After all the crush, the free wheeling elbows, the non-stop noise, stepping into the quiet of the waiting room was like falling asleep. Or, maybe more like the shock of unexpectedly waking.
It certainly looked very different. Outside in the main concourse no expense had been spared to make the area look grand and stately, while in here it felt more like a barren hotel lobby. Chairs hugged the walls, all clad in the same threadbare willow pattern fabric. A fat stove sat at the other end of the long skinny room from the doorway, but she was too far to gain any benefit from it. There was no decoration except for a wooden grandfather clock that stood just inside the doorway.
An officious looking ticket guard came over, little of his face could be seen between the impressive mustache and the low brim of his hat. "Ticket's Miss?" He asked. His tone was perfectly polite, but there was a hint to his intonation that he was perfectly prepared to throw her back out into the madness if she lacked the proper papers.
Smiling blandly, Soleil slid her hand into her coat and found her pocket book. The little embroidered leather rectangle had been a gift one solstice when she was very young, she had felt so grown up when Kate had given it to her. It had held a single penny back then, but now it held a good amount more cash, and of course, the all important sky train tickets.
Pulling out the cream paper, Soleil checked she had the right ones, the ones to take her to the island had a heavy red wax seal on them, and handed them over.
"Student ticket to Glayth University, I've already dropped off my luggage," she said brightly.
Her words did not seem to interest the guard, he only paid attention to her ticket. And such attention! He held it up to the light to check the watermark, ran his nail over the engraving of the school's crest, he even tapped at the wax seal for some unclear reason. Only after a thorough check over was he apparent satisfied, and he nodded and handed it back to her.
"This all seems to be in order," he said, "boarding will begin in twenty three minutes."
She took the tickets back somwhat gingerly, she was half afraid they would disntegrate after the interrogation he had put them through. "Thank you?" She said, he nodded and went back to his post by the door.
Turning her attention to the wiaiting room she looked around. There were only two people and around forty seats, so she had plenty of options. However, it was chilly, so without even really choosing it she started walking over to the side of the room where the stove sat.
It was squat and old fashioned, with a long wonky chimney coming out at an angle and going up into the ceiling, but the heat it was pumping out into the room was plentiful and as she came close she gratefully took off her thick gloves. Holding her hands out in front of her she sighed happily.
A noise came from her left and she looked over to see the one of the other passengers smiling at her. She had dark skin and perfectly posed ringlets cascading down her back from a large peacock blue hat. As elegant as a fashion plate, she was dressed in a dark blue travelling dress, with details picked out in a crisp white. A black leather handbag sat at her feet and while it was as elgant as the rest of the picture, it shouldn't have been enough to catch Soleil's attention.
Except, the ornate lock was decorated not with some meaningless scrolling or floral motif, but with the stern and commanding head of a lioness.
Soleil blinked for a moment.
But the metal did not change shape. It did not change from the motif used to represent the Lionhelmed Goddess, the Keeper of the Gates, the Guardian of the Realms. Otherwise known as Aunt Leonora.
She looked up at the girl.
The girl's smile had started to slide off her face and she was looking at Soleil with confusion and concern.
A blush roared into her cheeks, so much for blending in with the humans at school. "I beg your pardon," she said softly, "My name is Soleil Lightly. My aunt is a priestess and carries an emblem very much like the one on your bag, it surprised me when I saw it."
"Oh!" Her eyes widened, "I did not realise that it meant anything to anyone else. It is something my family has been using as a sort of maker's mark since my great grandfather's day." She put her book to the side and stood holding out her hand, "Titania Appleby. A pleasure to meet you."
Soleil relaxed a touch and shook the offered hand, it did not appear like she had entirely ruined her first first meeting with another student! "Your great grandfather? Was he a particulalry religious man?" She asked, wondering what connected them.
"Not in the least, or so I've been told. Please, sit down," she gestured to the seat beside her, as graceful as a grande dame in her own parlour. "Your aunt is a priestess, you said?"
Soleil sank gratefully onto the seat, "Yes, of the Lionhelmed Goddess. Patron of doorways, gates, and locks, all that sort of thing."
"Well that explains it, in my great grandfather's day my family were locksmiths. We've added a little to our portfolio over the years, but that is where we started off," Titania picked up the bag and ran a finger over the lioness' head. "How funny, I shall have to let my mother know. It has been something of a mystery to us all, but we never thought to look towards religion for the answer."
Soleil laughed, "She is an Old God, so one would have to be versed in archaeology rather than theology to know about her. I have never met anyone but my aunt who could really be called a worshipper." And, of course, even that was technically hogwash. Leonora was not the least bit vain and when she told stories of her life they tended to be as equally scornful of her past self as any of the other people involved.
