Gold is called 'Aurum' in Latin, it means 'yellow'.. rather silly really isn't it? Surprising how much weight it can have for some people though and how useful it can be in some situations. Events unfold including but not limited to: Gran running a private postal service (without cost too, you've got to love family rates) and Hannah teaches a class while making her bed.. repeatedly.

 

“I’m sorry sweetie, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Her crying calmed down slowly but she was still sniffling a lot and shaking.
“I was playing when I said about you standing guard for me, I didn’t mean for you to try and attack anyone, you scared me. I’m sorry sweetie.”

Maybe if I explain things to her she’ll understand?
I DON’T work with kids for EXACTLY this reason!

Back when I was male they always seemed to cry eventually and I just have NO idea how to handle that!
It was different when I babysat in Sarah’s place, the boys she looked after were too ‘tough’ to cry.

Sarah cried a lot when we were growing up but I never had to try to get her to stop, just my presence was usually enough to calm her down!
Admittedly she WAS more of a screamer and a ‘roll around on the floor thrashing about’-er rather than this weak little sobbing thing that Eris is doing.

Something about the sounds Eris is making are just hitting a nerve in my brain.
I have NO idea what to do!

This isn’t something I feel like I’m in any way prepared to deal with honestly?!

======

I must have done something right somehow because eventually Eris shifted herself in my arms and settled her head on my chest just above my heart.

I think she’s listening to my heartbeat?
That’s really weird but I’m fine with it if it stops her crying..

“Is everything okay up here? I heard a bang and.. oh..?”
Mum paused at the top of the stairs, watching us uncertainly.

I offered her a weak smile, pleading for her to come and help me, which she was more than ready to oblige with.

In a few steps she was at my side and cautiously reached out to stroke Eris’s tear-stained cheek.
She flinched at first but after a long moment she rolled her head into Mum’s palm.

My eyebrow perked up in surprise when Mum started humming.
It’s a tune I’ve not heard in a long time, she used to hum it to help Sarah get to sleep when we were really young.
I’d forgotten it was even a thing honestly?
I’ve not thought about this tune in ages..

Eris’s eyes went wide and she stared at Mum in shock for some reason.
It took me a second of indecision but I could feel the tune rising in my head so I joined in, humming along with Mum.

Eris’s head turned back to stare at me with a level of awe I honestly hadn’t expected?
It’s only a little tune, nothing special..

Mum missed a beat and I carried on for a second before realising that I was the one who got the beat wrong.
I don’t know why I thought that bit was meant to go differently all of a sudden?
I learnt the tune from Mum after all.

Maybe it’s just been too long since I last heard it.

Eris’s eyes were still stuck staring at me but she shuddered a little when I hummed the wrong note.
She’s a bit of a weird kid at times..

Without a thought I smiled down at her and jostled my arms slightly.
She watched me intensely for a moment longer before sighing and resting her head back on my chest, above my heart.

Mum caught my eye and smiled at me proudly.
I shot her a questioning look but she shrugged and turned away before I could question her on it properly.

“It looks like Hannah has her hand’s full, can someone come open the door on this..”
She turned her head and peered back inside the elevator as if only just realising what she was about to say.
“..door?..”
After a long pause she shook herself and looked back at the assembled mass of family on the stairs.
“Anyone?”

There was a mild scuffle and Jessie’s boys forced their way to the top of the stairs.
With an unreasonable amount of excitement and rather loud yells they seemed to race each other over to the elevator so they could squabble over who got to grab the door handle first.
The blonde haired one who’s name I finally found out at the Barbeque is ‘Tommy’ won in the end and smirked at his dark haired brother ‘Tristan’ before giving the handle an almighty tug..

..it probably would have worked better if he pushed honestly..

After an awkward pause he laughed nervously and tried pushing instead much to Tristan’s obvious amusement.
Eris eyed the boys with undisguised disgust.

What girl likes boys at her age though I guess?
I’m sure that will change in a few years when puberty shows its ugly face for her.

Tommy struggled so much trying to push the door open against the bulk of mail behind it that Tristan stepped up to his side and between them they managed to shove it back just enough to let a pile of letters and packages spill out onto the elevators floor.
For a moment I thought they were going to be buried by it all but luckily that’s not how physics works and they ended up knee deep in paper instead, while grinning proudly at each other.

Gran made her way over from the stairs, cautiously followed by the rest of the family, and blanched when she saw the mess.
“..that’s a lot of letters..”

“yeah.. we’re gonna need a lot of bags.”
I shot a look over at the people making their way towards us from the stairs.
“Can someone find John for me? We’re going to need all the help we can get to finish before nightfall..”

Someone at the back of the mass made a sound.
It was easy to hear their quick steps as they rushed downstairs to gather up whoever wasn’t already up here.

“Where do we start?”
I cringed and scanned the letters again before swinging my eyes around the dining area uncertainly.
..there’s not many options really..

We can’t get to the real clearing until John can make some expanded bags for us and the doorway itself will eventually be the bottle-neck in the whole thing.
If I’d thought about it before I could have enlarged the door and mounted it at a slant so it would all pour out or something but I’ve got the door in the right place for later now and I’ll be damned if I’m moving the bloody thing again!

“If we start chaining as much as we can out onto the dinner table and the floor until John gets here with the bags then we should at least be able to get into the room easier.. possibly get a vague idea if it’s going to be large enough to fit you all in tonight?”
Gran grinned at me and nodded with authority.

“You heard her, form a chain. Men at the front bailing letters, woman at the back sorting them, mages at the side scanning for any potential dangers as we go.”

