The World Of Curses (Lehanna)

There was complete silence from the dark haired witch, enthralled by the story that the teenager was telling. Her eyes never left Lehanna’s face, rapt with attention, gazing intently as she searched for the slightest hint of deception. What happened next would be decided purely on whether she believed that girl or not and Medeia gave little away, micro-examining every word that was spoken. She would note every change in the girl’s expression, manner and tone of voice, purple orbs almost appearing like a dark abyss at times. The angel neither mocked nor criticised the girl, allowing her to get everything out that she needed to. The Warlord had captured enough mages in her time to know that most, if not all, had a depressing and unfortunate story. The angel herself was no different in her regard, she had experienced torment, betrayal and pain, caused by those closest to her.

By the time Lehanna finished, looking almost relieved by having opened up, Medeia had a thoughtful look forming across her face. The teenager had suffered far more than the woman had thought and as she dwelled upon her next move, the thought of selling the girl to Elara’s parents did not sound quite so appealing to the holy being now. There was another option open to her, after all and that was what was becoming the more intriguing choice in the witch’s mind. It would not pay off in financial terms but in terms of amusement? Well, the second option definitely won there. The angel could have her fun with a particular Wizard Saint, while toying with the girl before her at the same time. A win/win in her mind.

Crouching besides the teenager’s chair, she would eventually reply. “Oh, I believe you. I have met enough soldiers coming from Pergrande to know how they behave. Your story is not all that surprising to me, as I have heard of many young mages who had met a sticky end there. Elara’s parents sound actually fairly similar to my own although my method of dealing with them was rather more violent than hers. I am not suggesting that the pair of you follow in my footsteps but maybe it is something to consider. It may just be the only way that you young sweethearts will be able to live in peace.” It was just something for the girl to think about.

Walking around the back of the chair, Medeia would run a hand through Lehanna’s long ebony hair fondly, as though she found it appealing. “So you found yourselves both in Silver Wolf, free to live out your lives in married bliss?” Her tone was rather teasing at that point, a chuckle escaping her. “You have convinced me to at least reconsider selling you to Pergrande and fortunately for you, I have another scheme in mind that your capture could aid me with.”

After pausing for a second, she would ask a question. “What if I told you that the last woman who sat in this chair was your Guild Mistress?”

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Having no interruptions towards her explanation and her albeit venting her life's frustrations out on this woman who'd seemed to have composed this entire scene of getting her kidnapped, she certainly was a lot different than she had expected it to be. It wasn't to say that if she was free she wouldn't try and attack her and get free, however patience was a virtue that she'd tried to take the most advantage of in her life. If she chose not to collect Elara as well and send the pair back to her parents for a profit, it would be some kind of miracle, but she would wonder then what her point would be for her not to do that either. What would she then gain from making her sit in a chair in a dungeon while she was tied up? Just a bit of casual torture? Some information exchange? Anything was possible, but if she knew the extent of the things she went through, then she would learn it would be a bit of a harder job to get anything out of her at this point --at least by force.

When her captor had mentioned that this somewhat paralleled her own history, there was a strange sense of either pity or joking coming her way. Something to mock her and get her angered, but she wanted to wait and try to see what would happen from there. "Heh. Let me tell you something. If it weren't for this curse, you'd have to leave me unconscious or at the very least immobilized and silent for some time before you got a civil conversation. What I will say, is that you have no idea how many times I have mentioned how bad of an idea it would be for her to do that. She is quite hot headed these days and being on the other side of it, I kind of see how frustrating it may have been for her seeing me like that." With a light sigh, she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head lightly. "It isn't as though she and I haven't thought about it, honestly. It's not... our best moment, but we need to be the bigger people. When the time comes, we'll deal with the problem."

