Chapter Thirty: The Three Lenses
Training with her grandfather was absolutely agonizing.. He would never surrender and never surrender and never tire, much like Lysette. However, the biggest benefit to training with him was the fact that he would explain her powers and teach her how to use them appropriately. And though she tried her best, Penny had lost count of the amount of things that she could actually do. Though every time she would discover something new, her grandfather would assure her that she had not even come close to reaching her full potential. This was something that built quite a bit of confidence in Young Penny.
The first ability that Penny had shown her Grandfather was her terraforming ability followed by the Lightning ability which he was quite impressed with. Though, he did remark that those powers most likely came from her mother as Night Slashers were not known to use such magic.
It had only taken a few days but Penny had improved leaps and bounds compared to how she was when she last trained with Ember. She was now stronger, faster, and smarter in battle. And with her abilities as an added bonus, she felt pretty confident in her ability to handle any fight that came her way.
However, The Old King assured her that there were plenty of Witches and Lycans who could still run circles around her at the current stage she was in. She would have to train even harder to be face no actual threat within the Underworld. And that is what Penny continued to do, train. She worked as hard as she could, not sleeping and barely eating for days at a time, but becoming the perfect savior for the Underworld. In the few times that they had stopped training, Penny's grandfather would share stories of Penny's father and explain to her the history of the Outworld and Underworld, and even Earth on some occasions.
Penny had learned so much from him within such a short time that she practically knew more about all the world's combined more than anyone else within them outside of her grandfather. And this was to prepare her. Because whilst fighting was key, knowing who her enemies were and knowing the psychology of each one of them, would be edge she would always have with her.
Penny,who after a day of training and was sitting in her bedroom, was greeted by grandfather who seemed to be rather cheerful about something. " What's up? " She asked, wanting to know the source of his unexpected joy.
" I think it's time you finally meet your grandmother. She has returned from her..holiday" he answered. " You guys take holidays? " Penny asked, genuinely shocked by this announcement. " Its not important! What is important that you get to meet her! She is going to love you so much, just as I do" he extends his hand which Penny smiles and heads over to him, taking his hand and being transported to the dining hall where a lady, who surprisingly did not have a skull for a face, was sitting in a chair with a giant smile. She looked alot like Penny. Her hair was blonde and her eyes were blue, her cheekbones were a little higher but she was absolutely gorgeous to Penny. " Its nice to meet you Mam " Penny spoke softly and kindly as the woman rose to her feet and ran over to Penny, picking her up in her arms, lifting her off the ground in a tight embrace. " Its so nice to meet you dear! Roshak has spoken so highly of you! " She smiles even wider as her grip tightens. " Thank..you" Penny squirms to break from the grip and was finally placed back down on the ground after a few more seconds.
" I was hoping to get the chance to meet you before you headed off back to Earth! " the lady giggled as she walked Penny over to a chair and pulled it out for Penny to take a seat. " My name is Ishtir but you can just call me Grandma" She smiles again after running around the table to take her seat across from Penny. " Now tell me all about yourself! I want to know everything! " Ishtir was speaking so fast that it was hard to keep up with her at times though Penny finally managed to recollect her thoughts enough to speak after being dazzled by her grandmother. Penny spoke for a long time about being sent to Earth, raised by Lysette, training on Earth and how they were living in the wreckage of the war.
" Oh my, that sounds just terrible" Her grandfather cried out in disgust that her beloved granddaughter would ever have to go through such horrible things. " But you are here with us now and we can make sure you have everything you need" Penny's grandfather now intervened by placing his hand onto Ishtirs hand, letting her know that it was far past the time to calm down. " Dear, she is free to go where she wants. She has expressed to me that she wishes to go back to Earth to retrieve her friend and so that is what she will be doing next. And once she has retrieved her friend, she is more than welcome to return here if she so chooses. Although she would like to stay on Earth Earth for a time, she is more than welcome to do that as well" The King turns his attention to Penny. " Go wherever and do whatever you wish, just make sure you're here when I call" he nods to Penny who nods back as they look down at their plates and see that they are empty.
