Chapter 123: Leona Da Vinci

Raven's Fort, South of Norway

October, 1480

–

"Well, I found you a candidate."

Erik said to Serafall, who perked at that.

"Really? Tell me more."

Serafall asked Erik. She was very interested now in the conversation.

"Well, you know about the painter that I contracted to paint us, right?"

Erik asked Serafall, who nodded her head in confirmation before answering.

"The 'genius' guy named Leonardo Da Vinci, right?"

Serafall said and asked Erik.

"Yes, that one. Now check this out."

Erik said and showed her the letter that he had received from Florence.

"This is the letter sent by him with the date and time for our first sketch."

Erik said and then extended his hand and picked up the publications that were at the side.

"And these are copies of the academic publications by one Leonardo Da Vinci."

Erik said to Serafall and gave her time to check the paper. And Serafall did. The Satan passed her eyes through the papers while quickly reading the contents of them just to get the gist of what was written.

"The guy is good for a human."

Serafall commented and Erik shook his head at that.

"Pay more attention to the detail Sera, I showed you the letter and the paper for a reason."

Erik said to Serafall, who didn't take to heart how Erik talked to her. She knew that he did because he wanted her to discover it herself. And she did after a little more time of looking at both writings with more attention.

"The calligraphy in the letter is different from the publications."

Serafall said and looked at Erik, who nodded his head in confirmation.

"Which means…"

Erik said, encouraging Serafall to continue.

"Which means… That they were written by different people."

Serafall concluded after a little more thinking and turned to look at Erik, who was smiling widely at her.

"But then he is a fraud. And you have him as the candidate for my peerage?"

Serafall said and asked Erik, who shook his head.

"The man is truly a genius, he is no fraud. And I never said that he was the candidate that I had in mind for your peerage."

Erik said to Serafall. His smile had turned into a smirk at this point. Serafall frowned at that.

"Stop teasing me and tell me already!"

She said while pouting to Erik like she was a wronged good wife. Erik chuckled at that.

"Well, the person that I had in mind for your peerage is the one who wrote the publications. I am pretty sure that the person is Leonardo Da Vinci's sister, Leona Da Vinci. From what I could see when I briefly met her when I visited her brother's workshop, she is the one that has the real brains. She is probably letting her brother take the credit because she knows what would happen to her work if it came to knowledge that it was written by a woman."

Erik said to Serafall. He then continued by explaining to serafall what he had sensed and seen in the workshop that day. Serafall listened to all with serious attention. At the end of Erik's tale, she nodded her head in understanding.

"Let me meet with her to get to know her a little more. If she is not in the sketch meeting, you will have to search her for me."

Serafall said to Erik, who nodded his head in agreement. After all, he had already 'marked' both Da Vinci siblings with some micro monsters of his.

"Now husband, work was stressful today and I need some pampering~"

Serafall said in a seductive tone to Erik, who smiled and started to snake his hands by Serafall's body.

"As my Lady wishes."

Erik replied to his wife.

–

Florence, Italy

October, 1480

–

One week later the Ravenclaw family was all reunited in Florence for the sketch of the painting. They had teleported from home directly to the office of Ravens' Merchantile Group and were now going to Leonardo Da Vinci's workshop in a carriage that had been prepared in advance. All of them were using hidden snake 'rings' to not draw attention. Even Hestia was 'wearing' one.

The family arrived in the workshop at the combined time. Erik disembarked first from the carriage and helped each woman to disembark too. As everyone was out, Erik walked to the workshop door and knocked on it. It didn't take much time for someone to open the door, and to Erik's surprise, it was Leona who had done it.

"Welcome back, Lord Ravenclaw. My Ladies. Master Da Vinci is awaiting for you all."

Leona said and gestured for the group to follow her. They did, but not before Erik traded a look with Serafall.

The sketching session had taken three hours in total. When they were done, Erik and Leonardo Da Vinci started to talk about what scenery the family wanted behind them in the painting. Erik had already discussed this with his wives and Hestia, and they decided on a living room with a fireplace for it. Not very original but it was a place that they all had agreed on. While the two men were talking, the women started to talk between them with Serafall purposefully dragging Leona to it with the excuse of asking places to visit while in Florence. Her real intentions were to verify the girl's personality, something that she could not do in a single conversation. For that, she had the brilliant idea of enlisting Leona as their guide.

The woman denied the 'invitation' initially but when her brother heard what was going on after having finished his talk with Erik, he promptly enlisted Leona for the 'guide' position. And that's how Leona ended up in the family's company for the rest of the day.

At the end of the day, after leaving Leona in her family home and returning to their own home, Erik talked with Serafall again.

