Private Tales To Calm and to Control

[Livia Quinnick]

After a few sessions training with the Taskforce, Zana had advised Liv after one of their one-on-one sessions to learn a calming take on control. It certainly would not do to simply use her will to make this magic that was not her birthright, especially after it showed just how willful it could be on it's own. There was one other that had similar magic to Livia's, and after their first day training on the task force, Liv was preparing herself to deal with Maseno Luana and the patience needed to work with him.

Meditation.

Livia was not one to keep still, and the thought of trying to learn this skill felt like a tiring task already. Nonetheless, she was dressed in her training clothes, shoes left near the entrance to the indoor training room. The weather had turned considerably, rain lashing in harsh sheets against the Academy walls and catching Initiates as they moved between buildings in the grounds. Livia began to stretch her muscles, loosening up physically in hopes to calm her thoughts.

Once Maz made his appearance, Liv would turn her head to look at him and offer a polite yet forced smile.

"Odd is it not? Finally a training session that is not us dealing blows at our comrades." She released herself from her held stretch, shaking her arms afterwards before clasping them at her back. "Right now, I will try anything to help me control this corruption magic. At least that Third Rank Dreadlord I was paired with last session is going to make a full recovery..." A sheepish smile pulled at her lips, recalling the sickening crack! of the Dreadlord's femur that was in result to Livia's magic going beyond her control.

Meditation... taught by Maseno. It was time for her to set her bitterness aside and appreciate the young Luana accepting her request.

 

[Maseno Luana]

He arrived in quiet fashion, wearing his usual training robes of dark green, black, and gold. Maseno held no anxiety or doubt as to helping a fellow Initiate - he already orchestrated group meditation lessons regularly now at the request of other students. Such a subject had so rarely been touched upon in their general training - calmness, introspection, inner peace, and enlightenment now seemed the very antithesis of what it meant to be a Dreadlord.

And yet ... it was those very things that Maseno had put into practice since the age of 10 that had allowed his own powers to grow significantly beyond anything the others had ever thought him capable of. Livia was now one of the very few who had caught a glimpse of that power, but even in their initial Taskforce battle she had not seen it all. It was rather unlikely that she ever would if it was only ever used in duels against what were supposed to be his allies.

Maseno's stride held a calm surety to it and he moved to stand several feet before her with an easy and amiable smile. Arms loosely folded at his back, shoulders square, he gazed upon her for a moment as she spoke with faint curiosity. Beyond what they understood of one another from their years shared at the Academy, Livia was an otherwise mystery to him. She seemed introverted and quiet, kept to herself and a select few others. Not entirely unusual for a Dreadlord Initiate, all things considered.

"Indeed, that was quite the spectacle... or so I have heard," his voice a deep tamber, Maz slowly cast his gaze about the training hall, "after speaking with the Archon on the nature of your continued training, I'm going to begin with something a bit unorthodox. Please, walk with me."

Maz pivoted slightly on his heels, making a quarter turn to indicate the doors through which he'd entered, and held out a hand to direct her with him, "Will you speak more on the struggles you have encountered with your powers as we walk? The Archon believed it best I hear directly from you."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Liv tried to dispel the grimace at the invitation of joining him for a walk. Were they not just going to sit here quietly and... chant?

"Of course." She walked past him, lingering by the door to wait for him to join her. Out in the hall, it was dark due to the rain clouds overhead, stifling any decent light. It was loud, but Livia did her best to be heard.

"The Archon and I have been working through finding the source that... gives me the power to corrupt the magic of others. My father was supposed to teach me, but I guess the Archon trusted you enough... if she did not tell you the story, then I will simplify it for you. It was by my own hand that my father perished..."

Gods, she was talking a lot was she not? She peered to steal a glance to him, trying to read his expression.

"It was purely accidental, of course." She hurriedly added.


Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

Maz listened as she spoke, not given to a wandering gaze but one that remained fixed forward with clear attentiveness to her words. His hands held lightly clasped at his back as he walked alongside her. His steps were soft and silent but not leisurely - reminiscent of a cat meandering its home with some goal in mind. Perhaps to find a nice warm sunspot to occupy or a window through which to gaze upon its domain.

"She would say that our stories are our own to tell," Maseno replied quietly with a sidelong look at her that briefly met her gaze. His expression read as thoughtful more than anything. He, of course, was not without his own skeletons from the past, but Maseno recalled that Livia had arrived to the academy long after those various incidents, and by the time she'd become a fellow initiate he was already several years into his ... new education.