I opened my mouth to argue but when everyone jumped to work with laughs and smiles the protest kind of died on my lips.
Having the mages scan things for danger is probably a good idea, I should have thought of that.
I didn’t expect them to SORT things though!

The plan was to just put it all into the bags and leave it for later.. right?

Eris kicked her legs a little and waved for my attention.
It was easy to work out that she wanted to get down for some reason.

The minute her feet hit the floor she shot off to the pile of letters around the boys legs and snatched a bright pink one from the side of the pile.
With all the subtly of a particularly dull monkey she shot a nervous look around herself, not raising her eyes high enough to notice most of the adults watching her, and carefully slid the pink envelope into the seemingly bottomless pockets of her dress.

With a satisfied smile, her eyes scanned the pile in front of herself and she noticed another card at the other side of the elevator in that same eye-catching shade of pink.
She quickly scrambled over to it and repeated the process of ‘hiding’ it with pretty much the same results.

I shot Mum a curious look but she seemed to find Eris’s actions somewhat endearing.
A look at Gran earned me a warm smile and a shrug.

“I think she’s trying to collect the letters she sent.”
My shoulders slumped and I slowly turned back to watch her go while everyone else moved around us.

With a surprising amount of daring that I’ve honestly not seen from her before Eris practically belly-flopped onto the letters nearest the doorway and started ‘swimming’ her way through them to get inside the room first.

My instincts told me to call her back, but honestly.. she’s pretty good at launching the letters out for everyone else to gather up, so I’m kind of reluctant to tell her to stop?

In the end I settled for watching her closely to make sure she didn’t somehow ‘sink’ into the letters as she moved about picking out the pink letters and slipping them into the pockets of her dress every once in a while.

This is going to be a LONG day, I can just TELL!

======

“Bag seven’s full!”
I jolted my head up from the letter I’d been skimming over in surprise.

Seriously?!
SEVEN expanded bags full already?!
The damn things are near impossible to fill normally!

..SEVEN?!..
I guess now is as good a time as any to see how everyone’s doing?

At first I tried to help the men move letters but they smiled and said they had it covered.
I tried to help the women sorting too but they smiled at me and practically told me outright that they didn’t need me, I’d have been a bit offended if I hadn’t seen just how effective they worked together to get the job done already.
Every letter was slit open, glanced at long enough to tell who it was from and then put into the relevant pile to be bagged up.

In the end Gran took me over to one of the sofas in the TV room with a pile of letters that she slipped into my hands.
Apparently these were the ‘miscellaneous’ letters that everyone thought I should probably check out, including things like bank statements, deeds and pretty much anything money related.

It’s worrying to think that ‘money related things’ fell under ‘miscellaneous’ while ‘death threats’, ‘marriage proposals’ and ‘correspondence from Royal families the world over’ all have their own individual bags on the go..

How the hell does Arista even KNOW so many Royal families anyway?!
The few that I saw included a long dead Sultan, three Dukes from Norway and a ‘get well’ card from the man who is now currently fourth in line to the throne of England back when he was a little boy!

I grunted as I forced myself out of my seat.
A sofa’s REALLY not meant to be sat on for THIS long!

What time is it anyway?
It’s getting a bit dusky outside and the temperatures dropped a bit.
I’m kind of glad Mum made me put on one of my cap-sleeved T-shirts to cover the bikini top now honestly, even if it did feel a bit embarrassing to need her pointing out what I was wearing before I’d even noticed the potential problem.

I tugged at the hem of the yellow T-shirt self-consciously as my feet lead me outside into a surprisingly quiet, rather clean looking dining area and hallway.

Following my ears more than anything I made my way around to the elevator doors and got my first real glance at the interior of Arista’s pocket dimension.
Ignoring the flurry of activity going on where the family seem to have moved all sorting operations to INSIDE the room once enough space was cleared to fit everything comfortably, the first thing that caught my attention was the ceiling followed quickly by the walls.

Is that.. gold?

With cautious steps I moved through the elevator and walked into the room proper.
A few people shot me uncertain looks when they noticed me but they quickly got back to work without comment.

My finger came out to brush the wall and yanked back slightly when I felt cold metal under my touch.
Holy CRAP it’s REAL?!

This place looks like the tackiest, more overpriced hotel imaginable!
From crystal chandeliers to the solid gold walls and all the detailing around the edges which would look a lot less insane if they were carved into wood instead of solid BLOODY gold!!

“Hannah, how are you holding up? I must admit, when you said you might have a room for us to use I didn’t expect THIS level of opulence.”
I jumped at Gran’s voice but smiled at her uneasily in response anyway.

She peered at me closely for a second then snorted a laugh to herself in disbelief.

“You really had no idea this was all here did you?”
Reluctantly I shook my head which seemed to amuse her even more.
“Well on the positive side, we should be able to get this first room cleared by tonight and there’s definitely enough floor space for all of us to sleep, even if we can only conjure up a few beds between us.”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Why only a few?
With this many mages they should be able to have a bed each pretty easily!

“If everyone’s busy I could conjure up some beds?.. if you give me a rough total of how many you need at least.. I’m sure I can talk John into shrinking and carrying them up here when I’m done, or I can do it myself?..”
Gran’s eyes went really wide for a second before moving back down to her usual size, now with curiosity obviously written on her face.

“If everyone’s busy?.. it’s not about being busy Hannah, there’s too much to do for the mages we have at hand? Conjuring’s a hard talent to use.”

..it is?..

