Lalauri Imafenduwell

The Old Aureate Wing

Imafenduwell Hall

 

The tiny stars that made up the celestials coalesced and reformed themselves into the Hounds of Twilight. Most of them floated in the air, close to the ceiling above them, except for Razzalar, who appeared in between Lalauri and Grannie.

Lalauri watched as the celestial beast fixed her with his disapproving glare.

“How dare you misuse your Father’s name.” Said Razzalar.

“How dare I?” Lalauri uttered. “How dare I?! How dare you allow for that brat to lock me away in that closet! UGH, I swear! I want to wring her throat! I want that brat dead!”

Razzalar let out a sole chuckle. “Funny. When you first met the girl, you were terrified of her being in your care because you feared she would perish, despite your best efforts to protect her. Now?” the Hound chuckled again. “Now you want to bring harm to her yourself! Well, you may not listen to my counsel, elf, but there is someone who you will hear. Perhaps she will have better luck with getting through to you.”

Before Lalauri could even ask what he had meant by that, the celestial mountain dogs vanished without so much as a flash. In their place, a warm glow—a luminous aura like the twilight of an autumn evening filled the room. Grannie—looking equally confused—backed away from the other side of the study and back against the door where Lalauri was.

Both of the elves drew their weapons. Lalauri quickly reached over and grabbed two daggers from her desk. Meanwhile, Grannie readying the ornamental war hammer that she had used in the hallway battle she had told Lalauri about earlier.

“Is that how I am to be greeted, then?” came a woman’s voice. The sound of which seemed to come from all directions. “With weapons drawn as if I were some common foe? And here I thought you believed me to be an old friend.”

“Wait…wait a minute…” Lalauri lowered her blades slightly. “I know that voice…it’s you. Mindara.”

Amidst the mist and from a massive pillar of light that gently appeared in the middle of the room, a woman of unnatural beauty took form; the woman’s skin had a timeless, otherworldly glow to it. The luscious auburn locks of her hair gently swayed around in the air, although there was no breeze of any kind in the room.

“Mindara. Hello, my old friend!” Lalauri’s daggers clanged loudly on the floor as she walked forward as if to hug the muse.

Mindara, however, held up a hand to stop her. “Let me begin by saying this: I am well aware of how…difficult of a transition this has been for you, Lalauri. So is Yggomni. To go from having to only take care of yourself to suddenly being responsible for a little one would be a challenge for anyone. Not to mention the fact that…well, let’s face it. Keridwen knows how to be a handful when she so chooses to be. That you have taken her in at all was commendable—it is commendable. And both I and Yggomni thank you for the selflessness that you displayed in choosing to do so. Also, I will say, you have every right to be upset with Keridwen over what she did to you today. That was unacceptable—even if she didn’t know about your past, and I do hope you are alright.”

At the sound of this statement, Lalauri could actually feel the apprehension within herself lessen somewhat. It was like a pressure valve had been opened slightly, and Mindara’s words had worked to bring down her temperature somewhat.

“Well…thank you.” Lalauri said awkwardly. “That means a lot to me. But I—”

Mindara held up another hand. “Please, let me finish. I know you like to look at me as a friend, Lalauri. You’ve even gone as far as to set up a whole guestroom for me, which was an incredibly kind gesture of you. But if I am to truly act as your friend, Daughter of Twilight, then I must intervene today and hold you to account. It was admirable of you to take responsibility for a child, even though you were initially hesitant. However, your upcoming decision appears to be influenced by anger, frustration…and selfishness.”

Lalauri was taken aback by this statement, and her face sunk. “Wait…that’s why you came? You only finally came to visit again…to argue on her behalf?”

Mindara nodded ever so slightly. “For several reasons, Lalauri…Keridwen must stay with you. The Hounds have already explained to you that one of those reasons is that this will be a good opportunity to prove to yourself that you are not a curse—to prove to yourself that you are more than able to have people in your life without needing to worry about them dying simply because of their proximity to you. So imagine my surprise when I find out that you are now the one wishing harm on someone near to you.”

“You’re surprised?! Have you not been watching? You just told me you had been watching! Now you expect me to believe that you haven’t been paying attention to the worst of it? That Yggomni never sent word even? Admit it! You were there when the child plotted against me! You were there! You could have stopped all of it from happening! Both you and Yggomni knew what it would do to me! Why didn’t you stop her? Why?!”