Still, rumors had a life of their own. Perhaps she knew of how he'd once been, perhaps she did not. Though this wasn't the topic of discussion, it did give him empathy toward her plight and a foundational understanding.

"Do you believe it is emotion that fuels this other magic of yours?"

Livia Quinnick

 

[Livia Quinnick]

"Yes."

There was no other answer she could come to, and she thought of it a lot since her first one on one session with Zana. It was even meticulously documented in her father's journals months prior to him forcing this other magic onto her, how her emotions were deeply experienced by her. Anger and frustration, always after any interaction with her mother and the forced ideals upon her.

She was not the only one to have experienced being steered in such a direction, nobility or not, there was always a purpose a family would set on the child.

"I suffer a terrible guilt too, although I believe that to be self inflicted in second guessing myself growing up. There are some things I can ignore; bottle it up and set it aside until there is a considerable amount of bottles lining the walls I built myself." Even if she was not a big fan of the Luana Initiate, she could feel a sense of ease and trust in him. Even the way Zana spoke of him, encouraging her to reach out to him and work together.

There was no fighting it. Livia wanted a way, a solution, to be able to reach and connect with the magic she was not born with. It was not natural to her, but it would prove advantageous for her and the Taskforce.

"I thought I was on my own here, that no other Proctor or specially brought in Dreadlord could fix me. I am glad they chose me for the team... that I feel and understand why I was chosen." She had purpose, beyond being the bloodhound in the search for corrupted Archons.

Perhaps she was not fated to only be a Fourth Rank Dreadlord after all... if she could connect with that magic that corrupted other magic...

Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

A concerning frown found its way onto his features. In his own personal intimate relation with guilt and emotion, Maseno had come to know many horrible aspects of himself. Though he could not say if Livia felt the same way about her own troubles, that she believed she had to be fixed was telling. His steps softened ever more until he came to a stop at the middle of a crossing of corridors.

"I thought the same of myself for many years," he admitted quietly, "as I am certain more Initiates do than will confess. That we are...broken. That we must be fixed to progress. The thing that bothered me the most was not that I thought I was broken and could not be fixed, but that I could not ever be whole again. A broken mirror can be fixed... the pieces put back together, but the reflection will always be cracked. It will never be as it once was. Such a notion I found terrifying."

He took a slow, deep breath and allowed his gaze to settle at a spot on the tile floor where a crack intersected with the edges. That crack in the stone had been there since before he began his tutelage within. Countless classes of Initiates had walked over and past it every single day. It would likely reside there for the rest of the Academy's days, until the idea of Dreadlords had died on the lips of the people of Vel Anir and was told only in passing as cautionary tales to troublesome children to make them mind.

It would be here forever. No one was going to fix it.

"You're not a mirror, Livia," he looked over at her again, "you are not a teapot or a statue. Not a paper that has been crumpled beyond flattening. Think of yourself instead as a gemstone in the rough. Enduring the pressure of your creation, taking in only that which will make you stronger. You might break and lose pieces of yourself along the way, but that is all part of the journey to becoming the gem with all its many facets. To take the best and strongest part of yourself and hone it to the beauty of ... well, whatever it is you will become."

Maseno glanced away in a moment of amused sheepishness, "My grandmother said this to me many years ago. She may have romanticized my pain into something splendid but," his brows raised as he tilted his head into a frowning shrug of consideration, "I prefer it to my own mirror analogy. It helps to think of myself as something beautiful in progress rather than something that can never be fixed. Take it as you will."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Liv lingered as Maseno paused, but her eyes never left his as he spoke. The words hit true to her, and suddenly she was reminded of her older brother assuring her everything was alright, and that things can be fixed if she attended the Academy. When Maz spoke of a mirror, she almost hated how readily the image of a dance studio popped into her mind, and her feet moving until they bled until she reached perfection in her dance. "You know..." She blinked her olive eyes to forget the imagery, smiling at the other Initiate, "You may be onto something there."

She moved on, taking a left as the rain pelted at the rooftops and the wind whistling outside. The corridors were quiet, but that was due to no classes being scheduled this day. "I like to think that someday I will be worth more than being a noble daughter, that I can choose the life I would want to live. My mother is against it, of course. Says it is shameful to put my father's name to such ideals... but that is why there are two sons, is it not? No Quinnick has attended the Academy, at least that we know of, and I cannot sit around and be told what to do when I can wield all this... magic."