"So, what did you think of Leona?"

Erik asked Serafall, who hummed before answering.

"Hmm… She has potential. From the conversation that we had with her, we could see that she has a brilliant mind. A mind that is being suppressed by her family."

Serafall replied to Erik, who nodded his head.

"Want me to keep an eye on her for you?"

Erik asked Serafall, who looked at him with a poker face.

"Like you were not already keeping an eye on her."

Serafall replied to Erik, after all, she knew her husband.

"Touché!"

Erik replied to Serafall while smiling.

–

Another week later, the family saw themselves again arriving by carriage at Leonardo Da Vinci's workshop. They were again received by Leona, who was a lot more friendly with the women. Three hours of posing for Leonardo Da Vinci's painting later, the women again dragged Leona with them for a tour around the city since they had not seen everything in the last week. This time, the blonde promptly accepted the ' forced draft' without her brother having to say anything.

At the end of the day, the group had some tea and coffee at one of the scenic views of the city and one more woman fell prey to Erik's culinary skills. During the tea and coffee, Serafall decided to make a very pertinent question to Leona.

"So, Leona, do you believe in the supernatural?"

Serafall asked Leona. The other members of the group continued to drink their teas or coffee but they were all paying attention to what would be Leona's answer. The bold woman hummed before answering Serafall's question.

"Hmm… Supernatural as monsters, angels, vampires, and devils? Sure, why not?"

Leona replied while shrugging.

"The world is a very big place, who am I to say that, somewhere, something like that doesn't exist?"

Leona said again, adding to her answer. The other woman chuckled at that, which was understood wrongly by Leona.

"So, you guys don't believe that something like that could exist?"

Leona asked the group while raising one of her eyebrows. The girls chuckled again before Serafall replied.

"You understood us wrongly, Leona. We were not chuckling because we don't believe it, we chuckled because of the form that you said it. 'Somewhere'. Leona, this is something that was forgotten with time but the supernatural world exists in parallel with the normal world. Powerful beings walk among humans every day. Some of them are just trying to live their lives, some want to help others, and some just want to see everything else burn."

Serafall said to the blonde woman, who was looking at her with wide eyes.

"So, you are saying that the supernatural does exist and they mingle between humans all the time?"

Leona asked again with a little skepticism in it.

"Yes, and no. Yes that they do exist. And no, they don't mingle with humans all the time. They have their own communities, hidden from normal eyes. And very few of them live between humans."

Serafall said to Leona, explaining a little of the supernatural world.

"You have to understand, Leona, that most supernatural beings don't see humans with good eyes. Humans tend to destroy everything that they can't understand."

Erik said to Leona, adding to Serafall's explanation. Leona hummed again before talking.

"Hmm… What is real?"

Leona asked the group again.

"What is real? Basically, everything."

Selena said, replying to Leona's question.

"Everything?"

Leona asked again, her eyes going wide.

"Everything. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, mermaids, sea serpents, griffins…"

Selena started.

"... gods, goddesses, Angels, Fallen-Angels and Devils."

Selena finished. She had listed a lot of supernatural races that currently existed in the world.

"And she didn't list everything, just the most known ones in Europe."

Hestia added this time. She was having fun telling a normal human about the existence of the supernatural world.

"Ah, we can't forget about magic too. Magic is real and it is a big part of the supernatural world."

Joan said, making the others of the group nod their heads in agreement. Leona now had wide eyes while looking at them. It was still a little hard for her to believe in it. She was, after all, a woman of science. At least it was what she always said to herself. But magic?

"Magic is real too?"

Leona asked with a lot of skepticism this time, making the people in the group chuckle again.

"Yes, magic is real too, Leona. Practically all members of the supernatural world can do some or other type of magic."

Serafall replied to Leona, who was still doubting them.

"She will not believe until she can see it with her own eyes."

Calypso calmly replied and sipped on her tea. The members of the group all looked at Erik at the same time at this. Erik just shrugged at them and raised his hand, preparing to snap his fingers. He looked at them all and them to Leona. Erik smiled in a way that looked more like a smirk and snapped his fingers.

*SNAP*

The snap resounded loud in Leona's ears and to her marvel, a circle entirely made of blue light appeared under them. A second later, her vision went white. When she recovered she looked around and saw that they were in another place. On top of a mountain to be exact. Around and under them, the clouds were making a blanket that blocked part of the vision.

"Where are we?"

Leona asked and the rest of the group looked at Erik, waiting for an answer since he was the one that transported them.

"We are at the top of a chain of mountains that the locals call Anti. We are at one of its tallest peaks, at six thousand meters above the sea."

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