Enchantyon: Welcome Home

Lalauri Imafenduwell

Junction Point

Imafenduwell Hall

It took a long time to clean up most of the mess that Keridwen had made. And while Lalauri usually found something soothing to be said and experienced by tidying an area of Imafenduwell Hall during her days, this was beyond what she would call an acceptable amount of mess.

“Oh my gosh, Cecil…I’m exhausted.” Said Lalauri, using her broom to prop herself up. “How’s it going over there?”

Cecil was busy digging through the wreckage of a few of the more ancient pieces of furniture that were destroyed—things like cabinets carrying antiques and fine tableware—and was trying to pick out anything salvageable. “I think I’ve just about saved everything that can be saved, Miss. I found a couple of things lost to time, too.”

“Really? Huh, well done then.” Putting down her broom, Lalauri made her way over to Cecil with her arms crossed. “…Do you think there’s a chance that she didn’t do this? Am I overreacting?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure what to think of the matter, Miss. All I know is what I can see. And what I can see is that something magical was behind this catastrophe. If we could find some evidence of this brasshulk she was mentioning, then that would settle it. But, I’ve kept an eye out while we were cleaning these past few hours and I’ve seen no such evidence of the machine or even any sign of one of the councillor’s drones…that being said, I think the culprit is clear here.”

Lalauri sighed, somewhat relieved that she had at least assigned the blame correctly.

“If you like, I could go talk to her later on. Try to calm her down a bit.”

“No, Cecil, there’s no need for that. If she wants to throw a tantrum, let her…wait a minute. What’s that you have there?”

Cecil had just pulled something out of the rubble that was once a drawer of an antique cabinet. It was a necklace. Lalauri gasped when she realized which necklace it was exactly—for it was one that she had lost a very long time ago and never truly expected to see again.

The necklace was a stunning piece of craftsmanship, made from the finest silver and adorned with glittering gems. At its centre was a large, rough-cut diamond that sparkled in the light like a star in the night sky. Surrounding the diamond were several smaller gems, each expertly cut and polished to perfection. The necklace’s chain in itself was a work of art. It was fashioned to resemble twisted iron and expertly forged to ensure it would last for generations. And it had indeed lasted for generations, to Lalauri’s great relief. Hanging from the chain were several small, hammered silver charms, each bearing the symbol of a different word in the dwarven tongue. Words like cherished, soul-kindred, and betrothed.

As Lalauri ran her fingers over the necklace, she could feel the skill and passion of the dwarfs imbued within it. The dwarf who had made it had put his heart and soul into this gift, and she treasured it all the more for that. For a moment, Lalauri was lost in the blissful memories surrounding it that she had long since buried. She only snapped back to the present when a teardrop fell from her face and onto the necklace.

“I lost this necklace eons ago…she…she could have destroyed this.” Said Lalauri bitterly, almost to herself.

“Perhaps,” said Cecil, climbing out of the wreckage to stand next to her. “But, in a strange sort of way, you might have never seen it again if it weren’t for—”

“Cecil, are you actually suggesting that I should be grateful for this?” Lalauri demanded, rounding on him suddenly. “SHE NEARLY DESTROYED IT! And…this is all I had left of him…”

A moment of silence passed as Lalauri stared into the diamond of the necklace.

“That will be all for tonight, Cecil.” Lalauri said finally. “Thank you.”

If Cecil said anything before he left Junction Point for the Old Aureate Wing, Lalauri didn’t hear him. Lost in thought, she was transported back in time, hearing the echoes of ballroom music and the mocking rehearsal sounds of wedding bells. Memories from centuries past flooded her mind, leaving her feeling overwhelmed with both frustration and grief.

And to think, Lalauri thought to herself again as she stared at the necklace. She nearly destroyed it.

Cecil Bramblefur

The Old Aureate Wing

Imafenduwell Hall

After being dismissed, Cecil made his way back to his family’s apartment in the Old Aureate Wing. As he did, he came up to Keridwen’s bedroom door. He stopped in front of it and considered knocking on it to ensure the child was ok. Then he thought better of it and opted to leave her at peace for the rest of the night.

“Cecil?” croaked a voice, alongside the sound of a door creaking open.

Cecil turned back around to find Keridwen peaking through her now open doorway with visible tear stains on her cheeks. Her eyes were bloodshot, her lip trembling, and clutched in her arms was a stuffed purple fluff-moo from her room.

“Hello, Little One.” Cecil smiled weakly. “It’s very late now. You should be in bed.”

“…Is everything cleaned up?” Keridwen asked, her voice still cracking.

“No, not yet.”

“Ok…could I help with cleaning it up tomorrow?”

“That would be greatly appreciated.”

“Ok…Cecil?”

“Yes, Little One?”

“Does she…hate me?”

