A Long Time from Home Ch. 20

She was silent for a moment, but then asked, "< Who told you that? >"

Now it was my turn to send a mental laugh. "< Nobody did. Every other year, you go along when Jia travels to her family >"

"< Good point, >" she replied with humour in the mental voice. "< Oh well, I guess that mean that I don't get to play wounded lover >"

"< You're thankfully not good at it anyway >"

"< I know, smart ass >" She commented but then shifted her thoughts. "< Wait a moment, if you need your wares stored, that means that you got more wares than you can carry. What do you have? >"

I gave her the same list as I had given Voloro, but added the amount of each item, causing her to be silent for a bit. Then her laughter sounded in my head again. "< Goddess, Ivah. No wonder journey took so long >"

"< Well, the detour back to Bharata and sailing around Oram Aromatum didn't help >"

"< Detours never do >" She paused to think for a few heartbeats and then sent. "< Alright, I'll ask my uncle to come to the harbour. That haul is too good to miss out on... but you owe me dinner next time we're in town >"

"< Deal >"

"< Good. When do you return to Arcem? >" She sent a few mind images of her, Jia and I sharing pleasure, that made me warm all over.

"< In a week or so. I need to debrief and say hello to my parents while I'm here >"

"< That's fair I guess. Hurry as much as you can >"

"< I will >"

---------------

Verina's uncle was didn't waste much time. He came to the harbour almost immediately, looked at the wares and gave me an generous offer that made me struggle not to look surprised, while he stated that I wouldn't get a better offer anywhere else without doing a lot of work. All my senses told me, that he wasn't lying, so we struck a deal by the docks and I walked away a rich man, while he took control of the wares.

Since I felt like I had deserved it, I spent some time in a bath house, washing the dirt and salt of my body with water and soap, and enjoying every heartbeat of it. Cleaning oneself with Ars Mentalis is good, but nothing beats the feeling of a bath, followed by getting into freshly washed clothes and a light dinner at restaurant overlooking the harbour.

It did take some time, but eventually I was done and walked towards my parent's house, or rather my grandmother's house, since that's where my parents were living now.

My grandmother had grown tired of living in the capitol and had exchanged houses with my parents, so my parents moved to the capitol city. Since my family isn't Baylon nobles, the house was located on the outer ring, and I enjoyed the sight of green parks and the general buzz of the city as I walked.

As usual, my father was at work at this time, but my mother was home and greeted me by the door, as she usually does.

"Hello Ivah. Nice to see you again. "

"You too, mom." I said as we kissed each other on the cheeks.

Smiling she turned and we walked side by side through the atrium as we talked.

"Are you well?"

"Yes, but it was a long trip." I glanced up at her. "You could have warned me, you know."

She chuckled. "No, it's supposed to be a surprise and we're not allowed to tell anyone about it."

I shook my head slightly. Through I had practically been told by the Dominus Grande at the Quaestio that both my mother and grandmother had been members of the Securitas, I had been too young to understand it and it took some years before I realized, that they both had gotten the same training as I did.

She eyed me. "You never shake your head for nothing, Ivah. What are you thinking?"

"That you could have told me and Chili about your career in Securitas and Ordo Gladius instead of keeping it a secret as you did with the trip."

She smiled at me. "No. If I had told it, Pandora would have tried to become a member and that wouldn't have been good for her. She is much happier with what she is doing now."

"Ah. Good point and I agree." I tilted my head. "You weren't worried about me?"

"No. You're one of the few who have had the gift of Mutatur Tempus Mente and I had to admit that it wasn't until the Dominus Grande showed you how to use it, that I was sure." She suddenly took my arm and changed direction as she said, "I just remembered that you have turned twenty-five, so it's time to show you the old paintings."

A memory from my childhood flashed before my eyes. Chili and I had never been allowed into Grandmother's office and when we asked her about it, we were told that we would be allowed to see it when we were grown up, which in Baylon meant twenty-five.

"I assume they're in the office."

"They grow up so fast." she mumbled and looked at me proudly. "Yes. They are in the office."