Well.. I mean it’s a bit complicated and you have to think about a lot of factors when making something I guess..
I wouldn’t really call it hard though?

I once got pinned down in a small dead-end room with a tidal wave of acid coming towards me.

Constantly conjuring wall sized four-inch thick slabs of solid steel while simultaneously getting rid of the remains of the previous wall for half an hour until the acid finally ate through the floor below itself and let me rest.. THAT was hard..

Making some beds from nothing is practically something I’d do more out of boredom then consider an ‘effort’ of any kind?

“You really have no idea what I’m talking about do you?”
My eyes shot up to meet hers and I shrugged helplessly to her.
I really don’t see the big deal.
Conjuring’s kind of fun honestly, not as fun as Runes obviously, but it’s a good mental workout to try and make an item increasingly better as you go on.

“Hannah..”
Gran stalled out from whatever she was about to say and sighed to herself tiredly.
“If you could create maybe.. ten beds then we would really appreciate it ..”

I frowned at her and glanced around us.
There’s WAY more than ten people here!
Hell, there’s more than ten people just doing the sorting at this point let alone everything else?!

“Twenty?”
It almost sounded like Gran had to force the word out of her lips for some reason.
My eyebrow perked up at her in confusion.
That still won’t be enough, she should be able to see that?
“..thirty..?”
Her voice actually squeaked a little as she rasped out that one, as if she couldn’t quite believe she was saying it.

“Are you okay Gran?”

She shuddered violently and seemed to have to pause to gather herself before facing me again.
When she did she was smiling though.

“Yes Hannah, I’m fine. Thank you for being so helpful with the beds, are you sure you can handle it all?”

I shrugged and smiled at her a little.
To be honest I’m feeling a bit cooped up having spent the last two hours reading a seemingly constantly refilling pile of ‘miscellaneous’ letters.
Being outside will be a relief and I’m always up for a new way to vent off some of my constantly regenerating magic that doesn’t leave me a giggly mass on the floor.

My magic’s kind of straining for release at the moment actually..
I still vented the same amount that I got used to doing in my bolt-hole at regular intervals while I was working on the letters but apparently that’s not enough at the moment for some reason?

Oh well, making the beds should help a bit.
I wonder if Gran will get annoyed if I take some liberties as I make them?

A room this.. golden.. deserves nice beds after all.

Shame I can’t make the beds out of ‘real gold’ really?
If we’re going with a tacky amount of gold already then more couldn’t hurt.. but making gold from nowhere is pretty much impossible.

You can fake it obviously, like the little ‘golden’ clasp on my bag.
In that case I made the clasp out of highly compacted ‘fools gold’ to make it as close to the real thing as possible.
The real give away would be that the clasp on my bag is magnetic while a ‘real’ gold one wouldn’t be, but there’s not much I can do about that sadly.

Magnetism and Magic go together like chalk and cheese.
Well.. okay maybe not technically.. if anything they get on together a bit TOO well honestly.

The most magically resonant metals tend to be the most magnetically resonant ones for some reason?
It’s impossible to either generate or eliminate a magnetic force using magic without cheating.

Trust me, a LOT of people have tried over the years.

A commonly miss-quoted fact is that Alchemists were trying to make gold from nothing with magic.
With the right rituals and base elements to hand making real gold isn’t that hard, just expensive, time consuming and pretty much not worth the effort.
What Alchemists were REALLY trying to do was make a MAGNETIC gold, without the expensive rituals involved if possible.

Fact’s get lost in the sands of time, especially when it’s normal humans who are recording things instead of mages, but the fact remains that a lot of people spent a LOT of time trying to make magnetic gold and failed miserably.
Even possibly the most famous Alchemist ever, Nicolas Flamel, with his supposed ‘Philosopher’s stone’ failed miserably at his art.

The only person I know of who seemed to actually know what the hell he was doing in Alchemy was an Egyptian guy with a funny beard called ‘Abramelin’.

Now HE was a genius!
He was truly dedicated to his Kabbalah faith, while embracing the scientific method as he worked tirelessly to improve himself by combining the two with magic wedged in-between.
He was one of the earliest documented adopters of the so called ‘symbolic magics’, now called ‘sympathetic magic’.. ya know.. the thing that I’m the best at!

The guy practically wrote the book on my strongest area of magic and-

======

“Are you okay Hannah?”
I jumped in surprise when Gran’s voice cut me out of my musings.

Damn it!
I’d kind of hoped I was over this awkward phase again!
It’s really not healthy and I honestly have no idea what to do about it?!

..what were we talking about?..

“huh..oh right, beds! Sure, I’ll see you in a bit then Gran, I’ve got a John and possibly some kids to gather up.”
Before she could call me out on my embarrassing slip into a completely internal conversation of my own I turned on my heel and practically sprinted out of the pocket dimension.

Luckily everyone was so busy with their work that Gran was probably the only person to notice my slip, that’s something at least.

======

“What on Earth are you doing?”

John looked up from his position awkwardly straddling ‘Dite with Eris swinging from his neck like a particularly loud and cute cape.
At least Tos had enough sense to not get involved, he seemed quite content to watch them from his position slumped against a tree.

“Teaching basic combat tactics?”

Before I could come up with an appropriate answer to that blatant lie, considering they were showing all the hallmarks of having spent a while doing what I would call ‘play-fighting’, Eris decided to drop from John’s back with a gleeful squeal.
Her little feet landed hard on the back of John’s shin’s making him yelp out in pain but she ignored it in her efforts to sprint across the garden and dive into my arms.

