Melody of Mana

The full debriefing, and all of the paperwork associated with it, took nearly a week. During that time I was given access to the stone Selene had, so that I could begin the update process on my own core. The powers that be didn't know that I'd already been through that process, so I just spent the time going through the guide updates again and making sure I had down what I needed to.

I knew that they wanted more of those gates and that I'd be on the shortlist for those making them, but the speed was a surprise. It mostly came down to the fact that I'd already demonstrated my understanding and was already experienced with getting a previously down gate up and running. The fact that there were few that could question my loyalty because of the positions of my father and mentor and I was prime to work on them.

During this time I didn't see much of the rest of our group, though I did inquire. Glen was waiting to be cleared, then would be getting a hefty promotion. He'd managed to keep most of us alive in a bad situation that he was in no way properly prepped for, and that made a really good impression on his superiors. The twins had reams to do, we'd encountered enough new fauna for Leah to bury herself for weeks or months on descriptions and guides, and the fauna, while I'd payed less attention, was also a huge bonus in information.

Dras, Selene, and I would be taking up the charge of getting a more through gate network going, along with a few of the other researchers from Mystien's lab. For now we needed to get the runes down and as well understood as possible, and then begin the process of teaching others. Dras was busy reading a couple of our new team members in. Selene was working on her first pair of connected gates, following the designs we had. While they worked out those I was supposed to be doing core work, along with writing down my observations up to this point.

Four days after we returned a knock sounded on the door to my temporary quarters.

"Come in," I said from my desk, there'd been several people coming by periodically, so a visitor wasn't a surprise.

The door opened to reveal my brother, a crooked smile on his face. "Hey there, how's it going?"

"Good grief, took you long enough. I was betting dad would be here the moment he heard I was back." I rose to hug John, it really was weird to have family again.

"Dad's been sent up north for a bit to handle some issues, not sure when he'll be back. Otherwise he would have." John came in and found a seat, looking about the small room for a moment.

"And mom? I know she's not read in on everything, but she knows about the emperor's fortress, certainly she could come and say hi."

He shook his head. "Mom's not read in on a lot of the state secrets Alana, which whatever your working on decidedly is. Crap, I don't even know the details, and I am in the loop for lots of that stuff. I think Mystien's trying to find some way to tell people you got back, but being that you somehow traveled across the ocean without a boat and without anyone knowing you did so we'll need to arrange some cover, just in case anyone starts looking."

I didn't talk about my work with family. That was something Mystien had been pretty clear wasn't allowed. Sure, my dad could know if he needed to, but portals weren't really his wheelhouse. They knew I was working on magical research under Mystien, and that I hadn't been fond of my previous boss, but little else.

"I think you'll be let in soon, dad too probably, but I suppose that makes sense." I tried to find a comfy spot to lean back, the wooden chair I used for work being poorly suited to lounging. As an afterthought I hummed a small illusion over my desk.

"Not giving me anything more than that?" he teased, halfheartedly.

"Can't. Enough about me though, what's been going on with you?" I'd been away for a fair chunk of the year at this point. It would have been more, but we cut the journey home down a good bit.

"Not much I guess. My unit was doing some work out in the east for awhile there, but we're off for a few weeks. I got a few commendations from some skirmishes out there... started officially courting miss Etia."

"Sorry what!?" Etia was one of my former teachers, and an elf, who I had a... complicated view of.

"You know I knew you'd react like this," he observed.

"Like you've started hooking up with my completely baby crazy teacher? Yes, that should be expected. You know she's mostly just looking at you for breeding purposes right?" There were a few times they could have met, but I'd seen no hints of this from either of them.

"I noticed, but I'm not particularly bothered by that part..." he hesitated, seeming to notice me looking for something to throw at him.

"She's mental John, completely mental, brilliant perhaps, but weird. She's also way older than you." This was exhausting.

"I'm aware that she's an elf Alana, though to be honest she looks about the same age as you do nowadays."

I briefly considered hitting him with a number of different offensive spells. He'd survive, maybe have some hearing damage, but that would be fine. I settled for smacking him with a pillow from my bed though. Punching him would be cathartic, but with his level of physical magic I might as well be slamming my fist into a steel cast of his face.

"One, screw you, two, does mom know about this?" After several halfhearted strikes he put a hand up, catching the offending cushion and ending my assault.

"I was hoping you'd help me tell her," he said.

"So you have gone insane?" There was no way I'd even be in the same building when my mother found out. If she knew Professor Etia she'd lose her mind. If she didn't she'd soon find out just how off that woman was."

"Alana, seriously." He made a face at me like he was genuinely pleading.

"Do you actually pan to marry her or anything, or is this just a fling?" I couldn't judge my brother too harshly, Etia was good looking, and she did have some merits.

"I really do like her, if I can get mom and dad to not freak out I think something might come of it." He seemed serious.

"Dad will want to know if she's a liability, being that she's not one of our citizens. Unless she plans to stay?" I looked at him questioningly.

"She's said she'll join the Empire permanently if we end up marrying..."

He had to realize that he was not only a person looking for love, but also the child of a major political figure. There were so, so many things wrong with all of this. I slumped as I thought about it, trying to come up with what all would need to happen, but just kept drawing blanks.

As I pondered how best to tackle my idiot brother's mix of relationship and romantic issue a knock came at the door. "Come in," I sighed.

The door opened to reveal Ulanion, and another person whom I didn't recognize, clearly a guard escorting him. That didn't seem too odd, being that he was new, and this was a pretty secure place.

"Oh, hello Alana, hope I'm not disturbing anything." He looked a bit nervous as his eyes passed over both my brother and myself.

"Sort of, but it's fine, something you need?" I hadn't seen him since our return, and had been meaning to speak with him, but knew that he was being much, much more thoroughly interviewed than I had been.

"Ah, yes, they just finished with me, and I don't really know many of the other people here. I was hoping that..." He paused as my brother was looking between the two of us.

"You have got to be kidding me," John said accusingly.

"What?" Ulanion was clearly confused.

My brother turned to me, brows furrowed. "You're seriously giving me that much of a hard time? All while pulling this garbage?"

"This is not what you think," I interjected.

"I think it's exactly what I think little sister, and let me just say, you really are the pot calling the kettle black." I thought it was weird that of all the sayings that could cross over between our worlds that one had made it, but it had. I suppose some other person reincarnating here had brought it along at some point.

"It is not like that!" I yelled, frustrated with the whole situation.

John snorted, rising and going to the door. Once there he gave Ulanion a good hard look before nodding. "Alright, you two get on with it. I'll talk to you later Alana, have fun. Don't forget to think about how to explain things to mom though."

After he left a very, very confused Ulanion looked in at me. "Um... sorry, I'm... what was that all about?"

I sighed, trying to dispel a headache that I'd certainly soon have. "You have just the worst timing."

He cringed. "Sorry, want me to come back later?"

"Won't really help at this point," I imagined him doing so, only to have my brother find us together again later. If that happened I might never live it down. "Crap," I sighed, "just kill me now."