Chapter 26:

Chapter 26, To Pass the Time

Alyona looked towards the building from the window of the car she had ridden in to the address she had been given by her son not that long ago. Umehito was able to get the address of where the lessons would be held from Kyoya earlier in the day and she managed to work a small span of time into her schedule to allow for teaching Haruhi separately from Kirimi. She however wasn't told about the temporal difference until she was almost there via the Shadow that was driving. She sighed as she walked up to the door and knocked. She only waited for a moment before it opened without a sound.

"Lady Alyona," Asuda bowed. "Welcome to the Sanctuary. Have you been informed of the differences?"

"I have," she sighed softly. "I wish I was informed before actually being in my transport though. Fortunately the items I needed to add were already set and packed for me. I take it young Ootori used a Shade to commune with my husband."

"That would be correct. He does apologize at not greeting you personally but his heritage was on the verge of a Flux and he needs some time to quell the upheaval."

The elder sorceress nodded softly and follow Asuda inside. With some of the stresses she had heard the young half demon deal with, Alyona was honestly surprised that he didn't flux more often than he did. She smiled softly at the comfort she felt despite the dark nature of the Arcana around her and only paused to let Asuda open another set of doors. Alyona smiled when she saw Haruhi sitting at a long table with the others of her family, even if some of them hadn't been added just yet.

"Morning to you child," she greeted gently. "I trust your rest was far more pleasant than previous ventures."

Haruhi nodded. "Yeah."

"That's good. Since it is early for you, yet late from the time I understand, we will start off simple and run through the last set of exercises we did before Lord Trekiva's arrival."

"Okay."

"Is there any other lesson that you wish to partake?"

Haruhi nodded and explained the last stay she had in the Sanctuary. Alyona could only smile and be in awe of what the young girl had accomplished and she was also reinformed of the time ratio that now existed. On the way, Alyona was informed that the time in the Sanctuary was that of one external minute equaling an hour, and had been changed to be one minute equating to a day. Blinking her surprise away as the reasons behind the change, Alyona began to reformulate the plans she had to be extend slightly. She could actually teach Haruhi a fair bit more than what she had planned since she originally thought she only had two and a half days. With 60 days, she could get Haruhi through some of the Arcanum exams to determine her level of power and where she would need to start learning to keep her Balance and if she had any other affinities with other types of magic. Alyona full intended to see the limits of Haruhi's vast power and help the young girl control it.

After Haruhi and the others had eaten, the Morinozuka and Haninozuka parents rose and stated that they were going to remain for a time to see the training the children were going to do. Hunny, Mori and Haruhi nodded before rising and following Trekiva to the courtyard with the rest following just behind. It was set up how it had been the last time the trio was there with the additions of more targets of various sizes and some benches to sit on. Alyona let them begin with their Judo and Kendo warm-ups while she began to look over some of the lesson notes she had created for the time frame she originally thought she had and what could be added with the new frame.

Every once and a while, Alyona would look up from her collected papers to see how the children were doing and each time she would pause in awe at the fluidity of movement they had. Even Ranka was doing well and she believed that his balance came from his work at the bar. It was clear that he did more than just stand behind a counter serving drinks. She smiled at the encouragement that Haruhi would receive from the adults and felt a small bit of pride when she saw that the girl would take the explanations of what went wrong without any sign of shame or sadness. After a few rounds of sparing with the elder Haninozuka and Morinozuka children, the younger pair was given the lessons which allowed Haruhi to come over and speak with her.

"You do well, child," Alyona praised.

"Thanks," Haruhi smiled. "I still have quite a bit to go but I am catching up to Hunny and Takashi."

"At the rate you learn, you will catch up to their younger brothers quickly. I can see the pride each parent has for you, as I have it as well."

Haruhi smiled softly. "The courtyard is large enough that we can do my lessons out here, too. We did so this morning."

"I noticed. I was actually using the time you were warming up with the boys to look over my scheduled lessons for you. I was under the notion that I would only have at most two days to teach you anything."