For a moment, the muse sighed as if bracing herself for a conversation that she clearly was not looking forward to but believed must happen. “One: The reason we did not intervene in that instance was because we wanted you to try and rely fully on Yggomni’s strength. To call upon Him in one of your greatest trials of need in recent past. Two: I know that what you’re really asking me now is why we have never intervened at all over the past several months that the girl has been in your care—especially in the past month or so since you two had returned to Aureate. And the truth is we have, Lalauri. On multiple occasions, the Lord quietly prepared aid for you in one way or another for the trials that would come with parenting. A mail-woman came delivering a sing-up sheet for Keridwen to begin meeting and interacting with other children—making friends of them by writing and receiving letters—giving her a chance to connect with others. Do you even know where this sign-up sheet is now?”

The muse did not stop there either. Mindara added, “Upon travelling, your grandmother found a decisive end to her quest, and had the ‘sudden’ inclination to come visit you just when things were getting increasingly difficult between you and the child. This was also the Lord’s doing. And Lalauri, how long has it been since you even tried to read your scriptures? How long has it been since you even tried to use the Word to look for comfort and rest?”

Lalauri felt her cheeks burn. “Do not talk to me as if I am some novice in my faith.” She growled. “I am not—”

“As a matter of fact,” Mindara interrupted. “From where I am standing, it would appear that what you’re really afflicted with is an all too realized desire to stand on your own. Then there is also your reluctance to have a meaningful relationship with the White Faun, rather than an issue with the child herself.”

“…What?!”

“You need to learn to ask for help more often, Lalauri. And more to the point, you need to actually implement and follow through on the help you’ve been given. On the few occasions when you have asked for help, you have either not followed through on your commitment to setting the child right by letting her distract you and redirect the conversation onto something else. Or you allow her to storm off mid-conversation without her even hearing the entirety of what you said. And as if you weren’t struggling with the difficulty that comes with being a parent—and I know its been incredibly difficult, Lalauri—you make things even worse on yourself by not bringing in the Lord to help guide and care for you as you do your best to care for the child.”

The muse went on to say, “Despite being a member of the Church for centuries now, you have done little to actually grow your relationship with the White Faun—to actually invite Lorraullion into your life so that He can play a key role in it—so that He can help you in times like this, as He deeply wants to. As a result, you constantly resort to relying on your own strength and wisdom in any situation, you only rarely ask others for help and when you do you only partly follow their advice, and in most instances never even think to pray—to ask your Father for guidance. Please, Lalauri, do not misunderstand what I am saying. Again, you have every right to be mad at Keridwen for what she did to you today—every right. But tossing her out into the cold will not put you at ease like you hope. Press into Him, Lalauri! The White Faun wants to give you His support. I would not be here if He didn’t. You keep acting as if being a mother to Keridwen is impossible, but you forget what Scripture says on the matter. For when the followers of the White Faun watched Him shrivel up a tree He grew angry with by a mere wave of His hand, they were amazed. Then the Lord replied to them, ’I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt or allow yourself to be drawn in two directions, you will not only do what was done to the tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.’”

Lalauri couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her ears burned at what she was hearing. In a swift series of movements, Lalauri grabbed something off of her desk—she didn’t even look properly to see what it was—and tossed it as hard as she could at the muse’s face. The object in question merely phased through the muse without leaving so much as a scratch.

“Lalauri, stop it!” Grannie grabbed Lalauri just as she tried to lunge herself at the muse.

In truth, Lalauri had actually forgotten that Grannie was there. It didn’t matter, though.

“How can you take her side?! How can you say these things to me? I don’t need a sermon from you, muse! I need my friend to take my side and take that whelp from my house!”

Mindara sighed. Then she did something that caught Lalauri off guard; Mindara slightly turned her head to the side, as if listening to someone speaking over her shoulder, but there was no one there. None that Lalauri could see, aside from the three of them at least…

“Who are you speaking with?” Lalauri demanded. “Who’s here with us?”

Mindara then raised a hand as if to hush whoever she was speaking with. “I am not the only muse who is charged with watching over Imafenduwell Hall, Lalauri. And to answer your question, a message was recently delivered to the Spirit Prince of Aureate directly from Idridelle. The Spirit Prince in turn had spoken to one of the other muses of the Hall, and that muse has just brought the Prince’s message to me. Your Heavenly Father has allowed me to give you a choice in this matter. It is clear now that in your current state, you are determined to resort to violence to resolve this—you are determined to wrestle with the will of Yggomni. So be it.”