I only JUST managed to get my arms up in time to catch her honestly.
Apparently I’m forgiven for shouting at her earlier, either that or she’s just plain forgotten about the whole thing at this point.

“Hi sweetie, it looks like you’ve been having fun while I was busy?”

My lips wanted desperately to twitch up into a smug smirk as I peeked over her head slightly and watched John roll off of the suddenly worried looking ‘Dite to clutch his injured legs with a pained hiss.
Looks like she’s got combat tactics down pretty well already John-boy..

“We was gonna go help with the letters but Dad caught me hid.. uh.. HE TOOK SOME TOO!”

Wow.. I’m almost tempted to outright accept that she’s my daughter just because of that terrible attempt at covering her own mistake?
It’s got to be a hereditary thing..

I shifted my head to John who had gone suddenly, suspiciously still and quite.
..they’re both as bad as each other..

“I take it you wanted to hide your letters to.. your Mom.. so people didn’t see them, huh?”
Eris blushed brightly and sunk her little head guiltily to rest on my chest.
I was paying more attention to John though.

He’s blushing just as much as she is and he honestly looks pained at having been ratted out.

I guess I can let it drop for now?
It’s hardly news that John has an obsessive devotion to the original Arista, even if I WAS the real her, I imagine he’d want to hide some of the more embarrassing ones he may have sent to her over the years?
The same with Eris really, it’s just more cute then funny with her because she’s so young still.

“I’ve promised Gran to make some beds for her and the others to sleep on tonight, who’s up for learning some conjuration?.. or practicing if you already know how to do it?”

Dite perked up and actually looked surprisingly interested all of a sudden, Tos did too.
John sighed out a relieved breath and shot me a grateful look that plainly said he owed me for the change of topic.

Eris, of all people, was the one who seemed least impressed by my offer of conjuring training.
She stuck her little nose in the air in an over-dramatic way that only a small child could pull off convincingly and aimed her face at ‘Dite.

“I can do conjurin’ already.”

It wasn’t just my imagination that the usually oblivious or at least easy-going ‘Dite gritted her teeth a little in annoyance.
Apparently Eris isn’t the only one who can get jealous out of the two of them?

“You can, can you?.. well why don’t you show us then?”

Eris’s face lit up happily and she wiggled out of my arms to reach the ground.
Her hand dived into her pocket and came out holding her wand again.
..I really need to get her off of relying on that thing..

“Amoeba, Amoeba, Amoeba!”
She leaned over and rapped her wand against the ground.

I’m not sure what that ‘spell’, if you can call it that, means..
Whatever it is, I can tell just from the accent she said it with that it was Ancient Greek at least?
..some information is better than nothing I guess..

I’m not sure what it was meant to do but apparently what it DID was turn a small patch of dirt from our garden into a slightly malformed teddy-bear.. with a lazy eye.
Eris set her hands on her hips proudly and turned from ‘Dite to stare at me with pride in her eyes.

Despite the fact that I REALLY wanted to laugh at her honestly pretty weak attempt at ‘conjuration’, let alone the fact that it technically was more of a ‘transmogrification’ then a conjuration, I smiled at her instead.
Carefully I took a step closer and knelt down to be near her level.

Feeling just a little silly I held my hand out for hers.
Her eyes went wide, she almost seemed to know what I was going to do before I could open my mouth and say anything?

She dropped her new ‘toy’ quickly and cupped her hands in mine as if waiting for me to drop something into them.
Her smile went up a notch or two for some reason as well?

I eased my other hand out to cup over hers and dipped into my lines, just enough for what I needed.

Without much warning the spell was done and I pulled my hand away to leave Eris’s wide eyes focused on the, admittedly ‘classic’ in design teddy-bear cupped in her palms.
Not to take away from her efforts but MINE didn’t have a lazy eye at least, and it was at least four times larger than hers was, without needing a source to draw from when I made it.

None of that seemed to matter to Eris though.
With a little gasp of air she clutched the bear to her chest and bowed her head.

Her shoulders started to shake all of a sudden.
I reached out to hug her but she beat me to it and dived into my arms for a tight hug of her own.
It kinda stunned me for a moment but in the end I let a breath out, wrapping my arms around her to finish the hug.

Out the corner of my eye I could see John watching me with some weird expression on his face but he quickly wiped it away before I could get a better look annoyingly.

It took almost a minute for Eris to stop shaking and by the time she was ready to pull away from me, teddy-bear still clutched tightly in her arms, ‘Dite and Tos had joined me and John in a rough circle on the grass.

“Okay.. so the key to conjuration is focus-”

It was kind of nice to have their attention all on me?
Even John is watching with curiosity, which is usually about the best reaction you can expect from John in any given situation really.

======

“Well done ‘Dite!”

The blonde ‘goddess of beauty’ blushed and ducked her head a little in a way that reminded me quite a lot of Eris’s earlier reaction to my praise.

She really DOES deserve it though.
In the last hour she’s gone from barely being able to make a misshapen lump to a doll sized bed with a surprising amount of detail showing steady progress as she went along.

Eris is at a similar level as her at this point but I spent more time helping her perfect her little teddy-bears instead.
She’s now gotten pretty good at making them, even if they are still relatively small compared to mine.

Tos was the most surprising of the group.
Once I finished my little speech about how conjuration works he spent a few minutes seemingly lost in his own head then finally turned his eyes down to his hands and got to work.
Within less than half an hour he managed to make his first roughly square object with a lot more size then either Eris or ‘Dite have managed to date.
He’s only gotten better since then.