I smiled back. Since the office was the only place, we kids weren't allowed to enter and thus the only place to have pictures we weren't allowed to see, it wasn't exactly brilliant deductive thinking, but it was still nice to see my mother being proud.

As we reached the door, she placed a hand on the doorframe and mumbled a few words. The door glowed and opened.

I didn't say anything. That the door was warded against being opened by anyone not knowing the password was obvious and logical: Even the best lock in the world isn't secure against being picked, it just takes more time. Wards on the other hand are more secure, but easy to detect and screams that there's something in the room that the owner consider valuable.

As we entered the office, I had expected to see a few paintings of family members and at the far wall, there were indeed a few family portraits, but nothing worth warding the door for, which mean that the real paintings must be hidden.

My mother stopped and looked at me "There you are."

I studied the portraits. "Well, I have seen that painting already, so I guess that what you really wanted me to see, is somewhat better hidden."

My mother smiled as she nodded and placed a hand on the wall.

"Only members of the family can do this." She explained and switched to Lescarian as she said, "There is a light in the dark."

Almost immediately the walls of the room sank into the floor, revealing another wall behind them and on those walls, there were rows of paintings of people. To the right and left of me, there were people dressed in the uniforms of the Ordo Mentalis or Ordo Magica, but it was the wall at the far end that caught my attention.

All people there were dressed in the white dress uniform of the officers in Ordo Securitas. Most of the uniforms even had the golden lining, showing a rank above lieutenant and many of them had the golden crossed sword emblem, which showed that they were members of Ordo Gladius. Beneath the paintings, there were framed medals and under the newer paintings, there were holders with various swords, bows and knives.

In a daze, I walked closer to the paintings, looking at the names and dates under them. It was mind blowing: The dates went back almost three thousand years, showing that there had been an Emilian in Securitas Interna or Externa for at least twenty-odd generations. Not all had been officers, and some had died in the line of duty, but they had been there.

For a while, I stood there in silence, looking at them, feeling part of an age-old tradition.

It wasn't until I moved again, that my mother softly said, "I guess we all feel the same when we see it for the first time."

I nodded silently. There were no words that would fit the situation anyway.

My eyes caught the painting of my grandmother Ivanka Chila Emilian as she stood in her whites in front of Arcem Discendi in Lescare as cherry blossoms drifted in the wind. The similarity to the paintings I had made of Verina and Jia made me smile slightly, as a part of a poem she once wrote popped into my head.

"My wish for you

Is that this life becomes all that you want it to

Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small

You never need to carry more than you can hold

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow

And each road leads you where you want to go

And if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose

I hope you choose the one that means the most to you."

I didn't notice I had spoken out loud until my mother said, "That is beautiful. Who wrote it?"

"Verina Julia Serranus." I answered and sent her a mind-picture of Verina. "You've met her. I painted her at the same spot as grandmother is standing on that picture, complete with the falling cherry blossoms."

"Well, that's really not surprising." said my mother with a smile, "It is one of the best places to paint a person in the area."

I looked at her and smiled back "That it is. "

My mother looked thoughtful and slowly said, "Ivah, I know that you can't talk about work, but I will give you one piece of advice: Continue to paint. It's when you having trouble seeing any beauty in the world, that you should quit the Ordo and find a new job before it kills you."

I nodded as I considered what she had said, "It that what happened for you?"

"It's what happened for most of us, I think." Her eyes passed over the paintings. "Those who wasn't killed that is."

"Well... That danger goes with the job." I said as my eye caught the last painting, which, much to my surprise, showed me in the Ordo's white uniform standing in the halls of Arcem Discendi.

In itself, that wasn't special, but the scene was from the banquet the day before I had left for my journey and every detail was exactly as I remembered it, which was flat out impossible, since no-one from my family had been at the castle that day.

I looked my mother. "Where on earth did you get that?"

She chuckled "The Dominus Grande was kind enough to send a mind-image to your grandmother, who painted the picture."

