A radiant expanse of light stretched endlessly across the horizon, casting a soft glow over the vast landscape. In the far distance, majestic mountains rose in silent grandeur, their towering peaks crowned with glistening snow like regal diadems. Winter had claimed the realm, its touch delicate yet undeniable. The evergreen trees, lining the slopes and spilling into the valley below, wore a dusting of fresh snow, their vibrant green peeking through the frost, a quiet defiance against the season's chill—a reminder of resilience amidst the serene stillness.
A woman of silver hair watched those mountains silently, her mind filled with the girl who had suddenly appeared in her home without even knowing it. She was certainly strange, as she was interesting. A human, was that the best way to describe her, or was she one of their own, a being that somehow emerged from the human lands? Lyla, her name was as beautiful as she was, the woman admitted
She sipped on her drink, her mind still on the girl she met. It was possible that she was who she thought; she could sense it somehow, though her confessions made it more likely. Her manifestations that she thought of as mere dreams.
Was her blood speaking to her? telling her of a world that she was linked to? Although the woman did not quite understand it, a bigger part of her knew she was likely right. So she awaited her guests as she thought of how to proceed
A vibration through the wards in her home let her know that someone had arrived, so she set down the cup and headed to the door. Before her stood two brothers whom she had known since they were only infants. They had grown to be exceptional men, earning favor from not only the people but the heavens themselves
"Keeper, we heard that you sought our presence," the eldest said, his face stern as always
"Not even a greeting," she responded, letting them in
"Apologies," the youngest started, "you know how he can be, always serious and straight to the point."
"Yes, yes. You boys look well."
"We've been fine."
"Good, I heard you had a mission to capture that vile thing that escaped."
"Yes, we did, it was successful, and the wards were fixed, but you already knew that part since you helped."
"The grumpy ones did most of the work," she said, her face forming in distaste
The youngest tried not to laugh; everyone knew the woman before him disliked their leaders, with the exception of perhaps two
"Would you like some herbal tea? It will help relax you."
"No, thank you," The eldest replied, eager to get whatever brought them here done with. The woman before them always made him a bit nervous
"Let me rephrase that, you'll have some tea."
A few minutes later, a girl walked in, a tray in hand. She was young, probably one of the Keeper's trainees. She quickly laid the tea before them and left her face well covered by her hood
"She's a shy one, excellent in her classes though," the Keeper said to them, "help yourselves then," she pointed to the tea, but they both remained still, "okay, I'll get straight to the point," she announced, much to their delight
"When you went to the human lands, did anything… peculiar happen?" She surveyed both, waiting for a response, but they remained the same, none of their expressions giving away anything. She raised a brow to them, indicating she was expecting a response
"It was a foreign land, so everything was peculiar," the eldest said as a matter of fact
"True, so let me rephrase that, did you meet someone peculiar, different from the other humans. Someone who perhaps caught your attention," she asked, smiling. She always liked such forms of interrogation, where she dragged things out either to annoy the other party or to watch them try to keep their expressions neutral. She found it amusing
"The humans are peculiar; none is interesting." The eldest brother's eyes bore into the woman, but his face remained the same, although he wondered why the keeper was suddenly asking these questions. Was it just mere interest in the humans or something else
His mind briefly wandered to the lady they had met, one who had become of great help to them. She was the only interesting person they had come across, but even then, how could the keeper have known about it? It wasn't possible, but the woman knew a great deal about a lot of things, so he wouldn't say for sure if she was completely oblivious. Either way, he wasn't going to set himself up
The woman moved her eyes to the younger one, surveying him. If any of them was going to talk, it would be the youngest. She knew he had some fear of her within him; perhaps she should have only summoned him, but what would be the fun in that
The youngest male felt slightly nervous under her knowing gaze, reminding him of how strict she had been during their lessons when he was younger and how much he hated being summoned by her. The woman was thunder personified when she was angry, and heaven forbid that anger was set on you.
He remembered how he was once punished to trim the grass around this very house with only a small blade as small as his pinkie finger; he had spent days doing that, even as it rained, he had to continue, an endeavor that would have taken him mere minutes with his power. His mind reminded him of yet another day she had been so angry at something that even the ground she walked on trembled with every step, and a shiver ran up his spine at the image
"Tell me," she said to him, a smile tagging at her lips
"No, one," he simply said
"So you both want to tell me that you didn't meet a girl who had eyes that could see our world. That this girl didn't help you capture that Wendigo, and that after everything, you tried to erase her mind, a mission you failed at by the way."
She watched the surprise that took over the youngest features and the clenched jaw of the eldest so she went on, "Lyla was it?"
This time the younger one's eyes grew even wider and without knowing it he asked, "how?"
"I know a lot of things" was all she said
"You said we failed at erasing her mind," the eldest asked, making her smirk
"Your brother did, not his fault though, I suspect her mind is shielded."
"That shouldn't be possible."
"Yes, but the girl you met is all sorts of interesting"
"What do you mean?"
"You'll have to wait for that answer. For now, go back and do not tell anyone of this. I shall summon you later"
With that, she left them puzzled with several questions in mind. The youngest turned to his brother, ready to defend himself and say he was sure he erased her mind, but the eldest already knew it, so he only waved him off and rose from his chair. They would do as the Keeper requested and not breathe a word of this and trust that the next time they met, she would offer answers, and if not, he would find a way to get them