[Viskyia Crow]

TS: Early Evening, Brightening 35 of Kalendryas, Winter, Era XIII (pf)

Clutching the new Jewelers Guild Membership Card in her hand along with the receipt for the apprenticeship, Viskyia smiled. She walked carefully back through the streets tracing the path from the City Hall to the shop Titus ran. As she walked within the stillness of the early evening, she had a great deal of time to wonder what the new position would entail. She considered if it would be like her duties from the time before. Her steps carried her assuredly, so her mind had free time to roam backwards, remembering.

She remembered another beginning. She was five and it was time for her to leave the inner sanctum where she had been quietly educated in the finer arts of reading, writing, numbers, manners, and a whole spectrum of other things. The memory flooded her. It wasn’t very chronological or organized. No one of five Eras remembers in such manners. Instead the sights and sounds of the past flood them. Viskyia remembered the cold of the black marble beneath her bare feet, and how whisper-quiet her steps were. She remembers the newly gifted robe of white silk wrapped tightly about her form. The hushed tone of the memory floods her mind as her thoughts travel back to her childhood and that incredibly long walk down the hallway.

She followed another of the family she served. This person, no doubt, was a young blooded Esh'lahier noble of her Master’s House. Not that she knew what it meant at the time. Back then she saw the deep blue robe the man wore as an absolute sign of authority. She was not alone either. Three other youngsters she barely knew trailed behind her. They were lead down a wide dark hallway and into an open-air round courtyard that was walled its entire circumference. The only way in and the only way out of it was through the doorway in which stood at her back now.. The courtyard opened up to a star-filled sky which flooded the scene below with bright light.

Candles were lit, blazing forth on tall black pillars of iron in a full circle around the length of the courtyard. The wicks blazed with numerous deep rich jewel-tone colors: purple, dark blue, dark green, dark red. They cast an eerie glow around the area, illuminating the long black ebony slab of marble that served as resting place for the alter. He stood before it, his deep robe glittering in the dim light. Viskyia had only vague memories of his appearance then. She paid little attention in fact. She only knew he was male by how broad his robe spread across his shoulders and the fact that when he spoke this voice was a soft deep Esh’lahier tone. A ritual took place, one she vaguely could recall.

One by one they were lead forward, Viskyia first, and bade to kneel behind and to one side of him. He turned slowly, examining her carefully. He walked formally up to her, reaching down to grasp her chin in his hands and force her head up to stare into her eyes. She met him with deep clear blue ones. Inside she quaked with fear. Outside she met his gaze calmly and could almost feel the coiled tension around him. He drew something from his belt; which was a long intricately braided silver affair that graced his hips like a girdle, and caught an even firmer grip on her chin. He lifted what she now saw was a long slender rod of metal, a wand, and leaned closer to her.

“You are mine, little one. You are nothing and no one without My Will. You are now and always will continue to be a valuable tool: Nothing more, nothing less. A Tool! You will bend. You will twist. You will strive always to fulfill My Will. Do you understand?” Of course she didn’t. No one could, especially of mixed elven blood, being only five eras along in their life. But like a sheep, she inclined her head gracefully as she had been taught repeatedly. His voice was too stern, too compelling. There was power in it, the same power the room reeked off.

He lifted the rod and inserted it into the cartilage part of her upper ear, right where the high curve of it creates a thin narrow spot. The instant the rod touched her, fire licked up and down her spine and it felt like every aspect of her body was protesting in pain. The rods’ touch filled the room with the scent of burning flesh as its physical duty was completed. Her ear was very noticeably branded with the sign of his house. The magical device’s secondary duty also affected her, further adding to the searing influx of pain. Being young and for the most part gently raised, she could not withstand the assault within herself. Her eyes widened as she to loosen another scream, then rolled back up into her head, as her mind was easily persuaded to release her consciousness and give into the dark protective nothingness.

She wasn’t aware of it at the time, but the instant that rod touched her ear and released its stored up energy, her skin was branded visibly with his House’s sign, and her eyes went from blue, to green and finally settled on a deep citrine yellow as they rolled up into her head. It was thus with his entire household, to the last man woman and child over the age of five. The servants whispered it was vanity, but the slaves knew differently. He used them and thus as they reached five, each and every one of them are unbound and opened to His Will. The eyes marked the flesh as his even more so than the inner ear brand did. And she was never allowed, from that point onward, to forget it.

She lifted her head and snapped back to the present. It was getting really late now. Perhaps far later than need be, and Titus would be gone home to wherever it was he dwelt. She mounted the steps outside the Shop and quietly slipped inside, just before, she noted, the closing time listed on the wooden sign on the door stated.

She waited quietly just inside the doorway, then glanced around for the Brownie. She knew the little guy had to be here somewhere. Titus was back in the workroom as usual, so she simply stood there, Guild Card and Receipt in her hand.

“I’m back, Master Titus.” She said quietly, waiting just inside the doorway with her little bundle of possessions and her important papers. The shop was almost silent. There were no customers at this late hour. She lifted the receipt and the newly acquired Guild Card so they were in plain sight of the new Master or the brownie, whichever should appear first.

As she waited, she thought quietly. She remembered Meg’s advice whenever The Master had set forth a new challenge to her. Her challenges were often difficult and involved long hours of backbreaking study. Meg would gently remind her to clear all prior knowledge and pre-conceptions from her mind and open herself to the possibility that the learning could hold. She did that now. She was quite good at it. One of the things routinely stressed back under that other households rule was the need for meditation and a clearing of ones thoughts. She would face Titus and his style of training with quiet enthusiasm and soak in as much of his knowledge as he would impart. And besides… he would let her cut stone. Her fingers ached with the need, and somewhere in the back of her mind, a hunger burned for the need to hold stone and clear away the imperfections until something so lovely, so incredibly valuable was left. She smiled slightly, and waited for him.