Mother (Part 2)

Lord Losler took a few moments to look at the fire burning in the fireplace. He then reached into the pocket of his waistcoat and took out a locket that was as large as his palm. Attached to one end of the silver oval was a long chain made of tiny links. "This is a memory chain" Earl stated calmly as he looked at the locket and the chain that, though made of tiny links, stretched into his pocket from his hand with what appeared to be plenty of slack. "These are artifacts created using arcane inscriptions. They are meant to hold images of memories, or in the case of some of the stronger versions they can even record voices and feelings." Earl flipped it in his hand carefully, as if afraid it was going to break if it fell but inspecting it closely as if trying to divine its every secret. "Each memory turns into a link in the chain, and most are built with protections to keep others from viewing the contents. This particular one can only be opened or added to by the head or heir of the Losler bloodline."

After making the statement Jien watched as his father opened the locket as if it did not have any protections at all. Earl's eyes became dazed for a few moments as if he was sorting out his thoughts but eventually his eyes regained their focus. At that moment the image of a rather tall young lady of around 10 shown it a circle of light blue ethereal light shining from the locket. It was actually a bit hard to tell that it was a girl at all in the image. She wore a baggy linen shirt that made it hard to tell what her figure actually looked like, her brown linen pants were also loose and tucked into average black leather boots. The supposed woman had her hair messily tied up in back and only some longer bangs hung down on the sides of her youthful face. The only thing that made Jien sure that this was his mother was her eyes. Those sharp green eyes that seemed to be trying into the very essence of existence were exactly the same as the paintings around the manner.

Jien sat there with a slightly dumbfounded expression on his face. This was his mother when she was young, it was nothing like he had imagined in the slightest. "I know right" Earl responded to his son's expression. "Can you believe she looked like this when she was younger." He took a moment before an image of a young girl of maybe three or four appeared. The girl had curly, bright blonde, almost silvery white hair, large green eyes that seemed to sparkle with curiosity. She was wearing a rather frilly bright red dress. This was definitely more in line with what Jien thought his mother would look like, given that all of the images of her around the manor showed her in elegant dresses, wearing gold or silver jewelry and sitting or standing with the elegance of the noble line that she was from.

After a few moments of observing the picture Lord Losler spoke again. "Her weapon of choice after she started training was an estoc. The manner in which you have been practicing the rapier reminded me of training with her before and during our time at the academy." A wistful smile shown on his face for a moment as he remembered watching her train with an estoc in her hands. Her beautiful form as she moved against her opponent or struck out with her blade, the sharpness in her eyes as if unable to miss any detail. He longed to have her back, to hold her in his arms firmly once again, but he knew that it wouldn't ever happen. Those who were dead did not ever come back. Perhaps they would be reunited in the afterlife, he could only hope so.

It took a few long minutes in silence for the mood to pass and allow him to return to his previous conversation. "After we trained together with the other neighboring noble children of the time, we all left for the academy together." With that comment and a momentary pause to pull up the correct memory from among the many links on the chain, the image of several youths in their teens appeared. Jien could immediately recognize his father, though he was a quite a bit thinner and had a goofy smile on his face, the glasses and general characteristics made it clear. He could also recognize his mother. In this image she actually had her hair done up in an elegant ponytail that ran down her back like elegant waves of liquid sunshine. She had a slight scowl on her lips and her eyes seemed to be even sharper than usual, slight hint of rage could be seen. They were all wearing the standard uniforms for the military academy. For men it was a white button-down shirt, a blue pair of dress pants, a matching jacket with silver embroidering the edges and a pair of standard issue black leather boots. For the women it was a similar white blouse, blue coat with silver lining and black boots, but they were made to where long skirts. This was only for attendance of the academy itself and its indoor classes. For the rest of the courses and anything outside of the academy premise they were all to wear the equivalent of the male uniform for ease of movement if combat was needed.

"I bet you can imagine why she looks so upset in this image." Earl stated with a slight chuckle. "She absolutely hated the idea of wearing anything feminine at that stage. She would have rather worn the male uniform. In fact, she almost managed to until her mother caught her right before they took off to meet with us." He closed the locket at that point and tucked it away in his pocket once more. "I would love to tell you more about our time in the academy to prepare you and tell you of our adventures, however, everyone that attends if made to complete an arcane oath regarding activities of the academy and any military service done for the kingdom. This is for the good of our safety as a large kingdom."

After that he stood up from his seat and stretched lightly. Jien followed his example and before leaving the room Lord Losler muttered something under his breath and swept his hand in the direction of the fire, extinguishing it with a short spell. "I have told pretty much everything I can think of regarding the events after we settled in my family's territory but from here on if you have any questions about her that don't involve the military and it's secrets, I will do my best to answer." With this he stepped out of the room. He still had some duties to attend to prior to being able to rest for the night. 

He was sure that his son would likely be caught up in his own adventures soon enough. Jien may have been a bit of an introverted bookworm, but he wouldn't be able to escape once the neighboring nobles wanted to gather their sons and daughters to show off and prepare for the next generation to attend the academy together. Jien himself realized based on that discussion that things would likely follow a similar pattern to his parents. He hadn't been involved with the other noble children early on in his youth. There were attempts to have him join the festivities, but after about the age of four he stopped being interested in anything beyond reading up on the many books in the manor or Afrem.

He tucked those thoughts to the back of his mind. He likely had more time before he even had to meet the neighboring children again and the idea didn't intimidate him in the first place. With that he made his way back to his bedroom and drifted off to sleep while his mind processed the new information about his mother.