"She's waking up."
Liliana awoke to voices and when she opened her eyes, Jace stood at the foot of her bed. Next to him was a girl who was the spitting image of him—her eyes even regarded her with the same curious intensity. The only difference was her black hair, which she wore in a long unruly braid that gave her a weathered appearance.
"Go tell your mother," Jace told the girl. He looked a lot older than Liliana remembered.
"Yes, father."
The brief joy Liliana had felt at seeing Jace alive disappeared in a twinge of confusion and unexpected jealousy. Had that girl really called Jace, father? Jace?
She looked at him and realized how much he'd aged—several years, she judged—enough for the barest hint of crow's feet to begin to show. Enough for the faintest of greys to sneak into his hair. Enough that it made sense that he'd have a daughter that age.
How long had she been asleep?
Her mind's eye tried to imagine the girl's mother. She was about to banish the thought when a voice interrupted in her head.
"How do you feel, Lili?" Jace asked telepathically as he sat down at the foot of her bed. He looked guiltier than he looked concerned.
"Like a sunny day," she thought back sarcastically. She didn't appreciate having someone intruding in her mind without asking, especially when there was no reason not to speak normally. Jace ought to know that by now.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"You don't recognize it?" he asked with a bemused smile. "You're home."
The confusion must have shown on her face because he continued. "I'm sure you have questions but you've been sleeping for almost two days. I'm sure you're hungry."
He gestured to a platter of fruit on the side table.
"Come downstairs when you're done. I promise, we'll answer all your questions."
Liliana walked down the stairs with purpose. She'd been about to demand answers but seeing the fruit made her realize how hungry she'd been. But now that she'd eaten, someone owed her an explanation.
A guttural snarl resonated through the hall.
Curious, she followed the sound to where the hall opened into a courtyard. A dozen Jaces with glowing eyes milled around a quad. In the middle of it stood a blindfolded girl—the one who'd called Jace "father" earlier.
A mountain of a zombie lumbered among the Jaces as the girl's head darted back and forth. As the girl's head moved, so too did the corpse's.
It was an exercise, Liliana realized. The zombie was meant to be the girl's eyes.
The girl shook her head as if to clear her mind. She was having trouble concentrating.
Liliana knew the move. She'd seen Jace use it a hundred times. He'd attack his opponent's mind while projecting several doppelgangers of himself. Only a telepath of no uncertain skill would be able to determine which one the real Jace was—and even then, only if they could withstand the mental assault that would seem to be coming from several places at once.
Suddenly, the girl's head snapped toward one of the Jaces and her goliath grabbed at it. The girl yelped in surprise as her familiar's arms passed through the illusion, caught her on the back, and knocked her over.
The girl ripped off her blindfold in frustration. The zombie she'd been animating collapsed to the ground and all but one Jace disappeared.
The girl couldn't have picked more wrongly. The real Jace had been on the other side of her the entire time.
Watching the girl fail was more satisfying than Liliana thought it would be.
"You enjoy making me look like a fool, don't you?" the girl complained.
A cold feminine voice replied. "You make yourself look like a fool. Your father just enjoys watching."
The girl scowled, stood up, and began to replace her blindfold.
Jace put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Why don't we take a break?" he said. She took the blindfold off once more and stormed off.
Jace turned toward the woman who'd just spoken. "You're too hard on her," he said.
Liliana began to cross the courtyard. She couldn't see the woman's face from where she was standing but there was something unsettlingly familiar about the voice.
"You'll regret being soft the next time she can't summon the focus to ward off a kavu." The woman admonished him.
"That happened once." He replied. "And you know she's mostly angry about being embarrassed in front of you, right?"
"Trouble in paradise?" Liliana interrupted as she approached. She'd been in similar couple-fights with Jace once upon a time. This was not something she wanted to have to sit through.
Then she finally saw the woman's face and understood why the voice had been so familiar.
It was her own.
The woman on the dais could have been her twin. They both looked as old as they did on the day Kothophed gave them back their youth. Their eyes were the same shade of violet-the same color as the banners that hung on either side of high-backed chair she sat on like a throne. Even the way the other woman sat—exuding imperious boredom—was distinctly Liliana.
Liliana stared at her doppelganger and willed her face not to betray the shock and confusion she felt.
Her doppelganger stared back impassively.
"Liliana, meet Liliana." Jace said, a little uncomfortably.
The seated Liliana smirked.
It was taking a lot of willpower to stay composed (and not to stare at her double, who seemed unnervingly pleased). She looked directly at Jace instead. "Explain." She said.