Mindara raised her hand again and snapped her fingers. The room changed almost instantly; Grannie was gone, and instead of the cozy study, both Lalauri and Mindara were now standing in the middle of a long, sunlit training room for knights. The mirrors on the opposite wall spanned from the floor to the vaulted ceiling, reflecting the sunlight pouring in through the stone archways. Lalauri looked at herself in this room-spanning mirror, and for the first time saw what a mess she was.

“I…I know this place. Don’t I?” Lalauri asked, turning back around to her muse. “Where are we, Mindara?”

“Yes, it has been a long time, hasn’t it?” said Mindara, looking around the room, almost wistfully. “This is Fort Bellameuse, in what is now known as one of the Lost Provinces. It was where you used to train as a youth so very long ago. This is just an illusion, though. Although, where we are isn’t important.” With another snap of her fingers, both Lalauri and Mindara herself were fully clothed in armour of polished steel, and both had a sword in hand.

“This is the deal, Lalauri.” Said Mindara, as her hair tied itself back into a braid. “We will duel. If you win, I will remove the girl from Imafenduwell Hall and from your care. She will no longer be your responsibility. However, if we fight and you lose, this will be the end of the debate. Keridwen will stay with you and you will raise her. Do you understand, friend?”

Oh, Lalauri was ready alright. More than ready. Without even answering the muse, Lalauri poised herself into a fighting stance and charged.

As their blades clashed, sparks flew from them and onto the hardwood floor of the training room from the intensity of each other’s impacts. Lalauri knew she was being sloppy in many of her strikes, but she would be lying if she said she cared at this point. Although she didn’t want to admit it to herself, deep down she knew that a part of herself needed this—this release of all that she had pent up in recent days. And if the immortal muse was going to so readily tempt her into a fight, who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth?

“When we’re done here,” Lalauri growled as their blades clashed and the two pushed their swords against each other to shove the other backwards. “When we’re done and I’ve won my freedom again…I’m tempted to tell you to not show your face around here for quite some time!”

Perhaps, non-surprisingly, though, the muse also knew a thing or two about sword fighting.

“When you’ve won?” Mindara echoed. “We’ve barely just begun and yet you’re already proclaiming victory? My oh my…you’ve gotten quite arrogant since I last saw you. You’ve also gotten sloppy with your swordsmanship, Lalauri.” Said Mindara, in a tone that felt like a piercing jab of its own on Lalauri’s side, even if the muse was right. “And here I thought you wanted the child gone.”

“Taunt me all you want!” Said Lalauri, through gritted teeth.

“I don’t understand you, Lalauri.” Said Mindara, as she effortlessly dodged out of the way of what should have been a devastating strike. “Not too long ago, you were sulking in your bedchamber about how you had lost so many people and dreaded losing more. But now, when you have an opportunity handed to you to grow close to someone who desperately needs good connections herself, you now do everything in your power to push her away. Why?”

“Now I know you haven’t been listening.” Said Lalauri, through heavy breathing. “You may have been there, silently watching over me, but you were not listening to me! I want her to leave…because it’s only a matter of time before I fail to protect her. I want her to leave, because…because I am not qualified to be her mother. And I want her to leave because…SHE DRIVES! ME! NUTS!”

Judging by the look on Mindara’s face, she seemed greatly annoyed by that last statement. With a frustrating level of ease, Mindara knocked Lalauri’s sword out of her hand and left her gasping for breath. Mindara lifted her foot, and time seemed to slow as she delivered a powerful kick to Lalauri’s chest, sending her tumbling backwards. The sound of Lalauri’s body slamming against the mirror wall echoed through the room as she fell to the ground. She sat there, stunned, while the broken mirror shards glittered around her like fallen stars.

“You never even asked the White Faun for help with her, Lalauri.” Said Mindara.

Lalauri looked up at her through her now messy white hair that was dangling in her face.

“You speak to me and look at me now,” Mindara continued. “As if I was the only obstacle between you and your…’freedom’. This is not the case. What I’m doing now is preventing you from adding to the list of regrets you have in your life—”

As Lalauri got up, she smashed the mirrored wall once again, leaving a crack that looked like a cobweb. Without thinking, she launched herself at her muse, howling like a deranged harpy, and attacked with her fists.