Lehanna decided not to really follow her captor when she stepped out of her immediate sight. Not more than a second later, she could feel her hair being fiddled around with. It was a strange feeling really to have a complete stranger toying with her hair. She was used to Ela's way of tending to her hair when she felt do depressed after being cursed that she was albeit caring for a giant doll or a dog that didn't like to do anything. Second to Ela was Kita, though honestly she had not told her own adoptive mother about her situation. It really hurt her to keep this from her, but she also hadn't tried to go visit and catch up since the summer vacation had begun. While doing so, the woman had brought up her decision not to sell her off... but that came at a cost of its own. When she brought up the possibility that Leona had been in this very seat recently, her eyes widened in surprise. She saw the flashbacks of the two during their escorting mission and she couldn't imagine that Leona could be captured or beaten.

"You're lying. Miss Leona would never be beaten by some dungeon hermit who has people do the dirty work for her." Trying not to freak out and lash at this woman, Lehanna feared any truth to the woman's words that someone as highly rated in the world, given her titles could be defeated. "What proof do you have to show? And additionally, if she were here, then I demand to know who you think you are to assume you could make me believe someone like you could have beaten my guild mistress and act so cocky and delighted about it." Little to the fact she was in any position to demand things, she didn't care. She was entitled to this information at this point.

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Lehanna’s attitude was rather refreshing, as it was not often that her captives had quite so much spunk, once the fight was over and they were at her mercy. Oh, some were rather angry at first but that faded away soon enough, after the hopelessness of the situation dawned upon them. So to find such a confident and cocky young mage such as the ebony haired girl was entertaining for the witch. It would be a shame when the time came for Medeia to release her, as the dark haired angel might just end up missing her spirit. Oh well, she could always swipe the teenager again if she wanted to one day, right? Who was going to stop her?

“Ah, so she has a temper, hmm? Well, in that case, maybe revenge might not be quite so wise. No doubt the Pergrande politicians would simply consider such an act to be an act of aggression and the pair of you may just end up causing the war to become even worse. An assassination would be best, something quick and clean, where the evidence can be handled swiftly but from the sounds of it, Elara might not be capable of that. Blowing up a building sounds more like her kind of thing and that would cause such chaos. Not that there is anything wrong with that from time to time but perhaps you are right, maybe you do need to take the high road, so to speak. Just be careful because if I am aware of your bounty and are interested, then I assure you that there will be many others who are as well. Keep your guard up and look out for each other.”

The teenager’s response to her question regarding Leona actually made Medeia laugh, a chuckle that would send a shiver up the spines of most. Leaning down so that her head was by the girl’s ear, she would respond. “You have no idea who you are talking to nor the level that I am at magically. I am the most powerful dark mage alive and I can abduct any woman I wish for any reason. Now, Leona put up an incredibly good fight against me and I confess that she did manage to hurt me but in the end, she willingly surrendered to me, knowing that if she did not, that innocent lives would be lost. If you do not believe me, then you can ask her yourself but it would be remiss of me to leave you in the dark completely so I will show you something to prove that what I am saying is true, in case she refuses to speak of it.”

Walking out from behind the chair, Medeia would wander over to her bedside cabinet and retrieve her iLac, before heading back towards Lehanna, pressing a few buttons as she did so. Smiling, she would then move the screen close to the girl so that could see the image that was displayed, a picture that would show a blonde haired woman, tied, gagged and blindfolded, as Lehanna had been when she had first arrived. “Is this proof enough for you?”


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The teen listened with a bit of hesitancy. As much as she was against the idea of the things she mentioned, did she really think that Lehanna would give in to the temptation of a quick out to their problems? As someone who has always pursued her own answers until she couldn’t or she had no other choice but to ask someone else for the help she needed. The latter was much more debilitating to her so much so from the time she began her independence and living on her own. After all, who would trust a young teenager living on her own or any of the legitimacy in her paperwork? If she knew struggles of life, it would be Lehanna. She may not have been a former sex slave or a trafficked person, a slave to some dark guild, or anything deeply tragic, but her own life was anything but easy.