Being here at the Academy taught Livia a lot about herself, about what she can endure. She was not the strongest wielder or combatant, but that did not deter her from fighting back with her strengths. "I just... need to come to terms of what I have done... I think.." She sighed, frowning at the thought of what she had to admit next. "I think I need to mourn my father to get past all this... anger and betrayal. Accept what I have done and be right with myself. Is that foolish?"

 

[Maseno Luana]

Therein another quality they shared: that of a noble bloodline. While Maseno held no compunction to following through on the duties required of him as ... well, the only surviving son of his line at present that they knew of, he often struggled with what that meant.

For Livia, it could mean a great deal many things. Though Aliria was not especially patriarchal and she might've taken the lead of her house as well as her name, if she had older siblings then it was not expected of her. Instead, she might be wed off to another family for good standing and mutual benefit. Yet even with how little he knew of her, he could see that she would not be the sort of bird to fly quietly with the wind.

He could not blame her for wanting to forge her own path here, as a Dreadlord, and he was glad she would be given greater opportunity to do so through the Taskforce. That her abilities might reach greater recognition under the eyes of the Archon by the time she graduated.

Maseno walked along with her, no particular route in mind except simply to move one foot in front of the other. If Livia felt compelled to take a certain path, he would join her. The point of the lesson was not the destination, but the journey there and everything it entailed.

"Grief is a powerful emotion," he replied after a quiet and pensive moment, "it can block the flow of energy with remarkable staying power if it is not recognized and allowed its space and time. Kept locked inside, it can only grow and fester. The same can be said for anger."

She had reached a promising self-awareness moment quite faster than he'd expected. This step had taken him far longer, but he had also been far younger than she was now.

"Do you allow yourself to feel? When in the privacy of a safe place, where no one else can see or hear?" Some Initiates did not allow it even then.

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Fuck.

The scowl was on her face before she could think on the question; the reality of it bringing to light just how inept Liv really was in the confines of her own space. "Well..." She trailed off, shrugging. "I do not really like being on my own, if I were to be honest. Not only do I have to bottle things up... I have headaches brewing when everything stops."

She peered at him, almost wincing at the idea of bringing it up but... she trusted the Archon, and the Archon trusted Maz.

"It is a tragic thing really. I do like my own company but when I am on my own, there are so many things left unfound outside my room. My inner compass will not be sated until I find something to do to keep from going to a fugue state and end up somewhere, with something, and have no clue who it belongs to or who is searching for it." Sleepless nights were not uncommon for Liv, but the exhaustion can debilitate her when it came to classes of the physical component. She could be too slow, or simply not have the energy to put her weight into a strike.

"To answer your question, Maseno, no. No, I do not allow myself to feel because... it can be all too much at once." After the dance, Livia had gone to someone when the events caught up to her by the time she forced herself to her bed. It had been all too much to deal with, and instead of processing it on her own, she found herself outside Artesto's room. That she would not tell Maseno. "And if I do feel... well, the bottle cracked. I cannot mend something like that when it floods suddenly... if you understand what I mean?"

 

[Maseno Luana]

Maseno stood silent and attentive. He did not nod. He did not shift his stature. He merely listened. He felt.

He breathed in and then out.

Livia Quinnick had a lot to unpack, but her own innate ability was getting in her way. She needed some semblance of peace in order to untangle her chaos, as it were, and he thought he might know a way.

"Yes," he replied at length, "tonight, when you are back in your dorm, take some parchment and ink with you. Light a candle, and write down whatever comes to mind. Stream of consciousness. Every thought, no matter how small or inconsequential. Keep writing until you find a moment of quiet in your thoughts or until the parchment is full."

"Then take the parchment and burn it."

The mere act of ridding herself of thoughts might provide some temporary relief, even if only to find some sleep. Or it may simply aggravate her. She would not know until she tried.

"Tomorrow, meet me at the stables at first light. Bring some food and water. Your next lesson will be half a day's ride from here."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

The simplicity of his suggestion warranted a look of doubt from Livia, the quirk of a brow questioning his methods. "Write it all down and burn it?" Her opinion of getting help from Maseno leaned either way, and right now, the Living Compass snorted.

"Alright, I will try that." There was truly no harm to the idea, nor would there be anything else to stop her other than herself. How many things had she tried to do in order not to think and be in her own head? What Maz suggested was not an exhausting idea. "Well, I will see you tomorrow then? At the stables, at first light."

Wind battered at the windows and Liv grimaced. "Hopefully we see lovelier weather where ever it is you plan on taking us."