Mindara, unfazed by this sudden attack, simply bobbed and weaved out of Lalauri’s way with every strike she attempted. In fact, she did so with such grace that it was more like the muse was really taking part in some kind of dance—and frustratingly so.

“I don’t need your sermons, muse!” Lalauri screamed. “The girl is the one who needs disciplining for sending me back there! For putting me back in that damned—hellish pit to be used and abused by the Fae! The girl is the one who—”

“I did not come here to preach or to lecture anyone other than you, Lalauri.” Mindara said firmly. “Whatever sermons I have that you find yourself sick of hearing were meant for you and you alone on this day.”

“UGH! Why aren’t you fighting me?!” Lalauri suddenly bellowed after attempting to strike Mindara and missing for the umpteenth time. Her ability to contain her own rage slipping away more and more by the minute. “And why fight me regarding the girl when what I need is someone on my side—someone who—”

“You are surrounded by people who are on your side, Lalauri! The girl has no one other than you! No one! And the one person who should be fighting for her—the one person she looks up to—is doing everything in her power to get rid of her. That is why the Lord chose me to fight for her—because no one else will—because you don’t want to. You are one of the few people in this world who knows what it’s like to deal with unimaginable loss, and yet you still cast her aside. If you refuse to show her the same compassion and fellowship that you yourself desire—and on a level that I know you cannot fully bring yourself to admit—then you have no business asking the Faun of the same! Especially should you lose everyone around you again!”

Finally, Lalauri stopped swinging at her. A mixture of exhaustion and guilt had at last brought the elf to her knees before the heavenly woman. While she was panting, with sweat dripping from her face, the muse simply stood there patiently—graceful as ever. To see her so calm and unaffected by the fight was vexing.

“…Alright.” Lalauri said, finally. “…Alright then…if this…if this is what you want…if this is what He really wants…then fine. I’ll stop…I’ll stop fighting. I’m done fighting…but please, tell me how to do this properly.” Tears started rolling down her face again, against her will. “I’m scared, Mindara…I…I don’t trust myself to do this properly…and she really does drive me crazy…”

Mindara knelt down to meet Lalauri’s eye and placed her sword down on the ground. Then Mindara sighed and gently pulled Lalauri into a warm and much needed hug.

“Thank you, Lalauri.” Mindara said after a few moments of silence. “First, you need to sit down with Keridwen and actually set down some ground rules with her this time. Make it clear to her what she can and cannot do—and it would also help to explain why you’re giving her said instructions. But also don’t feel you need to explain all of your decisions to her. You are the parent and you make the rules, not her—you are not her friend—remember that one. Also, ask her what she’s struggling with regarding settling in and see what can be done about meeting her in the middle to help. And Lalauri?”

“Yes?” Lalauri answered, looking up at her. “Pray. Pray to your Father and remember to let Him into your life both in times of need, and in the good times as well.”

Lalauri nodded silently. “I’m so tired, Mindara.”

Mindara pulled her in for another tight hug and said, “I know. You will be fine, though. You’ll both be fine. Just follow those instructions and stop ignoring the people the Lord sends to help you with raising Keridwen, alright? Now then, let’s dry off these tears and get you ready. Best that you have that conversation with Keridwen sooner rather than later. No better time than the present.”

And so with that, Mindara returned them both to Lalauri’s study with a snap of her fingers. They filled Grannie in on the “discussion” that they had, and Lalauri prepped herself for the conversation ahead of her.

 

*

 

Lincoln Grimshaw

Just Outside Of Imafenduwell Hall

Aureate, The Gilded State

 

Meanwhile…

 

The members of the I.M.P. gang were going to be punished for this. All of them. Grimshaw was going to make sure of that. In fact, he had already gotten started on one of them in particular.

Grimshaw had returned to the same alleyway where the gang was hiding before sneaking into the building. The gang members huddled in fear, watching as Grimshaw relentlessly pummelled the foolhardy imp who had fired the gausscannon in Imafenduwell Hall.

“I’m sorry!” squealed the I.M.P. gangster. He howled as a loud CRACK came from his ribs. Luckily, no one could hear him over the pouring rain they were all standing in. “I’m sorry! I just wanted to see what it would…what would happen! I didn’t know it’d actually go off! I didn’t know how it worked!”

