Skylar and Serafina Reduex

[Tei Kae]

"Hmmm...", was his mother's vague as always response. It could be frustrating having parents who kept everything so close to their chest, but at least Sullis was slightly more open with Skylar. "And tell me what you really think, darling", she smiled fondly at her favorite child, and favorite he was indeed. All of the others had gone off and done their own thing and she didn't keep up with them hardly at all unless one died. Skylar however she actually, well somewhat, acted like a mother. Well, as much as she was capable.

"I am not completely oblivious to the way the world works. Nor how you function, my darling. You would not have risked your...", waving her hand around as she thought of the term, almost dismissively. "..degrees, education, and standing for 'just a student'." At this point, she raised one eyebrow questioningly, taking on his father's mannerism in an almost perfect mimic.

"As least not if she hasn't infected you with her madness. Perhaps I should go and have a talk with her....", the threat implicit although vague as to what the talk would be about.  

[Psychofish]

"Would that really be constructive?" he said plaintively, but knowing the argument wouldn't go anywhere. He sat back imperiously, fingers folded under his nose and one leg kicked up over the other, stewing on his defeat and thinking. Coming from him, it was nearly sulking.

The question truly seemed to trouble him though, giving him far more difficulty than it normally should have. He didn't have an answer about her family or connections- he hadn't cared or noticed so much, and it wasn't as though he'd cleverly drawn blood samples to work with during their trysts. So then why, indeed?

"She presented me a challenge, I suppose," he sighed, far from satisfied with his answers and looking rather vexed over not having a worthwhile reason to deliver. "This place has been stifling and dull lately. And then we had a dispute. I let my temper get away from me, and somehow that suddenly led to something else entirely."

"...twice."

As long as he was at it, he might as well be honest. He looked at her warily, as if challenging her to judge him over that matter. Not as though he wasn't busying working on that bit himself, but he'd have taken scorn or anger over the very controlled amusement or touches of disappointment, the little looks of pity of perplexity. She was at least not the worst in that manner, he supposed.

"...she's different, and actually worth a bit of my time. That's all." he shrugged. "And if that's put me to this, than I am far past eager to get to Avalon for a time before I do something outright stupid."  

[Tei Kae]

"Mhmmm...", she wisely said nothing during his self evaluation, although she remained smiling in a way that to most humans was more than a little disconcerting; as if she was getting far more than the speaker intended to allow to be seen.

"Outright stupid?", she questioned, not sure what he could possibly mean. "I do not disagree that some time in Avalon would do you well, but a source of release is not a bad thing at all", she paused reflectively, staring at the bookcase behind the desk. "You still have another month besides if I've judged the outside time correctly", which she always did. Never hair nor hour out of place, it would seem to most. "You could take advantage of the relief you have come to have. Unless you think she would tire of you, of course. It is always better to let things die before they are torn from you by hands other than your own."  

[Psychofish]

He offered her a scowl for the final comment, but didn't imagine that it was worth constructing an argument out of evidence. She'd find some way to refute it. "Not likely. I've already taken steps to mitigate risk in the future, if it's worth pursuing further."

He could materialize other methods of carnal release easily enough if he felt so inclined. It was largely the schedule, the buckle and dull symmetry of time in this agitating period where he spent more time teaching people without either the talent or care to be worth it than learning or accomplishing that lead to him simply ceasing to pursue such matters. He had known specimens more alluring.

The issue was that the questions were nearly as much so, and she presented a trove of them, and was actually worth engaging with, rather than feeling he was suffering through her in the awkward phases before and after where most seemed to feel speech so necessary, but grow even more inane than usual. That still didn't quite seem right. Something ate at him. Wanted his attention. But he couldn't place it, and it surely wasn't worth the matter.

This was already becoming more trouble than it should have been worth.

"Despite a shameful lack of attention span, I've had no matter getting what I desired of her, when I encounter her. So for the moment, it is a decent release, and a rare curiosity in this dull place. I have no concerns of matters terminating prematurely. Unless, that is, you find this girl threatening, mother?" He raised an eyebrow, well aware of the implications that might have been hidden in her words, choosing to simply bluntly face them this time instead of playing the word games around it.  

[Tei Kae]

"I trust your judgement, darling. If you say she is no threat to you, then far be it for me to say otherwise. There is simply something...", a well manicured finger tapped along her lip thoughtfully.

"Of course, if this proves false then...the situation will have to be remedied some way or another", making sure he was fully aware that she would allow nothing to get in the way of Andell's plans or what she felt needed to be done, despite her affection for him.