---

It was a different version of Livia in the morning when Maseno would find her there, early but consoling herself by brushing down a horse she had previously ridden before. Her eyes were red, tired, and puffy despite her efforts of placing a cold towellete over them all night. Clearly, not many things could be fixed so easily.

"I did the writing." No hello, no good morning. Livia was not here for pleasantries. "It was hard at first but... gods, it felt like I was bleeding from unstitched wounds. I could barely write anything worthy, but it was enough..." Her room still smelled of burned paper when she woke from her fitful sleep. She threw the brush to the side, where she had found it on her arrival. "I do not have to discuss what I wrote, do I?"

Just thinking of the paper, what she wrote, brought a stray tear to fall from her olive eyes before she could turn away to hide it. If her mother saw her like this, she knew what she would say to her. That it was a weakness to show emotion, that she needed to harden herself because she was an Initiate now. Gods, Liv thought, do I need to write more on my mother? The two pages she filled were certainly not enough to touch on the hatred Liv had for her mother.

 

[Maseno Luana]

Though not blessed with empathic powers, Maseno had begun to develop a sensitivity to the energy of others around him, especially when with them alone. The energy that greeted him spoke of long, harrowing hours. His approach was the same as it had been the day before: quiet and subdued. When she spoke, he came to a stop and simply listened.

Much was said with few words.

Maseno's amber gaze watched her momentarily as one might watch the horses out to pasture grazing. There was no judgement, no probing, just observance.

"No," a kindly reply, a few stalls over a large, plain chestnut lifted its head from its trough at the sound. If she looked at him she'd find an easy expression.

"What you wrote was for you and you alone," he continued, "that is why you burn it."

He moved to the chestnut and ducked under the stall guard, greeting his mount with an apple. The horse munched quietly as he moved about and readied it for the day.

"I encourage you to continue those nightly burnt pages. Over time the bleeding will slow and eventually you may be ready to stitch that wound so that it may heal," he looked to her over the back of his horse with a look that suggested he was quite familiar with what she described, "and you may discover new wounds, such is the nature of our lives. I began the practice when I was ten and I still do it to this day, though not nearly as often now. It still helps."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

She had to reopen those wounds over and over again? Livia made her frustration clear with a sharp inhale, crossing her arms and staring at him. The beast she had tended to nudged her shoulder, and that made her relax her arms to her sides. "Well then, perhaps I will dedicate one night to my mother." She could not do it, but spending time with the Luana male made her believe he would fish out that decision from her with an intelligent question.

In swift movements, she was mounted and ready.

"Alright. You said where we are going is half a day's ride? Where would that lead us to?" And for how long? Livia had been vague on her answers to Silas and had rescheduled her magic lessons with Proctor Urahil for later in the week.

 

[Maseno Luana]

He recognized the frustration and could only offer her a placating look in return. Nothing in the life of a Dreadlord was easy - if it were, there's be many, many more of them. A gentle, leading hand brought his gelding down the barn aisle and out the bay doors after her. Quietly and without hurry, he checked the girth, the strappings of its breast collar and bridle, then stepped into the left stirrup and mounted up. A calm hand smoothed over the horse's neck before he took up the reins and nudged it on down the path.

"East," Maseno replied easily, his breath clouding in the crisp morning air, "to one of my favorite meditation spots." The storms had since cleared out overnight but the dew felt heavier than normal this morning. Though his mount walked briskly, there was no haste in it.

It was all a journey.

"Livia," he spoke again as they cleared the main academy grounds gate and stepped out onto a well-worn road of dirt and stone. More words did not immediately follow his prompting as he took a moment to chew on how to best start off their day, "we do not know one another very well," his eyes took her in as they rode astride, "and what we must do and work on is very personal. At times I may ask you things that you do not wish to answer."

"I respect your right not to, but I want you to know that everything we talk about remains between us. I mean only to help you, so I want you to know that you can ask me anything and I will answer you with honesty."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Livia's difficulty in opening up truly might as well be her downfall, but putting her distaste for Maseno after that first day training with the taskforce, she began to feel the calming presence he exuded. She needed to be entirely vulnerable with him, to trust him to help her through the emotions that hindered her.

She would not trust her closest friend with such open wounds.

"Then... I hope I can do the same with you." She met his warm gaze, giving him a sad smile before turning her head towards the front. "I... admit, I do not like feeling as if things are not equal between myself and others. If I feel as if I owe someone, then I will match what they do. I will meet your honesty with my honesty."

