The Morning Instruction
The next day began as early as the one before. As before Levana didn't want to get up, and as before the Chatelaine drove her out of bed and into her sitting room. Unlike before, Levana didn't resist greeting the portrait of Solstice, instead making a quick attempt to get it over with. She had to do it three times before the Chatelaine was satisfied.
Then she was led out to the gardens. The air was cold and Levana was glad she had taken her coat. Above the stars blazed brightly without the clouds to obscure them. The grounds, in contrast, were full of shadows, each bush and shrub a silent watcher that caused Levana to walk a little closer to the Chatelaine. In the middle of the of the garden was an enclosed gazebo. They entered it and the Chatelaine began her instruction.
"Well bittersweet, we begin your first lesson, what I am about to show you is a meditative exercise call Tai Chi. Are you familiar with it?" The Chatelaine asked.
"Is that some kind of martial kung-fu?" Levana answered, with just a hint of fatigue induced sarcasm. Her teacher smiled.
"Yes, after a fashion, but there will be more to than that. Now I want you to take the first stance." The old woman declared. "Let me show you." She took Levana's arms and positioned them before her. Then she walked behind Levana and use her foot to widen the space between Levana's own feet and position them.
"There, " she said, satisfied. She walked about to face Levana and took the same stance. "I want you to watch me closely as I show you a basic sequence. Then I will help you do it." The old woman began to flow slowly between different stances, breathing steadily and deeply. She looked silly at first, shifting her weight at a seeming snail's pace, but as Levana paid attention she recognized a dancer's grace to the Chatelaine's motions.
The Chatelaine completed the sequence twice before she stopped. "Your turn Satel." The Chatelaine stepped forward, took Levana's hands and began to guide her through the sequence, reminding her to breathe. It was hard, Levana had never been graceful and she stumbled now. However, with the Chatelaine's guiding hands, and nudges from her feet, Levana completed the sequence.
"Good," her mentor said. "Now, we do it again." They went through the sequence again and again, through a distracting sunrise and into the morning. The slow, balancing motions made Levana's feet and legs burn, and her arms tired. Worse, she felt like a fool stumbling through these exercises, and as frustrated as she was, she voiced her concern.
"Of course you look foolish, bittersweet." The Chatelaine confirmed. "So do most when they start. You don't have the dancer's grace, true. That doesn't mean you can't be graceful, but that is not why we do this." Levana opened her mouth to ask her why but hesitated. Her mentor noticed her pause. "Go on, ask your question."
"Why are we doing this?" Levana asked. She huffed when her teacher corrected a misstep.
"Thaumaturges are more skilled at manipulation with their Gift than you, why?" A question! The Chatelaine loved answering a question with another. Couldn't she say anything straight out?
"I don't know," Levana said helplessly. She didn't get where she was supposed to go with it. She took an educated guess. "Training."
"Very good." The Chatelaine complemented. "For a fact they are trained for it. However, let us go deeper, to the truth." They finished the sequence and began again. "Discipline, divided into Focus and Familiarity. Training is merely a conduit to cultivate these traits. With focus comes the ability to concentrate on a chosen goal and avoid distraction. With familiarity comes the ability to intuit circumstances and solve situations without wasting time in thought."
"In this way your thaumaturges are more powerful than you. They are efficient with their abilities, more flexible, doing more than you can with their lesser Gift. It is true that in raw potential they are not your equals, they could never challenge your family directly. However, in all regards beyond, your family are merely figureheads, amateurs with a trump card. Should that advantage be lost your family would be helpless. Your thaumaturges, on the other hand, are more adaptable. Yet even they do not know the full potential the Lunar Gift, techniques I plan to teach you, but first you need discipline."
Then her mentor called the exercise to an end.
"Enough bittersweet, it is time for breakfast." The Chatelaine said. It was good thing too, Levana didn't know how much longer she could stand her empty stomach's growling. The temperature had warmed considerably since the sun rose and so Levana removed her coat, throwing it over her shoulder. She squinted at the sun, so strange to actually feel the heat as well as see the light. Her stomach growled again and her thoughts returned to guessing what breakfast would be.
Then she noticed two men that stood at attention on either side of the garden doors. At first she dismissed them as servants, but then she noticed something odd. They were young, not like her, but compared to the other servants they were virtual children. Then as they entered the building, she realized something else, their faces, she had seen them before.
"Who were those men?" Levana asked. The Chatelaine gave a quick look with a raised eyebrow.
"What, don't you recognize your own guards?" The old woman said.
"Guards!" Levana cried. She hadn't seen a guard of the Lunar Court since she left. Besides, those men weren't wearing the guard's uniform.
"Yes, did you think your sister would have sent you to Earth without a proper escort?" The Chatelaine responded in a teasing tone. "You would be right, I had to remind her, and make the selections myself."
"But where have they been?" Levana asked. "I haven't seen them since we left Luna."
"No, they have been busy settling in with their families. Today is the first they were available." The Chatelaine said. A thought occurred to Levana, one that had crossed her mind before but she had ignored it, not wanting hope to disappoint her.
"I know what you are thinking Satel," The Chatelaine said as they enter the dining hall, breakfast already on the table. They sat down, but did not partake. "Yes, I selected Evret to be part of your escort, but you will not see him. You are not ready."
"When?!" Levana almost whined. "When will I be ready?"
"Not soon, if that is your attitude." The old woman cautioned. "Though certainly after you eat your breakfast." Levana grumbled, but took the Chatelaine's hint and began to eat her assorted fruits and small pastries. The Chatelaine also began to eat her portion.
"Satel, " she said, "I have invited the families of your escort to my home a month from this weekend. We will be entertaining them in the garden, a picnic I suppose, what do you think?"
Levana didn't know, she had never been on a picnic before. "I...I guess, but why?"
"They have been taken from everything they've known and brought to a strange world against their will." The Chatelaine explained. "They will be looking for something familiar and something safe, yet diverting, to take their minds off of the changes in their lives. That is what we will provide. You of course understand their position."
She looked at Levana intensely. Levana realized that, in a way, she would understand these subjects of hers. They would look to her, not to Channary. She, Levana, would be their 'queen' here on Earth. With the realization, Levana was excited. She was out of her sister's shadow. She wouldn't be the invisible girl any longer.
"Satel, are you finished with breakfast?" The Chatelaine asked snapping Levana from her thoughts.
"Yes," she answered, she lost much of her appetite when she heard the news.
"Good," the old woman said and rose from her seat. "Then we will continue with your instruction." She hesitated by the doors when Levana stayed seated.
"I thought we were finished." Levana said, a little nervous. The old woman laughed, somewhere between a chuckle and titter.
"Galaxies no, bittersweet." She said. "Those were your morning exercises. We still have at least half the day left to us and I am not going to let you waste it. Come along."
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