“That…” Grimshaw snarled, as he continued to beat him in his full werewolf form, while also being careful not to scratch and infect the man. “That is exactly! Why! You! Shouldn’t! Have! Touched it! IDIOT!”

Grimshaw didn’t know if they would ever get another chance to get back in there and claim their prize. In fact, he knew that day was likely to never to come now.

Now what the hell am I supposed to do?!

His mind was racing to come up with an answer, but nothing came. There was nothing he could think of that would get Gausswinder back in the game at this point—nothing to put her back on top amongst the city’s elite…nothing to get her back on the High Council. His investment—all the time he had spent working with her—working on her, had officially gone up in flames.

The only saving grace at it all was that there was no way to tie the former-councillor—or himself—to this debacle.

Footsteps to his side drew Grimshaw’s attention away from his human punching bag. He whipped his head up, and in doing so startled the imp that had found the courage—or foolishness—to approach him.

“What is it?!” Grimshaw barked at him. “What do you want?”

“Well…Boss,” the imp stuttered. “It’s just that…we’re missing someone…”

“…What? What does that mean? What do you mean, we’re missing someone?”

“It’s my brother, Jimmy, Boss.”

Grimshaw moved himself so that he no longer stood menacingly over the imp he was beating and instead gave that honour to the imp that had interrupted him. He reverted into his masked human form and got right up into the imp’s own masked face. “…And where is your bother now?”

With his whole body shaking horribly, the imp didn’t answer him aloud. The gangster gestured wordlessly, and Grimshaw immediately understood what he was referring to, but he turned his attention to Imafenduwell Hall.

Grimshaw cursed and prayed to whoever would hear him that the lone imp had enough sense to keep himself out of sight.

 

*

 

Jimmy, The Lone I.M.P.

Somewhere Inside Imafenduwell Hall

Aureate, The Gilded State

 

Jimmy had promised his mother just that morning that he would stay out of trouble. It didn’t matter that he was a grown man now. His mum still fussed over him needlessly. If anything, she fussed over him even more now than she did when he was actually a kid!

“Don’t worry, Mum.” He had said. “I’m not doing anything crazy. Just a quick little job, that’s all. Nothing more. I’ll be back in time for dinner—we both will.” He had said, referring to his brother, George.

“I don’t understand you two!” his mum had said. “Both of you are gifted enough at metal working and building things that you could get a job at any smithy—I’ve seen you two at work! So why bother with those troublemakers?”

Her constant nagging about the questionable company they kept fell on deaf ears as Jimmy and George brushed off her remarks and continued on their way to meet the other imps.

Now here Jimmy was, hiding for his life in what he suspected was a long forgotten region of this strange manor they had broken into on the Boss’ orders.

Jimmy had found himself in what he suspected was a sub-level of the building that was deep below the earth. This was on account of the fact that he hadn’t seen a window in what felt like hours and, as a result, he had removed the imp mask he was wearing because of the reduced light that was down there.

Then Jimmy tripped on something and fell hard on the floor. When he got up again, he noticed one of the doors he was walking by was actually open. Hoping that this may have in fact been another way out of this place, Jimmy opened the door. What he found inside caused his jaw to drop.

There was an ancient workshop behind the door—although it was almost like someone had placed a whole barn underground. It was filled with loads of different tools and equipment. Some of them he recognized. Others looked almost alien.

There were sections of the place that were caved in, but what really caught Jimmy’s eye was the object that had been standing on a dais collecting dust for who knew how long.

It was difficult to put into words, but the object before him resembled a suit of armour, designed for combat. It bore the same runic markings as the brasshulk that had come to their aid before he was separated from the other imps.

The suit itself seemed non-operational—pushing its buttons and flipping a few of its leavers yielded no response. But the battle-suit gave Jimmy ideas, for it reminded him of some of the old schematics that he had once stolen from an Aureate inventor a long while ago on another job. And the ideas that these thoughts gave him were wonderfully dangerous, and potentially explosive…

Maybe this job’s not over, Jimmy thought to himself. Maybe…maybe Mom was right. Maybe I should just stick to building and fixing things after all…

And with that, Jimmy got to work on his ticket out of that strange manor.

“Today, the armpits of fate. But tomorrow…the world!”