,” I confirmed, faintly amused at the fact that he used the same moniker Lady Hecate habitually used for me, not that he could know that. “Jade Morgana, sometimes known as the Mother or even the Pale Lady, all of those fit,” I introduced myself, letting a bit of the amusement out, alongside some of my power. “And who might you be?”

The fivesome introduced themself, while Luna added her own name, only that she also added her moniker of the Maiden, causing a few strange expressions, much to my amusement. Still, the introductions were over and these people looked to be suitably impressed and intimidated, so it might be a good thing to find out what they actually wanted.

“Now, why don’t you tell us what brought you to our doorstep? After all, it’s not as if people are travelling for leisure during times like these, is it?” I asked, making sure to hide the amusement about my hypocritical words. Sure, we weren’t travelling purely for leisure but we also weren’t particularly pressed for time.

“No, we saw the giant, glowing eye and wanted to learn more,” Jack admitted, looking a bit uncomfortable, likely because I put him on the spot.

“Mhm, learn more, you say. There might be a few things we can teach some of you if you are interested,” I offered, fighting to keep a straight face. This might be fun.