Chapter 5.2

Chapter 5.2
Serene

There was an itch inside of her. It was not one of those itches you could scratch though. It was in a place that did not exist, but felt very real. It made her uneasy and restless. She could not focus during her meetings or when the Em porer was talking to her. She almost snapped at him when he tried once more to seduce her.

She closed her eyes pretended that she was talking to her children. Star and Rubio were estatic to see her. They ran up to hug her and they smelled of grass and magic. She could feel the power tickling her nose as she bent down to hug them with their hair covering her face. She took a deep breath and sighed.

“Momma, Momma,” they said over and over again and she whispered their names and held them close. She could almost feel their tiny humanoid bodies pressed against her. After a while she would untangle herself from their hungry arms and give Emerald, the enigmatic Emerald, a sweet and tender hug. Emerald would give one of her tiny little smiles and hug her back.

Instead of her imagination making her pleased it made the hunger for them even worse. She wished that she could simply scrap the plans for vengeance and leave, but she could not. She needed to destroy the Emperor, or she would never know peace. After she found out her father was murdered by him her mind would not rest on the subject. She thought about the ways he would die over and over again.

Even thinking about her reasoning for leaving did not sooth her. She told her servants she was to be disturbed by no one and locked the door. She enchanted it many times over with spells to stop someone from coming in and others to stop them from hearing or seeing her. Her excuse would be meditation or some such.

She would decide when she got caught—if she got caught.

She pulled up a chair in front of a steel mirror and took a deep breath. She had no idea if her idea was going to work or not, but she had to try. She had to talk to the three children left behind in the valley.

Her search for the children was futile. It was morning there and she was certain that they were doing their morning meditation. She decided then to search for Greg. They did not like one another, but he was not so much of a jerk that he would refuse to let her talk to the hatchlings. When she found him he was flickering in and out too badly for her to get a word in. As soon as she found a reflective surface it shifted and she cursed water.

She pulled in her strength and concentrated on the water and stilled the top surface and imagined it hard as ice, but reflective as polished steel. It must have worked because Greg appeared and fell back, startled by her sudden appearance. She pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes at him reflexively. Civility between the two of them seemed impossible.
For her at least.

“To what do I owe the surprise?” he asked in his heavily accented voice. His lips puckered and he squinted his eyes.

Serene felt so tired.

“I want to see the children,” she said.

“Well, they're meditating right now,” he told her with a smug look on his face. If she could reach across so much distance she would snatch that look right off of his face.

“I know that,” she said. “I want to talk to them anyway. This spell is difficult to hold.”

“Oh, so miss limited power needs to be waited on now,” he said with all the ire he could stuff into one sentence. “Give me a moment.” His legs pulled up and his body vanished from her limited field of vision. She leaned in closer to the mirror. She could feel her strength being sapped from her as she held the spell together. It flowed out of the center of her chest as if someone had stuck her there with a magically imbued weapon.

“Momma!” she heard Rubio cry out. His joy was infectious and made her smile. His red eyes appeared in. “Momma, I've missed you!”

“So have I!” Star said with as much fervor as she tried to push her hatchmate out of the way. Their faces peered over stone and their hair was being pulled toward her. It was a strange feeling from so far away. She felt as though she should be looking up at them rather than straight forward.

“I do not have much time,” Serene said with a soft smile. “But I have missed you so much I had to see your faces. Where is Emerald?”

Star and Rubio parted ways just enough for Emerald to squeeze in between them. Her long curtain of black hair beckoned eerily to Serene, and she felt drawn to it. “Hello, Momma,” she said with gentle sincerity. “I missed you. How are you?”

“I am well, though much of my strength is being sapped by this spell.”

“Then you should not hold it for long,” Emerald said with a knowing nod. “Is it safe enough to meet you in your dreams yet?”

“My dreams?” Serene asked. She always forgot that Emerald had access to such things. Serene was a hard mind to crack into without permission. “Oh, yes, you may visit me in them. Have you gotten any better at dream sharing?”

“Greg and I have been working on it with the others,” she said. “So far I can only take Greg's sleeping mind with me when we go dream walking. If you or Mother were here I would have more suitable candidates.”

“I'm sorry,” Serene said. “Have the rest of your studies been going well?”

“Oh, you bet,” Rubio said with an excited chirrup. He quickly smacked himself in the mouth and exclaimed something very impolite when he hit himself too hard.

“You should not repeat everything Greg says,” Serene said, though she did not mind so much. It was Pandora who hated swearing, cussing, and other such filler words. She used them sparingly. Greg used them a lot. Serene used them less than Greg, but significantly more than her cousin.

“When are you coming home?” Star asked.

“When my business is complete,” she said and realized that her eyes were beginning to droop. Everything felt so heavy. The weight of the glamor ring on her finger was almost too much as well. “I'm sorry, my loves,” she said. “But I must go. I sent my love, and I am certain that your mother does too.”

“We love you!” Rubio and Star said together and blew her a kiss. She pretended to snag them out of the air and plaster them to her cheeks. She returned the gesture and they did the same. Then Rubio and Star began to argue about whose kiss it was.

“All right, all right,” Serene said and blew them each and individual one and they smiled sheepishly at her. “I'm sorry, loves, but I must go. Know that Mother is doing well and misses you just as much.”

“Can't she do this too?” Emerald asked with a rush or words.

Serene blinked and then shook her head. “No, Emmy, I'm sorry,” she said quietly. “Mother has no gift for such magic. She is all internal. If you wish you speak with her you must walk in her dreams.”

“But I cannot find her!” Emerald said with such desperation it both broke Serene's heart and made it burn with jealousy. Emerald had always adored Pandora more, and Serene could not honestly say she did not resent the green dragon for it.

“That is because she sleeps during the day now, but I imagine she has not slept since yesterday or something.” Serene shrugged. At the moment Pandora was having breakfast with the Empress and then was going to go riding with her. When her cousin would be able to sleep was beyond her. “Try her in a few hours. Perhaps she will be given a reprieve so that she may rest.”
Emerald nodded and then withdrew back into herself.

“I must go. I love you all,” she said and untangled the spell. It cost her far too much to make it work. She slumped down in the chair and closed her eyes. What would her servants think if they found her like this?