The Mother of Monsters

The next morning Teyva had her first taste of Osan from Azrael’s point of view. Her friend was up and dressed early while knocking on her door. Teyva, on the other hand, was exhausted from King Thrake’s antics the previous night. The man never seemed to run out of energy. They had spent the better part of the night following him around the castle while he worked through his anxiety in the best way he could think of, messing with his staff. Azrael spent most of this time bickering with him about how irresponsible he was while Teyva laughed.

“Are you coming or what?” Azrael called.

“Is that how you speak to your lady?” Teyva shouted back, throwing on her shirt and pulling her boots up and over her slacks. She reached for her satchel and opened it, checking on the Mockeries. The little coins milled about and called out to her with boredom. She’d been feeding them regularly with extra dishes that the staff brought up. The little darlings favored high protein meals, the rawer the better. She was certain they thought she was eating all if not most of it though and stared at her dumbfounded when the plates came back empty. Nephral yawned and stretched beside her, rolling onto his side and looking up from the comfortable mattress. Nephral on the other hand had grown fat with all the castle food, eating everything from meat dishes to glazed vegetables and demonstrating that Sphinxes were omnivores at the very least. 

“That’s how I speak to a lazy git!” Azrael retorted, Teyva rolled her eyes and gestured for Nephral to hop onto her shoulders. He got up lazily and leaped to his usual spot, wrapping his tail around her neck and folding his wings in tightly. He purred and yawned.

“You’re getting spoiled, aren’t you?” Teyva muttered to the sphinx.

“I fear I may grow fat in this place,” Nephral groaned, “I do hope the King considers your request.”

“Me too,” Teyva said and made her way to the door. When she opened it she found an impatient-looking Azrael waiting for her in a simple tunic and slacks, no uniform, no sword, nothing. It was strange seeing her out of her normal get-up. Teyva glanced over at Elat who was yawning sleepily next to her. “You too, huh?”

Elat coughed and scratched his neck before looking over at The Marble who stood stoically to the left of Teyva’s door, “Morning ‘marble,” The big orc grunted. The creature gurgled its response and he shot it a toothy grin. “It likes me.”

“Course he does, he’s a sweetheart,” Teyva said, reaching over to stroke the smooth stone. “Now what are we waiting for?” She asked, turning to Azrael who gave her a sour look. She laughed as Azrael turned away, marching towards the lift. Teyva and Elat quickly followed, neither of them knowing how to work the lift. 

As they descended, Teyva caught Azrael up with what she’d been doing the past few days.

“...that was when I met Argus Wo and Tiisha, I’ve never met someone like Argus. Both hilarious and terrifying at the same time,” Teyva said.

“A good way to put it,” Azrael said grimly, “Argus is a good man but he can be very aggressive in how he handles things. He doesn’t tolerate half-measures and makes his opinions very loud and clear. He’s a good teacher though, and won’t settle for anything but the best from his students.”

“What did he teach you? You said your father taught you to fight,” Teyva asked.

“My father taught me hand-to-hand combat, yes. Strategy. Yaga Yftha taught me how to think like a warden, assess my surroundings, and make decisions, she has been with father the longest and helped raise me when I was very small,” She paused and gave Teyva a prying look. Teyva cleared her throat and gestured for Azrael to continue. “Barin Kot taught me my wind magic as well as how to read and write. Tiisha taught me about people, how to analyze subtleties, she also taught me about making something out of nothing.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Using your resources to make something appear in a way that it really isn’t,” Azrael said, “Though to be fair what Tiisha taught me would be more applicable to open warfare than a single soldier on the go.”

“And Argus?” 

“One of my most important lessons, Violence and the sacredness of life. Do you remember what I told you about the weight of a life?” Azrael asked.

“He said that?” Teyva tried to imagine him saying something so wise. “Wait I thought the king taught it to you.”

“Well, he did, but Argus said it first. Argus apparently joined up with my father and helped him hone his skills, he trained him and advised him about how to handle the stress of battle,” Azrael said.

“I wonder how they all met,” Teyva said thoughtfully.

“You could always ask. Tiisha loves recounting the story of her part, but she likes to hear herself talk too,” Azrael laughed.

“I doubt Yaga would be interested in telling that story, though,” Teyva pointed out, reaching up to stroke Nephral’s chin.

“Bet you could convince her,” Elat grunted. Teyva shot him a look and Azrael barked out a laugh.

“Never going to hear the end of that, am I?” Teyva demanded.

“Nope,” Elat said, “One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.”