Now there was a statement, that didn't make sense. There was no reason that Kaeso Maximus would personally send a mind-image to a former Inquisitor. My brain accelerated as several things started to fall into place, like the many similarities in powers between the Dominus Grande, my grandmother, mother and myself and the reason why the Dominus Grande of an Ordo just happened to be at my Quaestio.

"Oh." My mother said with a regretful chuckle as I looked at her. "I said too much."

"He's your father and my grandfather, right?"

"Yes." She nodded. "But please keep that a secret. Every Dominus Grande has political enemies and Kaeso Maximus, along with the Maximus family, is not an exception. That's the reason why your grandmother kept it a secret: She didn't want our family to get caught up in the politics."

"How long have you known?"

"Not as long as you think. Mother told me just before she died." She smiled sadly. "It was a surprise to me as well... and he was my father." The sad smile disappeared and was replaced with a stern glance. "But don't you think for a moment, that it had had any influence on your education."

"Oh, I know." I said with a chuckle. "Verina have already pointed that one out quite firmly."

"Good Girl." My mother said and regarded me speculatively. I recognized the look. It was the one that said, 'I need grandchildren'.

"Forget it, mom... She's into girls."

"That doesn't mean, that a union is out of the question, and the two of you obviously like each other." She studied my reaction and smiled. "You've shared pleasure with her."

As it wasn't a question, but a statement, I just nodded.

"Good, but we can talk more about that later. Now I have something to give you." She said and walked over to the wall. Reaching out, she took the sword hanging under my grandmother's picture and gently handed it to me. "I promised your grandmother to give you her weapons if you became an Inquisitor. Now it's yours along with the knives."

Surprised, I looked at the sword in my hand. In all the stories, my sister and I had heard about Grandmother Tatiana, she had used an ancient family sword called Shadow Fang. Contrary to most other swords from stories, Shadow Fang had been crafted entirely using Ars Mentalis and didn't have any imbued magical powers, due to it being made not long after Baylon had entered this world and before the magic had settled enough to be used for crafting. The forward curved blade design was also ancient and most newer blades were slightly backward curved to deliver a good slash, instead of the chopping attacks of the older design.

Made for a woman, it was smaller than most Baylon swords, but that suited me just fine, since I was shorter than most Baylon males anyway.

According to family legend, Shadow Fang responded to the mental strength of the wielder, meaning that the better and stronger a Mentat the wielder was, the sharper the sword could become. For an ancient family sword, that wasn't impressive to say the least, but as Vis powers rarely worked with magical weapons, it was perfect for members of the Ordo, and after having seen the line of ancestors that had been in the Ordo, I understood why it had become a family sword.

Like most swords made from Adamant, Shadow Fang was highly decorated, and the blade had a gold pattern, making a beautiful accent to the black diamonds inlaid in the handle. The pommel was an elongated pear-shaped black diamond fused with the handle at the thickest end, so the point could be used for strikes.

The shorter 'long knife', or Diucultro that was part of the set, was just a smaller version of the sword, but the throwing knives were a newer and much different design. They had an upswept single-edged adamant blade, a handle made from slaps of black bdel laid upon a layer of golden adamant that extended into a golden decorated single finger grip, preventing the hand from slipping onto the blade. Like the rest of the blades, the scabbards were made from simple black bdel without any decorations.

For a moment, I looked at the weapons with thought swirling in my head. Foremost among them was 'But what if I lose them!'

My mom had watched my face and before I could even say anything, she said, "Just accept them, Ivah. She wanted it that way." Without waiting for an answer, she turned towards the door. "There are tea and stuffed dates in the garden. Care to join me? You can look at the paintings later."

Smiling I nodded and followed her out and as we left the office, magic kicked in, returning the room to exactly the state it was when we entered.

-------------

After we had had tea, my mother had to leave as she had dinner plans, she couldn't cancel. Having lots of time, I just took my travel bag and walked into the garden to relax with a cup of tea and a good book. One of the drawbacks of traveling the world outside Baylon, was that many of the things we had come to take for granted simply wasn't invented and used, like books.

