Ch. 7 Mother and Daughter
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:05 am
Mab watched her daughter sleep for a moment, and then she quietly left the room.
She entered her dining hall, to find Mordred, Morgan and Frik gathered around a large fire. She wordlessly sat down in her chair, ignoring their glares.
Morgan and Frik whispered to themselves, prompting Mordred to leave their small circle and sit with his aunt.
"You gave into her, didn't you?" he said sharply.
Mab did not reply, she only looked away.
"But why, Auntie Mab? Why do you let her control you so?" he inquired. Mab refused to look at him.
"She is my daughter." came her whispered answer. "I have no excuse."
Mordred shrugged. "I am not disappointed in you, Auntie." Mordred clarified. "I think it is noble of you to care for her so."
Mab turned to him and smiled.
"Like you care for me." he explained. "Mother and Frik haven't given me anything through the years, but you my Auntie Mab, have always been by my side."
Mab did not reply. Her only gesture was putting her hand on his, and looking over to the fire with a sigh.
Mordred took her gesture as enough of an answer and turned to gaze at the flame.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:21 am
Several hours later, Moira awoke. She ran her fingers through her beautiful dresses in her closet that she hadn't seen in ages. She gazed around at everything in her room. Why did I ever leave here? Moira was brought sharply back to reality by her stomach growling. Moira blushed even if no one was in the room. When was the last time I ate? Moira wondered and set out for the dining hall.
Moira entered the dining hall to discover Mab and Mordred sitting at one end and Frik and Morgan at the other. There was a chilly silence between the two groups and Moira wondered what she was supposed to do with the obvious war breeding between the two sides.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:31 am
Morgan gave Moira the coldest stare, cruelly looking her up and down.
Frik gave Moira a look that seemed to say, I can not help her. As if he had no control over his lover's feelings.
Mordred refused to look at Moira at first, but the silence tempted him to, and he gave in. "Need something, Princessa?" he said sarcastically, hiding his compassion.
Mab glanced up at her daughter with traces of shame on her face. "What is it Moira?" she inquired softly, ignoring the views of the others in the room.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 3:34 am
Moira rolled her eyes at Morgan and walked over to sit next to Mab. "I'm a little hungry." she said.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:13 am
Mab moved over in her chair, leaving room for Moira to sit. "You are?" Mab said softly. "Well, we will have to take care of that."
She gently played with Moira's long black locks with one hand and gestured towards the table behind them.
In an instant, it was adorned with food of all different types. Meats, cheeses, fruits, and vegetables covered the wooden table top.
Morgan and Frik jumped up and began running toward the food when a glare from Mab stopped them dead. Reluctantly, they sulked back to their seats without even an apple between them. Mab smiled warmly at Moira.
"You can go join Mordred at the table, Moira." she said gently and gestured towards Mordred who was filling his plate with fruit and sitting at the head of the table.
"When can we eat, Mab?" Morgan whined.
Mab rolled her eyes. "Whatever will get you to just shut up." she replied and the pair went running to the table, stuffing their faces with food. Mab sighed at their greed and gave Moira a soft pat on her shoulder.
"Go on, my sweet." she said got up out of the chair. Mab walked over to the fire and crossed her arms in front of it, gazing at the flickering flames.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:40 am
Moira walked over to Mordred and started filling her plate as well. "They always this enthusiastic?" Moira said in a low voice to Mordred, eyeing Morgan and Frik.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:14 pm
Mordred angrily eyed his mother and stated in a loud voice, "They are pigs, Moira."
Morgan and Frik froze, the steady stream of food stopping suddenly. "Mordred!" Morgan yelled. "That was rude!" she scolded.
Mordred kept eating as if his mother was not even there.
"It is a shame Master Mordred isn't more fond of me, my love." Frik cooed to Morgan.
Morgan gently touched her hand to Frik's cheek. "Don't be silly darling." she corrected. "Of course he likes you."
Frik looked at Mordred momentarily, and then looked back down. "Well then I wonder what would happen if he didn't like me, eh?" he said cautiously to himself.