They stepped off the lift as it came to a stop and found themselves face to face with the latest topic of their conversation. Yaga had ground to a halt, her usually severe expression replaced with surprise as the group stepped out of the lift tower door. The woman looked between Teyva and Azrael and after a few moments of hesitation managed to crack an awkward smile. Azrael frowned at her for a moment before letting out a breath and stepping in close to give the woman a hug. That one act took the sudden tension out of the air.

“Good to see you out and about, Azrael,” Yaga said, stepping back a bit. “You’ve grown, haven’t you?”

“My second aspect might have a little to do with that,” Azrael admitted.

“Ah, right, that,” Yaga managed, rubbing her neck. “Your father told me it was the Aspect of the Wolf Lord.”

“That’s right,” Azrael said. Yaga turned her smiling gaze away from Azrael to Teyva and Elat. She made eye contact with Teyva and the two stared at one another for a few heartbeats. Azrael crossed her arms and frowned. “Do you two need a room?”

“What? No!” Teyva and Yaga said simultaneously. They both looked at one another and frowned.

Yaga cleared her throat and let out a breath, “Although I am here to invite Teyva to drinks with the Four again. Argus’ idea of course.”

Azrael cocked an eyebrow at Teyva, “You’ve made an impression.”

“This body of mine can seriously hold its liquor,” Teyva admitted.

“Good to know,” Elat grunted, “I’ll have to challenge you sometime.”

Teyva glanced back at Yaga, “Tonight?”

“Tonight.”

“I’ll see how things go today, Azrael is showing me around Osan,” Teyva said and crossed her arms. “We aren’t going to get into another fist fight are we?” 

“Not unless you want to,” Yaga said with a small smile.

Azrael groaned and grabbed Teyva by the arm, “Would you two stop flirting? It’s gross! Let’s go! We have a lot of city to cover and I’ve got days of touring to make up for!” She glanced back at Yaga, “I will hand Teyva over when I am damn good and ready. Understood?”

Yaga blinked and then looked away, “Do what you want.”

Teyva looked up to the ceiling and smiled, this was the life. That smile ended as soon as she got a rough punch to the shoulder and found Azrael glaring at her. “And what are you all grins about?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing at all,” Teyva said, and moved to follow her friend out the door.

Azrael’s grand tour was far more detailed than Teyva’s wandering. She started off with explaining the various tiers of the city before leading Teyva and Elat on what was a scavenger hunt of interesting places to go and see. The first stop was at the very bottom of the city, down a set of stairs that one could access through a guarded checkpoint. Azrael’s position gave her access and by extension her companions. Beneath the city Teyva found one of the strangest sights she’d ever seen. Osan was on enormous stilts. Dozens of unimaginably large columns ringed the base of the city and inward. All of them reached down into the lake below. With two rivers crossing to form the body of water it was constantly in motion. Teyva stood in awe in the near darkness of the place, the only light coming from outside the structure of the city. The juxtaposition of light and dark made the place seem mysterious and alien.

“All of the city’s water comes from here and flows up through the columns, fresh water has been running through the city’s pipes for as long as the Azar can remember. To be honest, the Magi barely know how it all works. There are contraptions hidden inside the columns that help the water rise while other contraptions simply turn and spin with the flow of of water. 

Teyva blinked, “Hydroelectric power?” She asked.

“What?”

“It sounds like something from my world, Hydroelectric power and pumps,” She trailed off at the mystified look on Azrael’s face. “Sorry, it’s just very familiar to me.”

Azrael raised an eyebrow, “Don’t let Barin Kot know, he’ll want to keep you for study.”

“I think he already does,” Teyva said.

“So how does this hydro-whatsit work?” Elat asked.

Teyva opened her mouth but to her surprise, Nephral chimed in, “It is the means by which one generates electrical energy through the flow of running water. This energy can be stored and then used to make various machines and devices function. More importantly, with electricity, anyone can use such devices with training, no need for magical talent or know-how. I could explain in more specific detail, if you like, but imagine a water wheel that can make ten mills run simultaneously.”

They all went quiet as Nephral finished. Teyva was the first to speak, “How do you know any of that?”

Nephral blinked at her, “I… do not know.”

“Because you summoned him maybe?” Azrael asked.

“I don’t know the technical details, just the general idea of how it works. I didn’t exactly pay attention when they were teaching that as a kid,” Teyva admitted. 

“That’s kinda freaky,” Elat said, eyeing the sphinx. The sphinx glared at him and flared his wings. Teyva rolled her eyes and stroked the creature’s hair to calm him. 

“So, where to next?” Teyva said, trying to move things along. 

Azrael quickly picked up on her hint and nodded, “There are some shops I like to browse. We’ll go there.”

“Lead on.”