Jace motioned and a servant with a completely bandaged face set a chair down behind her, bowed, and left.
He took a deep breath.
"Alright. You may want to sit down for this, but…how much do you know about time magic?"
Liliana rubbed her temples and paced. There was a lot to process. Something about time streams and clockworking and a rift that they peered into from a different place in a different time to find her asleep on the beach.
She'd told them nothing about when and where she'd come from.
"So let me get this straight," Liliana said. "You thought it was a good idea to dabble in ancient Tolarian time magic because you were given a few books and you acquired a few artifacts... and now I'm here, in this…timestream."
"It wasn't just Tolarian, but yes," Jace nodded, looking a little glum. Liliana didn't know if he felt badly that he'd accidentally brought her here or that his little time experiment had failed. She'd always thought time magic a fickle art that was more trouble than it was worth. Now she was convinced of it.
"…but we can send you back. Well, not me. The machine I built broke after I used it. But like I said, Teferi is already on his—"
"This is the same Teferi whose expertise led him to vanish an entire kingdom and lose his spark, yes?"
"To be fair, that same expertise got him back his spark and should—will get you back to your timeline… as soon as he gets here in the morning."
"Wonderful." She scowled at him.
Liliana sat back in the chair and crossed her arms.
They sat in silence for a while and she stewed.
The other Liliana had said nothing since she'd arrived. She'd just sat quietly, smiling the infuriating smile of someone who knew something you didn't.
Liliana closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
"So, in this timeline, you" she motioned to her seated self "and Cloak Boy the Master of Time over there have a daughter."
"Vivian." Jace nodded. Then, "Be nice, Lili."
Liliana was about to snap at him when she realized that he hadn't been speaking to her.
Her other self laughed and Liliana realized that they'd been having a telepathic conversation on their own. It irked Liliana but she couldn't explain why.
"What is so funny?" she demanded.
"I'm not sure how old you are, dear, but, do you perhaps remember a night in Ravnica?" the other Liliana asked. "Sometime after fighting an Eldrazi titan on Innistrad?"
Liliana narrowed her eyes. She knew exactly what night her older self was referring to. She remembered well enough—how eager Jace had been, no matter how hard he'd tried to act cavalier. For a mind mage, he could be surprisingly easy to read—she'd been a little lonely and more than a little bored.
"Yes," was all she said.
"What happened?"
She frowned. "Excuse me?"
"Humor me. What happened that night?"
"Jace and I…" Liliana's jaw tightened slightly then relaxed. "We spent the night together."
The seated Liliana's mouth curled into a smirk. She knew she was making her guest uncomfortable.
"After that."
Liliana was losing patience again and the conversation was beginning to feel like she was being led by the nose.
"Nothing. We went our separate ways in the morning."
Knowing that she was being provoked didn't make it any easier. It was especially infuriating that she had nothing to throw back. She knew nothing about the woman sitting across from her other than that, for some reason, that Liliana had thought it best to settle down with her version of Jace.
"Ah." Her doppelganger said, looking pleased.
Liliana resisted the urge to clench her fists. "Were you going somewhere with this?"
Her other self was smiling.
"We've made many mistakes over the centuries, you and I…" the other Liliana said slowly, savoring her words.
Why does it sound like she's gloating? Liliana thought incredulously.
"…but it seems that mistake was yours alone."
Liliana finally snapped. "And why would you presume to think I'd ever think that was a mistake?"
Her infuriation grew as she glanced at Jace. He was looking at her with something that looked suspiciously like pity. Pity!
"Oh, my dear, sweet girl…" the seated woman laughed again and Liliana gritted her teeth. It was maddening, as she was sure the other Liliana intended.
"Look around. This estate is my home. I have a family. My contracts have been voided. And, as I'm sure you'd be interested to know..."
She reached into her skirts, where Liliana knew a secret pocket would be. The other Liliana turned it out with a flourish. Empty.
"…I no longer carry the Veil."
Liliana's hand unconsciously went to the Chain Veil hidden in her own skirts. Its voices whispered to her. She shut them out angrily and let her hand fall back to her side.
"Remind me, my dear," the other Liliana continued. "Where were you before we found you?"
Even though a thousand things swam through Liliana's mind, she couldn't think of a single thing to say.
"Does that answer your question?" the other Liliana sneered. "Or do you need me to elaborate further?"
Liliana stood up so quickly that her chair pushed backwards, and she stormed off.
As Liliana walked out of the courtyard and down the hall, she realized (with a little more sadness than she thought she'd feel) that when she'd woken up, she no longer had Jace's cloak.