Morgan laughed and took a sip of her wine.
Mab, who still stood over by the fire, rolled her eyes at the utter incompetence displayed by Frik and the Lady Morgan Le Faye. She found their company a complete waste of time and often found herself plotting for ways to permanently rid her castle of their constant presence.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:33 pm
Moira sat down after Mordred's loud pronouncement. That really didn't need to be said out loud, but I guess its too late now. Moira thought to herself. Moira looked down and started on her food.
Moira was watching her mother again over by the fire through her long eyelashes. The airy purple dress she always wore in her own domain and her black hair long like Moira's. Moira wasn't sure what she wanted anymore.
An apple came flying at Moira's head interrupting her thoughts, she merely ducked, but the apple whizzed over her head and landed in the middle of Mordred's plate.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:14 pm
Mab quickly turned around and glared at the small fae who hung in the air, it's small arms grasping two apples bigger than the fae itself.
It snickered and threw another one at Moira, ducking and dodging Mordred's glare. Mordred picked up a large pear and chucked it directly at the fae, sending the fae flying. It hit the wall, dead, and slowly slid down to the floor. The apples it was holding dropped from the air and hit Frik and Morgan right on the top of their head. They winced and rubbed their foreheads in pain. Mordred tried to contain himself, but he burst out laughing, grabbing his stomach.
A smile spread across Mab's face. "Watch it Mordred." she warned. "My faes will be your subjects one day." she said and gestured towards the fallen creature.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:02 pm
Moira snatched the second apple aimed at her out of the air and took a bite. She watched the rest of the proceedings without much expression as she ate her apple. But she did smile slightly behind her apple when the other apples were dumped on Morgan and Frik's heads.
"I'm excusing myself for now." Moira said, and left the room.
Moira decided to go to the library for awhile since she had nothing better to do. She entered the quiet place of shelves packed with books and other books in teetering piles on tables. She walked through the room looking for anything that caught her interest while a silencing dust seemed to coat the room. I think Frik has indeed spent a lot of time with Morgan or otherwise this library would have been spotless. He's so attached to his books. Moira pulled a book from a pile, which promptly caused all the other books to lose their delicate balance. Moira waved her arms to stop the books from falling. It was an automatic reflex for her even though she hadn't had any magic in the past 3 years. When the tower of books continued to fall towards her, she crouched down and covered her head preparing for final impact.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:24 pm
The books froze, then unfroze and righted themselves neatly in their places. Mab smiled. "You always enjoyed the library." she said simply. "Even when you were very little." Surprisingly, Mab was alone. Mordred, her leech, had not followed her out of the dining hall this time.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:49 pm
Moira nodded. "Thanks for..." Moira motioned at her used-to-be scars. "I don't think I shall love anyone again after that, besides you of course." "What are you going to do now?"
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 7:56 pm
Mab's smiled gently faded from her delicate features.
"You love me?" she said slowly.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:05 pm
"Did I say that?" Moira replied. "Well I suppose I did."
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:06 pm
"Well do you?" Mab said with a hint of worry in her voice, and on her face.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:14 pm
"Of course." Moira smiled at her teasingly.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:35 pm
An awkward silence enveloped the library for a moment or two after Moira's 'confession'. "Well I suppose you might want some time alone." she said softy and turned to leave the room.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:22 pm
Moira laughed after her mother had left. "Well I know one way to freak her out." She sat down with her book. Sometimes she was on the same page with her mother sometimes she wasn't. Human emotions made no sense to Mab. She understood what a human would do when feeling a particular emotion. But she did not feel the same sort of emotions humans did.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:45 pm
Mab sauntered back into the dining hall, dazed and confused. She took her usual spot in front of the fire, her comrades still eating at the table behind her.
Mordred strode over to his aunt and sat down next to her. "Auntie I am bored." he said with a slight whine in his voice.
"Mordred, do not start bothering your aunt." Morgan scolded. "Find some way to entertain yourself."
Mordred left his aunt to sharpen his arrows in one of the far corners of the room. Morgan and Frik began whispering to each other, leaving Mab with some quiet.