" Ah..I see that food was not prepared.." The King Points out.
" Yes, me and Penelope can see that dear, why is the food not here? " The Queen asks, a small smirk on her face she seemed to enjoy this panic coming from her husband. " I told the chef that I wanted the food on the table by six..and it is half past six now.." The King snaps his fingers which summons a man in a rather strange outfit. It was the combination of a dark cloak that was placed over what seemed to be a chef's outfit.
" Where is the food? " The King asked the man who looked down at the table and then back to the King in horror. " I...um...I'm sorry my lord. I will fetch something from the Kitchen" The man scurries away quickly as the King places his hand over his face in frustration. " Well, I'm sorry you two, I did not mean for this to be an issue, I-" The King found himself interupted as the Man returned back from where he ran off with a giant tray of food. He got about half way to the table before he tripped, spilling the food everywhere and making a loud crashing noise.
" Oh come on..." The King growled as the Man assured the King that he would clean up the mess but would make sure to bring out more food first.
" Either way, as I was saying- " The man came back out of the kitchen, and because he was in such a rush, he forgot about the food he spilled previously and proceeded to slip on the previously spilled food which made another loud crashing noise. " We should have ordered takeout..I swear" The King was becoming more and more frustrated as Penny Intervened. " I'm not actually that Hungry. I'm just glad I can get the chance to spend time with you both" Penny says cheeefully which seems to put her grandfather in a better mood. " You should see her dear, she is a natural in combat. She has been giving me quite the fight " he chuckles which seems to surprise the Queen. " Oh is that so? Well, You are going to have to show me what you can do on the battlefield someday my dear " Ishtir smiles, and Penny for a moment thought about the idea of fighting her grandmother. From what she could tell, her grandmother did not seem like the type who would be a physical challenge in combat. But perhaps, her grandmother had a few tricks up her sleeve. The one thing that Penny could tell was that her grandmother definitely did not share the same commanding presence that her grandpa did.
Instead, her presence was quite soothing and kind. She seemed to be very confident with who she was and what her place was within the kingdom. She also didn't seem like all that much of a strategist based on what Penny could tell. She did seem to be caring. The more that she spoke to both of them, she began to think back on what her dad would be like. She knows her dad had a lot of morals considering he could not bring an end to Gabriel. That based on the ways of her grandmother and grandfather are, her father had to be a weird combination for the two. Which Penny could honestly not wait to see for herself.
" I can tell you thinking about him " The Queen said to Penny who suddenly snapped back to the coveration and away from thoughts of her father. " About who? " Penny questioned which made the Queen Giggle. " Your father, silly! I know you're wondering what hes like, and what he would think of you. And you're gonna have to trust me when I say this, but I can assure you that he would be very proud of you. You have a big heart just like him. In fact, I think he wouldn't be able to be any prouder of the way you turned out! Smart, Beautiful, gifted with a natural aptitude for combat. Yes, I truly believe he would be proud"
" Did my father love fighting? " Penny asked, wondering whether her father use to train as hard as she does now with her Grandfather.
" Yes and No" the Queen answered. " He loved combat, he just did not like helping to do it all that often. Your father, tried his best to handle things in a completely different way other than violence. It's not always feeling quite interesting, considering that he was the most gifted for violence out of his siblings. But I digress, he always trying to find a way to handle things without without it. Though, if the need should ever arise he was more than ready to confront any situation" The Queen explained.
" And I can see a lot of him and you. I can tell that you don't want to resort to violence all the time either. You understand when it's necessary, they, but if you feel like you can get away with doing something without using it, you will. And that is one of the many reasons I'm very proud of you just as I have always been very proud of your father. I wanted my children to see the world through three lenses. The good, The Bad, And the Chaos. It's not hard to see through one single lens. Most people go through their whole lives seeing through only one at a time. However, to see all at once, to see what is needed, what is wanted, and what is correct would allow for you to rule justly. And if you cannot, then you still have learning to do. But you dear, you can see through all three even if you don't understand that yet" She continued. " That is why you are the savior. Not me. Not your grandfather. Not your father. Not anyone else, just you"