"One minute being an hour here wasn't near long enough. The shift was set last night, for a multitude of reasons."

"One being a longer span of time to learn arts to protect yourself, yes?" Alyona asked.

"Yeah. The other being so that Takashi and I have a bit more time to learn about each other before...you know..."

"Entering your Union to him?"

Haruhi nodded with a faint blush.

"Nervous about being in Union with him or that he is a vampire?"

"About being married more than that he is a vampire. I mean, it is a bit of a shock knowing that the people I have spent most of my time at school with aren't exactly human, although it does explain a good bit of their weirdness. On top of that, not only am I able to use something I only thought was in fairy tales and myths but I am also part of the elite that my friends have been part of all of their lives...something I never really thought to attain or even aim for...it's...it's a lot to take in."

"I understand, little one. So much shown to you in so little time can be overwhelming to even the most open minded and balanced person. When I was to marry Katsuro, I was only told he was an Arcana user such as myself and he was a fairly powerful one at that. I wasn't told his aptitude until I met him. He was the one who told me he was a child of Darkness, and a King of the Darkness before anything went further than our introductions. Can you imagine my shock at being picked as an option to be in such a union with one whom I knew next to nothing of? Me, who was just barely into my own training as a Sorceress of Light and Balance, entering into union with one who was essentially my polar opposite?"

"Probably how I am feeling right now."

"And you would be correct. Like you, I came from humble birth but my family still had some power to its name in certain Arcane Circles more so than in non-mythical society and that is why I was among the candidates for Katsuro. I am not sure what made him choose me over the other daughters, especially those from within the very span of darkness he called home."

"Maybe it was because you weren't part of the world he knew all his life," Haruhi mused aloud. "He was probably so used to seeing the darkness in those around him that your Light was something he never saw or thought to have. Everyone needs to see the other side of the coin every now and then, especially if it is something they have never seen before. You must have done or said something to keep his attention on you over the others. Look at my friendships with the others. Most cast me off as someone not worth their time but with them, I am guessing it is because I showed them not only the lifestyle I knew but that I wasn't phased by their wealth, power and reputations. They were just people to me and they still are but they are people who I can call friend even if they annoy the hell out of me with some of the off the wall things they do."

Alyona could do nothing but take in the younger woman's words and laugh softly at the latter statement. She could recall one of the things she had done to catch the dark King's attention, she wasn't afraid to let those around her know that even though she may not have carried the same monetary pride, social standings or racial classification of magic, Alyona Edriva Tokarev was not one to be pushed around without consequences.

Gently patting the young woman's shoulder, Alyona rose with Haruhi and moved to another part of the courtyard to being the recap of their last lesson together as well as cover some of the newer things that Trekiva and Asuda showed her. She was deeply impressed with Haruhi's progress and began to instruct her in other spells, shields, and incantations.

*~*0o0o0o0o0*~*

The pattern of wake up, do warm ups, eat breakfast, train, have lunch, written lessons, snack, practice, eat dinner and sleep, became the norm as it had been the last time Haruhi, Hunny and Mori were in the Sanctuary. The only additions were that this time there was more people to interact with, and there were a few hours each day set aside for Haruhi and Mori to spend time with just the two of them with the occasional chaperone of either one of Mori's parents or Ranka, but even if one of the parents wasn't there, Qurdox was and he would talk with the two teens regularly. Each moment they had some spare time to themselves, they spoke about their childhoods, their dreams, what they wanted in the future and found that they had roughly the same dreams, they just originally had different means of attaining them.