Thoughts slowly crept into her head, thoughts of Moira, and how she felt. It was haunting her. She had to decide whether or not she loved Moira, or whether or not she could. Mab was not stupid, she knew about mortal feelings, hell she had created enough mortals to know, but Mab herself did not know of her origins. She did not know who she loved or if she could. Mab had loved once, and only once, and she knew not to make that mistake again. But now, now that Moira loved her, as a daughter should love her mother, Mab was confused as where she stood in all of this.
Mab sat and stared into the fire, allowing these thoughts to corrupt her thinking for hours and hours.
Morgan and Frik had long since gone to bed, when Mordred finally left the room.
"Goodnight, Auntie Mab." he said with a yawn.
"Pleasant dreams, my sweet." Mab said without smiling as she usually did when she sent him to bed.
Mordred dragged his feet up the stairs to his room and slammed his door, enveloping the halls in silence once again.
Mab peered into the hall, looking toward the library. Candles lit up the small room, enabling Mab to see Moira slumped over in her chair, book open in her lap, fast asleep. Mab laughed softly to herself and waved her hand in the hair. Six small floating faes and two elves appeared in the room and bowed to them. Mab gestured towards Moira and the creatures slowly crept off to the library. The lifted Moira into the air, and gently carried her off to her room.
Mab slowly stood, and with one effortless breath, she extinguished the great fire.
The morning sun warmed the woods surrounding Mab's cavern bellow the lake, but not a drop of sunshine dared reach the interior of the old queen's cave. Mordred was up in the library, bright and early as usual, picking through Mab's books, trying to find something interesting. Morgan had had her nose stuck in a book all morning, desperate to keep her mind occupied while Frik was kept busy by Mab. The queen had tired of seeing them together so much and instantly put Frik to work that morning. She had him bustling around her castle doing minuscule tasks that, "could be left undone if Madame pleased," as he had put it.
Her royal highness herself was in her crystal room, hexing a bed of crystals, the colour slowing draining from them. Mab was alone, as usual, and that was how she preferred things. Whenever the queen secluded herself ( which was more and more often these days ) it was an obvious sign that she was not to be disturbed. The only one who ever tried her patience was Mordred, of course, but it was never evident that Mab cared. Morgan had always believed that if it was Mordred himself who forgot the mighty queen, she would never ever hold it against him.
Mab took a deep breath, watching the golden tint of her crystal drain into nothing. Disappointed in the small amount of energy she received from her crystal bed, Mab angrily slammed her gems to the dirt, the crystals themselves shattering at her feet.
At the sound of crystals hitting the ground, Frik hurried into the room, his arms filled with debris. "Won't you ever tidy up, Frik?" Mab sneered, kicking him sharply in the gut as he bent down to pick up the pieces.
He winced in pain and breathe sharply. "I try, Madame, but there is a lot of work to be done, and no one to help me with it. I can not use gnomes, elves, or faes, for anything because, Madame, I have good reason to believe that they just do not like me. All they have ever done is slow me down and -"
Frik winced again from the pain in his side.
"Enough!" Mab hissed. "Stop your complaining and get to work."
Frik nodded. "Yes, Madame." he said and continued his cleaning.
After a moment, he broke the silence with his questions. "What are we to do about Moira, Madame?" he asked. "I mean, her loyalty is questionable, as we have seen in the past, and in light of recent events -"
Mab's glare stopped him mid-sentence. "But she is a lovely girl, is she not, Madame?" he said changing his tone completely.
"She will stay as long as she pleases, Frik, and I want no further complaints from you or your precious Lady Morgan Le Faye."
He went white. "As you wish, Madame." he said with a bow and hurried out of the room just as quickly as he had come.
Yet again, Mab was left to herself, her only company being the silence.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:19 am
Moira drew a circle in the dirt ground with a stick. She placed four bowls at the four points of the circle. In one bowl was ordinary dirt, another had water, another with incense, and the last one had a candle in it. Moira lit the candle and called silently to the four elements of the world. Earth, Water, Air, Fire! I summon you! She sat in the middle of her circle and closed her eyes. She breathed deeply letting her spine curve. I breathe in all the positive forces of this world. She breathed out, relaxing her whole body. And I breathe out all of the negative forces of myself. Then she slowly opened her eyes. This was the moment where she felt completely had peace with the world. All is one, and One is all.