He’s a quiet guy but he really impressed me so far.
At this point he’s actually stopped trying to make beds and he’s working with John off to the side at making himself a hut to sleep in tonight.. apparently he’s too big to fit through our back door?

I feel kinda guilty for not thinking of that, not so little, issue earlier..

At least with John showing him I can be safe in the knowledge that he’ll have a nice night’s sleep?
If John knows one thing, it’s how to make his living environment better.
Max was always good with spell-based temporary enchantments and so far John seems to be just as good, if not better.

“Mom look!”
I cut my eyes down and smiled warmly at Eris.

She’s managed to make a teddy-bear with light blue fur.
It’s about twice the size of the ones she’s been making before too!

That’s actually really impressive?!
I should have guessed that me praising ‘Dites work would spur Eris on to try harder I guess..

“That’s really impressive Eris.”
My hand came out to cup her face and play with her hair a little which made her giggle happily.
“Are you going to name it?”

She shot me a cautiously curious look then glanced back down at the bear in her arms thoughtfully.
“I don’t.. um..”

I didn’t need my magic senses to feel the sudden uncertainty and worry that overtook her.
She practically shrunk in on herself the longer she stared at the bear.

Careful to not scare her I knelt down to her level again and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Dite watched us with an odd look on her face but didn’t decide to weigh in for some reason.

“It’s okay sweetie, do you want some help?”
Eris’s eyes turned up to me and with a little nervous gulp she nodded to me forcefully.

What on earth’s gotten into her all of a sudden?
I swear just when I think I’m getting a handle on her she reacts differently to something then I could ever predict..

I brought my hands up and cupped them around hers at the bear’s waist.
With a little jiggle I made the bear dance slightly which actually brought a smile to Eris’s lips.

“What do you think, is the bear a boy or a girl?”

Eris stared at it hard for a second, shook her head and eventually smiled again.
“He’s a boy.”

Feeling a little playful I jiggled the bear again.
“Are you sure? She looks like a girl to me.”

Eris turned her far too wide eyes up to me, froze for a second before quickly ducking away and blushing brightly.
“yeah.. she’s a girl..”

I had to resist the urge to laugh at the relief that seemed to flood over her at that little statement.
Kids are so weird sometimes?

“well, what do you think then?.. she looks like..”

Uh.. oops?.. I probably should have thought this one through a bit better!

A name?!
Any name?
Something!
The first thing that comes to mind, quick!

“An Agatha.. she looks like an Agatha to me?”

Instead of the laughter and possible confusion I was expecting from her for giving a little bear such an ‘old lady’ name, Eris’s whole face crumpled.
Without warning she dropped the bear and dived into my arms sending me crashing back on my butt so hard I think I bruised my tailbone!

I opened my mouth to complain but then I felt it again.
She’s shaking?

What the hell did I do NOW?!

She’s shaking really badly.
She’s crying too!

Her little fists are bunched tightly into the loose fabric of my T-shirt and she’s pushing herself into my chest hard.
My hands came up to hold her close and I rocked us despite my uncertainty.
She just keeps shaking!

I glanced over at ‘Dite for some kind of help.
She seemed a bit lost.
She was watching everything with an oddly blank, sad look on her face?

“Dite?”

She didn’t move.
Her eyes stayed fixed slightly to my side on the bear that Eris dropped.

What’s so important about the bloody bear?!
It’s just a toy!

“Come on Eris, let’s take you inside for a bit to calm down yeah?”
She didn’t react audibly but held on tight to me as I rose back to my feet awkwardly.
I turned and took two steps towards the house before remembering the reason I came out here in the first place.

With a glance followed by a dip into my lines I waved my hand and filled our garden with rows of wooden beds.
I didn’t really count how many I was making, I’m a bit distracted honestly but the design was easy enough to fix in my mind.

They’re all copies of the single bed I have sitting disused in my old bedroom at the moment, right down to the bedding and pillow cases.
It’s always easier to conjure something long lasting if you know it intimately and I slept on that bed for years during my teens!

I turned my head and caught John’s curious eye.

“Can you shrink these and take them up to the elevator room for Gran when she’s ready John?”
He looked a little uncertain and surprised but nodded anyway which is all I needed.

Without another word I pushed Eris up in my arms a bit better and made my way back to the house.
It’s probably best if I take her to my room, no-one will bother her there.

======

I sighed and quietly shut the door to my room before slumping against it.

I still have honestly NO idea what set her off like that?
She wasn’t really up for talking.
I ended up lying on the bed with her spooned into my chest while she sniffled to herself, but at least she stopped crying eventually.

She’s asleep now.
Hopefully she’ll be more ready to speak when she wakes up?

My feet turned me towards the stairs and I paused mid-step when I came face to face with ‘Dite.
She had a really weird mix of worry and sadness about her, her eyes kept cutting behind me to my now closed bedroom door as if she could see Eris inside.

With a wave I pointed her into the TV room.
It’s deserted so we can talk without anyone hearing us.
She pretty obviously wants to talk, I don’t need to be a mind-reader to tell that, just from the look on her face it’s pretty obvious..

When I had the door shut and I’d settled myself on the sofa to the right of her ‘Dite opened her mouth to speak.
She paused and seemed to shake herself a little to dismiss whatever she was going to say in favor of something else.

“Eris.. she’s young?.. she doesn’t really understand things sometimes.”
Her lips tried to twitch up into a pained smile but she couldn’t quite manage it for some reason.
“She’s always been young. She’s never had a chance to grow up, not properly. It’s her curse in life to be the eternal child among us. She’s always been fates little apple, never able to grow into a tree as she should..”