”Heh, that didn’t stop them from trying to blow me up the first time I went to Pergrande. Just a couple of years ago in fact, I went on a job delivering something there only to end up dealing with that… so there isn’t anything they wouldn’t do.” She shrugged a bit and let out a light sigh, thinking she was anything more than repeating some of the same things Lehanna thought to herself. ”I try my hardest to do so, honestly. Somehow, I do feel like this curse only makes it harder to be honest with her. It might just be those thoughts from it that mess with my head and I do try to put them aside… I don’t know… I feel like I’m now just venting because it’s convenient for me. I shouldn’t really be so open to someone who’s got me tied up in a dungeon, however it doesn’t really matter, does it?” She chuckled, knowing as much as she should keep her mouth shut, if she worked at this angle enough, she might earn a bit of a lean forward.

At Lehanna’s denial of belief that she had had her own guild leader in the same seat she now sat in, the woman began to laugh. While the laugh had come to seem demeaning and cocky, it more angered the teen than anything. Thanks to her light breathing exercising, the cursed girl was able to remain calm up until the woman’s voice whispered into her ear. She began to describe herself to the extent that she was proclaiming to be the strongest dark mage alive and her fight with Leona. While she felt she was exaggerating her abilities and strength, her describing Leona’s desire to protect people in exchange for her surrender certainly fit the type of decision that she would make… and one that even Lehanna would have given in to if given that ultimatum as well.

The witch stepped away from the chair her captive was seated in to a shelf nearby. Picking up her iLac and beginning to play around with it, she has certainly become skeptical of her choosing now to play on her phone. That was, until she came back with the phone in hand and held it up. And indeed there sat Leona in the exact predicament that was described to her. So if she truly had kidnapped Leona in return for sparing lives… where was she? While Lehanna didn’t really reply to the woman’s proof, it was evident that she wasn’t refuting them either. ”So what’s your end game then? Throwing me in the same cell you’re keeping her in? Trying to collect a group of us for some ransom or other nefarious purpose? Or is this some old persons delusion to try and reclaim your youth?” The raven haired girl scoffed, not so much unphased by Medeia’s proof, but trying to prepare herself for the worst scenario.

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“I find that pretty much everyone who enters this room ends up revealing their backstories, sooner or later.” The witch replied, deciding to be honest for the moment. “You are certainly not the first to vent in here and will not be the last either but by all means, do not stop now. I do find it fascinating to hear the tales of those I capture and in a way, that is one of the reasons why I do this. The lives of most mortals are oh so boring, yet those of mages are far more interesting. I find myself becoming so invested in them and more often than not, I find myself actually sympathising with them. I have lost count of how many have been in your position but I do know that most leave in a happier state of might than not, believe it or not. Say whatever you want, if it will make you feel any better.”

Lehanna’s reaction to discovering the truth about Leona’s capture was amusing to say the least. She did not expect to be bombarded by quite so many questions and while the ebony haired girl unloaded, Medeia would simply chuckle again at first, amused once more by the teenager’s candour, speaking plainly in such a difficult position. Elara was lucky to have such a courageous girlfriend and the Warlord was not all that fond of breaking them up permanently. She did adore young love, after all, having experienced it herself, all those years ago, with a fellow angel who was still with her now, her beloved Armina.

“You will find that Leona is no longer here and that she has returned to your guild, Lehanna.” Medeia answered with a smile. “The fact I captured her at all was merely a quirk of fate. She was not on my list for that day and it was only the fact that she interfered in my business that I ended up claiming her. I made a deal with her, my dear, her surrender and my gaining possession of her for a night in exchange for letting that town remain standing. We did have a lovely night together and she opened up quite a lot to me. You should have seen her face every time I touched her, it was like her face had caught fire.”

Chuckling again at the memory, she would then focus back on Lehanna’s role in the whole affair. “You are going to be my little reminder to her about our night together, as well as to let her know that her members are not out of my reach. By interfering with my activities, the entirety of Silver Wolf has now attracted my attention by achieving that, you are all at risk.”

Pausing, she would add. “Lehanna, you are going to stay here for a short while. I am not going to hurt you and if you behave yourself then I have more than enough reading material to keep you occupied for the duration. What you are searching for was made perfectly clear in your notes and you might just find some information here that you might not elsewhere. I have a vast library, which I have painstakingly created and the darker arts are naturally of interest to me.”

