Melody of Mana

Mother wanted to spend an afternoon together before I got up to anything else, and seeing as most of what I needed to do right now was resetting up a workshop I really had no reason to refuse her. There was work to be done back at the lab, but we'd proven the concept and the safety checks were ongoing. I got a brief note from Dras, who had stayed behind to finish his core improvement and keep training, informing me that we'd all be off for about a week.

In my previous world we might have done a number of things, sadly a goodly few of those were not really viable here. Shopping in particular wasn't something that was viewed as a common activity for ladies to engage in for fun at our social level. Clothing was incredibly expensive, and even though my family was now quite well off my wardrobe could still easily be described as anemic. That wasn't odd, most people had only a few outfits, and seldom bought more. As for more common goods, most of those were delivered by merchants to us now, so going to the market was an uncommon thing for us to do.

As for a lot of the more common beauty treatments, those were done at home, either by yourself, or a maid trained to do so. It wasn't the same social experience as it had been on Earth, sadly. Since everyone really wealthy had staff too it was almost always private, if time consuming. Public baths were starting to catch on in a few places and served as something of a full spa, but mother had been raised in a small village and they made her a bit uncomfortable.

There were a number of theaters and performances that we could go to. However mother and I disagreed on what we liked to watch, and that wasn't really conducive to chatting. The most common were big circus type exhibitions, plays on stage, or concerts of various types. I did have to admit that some of the plays were pretty good, and even a bit raunchy at times.

The most common social activity, for women of every social order, was handcrafts. There was always, always more work that needed doing, or small things that could be repaired or improved with decoration. I hated them to a certain extent, but they weren't without purpose, and if it made mom happy I could grit my teeth for awhile. I'd learned the most common ones, and even if I was below average I could fake it well enough for most of them.

I did not expect my mother to have gotten into lace while I was away, but apparently she had. She'd taken to it like a fish to water and started decorating a large number of things around the house with it now, something I'd missed the night before. It was time consuming, painfully difficult, only really suited to making things look fancy, and for her patterns needed extremely fine thread.

That last part is where I came in. I had no intention of following her into this new habit, but more than any other of her 'womanly arts' I'd kept up with spinning. If only because I could do it anywhere and the tools were easy to keep around, not requiring much space or setup. This world was still using drop spindles.

"So, tell me about this man you've met," she began as soon as we'd gotten good and started.

"There's not really much to tell mother," I responded.

"Oh? How did you meet?"

"Our group hired him to join us in our work. A lot of people died and we needed help." That actually stopped her in her tracks.

"I... didn't hear about that."

"Well mother, they did. We lost about two-thirds of our people before we even got to the elven lands," I explained.

"Are you okay?" I could tell from the way she asked that she was really concerned about this.

"I'm fine. I can't say I really knew them, and it wasn't like we... There was a monster, a big one." It was hard to explain, even if I kept to the current public information about what we were doing.

"Like the one your father fought when you were a child?" She said, talking about that giant lizard. "I remember the injuries, and how you were after seeing those men."

"It was a lot worse than that. We were prepared, at least we thought we were, but not for some of the things that live in the seas. Even once we got to where we were going, there were more of them, more beasts and creatures the whole way. The leader of our team died too, a big rock fell and crushed him like paste right in front of me." I'd stopped spinning at some point. As I sat there looking at the work I felt a pair of arms wrap around me.

"Are you okay?" She asked again, holding me gently.

My mother had almost always been harsh and demanding, and more than a little irritating at times; she'd also been there trying her best to help me for my whole life. Sure, we disagreed on a lot of things, really a lot of things, and lived very different lives. Still she tried to do her best for me, teaching me things she really thought I needed, and getting angry when I pushed back against what she viewed as important lessons.

"I'm fine, even if I'd gotten hurt I could have just healed myself," I pouted.

"That's not what I mean and you know it. You're strong Alana, and you've seen and done things I know I never will, but you're still only human."

"I..." Was I fine though? I could keep saying it, but was it completely true? "Why does it seem that no matter where I go there's always something horrible there? That people around me are always hurt, always dying? Am I cursed or something?"

"You're not cursed Alana. No more than anyone else of this age. We've all lost people, and a lot of them in the last few years, the famine, the wars and all of that. You do have the ability to find trouble though, which, despite how much I beg you not to, you always seem to run straight at."

I had to think on that for a bit. I could have stayed at the orphanage as a child. I could have not gone down into the undercity with Dras and all those others, or not taken combat magic even though people told me it would be a mess. I could have taken a nice quiet job anywhere, and made lots of money with my magic. I could even have done as mother seemed to want and settle down, having a few kids by my age and a nice quiet family life. I could have, but I also couldn't have.

"I don't want trouble mother, I want to be out there. I want, need, to be somewhere, seeing the edges of the world and learning about the newest and greatest things. Freedom too, being tied down to one place just isn't for me." It was hard to explain.

"And this man, will he help you with that?" She asked.

"How... how did you take me through an entire conversation about feelings only to come right back around to the start?" I'd just run through about five emotions and back to the beginning again.

"It's a skill you'll learn when you have children." She narrowed her eyes in thought a bit. "If you have children." That was a bit of a low blow in her book. "You didn't answer my question though, will he?"

I had to think about that for a few minutes. "Don't know, but I know he'd try to keep me safe."

"Good enough I suppose. I don't really need to know anything else then," she said.

My head was still spinning a bit from that roller-coaster, but I did feel better, so I couldn't really complain. We spent the rest of the day back working on our chosen tasks. Mom asked about other things, how people were, if they were doing well. Then she told me about some of the goings on back home while I'd been away.

One of our former maids a nice enough girl named Suzanne was slated to marry Charles of all people. Mom was glad she'd found someone, as the girl had been a bit messed up. She'd been a slave back before Ermath fell apparently and had some very odd views of the world. Her new husband of course meant that she'd no longer be working for us, but mom was happy regardless. I was just happy Charles had finally found someone, he was a bit of an oddball too.

Another note that she let me in on was that my friend Pinea, the queen of all partiers, had been recently seen often in the presence of some man named Alowen. He was apparently recently out of the military and taking up a high position in the city's guard. I'd have to ask her about it some time in the future.

We finished up late that afternoon when the things I'd ordered arrived. I had mice and tools to unpack and set up, something mother was completely uninterested in aiding me with. She knew it was for my practice, but outright hated the sight of mice. They'd been carriers of disease and a blight upon food for most of her life, so keeping them around was quite against her nature. I imagined she'd approve if she knew I planned to kill them though.

I also received a letter for Ulanion later in the day, asking to see me. I recognized the place as one of the more pleasant eateries in the city, but the time. Why in the world would he possibly need to meet that early in the morning? I shrugged and wrote an approving reply, agreeing and not thinking too much about it, perhaps he had a weird schedule.