I tried to digest that idea while ‘Dite shifted uncertainly in her seat.

She’s being surprisingly solemn and calm suddenly?
Not much like the ditzy young woman I’ve gotten used to over the last few days.

Something in my eyes must have shown my confusion because she finally managed to open up again and speak.

“We all have elements of ourselves that we would rather not embrace as much as we do but that’s the price of being an awakened mage, our curse, with the good must come the bad.. you told me that.. a long time ago..”
She nervously flicked her hair out of her eyes and started running her fingers through a blonde strand like a child trying to calm herself down.
“I have my vanity, Tos has his social anxiety, Eris has her childishness..”

Dite turned her eyes up to stare at me.
For once it was easy to look past the beauty of her face to see the pain behind it.
..how have I not been able to see how badly she was hurting before this?!..

As if breaking a spell she glanced away and it was gone again.
All I could see was the confident, if innocent and sweet, girl I’d gotten used to seeing recently?

“Eris needs her mother.. I know.. I know you’re not.. I know what Dad told us..”
She shifted again and cupped her hands together in her lap, squeezing them down into a painful looking ball.
“It’s just so hard to see you and remember that.. and you’re so much LIKE her!.. you may not see it, I doubt anyone but us COULD see it but it’s there an.. and it hurts.. it hurts so much to have you back but no-”
She trailed off into a sob that shook her whole body.

I moved before I’d even really decided what I was going to do but the decision was easy in the end.
My butt landed on the sofa next to her and I pulled the taller girl down slightly into a hug that she obviously needed.

“This is what I’m talking about?!”
She sounded so frustrated but also a bit heartbroken?

I pulled her closer and moved one of my hands up to gently ease her fingers apart from their tight grip.
She finally let go and sniffed heavily to herself, her now free hand coming up to push her hair out of her face again.

Out of some kind of instinct my hand came up to stop her mid-movement.
I don’t know what possessed me to do it but with a dip into my lines I made a small pair of red hairclips.
Dite froze as I carefully slide them into the long strand of hair that seems to keep bothering her so much and she jumped a little when I clipped them both shut.

For a long moment we both sat there.
I brought my hands in to my chest cautiously.

I’m not really sure why I did that?
It just FELT like the right thing to do?!

I’ve been running on instinct a lot today, especially when it comes to Eris, but this is the first time I’ve really noticed a certain.. I dunno.. disconnect?.. between what I’m doing and what I’d normally do in the same situation..

Something about these people.. Arista’s kids.. something about them just DOES something to me.

Dite’s hands shook as she brought them up to touch the hairclips cautiously.
She flinched away from them the moment her fingers made contact and before I could really realise what she was planning she launched herself off the sofa and left the room at a run.

I stared after her feeling a bit lost.

I did it again?
Why am I making them cry so much?!

I don’t care what she says, I’m nothing like Arista!
Everything I’ve heard points to the fact that ‘Arista’ was a monster!

Sure my memories don’t really match that image much but then I don’t really have access to HER memories, do I?!
Everyone in my head that was sane enough to talk to didn’t even go by the name ‘Arista’.
The past-lives that moved permanently into my mindscape all seemed to have their own names, their own personalities, their own LIVES.. far removed from the shadow of ‘Arista’..

“..I’m not her..”
I shook my head hard to get the horrible creeping feeling out of my head.
“I’m NOT her..”

Before I could do much more then shake my head again John barged his way into the TV room with a proud grin on his face.

“All beds moved and installed in the golden palace of excess as requested Hannah, need anything else? I want to go help Tos finish his little bachelor pad before the sun goes down.”

He caught me completely off guard.
With a jolt I pushed myself to my feet and paced slightly before stopping to give him a weak smile.

“Thanks John, go ahead, have fun.. I’m just.. gonna go lay down for a bit okay?”

He seemed far too energised and happy to really listen to what I was saying.
With a series of quick nods he shot off again, most likely to go back to helping Tos as he said he would.
I couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely when he left.

Shaking myself hard out of that stupidity I practically ran from the TV room and made my way back to my bedroom.

The door eased open on silent hinges.
I pushed my way inside and shut it as softly as I could to not wake Eris up.
With a silent breath I slipped my T-shirt off, leaving me just in the bikini-top and shorts I’ve worn for the last few days.

I swear if it wasn’t for my magic ‘refreshing’ my clothes every time I let some out I’d probably stink at this point!
I had to hold in a little laugh at that thought as I watched Eris’s curled up form on my bed to make sure she didn’t wake.

Gently I eased my way onto the bed and nestled myself back into position behind her.
She didn’t wake up luckily but she DID seem to lose some kind of unseen tension in her body.

As I shuffled into a more comfortable position and got ready to take a nap of my own, just to avoid having to deal with all the implications of what ‘Dite just said if nothing else, Eris shifted herself enough that she was pressed warmly against my chest as tight as physically possible.

..I hope ‘Dites okay?..

John’s there!
He may be having fun playing ‘builder’ with his ‘son’ at the moment but he’d surely notice if ‘Dite needed help?
Failing that Mum will notice if she’s still upset and, while I’ll probably hear all about it later, she’s always been good at helping out in situations like this.

I just.. I just can’t face ‘Dite right now?
I’m not like Arista.. I’m NOT..

“..’m not..”

My head drooped to rest on the crown of Eris’s little red head.
Sleep feels like a good idea right now.. nice.. sleep..

======

“Mother?”
What?..

“Mother, look! The birds!”
What is she?..

“ERIS! Get away from the window!”