She also learned more about what life was like for a vampire in the modern times, as well as some of the things that were found in unions between vampires and those with or without Arcana. It seemed as though it didn't matter if the prospective partner had magic capabilities or not, the fact that the partner wasn't a vampire yet, or willing to become one, was enough for most to disregard and degrade them entirely. That made Haruhi a little uneasy but she wasn't particularly worried. To her, people were people, no matter who or what they were and were worth respect regardless. She would rather base a person on what they can do or have done rather than anything else. She judged what kind of person they were rather than what they portrayed, something she could do with unerring accuracy. Sure she would be uncomfortable talking with them but she would push through it and not chicken out. She would stand up for herself and had thus far done a rather good job of doing so.

With each conversation, each moment shared, Haruhi and Mori grew closer to each other. A few kisses had been shared between them and he had asked to take a small bit of her blood a couple of times, offering his in return, which had lead to another series of intimate dreams similar to the first. Some were more detailed than others but the result was the same. With each dream, she became a little less embarrassed about the high likelihood that it may come to pass soon. Haruhi also felt that she would be able to handle almost anything else that came her way with how much training was being given to her in martial arts and magic. With Alyona's strict training and Trekiva's constant guidance, she managed to preform two of the five tests that would grant her any kind of title as a Mage.

*~*0o0o0o0o0*~*

"Well, little one," Alyona smiled. "It has been nearly 60 days since I first arrived. I am glad to see that my lessons have been able to label you to the stature of Level 3 Balance Mage so soon. Although you cannot officially carry that title outside of this Sanctuary as yet, it is yours. Traditionally only the Arch-Mage or one of his Speakers can place such an honor and I am not one so it must be kept quiet."

"Would you want to be one?" Haruhi asked.

"No. I know that I could handle its responsibilities easily but I would miss my children and seeing them grow into the casters I know they can become."

Haruhi nodded softly. "You want to see your family prosper before you see everything else fall apart with the slightest mistake."

"A harsh statement but a true one. The wrong words to the wrong people can send everything into chaos, same as with the right words to the wrong people and the wrong words to the right. Very few give the right words to the right people."

"I hope that someone will eventually figure out which one is which."

Alyona sighed with a soft nod, she honestly did too. She looked at her watch and saw that it was close to the time she was supposed to leave and slowly stood from the chair she was seated in. She had agreed to one last meal inside the Sanctuary with her student before heading home for the night. During her stay, Alyona had managed to talk to Trekiva and Kyoya about arranging it so that instead of her coming to the estate every week, she would come every day for an hour to teach Haruhi so she could gain control over her power quickly and more readily. She had a feeling that the coming days before the Union Ceremony were going to become a new set of tests for the young girl and that she needed to be prepared for anything and everything, especially if what her husband already knew of the Katayama was accurate. Both had agreed and Kyoya had even suggested that she bring the whole family next time if they had the ability to for the same reasons that Haruhi was being trained inside the Vortex, more time to learn, more time to practice, and some relaxation from the stresses of the physical world.

She said she would bring it up to Katsuro but felt that he would agree, stating that it would allow some time for them as a family since it had been quite some time since they were able to do anything together. Kyoya had stated that he would probably spend some time with the older Shadow Mage and exchange information since it was likely that Katsuro had a bit more and more accurate information on the other half of Haruhi's family having had business with them in the past. He would also take the time to try and learn some of the methods the elder used in keeping up with the fluxes that were common in those touched by the Void. Kyoya was often drained and exhauseted when he either tried to keep it in or let it out and had a hard time reigning it back in once a flux was completed. Alyona said she would speak to her husband about it when she returned home and was surprised when a Void Gate opened for her.

"Someone tried to follow the car here," Kyoya explained at Alyona's confused glare. "I had it so that one of my Shades borrowed your form and are now leading them on a merry chase around Japan."

She nodded and stepped through the gate to see her husband waiting on the other side, his arms behind his back and a blank expression. Alyone could rightly tell that the face was meant for someone who was an attacker rather than her since it was all but unheard of to have a random Void Gate open in the middle of your entryway. She greeted him with a soft smile, which was returned before they both slowly walked towards his study so that they could speak. He had a feeling that his wife had a lot to share and he was eager to know why a Void Gate spawned inside the entry hall.