"But what an excellent coincidence for us to meet, then, Miss Lightly. One might even call it an omen," Titania said, leaning forward and her eyes sparkling.
Soleil laughed, then carefully did NOT look around to check to see if her aunt was hiding in some corner. No her aunt had said she trusted her to go to school without needing any aid, and besides Maven was needing her help on the other side of the continent. "I am not sure that a goddess is arranging seating charts in station waiting rooms," Soleil said.
"Aaah, but what would your aunt say? Surely she will have prayed to her goddess for you to find your way safely to school, perhaps that is part of it?" Said Titania.
"My aunt is too practical for prayer, she just gave me a sword," Soleil said, tapping the gilded hilt at her hip.
Titania's head snapped towards it, "Oh, my, yes. I hadn't noticed. Tell me, you haven't had cause to use it yet, have you?" Her laugh was a bit tinny this time.
She must be from one of the more "civilised" cities where they do not carry blades, Soleil thought, I'd better make it clear that I am not some barbarian thug about to run around in a rage cutting off people's heads. "I have not used it on this journey, no. But my aunt would have blistered my ears if I had considered leaving without it. She's rather overprotective, especially when she can not hover over my shoulder glaring the world into submission."
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Titania's shoulders relaxed. "I am glad to hear it, this is the first time I have travelled so far from home. And you do hear things about the North."
It was true, you did. Soleil nodded, "I understand. While I have travelled a little, I mostly spent my childhood in the Western Peaks. Lots of sheep, not much in the way of monsters or people."
"Sounds," Titania stumbled, "Quaint?"
Soleil didn't take offence. Titania, from the top of her peacock blue hat to the bottom of her neat little boots, was a city girl. She'd probably be as comfortable meeting a shepherd as she would a sheep. "It was lovely, but not very exciting. What about you, Miss Appleby?"
"I grew up in Prince's Bridge," she said the name with such meaning that it was clear she expected it to be recognised.
It took a moment, but the name rang a weak bell. "Tthat's part of the city of Brotherly, right?" Soleil asked.
"Yes, just across the river from the Thaumaturge Council Offices," Titania said. It was clear she was very proud of this address.
That was interesting. Soleil leaned forwards, game to flatter a little harmless pride, "Really? Did you see them very often?"
Titania shook her head, her curls danced, but the hat remained absolutely still on its perch. "No, unfortunatley the river is very wide there. You would have better luck seeing them in town when they stop for meals, there's a wonderful restaurant just around the corner from the Offices where they often go. But our parlour is the perfect place to watch the beacons, they light them when the meetings start and they send every colour imaginable dancing across the sky. And it is amazing to imagine that just across the river there are people of such unimaginable power making decisions that change the fates of everyone on the continent," She shook her head, then pulled herself back into the present. "But isn't that why everyone goes to Glayth? To study so they can one day take the world by storm and become a Thaumaturge?" She said this oddly, as if she was quoting a script rather than her own words.
Soleil tilted her head sligthly to the side, that was not what she had expected to hear from this young woman. The scripted tone gave her a little hope that they were still kindred spirits, so she was bluntly honest. "I'm not, I haven't really thought past getting into their Library and reading as much as I can get my hands on."
Titania looked relieved, "Oh thank the gods, everyone else I have spoken to about Glayth seems to think of it as a stepping stone to power. I just want to study and learn things!" She said this with the air of someone who has been hard fought to keep this opinion, reached over and gripped Soleil's hand, "It really has been marvellous to meet you, Soleil, if I may call you by your first name?"
"Of course!"
"Thank you, and you must call me Titania,"she said.
Soleil, who had already been doing so in her mind, smiled a little awkwardly. They did not hold to such formality in the the Western Peaks, and for the most part gods did not really have last names so she tended to forget them. Lightly was just something that Maven had picked up and she had in turn adopted. "What are you planning on studying, then?"
"Oh, a little of everything to do with magic, I think," Titania said, "I'm particularly interested in the Tapestery Theory of Magic at the moment." At Soleil's blank look, she explained, "It's the idea that you can manipulate magic all across the world by changing a few smaller things where you are and encouraging the connections. It's incredibly interesting, there's some discussion in the Heaton Horologist, about how clockwork might be able to manipluate larger and larger things across the world if you align it correctly!"
Soleil thought about it, her face screwing up in concentration, it was certainly an interesting theory, but, "I could see it working closeby, but with any significant distance, the cost would become horrific, surely? If we take Clorance's belief that distance is the most expensive barrier to pass with magic as fact, then-"
"Ah, but that's where the clockwork element comes in. Repeated tiny elements that do not need to be managed by a human hand would add up significantly over time," she was beaming now, and it would have been impossible for Soleil not to match the grin with her own.