Cecil’s smile disappeared—replaced by a pitiful look. Almost without thinking, he opened his arms—a habit developed over years of soothing his own offspring’s bad moods—and Keridwen emerged from her room to hug him. Despite how small the girl was, she was still a full head taller than the old nulliwump. Tears fell flowed from the child’s face once more as she sobbed into his fur. Cecil’s heart ached in his chest at the sound of it.

“I wish I could say that I do not know how hard this all must be for you, Keridwen.” Said Cecil, stroking her back. “But I too came to this place after having lost much from my previous life. And while I cannot tell you exactly how things will go in the future, I can promise that if you give it time, and if you try your best to behave yourself and follow Miss Lalauri’s instructions, it will get easier for you here. And to answer your question, no. I do not believe that the Miss hates you.”

“But everything I do makes her mad! Everything! I just want to go back home, Cecil! I miss my mum! I miss my dad! I miss my best friend, Korra…I know it’s not the same anymore, but I just want to go back.”

Keridwen cried for a little while longer. Cecil simply stood there and let her cry into his fur, not really knowing what more he could say to soothe her. So he did what little he could: comfort the girl and let her cry until she was tired enough to fall asleep.

Councillor E. Gausswinder

Aureate, The Gilded State

Gausswinder slammed her fists into the control panel of her spy drones as she swore loudly. Not only had she been forced to pull back the dwarven brasshulk that had been knocked free from her control at one point, but that had also meant that she had to keep the automaton in hiding deep within the Hall. Thus keeping her from any potential dwarf technology for even longer.

In the hours since Grimshaw had left to set in place a “Plan B”, things in Gausswinder’s life had very quickly spiralled out of control; in a secret meeting of the High Council, it was voted that Evangeline Gausswinder would be immediately removed from their august body. Gausswinder only found out about the meeting and the result of it when several armed peacemakers arrived at her office with instructions to inform her of the decision and to “aid her” in packing up her things and leaving City Hall by the end of the day.

As a result, that night the former councillor was with her son in the office of her mansion. Little Deji was silently reading to himself a little picture book she had gotten him. He only looked up when he heard his mother throw a fit over losing her spy drone.

“Sorry, Honey.” Said Gausswinder.

“Is everything ok, Mom?” Deji asked.

Gausswinder nodded and did her best to put on a convincing smile. Then the power went out. Deji screamed as the world was plunged into darkness.

“Hold on, hold on!” Gausswinder said, calling out to her son. “Mommy’s here.” She quickly turned on a lantern she brought over to him, and it suddenly bathed the room in an orange glow. “There, see? Everything’s fine. Go back to reading your stories, ok?”

Comforted by the new lantern and his mother’s assurances, the six-year-old smiled at her, nodded, and went back to reading his storybook.

She was worried this might happen. Upon hearing that she had finally gotten herself evicted from the High Council, the seniors of House Gausswinder—of which she was no longer considered being one of because of losing her seat—had sought to punish her by cutting her off financially. And of course, the electric bill had just come due, and her last monthly allowance had just been spent. She didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep the manor at this rate. A solution had to be found. She needed a breakthrough.

This is his home, Gausswinder said, looking at Deji. I cannot lose the place where he was born!

Suddenly the door to her office opened to her left and in skulked Grimshaw, holding his left side, and clearly wounded. His wolf mask looked fine, but there were clear gashes and bruises on his arms, and his suit was torn in multiple places.

“What in the world happened to you?” Gausswinder said, turning back to the monitors of her drone controls. The power had gone out, but luckily she had an emergency generator exactly for power outages, not unlike this one.

“There were some minor…complications with getting Plan B ready.” Grimshaw said, the pain of his wounds clear in his voice.

“Yes, I can see that…anything I should be concerned about?”

“…”

“Lincoln?”

“…The imps know I’m a werewolf.”

Gausswinder whipped herself around to look at him so fast, her chair nearly fell over. With a deep breath, she controlled her urge to shout at him, realizing that it would only disturb her sleeping son. “What happened to exercising caution?” she hissed at him.

“It was…a necessary risk…”

The councillor glared at him a little while longer. Finally, she turned back around in her seat to face her monitors and said, “Well…I certainly hope you remember that the next time you try to lecture me about being reckless.” When no response to this came, Gausswinder said, “I trust you made clear to them what would happen to them if they spilled your secret to anyone?”

“Yes.” Grimshaw grunted.

“Good. Do I want to know how?”

“No…how did things go for you—?”

“Don’t. Don’t ask.”

“…I heard about what happened with the High Council. I’m sorry.”

For several moments, silence hung in the air between them.

“Don’t be…don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong.” Gausswinder said finally, putting effort into keeping her voice level and free of any anxiety she was feeling.

“…Well,” Grimshaw began. “The good news is we now have our Plan B in place and ready to go. We’ll just have to wait until things calm down a little from what happened today and…whatever you did regarding Imafenduwell Hall. Rest assured, though. We’ll have that dwarf tech in our hands soon enough. It’s just a matter of time now.”