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The tensed up demeanor that Lehanna had carried in her thought of what other information she might try and squeeze out of her through either sheer trickery in coaxing, to blackmailing, to perhaps old fashioned torture was nothing short of a revolving door of thoughts that she had thought could happen in this situation. However, it seemed the witch simply brushed that aside as though she could get the information as she chose or that some other magic in the works could inspire someone to give up the information they harbored and kept from others. "Given the kind of things I hear about you, I wonder if you ever think they leave that way of their own volition or if you happen to just shatter their mind and refill it with your own desires and needs. Sure you've done that with some of those loons you have in your guild." Leaning back in her chair, she would keep her eye on the woman, completely relaxed and really having no care for the words the escaped her now. "I'm sure there's plenty of mattresses with your back and ass prints curved into them too. Maybe even your closest servants have just been corrupted by you toying with the emotional functions of the human body too."

At this rate, her having seen her putting Leona into the predicament she did left the cursed teen with little sympathy for this old coot and surely never going to get it from her. Even as Medeia has begun to regale her with a bit of imagery of her simply laying her hands on her guild mistress and the panicked expression of reactions she must have had drove a spike of anger into her. Though her face didn't really show any real tell to the woman, the eyes glaring at her would albeit be set ablaze in the anger she felt from hearing such things. But when she had explained that Lehanna would be used to remind her of the ordeal, the teen admittedly wanted to take the closest sharp object and drive it through her chest... but then again, she'd probably get off on that sort of thing. If she wanted to keep from this woman using her own fears to keep her on a docile mode while she was a prisoner here, she had to reign herself in and keep to her brain over her emotions.

What came next was about what she had expected of a card for her to be pulling on the teen. Enticing her with some library of collected material in which she would have a free access to while she remained here was indeed something she might have considered, but it couldn't have been that simple. With the former slayers eyes shifting away while she considered the idea of it all, she had turned back and forth for a moment between her notes and the witch. If she indeed had read through all of her notes, then could she trust the word she had anything to advance her research? Could she just be toying with her to make her just another prisoner for exploitation to the next member she brought by? Surely if Leona couldn't have stopped her, then she would stand no chance trying to fight her either.

"First of all, why would you go after people who have never bothered you what so ever? What did I or any of my guildmates ever do to you? Is this truly how you solve the boredom in your sad life? You just abruptly pop in and play with someone's emotions and their fears to amuse you?" Her voice stayed as calm as possible, but there were some cracks as she spoke. The curse did continue to force it to a minimal level, which in turn made her stop and wince as a rather painful shot of a burning and stabbing like sensation shot through her entire body as though her curse was trying to repress her. "D-Damn it..." She took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to focus herself from what she was trying to do in the first place. "I appreciate the offer you made, but imagine you want or plan for some kind of payment in return? You would never let someone just peruse your private collection and not pay any price, so you tell me and I will decide whether I will indulge your invitation." It was probably the worst question she could ask, but she would rather be prepared for the bill then to be slapped with the check during the meal.

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“You have a devious mind.” The witch replied in an amused tone of voice. “It is rare that I have ever to go to such extreme lengths though. I find that many mages in this world are simply begging for a chance to unburden their loads and it just so happens that I enjoy helping them to do so. Of course, I come across one who is rather more stubborn from time to time which pushes me into using other methods but in nine out of ten cases, mere speech is enough. Your Guild Mistress was a particular tough nut to crack although I eventually found a weakness of two that I could exploit. Thinking about it, she was probably one of my toughest challenges so far.” There was perhaps a touch of respect as she admitted such a thing.

The teenager certainly did enjoy running her mouth and while it was quite the entertaining trait, even the dark mage had her limits when it came to such things. For the time being, she was willing to put up with Leona’s attitude but sooner or later, it may just come back to bite her. “My dear, there are indeed many mattresses who have had the pleasure of laying upon them and you can believe me when I say that my partners enjoyed the experience just as much as me. I am awfully surprised to hear you refer to such matters though as I doubt that you and Elara have reached anywhere near that point yet.”