She was not known to be shy on the bloodthirsty either when the situation called for it. It seemed to her that her normally overly analytical child was behaving in a way that was quite contrary, and that usually meant forces at work that would need to be dealt with in some fashion. It was just a matter of choosing how to go about it. As she thought about her options, she remained quite, perfectly still in that surreal way that things not quite of this world manage often disruptive to those used to human things that hummed with life. After so long, it might even be enough to disturb her soon as she continued to sit and weigh options.  

[Psychofish]

"Something? False?" He looked confused, tilting his head to one side and observing her curiously, furrowing his brow. She froze in place oddly, and as she did he settled back to try and do likewise, staring and waiting for her to finish and come out of her trance of sorts. Of course, as it went on, no matter how still he stayed, it might have been enough to leave an impression- but not the otherworldly manner of hers. It was a significant gap after all, between his blood and hers still.

He considered again if it was really worth not just crossing it, when he knew he certainly couldn't just give it up. But that was a hard question.

Eventually he finally moved, clearing his throat sharply and looking at her, eyebrow questioningly raised, with just a hint of concern hidden in a mask of impatience.

"This isn't your normal obfuscation. You seem unclear; disorganized. Perhaps we should cease dwelling so overly much on the matter, for the moment, hm?" as he stood and offered her a hand in standing up off of the desk.  

[Tei Kae]

Her head turned so perfectly still that it seemed unearthly, her violet blue eyes piercing through him directly with the pupils dilating to where it was almost entirely a black void. It still took her several long moments as the constriction paced itself back to a relatively normal state. "Yes, you are right, darling. All things in good time", she smiled pleasantly as if unbothered by something that seemed paramount mere moments ago.

She allowed him to help her down from the desk. "I do promise I had a purpose other than your invitation to Avalon and your interest in a mortal girl. I had a present for you. A bit early for your birthday, but I thought it might serve you well." She smiled up at him, "You can treat me to that delightful drink you call coffee and I shall let you have it."  

[Psychofish]

"Of course," he allowed, leading her out the door. "I'll make you some of mine, not the miserable pot they serve in the lounge. The exams aren't near enough that I've had any students stopping by to begin with." Well, given the one obvious exception, of course.

He watched his mother a little carefully, well aware that something had been of great concern and that he was being kept in the dark, but not entirely sure as to what. If she was evading telling him still, and allowing it to be quite so obvious, then she had no intent of telling him at all what was worrying (or simply consuming) her so thoroughly.

His suite might not have been particularly large, nor quite the finest the school had to offer, but he had made certain he wasn't being handed some run down dump, and it had plenty enough space to entertain and house the things he felt were worth the expenditure. A very fine coffee machine, and excellent grind, for one, which he set to run immediately, turning on the lights around the apartment, fastidiously neat, like the office, much fixed in stark, severe order that made any place seem less lived in... aside from the small touch of decoration here or there, largely oriental or arabic themed. Even just a simple fine blue silk, embroidered and hanging on the wall, seemed out of place next to how spartan most of the rest of it was.

He pulled a chair out for her at a small table, and then sat across from her, laying one hand over the other and patiently getting settled as the coffee brewed.  

[Tei Kae]

She didn't say much on the way back to his apartment and it was only once they were inside did she speak carefully. "Is there anything you need, darling? It seems so...sparse", she said noting the decor. "It can be arranged or is this more of your suffering student privilege?", her tone letting him know what she thought of the idea without overtly judging it. There were some human things that were just a bit beyond her understanding, and his desire to be merely a student was one of them. They had apartments in Durem he could have taken over, or they could have bought him a new one. Or at the very least, arranged an interior designer for this one.

But she settled easily enough into the chair as that delightful brew began to spiral through the air. Smiling easily, she reached into her purse and pulled out a small box, barely bigger than her own diminutive fist. Placing it on the table, she slid it across to him. "You know that I am rather long lived as is the Prince. As are our children. However, there is something somewhat special that is your birthright." her hand remained upon the box. "Within this box are as many questions as there are answers."  

[Psychofish]

He only shook his head about the apartment- he had all his needs and then some, so long as his studies had to take place in the labs for the moment anyway. On campus, small, comfortable, and even while it was far from ideal, it helped that it was plenty small (by his judging). He'd never felt like he was alone in some echoing cavern here, stranded in empty space.

Those were child's thoughts, and it was good to have them behind him.

"I am aware of it," he said simply, watching her carefully, trying to read her. It was a fact he could have known without ever having to hear evidence. Despite that he was held closer (in some ways) than their other children, he'd never seemed to quite become a part of that world. A very old one, whatever it was, even when they were not in Avalon. It was what she said next that called his attention though.

For once he smiled with nothing but outright warmth, as she spoke and pushed the small box across to him however, taking it gently and holding it between his hands without opening it at first. He looked up to his mother, quiet for a long moment. "Aren't there always?"

Carefully, he opened the box, and then looked down at it.  