"I suppose," she allowed, "But what use could such small elements of change be?"
"That's where the Tapestry Theory comes in! Tiny elements, but they compound to create significant changes when viewed as a whole, it's really fascinat-" something over Soleil's shoulder caught her eye and her mouth fell open, Soleil started to turn to look, but Titania shook her head. "No wait, she'll pass us in a moment."
"Who is "she,"" Soleil asked, the curiosity burning a hole in her gut.
"Another young lady who just walked in, she's just gotten her tickets back from the guard at the door, you'll see her in a moment," her voice was low, scorn dripped from her words like blood. "And I cannot believe what she is wearing." Titania's whole demeanour had closed off, the bright and bubbly young woman talking about theoretical magic had disappeared and in her place was a cold and sneering statue.
Soleil was startled by the change, and when someone began to pass on the other side of the room she tilted her head to catch a better look. At first she thought Titania had just been offended by the garishness of the outift. But then the meaning of that particular combination of colours clicked.
"No!" She whispered. "She cannot be wearing that?!"
"Since you are also seeing it then I am afraid it must be the case and is neither an optical illusion or a hallucination," Titania said dryly.
"Perhaps she does not know," Soleil said, though it was more of a question, because how exactly would one not know?
"Then she is embarrassingly ill informed and should be ashamed of that as well," Titania said with a brutal flatness to her tone.
"Perhaps she is colourblind or the victim of a cruel prank by her seamstress?" Soleil offered, her mind racing to come up with an answer to why anyone would wear those colours in this part of the continent.
Titania snorted, "If that is the case I shall introduce her to my dressmaker and sponsor a new wardrobe for her, you do not wear red and green diagonal stripes without meaning it." She looked at the other girl with ill disguised loathing.
Shockingly, the other girl seemed to notice the glare and, rather than shrinking from it, seemed instead to grow in confidence. She tossed her head, her gold ringlets scattering across her shoulders like ducks hearing a hunter's call. She had yet to find a seat that she approved of, and was instead promenading up and down the aisles of the waiting room.
Titania drew in a sharp breath, "Imagine, wearing the colours of a failed rebellion so proudly. I do not know who she is, or who she thinks she is, but, oh!" She came to a stop, apparently finding it impossible to think of anything else she could say that would convey her disgust.
It was a distasteful display, but Titania seemed to be taking particularly badly. Now, Soleil did not know all of the rules of polite society, but one thing she was certain of was that you did not ask someone, practically a stranger, why they were particularly upset by the sight of a murderous group's iconography. That kind of information required a deeper acquaintance than a few minutes. So instead of asking, Soleil squeezed her hands, and nodded to the large archway shaped windows that overlooked the platform. "Look, the sky train has arrived, by the looks of things there are no passengers alighting. Why don't we go and ask the Conductor to get on early, by the looks of the lady, she wishes to be seen, so I doubt she will wish to take her seat too quickly. We can escape her for at least a little while, and find good seats."
Titania turned and looked out of the windows where Soleil had nodded, a thin whistle was just about audible, and plumes of steam were drifting over. "Oh so it is, yes, let's escape while we can." Titania picked up her large bag and clipped it to her belt. It was a very neat piece of metallurgy. The handle opened up and clipped in one precise movement, then Titania twisted it so that the seam was hidden and presumably twice as difficult for a thief to unclip.
They made their way over to the door to the platform, where a conductor had just entered, a polite customer service smile limped across his face as he saw them. "The platform is not quite ready, ladies." He said cautiously, as if speaking to an animal that might attack at any moment.
"You cannot expect us to stay here, when the company is such as that," Titania said bluntly, nodding in the direction of the unfortunately dressed young lady. And though she kept to a low voice, her outrage and determination were strident.
The conductor turned to look where she directed and his face went on a journey. Shock and disgust were its first stops, but by the time he had turned back to Soleil and Titania it had returned to a blandly apologetic mask, via a quick detour at deep, deep tiredness."Well, that is certainly a choice in attire that one does not see frequently."
"Perhaps we could just make our way out to the platform a little early?" Soleil asked.
The conductor sighed, "There is I suppose no harm in it, since there are only the two of you."He paused, then nodded, "Very well, if you will follow me, ladies."
"Thank you," Soleil said gratefully.
Titania nodded her head regally, clearly never doubting that her way of doing things would be adopted.
He sighed, the gust of air ruffling his moustache, and gestured them towards the door. "Please be careful, the fog has made everything rather slippery."
Soooo, what do you think of Titania?