Consequently, I was really enjoying the simple act of reading a book, when the door to the hall opened and a woman came walking in, looked around and started to walk my way.

Dressed in a red and gold dress that went perfectly with her dark hair, she looked good at a distance, but as she came nearer, I could see that the beauty was marred by an extremely disapproving look on her face. She was also younger than I had first thought, probably around fifty, and as the light fell on her, I saw it glitter of an Ordo Magica neckless.

All in all, I had an angry looking young mage walking towards me, which is rarely good news.

She stopped in front on me. "Who're you and what're you doing here?"

Placing the book on the table beside me, I said, "I'm Ivah Emilian, the son of the owner. Who're you and what're you doing here?"

For some reason, that seemed to make her even angrier. "None of your business. Now, leave."

I blinked in surprise a few times. If the woman didn't believe I was the son of the house and had any form of legal reason to be here, she could just have asked me to identify myself or have me arrested for that matter. Asking me to leave was rude to say the least.

"No. I think you should leave. I have a right to be here, and you don't. Leave and return when you have an appointment."

That got me a snort, followed by a "Leave the house."

Magical power washed over me, but as most other mind affecting powers, it bounced off my mind shield, like a stone skipping on water.

To say I was surprised, would have been the understatement of the century. Nobody walked into somebody else's house, tried to order people out and then resorted to magic, if their target didn't leave immediately. Even an Inquisitor would have identified herself by now.

That made her request one born out of arrogance, though I couldn't phantom where she got the arrogance from. Not even nobles would try to pull a stunt like this. At least not under normal circumstances, but I guessed her anger was overriding her common sense.

"Lady, I don't know what made you angry, but ..."

That was a far as I got, before the woman started casting a new spell, this time using arcane language and hand gestures in a combination that made my sixth sense scream 'danger'.

Fortunately, Ars Mentalis is a lot faster than magic and before she had time to finish the spell, I had instinctively sent out a blast of mental energy of the same type I had used against Mettius Clodius Pulcher when I rescued Vibhrama. Not only did it interrupted the spell, but it also paralyzed her for a short time.

Reaching out, I took hold of the woman's head and inserted a trigger, that would release a stream of pain into her nerve system if she tried casting spells at me again. It would only work a few times, but in my experience, people stopped trying after the first or second try.

"You little shit." The mage hissed, proving that the paralyzing was wearing off.

"Just a warning... don't try to use magic." I said as I removed my hand from her again. "It will not end well for you."

Naturally, she didn't listen and a moment later, she cried out in pain as she tried to cast a spell.

"I told you, but you do not listen... Next time will be worse."

She started to curse at me but stopped abruptly when I slapped her butt. "Shut up. You invade my family's house without permission and tried throw me out." She tried to hit me with a clumsy punch I easily evaded and then slapped her butt again as I continued to speak. "You refuse to leave when asked politely and attack me with spells..." She tried again and winched as I slapped her arm away. "...forcing me to defend myself."

With a sigh, I sidestepped to avoid a kick. Not only was her martial skills bad, but she clearly didn't understand the amount of trouble she was in.

Reaching out with my mind, I tried to probe her mind to discover her identity, but someone had done an expert job of shielding that part of her brain and I got nowhere.

The woman tried to hit me again and while I easily avoided the strike, it was starting to get on my nerves. Fortunately, there were ways to stop that. I activated an Ars Mentalis trick called Vinclum (Baylon: Restrain) and a moment later chains of mental energy appeared around her wrists and ankles. A slight wave of the hand secured the other ends of the mental chains to the columns, with the wrist chains being tied as high up as possible and the ankle chains almost at the ground.

As I tightened the chains, I used my ability to levitate things and as a result, the female mage was suddenly hanging in the air with her spread out to form an X.

"Release me!" Demanded the mage, with a face that was almost white from anger.

I ignored the request. "Your name, please."

"Screw you, Shorty. Come back when you have any power and not just toys."

I almost rolled my eyes. Insulting my short stature and insinuating I was using magical items, instead of personal power, was really a juvenile thing to do.