Sooner or later, the expected questions came about just why the Warlord was targeting Silver Wolf and Medeia pondered for a few moments before answering. “I suppose that satisfying my curiosity is a part of it, as I am intrigued into just what kind of mages call Silver Wolf home, having met your Guild Mistress. I also promised her that I would meet one or two of you after she had decided to stick her nose in my business. I do like to keep my vows, you know.”

She raised an eyebrow when Lehanna suddenly recoiled in pain and asked simply. “What was that exactly? Are the ropes too tight perhaps?” Whether her questions sounded genuine or mockery would be difficult to tell, as she did enjoy mixing the two together. “Perhaps you should relax and keep your temper under control, otherwise you might strain something.”

A chuckle escaped her when Lehanna spoke about payment in exchange for being able to visit Medeia’s library, her answer being fairly jovial when she did reply. “When you return to your guild, I will have something for you to give to your Guild Mistress. It is not dangerous to anyone and will certainly not hurt you by carrying it. That is all I ask, besides you not making a mess of my beloved books. Many of them have yet to be explored thoroughly just yet and may hold a nasty surprise or two. I do not want to have you running amok in there and any damage done will add to the time that you spend here, as well as increase the amount of bindings. The reason I make this offer to you is simply because you are a bookworm, as I am.”


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Lehanna immediately scoffed at the witches first remark. If she could fold her arms at her chest to show her obvious disinterest and lack of care for the woman’s comment, she would. As she continued babbling on, it became apparent to the teenager that she was trying to speak in a way that justified her actions over the probably decades or centuries she had been alive. Even then, she made a comment about someone she admired and looked up to in a manner that was less than deserving. It felt like a bit of a back handed compliment and for it, she’d received a glare in return for it. ”That’s just because Miss Leona is a better person than you. It’s why people idolize her while condemning you like the old witch like you deserves.” She snapped back, having a little less care for the issue she might have for her speaking back.

When Medeia brought up the mere mention of doing anything remotely close to the things she could imagine her captor had done, not even the curse could hold back the absolute flushed cheeks of pure embarrassment. ”I-I..! How dare you assume anything that Elara and I have or have not done in our relationship! First and foremost, neither one of us are interested in that. We aren’t brain dead bimbos like some of the sluts you’ve probably got around you.” The momentary lapse in her curse allowed a brief hike in her emotions, but it seemed to have quickly quelled. Was it a sign that her training toyed with that? Or maybe just a freak moment in her sudden spike after so long that caused it. Either way, it didn’t matter, she was glad for it.

Just like before, the strike of pain from the curse seemingly recoiling made her double over in pain for a moment. Hearing the woman asking about her plight being related to the pain, a few huffing breathes of air to try and collect herself from the pain helped her to sit back up, leaning back in the chair while she continued to do a little light breathing. ”I think… the curse likes to force back in the control it has. And… in doing so, it shocks the body and the degree in which it acts directly changes how much pain it causes me. You would know that if you read my notes.” She took a moment to take a couple deep breathes of air, letting everything wash off. ”I kept a diary in fact after the first couple of days. Kalama’s idea, really. Something to help one or both of us in seeing how the curse worked so that she could use that for other… test subjects, to put it in a tolerable fashion. The question was just if the person she cursed survived or was overtaken by it.”

There was a light, but easily tell-tale sigh annoyance that left the captive mage from hearing her beginning to explain her necessity to deliver something that was albeit promised to be safe. How likely was she to believe that? Well, that would depend on the item when it was given to her. Only then would she decide whether to really consider her offer. ”We’ll see about the delivery. However, when it comes to books, I am extremely considerate of them. I don’t care if I hate your damn guts —and trust me when I say I do, you are certainly going to be given an equal opportunity in your collection of reading material. I’ve come to learn over the years that you can’t find the Absolute definitive research if you ignore and refute someone’s work purely if you do not like them as a person. You have my word I won’t purposely harm any of your material.” With herself being more relaxed now, she had felt a little more normal… considering what her normal is now anyway.