“but Mother look at the-”

My hand launched forward and wrapped tightly around her little wrist.
With a force that I’ve never managed to use before I tossed her deeper into the hut and turned to face my now inevitable fate.
..Gryphons, of course he’d send Gryphons..

“MOTHER!”

------

“Don’t stray too far Eris.”

She giggled and rolled around in the grass some more.
I couldn’t help but smile at her fun from my position at the door.
I wish I could be as carefree as she is..

With a sigh I glanced around our home critically.
It’s hard for a place this small to get dirty but Eris sure seems to find ways to manage it somehow.
..I swear, that girl..

“Mum? There’s a ma-”

My blood ran cold.

NO!
Not now!
NOT HERE!

I line-of-sight warped outside and came face to face with Claudius.
He had his gloved hand wrapped around Eris’s throat.

“I told you what would happen if you defied me Julia.”

He rose his sword and in one clean swing, before I could even move, he-

------

Her little eyes lit up in amazement as I waved my wand in a tight pattern, weaving together my present for her.

Slowly the form took shape.
Just like the bears of the wild that she seems so fascinated by.
As an extra touch I added a small blue twine to its neck.

When the beast finally took form I sat back in my chair with a tired sigh.
Magic is not easy!
I need to ensure Eris understands what we must do about the-

“HEIDREK APPROACHES!”
..NO!..

The bard burst through into my chambers.
His eyes widened when he saw me holding a toy out to someone that was, in his eyes, a lowborn waif.

“Princess Sifka, your father’s men are retreating! We must leave!”
I glanced from his panicked face down to Eris’s beautiful little eyes and the bear I’d just crafted for her..

I made my decision.

“Bard, I order you to take this girl with you back to my father’s hold, this is my word as your princess. If you fail to protect her, then your life will be forfeit!”
The bard staggered back slightly and gasped.

“..Eris..”
She looked up at me with so much fear in her eyes.
It broke my heart to see it.
“Eris, you must go with this man. Take your bear darling, protect him while the man protects you.”

“Mu-”
I slide a gentle finger to her lips and smiled at her with a calm that I didn’t feel in the slightest.

The bard gathered himself together and stepped forward to accept her into his arms.
I tucked the bear into her arms, using our closeness to kiss her forehead.

She wasn’t fooled at all.
Before he turned to flee I could see the tears in her eyes.
My clever girl.. always my clever girl..

With a fortifying breath I stepped out of my chambers and marched up to the leader of those brave few that would stay behind to hold off Heidrek’s men.
True warriors of the Hun like none other!

“Where can I be of best help?”

The war-band leader gaped at me in shock.
His men were uneasy in my presence.

“Princess? You must flee! Heidrek is almost upon us and-”
With a wave of my hand I sent up a trail red of sparks.

“Magi?!”
The leader and his men all staggered away from me in fear.

“I’m here to stop Heidrek’s advance in any way possible, make use of me as you will. You don’t have to like it to understand what I can do, yes?”

The leader practically shook his head loose when he nodded frantically.
Within moments I was sent to the front lines.

If I weren’t facing near certain death it would all be rather amusing to see the men clad in their rough leather armors and me in my best casual Scythia silk robe.

Heidrek’s men crested the hill, horses at full charge and bows drawn.
With everything I had I pulled my magic forward and sent it off in a wave of ice not seen since the last great frost.

Men screamed, horses panicked but Heidrek didn’t flinch.
I could see his eyes fix firmly upon me as an amused smile came to his lips.

“..be safe Eris..”
The men nearest to me turned in my direction with confusion but they don’t matter.
None of us matter, only her!

“CHARGE!”
With a primal roar of anger to hide my fear I broke ranks and ran at the disarrayed forces of Heidrek’s men, spikes of ice throwing into the confusion whenever possible as I made what would surely be my last great act of life.

For her!
ALWAYS for her!

------

“NO BETH!”
The mockery of what was once my dearest friend grinned at me with the most disgusting of sickly smiles.
Eris shuddered and tucked herself into my side tightly.

“Oh come now Susannah.. the girl could hold the key to all that I’ve searched for these long years.”

I tried to run but she disappeared in the shadows and a moment later she was upon me.
With casual ease she tossed me aside, her eyes only on Eris.

How had I been so stupid?!
I KNEW what she was doing but I always thought she would resist Eris for my sake!

“Get.. get your hands off her..”
It’s so hard to breath!
My eyes are fading from the world more than not.

Lady Elizabeth turned to me, Eris held in her grasp almost casually.
“Susannah I really don’t see what your problem is with this? If it’s the waif that’s at fault I’ll get you another one Dearheart.”

I hissed at her angrily and tried to pull myself back to my feet.
She watched me with obvious confusion on her face.

Of course she doesn’t understand.
Only a HUMAN could love their child and she’s beyond HUMAN at this point!

“If you hurt her Beth I swear on my very BLOOD that I will make you and all of your line PAY!”

She didn’t seem in any way affected by my words.
With a casual flick of her wrist, Eris’s body went slack.

I screamed, I screamed long and hard!

The fire came but Beth was already gone, off with her prize on her endless quest for eternal youth from the blood of the young.

I sank to my knees and sobbed until I could cry no more.. then I rose anew to set forth on my now lifelong quest.
From this day forth I shall not allow a single Vampyr to survive my flames!

All will pay for their Countess’s madness!

NOBODY takes my DAUGHTER from me and survives to gloat about it!
With a grab and a kick I broke loose a long blunted table leg to peer at it critically.

Starting with that BITCH Beth!