Liv tightened her hands around the reins, careful not to add pressure and steer herself and her horse off course. "Well... you do not seem the harmless type. Peaceful, learned. Seeing what you can do within the task force... Just how powerful are you, Luana?" Her brow quirked before she turned to look at him once more.

 

[Maseno Luana]

A nod given in reply. Honest for honesty was a fair exchange in his mind. Not that he had any particular skill in telling truth from lie aside from his own best judgement and intuition - but Maseno was not of the suspicious disposition anymore. He actively worked on offering everyone the benefit of the doubt.

At least once.

Maz liked to think Livia would stay true to her word. She seemed the type to do so even if the reality of their estrangement weighed on his mind in these thoughts.

But the million coin question entered the conversation far sooner than expected and he laughed, "Starting off strong I see..."

"In full truth, I do not know. I have not yet found a limit to the potential of my abilities and power. I have... been under the personal mentorship with the Archon since I was ten years old. She believes, if things maintain as they are, I may very likely become one of the youngest to receive the title of Archon. In a few years, I may even surpass her."

His eyes tipped upward to the sky, still faintly overcast but appearing to clear toward the east and their destination, "I do not like to think on it too much."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Livia lifted both her brows in surprise. "Impressive." She noted, smiling to herself. Leander Urahil had the same ideals, to become the youngest Archon in history. Best to keep an eye on both their progress over the next few years...

"You know... after that first day of training, I was mad." Which she had made known each time they were paired together in the sessions after. "I think... I was never afraid of hurting you because of how easily you use your magic. The magic I have... the one I was forced to wield..." She threw him a look as if to say 'this will not take long' and sheepishly continued. "It acts similarly to your own. Except... for me it feels like a phantom touch. Arms and hands that are not my own. Almost as if I am controlling unseen forces... energy... holding what I want and corroding and corrupting what I wish."

And it fed off of her emotions.

"So... I hope that one day I can have the control you have." Emotions aside, it was the only power Livia had that could set her a part from being just a novelty compass. "Because... I want to have purpose. I want to prove that I am something of my own making, and not that of my family name or the wrong doings of my father that led to this."

 

[Maseno Luana]

It hurt to know that his abilities was the source of anger and contention among him and his peers. It was why Zana had always instructed that he hold back at the Academy and on missions. That he allow others to claim the spotlight and encourage their progress before his own. Not because he did not value his own - but because he was making progress that far exceeded the majority of others elsewhere, under her tutelage, unbeknownst to them. He didn't need to be the center of attention, nor did he want to be.

The less they knew, the better, so far as Maseno was concerned. But, he had always disliked lying about things, especially since shifting the path he walked. One of truths both inside and out.

He certainly took no pride in what she had to say regarding himself. Guilt was a strong emotional palette cleanser.

"I understand," Maseno replied quietly, "the desire to step out of the shadow of your name..." Luana cast a very, very broad shadow.

"I hope that what I have to offer can help you, Livia. Because I do fear harming my fellow Initiates," Maz's gaze shifted away from her to look forward on their path, "and I do not wish for you to be angry with me. I hope that, in time, you will come to see me as a worthy ally and not an adversary to be conquered."

A long, deep breath in and then out, another glance her way, "Tell me more about your successes ... the things you are most proud of accomplishing."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Unease bit at her as Maseno spoke of her anger, and in particular, how she aimed it towards him. It sounded silly now, coming from him. He had not deserved her anger, her frustrations, when the two had not known each other well. She could even remember her disdain when Zana suggested she sit with Maseno and learn from him, to trust him like she trusted the Archon.

"I am not upset with you... not any longer." She reassured him, a sad smile aimed his way before she diverted her gaze forward. "I so desperately wish not to be overlooked once I leave the Academy. To have your calm and control would mean to me, that I have achieved what I have been working towards." First hand, she had seen the power Maseno wielded, even could recall the sensation of being pushed back by a force like he had done to her a few times that first day.

When he tried to change the subject at lest, Livia happily obliged.

"Accomplishments?" She laughed dryly, almost sheepish in the way her head fell down to her hands relaxing and still lightly holding the reins. "Before the accident with my father, my family celebrated everything. My mother was hard on me as she taught me to dance, and my brothers were quick to celebrate every time I outsmarted them. My father, I was his favourite child. Waking up each day was a worthy accomplishment in his eyes." In a bid to not make his change of subject an awkward one, Livia inhaled deeply before continuing.

