A/N: I do not own Mortal Instruments, or the names of its characters. I do however own my characters as are written in this story, and this story itself. Thank you for reading! Please enjoy.

Chapter 4

"… the key to who you were …"

The next day during his one free hour, Jace embarked with Clary to explore the gully surrounding the plantation-castle. Simon excused himself from the venture averring that he would much rather spend time indoors reading on the history of magickal philosophy. Jace and Clary walked side by side in sociable silence for hours on end, covering the gully in all directions around the House of Valentine.

Coming around a broad bend in the natural pathway, Clary was overwhelmed by the marvel of the wooded vale enfolding them. Daylight dappled damp, moss-carpeted gully floor, deep green captivating, casting strange shadows and silhouettes. Quieting the living chatter of the hollow crevasse, a gentle breath of wind stirred and swirled, whisking eddies of falling leaves up and all around the boy and the girl. Ledges leading downward into sculpted stairways snaked sinuously through tall trees growing from jagged crags on either side of the spacious path.

The fetid stench of soil strewn with waste and decay from animals and insects and plants coalesced with the intense, intoxicating spice of vine-ripened fruit mingled with the stronger, sweeter scents of myriad orchid blossoms. Bridging murky grey-green waters of stagnant swamps and putrid pools, giant rock formations bore two young children farther into the inviting interior of warm, balmy gully. Petals of lush, liquid hue, from dark crimson to bright cerulean, from deep, heavy gold to fresh, frosted violets, drenched the earth, the waters and the day with their beauty.

Crooked, contorted branches, entangled and intertwined, created clambering canopies through which the pale light of the daytime moon could be diffused. A circus of tiny, creeping insects swarmed the swamp's smooth surface only to sink suddenly, silently beneath its obscure depths, leaving behind a single ripple in their wake to spread across its deceptive and deadly façade, betraying presence. This was an untamed, untouched landscape of dark and windswept places ... that held secrets ... that hid spectres ... that hung the very key to who you were on a jewelled choker about its neck.

Caves and caverns inconsiderable for the scale of the lucen staggered across the face of the chasm's cliffs. Tiny reptiles, their rough, scaly skins shimmering, sour yellow speckled with bits of black and brown, scurried away into the heart of the land, the tips of their tails and toes and rows of ribbed spines luminescent sparks of organic light. The filmy layer of their featureless faces secreting perfect replicas of Clary's and Jace's, remained hidden and unseen in that awakening world. Undulating under the power of the breeze, the plumes of palms shyly scratched the soft air like innocent, inhibited lovers.

Eliads and ferns, elevated and rootless, hung growing on the silken atmosphere. Their fronds and flora, large and lustrous, moved to a mysterious song, a serpentine charm. It was an enchanted place ... enigmatic ... enthralling, lovelier than dream. Before them giant, tree-like beings arose from the bed of the gorge and watched their approach. The older ones, wizened and crotchety-looking, allowed the wind to help them bend over just a little bit more in order to get a better look at the tiny beings all the way down by their roots. Jace recognised them from his natural environment books and his studies of the indigenous plant life of Lasan. Clary stared in awe at the sight.

These were Moars, their gleaming, luminous eyes catching the light of the moon, identical hollows set high in their trunks beneath their soaring branches. Tripping several times over the roots of three of them much to his chagrin, Jace nearly screamed when the trunks of the beings shifted and split and cracked into unmistakable smiles, revealing yellowed, toothy bark. The Moars shook and wobbled, tickled to death, erupting into happy, high-pitched giggles. Clary gasped and stopped mid-step as their roots rose up out of the ground, only to settle comfortably back down into the soil, only to succeed in sending Jace tumbling and falling once again.

Suddenly unable to help herself, Clary's own laugh exploded from within her and soon both her and the Moars where doubled over in a frenzy of tears and sap and the sporadic stomping of feet and roots in mirth at Jace's upset. Jace scrambled away from the roots with as much dignity as he could muster, hoisting his little nose as high into the air as it would go, arms crossed, legs set apart in the typical stance of displeased, six year old, male royalty - which only made everyone else laugh all the harder. Bemused, embarrassed and disdainful, Jace inexplicably fought the urge to give into he did not know what when one of the younger Moars bent all the way over to the very floor of the gully and lifted him up into its branches.

Clary almost screamed herself when she saw the corner of Jace's mouth turn upward, forming an actual smile, even though the boy seemed completely unaware of what was happening to his face; and suppressed the urge to climb up the Moar to him and insist they return to the plantation-castle for a healer to examine him fully at once. Aware he was looking down at her looking up at him still smirking obliviously, Clary looked away, still in shock, and a little uncomfortable.

"We must continue our search now," Jace decreed, when the Moar had set him down to the ground. Gazing down the path which just led to even more gully, he said, "We still have the north-western woods to cover before our exploration can be concluded. If we can't find any place to stash the lucen there, we are going to have to tell my mother about him when we get home."

Clary nodded in affirmation, and they moved on. Just before they disappeared around the bend ahead, she glanced back at the Moars waving goodbye, a smile gracing her lips at her remembered jollity. Jace scowled at her smiling, his own smirk long since gone as he forged forward, taking the lead into the trees. Shaking her head, completely floored by the confounding boy in front of her, Clary plunged into the trees behind him.

Don't even know where he's going, she muttered to herself in her mind.

Up ahead, Jace smirked and remained silent as he walked on through the green.

"So … what're you going to call him?" Clary asked, sending a sidelong glance at the prince, who finally deigned to let her walk beside him since he did not know the way through the gully.

"Hmm?" Jace glanced at her before turning his head away and back to his thoughts.

"The lucen … have you thought of a name for him yet?" Clary sighed; trying to talk to this boy was like a punishment no one deserved.

Jace paused, then continued to walk. A delicate frown graced his brow, the scowl marring his face settling immediately into its comfortable, already permanent position, indicating that he had not. He shook his head in negation.

"Well what about . . ."

"He's my lucen; I'm the one who is going to name him, and that's final," he said sharply, turning on her so suddenly Clary had to stop walking just to manually check the urge to hit him like she had so many weeks before.

Damn brat has more mood swings than a menopausal bitch, she thought to herself, giving him a look that said quite clearly 'watch it or else', before falling back into step beside him.

"Fine," she muttered, pressing on ahead. Jace narrowed his eyes at the widening distance between him and her fast-disappearing back and quickened his steps to keep up with her strides. When he finally did catch her, her darkened green eyes wouldn't even so much as take him in. The stiff, angry walk, her auburn hair flipping with every step as if it too was silently swearing at him, told him the only thing he needed to know. Clary was pissed.

Jace sighed in frustration. He hadn't meant to snap at her, but the moment the name she had thought for the lucen entered his mind, he couldn't think of a better one himself, which irritated him to no end. Now she wasn't even so much as speaking to him. For once he understood why something was his fault.

"What about Eleon?" he exhaled, looking at her innocently enough. Clary paused mid-step before continuing on her way as though she hadn't even heard him. Between them a piercing silence left Jace's ears ringing.

"That's nice," Clary said softly. Knowing he must have read her mind, she felt somewhat touched he would go with the name she had chosen, rather than stubbornly refusing to go with anything he himself had not personally selected.

I guess he's more like Maryse than I thought, she mused, making her way through quiet trees.

And it was now Jace's turn to be somewhat touched.

A/N: Explored a little world-building and mind-reading in this chapter. I really hope you enjoyed it. Thank you very much for reviewing and telling me what you think! ^_^