[Tei Kae]

Inside the box was a 'smallish' medallion, crudely hammered, baring the mark of a dragon. "The Prince's bloodline is that of the Pendragon. The one to rule. However, my bloodline is in most ways, even more unique." She said nothing more immediately, letting her words sink in.

"This, of course, makes you a halfblood", she held a hand up to ask for patience, she was getting to her point. "Each child, at a certain point, as you know, must make a choice, to remain half, never fitting into any world, to become wholly human or to become a child of Zöe, and becoming subject to the flow of Zöe within the realms. This is why all of the other children have departed from us. They have made their choices. And you have not. As you do every time...", she said nothing, letting her words implications sink in with silence.

"You have been reborn to me and the prince many times, as only a halfblood can do. It is stronger in you than most due to the blood magic within the prince's own line", she pointed to the necklace. "This was one of your prized possessions in your first life. You stole it from our enemies", there was more to the story than she was saying, that much was obvious. In fact, she was being far more open than she had been about most things in his life.  

[Psychofish]

He nodded along slowly. She was telling a story, but even then, he grew impatient as she went along. All the details she divulged bit by bit, he knew. One by one, the origins of his blood, his own state of mixture and his state, trapped between the two in indecision because neither alone was truly enough for him, quite felt right, as he slowly lifted the thing, running his fingers over it. It didn't help that it was strangely distracting. Whatever it was, it was old, and he ran his fingers over it somewhat more readily than he should have done, having as much trouble keeping from touching it as from considering what past and implications it might have been meant to have.

One little half sentence stopped him.

Skylar half-lowered the necklace, and stared blankly at his mother, face slowly growing tight as he grappled with what he was hearing. She confirmed it. Slowly losing the tension in his face, he stared, half lost, at the necklace as he held it up between his hands, watching it spin with the small dragon emblem while his body remained tense and he tried to consider the implications. Of not one life, but of many. She had said many.

"Mother..."

He watched it do one more full rotation, very slowly turning about from one side to the other before he looked up at her. His voice caught the first time he tried to speak, though his eyes were dry, and he paused a moment before trying once more.

"...when... when was my first birth?"  

[Tei Kae]

All of the emotions swirling upon his face, she had seen before. Each time she told him this story. He was a practical one in many senses, and it always took him a while to settle things in his mind. "You were born in Kmyru before we kept proper track of time, but by my best approximation 2160 years ago." Smiling gently as she let the words sink in before glancing over at the coffee which should be done by this point. "You were a fine warrior prince. Your men followed you loyally and the prince could ask for no finer heir."  

[Psychofish]

Skylar stared quietly at her for several long moments, even as he heard the coffee machine announce that it had finished. It felt hard to move, and he wasn't sure what he'd say if he spoke. A great many things perhaps. Thoughts slowly turned over, tumbling across each other until his muscles seemed to start of their own accord. He rose stiffly, natural grace slowly returning as he wound the cord of the pendant carefully before setting it on the table, and went to get mugs and prepare their coffee.

"That must have been his first life then."

It put many things in perspectives. Very different, very difficult perspectives. Part of him tried to imagine how he and his father interacted- imagined how it must have been shaped by the course of the Prince Andell living many, many lives, remembering them all where others forgot, and watching this one child live and die, over and over. It was a road that would only drive him mad to dwell on though.

"This must be making a rather disappointing cycle, from both our perspectives," the coffees poured, he began with the normal fixings slowly, almost ritually now with one and then the other. "And a great many lives I cannot remember, even if I was born but once per twice that fath... the Prince lived."

He sat her coffee in front of her, then sat with his, holding it and seeming not even to think of drinking from it for a long moment as he considered all of that. He wished he knew as much of it mechanically as he did spiritually. Could he somehow remember some of this? What of him was carried over when he was reborn exactly, was he even the same being at all really? Had he been pooling power or knowledge through his blood in this cycle, as his father did?

"...is that my purpose? Heir?"  

[Tei Kae]

She let him talk, to speak his mind in ways that would soothe him, in some ways not that different from the prince. Her fingers danced along the cups rim as she waited for that question. The one that always came.

"It was", emphasis on the past, although it could have been a response to either his first statement or his last question. She did not think the time appropriate to explain how exactly he would have been an heir to Andell. The prince's own fondness for his son had led him to abandon that avenue, just as it had forced a distance between them, so that in a moment of weakness, he would not take what he could so easily have, instead choosing sons who were acceptable instead of perfect, as he had seen Skylar. Even still, he would not admit that was his reasoning, insisting that until Skylar chose, it was not a perfect vessel.

"He does not consider it a disappointment, darling. He grows agitated that nothing moves against him. That he has nothing left to conquer. You are not so dissimilar."