"I think... what I am most proud of is... the people I have met along the way. Thraah and I never saw things at the same level, and now - and do not tell her this - I may even call her a friend. Houri, too. Natasha... reminds me of the girl I used to be before the Academy, how happy I was with life and contentment of the freedoms I was warranted. I even... am happy to prove myself wrong. I was scared to open myself to someone that cared for me as much as I cared for them..." Livia turned to Maseno, speaking directly to him now. "Friendships or relationships, I was always scared I would ruin it they way I ruined the image of my father. I guess there is hope for me yet."


Maseno Luana

 

[Maseno Luana]

Calm and control.

Is that what she thought he had? He supposed appearances were far more deceiving than he ever thought possible - or he'd become remarkably better at schooling his actions and expressions. Well, at least he had that going for him now. If only she knew the half of it. A duck on water - serenity up top, furious churning below.

Yet the talk of achieving pride of self through forming bonds drew all that away. These were very good things to know, and that she valued those relationships was even better. The icing on the cake? To hear of her friendship with his sister. Maseno practiced unbiased thoughts, but he would always struggle not to weigh those regarding his family over anything else.

He could not help the warming smile that grew on his face.

"That is all very good," Maz rumbled gently in return, "my sister has much to offer in the way of friendship and comraderie. I am glad to hear she is making new friends. And Thraah has great passion of feeling, she is very free with her emotions. Her honesty is a boon to have around and one you could learn from."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Livia's face scrunched with a smile at the thought of learning from the likes of Thraah. This turn in conversation put her at ease, nonetheless.

"Oh, I am very well aware of the likes of Thraah." She mused, snorting. Thraah was capable of challenging her to a healthy point, and although she loathed to have her buttons pressed, there was a dedication to the fiery Initiate that Livia could not ignore. "Certainly quite the character, she is." And the grin that spread across her lips having remembered what Thraah admitted at their first midnight cake baking night, turned Livia to stifle a laugh.

"Do you see Houri much despite being at the Academy together?" She asked after a while, turning to look at Maz.

 

[Maseno Luana]

Thraah was a character indeed. He'd not gotten to know her well, but their dance they shared under the tree had been quite nice. She'd turned out to be rather different than he expected - in a good way. There were always rumors running amok within the Academy and he did his best not to listen to them, but when you heard similar things from various sources it was hard not to give them a little credence.

He smiled broad and his chuckle was deep in agreement to that. Then he went quiet.

"Not as much as I would like, no," he replied solemnly, "but far more than prior years so I am grateful for what time together we do get. This past year I have been at the Academy less and less. Now with the Taskforce Initiative live, I will be away more than I am not."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Liv too knew whatever her future after the Academy, the Taskforce was her most important priority. At least she knew she always had a place there.

"I do not see my family much either, but I miss my brothers the most. We swore to not see each other until I knew how to properly wield this new magic. Even though I have a better grasp of it now... I do not want to personally be the one to reduce my House to just me on my lonesome."

She could write to them, but even that brought up guilt. When she first came to the Academy, she felt as if she had been sent away to prison for what she had done. Of course, that way of thinking had changed over the years, but the guilt had not.

"Houri is lucky to have those moments, however brief." Livia smiled.

 

[Maseno Luana]

"That is a perfect goal to work toward," Maseno remarked of the promise made to her siblings, both pleased she had family to value to such a degree that she was willing to work hard for them, and mildly amused at the ironic humor there.

He shared an endeared smile with her on the subject of Houri, "Yes, and I lucky she is back now. I love my sisters both dearly - we have all suffered so much loss. I do not know what our mother would do if she were to lose any more of us."

The thought reminded him that he had not seen his mother in several years, nor his two youngest siblings. When he would next get to see them again he could not say. Following graduation, perhaps, if Taskforce missions held any reprieve.

"Shall we pick up the pace?" Maz offered to her, then gently clucked at his horse to push it into a lope. They had quite a bit to do today and he would prefer if they returned to the Academy before they lost the daylight.

 

[Livia Quinnick]

She did not need the title or the funds of her noble family. She did not need the house, the estate, the business. All Livia wanted was her brothers to succeed, to be happy. The three of them had each others' backs, never giving way to jealousy or anger for long. Although strained as it was, the relationship with her mother still made Liv not want to see her dead.

Before she could say a thing, Maseno suggested a faster pace and his horse followed suit. Livia directed her horse to do the same, pushing her mount to keep up with the other. "Forgive me, but I did not know your family suffered so much." Her brows knitted together into a frown, eyes casted forward as she kept pace. "I feel as if I do not ask of others much... but I am trying to work on that when I can remember to be mindful..."

Maseno Luana