”I do have one question for you while you untie me so I can stretch and go take my cursory examination of your inventory there, but what are you going to be doing in the meantime? I don’t do well if people are staring at me continually and given how I look… I don’t have the best self-confidence. Part of it is the curse’s fault, the other is just… unavoidable intrusive thoughts, I suppose.” She felt like she had given a sufficient Hope that the woman would look over her shoulder like a bird watcher, but she would hope that she could trust that she wouldn’t run either. Lehanna had no plans to do that anyway.

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“You would be surprised just what kind of woman she is, underneath all of those titles and armour.” Medeia replied cryptically, leaving the girl to ponder her meaning, as the witch would not speak any more about it. Both the angel and Leona had learned a lot during their day together, during the fight and afterwards. There were similarities between the two, having come from very similar backgrounds and Medeia would admit that was part of the reason why she admired the Wizard Saint. They had both struggled immensely in their youth, fighting against a culture that was run primarily by men and out of date social norms. Their ways out of their misery may have differed but the stories were not too dissimilar.

The dark haired mage noticed the flushed cheeks of the girl, which was quite a surprise given that Lehanna had barely shown anything much in the ways of emotion so far although it certainly made her smile now. “I rest my case. It is clear from the look on your face that the two of you are still in the infancy stages of your relationship. It is nothing to be ashamed of and no doubt one day, you will be ready but for now, maybe leave those kinds of comments to those with more experience in such matters. You will only end up flushing more regularly, cherub.”

She listened with interest as Lehanna spoke about her curse and the pain that it occasionally unleashed. It sounded rather barbaric but from what she knew of the woman who had cast it on Lehanna, it made perfect sense. The woman was a different type of dark mage than the Warlord it appeared, one who was focused more on a path of bloodshed and violence than the Errings Rising witch. Oh, Medeia could deal immense damage when annoyed enough but she did not do so on a whim. “This Kalama has a bizarre way of going about her curses. I cannot help but wonder if she even knows what she is doing in truth.”

“I am glad that you are willing to be reasonable regarding my books, as they do truly mean quite a lot to me. As I said, you are free to spend as much time as you wish there.” Musing for a moment, she would then briefly return to her bedside cabinet and withdraw a filled envelope, which she briefly showed the girl. “This is all you will have to deliver. Nothing more than that.”

When the girl asked a question of her own, Medeia raised an eyebrow before replying. “I will be nearby, sorting out some of the new additions that I have acquired recently. Close enough to know if something goes wrong though. There is no need to worry, I will give you enough privacy to get some reading done without feeling my eyes upon you all the time.” She briefly paused and then added. “You have no reason to be so negative about your appearance though, Lehanna, there is nothing at all to worry about or fear. Those people who may stare are not worth a damn thing and are not worth concerning yourself about. I am certain that those closest to you adore you just as much now as they did before you were cursed. Focus on that.”

Walking over to the girl, she would crouch behind her chair. “So, do we have a deal then? My letter in exchange for giving you a little more freedom?”

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It was getting hard to tell if Medeia was trying to work her up or just happened to be speaking in a factual way. Then again, she’d been doing a bit of both anyway at the teens expense, so she wouldn’t put it past her at all. If she were biting her tongue for real the way she had been metaphorically, then she would have at the very least been causing it to bleed quite a lot by now. Instead, Lehanna just rolled her eyes and look away from the older woman. She was done trying to speak about the topic. If she continued and struck the wrong nerve, then she knew she may something that would completely burn away all the progress she had been working to get.

It was more than one thing that she chose to drop the subject on. Not wanting to hear relationship advice from someone who passed her time kidnapping people and probably having her way with the age appropriate ones was nothing to model herself after or even consider caring for her advice or tips. ”Yeah, whatever…”

When she had brought up the lack of thought in Kalama’s plans and ideas for the little concept of hers, there was a light shake of her head to start. She didn’t want to go on with this, but it seemed that she would most likely find this to be the easiest place to say this without being judged for it. ”You would be surprised after you spend some time with that sociopath that she is rather methodical. She’s blunt, and quite a.. bitch for a lack of a better word, but given that she held me captive with her for a couple of weeks, I would know quite a bit on how she functions. And that is like a lawless, careless, soon-to-be genocidal maniac who will keep working at her craft until she eventually creates a perfect, subservient person who is manipulated to think she’s albeit god and do her bidding.” She informed her, speaking rather calmly given the fact of information she’d given about this.

