Light and the Night Sky

The Manor

Daphne was accompanied by Riven to the shrine, he stood in the corner and watched. Not long after Lirael showed up and began treatment. She spent a good twenty minutes making sure that he was funneling his energy into Iridessa in the correct way before standing.

Daphne walked to the other side of the shrine. Admittedly not that far from the duo, but much closer to Riven, and sat in her normal chair. Riven watched her as she settled down, before she visited Riven spoke.

“You visit every day?” He nodded to the statue he leaned against.

Looking up at him, she nodded slowly. “Yes. Hecate requested that every morning until I am fully realized I visit.” She paused, trying to explain it without over explaining. “Time passes differently there, so she is able to train me for long periods and I can come back here with more knowledge and skill.”

Riven nodded, then looked back to the duo across the room.

Taking that as a release, she let the pain hit her and she arrived in the other plane. Looking around, she saw the familiar forest around her but now there was a very large stone manor toward one edge of the clearing. The clearing still housed the shooting range she practiced on however it had room for dummies for sword fighting as well now.

Daphne walked toward it and slowly entered the gray stone manor, there were swirling art carved into the stone that glowed. Runes traced the entrance and along the outer wall. There was a large courtyard with a well and water feature in the center. Cobble stone pathways led her to the main hall.

Her confusion was answered by a young fox spirit, she appeared before her in traditional servant uniform. A tail bushing out behind her. “My lady, I am Ari. Hecate awaits you in the library.”

Daphne smiled lightly at her and nodded, “Please, lead the way Ari.”

The layout of the manor was simple but the wealth was evident. As soon as she entered, every wall had images from her homeland that she recognized and thick rugs crossing the floors. The lilies of the lake, stared at her over a fireplace.

Laughter escaped her lips. They quickly made it to the library, that easily had thousands of books and stood fifty feet tall with a sliding ladder that could be rolled from one end of the room to the other.

There were a few tables in the library, and a fire place. It was garnered in deep green furniture and emulated wealth. Hecate rested on one of the couches by a window, reading a book.

“Hecate, please explain what is going on?”

Looking up from her book, Hecate’s eye’s lit up. “Daphne! Finally, you are here.” She stood, placing her half-read book on the side table and walked over to Daphne. “This yes,” Hecate motioned to around her. “Now that you have retained the language, you should be capable of staying longer. I wanted to ensure that you had access to knowledge, so you can continue your learning when I am not here with you.”

After that conversation, Daphne was ushered around the surrounding grounds and its was outstanding beauty. Some things were added for Daphne, like a piano, and others were to Hecates liking. Mostly the decor and layout. Daphne knew she was not ready to play the piano yet, but would likely let herself that joy eventually. After all, if Hecate was to be believed, eventually she could spend years in here with only minutes passing out there.

She could have the life time of a fae if she wanted while being mortal.

Nearing nightfall, Hecate taught her how to send herself back to her body but chose to let her stay the night for the first time. She would get this sense of loss if she had been gone from her body too long and would need to leave then.

That feeling did not come for a week. During that week, Daphne was alone with Ari reading through as many books on runic magic as she could. Hecate had left her that first day, but the last day, Daphne sent her self back halfway through the day when the feeling hit her out of nowhere.

With a thud, she was back in the shrine. Riven was still near the statue, and the duo was lost in their cultivation. For her, it had been a week and for them it was likely seconds. Sensing something was off, Riven looked down at her but said nothing.

She realized that she would need to keep journals for her daily life here or she would likely forget things. If she spent weeks like that on the other side, she could easily forget something that only happened in the previous day here. Daphne also wanted to bring the information she learned there here, so she would need to really know the information before she transposed it in journals here.

Her stomach growled loudly, cutting off her train of thought. She giggled and stood. “I am starving, excuse me.” Daphne left the room without much thought and made her way to the small dinning hall. Normally she would have been hauled in for a morning bath, but after their conversation, she had put a stop to that.

Turns out, Lirael was trying to be courteous of Hecate and keep her emissary spiritually clean. Daphne had to explain that he was just having her rubbed raw twice a day, and Hecate did not care about her arriving to the shrine being bathed the night before.

Trotting into the room, she saw Sorren sitting at the table alone. He looked dejected as he slowly ate his meat and bread. “Good morning, Sorren.”

“Daphne!”

Sitting down beside him, she grabbed a bun and took a bite before picking up a plate. He was so open with her that it made her comfortable around him. It must help that they were so close in age. “I just saw Lirael, he is being very studious this morning and is already cultivating energy with Iridessa.” Daphne explained his brother’s absences while she put some fruit on her tray.

“That is where he is.” He nodded slowly.

“Sorren, will you go on a walk with me?” Daphne smiled at his eyes lighting up. The brothers looked so similar but he was so open with his emotions.