------

“Mommy, can we go outside?”

I smiled and patted her hair gently.
She shuffled over and pulled herself into my lap, her head settling upon my bosom so she could listen to my heartbeat.
My hand came up to tap her nose making her go adorably cross-eyed for a second.
..she’s always liked lying like that, ever since she was a baby..

“No petite pomme, death is on the streets tonight. We must stay close to the fire and wait for him to grow bored, non?”
Eris turned her face up slightly to stare at me with those bright little eyes of hers and my heart melted.

I could not allow her out of my sight tonight though, only I am safe on this night.
Only my life is forbidden for the hunts touch under the bloody moon’s light.

Slowly I started humming her lullaby to myself.
It’s an old tune, one known in my family for years now.

I rocked us slowly and hummed her to sleep as she fought Morpheus’s call with all that she had.
She’s never been able to resist sleep when safe in my arms.
When her mouth moved open slightly I pushed her thumb up to her lips.

It warms my heart to see her so content.

With care I reached out and took up her toy bear, Agatha, named for her godmother of all things.
I really don’t know where that comes from, especially when the poor girl insists the toy is male?

Who would believe a pink silken male called ‘Agatha’ could exist?
The thoughts of children are often silly indeed..

A howl broke the silence of the night.
Even in her sleep Eris shivered in fear at the sound.
I had to resist doing the same myself.

Heavy footfalls raced around the inn’s lower floors and screams quickly followed them.
Eris woke with a gasp.
I had to hold her tight to restrain any noise she might make to attract their attention upon us but it was no use.

Slow, heavy feet brought someone to our door.
With horrifying certainty a fist of some kind struck the door.

I didn’t need to guess what it was.
Slowly I increased the volume of my humming and rocked her in my arms as the pounding strikes grew louder and more insistent.

With a crash part of the door gave way, enough that the golden eyes of the wolf-kin could stare back at us in cold hunger.

I jolted to my feet and ran to the far side of the room away from the beast.
Eris slid to my side and tucked in tightly while holding my hand in a death grip.

“I am Arista of the Red Moon. By the debt of your people I demand that you leave us!”

The beast stopped moving for a long moment.
Its eyes fixed upon me.

Slowly.. painfully slowly.. a sound built in its chest.
A sound that, should it be human, I would have called ‘laughter’.

In a deep guttural voice that resonated within my chest to the point of being almost incomprehensible, the beast spoke.
“The debts of Christian’s kin are not of mine wench. We come for this town’s young.”

I shifted Eris further behind me and dropped her hand so I could cast better.
Her worried fists found the back of my dress and she pulled herself tight behind me in fear.

“Don’t cry sweetie. I’m here. As long as my heart beats there is hope.”
The beast laughed in a horrible imitation of a man’s amusement.
“Never cry in fear sweetie, be brave my petite pomme.. he is but a dog in need of obedience training..”

The beast didn’t find that amusing.
He flexed his muscles behind the partly broken door and reared up to strike at it again.

My hands came up to cup at my front in a steady caster stance.
With a growl of my own and a twist of my arm all of my will, all of my magic, I forced everything I had out into that small area..

“Bad dog! Know your place!”

A single push sent my magic forward.
It left me all at once.

In a wave of fire so large it burst through the walls themselves and out into the night sky, my magic turned everything as far as the eye could see to ash.
The beast didn’t stand a chance.

The moment my magic finished being cast I collapsed to the floor.
My chest burned with fire equal to that which I’d just created.
Too much.. I used too much..

“MOMMY!”
I smiled as Eris came into view.

Fire licked at the walls around us.
I used too much.. I didn’t have enough control..

The beams above us creaked.
With foresight of a true seer I knew they would fall.

With all that I had left within my very SOUL I wrenched forth power and caught Eris up into the air.
She screamed for me one last time but the beam above us finally gave way.

One last push sent her out of the window to hopefully meet the grass below.
I had one breath to let out before the beam landed on me.
The world disappeared in fire and pain.

------

I jolted up in bed, a choked scream pulling itself from my lips.
Eris jolted in her sleep but didn’t seem to actually wake up after a long moment.
My fist came up and shoved into my mouth so that could bite down hard on it, to lessen the chance of waking her again.

It all felt so real!
Where.. wh.. I..

We.. I’m home?.. I.. I’m Hannah?

A long panicked breath eased out of my mouth past my fist and clenched teeth.
We’re safe!

I’m not dead!
Eris isn’t dead!

She.. she’s not dead.. right?..

I know she’s not!
I can feel her magic!
I could never forget her magic, I know the feel of it better then I know my own!
How could I ever forget the feel of my daughter’s magic?!

======

Like a cold wave, reality washed back over me and I had to hold back a second scream.

What.. what was that?..
I’ve never remembered those memories before!

They’re there now though and they are SO real!
Worse than the other memories, more intense than even the girls I’ve integrated already?!

Oh powers... oh powers, that was all REAL!

Eris.. Eris lived through all of that?
How is she still SANE at her age?!

“Mommy?”
Her sleepy voice made me jump but instinctively I was already moving back down to cuddle up against her.

“I’m right here. It’s okay sweetie.”
She hissed a breath of relief out through her teeth and snuggled deeper into my arms.

She was quickly back to sleep but I REALLY couldn’t face the idea of going through more of THAT again.

I’ll let off a burst of magic in the morning.
That should clear up any leftover tiredness easy enough.

For now, I’ll just cuddle Eris and focus on breathing.
Just breath.. we’re safe.. it’s all okay..
..just breath..

Just breath.