Given that she would have to deliver just some envelope of papers, she had felt a bit.. insulted. She was going to be some carrier pigeon for this woman? And what would even be inside it? Part of her didn’t want to know, but another thought she would make sure it wouldn’t be of harm to Leona before giving it to her. Still, knowing what she knew, she would need to have a long sit down and start their stories from even back with Lehanna being beaten by Kalama. It seemed to be a strange situation being left alone for the most part, but honestly if she played it smart she may not be able to deal with the witch and make her research progress. ”Will you allow me to take notes if possible? If I’m going to learn how to beat this and kill Kalama, I need all the research I can procure.”

What started to throw her off from her train of thought now was Medeia beginning to try and give her a little pep talk over her appearance. While she sounded a bit like a cheesy sitcom serious moment speech, she carried a point and one she had tried to drill into her own mind. It wasn’t that she hated it after all this time, but it was more of she couldn’t get it into her head to stand with grace, so to speak. With Elara words being the ones that carried the most weight with her, that was all Lehanna wanted to focus on. Hers, and Kitalpha’s.

”We do have a deal, Medeia. Just be sure to give them to be before you either let me out of here or take me back. Whichever you plan to do.” She continued to remain calm, though her mind geared itself to readying to absorb as much material and make as many good notes that she could if she were allowed to. Her determination and near tunnel of trying to learn about her curse through books surely would bite her in the end. Especially if Kalama had recruited herself a new toy to test the waters against the cursed teen.

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The witch smiled slightly as Lehanna spoke more about the woman who had cursed her. She supposed that there were some similarities between this Kalama and Medeia herself. The desire for control being the one that stood out more than anything else. It was a craving that the angel knew all too well and a sensation that she thoroughly enjoyed whenever she found herself in that situation. It never dimmed, no matter how many years went by or how many people she had under her thumb. There was simply that thrill that she always felt when she was dominating other beings, whether in a subtle way or something more literal. “There are many dark mages out there who enjoy having a minion or two of their own. I am not surprised to hear that this woman also desires one. You were fortunate that she did not decide to keep you on a permanent basis, as some can be rather clingy.” Medeia was of course one such being but the leash that she attached to her own girls was rather long. They were all over the map in truth, in guilds of all different types of alignment. Such was the influence of the Warlord these days.

“You can take as many notes as you wish.” Medeia replied to Lehanna’s question. “The information stored in the majority of them has already been archived elsewhere in case of an accident so I see no reason why to refrain from allowing you to do as you wish with it. Just bear in mind my warning from before that some of my collection contains some rather unpleasant magic and while I am sure that you are used to such things, I feel the need to remind you anyway. Some of my books have even been known to leave a nasty shock if they are opened by inexperienced hands. Be cautious.” It was probably an unnecessary warning, given that Lehanna had a good head on her shoulders but the dark mage did so anyway, She did hate seeing anyone get hurt in her beloved library, which more than often than not ended up being Armina, such was her maids boisterous way of moving around. A bull in a china shop, as the humans liked to say.

She nodded once Lehanna had accepted her deal and the Warlord proceeded to click her fingers, resulting in the ropes undoing themselves, before coiling up and draping themselves over the back of the chair. It was meant for show for the most part but there was just the slightest touch of a warning that they could easily end up wrapped around the girl again if she broke her word. “In that case, gather your things from the table and follow me. My library is not all that far away but it would be wise if you stayed fairly close. The guards are rather unkind, as you might expect and may just think that you are an escaped prisoner.” In a way, that was not all that far from the truth.

(510 Words)
(33912 TWC)