She began to dismantle her circle. It was not true magic. It was the magic that any human could draw on, the magic that the human pagans practised. Even if her mother had stolen her power, the Old Ways still ran in her blood. Christianity never could have made her feel whole, unlike the Old Ways.
Moira sensed a chill coming from inside the palace and turned back to look. She must really be upset about something if I can feel it all the way out here. Moira thought.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 6:45 pm
Frik hurried outside with some feed for the Gryphons that stayed outside Mab's palace. As he gently sprinkled some of the feed in the pen, he noticed Mab's daughter. "What are you doing all the way out here?" he asked. Frik noticed the small circle drawn in the dirt. "You are just like her, you know." he said with a laugh. "Always preferring to be alone when you do magic." He paused and looked at Moira inquisitively. "Speaking of Mab, she is in a rather foul mood today, do you know what might be the cause?" he asked.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 4:26 am
Moira shrugged, "Why are you feeding those foul things?" her memories flashing back to them attacking her and Salem. Back when she had loved Salem, bitter memories welled up in her head at the thought. Suddenly she couldn't stand it anymore, she had to get out. I want out! her thoughts shrieked at her. Moira ran away and started struggling out into the lake at the feet of the caves trying to drown herself.
From: Libitine
To: Arwen17
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 4:12 pm
Frik sighed. "Oh, Miss Moira, I have no idea. Maybe grain." he said. "It's Mordred who finds it." he picked up Moira's thought and then heard the splash in the river. He dropped the feed in the Gryphon pen and screamed, "MAB!"
She appeared, clothed in a black corset and lush violet skirt, utterly encrusted with gems and jewels, and waved her hand violently in the air, propelling Moira out of the water and into the dirt. Her crystalline eyes were filled with what appeared to be anger, but if you looked close enough you could see it was fear. The queen ignored Moira's struggles and summoned her strength.
She called for Mordred who came running out of the palace and threw himself on Moira, pinning her to the earth. He let her expel her energy as he held her close to him. Mordred put one hand in his pocket, and produced some leaves. He roughly shoved them into Moira's mouth and forced her to chew and swallow them. They were pinlobble leaves, and when eaten, they forced the consumer into a mellow state as they drifted slowly into unconsciousness.
Before anyone could react further, Moira broke down in Mordred's arms, screaming and crying. Mab gave a strong nod, and Mordred picked her up off the ground and carried her into her room. He laid his sobbing cousin in her bed, brushed himself off, and exited the room, brushing past his aunt without a word.
Mab looked at her daughter for a moment in utter disbelief as she listened to Moira cry. The scene before her broke whatever heart she once, or did, have. Frik came in behind her with a cloth and a small bowl filled with water.
"I will clean her up, Madame. There's no need for you to stay any longer and worry."
Mab refused to let him in and grabbed the contents from his hands. "Get out." she ordered and he shrank away, closing the door behind him.
"Yes, Madame." he whispered as the door shut in front of him.
Mab slowly walked over to Moira gently dipping the cloth into the bowl of water. She sat down on the bed next to her daughter who lay face down on her soft mattress. Mab gently wiped Moira's cuts on her back, which she had received through the whole ordeal. After a few silent minutes between them, Moira finally stopped crying, and Mab hoped it was the pinlobble leaves doing their work.
Her majesty continued softly wiping the blood from her daughter's back in silence until Moira spoke up.
From: Arwen17
To: Libitine
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 6:32 pm
Moira continued to struggle viciously trying to get back to the water, screaming anything she could at them. Mordred pinned her to the ground and forced some nasty smelling leaves into her mouth. She started to feel the effects almost immediately. Her mind was drifting more and more until she felt someone dabbing her back with a wet cloth. Moira turned her head to see her mother and said, "I'm sorry."